| Blog - Researcher Turns His Assistant Into a Human Drumkit and A Wind Farm in Deep Water off the U.S. Coast |
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The human body is a conductor of electricity—a fact exploited by touch screens and, now, a novel way of generating music.Daito Manabe has a history of conducting quirky, painful experiments in which he administers shocks to the human body -- usually his own -- powerful enough to cause involuntary muscle contractions. He uses electricity, music, computers and video to expand on what were literally the earliest scientific experiments ever to be recorded photographically -- the electrical shocks to the face of Parisians administered in the 19th century by Guillaume Duchenne.More videos on his work are embedded below, but first, his latest project: Manabe has integrated with a touch-sensitive control system his earlier experiments in syncing the movements of his own face to music by administering shocks powerful enough to induce involuntary muscle contractions. [Read the full article] What(TM)s next: The inventor of the PalmPilot in the 1990s, Jeff Hawkins has now developed a new set of predictive algorithms inspired by the workings of the neocortex, the brain(TM)s planning center.Credit: NumentaHow the inventor of the PalmPilot studied the workings of the human brain to help companies turn a deluge of data into business intelligence.Jeff Hawkins has a track record at predicting the future. The founder of Palm and inventor of the PalmPilot, he spent the 1990s talking of a coming world in which we would all carry powerful computers in our pockets. "No one believed in it back then—people thought I was crazy," he says. "Of course, I'm thrilled about how successful mobile computing is today."At his current firm, Numenta, Hawkins is working on another idea that seems to out of left field: copying the workings of our own brains to build software that makes accurate snap decisions for today's data-deluged businesses. [Read the full article] For many, flu season is simply a nuisance. But for the elderly, it can be like navigating a minefield. With just one exposure, the virus can break through an aging immune system and make the person very sick for a long time. Now researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have found a drug that may boost immune systems in the elderly, bringing them back to "youthful levels."The drug, lenalidomide, is a cousin of thalidomide, the notorious sedative that was found to cause birth defects in the 1950s. Both drugs have been used recently to treat multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells in bone marrow. At much lower doses, scientists recently discovered, lenalidomide can stimulate immune responses in the elderly. The results of their study will be published in the January issue of Clinical Immunology."We're looking at increasing health span versus lifespan," says Edward Goetzl, director of allergy and immunology research at UCSF. [Read the full article] 
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