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POPSCan The War Machine Be Contained? Somehow we must push the debate away from whether or not the Iraqis are pulling up their socks to whether we really want to live in the grip of endless war. Historically, we’ve never really embraced world peace as a desirable option. Imagine the possibilities if we actually tried.
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POPSBuilding a machine that can learn from experience There's another requirement: The finished cognitive computer should be as small as a the brain of a small mammal and use as little power as a 100-watt light bulb. It's a major challenge. But it's what our brains do every day. "Value systems or reward systems are important aspects," he said. "Learning is crucial because it needs to learn from experience just like we do." It won't be an easy task, says Tononi, a veteran of earlier efforts to create cognitive computers. Even the brains of the smallest mammals are quite impressive when you consider what tasks they perform with a relatively small volume and energy input. "I would be happy to create a mouse brain," Tononi says. "A mouse brain is quite remarkable. And from there, it shouldn't be too hard to scale up to a rat brain, and then a cat or monkey brain."
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POPSRoboBugs: That Dragonfly is a U.S. Government Spy More: Defense Department documents describe nearly 100 different models in use today, some as tiny as birds, and some the size of small planes. All told, the nation's fleet of flying robots logged more than 160,000 flight hours last year -- a more than fourfold increase since 2003. A recent report by the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College warned that if traffic rules are not clarified soon, the glut of unmanned vehicles "could render military airspace chaotic and potentially dangerous." The Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems project aims to create literal shutterbugs -- camera-toting insects whose nerves have grown into their internal silicon chip so that wranglers can control their activities. DARPA researchers are also raising cyborg beetles with power for various instruments to be generated by their muscles.
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POPSPioneering Research in Neuromorphic Electronics that Function Like the Biological Brain The HRL team's ultimate goal is to build a low-power, compact electronic chip combining a novel analog circuit design and a neuroscience-inspired architecture that can address a wide range of cognitive abilities--perception, planning, decision making, and motor control. In the initial two phases of the SyNAPSE program, the team will translate the neuronal and synaptic functions of the biological cortex into similar microelectronic functions.
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POPSDARPA's Amazing Robot Pack Mule Keeps its Balance On Ice Impressive! ...yet, while "human may not be quite ready to accept such lifelike behavior coming from a machine" - I wonder on the "human like behavior" that needs DARPA and military justification to support such technology. maybe this is the tantalizing reflection of this project...
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POPS"First flapping, two-winged aircraft takes flight" more: "It's extremely complicated and technically challenging to come up with ways to control an aircraft with two flapping wings,"said Matt Keennon of AeroVironment, "but this is the closest anyone has come to a rudderless, flapping aircraft." AeroVironment wouldn't explain how the two wings accomplish flight, citing its contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
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POPSDecoding the sense of smell In future work, the team plans to work with researchers worldwide, including MIT's Media Lab and Department of Biology, to develop a portable microfluidic device that can identify an array of different odors. Such a device could be used in medicine for the early diagnosis of certain diseases that produce distinctive odors, such as diabetes and lung, bladder and skin cancers, Zhang said. There are also a wide range of industrial applications for such a smell-based biosensing device, he said. One application i can think of is developing an antidote for smelly things, people etc.. :)
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POPSViagra & the Sky-killers (IAF) With combat pilots operating hi-tech equipment in low-pressure environments, doctors believe the drug could enhance their operational abilities. “The Viagra family of drugs is considered effective in these conditions because when there is a long shortage in oxygen it leads to high blood pressure in the lungs, and the drugs help fight that,” a military medical officer told the weekly magazine.
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POPSGet ready for 24-hour living An older article, but still very interesting (By older, i mean earlier this year)... I need some of this stuff.. mainly because i sleep only 4-6 hours on a good night during the week... weekends, i can often sleep up to 8 hours.. maybe even 10!! ... ... ... No surprise DARPA is involved ;)
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POPSThe shape(s) of things to come more: An MIT group is building “self-folding origami” machines that “use specialized sheets of material with built-in actuators and data. These machines use cutting-edge mathematical theorems to fold themselves into virtually any three-dimensional object.” The Programmable Matter project is five months into its second phase, which is supposed to wind up early next Spring. When they’re done, the researchers ought to “assemble four or five three-dimensional solids of a specific size and shape from a set of building blocks.”
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POPSBrains-on-a-Chip Brains-on-a-Chip no longer science fiction? Apparently not: DARPA is holding next month a workshop on this subject.
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POPS"Terminator" Prototype Set To Hit Battlefield John Main, chief of DARPA’s exoskeleton program says the project is very much alive and that exoskeletons will be delivered for Army testing in 2008. After 14 companies and universities initially (circa 2001) came up with different designs, they have selected the firm that will build the beast: Sarcos of Salt Lake City in Utah, US. http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2006/10/exoskeleton-update.html There's a video at the site.
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POPSDon't Try to Feed These Birds I don't thinl they'll come to your feeder, but they may peek into your windows. lol I wouldn't count on though, the stupid things only have a 20 sec. fly time. Oh yes, but our generous goverment is giving the creators a couple of mil to develop it just the same.
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POPSMilitary applications of neuroscience Also check out the second clipped web page "charlesj's bookmarks matching tag "Mind Wars"", which contains a list with bookmarks linking to more in depth articles/papers/reviews/...
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