Fri, Mar 12 12:16 PM
British scientists have developed a computer that can read human minds, a key breakthrough which they claim takes telepathy a step closer to reality.
According to them, the computer is able to decipher thought patterns and tell what people are thinking simply by scanning the brain -- in fact, it can delve into memories and differentiate between different recollections.
In fact, this breakthrough follows research last year by the same scientists who used the same technique to track a person's movements around a computer-simulated room.
For the current research, which focussed on the hippocampus, an area at the centre of the brain that plays a crucial role in short term memory, the scientists carried out an experiment involving 10 volunteers.
The subjects were shown three seven-second films featuring different women carrying out an everyday task in a typical urban street such as posting a letter or drinking a cup of coffee from a paper cup.
The volunteers were asked to memorise what they saw and then recall each one in turn whilst inside a magnetic resonance imaging scanner which records the brain activity by measuring changes in blood flow within the brain.
The computer algorithm then studied the electrical patterns and could tell which film the volunteer was recalling with an accuracy of about 50 per cent -- which was well above chance, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.
from yahoo news
Friday, March 12, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Soon, you'll be able to surf the web at the speed of light!
Washington, March 2 (ANI): Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a new infrared laser made from germanium that operates at room temperature, which has made light-speed computing come one step closer to reality.
The research removes the cryogenic cooling systems previously needed for infrared lasers and could lead to powerful computer chips that operate at the speed of light.
"Using a germanium laser as a light source, you could communicate at very high data rates at very low power," said Jurgen Michel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who developed the new germanium laser.
"Eventually, you could have the computing power of today's supercomputers inside a laptop," he said.
The creation of a new laser, even one based on germanium, is not newsworthy; more than 15,000 different lasers, some of which use germanium, have been created since the 1950s.
What makes this particular germanium laser unique is that it creates an infrared beam at room temperature.
Until now infrared germanium lasers required expensive cryogenic cooling systems to operate. The new germanium laser operates at room temperature.
To create the germanium laser, the scientists take a six-inch, silvery-gray disk of silicon and spray it with a thin film of germanium.
These same disks are actually used to produce chips in today's computers.
An electrically powered, room-temperature, infrared laser for laptop computers is still years away, however, cautioned Michel.
If and when those laptops do arrive, they will be powerful - more powerful in fact than even today's supercomputers.
The battery that powers the laptop won't necessarily last any longer, but the power it does hold will make calculations orders of magnitude faster than today.
"We need high-density, low-power solutions," said Kock.
Computer chips are constantly getting smaller and smaller, but they are approaching the fundamental limits of electron-based computing.
Light-based computing is one option to improve the speed and power of computers.
"Germanium-based optical computing is an especially attractive material for optical computing because it wouldn't require any change to the existing computer chip industry," Kock said.
The same machines that use silicon could also use germanium to make future chips. (ANI)
f4 yahoo news
The research removes the cryogenic cooling systems previously needed for infrared lasers and could lead to powerful computer chips that operate at the speed of light.
"Using a germanium laser as a light source, you could communicate at very high data rates at very low power," said Jurgen Michel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who developed the new germanium laser.
"Eventually, you could have the computing power of today's supercomputers inside a laptop," he said.
The creation of a new laser, even one based on germanium, is not newsworthy; more than 15,000 different lasers, some of which use germanium, have been created since the 1950s.
What makes this particular germanium laser unique is that it creates an infrared beam at room temperature.
Until now infrared germanium lasers required expensive cryogenic cooling systems to operate. The new germanium laser operates at room temperature.
To create the germanium laser, the scientists take a six-inch, silvery-gray disk of silicon and spray it with a thin film of germanium.
These same disks are actually used to produce chips in today's computers.
An electrically powered, room-temperature, infrared laser for laptop computers is still years away, however, cautioned Michel.
If and when those laptops do arrive, they will be powerful - more powerful in fact than even today's supercomputers.
The battery that powers the laptop won't necessarily last any longer, but the power it does hold will make calculations orders of magnitude faster than today.
"We need high-density, low-power solutions," said Kock.
Computer chips are constantly getting smaller and smaller, but they are approaching the fundamental limits of electron-based computing.
Light-based computing is one option to improve the speed and power of computers.
"Germanium-based optical computing is an especially attractive material for optical computing because it wouldn't require any change to the existing computer chip industry," Kock said.
The same machines that use silicon could also use germanium to make future chips. (ANI)
f4 yahoo news
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