LinkNotes

Invisibility Cloak Breakthrough: Scientists Cloak 3-D Objects

2012-01-26T12:01:00.004+01:00

Scientists create first free-standing 3D cloak

Researchers in the US have, for the first time, cloaked a three-dimensional object standing in free space, bringing the much-talked-about invisibility cloak one step closer to reality.

[...]

Published today, 26 January, in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society’s New Journal of Physics, the researchers used a method known as “plasmonic cloaking” to hide an 18-centimetre cylindrical tube from microwaves.

Source: Scientists create first free-standing 3D cloak

Invisibility's Next Frontier: Scientists Cloak 3-D Objects | Danger Room | Wired.com

Sure, researchers have already made marked strides toward making objects unseeable. But much of the work was more like mimicry: Meta-materials that bent light around an object to conceal it, but only worked in two dimensions. Or a device that played tricks on the eye, by harnessing the mirage effect to make objects behind it “disappear.”

Now, a team of researchers have taken an incredible leap forward. They’ve successfully made a 3-D object disappear.

Source: Invisibility's Next Frontier: Scientists Cloak 3-D Objects | Danger Room | Wired.com

Metamaterial cloaking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Metamaterial cloaking is the scientific application of metamaterials in order to achieve invisibility-cloaking. This is accomplished by manipulating the paths traversed by light through a novel optical material. Metamaterials direct and control the propagation and transmission of specified parts of the light spectrum and demonstrate the potential to render an object seemingly invisible. Metamaterial cloaking, based on transformation optics, describes the process of shielding something from view by controlling electromagnetic radiation. Objects in the defined location are still present, but incident waves are guided around them without being affected by the object itself.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Source: Metamaterial cloaking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scientists make 'invisibility cloak' breakthrough - Telegraph

Those hoping for a Harry Potter-style touch of wizardry will be disappointed however. To the human eye, which can only perceive light in higher frequencies, there would have been no invisibility.

But, say the researchers, the experiment is important proof of a principle that so-called plasmonic meta-materials can achieve a cloaking effect.

A warplane cloaked with such materials could achieve "super-stealth" status by becoming invisible in all directions to radar microwaves, said co-lead investigator Andrea Alu.

Source: Scientists make 'invisibility cloak' breakthrough - Telegraph

Researchers cloak free-standing 3D object using plasmonic metamaterials

To cloak an 18 cm (7 in) long, 2.5 cm (0.9 in) diameter cylindrical tube from microwaves, the team shelled it in a plasmonic metamaterial. The team says the cloak hid the 3D object for all angles of incidence and observation. They tested it by directing microwaves towards the cloaked cylinder and mapping the resulting scattering both around the object and in the far-field. The cloak worked best when the microwaves were at a frequency of 3.1 GHz, reducing the scattering of polarized microwaves by more than 9 dB for a 60-degree range of angles.

But the team says demonstrating the cloaking on a 3D object using visible light is their key challenge.
"In principle, this technique could be used to cloak light; in fact, some plasmonic materials are naturally available at optical frequencies. However, the size of the objects that can be efficiently cloaked with this method scales with the wavelength of operation, so when applied to optical frequencies we may be able to efficiently stop the scattering of micrometre-sized objects," said Professor Alù.

Source: Researchers cloak free-standing 3D object using plasmonic metamaterials

Related

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 The First Super AMOLED Plus Tablet

2012-01-19T12:46:00.000+01:00

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 preview: first SUPER AMOLED Plus tablet | Northern Voices Online: NVO News Blog

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 is going to be the first super AMOLED Plus tablet being launched in the market

[...]

The new tablet is to become the world’s first tablet with the best quality display, which has been the attraction of smartphones for a while. The display features a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels with 197 pixels per inch density (ppi). It is an Android Honeycomb tablet with TouchWiz UX user interface, 1.4GHz dual core processor, 1GB of RAM and various on-device memory options like 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. Read on to know more about the imminent tablet from Samsung.

Source: Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 preview: first SUPER AMOLED Plus tablet | Northern Voices Online: NVO News Blog

SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab 7.7 - The Best 7 Inch Android Tablet - YouTube

Source: SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab 7.7 - The Best 7 Inch Android Tablet - YouTube

Super AMOLED - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Super AMOLED

Super Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode or Super AMOLED is a display technology (variant from AMOLED) mainly for use in mobile devices such as mobile phones (see the list below for examples). One of the main differences from other display technologies is that the layer that detects touch is integrated into the screen rather than being overlaid on top.

Compared with the first-generation AMOLED, some of the Super AMOLED advantages are brighter screens, less sunlight reflection and reduced power consumption.^[1]^[2]

Super AMOLED Plus

Super AMOLED Plus, first introduced with the Samsung Galaxy S II and Samsung Droid Charge smartphones, is a further development where the PenTile RGBG pixel matrix (2 subpixels) is replaced with Samsung's "Real Stripe" (3 subpixels) RGB RGB subpixel arrangement. This goes from eight to twelve subpixels per group, resulting in finer details. The screen technology is also brighter, thinner with AMOLED Plus displays being 18% more energy efficient than the old Super AMOLED displays.^[3]

Source: Super AMOLED - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samsung explain Super-Amoled-PLUS - YouTube

Source: Samsung explain Super-Amoled-PLUS - YouTube

Related

Mercedes-Benz DICE Dynamic & Intuitive Control Experience

2012-01-17T15:14:00.000+01:00

Digital Premium through Augmented Reality

With the DICE (Dynamic & Intuitive Control Experience) sculpture, at the CES Mercedes-Benz provides a vision of the interactive, intuitive and simultaneously safe operating experience in premium automobiles of the future. DICE impressively demonstrates how the vehicle becomes an intelligent mobility partner through bidirectional interaction.

"The intelligent car communicates not only with the driver, but also with other transportation modes and its entire environment in order to be able to assess all relevant information for a trip and make practical use of it immediately," says Zetsche.

Source: Mercedes-Benz at the 2012 International CES in Las Vegas: "Mercedes-Benz writes a new chapter of the Declaration of Independence" | Daimler Global Media Site > Technology > Events

Mercedes-Benz Unveils Futuristic Dashboard Controlled By Hand Gestures @PSFK

Damon Lavrinc from Auto Blog tested DICE and claims that although it’s an innovative solution, “it’s not without its issues.” Lavrinc pointed out that the system the proximity sensors can’t yet distinguish between a gesture or if you just have your hand out. A Mercedes executive stated that we won’t be seeing gesture-based dashboard in Mercedes vehicles any time soon as a production version won’t be released for another 20 years.

Watch the video below to see Lavrinc testing out the Mercedes DICE system.

Source: Mercedes-Benz Unveils Futuristic Dashboard Controlled By Hand Gestures @PSFK

Mercedes-Benz DICE concept shows the future of augmented reality in cars

The complete windshield becomes a brilliant head-up display; the dashboard, a display band. Digital information about the actual vehicle surroundings, points of interest, friends, pedestrians and other vehicles is presented there and a natural interaction by means of gestures is made possible.

For this Mercedes-Benz uses a combination of Augmented Reality and natural gesture control to realize a completely new, exciting form of communication between people and their environment.

The interactive logic of the novel control concept is very imitative of intuitive human behavior. Along with functional aspects it now also involves emotional and social aspects and so creates a unique operating and driving experience.

Source: Mercedes-Benz DICE concept shows the future of augmented reality in cars

To the left of the steering wheel on the flat panel dashboard was a simulated compass that we could manipulate with hand gestures, similar to Microsoft’s Kinect system. To right of the steering wheel, on the passenger side dashboard, was a secondary panel with buttons label Social, Media and Places. Waving our hands in front of each of the tabs would highlight them, while pushing our hands forward allowed us to select them.

As our virtual vehicle navigated the streets of San Francisco, DICE would pick up on various landmarks and display selectable points of interest icons on the windshield. Waving our hands in front of the icons brought up information on their corresponding points of interest that we could choose to save to our dashboard’s Places section.

Source: Mercedes Benz’s DICE Augemented Reality System: Minority Report For Your Car

Mercedes Benz - Augmented Reality Dashboard at CES 2012 - YouTube

Source: Mercedes Benz - Augmented Reality Dashboard at CES 2012 - YouTube

IBM's Atomic-Scale Magnetic Memory

2012-01-15T15:14:00.000+01:00

Smallest Ever Computer Memory, Using 12 Atoms, Developed By IBM

By developing a data storage device composed of just 12 iron atoms, IBM researchers may have signalled the beginning of the end for traditional computer memory. In a paper published January 13 in Science, Andreas Heinrich and his team demonstrated the smallest ever information storage system, an impressive display in an industry where bits normally take up over half a billion atoms.

[...]

The atoms, arranged in a 6x2 pattern, were positioned one at a time with the tip of a powerful scanning tunneling microscope; they use a special kind of magnetism, called antiferromagnetism. PhysOrg explains,

Different from ferromagnetism, which is used in conventional hard drives, the spins of neighboring atoms within antiferromagnetic material are oppositely aligned, rendering the material magnetically neutral on a bulk level. This means that antiferromagnetic atom rows can be spaced much more closely without magnetically interfering with each other. Thus, the scientist managed to pack bits only one nanometer apart.

Source: Smallest Ever Computer Memory, Using 12 Atoms, Developed By IBM

Smaller Magnetic Materials Push Boundaries of Nanotechnology - NYTimes.com

Although the research took place at a temperature near absolute zero, the scientists wrote that the same experiment could be done at room temperature with as few as 150 atoms.

As part of its demonstration of the antiferromagnetic storage effect, the researchers created a computer byte, or character, out of an individually placed array of 96 atoms. They then used the array to encode the I.B.M. motto “Think” by repeatedly programming the memory block to store representations of its five letters.

An atomically assembled array of 96 iron atoms containing one byte of magnetic information in antiferromagnetic states.

Source: Smaller Magnetic Materials Push Boundaries of Nanotechnology - NYTimes.com

IBM researchers store one bit of magnetic information in just 12 atoms - YouTube

Source: IBM researchers store one bit of magnetic information in just 12 atoms - YouTube

IBM News room - 2012-01-12 IBM Research Determines Atomic Limits of Magnetic Memory - United States

The scientists at IBM Research used a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to atomically engineer a grouping of twelve antiferromagnetically coupled atoms that stored a bit of data for hours at low temperatures. Taking advantage of their inherent alternating magnetic spin directions, they demonstrated the ability to pack adjacent magnetic bits much closer together than was previously possible. This greatly increased the magnetic storage density without disrupting the state of neighboring bits.

Writing and reading a magnetic byte: this image shows a magnetic byte imaged 5 times in different magnetic states to store the ASCII code for each letter of the word THINK, a corporate mantra used by IBM since 1914. The team achieved this using 96 iron atoms − one bit was stored by 12 atoms and there are eight bits in each byte.

Source: IBM News room - 2012-01-12 IBM Research Determines Atomic Limits of Magnetic Memory - United States

IBM - Atomic-scale magnetic memory - United States

The challenge of Moore's Law
We expect our hard drives to store more and cost less every few years. But by current conventions the technology industry is reaching the physical limits of its faithful adherence to Moore's Law, which says that the number of transistors on a microchip will approximately double every two years.
To continue to advance, new methods were needed to pack more data storage and computing capabilities into smaller spaces.

More facts about atomic-scale magnetic memory: download the PDF (279KB)

Source: IBM - Atomic-scale magnetic memory - United States

Related

Lumus Wearable Display

2012-01-13T16:03:00.000+01:00

Walk And Watch HD Movies With Lumus’ See-Through Video Glasses

Video eyewear hasn’t been the most practical — or even quality — technology to emerge over the past 10 years, but it still carries an essence of the future with it. And while they’re not any more practical, Lumus Technologies’ 720p DK-32 see-through video eyewear struck enough of a balance between picture quality, wearability and that future factor for my enjoyment.

Source: Walk And Watch HD Movies With Lumus’ See-Through Video Glasses | Gizmodo Australia

Lumus see-through wearable display hands-on at CES 2012 - YouTube

Lumus was showing off two different types of wearable displays, the development kit -- or DK-32 shown above -- and the PD-18-4 a monocular version using the same technology. Driven by Lumus' patented Light-guide Optical Element, a micro-display pod, and the Optical Engine which projects light into the lens -- where it is reflected back to the user's eye via reflectors embedded in the lens -- the Lumus' DK-32 delivers a bright 720p 3D-capable display that only weighs 27 grams.

Source: Lumus see-through wearable display hands-on at CES 2012 - YouTube

Lumus - The Lumus Solution

See-through and large screen effect
Unlimited screen size is one of the most innovate and coolest features of Lumus' see-through capability, enabling users to literally experience the world's largest screen. While display brightness and contrast are optimized to block out ambient background when watching video content, the Field of View surrounding the active image remains clear, with the image appearing as though it is being projected onto whatever background is visible. For example, when viewing an image with a wall in front of the wearer, the image appears as if it is a large screen projected on that wall. When outside and looking at the view several blocks away, the image appears as if it is hundreds of feet wide. This phenomenon is explained by the unlimited distance perception enabled by the see-through capability - the farther the distance observed around the active image, the larger the image appears.

Source: Lumus - The Lumus Solution

Lumus - Advantages

Unobtrusive, natural look and feel of regular eyeglasses, which can be worn all day, even when screen is off
Huge expandable screen with image appearing even larger over distance
Situational awareness enabling watching on the go while seeing what's going on around you
Hands-free flow of critical data, keeping you constantly connected no matter what you are doing
Personal and private screen allowing discreet viewing of video and data anywhere
Augmented reality content overlaid on what you see, enabling revolutionary applications
Stereoscopic image enabling mind-blowing 3D video and gaming
No fatigue or dizziness because of open peripheral vision and proprietary alignment methods and procedures

Source: Lumus - Advantages

Related

Sensics SmartGoggles

2012-01-09T11:49:00.001+01:00

Headset Sensics Smart Goggles on Android | iPedia - Latest Technology News, iPhone, Apple, Gadgets

Android operating system has penetrated almost all electronics, from in-vehicle infotainment systems, and ending wristwatch. However, producers that was not enough and they decided to find a new habitat popular platform: SmartGoggles.

The company Sensics, speaking developer SmartGoggles, released a video teaser of the future gadget, which is a helmet with a display in front of the user’s eyes. As noted above, Sensics SmartGoggles runs on an operating system Android, which version is not specified.

Source: Headset Sensics Smart Goggles on Android | iPedia - Latest Technology News, iPhone, Apple, Gadgets

Sensics SmartGoggles | A new 3D, 360 degree gaming and entertainment platform

Source: Sensics SmartGoggles | A new 3D, 360 degree gaming and entertainment platform

Sensics

Sensics Introduces SmartGoggles™: a New 3d, 360-Degree Gaming and Entertainment Platform

COLUMBIA, MD (12/22/11) – Maryland-based Sensics plans to unveil SmartGoggles™, a new 3D, 360-degree gaming and entertainment platform at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show.

Sensics’ SmartGoggles™ technology powers new types of gaming and entertainment goggles that are mobile and feature real-time, 360-degree tracking of the hands from the user’s perspective, adding intelligence, natural interaction, and true portability to goggle designs.

Source: Sensics

Technology | Sensics SmartGoggles

What’s inside?
SmartGoggles are a unique architecture for smarter, better virtual reality goggles. Delivered as a ‘system on a module’, SmartGoggles technology provides consumer electronics companies with an engine for building goggles that customers will love to use.
SmartGoggles typically include the following components:

A powerful application processor, typically running Android or Windows Embedded, allowing you to download, run and store applications locally – on the goggles – and take them with you.

A unique system for first-person hand tracking, providing natural interaction with the applications. By using hand tracking data – provided through the libSensics™ software library, application developers can use the hands to interact with 3D content, to play a 360 degree 3D game and to provide on-board user interface.

A virtual reality engine that provides almost everything you need to build goggles: display drivers, predictive head tracking, video processing, communications and more.

Ready to dive deeper into the architecture of SmartGoggles? Click here for a detailed block diagram.

Source: Technology | Sensics SmartGoggles

Related

Lit Motors' C-1 Gyroscopically Stabilized Electric Motorcycle

2012-01-08T14:53:00.001+01:00

The "C-1" (Codename) "Rolling Smart Phone" | Lit Motors, Inc.

Introducing the C-1, the world's first gyroscopically stabilized rolling smart phone. This vehicle combines the efficiency and freedom of a motorcycle with the safety and convenience of a car. Offering the alternated to alternatives on an exciting and safe platform, the C-1 transforms your daily commute into something to look forward to.

Source: The "C-1" (Codename) "Rolling Smart Phone" | Lit Motors, Inc.

The vehicle

So far, Kim and his team have developed an operating model of the C-1's flywheel-based stabilization system, along with a full-scale fiberglass mock-up of the vehicle itself. They are now working on a hand-built steel uni-bodied working prototype, which should reportedly be complete within about three months. Plans call for an initial run of production vehicles to be available at a price of about US$24,000 by late 2013, with that price going down to $16,000 once full production gets under way in 2014.

[...]

Keeping connected

As with many existing newer cars, the vehicle will also utilize various connectivity protocols to stay in contact with the internet. This will allow its driver to be continuously aware of factors such as traffic, construction, and adverse weather conditions - where applicable, alternate routes will be suggested.

Source: Lit Motors' C-1 electric motorcycle will stand up for itself

This vehicle also employs KERS Kinetic Energy Recovery System in addition to both an aerodynamic shape and a low rolling resistance.

With KERS, whenever you use your brakes, that kinetic energy will be stored and used to assist in spinning up the flywheels. The flywheels sit near the bottom of the vehicle and both provide stability for the vehicle and deliver power to the drivetrain when you’re accelerating. Quite efficient! The C-1′s flywheel stabilization system allows you to balance in essentially any situation, as shown quite clearly in this lovely video:

Source: Lit Motors C-1 self-balancing motorcycle brings Tron to reality - SlashGear

Source: C-1 fully-enclosed self-balancing motorcycle - YouTube

Related

3D Cameras for Cellphones with CoDAC: Compressive Depth Acquisition

2012-01-07T15:21:00.000+01:00

Depth map - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In 3D computer graphics a depth map is an image or image channel that contains information relating to the distance of the surfaces of scene objects from a viewpoint.

Depth Map: Nearer is darker

Source: Depth map - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3-D cameras for cellphones - MIT News Office

Clever math could enable a high-quality 3-D camera so simple, cheap and power-efficient that it could be incorporated into handheld devices.

The MIT researchers’ system [...] uses only a single light detector — a one-pixel camera. But by using some clever mathematical tricks, it can get away with firing the laser a limited number of times.

[...]

Indeed, the algorithm lets the researchers get away with relatively crude hardware. Their system measures the time of flight of photons using a cheap photodetector and an ordinary analog-to-digital converter — an off-the-shelf component already found in all cellphones. The sensor takes about 0.7 nanoseconds to register a change to its input.

Source: 3-D cameras for cellphones - MIT News Office

STIR CoDAC Project Page

CoDAC: Compressive Depth Acquisition Camera

CoDAC is a new time-of-flight based range measurement system for acquiring depth maps of piecewise-planar scenes with high spatial resolution using a single, omnidirectional, time-resolved photodetector and no scanning components. [...]

[...]

Our technique, CoDAC, is based on the TOF distance measurement principle. In contrast to a regular TOF camera, CoDAC uses a pulsed light source to illuminate a spatial light modulator. The spatial light modulator selectively illuminates the scene with a randomly-chosen checkerboard pattern by selectively blocking some of the light. All the light reflected from the scene is focused at a single, time-resolved photodetector. The photodetector produces an electrical signal, which is in turn sampled and stored. This process of illumination, integration and sampling is repeated for a small number of randomly-chosen binary patterns. Finally, the time samples collected through this acquisition are computationally processed using a parametric signal processing framework to reconstruct the scene depth map.

Source: STIR CoDAC Project Page

Source: CODAC: COMPRESSIVE DEPTH ACQUISITION CAMERA - YouTube

Kinect comes to Smart Phones?

It will be a little time before a commercial system is available - at the moment the MIT team is working on extending the method to curved surfaces - but Intel has already invested $100,000 as part of its innovation Fellowship program.
Having portable depth detectors small enough to fit in a mobile phone really would open up a whole new world of apps.

Source: Kinect comes to Smart Phones?

Related

MyRobots.com: Social Network for Robots

2012-01-05T16:28:00.000+01:00

What is MyRobots?
MyRobots.com aims to connect all robots and intelligent devices to the Internet. In doing so we augment their capabilities enabling them to be remotely monitored and controlled. We strive to make cloud robotics a reality accessible to everyone and everything.

You can think of MyRobots as a social network for robots and smart objects (i.e. Facebook for robots). In the same way humans benefit from socializing, collaborating and sharing, robots can benefit from those interactions too by sharing their sensor information giving insight on their perspective of their current state.

How does it work?
First you need a robot or a smart web-enabled object. Then, you can Sign up at MyRobots.com to connect your robots and start reaping the benefits.

Once your robot is connected, you will be able to monitor it via the web, give commands and receive alerts.

Source: About - MyRobots wiki

Facebook for robots helps droids get smarter

But while Facebook is often criticised for emphasising the duller aspects of human life ("Bored. When can I go to the pub?" or "I need pizza") , the exchange of seemingly mundane status updates between robots ("I am overheating and need a rest" or "I am a vacuum cleaner and I am stuck") could make them a lot smarter.

At the very least, such updates - which could come from stationary household objects as well as moving robots - could allow humans to come to the rescue. More interestingly, by allowing robots to pool information, they could lead to much more intelligent decision-making. "Not all robots have the same sensors or the same access to information," says Asmat.

For example, a stove and a fridge signed up to the site might detect usage, while a humanoid patroller robot might notice lots of people in the house. The next day, a robot vacuum could then deduce from those updates that there was a party, and that it should clean more because the house might be dirtier - all without the intervention of a human. "These examples can be seen as science fiction at the moment but are very close to become a reality," says Asmat

Source: One Per Cent: Facebook for robots helps droids get smarter

Is MyRobots.com the 'Facebook for Robots?' Verdict: Maybe - IEEE Spectrum

The primary difference between MyRobots.com and a site like Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus is that MyRobots is run by a company that wants to sell you robots: RobotShop.com. The potential issue, then, is that there could be some inherent conflict since the owner of this social network is also trying to sell you the hardware that runs on the social network, and they're already evaluating partnership options with manufacturers. In the short term, though, [...]

Source: Is MyRobots.com the 'Facebook for Robots?' Verdict: Maybe - IEEE Spectrum

Related

Quasicrystals from Outer Space

2012-01-04T14:08:00.000+01:00

Bizarre Crystal Hitched Ride on Meteorite | Chondrites & Meteorite Collisions | Space Rocks & Early Solar System | LiveScience

A rock sample containing quasicrystals unearthed in the Koryak Mountains in Russia.
CREDIT: Paul Steinhardt, Princeton University

A rock fragment containing a previously unidentified natural quasicrystal may be the remnant of a meteorite that originated in the early solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago before Earth even existed.

Until now, researchers had assumed such quasicrystals, whose atoms are arranged in a quasi-regular pattern rather than the regular arrangement of atoms inside a crystal, were not feasible in nature. In fact, until now the only known quasicrystals were synthetic, formed in a laboratory under carefully controlled conditions. (This year's Nobel Prize in chemistry honored Dan Shechtman for his 1982 discovery of quasicrystals, which at the time were thought to break the laws of nature.)

Source: Bizarre Crystal Hitched Ride on Meteorite | Chondrites & Meteorite Collisions | Space Rocks & Early Solar System | LiveScience

The quasicrystal from outer space : Nature News & Comment

The only known natural example of the material that won last year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry comes from an ancient meteorite.

Alien origins

In the latest study, Bindi joined with Steinhardt and other US scientists to analyse the rock. The ratios of isotopes of oxygen in silicate and oxide minerals around the quasicrystal grain are typical of minerals found in meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites, the team reports¹. This indicates that the rock is of extraterrestrial origin and very old: virtually all chondrites formed at the birth of the Solar System. It is likely, but not certain, that the quasicrystal grain within the meteorite is of roughly the same age. It was found entwined with a silica mineral that forms only at high pressures and temperatures — such as might be created by a collision with the chondrite body.

Source: The quasicrystal from outer space : Nature News & Comment

What are Quasicrystals, and What Makes Them Nobel-Worthy? | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS

The 2011 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded on Wednesday to an Israeli scientist named Dan Shechtman who discovered a type of crystal so strange and unusual that it upset the prevailing views on the atomic structure of matter, leading to a paradigm shift in chemistry.

But why? What's so special about quasicrystals?

[...]

Pat Theil, a senior scientist at the U.S. Energy Department's Ames Laboratory and a professor of materials science at Iowa State University, uses the analogy of tiling a bathroom floor. Only tiles of certain shapes fit together snugly without creating unsightly holes.

"If you want to cover your bathroom floor, your tiles can be rectangles or triangles or squares or hexagons," Thiel said. "Any other simple shape won't work, because it will leave a gap. In a quasicrystal, imagine atoms are at the points of the objects you're using. What Danny discovered is that pentagonal symmetry works."

Source: What are Quasicrystals, and What Makes Them Nobel-Worthy? | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS

Introduction to Quasicrystals (the basics) - YouTube

Source: Introduction to Quasicrystals (the basics) - YouTube

Introduction to Quasicrystals

1. What Are Quasicrystals ?

2. The Concept of Higher Dimensional Space

3. What Do We Need Tilings For ?

4. Types of Quasicrystals

5. Diffraction pattern symmetries

6. Systems with Quasicrystals

7. Experimental Techniques

8. Structure Solution Techniques

9. Morphology

10. IMS versus QC

Source: Introduction to Quasicrystals

Related

China's Aircraft Carrier Hotel

2012-01-03T20:19:00.000+01:00

China to open luxury hotel on Soviet aircraft carrier | CNNGo.com

From battle stations to bedrooms: A Chinese military theme park is set to welcome overnight visitors on a retired Kiev-class carrier

International luxury hotels are popping up on the horizon in China faster than ever, but affluent Chinese travelers have indicated a new desire for accommodation -- somewhere more historic, alternative and … communist.

A former Soviet aircraft carrier under renovation in Tianjin is set to become China's first ex-naval hotel in 2012.

Source: China to open luxury hotel on Soviet aircraft carrier | CNNGo.com

Soviet aircraft carrier Kiev - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kiev was a heavy aircraft carrying cruiser^[1] that served the Soviet and Russian navies from 1975 to 1993. It was built between 1970 and 1975 at Chernomorski factory in Mykolaiv and was the first ship of its class (Project 1143 Krechyet (Gyrfalcon) or Kiev class)

[...]

In 1996 she was sold to a Chinese company, and has been part of Binhai Aircraft Park, a military theme park in Tianjin since 1 May 2004.

In August 2011, the ex-Kiev began welcoming guests as its new role as a luxury hotel after a multimillion dollar refit.^[2]^[3]

Source: Soviet aircraft carrier Kiev - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kiev Aircraft Carrier Tianjin - YouTube

Source: Kiev Aircraft Carrier Tianjin - YouTube

World's 1st hotel on aircraft carrier to open|China photos|chinadaily.com.cn

A luxury hotel built on a former aircraft carrier in North China's Tianjin municipality will open at the end of this month, making it the world's first aircraft carrier hotel. It has 148 rooms in total, including two presidential suites, three VIP guest rooms and 137 standard rooms. The aircraft carrier was once the pride of the former Soviet Union's flagship pacific fleet and was sold to Tianjin International Recreation Port in 2000. [Photo/Xinhua]

Waitresses set dinner tables at a western restaurant in the luxury hotel built on a former aircraft carrier in North China's Tianjin municipality, Dec 2011. [Photo/CFP]

Source: World's 1st hotel on aircraft carrier to open|China photos|chinadaily.com.cn

China Made The First Aircraft Carrier Hotel - YouTube

Source: China Made The First Aircraft Carrier Hotel - YouTube

Related

Multitasking with Multifocal Attention

2012-01-02T21:30:00.001+01:00

The Multi-task evolution

We twitch from cellphone to email, Facebook to Twitter, flat screen television to treadmill, laptop to tablet, with an eye on the stove and the kids.

So what's the breaking point when our bodies, our minds, or both, say enough?

Scientists such as Julio Martinez-Trujillo, Canada Research Chair in neuroscience at McGill University, believe we are hard-wired to multi-task. "Imagine having to pay attention to several predators all around you in the savannah."

[...]

What of the children of the digital age?

"Imagine a student today. They've got an iPod, they've got an iPad, maybe the television is on." Fail to learn to do several things at once, and "life is going to be hard."

Martinez-Trujillo believes the kids will be all right.

"There are two schools of thought on multi-tasking. Some people have argued that the next generation are going to all have ADHD, that they will be incapable of focusing," he said. "I'm not seeing that. The students in my classes don't seem to be suffering, their grades aren't going down. They are adapting."

[...]

For nearly 30 years, the widelyaccepted view on multi-tasking held
that there was a single "spotlight" that controlled attention within the prefrontal cortex, the executive section of our brain just above the forehead which serves as the mind's organizer.

Source: The Multi-task evolution

News: How do we split our attention?

McGill's Cognitive Neurophysiology Lab team finds that we are natural-born multi-taskers

Imagine you're a hockey goalie, and two opposing players are breaking in alone on you, passing the puck back and forth. You're aware of the linesman skating in on your left, but pay him no mind. Your focus is on the puck and the two approaching players. As the action unfolds, how is your brain processing this intense moment of "multi-tasking"? Are you splitting your focus of attention into multiple "spotlights?" Are you using one "spotlight" and switching between objects very quickly? Or are you "zooming out" the spotlight and taking it all in at once?

These are the questions Julio Martinez-Trujillo, a cognitive neurophysiology specialist from McGill University, and his team set out to answer in a new study on multifocal attention. They found that, for the first time, there's evidence that we can pay attention to more than one thing at a time.

Source: News: How do we split our attention?

Source: Objects and Attention - Stefan Treue, German Primate Center on Vimeo

Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory - Dr. Martinez-Trujillo

Dr. Julio Martinez-Trujillo Lab

The laboratory uses a combination of techniques such as behavioral measurements, extra-cellular single cell recordings and brain mapping in order to explore the physiology of cognition, more specifically, the physiology of attention, visuomotor transformations and motion perception. Ultimately, the results of our research will be applied to the study of diseases that affect human health.

Source: Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory - Dr. Martinez-Trujillo

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Siku, The Danish Polar Bear Cub. The New Knut?

2011-12-30T18:46:00.000+01:00

Source: Siku, the adorable Danish polar bear - YouTube

The New Knut? Internet Enamored by Siku, the Danish Polar Bear | NewsFeed | TIME.com

Meet Siku, the month-old polar bear from Denmark who has inspired “awww”s worldwide with his videotaped antics. Siku’s mother can’t produce any milk, so the little bear (whose name means “ice” in Greenlandic) is being bottle-fed. In addition to his prodigious ability to guzzle milk, Siku loves to lounge around, get back rubs and snooze while sticking his tongue out.

Following in the paw-steps of the Berlin Zoo’s Knut, Siku has swiftly become an online celebrity, boasting a Facebook page with 20,000 followers where fans can watch his latest videos.

Siku will be even more spoiled than Knut, however, enjoying the “world’s largest polar bear facility” at the Scandinavian Wildlife Park, according to one of his carers, Frank Vigh-Larsen.

Source: The New Knut? Internet Enamored by Siku, the Danish Polar Bear | NewsFeed | TIME.com

Source: Siku 32 days (OFFICIAL) - Polar bear cub in Scandinavian Wildlife Park - YouTube

Skandinavisk Dyrepark

Polar bear cub in Scandinavian Wildlife Park

Scandinavian Wildlife Park is already renowned for the very high stands of the animal facilities, not least the polar bear facility covering 26.000 square meters. The information and education standards are also very high, and Scandinavian Wildlife Park is now developing a new information program about the climate changes, the sea ice in the Arctic Sea and the polar bears. This program will evolve around SIKU, who will become Ambassador for his wild cousins living in the Arctic.

The polar bears in Scandinavian Wildlife Park are part of a Global breeding program for captive polar bears. The aim of the program is to sustain a population of healthy polar bears in captivity, NOT to breed polar bears to be released in the wild. This program is short on breeding animals, and it is therefore important that SIKU enters the breeding program as soon as possible.

Because Scandinavian Wildlife Park has some of the best and largest polar bear facilities in the world, we are convinced that it will be possible for SIKU to become a normal functioning polar bear within a few years, so he can live together with the other polar bears in Scandinavian Wildlife Park.

Source: Skandinavisk Dyrepark

The 'New Knut': Danish Polar Bear Cub Siku Conquers the Internet - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

'A Different Bear'

Though a number of fans have made comparisons to Berlin's famous polar bear Knut, who died in March, Vigh-Larsen told the "Today" show that Siku will have a different life.

"Siku will be a completely different bear than Knut," he said. "He will grow up in a different environment. We have the world's largest polar bear facility here, covering two-and-a-half hectares, and when he's about two years old he will move in with the other four polar bears (at the park) and have a very normal polar bear life -- as normal as it can be in captivity."
While Berlin continues to struggle with how to memorialize its star bear Knut after he died suddenly this spring at the age of four, drowning after a seizure caused by encephalitis, Siku may carry on his legacy of promoting climate change awareness. His symbolic name is meant to call attention to the swiftly disappearing habitat of polar bears. With climate change rapidly melting the Arctic sea ice the species relies on for hunting, they could be extinct in the wild within 40 years, the zoo warns.

Vigh-Larsen asked "Today" viewers to make an effort to reduce their carbon footprints and save energy on Siku's behalf. "And if you all do that, he would be very, very happy," he said.

Source: The 'New Knut': Danish Polar Bear Cub Siku Conquers the Internet - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

The Toledo Zoo - Polar Bear Cub

Every Cub Counts

The cub is a huge step for polar bear conservation worldwide. As we lose more of their Arctic habitat to climate change, the future of polar bears in the wild grows less certain with each passing year. That’s why polar bears are now protected under the Endangered Species Act, and that’s why cubs like this one have such an important role to play. We hope that folks who stop by to see this little bear will take a moment to consider the plight of our bears’ wild counterparts and think about steps they can take to preserve this species for generations to come.

Source: The Toledo Zoo - Polar Bear Cub

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Mapimí Silent Zone -- The Zone of Silence

2011-12-28T11:55:00.002+01:00

Zone of Silence (Zona Del Silencio). A Desert near the area of Ceballos in Northern Mexico, 400 miles south of El Paso, Texas. It is an epicenter for some of the strangest phenomenon ever experienced on earth. A high level of electro magnetic frequency is also present.

Source: Zone of Silence - Mysterious Place - YouTube

Mapimí Silent Zone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mapimí Silent Zone (Spanish: La Zona del Silencio) is the popular name for a desert patch near the Bolsón de Mapimí in Mexico overlapping the Mapimí Biosphere Reserve that is the subject of an urban myth that claims it is an area where radio signals cannot be received.^[1] ^[2]

Source: Mapimí Silent Zone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WGS84 26° 41′ 29″ N, 103° 44′ 44″ W
26.691389, -103.745556

UTM 13R 624804 2952868

Zoom 8 Scale ± 1:10000

Region MX Type landmark

Title Mapimí Silent Zone (Edit | Report inaccuracies)

WGS84	26° 41′ 29″ N, 103° 44′ 44″ W 26.691389, -103.745556
UTM	13R 624804 2952868
Zoom	8	Scale	± 1:10000
Region	MX	Type	landmark
Title	Mapimí Silent Zone (Edit \| Report inaccuracies)

View this location in Google Maps or in OpenStreetMap

Source: GeoHack - Mapimí Silent Zone

Mapimí Silent Zone, Mexico's Zone of Silence, Zona Del Silencio

The zone is known for being home of rare species like an endemic version of the desert tortoise and the purple cactus.

Theorists are quick to point out that the Zone of Silence is geographically located just north of the Tropic of Cancer and shares the same latitude south of the 30th parallel as the Egyptian Pyramids, the sacred cities of Tibet, and the Bermuda Triangle, a fact scientist point out is probably a simple coincidence. In fact, scientists at the Mexican research center have dubbed the region the Sea of Thetys because millions of years ago the area lay at the bottom of an ocean.

Some believe the area is a magnetic grid point or portal where earth energy is concentrated. This energy is linked to UFO activity and ancient astronaut theory, some believing aliens still return to these highly magnetic areas, either by ship or through wormholes. No reliably-documented evidence exists to support any of these claims, though UFO sightings are common in Mexico. Strange lights, floating orbs, burning bushes, flying saucers, and alien encounters have all been reported with a degree of abundance in the area. Ranchers report the night sky is often filled with mysterious lights, and floating aircraft that allegedly landed vertically in the desert, often causing brush to ignite and catch fire.

There have been reports of encounters with strange humanoid creatures. One ranch family claims they are regularly visited by a trio of blonde, long haired humanoids, two males and a female, that speak perfect Spanish. As the story goes, the visitors only ask for water, never for food or other provision. And when asked once by the rancher where they came from, they reportedly answered "from above".

Source: Mapimí Silent Zone, Mexico's Zone of Silence, Zona Del Silencio

Whether we are dealing with UFOs, dimensional visitors who find the
magnetic aberrations facilitate their journeys, or merely a poorly understood part of our world with unsuspected properties, no easy answers apply to the riddle posed by the Zone of Silence. The builders of the mysterious ruined observatory would have probably agreed.

Source: Zone of Silence

Related

Robot Wrestling

2011-12-27T11:21:00.000+01:00

Video: Robot Wrestlers battle it out at Robotech

Source: Video: Robot Wrestlers battle it out at Robotech

Robot Pro Wrestling Dekinnoka 10! Main Event | Robots Dreams

Via: Robot Pro Wrestling Dekinnoka!
You might also enjoy:

Source: Robot Pro Wrestling Dekinnoka 10! Main Event | Robots Dreams

GetRobo Blog English: The Genuine Great King Kizer follows "Moore's Law"

The Shin Great King Kizer won the ROBO-ONE Grand Prix which was held in November. It also participated in the "world's first" wrestling match between a robot and a professional (human) wrestler.

Source: GetRobo Blog English: The Genuine Great King Kizer follows "Moore's Law"

Related

Your Brain on Ads -- Neuromarketing fMRI

2011-12-25T16:12:00.003+01:00

Neuromarketing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neuromarketing is a new field of marketing that studies consumers' sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective response to marketing stimuli. Researchers use technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure changes in activity in parts of the brain, electroencephalography (EEG) and Steady state topography (SST) to measure activity in specific regional spectra of the brain response, and/or sensors to measure changes in one's physiological state (heart rate, respiratory rate, galvanic skin response) to learn why consumers make the decisions they do, and what part of the brain is telling them to do it.

[...]

The neuromarketing concept was developed by psychologists at Harvard University in 1990. The technology is based on a model whereby the major thinking part of human activity (over 90%) including emotion proceeds in subconscious area that is below the levels of controlled awareness. For this reason the perception technologists of the market are very tempted to learn the techniques of effective manipulation of the subconscious brain activity. The main reason is to inspire the desired reaction in person’s perception as deeply as possible.

Source: Neuromarketing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Brain_Impact_fMRI.wmv - YouTube

Home - BrainImpact

95% of consumers purchasing
behaviours are guided by unconscious
buying process

Euronews-science, september 2011 - Tv report

Source: Home - BrainImpact

Neuromarketing - Ads That Whisper to the Brain - NYTimes.com

WHAT happens in our brains when we watch a compelling TV commercial?

For one thing, certain brain waves that correlate with heightened attention become more active, according to researchers who have used EEGs, or electroencephalographs, to study the brain’s electrical frequencies. Brain waves that signal less-focused attention, meanwhile, tend to subside.

[...]

If pitches are to succeed, they need to reach the subconscious level of the brain, the place where consumers develop initial interest in products, inclinations to buy them and brand loyalty, says A. K. Pradeep, the founder and chief executive of NeuroFocus, a neuromarketing firm based in Berkeley, Calif.

[...]

A handful of neuromarketing firms, like EmSense, Sands Research, MindLab International and NeuroSense, now specialize in the latest mind-mining techniques — EEGs, M.R.I.’s, eye-tracking — or in older biometric methods that track skin, muscle or facial responses to products or ads.

Source: Neuromarketing - Ads That Whisper to the Brain - NYTimes.com

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SPHERES Nasa's Free-Flying Smart Spheres

2011-12-24T16:43:00.000+01:00

Nasa tests floating robot servant for Space Station powered by Android phone | Mail Online

Floating robots are everywhere in science fiction. But the difficulty of keeping a heavy object 'floating' on earth has ensured they remain thoroughly ficitonal on our planet.

But in the low-gravity environment of the International Space Station, 240 miles up, it's a different matter.

Nasa has just completed trials of a real, floating robot - a free-flying Smart Sphere which is controlled by a Samsung Nexus phone.

A Nasa astronaut controls one of the Smart Spheres in testing on the Space Station last month: The robots can fly, navigate and record information all by themselves

Source: Nasa tests floating robot servant for Space Station powered by Android phone | Mail Online

The Human Exploration Telerobotics project, one of NASA's new, high-value Technology Demonstration Missions, equipped the compact, free-flying satellites -- known as Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES -- with a Samsung Nexus S™ handset that features Google’s open-source Android™ platform.

Each volleyball-sized SPHERES has its own onboard power, propulsion, computing and navigational software. Adding the smartphone transforms the satellite into a free-flying robot, or "Smart SPHERES" -- complete with a compact, low-power, low-cost embedded computer and built-in cameras and sensors to enhance and expand robotic operations.

Source: NASA - NASA 'Smart SPHERES' Tested Successfully on International Space Station

Source: spheres_slide.jpg (JPEG Image, 1091x775 pixels)

NASA - The Force is Strong with NASA's Smartphone-Powered Satellite

This close-up view shows three bowling-ball-sized free-flying satellites called Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA.

MIT undergrads flight-test a prototype droid onboard NASA's KC-135 reduced gravity aircraft. Image Credit: NASA.

Source: NASA - The Force is Strong with NASA's Smartphone-Powered Satellite

SPHERES

The MIT Space Systems Laboratory developed the SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) laboratory environment to provide DARPA, NASA, and other researchers with a long term, replenishable, and upgradable testbed for the validation of high risk metrology, control, and autonomy technologies for use in formation flight and autnomous docking, rendezvous and reconfiguration algorithms. These technologies are critical to the operation of distributed satellite and docking missions such as Terrestrial Planet Finder and Orbital Express.

To approximate the dynamics that will be encountered during these missions, the testbed consists of three small, self-contained vehicles, or "spheres," which can control their relative positions and orientations, and is operable on a 2-D laboratory platform, NASA's KC-135, and the International Space Station. SPHERES draws upon the MODE family of dynamics and control laboratories (STS-40, 42, 48, 62, MIR) by providing a cost-effective laboratory with direct astronaut interaction that exploits the micro-gravity conditions of space.

Here is a video of a recent Test Session aboard the ISS:

Source: SPHERES

Related

NASA 'Smart SPHERES' Tested on ISS

NASA 'Smart SPHERES' tested successfully on international space station

Zero Robotics

NASA - Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES)

NASA’s ‘Smart SPHERES’ to Aid in the Development of Robots to Assist in Space Exploration - International Business Times

Official Google Blog: Android in spaaaace! (Part 2)

Android In Spaaaace! - Official Google Mobile Blog

Painting Solar Cells with Cheap Quantum Dot Solar Paint

2011-12-21T16:08:00.001+01:00

Solar paint promises to turn any surface into a solar cell | ZME Science

Researchers have successfully managed to create a “solar paint” made out of quantum dots, which exhibits similar properties to multifilm solar cell architectures. The later are sophisticated, expensive and require a lot of time to deploy; the paint can be easily applied to basically any surface, like a house’s roof, and prepare it to easily generate photocurrent.

Source: Solar paint promises to turn any surface into a solar cell | ZME Science

Solar Powered Paint.wmv - YouTube

Source: Solar Powered Paint.wmv - YouTube

Solar cell could be cheaper than fossil fuel | TG Daily

By harvesting waste heat, researchers from the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have for the first time built a solar cell with an external quantum efficiency over 100 percent.

A cell's external quantum efficiency is the number of electrons flowing per second in its external circuit, divided by the number of photons per second entering it, and is different at different wavelengths.

The best result for the NREL solar cell was 114 percent. it means, says the team, that solar energy has a competitive future, making it possibly cheaper than energy from fossil or nuclear fuels.

Source: Solar cell could be cheaper than fossil fuel | TG Daily

Researchers prepare cheap quantum dot solar paint

The researchers, Mathew P. Genovese of the University of Waterloo in Canada, with Ian V. Lightcap and Prashant V. Kamat of the Radiation Laboratory and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, will be publishing their study in an upcoming issue of ACS Nano.

The new solar paint, which the researchers humorously call “Sun Believable solar paint,” consists of a yellow or brown paste made of quantum dots. The small size of these tiny semiconductor nanocrystals makes it possible to capture nearly all incident visible sunlight with an extremely thin layer of dots. The researchers experimented with three types of quantum dots: CdS, CdSe, and TiO₂, all of which are powder-like, with water and tert butanol as the solvent. As Kamat explained, all commercial paints are TiO₂ nanoparticle-based suspensions. But instead of adding dye to give the paint a desired color, here the researchers added colored semiconductor nanocrystals to the solar paint to achieve the desired optical and electronic properties.

Source: Researchers prepare cheap quantum dot solar paint

Painting Solar Cells with Nanoparticle Paste - YouTube

Source: Painting Solar Cells with Nanoparticle Paste - YouTube

Related

Greenhouse Gas Methane Leaking from Arctic Ocean at an Alarming Rate and Scale

2011-12-18T16:27:00.001+01:00

Shock as retreat of Arctic sea ice releases deadly greenhouse gas - Climate Change - Environment - The Independent

Russian research team astonished after finding 'fountains' of methane bubbling to surface

Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane – a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide – have been seen bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists undertaking an extensive survey of the region.

Source: Shock as retreat of Arctic sea ice releases deadly greenhouse gas - Climate Change - Environment - The Independent

According to Igor Semiletov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, methane gas is 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. Semiletov has studied these methane plumes for years but most of that time they were only about 30 meters in diameter. Semiletov said, "We carried out checks at about 115 stationary points and discovered methane fields of a fantastic scale — I think on a scale not seen before."

But with these methane bubbling holes having expanded to nearly one mile wide with no end to their expansion in sight , he is more than just a little bit concerned.

Source: Methane Bubbling to from Arctic Ocean - YouTube

'Fountains' of methane 1,000m across erupt from Arctic ice - a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide | Mail Online

The Russian research vessel Academician Lavrentiev conducted a survey of 10,000 square miles of sea off the coast of eastern Siberia.
They made a terrifying discovery - huge plumes of methane bubbles rising to the surface from the seabed.
'We found more than 100 fountains, some more than a kilometre across,' said Dr Igor Semiletov, 'These are methane fields on a scale not seen before. The emissions went directly into the atmosphere.'

Far East Siberia: The melting of 'permafrost' under the sea has led to huge releases of methane - far more abrupt and intense than anything on land

Methane bubbles trapped in ice: Normally, bubbles from the seabed turn into carbon dioxide before reaching the surface, but the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is so shallow the methane travels directly into the atmosphere

Source: 'Fountains' of methane 1,000m across erupt from Arctic ice - a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide | Mail Online

Hugh Methane Plumes in Artic discovered - YouTube

Scientists estimate that there are hundreds of millions of tonnes of methane gas locked away beneath the Arctic permafrost, which extends from the mainland into the seabed of the relatively shallow sea of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. One of the greatest fears is that with the disappearance of the Arctic sea-ice in summer, and rapidly rising temperatures across the entire region, which are already melting the Siberian permafrost, the trapped methane could be suddenly released into the atmosphere leading to rapid and severe climate change.

Dr Semiletov's team published a study in 2010 estimating that the methane emissions from this region were about eight million tonnes a year, but the latest expedition suggests this is a significant underestimate of the phenomenon.

Source: Hugh Methane Plumes in Artic discovered - YouTube

nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) News - Methane Releases From Arctic Shelf May Be Much Larger and Faster Than Anticipated - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

March 4, 2010
A section of the Arctic Ocean seafloor that holds vast stores of frozen methane is showing signs of instability and widespread venting of the powerful greenhouse gas, according to the findings of an international research team led by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov.

Source: nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) News - Methane Releases From Arctic Shelf May Be Much Larger and Faster Than Anticipated - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

Related

'MINE' Detects Patterns in Vast Data Sets

2011-12-17T15:29:00.001+01:00

Tool detects patterns hidden in vast data sets | Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Researchers from the Broad Institute and Harvard University have developed a tool that can tackle large data sets in a way that no other software program can. Part of a suite of statistical tools called MINE, it can tease out multiple patterns hidden in health information from around the globe, statistics amassed from a season of major league baseball, data on the changing bacterial landscape of the gut, and much more.

Source: Tool detects patterns hidden in vast data sets | Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) News - Tool Enables Scientists to Uncover Patterns in Vast Data Sets - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

Relationships discovered in data will shed light on vexing problems and increase human understanding

One of the greatest strengths of this newly discovered tool within MINE is its ability to detect and analyze a broad spectrum of patterns and characterize them according to a number of different parameters a researcher might be interested in. Other statistical tools work well for searching for a specific pattern in a large data set, but cannot score and compare different kinds of possible relationships. Researchers can also use MINE to generate new ideas and connections.

Learn more about MINE, MIC and patterns identified in biological and health data, as well as statistics from the 2008 baseball season by visiting the Broad Institute website. A video about this work also is available on the website.

Source: nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) News - Tool Enables Scientists to Uncover Patterns in Vast Data Sets - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

This graphic depicts the top 0.25 percent of the relationships that the researchers' techniques found in data on the concentration of microbes in the human gut.
Image courtesy of David Reshef

The procedure that their algorithm follows can be interpreted visually. Effectively, the algorithm considers every pair of variables in a dataset and plots them against each other. It then overlays each graph with a series of denser and denser grids and identifies the grid cells that contain data points. Using principles borrowed from information theory, the algorithm assesses how orderly the patterns produced by the data-containing cells are. The score for each pair of variables is based on the score of its most orderly pattern.

“The fundamental idea behind this approach is that if a pattern exists in the data, there will be some gridding that can capture it,” Reshef says. And because the cells in a grid can track a curve as easily as they can a straight line, the method isn’t tied to any particular type of relationship.

Source: Data mining without prejudice - MIT News Office

Home | Maximal Information-based Nonparametric Exploration

Home

Overview

Technical Information

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A paper describing MINE and applying it to data from global health, genomics, the human microbiome, and Major League Baseball was published in Science Magazine.
MINE was developed jointly by David Reshef and Yakir Reshef, working under Professors Pardis Sabeti and Michael Mitzenmacher.

Source: Home | Maximal Information-based Nonparametric Exploration

Related

Coca Cola Introduces Renewable Recyclable Plant-Based PlantBottle

2011-12-16T22:24:00.002+01:00

Coca-Cola to develop 100% renewable PlantBottles on global scale

The Coca-Cola Co. has announced multi-million dollar partnership agreements with three leading biotechnology companies to accelerate development of the first commercial solutions for next-generation PlantBottle packaging made 100 percent from plant-based materials.

This effort to commercialize a plastic bottle made entirely from plants builds on the company's ground-breaking introduction and roll-out of its first generation PlantBottle package which was the first recyclable PET beverage bottle made partially from plants. Since that 2009 introduction, the company has already distributed more than 10 billion PlantBottle packages in 20 countries worldwide.

Source: Coca-Cola to develop 100% renewable PlantBottles on global scale - 2011-12-15 15:36:01 | Packaging Digest

Sustainability: PlantBottle Packaging: Basics

The key difference between PlantBottle packaging and traditional PET plastic bottles is that instead of using petroleum and other fossil fuels to produce a key ingredient in the plastic, PlantBottle packaging uses materials that are up to 30% plants-based. In essence, we are trading fossil fuels for plant-based material without sacrificing performance or recyclability.

Source: Sustainability: PlantBottle Packaging: Basics

DASANI: PlantBottle Commercial - YouTube

Source: DASANI: PlantBottle Commercial - YouTube

Coca-Cola taps biotech firms to scale PlantBottle production | SmartPlanet

Who are the companies that will aid Coca-Cola in this mission? Each of the biotechnology pioneers will use its own approach in conjunction with the secret approach for Coca-Cola Plant Bottle.

Virent’s technology uses catalytic chemistry to convert sugars into materials that have properties similar to petroleum. One of the materials it produces is bio-based paraxylene, which is key for creating 100 percent plant-based PET. Virent’s first commercial plant is supposed to open in 2015.

Avantium’s approach is based on its YXY technology, which it can use to create PEF bottles. The company is hoping to achieve commercial production levels “in the next few years.”

Gevo intends to produce paraxylene from its bio-based isobutanol. The company didn’t offer a commercialization timeframe in Coca-Cola’s press materials about the new partnerships.

Source: Coca-Cola taps biotech firms to scale PlantBottle production | SmartPlanet

Virent Welcomes The Coca-Cola Company as a Partner | Virent, Inc.

Virent’s Plant-Based Paraxylene Paves the Way for a 100% Bio-PET Bottle

Madison, Wisconsin – December 15, 2011 – Virent and The Coca-Cola Company announced today they have entered into a new strategic partnership to accelerate the commercialization of renewable, recyclable materials for beverage packaging. [...]

Source: Virent Welcomes The Coca-Cola Company as a Partner | Virent, Inc.

Avantium » Avantium and The Coca-Cola Company sign partnership agreement to develop next generation 100% plant based plastic: PEF !

Exceptional functional properties make biobased plastic PEF a suitable alternative for future beverage packaging following technology break-through by Avantium
15 December, 2011 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Dutch research and technology company Avantium has developed a patented technology YXY to produce 100% biobased PEF bottles. Currently PET is the most widely used oil-based polyester. Based on the performance of the new PEF material, Avantium believes PEF will become the next-generation biobased polyester.

Source: Avantium » Avantium and The Coca-Cola Company sign partnership agreement to develop next generation 100% plant based plastic: PEF !

gevo | Investor Relations | News Release

The Coca-Cola Company and Gevo Partner to Develop and Commercialize 100% Renewable Plastic Bottles

Gevo’s technology will help create a viable alternative to fossil-fuel based packaging

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 2011-- Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO), a leading renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company, today announced a groundbreaking agreement with The Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola) to create renewable para-xylene from plant based isobutanol, which will accelerate the development of Coca-Cola’s second-generation PlantBottle™ packaging made from 100% plant-based materials. [...]

Source: gevo | Investor Relations | News Release

Related

The Physics Behind Great White Shark Attacks

2011-12-15T14:31:00.004+01:00

How Great White Sharks Hide in Plain Water | Motherboard

A group led by UM assistant professor Dr. Neil Hammerschlag studied the techniques employed by the great whites in their hunting of Cape fur seals in False Bay, South Africa. The study helps confirm a notion, long held by surfers whose silhouettes look somewhat like a seal’s, that great whites always stalk their prey from below. While that in itself isn’t surprising, Hammerschlag’s research, published in Marine Biology Research, showed that the sharks camouflage themselves by taking advantage of water’s light-scattering properties. In low light conditions, when sunlight is hitting the water at a sharp angle, light does not penetrate deep into the water, and what light does is heavily distorted, essentially hiding the shark in otherwise clear water.

Source: How Great White Sharks Hide in Plain Water | Motherboard

New Study Illustrates the Physics Behind Great White Shark Attacks on Seals | The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami

Scientists use basic principles of underwater optics, physics to understand predator-prey interactions

Sharks typically search, stalk and strike their prey from below. The vast majority of predatory strikes by sharks and Cape fur seals occur against small groups of young-of-the-year seals. Predatory activity by sharks is most intense within two hours of sunrise and quickly decreases as light penetration in the water column increases.

“Stealth and ambush are key elements in the white shark's predatory strategy,” said Hammerschlag.

Cape fur seals also have unique techniques to detect, avoid, outmaneuver and in some cases injure the white shark in order to avoid predation by sharks.

According to the authors, if a seal is not disabled during the shark’s initial shark, the small seal can use its highly maneuverable body to leap away from the shark’s jaws to evade a second strike.

Source: New Study Illustrates the Physics Behind Great White Shark Attacks on Seals | The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami

Carcharodon carcharias hunting Seal Island South Africa - YouTube

Source: Carcharodon carcharias hunting Seal Island South Africa - YouTube

Taylor & Francis Online :: Marine predator–prey contests: Ambush and speed versus vigilance and agility - Marine Biology Research - Volume 8, Issue 1

Differences in relative strengths and weaknesses between predators and prey under tactical contexts result in complex and dynamic contests between them. These contests are often brief and difficult to observe in marine systems. Here, we employ basic principles of underwater optics and physics to provide a conceptual understanding of mechanisms underlying predator–prey interactions between white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) and Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus) that have been previously described at Seal Island in False Bay, South Africa.

Source: Taylor & Francis Online :: Marine predator–prey contests: Ambush and speed versus vigilance and agility - Marine Biology Research - Volume 8, Issue 1

Related

Automated Learning by Decoded fMRI Neurofeedback

2011-12-10T19:45:00.001+01:00

Learning skills like characters on The Matrix set to become a reality, say scientists | Mail Online

Scientists at Boston University and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, believe that in the future learning a new skill might involve nothing more than sitting in front of a computer screen and waiting for it to ‘upload’.

They have been studying how a functional magnetic resonance machine (FMRI) can ‘induce’ knowledge in someone through their visual cortex by sending signals that change their brain activity pattern.

This process is called Decoded Neurofeedback, or ‘DecNef’.

Source: Learning skills like characters on The Matrix set to become a reality, say scientists | Mail Online

Source: nsf.gov - News - Video - Researchers explain Decoded Neurofeedback. - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) News - Vision Scientists Demonstrate Innovative Learning Method - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

The result, say researchers, is a novel learning approach sufficient to cause long-lasting improvement in tasks that require visual performance.

What's more, the approached worked even when test subjects were not aware of what they were learning.

[...]
The finding brings up an inevitable question. Is hypnosis or a type of automated learning a potential outcome of the research?

[...]

At present, the decoded neurofeedback method might be used for various types of learning, including memory, motor and rehabilitation.

Source: nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) News - Vision Scientists Demonstrate Innovative Learning Method - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

Mitsuo Kawato - Towards Manipulative Neuroscience based on Brain-Network-Interface - YouTube

Source: Mitsuo Kawato - Towards Manipulative Neuroscience based on Brain-Network-Interface - YouTube

Related

NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Reveals Details of Giant Asteroid Vesta

2011-12-08T13:47:00.001+01:00

4 Vesta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vesta, formally designated 4 Vesta, is one of the largest asteroids, with a mean diameter of about 530 kilometres (330 mi).^[1]

[...]

NASA's Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around Vesta on July 16, 2011 for a planned one-year exploration, and what is known about Vesta will be refined and extended as data from Dawn is received, analyzed and published.

Source: 4 Vesta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

'As the Asteroid Turns' - YouTube

See asteroid Vesta spin before your very eyes. In this movie, strung together from a series of images provided by the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft, we see a full rotation of Vesta, which occurs over the course of roughly five hours. These images were obtained on July 24, 2011, from a distance of about 3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers).

Source: 'As the Asteroid Turns' - YouTube

NASA - New NASA Dawn Visuals Show Vesta's 'Color Palette'

Vesta appears in a splendid rainbow-colored palette in new images obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The colors, assigned by scientists to show different rock or mineral types, reveal Vesta to be a world of many varied, well-separated layers and ingredients. Vesta is unique among asteroids visited by spacecraft to date in having such wide variation, supporting the notion that it is transitional between the terrestrial planets -- like Earth, Mercury, Mars and Venus -- and its asteroid siblings.

In images from Dawn's framing camera, the colors reveal differences in the rock composition associated with material ejected by impacts and geologic processes, such as slumping, that have modified the asteroid's surface. [...]

Source: NASA - New NASA Dawn Visuals Show Vesta's 'Color Palette'

Dawn Mission: Mission

Dawn, as a mission belonging to NASA’s Discovery Program, delves into the unknown, drives new technology innovations, and achieves what's never been attempted before. In Dawn’s case, it is orbiting one member of the main asteroid belt, Vesta, before heading to gather yet more data at a second, Ceres. [...]

Source: Dawn Mission: Mission

Animation of Dawn's Visit to Vesta - YouTube

Source: Animation of Dawn's Visit to Vesta - YouTube

Dawn Approaches Asteroid Vesta Video NASA - YouTube

Source: Dawn Approaches Asteroid Vesta Video NASA - YouTube

Related

'Truth Goggles' a Lie Detector For the Internet

2011-12-05T20:37:00.001+01:00

MIT boffin's 'truth goggles' probe print and pols • The Register

A student at MIT’s Media Lab is developing a browser plug-in that can check the accuracy of information posted online, and may use it to monitor political speeches for untruths.

Source: MIT boffin's 'truth goggles' probe print and pols • The Register

Schultz’s script, which he calls “Truth Goggles,” (not Googles, as I originally wrote) is still in a very early state. At the moment he is using Politifact and NewsTrust APIs as his sources, and has a system of breaking down articles into snippets, which are essentially chunks containing a verifiable claim and some context.

Source: True Or False? Automatic Fact-Checking Coming To The Web – Complications Follow | TechCrunch

Introducing Truth Goggles

I’m working on a magical button. This button, when pressed, will tell you (an average person who just wants to know what is happening in this crazy world) what is true and what is false on the web site you are viewing. I have a fair amount of the platform finished already and you can check it out here.

[...]

The next steps are:

Designing and implementing the snippet creation process

Designing an interface to present the verdicts and claim information in more detail

Writing scripts to update the claims with the latest results from fact checking databases

The long term ways that this project could be expanded are:

Incorporating social media to aid in claim and verdict mining

Adding in the ability to view news through the lens of RELATIVE truths rather than just the attempted absolute truth. For instance, what would a superliberal democrat believe? What would a tea party member believe? What do people from Ohio think?

Source: Introducing Truth Goggles

Crit Day Presentation (Truth Goggles)

View more presentations from Daniel Schultz

Source: Crit Day Presentation (Truth Goggles)

Related

A Lie Detector for the Internet

'Truth Goggles' in Development by MIT Student - Softpedia

Bull beware: Truth goggles sniff out suspicious sentences in news » Nieman Journalism Lab

'Truth Goggles' Double-Checks What Politicians Say : NPR

Critical: Aiding in the audience's critical ability since 2011

Daniel E Schultz | MIT Media Lab

CBC.ca | Day 6 | Interview: Truth Goggles

Language Log » Spinoculars re-spun?

PolitiFact » Encyclo » Nieman Journalism Lab

PolitiFact | Sorting out the truth in politics

Truthsquad - Fact-check the news - Overview Page - NewsTrust.net

1.	What Are Quasicrystals ?
2.	The Concept of Higher Dimensional Space
3.	What Do We Need Tilings For ?
4.	Types of Quasicrystals
5.	Diffraction pattern symmetries
6.	Systems with Quasicrystals
7.	Experimental Techniques
8.	Structure Solution Techniques
9.	Morphology
10.	IMS versus QC