Summary: Brain-to-text system could help people with speech difficulties to communicate, researchers report.
Source: Frontiers.
Recent research shows brain-to-text device capable of decoding speech from brain signals.
Continue reading “Can A Brain Computer Interface Convert Your Thoughts to Text?” »
A research team in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering and the Electronics-Inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute (EIIRIS) at Toyohashi University of Technology developed 5-μm-diameter needle-electrodes on 1 mm × 1 mm block modules. This tiny needle may help solve the mysteries of the brain and facilitate the development of a brain-machine interface. The research results were reported in Scientific Reports on Oct 25, 2016.
The neuron networks in the human brain are extremely complex. Microfabricated silicon needle-electrode devices were expected to be an innovation that would be able to record and analyze the electrical activities of the microscale neuronal circuits in the brain.
However, smaller needle technologies (e.g., needle diameter 10 μm) are necessary to reduce damage to brain tissue. In addition to the needle geometry, the device substrate should be minimized not only to reduce the total amount of damage to tissue but also to enhance the accessibility of the electrode in the brain. Thus, these electrode technologies will realize new experimental neurophysiological concepts.
Nice.
Scientists have created an inexpensive technique to print “data skin” — soft wearable electronics — paving way for smart tattoos that can be customised and printed at home.
Researchers created a fully functional “data skin” in under an hour. Since the method is based on inexpensive processing tools and materials, the circuits can be produced for less than a dollar.
Continue reading “Soon, print your own smart tattoos, wearable fitness trackers” »
Imagine if your electronic wearable device, like your Fitbit, adhered to you like a sticker or temporary tattoo and could read your pulse or measure hand gestures. As electronics are becoming thinner, lighter, and more power efficient, they can be populated on stickers and temporary tattoos to create soft wearables that adhere to the skin. And the most exciting news is that one day you may be able to print these wearable electronics from a home printer.
Carnegie Mellon University’s Mechanical Engineering Professor Carmel Majidi, Ph.D. student Eric Markvicka, and previous postdoctoral fellow Michael Bartlett (now a professor at Iowa State University) have created a method to print skin-mountable electronics in a quick and cost-effective way.
“One of the remaining challenges in skin-mounted electronics is to interface soft circuits with the rigid microchips and electronics hardware required for sensing, digital processing, and power,” said Majidi. “We address this with a breakthrough digital fabrication technique that enables efficient creation of wireless electronics on a soft, water-resistant, medical-grade adhesive.”
What does the future hold for computing? Experts at the Networked Quantum Information Technologies Hub (NQIT), based at Oxford University, believe our next great technological leap lies in the development of quantum computing.
Quantum computers could solve problems it takes a conventional computer longer than the lifetime of the universe to solve. This could bring new possibilities, such as advanced drug development, superior military intelligence, greater opportunities for space exploration and enhanced encryption security.
Continue reading “The exciting new age of quantum computing” »
Based on the conclusion of this agreement, QST and Osaka University will greatly contribute to the promotion of science, technology and academia, and the creation of innovation in a variety of different fields. The institutes will create a new framework for collaboration and cooperation through the use of the research and development ability, state-of-the-art facilities, and human resources.
In addition, under this agreement, QST Kansai Photon Science Institute and the Osaka University Institute of Laser Engineering have simultaneously concluded a memorandum for cooperation in light and quantum beam science.
It is hoped that the development and utilization research of internationally-competitive power lasers will be greatly accelerated through systematic collaboration.
Continue reading “QST And Osaka To Collaborate On Quantum And Radiological Research” »
Using ultrafast laser flashes, physicists from the Max Planck Institute have generated the fastest electric current that has ever been measured inside a solid material.
In the field of electronics, the principle ‘the smaller, the better’ applies. Some building blocks of computers or mobile phones, however, have become nearly as small today as only a few atoms. It is therefore hardly possible to reduce them any further.
Another factor for the performance of electronic devices is the speed at which electric currents oscillate. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have now created electric currents inside solids which exceed the frequency of visible light by more than ten times They made electrons in silicon dioxide oscillate with ultrafast laser pulses. The conductivity of the material which is typically used as an insulator was increased by more than 19 orders of magnitude.
Oh boy!
Space vacuum that appears to be stable due to the complete absence of substance in it, is likely to be fraught with great danger. The idea about the destruction of the universe is based on the hypothesis of vacuum instability. Any system in our world has a certain amount of potential energy. But, space vacuum is not as empty as it may seem to be. Vacuum in space is filled with quantum particles, which, in turn, may seek their own “stability” to annihilate the material world in its entirety during the process.
