Year: 2013

TextureCam, An Add-on For Bots In Decision Making

Pooja Kashyap

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is extraordinarily smart. Its autonomous navigation system includes driving, digging, shoveling, and even shooting lasers. However, the next gen bots are a step higher and are extremely tuned in. With their advanced computer and camera systems, they are able to identify locations and geographies that are interesting enough to yield important scientific discoveries. Self-autonomous robots and human machine interaction are one of the major areas, which are undergoing research in Robotics. And Curiosity includes both the paradigms. Human engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) directs it…

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Spider Now A Nano Tech Provider

Pooja Kashyap

The headline sounds a li’l weird but ‘tis true. Electronic wastes and environmental pollution have created demands for innovative solutions. Eco-friendly electronic designs have come to the forefront to combat the problem created by the non-biodegradable plastics. But toxicity again posed a problem. Therefore, the assimilation of natural elements in these designs became mandatory to do away with the poisonous materials. Hence, Scientists at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Fla are trying to make it a reality. They have come up with a conclusion, which asserts that…

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Gargantuan Volcano Lurking On The Pacific Floor

Pooja Kashyap

A team of researchers from A&M University has discovered a giant volcano resting under the surface of Pacific Ocean, which first they thought to be remnants of multiple volcanoes. Tamu Massif the extinct submarine shield volcano is to be found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Surface area of the gargantuan is about 120,000 square miles with peak 2.2 miles high, somewhere around five and a half Mt. Everests hence, eclipsing the current largest subaerial volcano, Mauna Loa on the Hawaiian Islands. It’s probable dead as of now, advocated the researches…

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The Human-Animal Bond: A Healing Power Revealed

Wa'd Abuzurayk

Humans can be sorted into two categories; those who like animals, and those who don’t. For those who like them, animals could be of much more benefit than what was once known in the past. While animals were previously depended on for transportation, food, and the making of clothes, the human-animal bond has been given serious attention by scientists in the last 30 years, revealing a totally new perspective on how animals could be further used for our benefit. Apparently, there is much more to petting an animal than just…

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Internet Spectrum, Expediting Towards A Point Of Overcapacity

Pooja Kashyap

Devices have exceeded the number of people inhabiting on Earth. Everybody wants to stay connected in the virtual world with all the devices that they have. If the trend continuous and reaches the threshold of 50 billion, we would be left with no internet spectrum to connect with. Microsoft’s Stefan Weitz asserted that most devices and applications today use a single frequency. If we were to build mobile apps and devices that were ‘frequency intelligent,’ they could use Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth (2.4GHz) and a variety of cellular network…

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Social Integration, A Part Of Healthy Society

Wa'd Abuzurayk

A healthy society is one that not only allows, but also strives towards the integration of all constituent parts of it. It has been of note recently that more mainstream schools are accommodating to integrate children with special needs into their programmes. This is indeed a great step forward for any society. Such a move would instill the concept of social equality in children, as well as provide them with opportunities to learn from their differences.  However, as with all new opportunities, comes a set of challenges and responsibilities. And…

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Meteor Impact Led To Pastoral Revolution

Pooja Kashyap

It is very likely to think that an meteor colliding with earth may wash out the complete planet. However, what will happen if the size is somewhere between twenty-five square feet, well, the effect will be like a bomb blast. In either of the case, the result will be a disaster. We believe that comet or meteor impact always results in catastrophe but researchers from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, US believes in possibility that meteor impact could be a reason of initiating civilization. As per the earlier versions of…

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After Connecting Computers, Internet Might Connect Brains

Pooja Kashyap

Researchers at the University of Washington have come up with the first noninvasive human-to-human brain interface. With the help of electrical brain recordings, one researcher was able to control the hand movement of fellow researcher via internet. After the Duke University’s brain-to-brain interface allowing transmission of tactile and motor information between rats and Harvard University’s brain-to-brain interface, between human and a rat this happens to be the first demonstration of human-to-human brain interfacing.

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Space Colonisation, The Next Level of Evolution

Pooja Kashyap

Personifying the Earth as fragile, Stephen Hawking, has drawn attention to a fact that earth might not be able to support us after 1,000 years and hence humanity must try its aim of going into space for colonization. Technologically humans have advanced relatively but predicting a lush world other than Earth is not that easy. Therefore, to colonize any planet in space, first thing we would require is gravity and artificial habitat. Alternatively, we need to travel insurmountable light years to reach/look for a planet that is already sodden with…

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Is Your Limbic System Acting Out?

Wa'd Abuzurayk

We have all had our days when one wrong word by an unfortunate converser turns our alarms on, causing an adult-life simulation of a temper tantrum. Neuroscientists believe that we can partially blame our limbic system for this. As complex as it is as a neurological system, the Limbic system is considered to be the “primitive” brain. Not because of its’ structure, but because of its’ function. The limbic system is called “primitive” for its role in producing the age-old fight, flight or fright reactions. In other words, it regulates…

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A Spotlight On Evolution

Wa'd Abuzurayk

It seems like we are not only witnessing evolution, but are actually responsible for a big part of it. Recent animal research are revealing neurological, physiological and behavioral changes in certain animal species, in order for them to cope with the changes we humans are inflicting on our Earth and its environment. In one research conducted by a team of scientists at University of Minnesota, led by Emilie C. Snell-Rood, it was revealed that certain animal species living in the city of Minnesota (i.e., white-footed mouse and meadow vole) had…

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Human Transport Via Pods

Pooja Kashyap

Ever wondered how it would be travelling in a tube, quite similar to pneumatic tubes that are used for sending mail and packages within and between buildings. Weird but quite thrilling, I know. It’s nowhere near to another ‘cube’ or ‘hypercube’ movie, it is a real world transportation concept, brainchild of Elon Musk, The Stark of our real world. He has named it the ‘Hyperloop’. As mentioned earlier, the system would be like pneumatic tube but connecting cities, which would nearly be 400 miles (643 kilometers) apart, that is, Los…

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Are Asimov’s laws enough to save the humanity?

Pooja Kashyap

In order to speed up the training process in robots and their adaptation in complex functions, researchers of five European Universities have come up with Rapyuta, the RoboEarth Cloud Engine, an open source Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) framework. The platform facilitates bots to gain access to the massive computational, storage and communications infrastructure of modern data centers by connecting directly via internet. The Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) also aids the bots in performing complex tasks such as mapping, navigation or processing of human voice commands in the cloud. It will also allow the machines…

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Privacy Is Going Redundant

Pooja Kashyap

online privacy, google, apps, android, social networks, wifi, google maps, digital era, emails, social media, operating system Apparently, the big G is trying to get hold of its frequent geo data error on android and thus with the recent updation of their OS, they claim to improve their location accuracy on smartphones. Changing locations alters the IP but doesn’t update G’s database in the real time hence is the main cause of the geo data error. On an individual level, refreshing IP from ISP could be a way out but…

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Plants Will Discharge Electrical Current

Pooja Kashyap

Humans have been harnessing the power of solar energy since 5th century. During the ancient era, designing and construction of buildings were done in order to maximize the energy of sun. Unlike any other forms of energy, solar energy is ubiquitous; it not only supports but also forms the basis of almost every form of energy we consume. Plants Champions of Solar Power Efficiency level of – man made – solar panels is somewhere between 12 to 17 percent, which happens to be a fraction of energy which we receive…

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