Stick tongue out, wink: gadget introduces new ways to control iPods

Stick tongue out, wink: gadget introduces new ways to control iPods

  9:10:00 PM    Science Lover

---

A woman wears the Mimi Switch earphone-shaped device to operate electronic devices such as a digital music player. An iPod can start or stop music when the wearer sticks her tongue out, like in the famous Einstein picture, researchers said

A wink, a smile or a raised eyebrow could soon change the music on your iPod or start up the washing machine, thanks to a new Japanese gadget.

The gizmo – called the “Mimi Switch” or “Ear Switch” – looks like a normal set of headphones, but is fitted with a set of infrared sensors that measure tiny movements inside the ear that result from different facial expressions.

The device is connected to a micro-computer that can control electronic devices, essentially making it a hands-free remote control for anything.

“You will be able to turn on room lights or swing your washing machine into action with a quick twitch of your mouth,” said inventor Kazuhiro Taniguch of Osaka University.

“An iPod can start or stop music when the wearer sticks his tongue out, like in the famous Einstein picture. If he opens his eyes wide, the machine skips to the next tune. A wink with the right eye makes it go back,” he explained.

As for the washing machine: “It can be programmed to run with various other facial expressions, such as a wriggle of the nose or a smile,” he added.

The Mimi Switch could also store and interpret data and get to know its user, Taniguchi said: “It monitors natural movements of the face in everyday life and accumulates data. If it judges that you aren’t smiling enough, it may play a cheerful song.”

The device could also have more serious applications to make people’s lives safer and easier.

“If the system is mounted on a hearing aid for elderly people, it could tell how often they sneeze or whether they are eating regularly,” Taniguchi pointed out.

“If it believes they are not well, it could send a warning message to relatives,” he added.

It could also be used by physically disabled people as a remote control for appliances, such as computers and air conditioners.

Taniguchi, who is now working on a wireless version, said the Mimi Switch could be available in two or three years.

Read More

Thought-propelled wheelchairs, soon

Thought-propelled wheelchairs, soon

  8:50:00 PM    Science Lover

---

Italian researchers are in talks with manufacturers to make the system an affordable and common-place reality in the next 5-10 years

The user is connected via electrodes on his scalp, and sends a signal by concentrating for a few seconds on a list of desired destination, displayed on a screen.

In a project spanning three years, Italian researchers at Milan’s Polytechnical Institute Artificial Intelligence and Robotics laboratory have developed a wheelchair that obeys mental signals sent via a computer.

The user, who is connected to a computer through electrodes on his or her scalp, can send signals to the wheelchair by concentrating for a few seconds on the name of the desired destination – kitchen, bedroom, bathroom – displayed on a screen.

The system then uses a preset program to take the user to the desired destination.

“We don’t read minds, but the brain signal that is sent,” said Professor Matteo Matteucci who was part of the project.

The chair, he informed, is also equipped with two laser beams that can detect obstacles.

The Milan lab is already in contact with companies that could produce a commercial prototype that could cater to quadriplegics, Matteucci disclosed.

“Still, it could take between five and 10 years for this system to be available widely,” he said, adding that such a wheelchair would cost only 10 per cent more than a classic motorised version.

Research to develop the so-called Brain Computer Interface began in the early 1980s around the world.

Professor Matteo Matteucci (right) and PhD student Bernardo Dal Seno, wearing a skullcap mounted with electrodes and wired to a computer as he sits on a special wheel chair. Italian boffins have developed a wheelchair that obeys mental signals sent to a computer.

Matteucci said a handful of other researchers were working on similar projects to his, including the Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

“Eventually, a research consortium should be set up that will use all these projects as a basis for finding the best approach,” he said.

“We’ve now started work on getting the chair to operate outdoors using a GPS,” Matteucci added.

Read More

Kepler mission blasts off in search of Earth-like planets

Kepler mission blasts off in search of Earth-like planets

  8:46:00 PM    Science Lover

---

An artist’s rendition of Kepler

NASA’s Kepler mission, which will search Earth-like planets, was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral on Friday at 3:49 pm GMT.

Kepler – named after the German 17th century astrophysicist – is designed to find the first Earth-size planets orbiting stars at distances where water could pool on the planet’s surface. Liquid water is believed to be essential for the formation of life.

“It was a stunning launch,” said Kepler Project Manager James Fanson of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

“Kepler will help us understand if our Earth is unique or if others like it are out there,” he added.

Engineers acquired a signal from Kepler at 12:11am on Saturday, after it separated from its spent third-stage rocket and entered its final sun-centred orbit, trailing 1,500 kms behind Earth.

The spacecraft is generating its own power from its solar panels.

“Kepler now has the perfect place to watch more than 1,00,000 stars for signs of planets,” said William Borucki, the mission’s principal investigator at NASA’s Ames Research Centre at Moffett Field, California.

Engineers have begun to check Kepler to ensure it is working properly, a process called “commissioning” that will take 60 days.

After that, the first planets to roll out on the Kepler “assembly line” are expected to be the portly “hot Jupiters” – gas giants that circle close and fast around their stars.

Neptune-size planets will most likely be found next, followed by rocky ones.

Earth-sized planets, however – orbiting stars like our sun at distances where surface water could exist – would take at least three years to discover and confirm.

Ground-based telescopes also will contribute to the mission by verifying some of the finds.

Read More

Soon, a portable unit of surgical robots to replace army medics on battlefields

Soon, a portable unit of surgical robots to replace army medics on battlefields

  8:20:00 PM    Science Lover

---

The Trauma Pod unit in action

Researchers in the US are working on a project that could replace army medics on a battlefield with robotic surgeons and nurses in the next 10 years.

The ‘Trauma Pod’ – being developed by US’ Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) - is currently undergoing trials.

Brendan Visser, a surgeon at Stanford University in California who helped develop the Trauma Pod, described it as: “Three separate robots dance over the top of the patient with their powerful arms moving very quickly, yet they don’t crash and they’re able to deliver very small items from one arm to another.”

The purpose of the Trauma Pod is to provide a quick “temporary fix” to wounded soldiers before being taken to the hospital.

“The system will focus on damage control surgery, which is the minimum necessary to stabilise someone. It could provide airway control, relieve life-threatening injuries such as a collapsed lung, or stop bleeding temporarily,” Pablo Garcia – of non-profit lab SRI International, which leads the project – told New Scientist magazine.

HOW IT WORKS

The Trauma Pod unit comprises one three-armed surgeon robot, assisted by 12 other robotic systems.

Remotely controlled by a human, the surgeon bot communicates with and instructs the other robots. One of its three arms holds an endoscope to allow the human controller to see inside the patient, while the other two grip surgical tools.

Garcia added that the robot could be allowed to carry out some simple tasks without human help, such as placing stitches or tying knots.

The bed itself monitors vital signs, administers fluids and oxygen, and may eventually administer anaesthesia.

A voice-activated robotic arm “Hot Lips” - derived from the nickname of a nurse in the TV series M*A*S*H - passes fresh tools and supplies to the surgeon bot. A third “circulating nurse” robot gives out the right tools.

The Trauma Pod unit recently passed the first phase of a feasibility trial, where robots treated a mannequin with bullet injuries by inserting a plastic tube into a damaged blood vessel and operating to close a perforated bowel.

The team hopes to eventually shrink the Trauma Pod to a collapsible unit encased in a portable shell that can be carried on the back of a vehicle.

Read More

Robot teacher comes to Japanese school...

Robot teacher comes to Japanese school...

  1:10:00 AM    Science Lover

---

A team of Japanese scientists has developed the world’s first robot teacher, which can take attendance and even get angry, apart from teaching students.

Previously employed as a secretary, the humanoid robot, named Saya, is being trialled at a primary school in Tokyo.

According to the scientists, the automaton can speak different languages, carry out roll calls, and set tasks, leading British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported.

Eighteen motors hidden behind its latex face allows it to adopt several expressions, including anger.

The humanoid was originally developed to replace a variety of workers, including secretaries, in a bid to allow firms to cut costs while still retaining some kind of human interaction.

Its creator, professor Hiroshi Kobayashi at University of Tokyo, has been working on robots for 15 years. Saya is the latest in a long line of robots that are spreading to every aspect of life in Japan.

They already guide traffic, approach students to sign up to courses; and one is now being built to give company to Alzheimer’s sufferers.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Robot Who Loved Too Much (thenextweb.com)
• Robot mimics human action and plays rockpaperscissors (telegraph.co.uk)

Read More

Turning chickens into dinosaurs!

Turning chickens into dinosaurs!

  9:17:00 AM    Science Lover

---

Palaeontologist Jack Horner is working on a project to create a ‘chickenosaur’ or a ‘dinochicken’, wherein scientists will reverse engineer certain genes in chickens, which have previously been found reported to be direct descendants of dinos

In an awe-inspiring new experiment, US palaeontologists are attempting “reverse evolution”, in which they would try to recreate a dinosaur by starting with a chicken embryo and then working backward to engineer a new “chickenosaurus” or “dinochicken”.

According to a report in Discovery News, such “reverse evolution” has been successfully performed in mice and flies, but those studies focused on re-introducing just a few bygone traits.

The dinochicken project, instead, aims to bring back multiple dinosaur characteristics – such as a tail, teeth and forearms – by changing the levels of regulatory proteins that have evolved to suppress these characteristics in birds.

“Birds are dinosaurs, so technically we’re making a dinosaur out of a dinosaur,” said palaeontologist and project leader Jack Horner of the Montana State University.

“The only reason we’re using chickens instead of some other bird is that the chicken genome has been mapped, and chickens have already been exhaustively studied,” he added.

Although the plan seems more like out of the movie Jurassic Park, Horner assured it is real and is already underway.

“A number of people in a number of different places are moving forward with the project slowly and carefully,” he said.

One such researcher is Hans Laarson of McGill University in Canada, who is now analysing the genes involved in tail development and researching ways of manipulating chicken embryos in order to “awaken the dinosaur within”.

“There is a lot of information stored in our genes that we don’t use – genes that determine features that evolution has suppressed, for various reasons,” said Kevin Padian, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley and a curator at the UC Museum of Paleontology.

“We now have the tools to ‘reverse-engineer’ some of those constraints and produce traits that look a bit more like those ancient features,” he added. “This tells us how genetics, development and evolution are related, so it’s tremendously important.”

NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT

According to Horner, there is no danger of the proposed dinochicken escaping and populating the world with dinosaurs, since only the chicken’s development - and not its genome - would have been affected.

So even if it did somehow escape and could mate, the result would just be a regular chicken, the palaeontologist said.

In any case, if a chicken embryo does not grow properly in the lab, or if it could not survive comfortably, then “we would never let it hatch”, Horner said.

When and if the chickenosaurus is created, he looks forward to bringing it out on a leash during lectures: “We’re always looking for novel ways to get the general public interested in science, and you have to admit, it would be better than a slide show for demonstrating evolution!”

Read More

20,000 photos from 150 years of polar exploration available online

20,000 photos from 150 years of polar exploration available online

  7:51:00 AM    Science Lover

---

Over 20,000 images capturing over 150 years of polar exploration have been made accessible online by the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI³), thanks to a digitisation programme funded by JISC.

As part of the preservation programme, negatives, daguerreotypes and lantern slides, which form part of a rich but fragile archive held by the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, will be made available to scientists, researchers, scholars and members of the public.

From today, anyone interested in the 19th century exploration of the Arctic and the Antarctic expeditions of Captain Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton and their modern counterparts such as Sir Ranulph Fiennes can simply visit the Freeze Frame⁴ site. (Image to right shows Debenham and Taylor in the ice, 20 December 1910).

As well as being able to view a range of images, including Herbert Ponting’s glass plate negatives from the 1910-13 British Antarctic Expedition, that are so fragile they will never be on public display, visitors to the website will also be able to read extracts from diaries, expedition reports, letters and other personal papers of expedition members.

Polar Explorer Pen Hadow, who is currently leading the Catlin Arctic Survey which will determine the likely meltdown date of the ice cap, said: 'The Freeze Frame archive is invaluable in charting changes in the polar regions. Making the material available to all will help with further research into scientific studies around global warming and climate change.' (Image to the left shows Petty Officers Evans and Crean mending Sleeping Bags.)

Heather Lane, Librarian and Keeper of Collections at the Scott Polar Research Institute, said: 'The digitisation of these historic photographs allows the Scott Polar Research Institute’s resources to reach a wider learning community than ever before. Without this JISC-funded project we risked losing some of the most fragile of items forever and certainly wouldn’t be able to give so many people access to otherwise hidden collections that can further the study of polar environments.'

Alistair Dunning, Digitisation² Programme Manager at JISC, added: 'This is one of over a dozen JISC-funded projects which aim to take valuable content that is not easily accessible by scholars or other interested parties and make it available to all. Freeze Frame will provide an unparalleled record of the living conditions and scientific findings of the explorers which can be used by learners today studying everything from photography and nutrition to global warming and glaciology.' (Image right shows a pair of Adelie penguins, January 1911 British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-13. Image below shows Captain Scott writing his diary in the winterquarters' hut.)Freeze Frame archive⁴

Press coverage of this project⁵ (scroll to Feb 2009)

JISC Digitisation Programme²

Times Online article

Read More

Astronaut to try flying carpet in space!

Astronaut to try flying carpet in space!

  1:15:00 AM    Science Lover

---

Image via Wikipedia

Astronaut Koichi Wakata gestures after a check-up at NASA

A Japanese astronaut going to space this month will try to fly on a carpet, use eyedrops in zero gravity and meet a series of other off-beat challenges, a space agency official said on Thursday.

Koichi Wakata will perform 16 tasks chosen from 1,597 suggested by hundreds of people, from nursery school pupils to a 90-year-old man, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) official said.

Wakata will try “a magic carpet that floats in the air” after reaching the Japanese laboratory Kibo at the International Space Station (ISS) later in March for a stay of more than three months.

He will also attempt to fold clothes, do push-ups and backflips, arm-wrestle another astronaut and “shoot liquid out of the straw of a drink container

Image via Wikipedia

to see what happens”, the space agency said.

In another initiative, JAXA has invited companies to rent an astronaut by the hour in the ISS space lab to perform desired tasks, which could include advertisements or science experiments.

The hourly charge for an astronaut is 5.5 million yen (Rs 29 lakh approx) - plus an extra fee of 3.3 million yen (Rs 17 lakh approx) per kilogramme to transport any required items into space.

Read More

Gizmost wanted

Gizmost wanted

  10:08:00 AM    Science Lover

---

Intelligent champagne bottles, ‘green’ USB sticks made of corn, an understanding alarm clock, and a robot on wheels led the parade of fun, futuristic gadgets at the world’s biggest technology fair, CeBIT, in Germany

As the high-tech sector tries to buck the global economic slump, inventors from Asia, the US and Europe vied to capture imaginations at CeBIT - the world’s biggest annual hi-tech fair – with ideas to ignite the market in the coming months and years.

The expo runs until Sunday.

---

SMART LIVING

Researchers at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence, which works closely with several industries, was showing off a range of everyday objects rendered “smart”.

Its cutting-edge champagne bottles sound a bell when the bubbly has hit the perfect quaffing temperature, while an intelligent medicine cabinet lets you know when you last took your medication or need to get a prescription filled.

A so-called gentle alarm clock from Germany’s Simple Feature monitors sleep rhythms via a soft wristband fitted with sensors (pictured).

It then chooses a shallow sleep phase within 30 minutes of the desired wake-up time and goes off with a range of alarm tones including bird songs – encouraging what the firm says is a smoother start to a more productive day.

---

EASY NAVIGATION

A new navigator developed by GPS device manufacturer Garmin can calculate not only the most direct route, or the one with the least traffic, but also the one that would use the least fuel. What’s more, it even adds up the money you will save on your journey!

“The EcoChallenge feature analyses the driver’s heavy or light-food pedal technique and braking as well as the car speed, and shows how well the driver is doing in the fuel-saving stakes,” the company said.

---

LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU

Innovations in the world of entertainment also drew the crowds.

Taiwan’s Aiptek is offering movies-to-go to with its Pocketcinema portable projector, complete with 2GB of memory to store films.

Dutch firm Adapt Mobile, on the other hand, has a pocket projector that lets you share life-size photos.

Billed as the first Skype video telephone, the Eee by Germany’s Asus is a home phone that allows cheap international video calls in better quality than on a standard computer.

German premium sound specialist firm Blaupunkt unveiled prototypes of what they called the world’s first Internet car radio, promising access to “thousands of stations” via cellular phone networks.

And fashionistas needing a little more bling must look no further than the Asus EEE S121 notebook, wrapped in supple dark leather and studded with Swarovski crystals.

The company also showed off its EEE keyboard PC, which can wirelessly connect to any TV.

---

GOING GREEN

In keeping with a “green” theme at this year’s event, USB sticks and photo cards by California-based ITP now come in biodegradable plastics made of corn.

And some of the proceeds will go to tree-planting projects.


Meanwhile, people plagued by the question “Did I leave the iron on?” can relax. Swiss firm digitalSTROM.org has developed a chip that can be installed in ordinary light switches. An “everything off” button switches every device hooked up to the system to “standby”, averting fires and cutting energy bills.

The fair is also showcasing a range of new ultra-thin, ultra-efficient netbooks that are easier on the wallet, including the first “zero-watt” laptop from Fujitsu-Siemens that uses no electricity when idle.

And then there was Japanese giant Toshiba, showing off televisions that use half the power of normal sets.

---

MED-TECH

The CeBIT is spotlighting eHealth this year, featuring products that allow patients to receive better care from home, thanks to the Internet.

Bodytel of Germany has developed a blood sugar monitor for diabetics whose results can be beamed straight to the patient’s file at his doctor’s office via his mobile phone.

Similar devices keep watch on one’s blood pressure and heart rates.

---

ROLLIN' ROBOT

In the Future Parc hall of CeBIT, all eyes have been on the Rollin’ Justin robot, developed by the German Aerospace Centre.

The robot has a humanoid upper body; but instead of legs, there’s a four-wheel omni-directional base that helps it “roll” around.

Justin is also capable of detecting and squeezing through tight areas such as doors, using smart technology to bring its “legs” together, or by lifting them using a spring mechanism, its inventors said.


Its appendages are robotic arms known as DLR-III, which have sensors that can calculate the weight and impact of any object they come in contact with.

This allows Justin to perform complex, delicate tasks such as preparing tea and “shaking a person’s hand without breaking it”, said one of its developers, Thomas Wimboeck.

Read More

Twin black holes found doing a cosmic tango

Twin black holes found doing a cosmic tango

  7:41:00 AM    Science Lover

---

Two colossal black holes appear to be orbiting one another in sort of a cosmic minuet at the center of a faraway galaxy formed when two separate galaxies collided, US astronomers said on Wednesday.

Image via Wikipedia

These two so-called supermassive black holes, which are celestial objects with enormous gravitational pull, are locked in orbit about 5 billion light years away from Earth, the scientists said. A light year is about 6 trillion miles, or the distance light travels in a year. Data from Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico provided the best evidence to date of two black holes orbiting each other, according to astronomer Todd Boroson of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. This is known as a binary system.

Scientists believe all or most galaxies have supermassive black holes at their center. For example, our Milky Way galaxy has a black hole at its center that is about 3 million times the mass of the sun.

When galaxies collide and merge, as they do relatively often, the black holes at their center may gravitate toward one another because of their great mass, entering into orbit as these two appear to be doing.

Boroson said orbiting black holes eventually may merge into an even larger single black hole. While scientists think binary black holes may be relatively common, they have been elusive. Boroson and fellow National Optical Astronomy Observatory astronomer Tod Lauer detected these two by spotting the radiation emitted by objects apparently being sucked into the black holes by their gravitational pull.

Read More