Project Resource: Biofeedback Games

Here is a working list of the project resource for Biofeedback Games. Enjoy browsing through the websites, tutorials, tools, reports. Feel free to comment and add to the list whenever you find useful information.

Our project has been divided into three phases:
Phase I (1) - Brainwave Experiments and Analysis (02/18/2015 - 04/04/2015)
Phase I (2) - Virtual and Real-World Applications (02/18/2015 - 04/04/2015)
Phase II (1) - New Brainwave Applications (04/13/2015 - 05/15/2015)
Phase II (2) - Emotiv Insight Applications (04/13/2015 - 05/15/2015)
Phase III - STEM Show Preparation (05/18/2015 - 06/02/2015)
Advanced STEM Research Show: 3:00 PM 06/03/2015

Project Gantt Chart

1. Gantt Chart PDF (updated on 02/24/2015).
2. Gantt Chart Ganttproject ZIP file (updated on 02/24/2015).

OpenVIBE Resource

1. OpenVIBE Window Installer.
2. OpenVIBE Video Tutorial.
3. OpenVIBE User Document.
4. OpenVIBE Box Documentation. 

NeuroSky Resource

1. Developer Tool.
2. ThinkGear SDK for OS X : Development Guide.
3. NeuroSky Documentation. 
4. Mindwave User Guide.

Development Tools

1. Java JDK.
2. Eclipse.
3. Android Studio. 

OpenVIBE Forums

1. http://openvibe.inria.fr/forum/

Technical Papers

1. OpenViBE: An Open-Source Software Platform to Design, Test and Use Brain-Computer Interfaces in Real and Virtual Environments (2010), Yann Renard, Fabien Lotte, Guillaume Gibert, Marco Congedo, Emmanuel Maby, Vincent Delannoy, Olivier Bertrand, Anatole L ́ecuyer.
2. BCI Could Make Old Two-Player Games Even More Fun (2012), Emmanuel Maby, Margaux Perrin, Olivier Bertrand, Gae ̈tan Sanchez, and Je ́re ́mie Mattout.
3. Comparative Study of Band-Power Extraction Techniques for Motor Imagery Classification (2011), Brodu, N., Lotte, F., Lecuyer, A.
4. Brain-Activity-Driven Real-Time Music Emotive Control (2013), Sergio Giraldo, Rafael Ramirez.
5. An OpenViBE-Based Brainwave Control System for Cerebot (2013), Jing Zhao, Qinghao Meng, Wei Li, Mengfan Li, Fuchun Sun, and Genshe Chen.
   

Theses/Technical Reports

1. Analytic Methods and Workflows for EEG/ERP Domain (2013), Jan Štěbeták.
2. Brain Computer Interfaces (2012), Herbert S. Kisakye.
   
   
   

Project Resource: Drone Delivery System

Here is a working list of the project resource for AR.Drone Delivery System. Enjoy browsing through the websites, tutorials, tools, reports. Feel free to comment and add to the list whenever you find useful information.

Our project has been divided into three phases:
Phase I - Mark/Tag-Guided Drone Delivery System (02/18/2015 - 04/04/2015)
Phase II(1) - Bebop Drone Delivery System (04/13/2015 - 05/15/2015)
Phase II(2) - Vision-Based Drone Delivery System (04/13/2015 - 05/15/2015)
Phase III - STEM Show Preparation (05/18/2015 - 06/02/2015)
Advanced STEM Research Show: 3:00 PM 06/03/2015

Project Gantt Chart

1. Gantt Chart PDF (updated on 02/18/2015).
2. Gantt Chart Ganttproject ZIP file (updated on 02/18/2015).

AR.Drone SDK/Developer Guide

1. AR Drone Developer Guide, Parrot.
2. AR.Drone SDK 2.0.1 Download.
3. ARDrone3 SDK, Parrot.
4. ARDRONE Open API Platform, Parrot. 

Third-Party Tools

1. AutoFlight 0.2 (alpha), LBPC Labs.
2. AutoPylot, Washington and Lee University.
3. URBI, Dronehacks.  
4. Nodecopter, Nodecopter Core.
5. JavaDrone. 
6. ARDroneforP5 (library for Processing). 
7. Ardrone 2.0 Gazebo Simulator, Technical University of Munich.

  Tutorials

1. AR.Drone Tutorials with discussion about OpenCV, Gauth. 
2. Parrot ARDrone 2.0 Video Streaming through OpenCV in Linux, Petr Kout's Physical Science a& Programming.
3. Up and Flying with AR.Drone and ROS with discussion about Tag Detection, Mike Hamer.
4. Make the Drone Following the Image Tag, Drexel University.
5. AR.Drone Video Processing, Ailab and Moto.
6. CVDrone: Color object following using OpenCV, Andy Joiner.
7. Target Tracking with OpenCV, Hugo.  
8. AR Drone ROS setup, Naval Postgraduate School.
9. tum_ardrone: Visual navigation using ROS package:, Computer Vision Group, Technical University of Munich.

OS/Libraries/Platforms/Development Tools

1. OpenCV. 
2. OpenCV IOS.
3. ROS.
4. Gazebo.  
5. Ubuntu.
6. Eclipse.
7. Android Studio. 

AR.Drone Forums

1. http://forum.parrot.com/ardrone/en/
2. https://projects.ardrone.org/projects/ardrone-api/boards
3. http://www.ardrone-flyers.com/

Technical Papers

1. Autonomous Detection And Tracking Of An Object AutonomouslyUsing AR.Drone Quadcopter (2014), Futuhal Arifin, Ricky Arifandi Daniel, and Didit Widiyanto.
2. Parallel Tracking and Mapping for Small AR Workspaces (2009), Georg Klein and David Murray.
3. Robust Monocular SLAM in Dynamic Environments (2014), Wei Tan, Haomin Liu, Zilong Dong, Guofeng Zhang and Hujun Bao.
4.  Accurate Figure Flying with a Quadrocopter Using Onboard Visual and Inertial Sensing (2012), Jakob Engel, Ju ̈rgen Sturm, Daniel Cremers. 
5. Scale-Aware Navigation of a Low-Cost Quadrocopter with a Monocular Camera (2013), Jakob Engel, Ju ̈rgen Sturm, Daniel Cremers. 
6. Camera-Based Navigation of a Low-Cost Quadrocopter (2012),Jakob Engel, Ju ̈rgen Sturm, Daniel Cremers.

Theses/Dissertations/Reports

1. Autonomous Camera-Based Navigation of a Quadrocopter (2011), Jakob Julian Engel.
2. An Evaluation Of Detection and Recognition Algorithms To Implement Autonomous Target Tracking With A Quadrotor (2013), O.H. Boyers.
3. A.R Drone Vision-Guided Searching (2013), Derek Long.
4. New Idea for Robot (2014), Cheung Chun Yuen, Lam Chun Wai andWong Po Shing.

Doubling the Range of Electric Car Batteries

Two long standing problems with electric cars is their range, how far they can travel on one charge, and the weight of the batteries, which ultimately decreases efficiency. These two problems may have been solved by researchers at Yale University and MIT. They have developed a lithium-air battery that could prove to weigh much less than the conventional LiPo battery and could store up to 10 times as much energy as there predecessors as well as travel and estimated 350 miles which is compressible to gasoline cars. These researchers have discovered a few problems with these air batteries that they hope to solve in the near future. The issue is that the current technology that exists with these batteries limits the potential for rechargeability as well as efficiency. Current is generated in these batteries when lithium ion react with oxygen. When this happens lithium oxide forms a residue on one of the electrodes. To recharge this battery those bonds would have to be broken, which is impossible to do if the electrode is coated in residue. Scientists have developed membranes to try and combat this, but another problem exists which is that the battery only works with pure oxygen, which is clearly not the only gas present in our atmosphere. This battery technology seems to present a promising solution to a huge problem in the field of electric cars, as soon as the last kinks are worked out lithium-air batteries could change the way the world looks at electric vehicles.

Creating a Meltdown Proof Nuclear Reactor

Even before the Fukushima power plant disaster in 2001 people have been rather weary about nuclear power plants. The plants run at disconcertingly high temperatures and produce radioactive waste which can be harmful to the environment if not disposed of properly. Another issue with nuclear power has been the cost of building and running the plants due to the high safety precautions necessary to prevent disaster.
A Canadian company, Terrestrial Energy,  has devised a new way to sue the same reactors in a much safer, efficient, and cleaner manner. The key to this is in the cooling process of the reactor which, as stated before, can reach exorbitantly high temperatures. Instead of cooling the reactors with a heat exchange system using water which must be pumped through the entire plant, this company has drafted designs that use molten salt instead. By using molten salt the energy wasted on pumping water can now be saved, the plant can operate at a higher temperature that burns more efficiently and saves fuel, and the fuel is much easier to recycle and use again in the plant.
The system works by transferring energy in the form of heat in the plant to the molten salt which causes molecules to expand and slows fission thus reducing the heat of the fuel. Furthermore, since the salt is rather viscus, if there were to be a rupture in the plant the salt would solidify, limiting the area that could be contaminated.
The use of nuclear technology is one that must be explored and advancements like these can easily justify why we should be implementing more advanced way to use it rather than abandoning it.

A New New Form of Silicon Could Lead to Ultra Fast Transistors

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have found a new material similar to silicon that could revolutionize the computer chip industry. This material consists of a sheet of silicon that is only one atomic layer thick, it is called silicene. The idea behind silicene is that due to it's extremely thin structure the material has fantastic properties for transferring electricity around. Being only one atom thick the silicene becomes a highway for electrons to transmit data for a ultra high speed computer chip. This material is similar to graphene which is a two atom thick variant of carbon except being that it is only one atom think it is even faster theoretically. The only problem so far is that because silicene is so thin it is unstable to the point where it is near impossible to work with and contain. At UT Austin a computer engineer by the name of Deji Akinwande discovereed that by making silicene on a think layer of silver, the material would survive with some stability in a vacuum. Although this is not ideal for commercial production, it is the first step in a what could be the new age of micro processors.

New Pill With the Ability to Reverse Aging

Since the dawn of civilization people have been fascinated with the idea of immortality and have concocted infinite ways to reverse the process of aging. A new pharmaceutical company by the name Elysium Health believes that they have found a way to actually reverse the aging process in humans. 

The drug, Basis, "is a chemical precursor to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD" This compound is one that has a similar effect to a low calorie diet, which is proven to reverse aging in mice. The drug has been proven to have these effects on mice and worms but is nearly impossible to prove, in a reasonable time span, whether the drug will actually have the intended effect on people. This means that there is no guarantee that the product, a small blue pill taken twice daily, will even work. In order to get as many people taking the pill as quickly as possible, the company has chosen to label Basis as a over the counter nutritional supplement so as to bypass FDA testing an regulations. 

The field of NAD research is one of the most exciting facets of STEM research right now. If these pills actually work on people it could have the potential to revolutionize the way we live and die.

YouTube and HTML5

YouTube has been using HTML5 video for years, but it was limited to mobile platforms that do not support Adobe Flash, like iOS, the iPhone's operating system. The thing that make HTML5 so special is that it not only has adaptive bitrate, which allows the video quality to change depending on the internet connection strength, therefore removing little or all of the much dreaded "buffering circle" that people hate so much but also support of the open-source VP9 video codec which supports streaming of videos at 4K resolution and 60 frames per second permitted that the system can handle it. However, the biggest advantage that HTML5 has over Adobe's Flash is that unlike Flash, HTML5 does not require extra plugins or software (internet is written with HTML5), which means that increased security. Third party applications like Adobe Flash allow weak spots for hackers to target, by removing the use of third party applications and plugins, powerhouses like Google and Apple can disintegrate the incorporation of Flash and prevent said attack. The time spent on integrating Flash can now be spend doing something else like improving the security and quality of their services. Recent versions of Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Firefox will start receiving HTML5 by default.

Herbal Supplement...or Not?

New York Times reports from the Attorney General's Office that many of the reported Herbal supplements do not actually contain any of the listed substances. In the United States, supplements have little to no regulation. Meaning, many of these herbal supplemental manufacturers can put anything they want in a capsule and label it what ever they want. At Walmart, the authorities found that ginkgo biloba, a Chinese plant product that supposedly promotes memory, contains none of the actual product but rather powdered radish, houseplants, and wheat. In order to test this, the Attorney General's Office used DNA fingerprinting to match the DNA of claimed product with the DNA barcode of the actual product. Although the president of the American Herbal Association argues that "processing during manufacturing of botanical supplements can remove of damage DNA", which is true. It still does not explain why the ingredients in the supplements are not listed on the bottle.

Talk for Twice as Long With this New Battery

As technology in the mobile electronics industry has advanced, so has the technology inside the batteries that power these devices. For a long period of time the battery of choice for most electronics producers was one made out of an alloy of nickel and cadmium (NiCd). NiCd batteries are not particularly efficient and manufacturers have been looking for a solution for years. The answer to NiCd batteries was thought to be in Lithium Ion technology (LiPo). The only problem with LiPo batteries is that the are highly unpredictable and tend to catch fire or stop working under certain conditions.
Solid Energy believes that they have found a solution to this unpredictability in LiPo batteries, thus rendering them safe enough to use in consumer electronics. In the past, lithium batteries have tended to react with metal components used in their construction. These reactions form compounds which cause the battery to short circuit and release enough energy to ignite the combustable liquid electrolytes. The solution to this problem in the past has been to replace the "wet cell" electrolytes with "dry cell" electrolytes that do not short circuit. The only problem is that the solid electrolytes used are much less efficient than their liquid counterparts.
To solve this problem Solid Energy has created somewhat of a hybrid battery, in that it uses both dry and wet systems. A thin layer of lithium foil is added in between the liquid electrolytes thus separating them from the lithium walls of the battery's cells. Although this technology is still in it's early stages, it is possible that something like this could be implemented in bigger electronics and eventually cars and machinery.

Artificial blood vessels: Tri-layered artificial blood vessels for first time

By combining micro-imprinting and electro-spinning techniques, researchers have developed a vascular graft composed of three layers for the first time. This tri-layered composite has allowed researchers to utilize separate materials that respectively possess mechanical strength and promote new cell growth - a significant problem for existing vascular grafts that have only consisted of a single or double layer.

More on this here

Magnetic sense for humans? Electronic skin with magneto-sensory system enables 'sixth sense'

Scientists from Germany and Japan have developed a new magnetic sensor, which is thin, robust and pliable enough to be smoothly adapted to human skin, even to the most flexible part of the human palm. The achievement suggests it may be possible to equip humans with magnetic sense.




More on this here

Brain circuit that controls compulsive overeating and sugar addiction discovered

Compulsive overeating and sugar addiction are major threats to human health, but potential treatments face the risk of impairing normal feeding behaviors that are crucial for survival. A new study reveals a reward-related neural circuit that specifically controls compulsive sugar consumption in mice without preventing feeding necessary for survival, providing a novel target for the safe and effective treatment of compulsive overeating in humans.

More on this here

Cheap Material Discovered to Increase Solar Panel Efficiency

For years, solar powered electricity generation has been an expanding field in the industry of renewable energy. Solar energy offers a great way to cut down on energy costs while also avoiding the usage of fossil fuels. The only problem with it is that with our current technology, solar panels are not particularly efficient. Most panels can only convert about 11-15% of the solar energy they are exposed to into electricity. this means that in order to generate any substantial amount of energy, a large surface area of panels is required. The need for this many panels makes the cost of buying and installing solar panels exorbitantly expensive.
Recently a technology at Stanford University has been developed called perovskite. This material can be added to the silicon cells in solar panels to increase their efficiency. Researchers found that when perovskite was added to solar cells that originally had an 11.4% efficiency, the efficiency of these cells increased to 11%. These 50% increases can substantially reduce the number of solar panels required in some installations to half. Being comprised of ammonia, iodine, and lead, the perovskite is also relatively simple and cheap to produce. The only problem is creating a structure of perovskite that can last for the life of the silicon panel. In the near future we can expect solar companies to incorporate this material into their products, thus launching the field of solar technology into the world of efficiency.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/534511/a-cheap-material-boosts-solar-cells-by-50-percent/

Breakthrough in Previously Uncureable Diseases

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As AIDS technology has advanced over the years, a techniques has been developed to treat patients called immunotherapy. This treatment involves drawing blood from a subject and exposing the cells, modifying them outside the body(through exposure to a disease, thus developing immunity), and then injecting them back into the person. The only problem with this practice is that it is extremely costly and has a tendency to take an irregularly long time, which is something that patients with fatal illnesses do not have.
A new device has been developed by a company named SQZ Biotech which will theoretically expedite this process of immunotherapy. The device is able to pump a foreign substance through micro channels at high pressure. When the device comes in contact with a cell the pressure squeezes the cell, thus changing it's shape and bending the cell walls. When the cell is bent in such a way the membrane becomes permeable and the substance is forced in so quickly that the cell's natural defense mechanisms do not have time to expel the substance.
During testing this treatments has already proved invaluable to the development of a cure to diseases such as HIV and cancer. Recently a teams of biologists at SQZ and other research labs have begun using this device to introduce cancer related proteins into cells which exponentially increases their immunity to cancer. Research has shown that this device has actually shrunken tumors in several subjects.
I am sure that in the near future the medical industry will be riddled with advancements like this which is why the STEM field is so integral to the success of not only our country but our entire planet.

Can Chevy go from Volt to Bolt

GM pioneered the field of mid priced consumer electric vehicle when they began production of the Chevy Volt. Although the volt was a first of it's kind, it left much to be desired. The biggest problem with the volt is that it could only travel a distance of 38 miles when using only battery power. Chevy's new electric car, the Bolt seems to present some very enticing technology advancements that could solve this issue. The details of the new battery that will supply this power have not been released to the consumer yet, but the idea behind the new Bolt is that it will have a 200 miles range similar to the Tesla. Large Lithium Ion batteries have been primarily produced by the Tesla motor company and due to this, no other companies have been able to develop a foothold in the market. A new electric car in the price range of $30,000 compared to the $94,000 that Teslas sell for could have a huge impact on the future of personal motor vehicles.

Carbon Fiber Planes

The cost to travel in a plane is dependent on its weight. The heavier the plane, the more fuel it takes to drive through the air. The more fuel it takes, the more it costs. In order to improve the performance and fuel efficiency of planes, designers have been moving away from using Aluminum in airframes. Instead, the designers are using lightweight Carbon fibre. More specifically, they are using woven mats of Carbon embedded in plastic. "Normally the matrix is a type of plastic, which is not very strong, but if you mix in Carbon fibre then it takes on the strength of Carbon fibre and becomes strong." Carbon is, therefore, a great substitute for Aluminum because it is incredibly strong for its weight. Because of the Carbon fibre, airplanes can have different designs rather than the traditional airplane designs. The new designs that are being considered could significantly improve a plane's lift-to-drag ratio, making it much more aerodynamically efficient. In England, Airbus recently revealed that its proposal moves away from the traditional narrow tube-like fuselage. Instead, the plane has a fatter fuselage, which is curved and shaped to improve airflow and to provide more internal space. To add on, the wings are longer and slimmer to reduce drag and save on fuel. Lastly, the tail section is U-shaped, which acts as a shield by cutting down on engine noise. To learn more about the Carbon Fiber Planes that are being developed in England, click on the link provided below.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-25833264

Laser Blasted Metal Forms Non-Stick Surface

Researchers at the University of Rochester have found a more effective way to reduce water's ability to "stick" on metals. Dr. Chunlei Guo, a professor of optics and physics at the University, uses lasers to make metals more non-stick. Traditionally, Teflon is used to make a surface a 'non-stick surface', but it has its drawbacks. When Teflon is heated, it starts to decompose and detach from its metal surface; this not only has health-related implications but also performance repercussions. But with Guo's research, the use of Teflon can be eliminated. Guo and his partners shine a high-intensity laser beam onto a sheet of metal for a femtosecond. The energy it produces is about the same as the entire power grid of North America for the same amount of time and the tremendous amount of heat and energy dramatically alters the structure of the metal. Under a high-powered microscope, the altered metals have a hierarchic structure that repel water very well. In comparison to Teflon, which requires 70 degrees of tilt to allow a droplet of water to slide off, Guo's metal only requires 5. The water-repellent structure is intrinsic to the new metal surface, meaning the scientists do need ever worry about a coating sliding off. Guo and his partners hope to see their new innovation go beyond making better scrambled eggs to ensuring ice does not form on the wings of an aircraft to providing faster ships. Guo still has a long way to go before the metal can be mass produce, it takes nearly an hour of laser blasting to make a 1x1 inch piece of hydrophobic metal.

Slowing Down the Speed of Light

Researchers at the University of Glasgow and the University of Heriot-Watt have altered the speed of light...in a vacuum. Normally, the speed of light could only be altered by changing the medium in which it passes through, but these scientists believe that it's time to rewrite the textbooks. Miles Padgett, from the University of Glasgow has shown that the speed of light in a vacuum, or  2.997 x 10E8 m/s is manipulable. By altering the wave structures of some photons, and sending them on a path with the same length as that of the unaltered photon, Padgett has shown that the altered photons travel more slowly than the unaltered ones. Even if the difference in velocity was only off by 0.001 percent, the difference in amount was not accidental. He and his co-authors hope to extend this application to classical light and sound waves and hope to see this used in the field of microscope optics.

Scientists Figure Out How To Unboil Eggs

People often say that once you boil an egg, it is impossible to unboil it. Scientists at UC Irvine have proven this statement untrue. They have successfully unboiled and egg. After boiling an egg, the proteins in both the egg white and egg yolk denature; which explains why a slimy raw egg turns solid after cooking it. The once long strands of protein in the egg are broken and tangled after heat is applied to it. Burt UC Irvine's Gregory Weissaid, a biochemist, said in a statement, "In our paper, we describe a device for pulling apart tangled proteins and  allowing them to refold". Adding urea to the cooked eggs liquefied it by breaking the knotted proteins into smaller bits. These "broken" proteins are then place in a 'vortex fluid device' that pieces the proteins back together within minutes- a significant improvement from older methods of reconstitution, which often took days. Unboiling eggs are cool, that is not the main focus of the researchers. Often times denatured protein remains glued on to the sides of test tubes, and scientists spend way too much time trying scrape it off. In order to mitigate this, the researchers have designed this fast new method, hoping that it will find use in industries from cheese making to pharmaceuticals.

Humboldt Squids Can Flash and Flicker

Some squids are capable of changing there skin color with a quick flash or flicker. Scientists have not been able to find a reason for this until now. Marine biologists outfitted some humboldt squid in the gulf of California with video cameras in order to see how they use their color changing skin cells. What they found was interesting. Humboldt squids tend to change their skin color when near another squid, almost like a communication method. When they are near the surface of the water, their skin turns to a sunlight color in order to camouflage themselves.

https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-ticker/humboldt-squid-flash-and-flicker?tgt=nr

Inflammatory Bowel Disease is Caused by Viruses

A new study done on inflammatory bowel disease shows that the true culprit behind the disease is a virus. Bacteriophages are viruses that kill bacteria. The study showed that people with inflammatory bowel disease have these viruses in their bodies. These viruses kill the good bacteria in the intestines of the patient which leads to inflammation and disease. This explains why probiotics do not help with this disease. It also explains why fecal transplants don't help either. The virus kills any new bacteria introduced into the patients body before it has a chance to do any good.

More on this Here: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/when-bacteria-killing-viruses-take-over-it%E2%80%99s-bad-news-gut?tgt=nr

The "Wind Tree"

Jérôme Michaud-Larivière, founder of a french company known as New Wind, recently finished developing a new, creative way of using wind to generate energy.  Instead of big, bulky wind turbines, he made the "Wind Tree."  Standing 36 feet tall, this tree has seventy-two steal "leaves" which catches the wind and twirls to create energy.  These are especially good to use in the city since you cannot have huge wind turbines, and it can easily catch small wind gusts that blow around buildings.  Currently they are installed in parks in Paris. With it being able to capture slow winds at two m/s, the"Wind Tree"  is able to have a maximum output of 3.1k.W.
To watch a video of the "Wind Tree" click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84503534&list=UUCTcAWRNKWMUoJwCP9Zkgdg&x-yt-ts=1421914688&v=rDhILtKUZXs

Source: http://www.gizmag.com/wind-tree-fig-leaf-unsightly-turbines/35040/

Tech giant Intel backs schoolboy inventor

Source

13-year old Shubham Banerjee from California has received funding of "a few hundred thousand dollars" from Intel for his Braille-printing machine.What started out as a science fair project ended up becoming a full-fledged product; using pieces from Lego's Mindstorm Robotics kit, Banerjee developed a Braille printer. A keypad was attached to allow users to input text, which would then be printed out on a roll of paper, complete with the corresponding bumps. Now, he has developed a much more sophisticated version - dubbed the Braigov2.0 printer - that utilizes 3D-printed parts and Intel's very own budget-friendly Edison chip. Banerjee hopes to sell the printer for around $350, which would still be about a fifth of low-cost alternatives. And while Braille isn't heavily used among blind people, this is still a product that would greatly hope those who utilize it and perhaps even encourage more usage of Braille. 

Drinking Moderate Amounts of Alcohol Can Reduce Risk of Heart Failure

Research and evidence has already shown that moderate drinking can prevent heart conditions, but research for the effects of drinking on heart failure has not been extensive. Although a recent study of about 15,000 men and women has shown that drinking about seven drinks a week can reduce the risk of heart failure up to 20% for men and 15% for women. This study compares these men and women to men and women who did not drink at all. This drinking also must be very controlled and moderate because abusing it can cause worse health problems like liver failure. Researchers have also studied causes of death and found that for men and women who drank more than 21 drinks a week, their risk of death went up 47% for men and 89% for women.

To Read More: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150120085927.htm

DNA of Humans Is Much Closer To Chimps Than We Thought

A new scientific discovery has shown that human traits can only be attributed to about 7.5 percent of the genome, meaning that we are almost identical to chimpanzees in DNA, but the way that our bodies process the DNA is what makes us look and think different from chimpanzees. Scientists have also found out that it is the difference in proteins and how they bond to DNA strands that creates the difference in processing with the human body and chimpanzee body.

More on this here: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/human-evolution-tied-small-fraction-genome

 

In theory, the Milky Way could be a 'galactic transport system'

Based on the latest evidence and theories our galaxy could be a huge wormhole and, if that were true, it could be "stable and navigable." Astrophysicists combined the equations of general relativity with an extremely detailed map of the distribution of dark matter in the Milky Way when proposing this possibility.

More on this here

A Brain-Computer Interface That Works Wirelessly

Source

Researchers at Brown University and Blackrock Microsystems, a Utah company, have commercialized a wireless device that can transmit radio thought commands to help those who are paralyzed control their electronic devices. The product is attached to the user's skull and collects these commands from a brain implant. These commands are truly brain signals which are "collected through a cable screwed into a port onto [the user's] skull, then fed along wires to a bulky rack of signal processors." It is a system that does away with a lot of the wiring of other brain data-processing machinery by compacting that technology into a device the size of an automobile gas cap, complete with a processor, circuits and radio. It it attached to the skull and hooked to electrodes inside the brain.

While it is certainly not ready for in-home use, the product is scheduled to go under FDA testing soon enough to seek clearance. If all goes well, beta testing on volunteers could commence as soon as this year. Around half a dozen paralyzed people are currently partaking in an older but similar trial known as BrainGate, and results are proving to be positive, so this technology does have a viable future. What determines is fate will be its accessibility - can all these remote-controlling with the brain work on a commercial level, one that does away with complicated headgear and excess wiring? Furthermore, can this wiring be done under the skin? That's the most dangerous yet crucial part to this project's future.

Hearing Through the Tongue

Source

Researchers at Colorado State University are looking to an unlikely muscle to improve the lives of the hearing impaired: the tongue.

The tongue is a highly sensitive area, which is why the researchers chose to hone in on it. They are tackling deafness much like Braille is used for blindness. With Braille, blind people, overtime, associate certain patterns of bumps to corresponding words. These researchers are substituting fingertips with the tongue and bumps with waveforms.

The system is set up in the following fashion: an earpiece containing a microphone picks up sounds and words and converts them into complex, unique waveforms to represent each different spoken word. These waveforms are then sent to a special retainer worn by the user via Bluetooth, which then uses these waveforms and electrodes to excite somatic nerves on the tongue in a manner unique to every individual word.

This is by no means an overnight process. Like with Braille, this process of hearing takes time for the user to associate patterns of touch (on the tongue) with individual words. However, what could make this an effective bit of technology is that this process is occurring in real-time. While Braille requires blind people to consciously memorize certain patterns of bumps, this retainer method for deaf people allows their brains to subconsciously link tongue patterns to individual words at the instant in which they are being spoken.

Researchers do admit, however, that this technology is optimal for the partially deaf, as they can use this to add onto the faint sounds they may hear. They also say that, if all goes according to plan, the system could cost $2,000. It may sound like a hefty sum, but it is still cheaper than the price of cochlear implants. Plus, the retainer requires no surgery. Overall, this is a very creative approach to combatting deafness.

Life Without Oil

In the United States, oil has become an essential factor because it is our main source of energy. "Oil remains the indispensable commodity, without much industrial civilization will be thrown back to the coal age." However, there are many problems with oil. For starters, it is nonrenewable, which means that eventually we will run out of oil. Along with this, oil has been a leading factor in global warming. Because of this, many scientists have been searching for more efficient and eco-friendly sources of energy that are renewable. Right now, Elon Tusk, the founder of Tesla, is making rapid improvements to a more down-to-earth technology. This technology is known as the lithium-ion battery. Tesla's "gigafactories" in Nevada and New York (possibly) will harness economies to an unprecedented degree, building on improvements that have slashed battery-based energy storage costs during the past two decades. According to Naam, the cost of electric-car batteries declined by 40 percent from 2010 to 2013. The Tesla gigafactories are designed to drive costs down at an even faster rate. To learn more about the lithium-ion battery, click on the link provided below.

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-01-16/get-ready-for-life-without-oil

Seawater to drinkable water

Currently Carlifornia is experiencing their worst recorded drought in history.  However, Californians are not the only people suffering from the lack of fresh water, nearly 700 million across the world are as well.  In order to fix this problem, and to hopefully prevent it from happening again, engineers have been coming up with solutions.  One in particular is to use seawater and turn it into drinkable water. Carlsbad, California is currently working on a process that upon completion will turn 100 million gallons of Pacific Ocean water into 54 million gallons of fresh water.  The one problem with this is that it costs a great deal of money.  As a matter in fact, seawater is the most expensive fresh water source.  This is because the process requires a lot of energy. Using distillation and reverse osmosis (RO), the water's impurities and salt would be separated from the fresh water.  An estimated cost to run this process is $30 million a year, most of this due to the energy it takes to pump the water through the membranes that'll clean it.

source: http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/533446/desalination-out-of-desperation/

Can Siri Help NASA?

A "new Siri" has been developed by Brian Williams and his team at MIT that could eventually help NASA plan their missions in space. This new and improved artificial intelligence in not only conversational, meaning that it can smoothly interact with the user, but it is also risk-assessing. This means that the algorithms used can work by reasoning within a set of goals and constraints given by the user, while taking into account different probabilities which allows for a certain level of risk. For example, if you tell this AI that you want to catch a bus with a 90% chance of success, the AI is going to assume that you're fine with a 5% chance of taking some other form of transportation. The same type of AI can be used with NASA, but since the missions are more delicate and offer many different obstacles, the algorithm would just need to take into account more constraints and calculate more alternatives. But this would be really cool to have in cars, because it could function as the core of autopilot, which would be greatly beneficial in many ways.

More information along with video here: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-problem-solving-ai-of-the-future-will-be-on-your-phone