Wires, pipes, and metal rails are produced at incredibly high speeds in factories. Often as fast as 33 feet per second, which makes doing detailed inspections as the materials are produced almost impossible. But researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM in Freiburg, Germany, have found a way using high-speed cameras and LED flashes brighter than the sun.
     |
We’ve seen scientists experiment with DNA as a storage medium — most recently with a Harvard team fitting 704TB of data onto a single gram of the genetic material — and it looks like that research trend is only picking up. Scientists at the European Bioinformatics Institute in the UK have encoded an MP3 file — along with a digital photo and all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets — into DNA, with a hulking storage density of 2.2 petabytes per gram. The information was written using the language of DNA’s four bases (A, T, C and G, if you remember high-school bio), and to provide error correction the scientists reserved one of the letters to break up long runs of any of the other three bases. In practice, this system allowed for 100-percent accuracy in sequencing and retrieving the encoded files. Though DNA storage is still quite expensive, the researchers say this method could eventually provide a viable option for archiving information, especially considering DNA’s high capacity and long life span. Still, you won’t be ditching that hard drive just yet.
Filed under: Storage, Science, Alt
Via: Ars Technica, New Scientist
Source: Nature
Nintendo may have left its Vitality Sensor by the wayside, but researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital are using heart rate monitoring in a video game to teach children with anger issues how to temper their emotions. Dubbed RAGE (Regulate and Gain Emotional) Control, the game tasks players with blasting hostile spaceships while keeping their heart rate from exceeding a predefined limit. If a gamer’s pulse rises above the ceiling, they’ll lose the ability to shoot until they can ease their pulse back down. A group of 18 kids who received standard treatments and played the game for five, 15-minute-long sessions had better control of their heart rate and lower anger levels than a group that only used traditional treatments. Currently, a controlled clinical trial of RAGE Control is underway and there are plans to take the concept a step further with toys and games suited for younger children. Look out below for the full press release or tap the second source link for the team’s paper in the Journal of Adolescent Psychiatry.
[Image credit: Thirteen of Clubs, Flickr]
Filed under: Alt
Researchers create video game that monitors heart rate to keep children’s anger in check originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Oct 2012 10:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
CNET | 
Boston Children’s Hospital, Bentham Science Publishers | Email this | Comments
Japan’s four-inch FITSAT-1 orbiters were released from Japan’s Kibo laboratory on the ISS last week to (literally) start their world tour, and astronauts aboard the station captured the wee satellites being dwarfed by giant solar arrays and our own blue rock on their way to orbit. Soon they’ll be writing “Hi this is Niwaka Japan” in Morse code using intense flashes of LED light, first to Japan and then across the globe, starting next month. To catch them floating away from the International Space Station’s cozy confines, hit the source.
Visualized: Cubesat micro-orbiters slip into space to flash Earth in Morse code originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 10:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Space.com | Email this | Comments
The Polaris rover may look a little punk rock, but that mohawk is no fashion statement. It’s for catching solar rays which shine almost horizontally at the Moon’s north pole, a location Polaris is due to explore before 2016. Built by Astrobotic Technology, it’ll be ferried aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to our celestial companion, where it’ll drill into the surface in search of ice. The company, spun out of the
Filed under: Robots, Science, Alt
Polaris rover will travel to the Moon in search of polar resources, try to survive the long lunar night originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Gizmag | | Email this | Comments
A team led by researchers at Microsoft’s UK-based R&D lab has crafted a system that tracks the full 3D pose of a user’s hand without the need for a pesky glove. Dubbed Digits, the Kinect-inspired rig latches onto a user’s wrist and utilizes a diffuse infrared light, IR laser, camera and inertial measurement unit to track fingertips and just five key points of a hand. Leveraging a pair of mathematical models developed in-house after studying the mechanics of the human hand, the group uses the captured data to extrapolate the position of a user’s paw. The team envisions the solution as a supplement to touch-based interfaces, a method for eyes-free control of mobile devices and as a gaming controller that could work in conjunction with Kinect or similar systems. In its current state, the device is composed of off-the-shelf parts and needs to be tethered to a laptop, but the ultimate goal is to create a mobile, self contained unit the size of a wrist watch. Hit the break to catch a video of the setup in action or tap the second source link below for more details in the group’s academic paper.
Filed under: Misc
Microsoft Research crafts wrist-worn device that tracks hand gestures in 3D space (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink New Scientist | Microsoft Research, ACM | Email this | Comments
If you thought cloud writing was cool, then how about a message from space burnt into the night sky? A group of unassuming cubesats recently left the comfort of the ISS and joined Earth’s orbit — among them was FITSAT-1 (aka Niwaka), a four-inch-cubed Japanese satellite covered in high-powered LEDs. Its mission is to broadcast the message “Hi this is Niwaka
While its creator, Professor Takushi Tanaka, has said the Morse broadcast has “no practical aim,” we think it would make a good emergency beacon for natural disasters (or, more worryingly, alien invasions). FITSAT-1 will try and fulfill all requests for appearances, but it can’t control the weather, so you’d better hope for a clear night if it visits your part of the world. If you’re as excited as we are to see it in action, bookmark the source links below, which should be updated with its orbit schedule in the near future. And, even if you don’t speak Japanese, the video after the break will give you an idea of what to expect.
Continue reading Japan’s LED-stacked cubesat will burn Morse code into the heavens
Japan’s LED-stacked cubesat will burn Morse code into the heavens originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Fukuoka Institute of Technology (1), (2) | Email this | Comments
We’ve seen the Kinect put to use to help you find your groceries, but the sensor’s image processing capabilities have some more safety-minded applications as well. The fine minds at MIT combined the Kinect with a laser range finder and a laptop to create a real-time mapping rig for firefighters and other rescue workers. The prototype, called SLAM (for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) received funding from the US Air Force and the Office of Naval Research, and it stands out among other indoor mapping systems for its focus on human (rather than robot) use and its ability to produce maps without the aid of any outside information, thanks to an on-board processor.
Continue reading MIT’s real-time indoor mapping system uses Kinect, lasers to aid rescue workers
Filed under: Alt
MIT’s real-time indoor mapping system uses Kinect, lasers to aid rescue workers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 13:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink ZDNet UK | MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab | Email this | Comments
If you’ve been paying attention, you know the quantum computing revolution is coming — and so far the world has a mini quantum network, not to mention the $10,000 D-Wave One, to show for it. Researchers from the University of Melbourne and University College, London, have now developed the “first working quantum bit based on a single atom of silicon.” By measuring and manipulating the magnetic orientation, or spin, of an electron bound to a phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon chip, the scientists were able to both read and write information, forming a qubit, the basic unit of data for quantum computing.
The team used a silicon transistor, which detects the electron’s spin and captures its energy when the spin’s direction is “up.” Once the electron is in the transistor, scientists can change its spin state any way they choose, effectively “writing” information and giving them control of the quantum bit. The next step will be combing two qubits into a logic step, with the ultimate goal being a full-fledged quantum computer capable of crunching numbers, cracking encryption codes and modeling molecules that would put even supercomputers to shame. But, you know, baby steps.
Researchers create working quantum bit in silicon, pave way for PCs of the future originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink The Register | UNSW Australia | Email this | Comments
We know better than most that when you’re working to a deadline, constant pop-ups, notifications and pings can be a real pain. Our frustrations might soon become a thing of the past, however, with some help from boffins at the
[Image Credit: Getty Images / Jean Louis Batt]
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Software
Pressure-sensing PC technology knows when you’re busy, blocks notifications accordingly originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
