Alchemy - Drawing but not as we know it

Alchemy is a cool open source drawing application which is aimed at exploring how we can sketch, draw, and create on computers in new ways.

Watch this video of Andrew Jones showing off its capabilities

iPad 3 concept video

Japanese robot that can be controlled using Kinect even if you're not in the same city!

Move over Kinect - Displair from Russia is kicking it!

FogScreen - laser touch system from SCREENRENTAL.EU on Vimeo.

Language localized in the brain

MIT researchers have found that there are parts of our brain dedicated only to language, a finding that marks a major advance in the search for brain regions specialized for sophisticated mental functions.

Functional specificity refers to the idea that discrete parts of the brain handle distinct tasks. Scientists have long known that functional specificity exists in certain domains: in the motor system, for example, there is one patch of neurons that controls the fingers of your left hand, and another that controls your tongue.

But what about more complex functions such as recognizing faces, using language or doing math? Are there special brain regions for those activities, or do they use general-purpose areas that serve whatever task is at hand?

To determine this, the researchers analyzed each subject individually using fMRI, making sure that patterns of activity in one brain would only ever be compared to patterns of activity from that same brain. The researchers spent the first 10 to 15 minutes of each fMRI scan having their subject do a fairly sophisticated language task while tracking brain activity. This way, they established where the language areas lie in that individual subject, so that later, when the subject performed other cognitive tasks, they could compare those activation patterns to the ones elicited by language.

After having their subjects perform the initial language task (a “functional localizer”), the researchers had each one do a subset of seven other experiments: one on exact arithmetic, two on working memory, three on cognitive control and one on music, since these are the functions most commonly argued “to share neural machinery with language.”

Out of the nine regions they analyzed — four in the left frontal lobe, including the region known as Broca’s area, and five further back in the left hemisphere — eight uniquely supported language, showing no significant activation for any of the seven other tasks. These findings indicate a “striking degree of functional specificity for language,” the researchers said.

The researchers said the results don’t imply that every cognitive function has its own dedicated piece of cortex. However, they said the results give hope to researchers looking to draw some distinctions within the human cortex.

'Anonymous’ plans to ‘destroy’ Facebook on Nov. 5

A user named “Anonymous” has issued a YouTube press release announcing a plan dubbed “Operation Facebook” to “destroy” Facebook on Nov. 5.

“Facebook is the opposite of the Antisec cause,” the press release reads. Facebook “knows more about you than your family, has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world,” the announcement says.

Nov. 5 is the date commemorating Guy Fawkes (of V for Vendetta fame) and his co-conspirators’ failed plot to blow up England’s House of Lords in 1605.

One-way sound transmission system allows for sound control, energy-harvesting

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created the first tunable acoustic diode — a device that allows acoustic information to travel only in one direction, at controllable frequencies.

The researchers used experiments, simulations, and analytical predictions to demonstrate one-way transmission of sound in an audible frequency range for the first time.

This new mechanism brings the idea of true soundproofing closer to reality, the researchers said. This enables someone in room A to hear sound coming from room B; however, it would block the same sound in room A from being heard in room B.

To obtain a sharp transition between transmitting and non-transmitting states, the team created a periodic system with a small defect that supports this kind of quick change from an “on” to an “off” transmission state. The system is very sensitive to small variations of operational conditions, like pressure and movement, making it useful in the development of ultrasensitive acoustic sensors to detect sound waves. The system can also operate at different frequencies of sound and is capable of downshifting, or reducing the frequency of the traveling signals, as needed.

The system is based on a simple assembly of elastic spheres — granular crystals that transmit the sound vibrations — that could be easily used in multiple settings, can be tuned easily, and can potentially be scaled to operate within a wide range of frequencies. Its application could reach far beyond soundproofing, the researchers said.

Potential uses include architectural acoustics for sound control within buildings, biomedical ultrasound devices, advanced noise control, and thermal materials aimed at temperature control.

“We propose to use these effects to improve energy-harvesting technologies,” she says. “For example, we may be able to scavenge sound energy from undesired structural vibrations in machinery by controlling the flow of sound waves away from the machinery and into a transducer. The transducer would then convert the sound waves into electricity.” Daraio says the technology can also shift the undesired frequencies to a range that enables a more efficient conversion to electricity.

Researchers identify seventh and eighth bases of DNA

Researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine have identified the seventh and eighth bases of DNA.

For decades, scientists have known that DNA consists of four basic units — adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine. In recent history, scientists have expanded that list from four to six.

Much is known about the “fifth base,” 5-methylcytosine, which arises when a chemical tag or methyl group is tacked onto a cytosine. This methylation is associated with gene silencing, since it causes the DNA’s double helix to fold even tighter upon itself. Last year, the researchers found that Tet proteins can convert 5 methylC (the fifth base) to 5 hydroxymethylC (the sixth base) in the first of a four-step reaction leading back to cytosine.

However, the researchers could not continue the reaction on to the seventh and eighth bases, called 5 formylC and 5 carboxyC. The problem was that their experimental assay wasn’t sensitive enough. They redesigned it and were able to detect the seventh and eighth bases — called 5-formylcytosine (5fC) and 5 carboxylcytosine (5caC) — which are actually versions of cytosine that have been modified by Tet proteins, molecular entities thought to play a role in DNA demethylation and stem cell reprogramming.

The researchers then examined embryonic stem cells as well as mouse organs and found that both bases can be detected in genomic DNA.

Their findings could have important implications for stem cell research, since it could provide researchers with new tools to erase previous methylation patterns to reprogram adult cells. It could also inform cancer research by giving scientists the opportunity to reactivate tumor suppressor genes that had been silenced by DNA methylation.

Touchscreen keyboard morphs to fit your typing style

Typing on a touchscreen is not one of life's pleasures: the one-size-fits-all nature of most virtual keyboards is a hassle that puts many of us off using them. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen journalists put down an iPad, for instance, and pick up a laptop or netbook to do some serious notetaking or writing.

IBM, however, says it doesn't have to be that way. In a recently filed US patent application, three IBM engineers posit the notion of a virtual keyboard in which the position of the keys and the overall layout is entirely set by the user's finger anatomy. That way, they argue, people will be better able to type at speed, with all keys within comfortable range and so end up, with fewer errors.

After an initial calibration stage, in which the keyboard asks users to undertake a series of exercises to set response time, anatomical algorithms get to work, sensing through the touchscreen the finger skin touch area, finger size and finger position for the logged in user.

As this information is gathered - IBM does not say over what period this learning takes place - the virtual key buttons are automatically resized, reshaped and repositioned in response.

The patent shows a keyboard with some keys subtly higher than others, and with some fatter than others. This "adapts the keyboard to the user's unique typing motion paths" governed by their different physical finger anatomies, says IBM, which suggests the idea being used in both touchscreen and projected "surface computing" displays.

There does seem scope for such ideas. In a review of the Apple iPad, review website MacInTouch said: "A touch typist found it frustratingly glitchy versus a real keyboard, producing all sorts of ghost characters when the screen repeatedly misinterpreted his fingers' intentions."

Perhaps anatomical profiling is just what's needed.

Brain scans reveal why some people feel your pain

Researchers at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, have observed atypical neurophysiological activity in amputees who experience synesthetic pain (pain synesthetes) when observing pain in another.

The researchers found that reduced alpha and theta brainwaves in pain synesthetes may reflect inhibition of normal inhibitory mechanisms (neurotransmitters involved in the processing of observed pain) as well as increased synesthetic pain.

The researchers used EEG to record brain activity in eight amputees who experienced both phantom and synesthetic pain, 10 amputees who experienced just phantom pain, and 10 healthy people with no amputations while they looked at images of hands or feet in potentially painful and non-painful situations.

When viewing the images, the researchers found that the pain synesthetes exhibited decreased theta and alpha brainwaves compared with the other volunteers. The researchers said that such a decrease reflects an increase in neural activity, suggesting that their mirror systems (neurons that fire when an animal observes the same action performed by another) are activated more strongly.

They said the traumatic experience associated with losing a limb may heighten the sensitivity of pain synesthetes to others’ pain. When threatened, our body naturally becomes hypervigilant to pain: our pain threshold lowers, which can make even small triggers painful. Pain synesthesia may be a symptom of an abnormal, ongoing hypervigilance, the researchers said.

Mining patterns in search data with Google Correlate

Google Correlate has been launched on Google Labs. Users can now upload their own data series and retrieve a list of search terms based on popularity to see what best corresponds with a real world trend.

In the example below, official flu activity data were uploaded from the U.S. CDC over the last several years. The data reveal that people search for terms like [cold or flu] in a pattern similar to actual flu rates. Finding these correlated terms, a Google Flu Trends graph was built.

Users can also enter search terms such as [ribosome] and find other terms with activity that correspond well over time.

A white paper describes the methodology behind Google Correlate. How can Google help with the flu? Find out here.

Gestural interfaces: a step backwards in usability?

Usability researchers from the Nielsen Norman group have pointed out that well-tested and understood standards of interaction design are being “overthrown, ignored, and violated” in the rush to develop natural gestural interfaces that can lead to “usability disaster.”

“The first crop of iPad apps revived memories of Web designs from 1993, when Mosaic first introduced the image map that made it possible for any part of any picture to become a UI element,” said Norman Nielsen. “As a result, graphic designers went wild: anything they could draw could be a UI, whether it made sense or not. It’s the same with iPad apps: anything you can show and touch can be a UI on this device. There are no standards and no expectations.”

“One of the worst designs last year was USA Today‘s section navigation, which required users to touch the newspaper logo despite the complete lack of any perceived affordance that the logo would have this effect….

“I thought I’d driven a stake through splash screens many years ago and eradicated them from the Web, but apparently splash screens are super-vampires that can haunt users from beyond the grave.”

Transformer robot turns into a helicopter

A transformer robot that turns into a helicopter has been developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Distributed Robotics.

The robot uses separate motors to run the wheels and the rotors rather than a complex system. Although the first prototype is fragile, future designs will have simpler and more robust folding mechanisms, according to the researchers, including an extendable boom with a tail rotor, similar to those used by helicopters, to provide more stability in flight.

‘Survival protein’ protects the brain against effects of stroke

A “survival protein” that protects the brain against the effects of stroke in rodent brain tissue has been discovered by scientists at Johns Hopkins University. The finding has implications for treating stroke as well as Parkinson’s Disease, diabetes, and heart attack.

When brain tissue is subjected to a stressful but not lethal insult, a defense response occurs that protects cells from subsequent insult. The scientists dissected this preconditioning pathway to identify the most critical molecular players, including the Iduna protein. This protein increased three- to four-fold in preconditioned mouse brain tissue following an insult to the tissue, the scientists said.

The team exposed mouse brain cells to short bursts of a toxic chemical, and then screened these “preconditioned” cells for genes that turned on as a result of the insult. Focusing on Iduna, the researchers turned up the gene’s activity in the cells during exposure to the toxic chemical, which induced preconditioning. Cells deficient in Iduna did not survive, but those with more Iduna did.

The scientists found that the Iduna protein interferes with a particular kind of cell death that’s implicated in complications from diabetes and heart attack as well as stroke. By binding with a molecule known as PAR polymer, Iduna prevents the movement of cell-death-inducing factor (AIF) into a cell’s nucleus.

“Apparently, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” says Valina Dawson, Ph.D. “This protective response was broad in its defense of neurons and glia and blood vessels — the entire brain. It’s not just a delay of death, but real protection that lasts for about 72 hours.”

Tiny variation in one gene may have led to crucial changes in human brain

A tiny variation within a single gene may determine the formation of brain convolutions, the deep fissures and convolutions that increase its surface area and allow for rational and abstract thoughts, researchers at Yale University have discovered.

A genetic analysis of a Turkish patient whose brain lacks the characteristic convolutions in part of his cerebral cortex revealed that the deformity was caused by the deletion of two genetic letters from 3 billion in the human genetic alphabet. Similar variations of the same gene, called laminin gamma3 (LAMC3), were discovered in two other patients with similar abnormalities.

An analysis of the gene shows that it is expressed during the embryonic period. This period is vital to the formation of dendrites, which form synapses or connections between brain cells, the researchers said.

They said that although the same gene is present in lower organisms with smooth brains, such as mice, somehow over time it has evolved to gain novel functions that are fundamental for human occipital cortex formation. Its mutation leads to the loss of surface convolutions, a hallmark of the human brain, the researchers said.

Tiny variation in one gene may have led to crucial changes in human brain

A tiny variation within a single gene may determine the formation of brain convolutions, the deep fissures and convolutions that increase its surface area and allow for rational and abstract thoughts, researchers at Yale University have discovered.

A genetic analysis of a Turkish patient whose brain lacks the characteristic convolutions in part of his cerebral cortex revealed that the deformity was caused by the deletion of two genetic letters from 3 billion in the human genetic alphabet. Similar variations of the same gene, called laminin gamma3 (LAMC3), were discovered in two other patients with similar abnormalities.

An analysis of the gene shows that it is expressed during the embryonic period. This period is vital to the formation of dendrites, which form synapses or connections between brain cells, the researchers said.

They said that although the same gene is present in lower organisms with smooth brains, such as mice, somehow over time it has evolved to gain novel functions that are fundamental for human occipital cortex formation. Its mutation leads to the loss of surface convolutions, a hallmark of the human brain, the researchers said.

‘Master switch’ gene for obesity and diabetes discovered

A gene linked to type 2 diabetes and cholesterol levels is in fact a “master regulator” gene that controls the behavior of other genes found within fat in the body, researchers at King’s College London and the University of Oxford have found.

The researchers examined over 20,000 genes in subcutaneous fat biopsies from 800 UK female twin volunteers.

They found an association between the KLF14 gene (inherited from the mother) and the expression levels of multiple distant genes found in fat tissue. This means that it acts as a master switch to control these genes, the researchers said. This was then confirmed in a further independent sample of 600 subcutaneous fat biopsies from Icelandic subjects.

Other genes controlled by KLF14 are in fact linked to a range of metabolic traits, including body-mass index (obesity), cholesterol, insulin and glucose levels, highlighting the interconnectedness of metabolic traits, the researchers said.

Removable ‘cloak’ for nanoparticles helps them target tumors

A new type of drug-delivery nanoparticle that could target nearly any type of tumor and carry virtually any type of drug has been developed by chemists at MIT.

The new nanoparticles are cloaked in a polymer layer that protects them from being degraded by the bloodstream and can survive in the bloodstream for up to 24 hours.

This outer layer falls off after entering the slightly more acidic environment near a tumor, revealing another layer that is able to penetrate individual tumor cells.

The tumor acidity is a byproduct of the tumor’s intensified metabolism. Tumor cells grow and divide much more rapidly than normal cells, and that metabolic activity uses up a lot of oxygen, which increases acidity. As the tumor grows, the tissue becomes more and more acidic.

To build their targeted particles, the researchers used a technique called “layer-by-layer assembly.” This means each layer can be tailored to perform a specific function.

When the outer layer (made of polyethylene glycol, or PEG) breaks down in the tumor’s acidic environment, a positively charged middle layer is revealed, allowing the nanoparticle to penetrate the negatively charged cell membrane.

The nanoparticles’ innermost layer can be a polymer that carries a cancer drug, or a quantum dot that could be used for imaging, or virtually anything else that the designer might want to deliver.

These particles are the first that have been successfully tested in living animals by targeting acidity, the researchers said.

Wearable scanner opens new frontier in neuroscience

A tiny wearable positron emission tomography (PET) scanner has been used to track chemical activity in the brains of unrestrained animals while an animal behaves naturally; it could be modified for people.

By revealing neurological circuitry as the subjects perform normal tasks, researchers say, the technology could greatly broaden the understanding of learning, addiction, depression, and other conditions.

A conventional PET scanner is so large that these studies have to be performed with the subject lying inside a large tube.

New app displays the latest earthquakes worldwide

Earthquake Lite, a free iPhone/Android app, displays global seismic activity and lists of events that you can filter by location, magnitude, and time, writes blogger Bob Tedeschi.

For example, the app listed nine significant tremors near Japan’s east coast, and one in western China for the week of March 14. You can sort the list according to magnitude, date, and location of the earthquake using free USGS data, and drill down to see the epicenter and more details.

iPhone users of the paid version can receive notifications of any tremor registering 6.0 or more on the Richter scale.