Brain-computer interfaces have been kicking around for a few years now, but they're relatively slow and unwieldy, which kind of puts a damper on world-domination plans -- the guy with the keyboard would probably be well into the missile-launch sequence by the time you've strapped on your dork-helmet. That might be slowly changing, though, as Caltech researchers are working on a robotic brain-computer interface, which can currently be implanted directly into non-human primate brains and move itself around to optimize readings. Although the MEMS-based motor system that actually moves the electrodes is still being developed, the software to do the job is ready to go, and the whole system being presented this week at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Pasadena. Robot-android chimps? Sure, that's just what we need.
New Jersey's Black Clouds (formerly The Golden Dawn from 2004-2005) play bracing hard rock with soaring melodies and dynamic arrangements. Hard, loud and impossibly catchy, the band has won a loyal following by lighting up clubs in New York and New Jersey since their genesis in the Spring of 2004. They have also played in Las Vegas, as well as Canada.
The Black Clouds feature chief songwriter and producer Dan Matthews on lead guitar and vocals. Marcelino Garcia plays rhythm guitar, Chris Conner plays bass guitar and Gregg LoCascio fills out the quartet playing drums and providing backing vocals.
With a self-financed, produced and recorded album released in January of 2008, mixed and mastered in Seattle by Jack Endino, The Black Clouds have high expectations for the year. Jack Endino is best known for his work with Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney.
Wall-climbing robot scales nearly any building material - Engadget
Topic: Technology
10:58 am EDT, May 22, 2008
Most of the bots we've seen recently have either been targeted at performing human-like tasks or simply too adorable to actually fear, but SRI International's wall-climbing robot is doing its best to put some terror back in the bot game, using something called "electro-adhesion" to cling to nearly any building material and climb with surprising alacrity. Electro-adhesion is apparently relatively low-power, and SRI researchers say that the bots can even climb walls that are covered in dust or other debris. Interesting -- just don't give the thing any cameras or lasers, okay? Video after the break.
Mad Neuroscience: The "Trust Me" Drug That Makes You Take Social Risks
Topic: Society
10:57 am EDT, May 22, 2008
A study coming out tomorrow in the journal Neuron explains how this scenario is possible today, with just a small dose of the brain chemical oxytocin.
Oxytocin is a chemical associated with many of the "pleasurable" feelings you have, from basic trust, to love and orgasm. Researchers in Switzerland theorized that people playing social trust games might change their behaviors if given doses of oxytocin, since the chemical might artificially enhance their willingness to trust someone. Indeed, they were right: subjects dosed with Oxytocin were willing to trust people even after they'd been explicitly told that those people had behaved in untrustworthy ways in the past. People who had not been dosed did not trust the "untrustworthy" people.
Words failed me. I stuttered as Prof Vincent Walsh turned off the speech centre of my brain for a few thousandths of a second to demonstrate the power of transcranial magnetic stimulation, a popular way to interfere with the most complex known object in the universe.
Myspace.com Blogs - Orwellian Los Angeles - Keith MySpace Blog
Topic: Miscellaneous
10:38 am EDT, May 15, 2008
Well last week here in Los Angeles, I was waiting to board the redline (subway) and snapped a picture with my cell phone camera. Not the best picture in the world, but I was just putzing around, waiting for the train, holding a quizno's to-go bag. Almost immediately, a vest wearing man with METRO emblazoned on his back who had been mopping the area nearby rushed up to me and the exchange went something like this: Him: Hey! It's against the 9-11 Law to take pictures down hear man! Me: You mean the Patriot Act? Him: No pictures. Me: Could you explain? What law do you mean? Him: You are lawyer? Me: No. Him: No pictures. You could be a terrorist. Very strict! Me: How about I take a picture of you? Him: F**k you...(I couldn't believe it either) He then proceeded to huddle in the corner and speak into his radio. Next thing I knew, a booming female voice very loudly announced over the loudspeaker "Attention to the gentleman in the plaid shirt: You are not allowed to take photographs in the Subway. You will be arrested if you continue to take photos and harrass the metro worker."
Photos are harassing..?? The paparazzi's are gonna be pissed. Good thing for terrorists they know how to use spy cams and cell phones to photograph their vacations. Hopefully they'll never find out about google earth.
Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection: Photographer Takes Pictures at the Port of Los Angeles and Has Two FBI Agents Show Up at His House Asking Questions
Topic: War on Terrorism
10:31 am EDT, May 15, 2008
iAccording to Bergman, he and a buddy were taking photos at the Port of Los Angeles when they were confronted by a security guard who told them that they could not take photographs of a Valero plant even from the public street. You can see some of the shots that they got that day on Flickr here.
...
Fast forward to this morning when Bergman says two men with badges show up at his door:
"So, I go to talk to them. The first one informs me he needs to ask me some questions about what I was doing in the port complex two weeks ago. The other one demands to see my driver's license. I politely decline, and he informs me that he already has all the information on it (I look, and sure enough, there is a photo of me on his clipboard along with god knows what else). He makes a crack about "wow, you're younger than you look in this photo" when he comments on my birthdate (gee, thanks). I decide to give him my ID.
We exchange cards. I give him my business card that says "Photographer" as well as my iStock card (for legitimacy), and he gives me his card that says "Detective, FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force". Yikes."
Your tax dollars keeping you safe. Maybe someday they'll find a real terrorist.
