CNN operates an interesting website titled “Edge of Discovery“.  The website has the following tagline:

Around the globe — and throughout the universe — innovations are not only creating breakthroughs in technology but changing the way we live our daily lives. Discoveries are expanding how we explore science, technology, medicine and space.

The website has a number of interesting articles, including video articles,  about inventions and other innovations.  Check it out!

Teenage ‘baby’ may lack master ageing gene

• 18:06 25 June 2009 by Andy Coghlan
• For similar stories, visit the Genetics Topic Guide

Teenage ‘baby’ may lack master aging gene

New Scientist Health, June 25, 2009

Brooke Greenberg is 16 years old now (the picture shows her at age 11), but hasn’t aged since she was an infant. Understanding her condition could provide an insight into the genetics of aging.

Richard Walker of the University of South Florida College of Medicine thinks that Brooke is the first recorded case of what he describes as “developmental disorganization.” His hypothesis is that the cause is disruption of an as-yet unidentified gene, or genes, that hold the key to aging by orchestrating how an organism matures to adulthood, reproduces, then gradually ages and dies.

Brooke’s condition could give important leads to the identity of this master regulator.

Pioneering investigations have thrown the first scientific light on the highly unusual case of Brooke Greenberg, a child from Baltimore, Maryland, who is 16 years old, but whose size and development corresponds to that of an infant of 11 months.

The hope is that the investigation will throw up new clues to ageing. But the researchers involved say that Brooke’s condition is not a reversed version of conditions that lead to premature ageing.

“It’s not the reciprocal,” says Richard Walker of the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, Florida, and head of the group which this week published an analysis of Brooke’s condition.

Varied growth

When Walker and his colleagues sequenced Brooke’s DNA, they found that the genes associated with the premature-ageing diseases were normal, unlike the mutated versions in patients with Werner’s Syndrome and progeria. “That was the first thing we looked at,” he said.

Nor does the analysis support the idea that Brooke is somehow “frozen-in-time”, in perpetual infanthood. Instead, Walker and colleagues found that different parts of her body and anatomy are maturing at different rates.

“I think she has differential growth of her body,” says Walker. “It’s not growing like a unified organism, but in fragmented parts.”

Her brain, for example, is scarcely more mature than that of a newborn infant. Although she can recognise her mother and make gestures and noises to articulate her wishes, she can’t talk.

Yet her bones – although still abnormally short – are around 10 years old, as determined by the maturity of the cells and structures. And despite being a teenager, she still has her baby teeth, with an estimated developmental age of about eight years.

Master gene?

Investigations also trace some of her many medical problems, such as inability to swallow naturally without choking, to staggered growth of body systems that normally grow in unison and work together. Because Brooke’s respiratory and gastrointestinal systems don’t coordinate, and because her food pipe is abnormally small, she can’t swallow properly and continues to be fed through a tube to her stomach.

Walker thinks that Brooke is the first recorded case of what he describes as “developmental disorganization”. His hypothesis is that the cause is disruption of an as-yet unidentified gene, or genes, that hold the key to ageing by orchestrating how an organism matures to adulthood, reproduces, then gradually ages and dies.

Walker believes that Brooke lacks this “regulator” of development – first proposed in 1932 by British marine biologist, George Parker Bidder. Like Bidder, Walker believes that the regulator guides organisms through to adulthood, but also works beyond then to orchestrate ageing and, eventually, death.

‘Important leads’

Walker says that Brooke’s condition is the first that could give important leads to the identity of this master regulator. He hopes that by investigating her condition further, and perhaps finding other cases, he may find additional clues and leads.

The elusive regulator must be very different to the genes that cause progeria and Werner’s syndrome, Walker says. The symptoms of these diseases arise not because a master gene controlling ageing is damaged, but because of mutations that give the appearance and manifestation of ageing through damage to genes governing function of specific biological structures.

In progeria, for example, the decisive damage is to a gene that makes lamin A, a protein located just under the nuclear membrane of a cell. People with progeria have a mutated version of the gene which produces progerin, an abnormal and malfunctioning version of lamin A. This results in the symptoms of premature ageing.

Wider search

Maria Eriksson of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who discovered the progeria mutation in 2003, also thinks it unlikely that Brooke’s condition relates to progeria, or to damage to the lamin A gene.

“But if you assume she has a phenomenon of slowed development, or ceased ageing, it could be worth examining other genes related to increased life span,” she says. “The klotho gene is an example of a gene, in mice, that when mutated leads to some symptoms of premature ageing, but when it’s overactive, it extends lifespan,” she says.

Other researchers have identified IGF-1 as a gene linked with prolonged life in nematode worms, mice and humans.

Walker says that in subsequent studies, he will examine and compare Brooke’s DNA in greater detail to check for clues.

Journal reference: Mechanisms of Ageing and Development DOI: 10.1016.j.mad.2009.02.003

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HANK “I Don’t Recall” PAULSON
(AM session) – (PM session)

highlights…
REP Towns - TARP

REP Kucinich – Secret Mergers Illegal Acts

REP Speier – $15B Force

REP Burton – Too Many Secrets

REP Kanjorski – Meltdown

REP Cummings – AIG Goldman

REP Kaptur – The Greatest Hail Mary Pass Of ALL TIME!

REP Stearns – Bait and Switch – No Credibility – Recuse

.more goldman goodies
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Move To Legalize Marijuana Takes Root
In a 1969 Gallup poll, only 12% of Americans supported making marijuana legal. By 2005, support had grown to 36%. And in a Zogby International poll taken earlier this year, 44% of Americans said marijuana “should be taxed and legally regulated like alcohol and cigarettes.”The most interesting information, however, is in the demographic breakdown. more

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Conservative Group Offers Endorsement For $2M
The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a check for $2 million to $3 million in return for the group’s endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then the group’s president flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay.

For the $2 million plus, ACU offered a range of services that included: “Producing op-eds and articles written by ACU’s Chairman David Keene and/or other members of the ACU’s board of directors. (Note that Mr. Keene writes a weekly column that appears in The Hill.)”

The conservative group’s remarkable demand — black-and-white proof of the longtime Washington practice known as “pay for play” — was contained in a private letter to FedEx , which was provided to POLITICO.

The letter exposes the practice by some political interest groups of taking stands not for reasons of pure principle, as their members and supporters might assume, but also in part because a sponsor is paying big money.

In the three-page letter asking for money on June 30, the conservative group backed FedEx. After FedEx says it rejected the offer, Keene signed onto a two-page July 15 letter backing UPS. Keene did not return a message left on his cell phone.

Maury Lane, FedEx’s director of corporate communications, said: “Clearly, the ACU shopped their beliefs and UPS bought.” more
.pdf letter
Where’s My Bailout?

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The Eagle Has Landed

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W.H.O. Says It Plans to Stop Tracking Swine Flu Cases
In a move that caught many public health experts by surprise, the World Health Organization quietly announced Thursday that it would stop tracking swine flu cases and deaths around the world.

The last W.H.O. update, issued on July 6, showed 94,512 confirmed cases in 122 countries, with 429 deaths.

Many epidemiologists have pointed out that, in reality, millions of people have had swine flu, usually in a mild form, so the numbers of laboratory-confirmed cases were actually meaningless. And performing the tests has overwhelmed many national laboratories. W.H.O.

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byś nie odleciał przypadkiem

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yum!

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Congressional Lawmakers Invest In Their (Financial) Health
As members of Congress assess the proper dose of reform for the nation’s health care system, many of them have likewise invested hundreds of thousands of dollars of their personal funds into the very companies whose financial fortunes depend on what measures become law.

While some political scientists and other experts are concerned this reality inhibits good policy, lawmakers themselves say the financial health of their constituents — not their investment portfolios — alone drive their decisions.

Legislators held significant investments in pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Amgen, the Center for Responsive Politics has found. Through 2008 — the most recent year for which lawmakers filed this information — many congressional members’ personal funds were also invested in big-time insurers Aetna, UnitedHealth Group and Metlife, among others.

“Having personal funds in healthcare companies has the potential to influence someone’s understanding of the issues and affect the policies they support. The potential for being influenced by one’s own self interest is present whenever Congress is considering legislation that could have an impact on the profits of the companies,” said Leonard Weber, Professor Emeritus at the University of Detroit Mercy and an ethics consultant for health establishments. “It would certainly be better if these self-interests were not part of the decision-making process.”

Nearly one in four current members of Congress had invested some money in health companies during 2007, the most recent year CRP calculated lawmakers’ extensive personal finances. (Data for 2008 will be available in our personal financial disclosure database come October). That made for a total of between $44.2 million and $93.9 million. And while the market has changed significantly since then, a scan of their 2008 reports show that lawmakers held onto–or even purchased–stock in these companies during 2008.

Because lawmakers report the value of their assets in ranges, it’s impossible to determine their exact worth.

Merck, Pfizer and UnitedHealth rank among the top 10 investments in 2007, and are part of an industry that opposes one of the main components of reform proposals–a public health insurance option that would compete with private insurers. more

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Drug Makers Score Early Wins as Plan Takes Shape
The pharmaceuticals industry, which President Barack Obama promised to “take on” during his campaign, is winning most of what it wants in the health-care overhaul.

The final contours of the legislation are far from settled, but the industry, led by a onetime powerful congressman, has notched a string of victories.

Legislation expected soon in the powerful Senate Finance Committee will leave out cost-cutting steps as part of an agreement with the industry and the White House, according to Congressional aides, industry lobbyists and others involved in the talks. more

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Joy Of Sachs

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IMF warns pound could be at risk from uncertainty
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that Gordon Brown risks a run on the pound if he does not set out a clear path for reducing national debt.

In a report published yesterday following a staff mission to Britain in May, the IMF said that a “credible plan” was needed to reverse the rapid deterioration of the public finances if confidence in the UK was to be upheld.

“Market conditions suggest the UK has been getting the benefit of the doubt, both in the Government bond market and also the foreign exchange market,” said Ajai Chopra, the IMF’s mission chief for the UK. “This benefit of the doubt is not going to last forever and it’s going to be important that the Government does not test the limit of the market’s confidence.

“The authorities will need to move more aggressively in their fiscal consolidation plans and to be specific it will be important to set public debt on a firmly downward path faster than is envisaged in the 2009 Budget,” he added….

The report added: “Should fiscal sustainability come into question, interest rates would rise despite monetary easing efforts, the ability of the Government to provide support to the financial sector would be severely limited and pressures on the currency could emerge.” telegraph uk £

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itty bitty Working With News publishers
Last week, a group of newspaper and magazine publishers signed a declaration stating that “Universal access to websites does not necessarily mean access at no cost,” and that they “no longer wish to be forced to give away property without having granted permission.”

We agree, and that’s how things stand today. The truth is that news publishers, like all other content owners, are in complete control when it comes not only to what content they make available on the web, but also who can access it and at what price. This is the very backbone of the web — there are many confidential company web sites, university databases, and private files of individuals that cannot be accessed through search engines. If they could, the web would be much less useful.

For more than a decade, search engines have routinely checked for permissions before fetching pages from a web site. Millions of webmasters around the world, including news publishers, use a technical standard known as the Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP) to tell search engines whether or not their sites, or even just a particular web page, can be crawled. Webmasters who do not wish their sites to be indexed can and do use the following two lines to deny permission: more
I think I agree
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1916 – 2009

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Clickables

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QOTD: “Oh, My Hat!”

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Now here’s an idea that just makes complete and total sense to me: hybrid bicycles usable by city dwellers that store energy via regenerative braking which is then redistributed back into the city’s power grid via special bike stands to be used by a fleet of electric buses. Bikes are unlocked and tracked by commuters with an RFID card. Each cyclist then builds credits based on how much energy they produce. These credit can then be traded in for free bus rides.

How awesome is that?

via Engadget

And yet somehow it’s imperative that we pass massive legislation that raises our energy costs drastically, and do everything we can to scale back our economy to a more primitive time.

It’s all just a religion, and not about the science anymore.

Actually, it doesn’t seem like too far-fetched of an idea. The hardest part of the DARPA urban challenge isn’t collecting the data, but knowing what to do with it. Putting a human behind the wheel certainly solves that problem.

Scientists can create cheap hydrogen from urine for use in fuel cells.

Urine-powered cars, homes and personal electronic devices could be available in six months with new technology developed by scientists from Ohio University.
Using a nickel-based electrode, the scientists can create large amounts of cheap hydrogen from urine that could be burned or used in fuel cells. “One cow can provide enough energy to supply hot water for 19 houses,” said Gerardine Botte, a professor at Ohio University developing the technology. “Soldiers in the field could carry their own fuel.”

Pee power is based on hydrogen, the most common element in the universe but one that has resisted efforts to produce, store, transport and use economically.

Storing pure hydrogen gas requires high pressure and low temperature. New nanomaterials with high surface areas can adsorb hydrogen, but have yet to be produced on a commercial scale.

Chemically binding hydrogen to other elements, like oxygen to create water, makes it easier to store and transport, but releasing the hydrogen when it’s needed usually requires financially prohibitive amounts of electricity.

By attaching hydrogen to another element, nitrogen, Botte and her colleagues realized that they can store hydrogen without the exotic environmental conditions, and then release it with less electricity, 0.037 Volts instead of the 1.23 Volts needed for water.

One molecule of urea, a major component of urine, contains four atoms of hydrogen bonded to two atoms of nitrogen. Stick a special nickel electrode into a pool of urine, apply an electrical current, and hydrogen gas is released. A fuel cell, urine-powered vehicle could theoretically travel 90 miles per gallon.

“It is not a solution for all our cars, but it is the kind of process which will find many applications and will make for a greener world.”

Miniature robots could be good spies, but researchers now are experimenting with insect cyborgs or “cybugs” that could work even better. Scientists can already control the flight of real moths using implanted devices. The military and spy world no doubt would love tiny, live camera-wielding versions of Predator drones that could fly undetected into places where no human could ever go to snoop on the enemy. Developing such robots has proven a challenge so far, with one major hurdle being inventing an energy source for the droids that is both low weight and high power. Still, evidence that such machines are possible is ample in nature in the form of insects, which convert biological energy into flight. Instead of attempting to create sophisticated robots that imitate the complexity in the insect form that required millions of years of evolution to achieve, scientists now essentially want to hijack bugs for use as robots. Originally researchers sought to control insects by gluing machinery onto their backs, but such links were not always reliable. To overcome this hurdle, the Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems program is sponsoring research into surgically implanting microchips straight into insects as they grow, intertwining their nerves and muscles with circuitry that can then steer the critters. As expensive as these devices might be to manufacture and embed in the bugs, they could still prove cheaper than building miniature robots from scratch. As these cyborgs heal from their surgery while they naturally metamorphose from one developmental stage to the next — for instance, from caterpillar to butterfly — the result would yield a more reliable connection between the devices and the insects, the thinking goes. The fact that insects are immobile during some of these stages — for instance, when they are metamorphosing in cocoons — means they can be manipulated far more easily than if they were actively wriggling, meaning that devices could be implanted with assembly-line routine, significantly lowering costs.

before/after photo via rubbersidewalks inc

When I called this blog “It Happens Here,” I didn’t realize that “here” would be quite so literal.  But near my home on Commonwealth, in front of my innovative neighbors at Station 8, there were news cameras and reporters staring at the ground yesterday.  They were covering at a test pilot installation of a recycled rubber sidewalk.  Even to critics who might claim that it’s unappealing or too expensive for right now, it’s hard to argue that it solves a very basic need: its cracking concrete counterpart soon requires quick replacement thanks to the beautiful older trees on the block.  However, the rubber version flexes as the trees grow, allowing the roots to share in the same space.  Check back in 50 years and I’ll tell you if it’s still there!

Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies
It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology — and a 20th-century horror movie.

A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find — grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies.

Robotic Technology Inc.’s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot — that’s right, “EATR” — “can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable,” reads the company’s Web site.

That “biomass” and “other organically-based energy sources” wouldn’t necessarily be limited to plant material — animal and human corpses contain plenty of energy, and they’d be plentiful in a war zone.

EATR will be powered by the Waste Heat Engine developed by Cyclone Power Technology of Pompano Beach, Fla., which uses an “external combustion chamber” burning up fuel to heat up water in a closed loop, generating electricity.

The advantages to the military are that the robot would be extremely flexible in fuel sources and could roam on its own for months, even years, without having to be refueled or serviced.

Upon the EATR platform, the Pentagon could build all sorts of things — a transport, an ambulance, a communications center, even a mobile gunship.

In press materials, Robotic Technology presents EATR as an essentially benign artificial creature that fills its belly through “foraging,” despite the obvious military purpose.
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Is Obama Continuing the Bush/Cheney Assassination Program?

Congress is outraged that Cheney concealed a CIA program to assassinate al Qaeda leaders, but they should also be investigating why Obama is continuing—and expanding—U.S. assassinations. more

update

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Q: Want Health Care Reform In The US  Done By Tomorrow?
A: Cancel all Government Tax Payer Health Care For Congress Today.

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The Fed Under Fire

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New Hampshire Man Charged 23 Quadrillion Dollars For Smokes
A New Hampshire man says he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and was charged over 23 quadrillion dollars.

Josh Muszynski (Moo-SIN’-ski) checked his account online a few hours later and saw the 17-digit number — a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500 (twenty-three quadrillion, one hundred forty-eight trillion, eight hundred fifty-five billion, three hundred eight million, one hundred eighty-four thousand, five hundred dollars).

Muszynski says he spent two hours on the phone with Bank of America trying to sort out the string of numbers and the $15 overdraft fee. The bank corrected the error the next day.

Bank of America tells WMUR-TV only the card issuer, Visa, could answer questions. Visa, in turn, referred questions to the bank.

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New World Currency
Even if Russia’s call for a global currency failed to gain much traction at a G8 summit, President Dmitry Medvedev took home a coin meant to symbolize that the dream may one day come true.

The Russian leader proudly displayed the coin, which bears the English words “United Future World Currency”, to journalists after the summit wrapped up in the quake-hit Italian town of L’Aquila.

Medvedev said that although the coin, which resembled a euro and featured the image of five leaves, was just a gift given to leaders it showed that people were beginning to think seriously about a new global currency.

The coin was minted in Belgium and presented to the heads of G-8 delegations.

The question of a supranational currency “concerns everyone now, even the mints,” Medvedev said. The test coin “means they’re getting ready. I think it’s a good sign that we understand how interdependent we are.”

“In all likelihood something similar could appear and it could be held in your hand and used as a means of payment,” he told reporters. “This is the international currency.” “You can see it and touch it.”

Russia, along with China, has been a vocal proponent of diversifying the global currency system away from the dollar, which has dominated global finance and commerce since the end of World War II.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the summit joined the band in favour of dumping the dollar as the international currency of reference, insisting that “we cannot stick with just one single currency.”

Medvedev press conference at G8

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watch people shop

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eternal

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Vaaarooooooooom!

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1981-2009
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yum!

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Stephen Fry Compares RIAA to “Big Tobacco”
“Making examples of ordinary people is the stupidest thing the record industry can do,” he told the audience, and he doesn’t believe that bands “are in favor” of the strategy, many of which have said they certainly are not. “My business – the film business, the television business, the music business – is doing the wrong thing.”

Fry also reminded people that rigid copyright laws stifle creativity and innovation, a point made last week by Christian Engström, newly elected member of the Swedish Pirate Party to the European Parliament.

“We are not nouns, we are verbs,” he added. “Weak copyright encourages creativity.” Z
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klimt

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you wanna piece of me?

According to tradition, Albert Einstein got the basic idea for Special Relativity from one of his famous thought experiments.  He imagined a ray of light, with him speeding along beside it at the speed of light.

So my thought here is, suppose that a contemporary person were to repeat Einstein’s experiment?  Einstein did it with a Newton-Maxwell model of the world, but one of us would do it with Einstein’s model of the world.  (I am assuming the sort of person who would read this post probably learned the bare basics of Special Relativity in Junior High– I guess that’s called “middle school” now.)

So let’s give it a whirl.  Consider a photon which is emitted from Point A, and is subsequently absorbed at Point B some distance away.   You measure the time and distance from an external framework, and come to the conclusion  that the photo must have been traveling at the speed of light.

So now we get down and dirty and go with the next photon.  You take your trusty stopwatch and….. um, I guess you don’t.  From the point of view of the photon, the trip took zero time because of the Lorentz transformation.  So let’s try again, this time we’ll measure the distance.  You’re way ahead of me– that isn’t going to give useful results either.  We tend to think of spaceships being transformed to zero length, but you could just as well consider the distance between A and B as being the thing compressed as you look on from your speedster.  So we get zero for the distance   as well.

So the conclusion we are being led to is that if the trip has zero length and zero duration, it never happened. 

What?  That’s preposterous!  The proper way to look at it is from outside– and we can track the little bugger zipping along at the speed of light for a few nanoseconds!

First, the keystone to Einstein’s theory is that there isn’t a ‘proper’ viewpoint, that all viewpoints in the Universe are equally valid.

Second, about being able to track that photon?  You want to bet?  Recall that the whole mystery of the famous two-slit experiment is that if you attempt to find out which electron is going through which hole, they will do something different than they would left alone.  People never see photons underway; they see them departing and arriving.  We tend to think of outer space being filled with starlight going places, but I’m pretty sure you can’t prove it.

So what we are left with is the notion that the photon somehow teleported from it’s departure at A to it’s arrival at B, from its point of view covering no distance in no time.  You observe a distance and a time for the trip, but you are sitting in a frame of reference that the photon would consider very odd and distorted.  (You return the favor, of course.)  And you can’t even ask about the intermediate states, for example when your computation says it should be half-way, but you can’t prove it.

To net it out, the photon’s departure from A and the arrival at B are the same event, and the whole notion of anything between is an unnecessary complication.

Yes, you could stick a sensor half-way and catch some photons in the time you predict– but those are not photons going from A to B; they are photons going from A to C– your sensor.

Well, that explains some classic mysteries like the two-slit experiment.  But I think it also deals very directly with a modern mystery– entanglement, where two particles that were once together know what each other are up to instantaneously.  Consider that for photon 1 the act of leaving A is identical with the act of arriving at B, and for photon 2 the act of leaving A is identical with arriving at D somewhere else.  Must we not perforce conclude that the act of 1 arriving at B and the act of 2 arriving at D are also the same event?  Things equal to the same thing are equal to each other and all that. 

And entanglement and its apparent violation of the speed of light simply isn’t a mystery any more.  How the photons teleport without crossing the distance between them is a mystery, but we simply lack a full understanding of how space-time points are really connected.

DISCLAIMER:  I thought this up many years ago– except for the entanglement part– and just sat on it.  Not a good idea.  I’ve seen essentially the same concept in print a couple of times since.  The moral of the tale is, if you have something to say, say it.

Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

• Print

Robotic Technology Inc.

EATR robots roam a barren landscape as an unmanned drone flies overhead in an artist’s rendering.

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It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology — and a 20th-century horror movie.

A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find — grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies.

Robotic Technology Inc.’s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot — that’s right, “EATR” — “can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable,” reads the company’s Web site.

That “biomass” and “other organically-based energy sources” wouldn’t necessarily be limited to plant material — animal and human corpses contain plenty of energy, and they’d be plentiful in a war zone.

EATR will be powered by the Waste Heat Engine developed by Cyclone Power Technology of Pompano Beach, Fla., which uses an “external combustion chamber” burning up fuel to heat up water in a closed loop, generating electricity.

The advantages to the military are that the robot would be extremely flexible in fuel sources and could roam on its own for months, even years, without having to be refueled or serviced.

Upon the EATR platform, the Pentagon could build all sorts of things — a transport, an ambulance, a communications center, even a mobile gunship.

In press materials, Robotic Technology presents EATR as an essentially benign artificial creature that fills its belly through “foraging,” despite the obvious military purpose.

• Click here for a brief description of EATR at the Robotic Technology Web site.

• Click here for a much longer overview of the project in PDF format.

• Click here to read about the Cyclone Waste Heat Engine.

HUMANOID AND LEGGED ROBOTS

We have had many interesting projects over the years, one of which concerned an analysis of Humanoid and Legged Robots, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA is about to initiate a new legged robot program (Legged Squad Support System (LS3)) and, in the near future, may initiate a program to develop and demonstrate a humanoid robot.

The purpose of the project was to perform a technology assessment of supervised autonomous intelligent humanoid robots, to examine current technology and systems to determine the feasibility of humanoid robots, and other legged robots, for militarily useful behavior in the near to far term (e.g., years 2002 – 2030) and to provide a technology roadmap for developing and demonstrating a humanoid robot for a selected military mission. The expectation is that DARPA will support the development and demonstration of militarily useful humanoid robots.

There are a number of ongoing programs in the Department of Defense (DOD) for the development of combat robotics, but they emphasize the development wheeled or tracked vehicle platforms, not humanoid robots. But the world of artifacts is designed by humans for humans – such as tools, buildings, and vehicles. A humanoid robot, with biped legs, dexterous arms and hands, and sufficient intelligence, could function smoothly in that world: moving about in buildings, climbing stairs or ladders, opening doors with doorknobs instead of force, using existing tools, operating existing machinery, driving existing vehicles – and firing existing weapons. In the natural environment, military wheeled vehicles can operate on about 30% of the earth’s land surface, and military tracked vehicles can travel on about 50%. Legged organisms and machines, including bipedal humanoids, can travel over nearly the entire land surface.

Also, humans will interact most easily with robots that appear to be human. While programs in several countries are focused on developing humanoid robots, Japanese companies, in general, have expended the most effort in developing humanoid robots. Although these robots have advanced sensing and control for autonomic effector movement (such as walking), they are limited in their autonomous interaction with the environment. Because the U.S. is more advanced in autonomous intelligent control (albeit, for vehicles), an interesting project would be to integrate a U.S. control system (such as the NIST hybrid 4D/RCS) with a suitable humanoid robot. The resulting autonomous, intelligent, robots will have widespread military and civil applications and benefits.

Yes, that’s right! You can buy the Ghostbusters Ecto-1. This 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance was converted by Universal Studios into the machine above. This is pretty awesome. The current bid is at $45000 so get your wallet out.

There is not a lot that can be said about this car once you see it you know what it is. This car was owned by Universal Studios as you can see by the copy of the title. This is the real Universal car not a copy. The car runs and drives good it has new tires on it know. The car is in a car Museum right now, when it goes on tour it draws a VERY VERY LARGE crowd.

Ghostbusters Ecto-1 on Ebay

Makes perfect sense when you are behind the wheel – make sure that your fingers are not doing the talking. Not everyone shares this sentiment, however. It behooves lawyers to have the lowdown on the laws regarding driving while texting – to protect themselves when they are tempted and to be prepared for those clients who may have gotten their fingers burnt, so to speak.

Jalopnik offers quick and easy visual maps for determining how states are handling legislation regarding texting, which may not expressly or explicitly fall under cell phone driving laws or driver distraction laws. This is a barebones color-coded series of maps, which does not give offer links to relevant legislation. Furthermore, these maps are going to change radically as time (and laws) pass. But I was able to determine quickly from the maps that, while there is nothing yet on the books in Massachusetts, there is legislation pending. Enough to set me on the path to legislative research on the question.

The bigger point to be made here is that even though technology affords us the ability to singletask or multitask in new and exciting ways it does not grant us the license to do so at all times. We, the “drivers” of technology, need to engage it responsibly at all times. Sometimes, that means we need to “drop out of the fast lane” and, if necessary, hold off until tomorrow what should not be done today while driving on a car trip. That includes shaving, putting on makeup, and reading the paper too. Sheesh!

The below article gives a glimpse of six new technological developments that will be part of your life soon!

Sentiment analysis in Computers

Computers with emotions? Now, that sounds interesting and it’s a fact! Soon computers will get an additional assimilation of ‘sentiment analysis’ tools that will reflect the feeling of your blogs or any other online comments. Companies like Sentimine, Adaptive Semantics and Lexalytics have already put in their hands into this technological advancement. Currently, it is only sold to big corporations but soon it will be global, cheap or even for free!

SMS with background color by Nokia

Now, message your best friend with an emotion. Nokia is on its way to launch the new model with the latest ‘light messaging’ feature. This will enable users to send a SMS with a background color that will express their mood. The color that will be encoded with the message will be illuminated on the LED screen of the recipient’s phone of similar type.

Pet friendly car by Honda Motor Company

Finding it difficult to control your mischievous dog while driving? There is good news for you! Honda Motor Company unveiled its pet friendly car in New York Motor Show early this year. Termed as the WOW concept, this ultimate dog car has some interesting touches that will certainly make your dog feel comfortable. There is a special seat belt, a 12V rear ventilation fan, a cushioned bed, a toy bone and many more that will keep your pet busy. To keep you happy, the final additional feature that Honda features is the removable and washable rollout flooring!

Wi-Fi washing machine

Just fill it, shut it and forget it! All you have to do is throw your dirty clothes inside the see through basket of the machine. As soon as it hits a certain weight, the machine will start its job. It’s a blessing for the office goers as well. They can now operate this machine from their desk. The global leader in home appliances, Electrolux has taken the front seat to unveil this technology soon.

Wanda: the wonder fish for underwater search

Be careful while fishing, it might be Wanda!

Wanda or the Wireless Aquatic Navigator for detection and analysis is the next generation underwater search device that looks and propels like any other fish. Created by researcher Scott McGovern, the Robo-Fish can swim with ease with the help of a flexible joint tail, polymer artificial muscle and a fixed wireless camera that can give images from deep under the water. From detection of the water quality to structural damages, Wanda will sense every little change inside.

An interesting discovery on children’s genders, in which “…when all other things were equal[,] mothers in monogamous marriages had most sons… Those who were the first wives of polygamists scored similarly. Wives who were “third or lower order”, though,”… breed more duaghters than sons.

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