Menu

Blog

Page 10876

Jul 11, 2016

BRCA mutations linked to prostate and uterine cancers

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Personally; I have heard this several years ago from some medical researchers. Glad that more have concluded this tie.


Genetic mutations on several genes including BRCA2 have been associated with prostate cancer; while in a separate study, a BRCA1 mutation has been linked to a particular form of uterine cancer.

The first study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that 12 percent of men with advanced prostate cancer had inherited mutations in genes involved in the repair of damaged DNA.

Professor Johann de Bono of the Institute of Cancer Research in London and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, who led the study, said: ‘Our study has shown that a significant proportion of men with advanced prostate cancer are born with DNA repair mutations – and this could have important implications for patients.

Read more

Jul 11, 2016

42,300 Transistor Megaprocessor Is Complete

Posted by in category: computing

Hmmm; okay.


As it turns out, the answer is not 42, it’s 42.3 — thousand. That’s how many discrete transistors spread across the 30 m2 room housing this massive computation machine. [James Newman’s] Megaprocessor, a seriously enlarged version of a microprocessor, is a project we’ve been following with awe as it took shape over the last couple of years.

Continue reading “42,300 Transistor Megaprocessor Is Complete” »

Jul 11, 2016

System controls robots with the brain

Posted by in categories: computing, drones, neuroscience, robotics/AI

More update on controlling drones with BMI.


Using wireless interface, operators control multiple drones by thinking of various tasks.

Continue reading “System controls robots with the brain” »

Jul 11, 2016

Uploading my brain waves to the cloud, Azure IoT Hub and Emotiv brain interface

Posted by in categories: drones, neuroscience

Nice read by Microsoft on their BMI efforts.


I have been reading a lot about brain interfaces and that the Tesla S can be summoned with the brain and that people have started having competitions with drones controlled by brain waves. I have recently acquired an Emotiv Insight® as shown in Figure 1 and have been doing some testing with it.

image

Continue reading “Uploading my brain waves to the cloud, Azure IoT Hub and Emotiv brain interface” »

Jul 11, 2016

Google Tests Post-Quantum Crypto

Posted by in categories: computing, internet, quantum physics, security

Good article overall; and yes QC is still evolving. However, to state Quantum networking is in its infancy is a wrong & misleading comment. Since 2009, Quantum Internet has been in beta at Los Alamos Labs. And, researchers will tell you that QC development can as far back as 1970s and the first official QC was introduced in 2009 when the first universal programmable quantum computer was introduced by University of Toronto’s Kim Luke.


Google has launched a two-year Chrome trial aimed at safeguarding the Internet against quantum computers, which security experts predict will shred all data.

Read more

Jul 11, 2016

Finding the human in robots

Posted by in categories: computing, drones, education, robotics/AI

Personally, I would love to see a majority of the elementary schools expose more children to robotics, Biocomputing, etc.


DRONE technology and other burgeoning fields beckon for Hunter kids.

Read more

Jul 11, 2016

Researchers develop faster, precise silica coating process for quantum dot nanorods

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, nanotechnology, quantum physics

Faster and better method around Q-dots development which ultimately extends the quality of Quantum Dots plus mass production of Q-Dots is much faster through this new method. Hoping this causes the costs of new cameras, phone displays, monitors/ video displays are now able to be created more cheaply and in larger quantities.


Materials researchers at North Carolina State University have fine-tuned a technique that enables them to apply precisely controlled silica coatings to quantum dot nanorods in a day — up to 21 times faster than previous methods. In addition to saving time, the advance means the quantum dots are less likely to degrade, preserving their advantageous optical properties.

Quantum dots are nanoscale semiconductor materials whose small size cause them to have electron energy levels that differ from larger-scale versions of the same material. By controlling the size of the quantum dots, researchers can control the relevant energy levels — and those energy levels give quantum dots novel optical properties. These characteristics make quantum dots promising for applications such as opto-electronics and display technologies.

Continue reading “Researchers develop faster, precise silica coating process for quantum dot nanorods” »

Jul 11, 2016

Our universe could be reborn as a bouncing baby cosmos

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

A new model shows how the universe could survive a “big bounce” rather than a big bang, without the need for complex new physics.

Read more

Jul 11, 2016

Eight new research units, 1 new clinical research unit

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, innovation

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) will set up seven new Research Units and one new Clinical Research Unit. This was decided by the Senate of the DFG in its summer session during the DFG Annual Meeting in Mainz. In addition to the already established Units, another Research Unit is now in a position to start work. This Unit is funded jointly by the DFG and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The DFG Senate had already supported this Unit in March 2016 and approval has now been obtained from the Austrian partner organisation.

The research collaborations will offer researchers the possibility of pursuing current and pressing issues in their research areas and establishing innovative work directions. Clinical Research Units are also characterised by the close connection between research and clinical work. The maximum funding duration of Research Units and Clinical Research Units is two periods of three years. In the initial funding period, the nine new groups will receive approximately €23 million in total. As a result, the DFG will be funding a total of 190 Research Units and 19 Clinical Research Units.

The new Research Units.

Continue reading “Eight new research units, 1 new clinical research unit” »

Jul 11, 2016

Forget Iron Man: skintight suits are the future of robotic exoskeletons

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, cyborgs, robotics/AI

Children with a rare neurological disease were recently given the chance to walk for the first time thanks to a new robotic exoskeleton. These devices – which are essentially robotic suits that give artificial movement to a user’s limbs – are set to become an increasingly common way of helping people who’ve lost the use of their legs to walk. But while today’s exoskeletons are mostly clumsy, heavy devices, new technology could make them much easier and more natural to use by creating a robotic skin.

Exoskeletons have been in development since the 1960s. The first one was a bulky set of legs and claw-like gloves reminiscent of the superhero, Iron Man, designed to use hydraulic power to help industrial workers lift hundreds of kilogrammes of weight. It didn’t work, but since then other designs for both the upper and lower body have successfully been used to increase people’s strength, help teach them to use their limbs again, or even as a way to interact with computers using touch or “haptic” feedback.

Continue reading “Forget Iron Man: skintight suits are the future of robotic exoskeletons” »