MOBE2001 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Snortable Drug Keeps Monkeys Awake

Submitted by sporkme on Friday December 28, 2007 @06:00PM

sporkme writes: A DARPA-funded research project at UCLA has wrapped up a set of animal trials testing the effects of inhalation of the brain chemical orexin A, a deficiency of which is a characteristic of narcolepsy. From the article:

The monkeys were deprived of sleep for 30 to 36 hours and then given either orexin A or a saline placebo before taking standard cognitive tests. The monkeys given orexin A in a nasal spray scored about the same as alert monkeys, while the saline-control group was severely impaired. The study, published in the Dec. 26 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience, found orexin A not only restored monkeys' cognitive abilities but made their brains look "awake" in PET scans. Siegel said that orexin A is unique in that it only had an impact on sleepy monkeys, not alert ones, and that it is "specific in reversing the effects of sleepiness" without other impacts on the brain.
Researchers seem cautious to bill the treatment as a replacement for sleep, as it is not clear that adjusting brain chemistry could have the same physical benefits of real sleep in the long run. The drug is aimed at replacing amphetamines used by drowsy long-haul military pilots, but there would no doubt be large demand for such a remedy thanks to its apparent lack of side-effects.

Where Do the Laws of Nature Come From? 729

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 18, 2007 @03:05PM from the you-say-anthropic-i-say-platonic dept.

mlimber writes "The NYTimes science section has up an interesting article discussing the nature of scientific laws. It comes partly in reply to physicist Paul Davies, whose recent op-ed in same paper lit up the blogosphere and solicited flurry of reader responses to the editorial page. It asks, 'Are [laws of nature] merely fancy bookkeeping, a way of organizing facts about the world? Do they govern nature or just describe it? And does it matter that we don't know and that most scientists don't seem to know or care where they come from?' The current article proceeds to survey different views on the matter. The author seems to be poking fun at himself by quoting Richard Feynman's epigram, 'Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds.'"

Submission + - Fudan Intelligent Robot (shanghaidaily.com)

Submitted by martinsslaves on Wednesday November 07, 2007 @10:40PM

martinsslaves writes: Shanghais' Fudan University have made some considerable progress in their endeavors in learning robots, with their new "Fudan Intelligent Robot" looking a whole lot more polished than their previous Fudan-1 model. The goal is for the robot to learn new tasks by following voice commands, which the researchers hope could eventually allow the robot to help the elderly or become a "good household mate" for families. Among other things, the bot can currently can plot out its own map of its surroundings and remember specific locations and, of course, change TV channels at your command (or, as you can see above, even serve as a TV itself).

Submission + - Silicon Valley - the new Detroit? (mercurynews.com)

Submitted by fiannaFailMan on Wednesday November 07, 2007 @09:26PM

fiannaFailMan writes: The San Jose Mercury News is speculating about Silicon Valley's potential for becoming the Detroit of a future electric car industry. Among the valley's strengths is an ability to adapt to rapidly changing business environments and develop new business models, something that the Big Three can hardly be accused of. On the downside, it's a capital-intensive business and isn't like raising $40 million and having an IPO. Apparently there are five companies in the valley already pursuing electric car technology, most notably Tesla.

Last week's announcement by Shai Agassi, a former SAP executive based in Palo Alto, that he's raised $200 million for a company that will try to revolutionize the electric car industry is the latest sign of this region's growing role in one of the hottest sectors of the automotive industry.

Submission + - New GPS Navigator shows Traffic Jams Ahead

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Thursday October 18, 2007 @04:19PM

Hugh Pickens writes: "The New York Times is running an article on Dash Express, a new navigation system for automobiles that not only receives GPS location data, but broadcasts information about its travels back to Dash over a cellular data network where it is shared with other users to let them know if there are slowdowns or traffic jams on the road ahead and propose an alternate route. The real benefit of the system isn't apparent until enough units are collecting data so Dash distributed over 2,000 prototype units to test drivers in 25 large cities. The continuous two-way reporting lets the system measure how fast traffic travels on a given road, and use that information to compile a highly detailed and accurate database of traffic information so Dash units can warn each other through the network the second they hit a traffic slowdown."

Submission + - Robotic Cannon Looses Control, Kills 9, 14 Wounded 1

Submitted by

TJ_Phazerhacki

on Thursday October 18, 2007 @02:42PM

TJ_Phazerhacki writes: "A new high tech weapon system demonstrated one of the prime concerns circling smarter and smarter methods of defense last week — an Oerlikon GDF-005 went wildly out of control during live fire test exercises in South Africa, killing 9. Scarily enough, this is far from the first instance of a smart weapon "turning" — the biggest concern seems to be finding the glitches in the system instead of reconsidering automated arms altogether. Sarah Connor, where are you?"

Submission + - Google Presentation launched! (google.com)

Submitted by fullstop on Tuesday September 18, 2007 @01:57AM

fullstop writes: As seen from an early sign here. Google has finally launched their online presentation tool to complete its office offerings at Google Docs.

Building Brainlike Computers 251

Posted by kdawson on Friday April 13, 2007 @12:43PM from the cortexes-for-all dept.

newtronic clues us to an article in IEEE Spectrum by Jeff Hawkins (founder of Palm Computing), titled Why can't a computer be more like a brain? Hawkins brings us up to date with his latest endeavor, Numenta. He covers progress since his book On Intelligence and gives details on Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM), which is a platform for simulating neocortical activity. Programming HTMs is different — you essentially feed them sensory data. Numenta has created a framework and tools, free in a "research release," that allow anyone to build and program HTMs.

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