A team of Australian researchers just built solar cells that harvest 43% more efficient than the previous record-holder.
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Friends have been asking me to write something on space exploration and my campaign policy on it, so here it is just out on TechCrunch:
When people think about rocket ships and space exploration, they often imagine traveling across the Milky Way, landing on mysterious planets and even meeting alien life forms.
In reality, humans’ drive to get off Planet Earth has led to tremendous technological advances in our mundane daily lives — ones we use right here at home on terra firma.
I recently walked through Boston’s Logan International Airport; a NASA display reminded me that GPS navigation, anti-icing systems, memory foam and LED lights were all originally created for space travel. Other inventions NASA science has created include the pacemaker, scratch-resistant lenses and the solar panel.
Gauntlev 1
Posted in computing, particle physics
A tool able to generate remote forces would allow us to handle dangerous or fragile materials without contact or occlusions. Acoustic levitation is a suitable technology since it can trap particles in air or water. However, no approach has tried to endow humans with an intertwined way of controlling it. Previously, the acoustic elements were static, had to surround the particles and only translation was possible. Here, we present the basic manoeuvres that can be performed when levitators are attached to our moving hands. A Gauntlet of Levitation and a Sonic Screwdriver are presented with their manoeuvres for capturing, moving, transferring and combining particles. Manoeuvres can be performed manually or assisted by a computer for repeating patterns, stabilization and enhanced accuracy or speed. The presented prototypes still have limited forces but symbolize a milestone in our expectations of future technology.
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Microsoft’s Predictive Touch Screen
Posted in futurism
Interesting read on PTSD. Wonder how much this plays into DARPA’s own research around memory removal on PTSD patients. hmmm.
New research suggests that PTSD patients with a larger region of the brain that helps distinguish between safety and threat are more likely to respond to exposure-based therapy.
The study expands upon prior research that discovered having a smaller hippocampus is associated with increased risk of PTSD.
In the current study, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI), examined the relationship between hippocampus volume, and response to treatment in 50 participants with PTSD and 36 trauma-exposed healthy controls.
I do see delays of self-driving 18 wheelers across the US. Too many laws & regulations would need to change, consumer safety & protection advocacy groups, etc. will delay this in the US.
SAN FRANCISCO – Picture an 18-wheel truck barreling down the highway with 80,000 pounds of cargo and no one but a robot at the wheel.
To many, that might seem a frightening idea, even at a time when a few dozen of Google’s driverless cars are cruising city streets in California, Texas, Washington and Arizona.
But Anthony Levandowski, a robot-loving engineer who helped steer Google’s self-driving technology, is convinced autonomous big rigs will be the next big thing on the road to a safer transportation system.
Given the fact that Los Alamos Labs have been and continue to advance cyber security work on the Quantum Internet as well as work in partnerships with other labs and universities; so, why isn’t Mason not collaborating with Los Alamos on developing an improved hacker proof net? Doesn’t look like the most effective and cost efficient approach.
Imagine burglars have targeted your home, but before they break in, you’ve already moved and are safe from harm.
Now apply that premise to protecting a computer network from attack. Hackers try to bring down a network, but critical tasks are a step ahead of them, thanks to complex algorithms. The dreaded “network down” or denial of service message never flashes on your screen.
That’s the basic idea behind new research by George Mason University researchers, who recently landed some $4 million in grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). George Mason’s researchers are leading an effort that includes Columbia University, Penn State University and BAE Systems.