Chemical computer that mimics neurons to be created

Computer that mimics neurons... BBC News reports "A promising push toward a novel, biologically-inspired 'chemical computer' has begun as part of an international collaboration. The 'wet computer' incorporates several recently discovered properties of chemical systems that can be hijacked to engineer computing power.

The team's approach mimics some of the actions of neurons in the brain."

GR: it's easy to hold a narrow view of computers as electronic devices; this is a cool example of how computing can go beyond that.

New mathematical model aids simulations of early universe

New mathematical model... SMU Research "Together the scientists built a computer model of events during the 'Dark Ages' when the first stars emitted radiation that altered the surrounding matter, enabling light to pass through. The team tested its model on two of the largest existing NSF supercomputers, 'Ranger' at the University of Texas at Austin and 'Kraken' at the University of Tennessee."

"By forcing the computational methods to tightly bind these processes together, our new model allows us to generate simulations that are highly accurate, numerically stable and computationally scalable to the largest supercomputers available," Reynolds says."

GR: Computers don't just make certain kinds of work easier -- in some cases they make it possible.

6 hottest skills for 2010

6 hottest skills for 2010: "For IT professionals who are either looking to get back into the workforce or mulling moves to greener pastures, here are the six types of skills most in demand among survey respondents who said they expect to hire IT workers in 2010."

Heading up the list is Programming/ Application Development "...Among companies that plan to hire, the top reason for doing so is to meet demand for new systems and projects. That could be why programming/ application development is the skill set that's most in demand, by far"

Thought-to-Speech Machine Could Be the Beginning of Something Huge - Neuralynx system - Gizmodo

Thought-to-Speech Machine Could Be the Beginning of Something Huge - Neuralynx system - Gizmodo: "The Neuralynx System translates thoughts into speech. It connects to the neurons, sending signals wirelessly to a laptop, which translates the brain activity into spoken English. It's not science fiction: They tried it with a paralyzed 26-year-old and it works.

According to the research paper, they inserted the electrodes into the patient's brain, installing signal amplifiers and transmitters under the scalp. The circuitry—powered by an induction electric supply—transmits the signals to a laptop via FM radio. The software then converts the analog signal to digital data that the neural decoder interprets these into speech commands, which are then sent to the synthesizer."

GR: Wow. We can already bypass the external mechanics of auditory processing by directly stimulating the  cochlea; if we can bypass the mechanics of speech, we really could have direct brain-to-brain communication. Volunteers?

10 fool-proof predictions for the Internet in 2020

10 fool-proof predictions... "Forty years after it was invented, the Internet is straining under the weight of cyber attacks, multimedia content and new mobile applications. In response, U.S. computer scientists are re-thinking every aspect of the Internet's architecture, from IP addresses to routing tables (see main story: 2020 Vision: Why you won't recognize the 'Net in 10 years) to overall Internet security. There are many views about how to fix the Internet's architecture, but there's widespread agreement about many aspects of the future Internet. Here's our list of 11 surefire bets for what the Internet will look like in a decade."

GR: I'm wary of "surefire bets" when it comes to technology, but the article certainly points to some interesting trends.

Intelligent Wheelchairs Will Navigate on Their Own

Intelligent Wheelchairs... "Lehigh University researchers are working on a 'smart wheelchair' with artificial intelligence which can navigate on its own using lasers, sensors and mapping software without the need for human guidance or remote control. The technology has the potential to serve as a person's feet, hands and eyes and thus restore his/her ability to interact with environment.

Using a five-year, 480,000-dollar National Science Foundation grant received in June, lead author John Spletzer, an associate professor of computer science and engineering at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, and his colleagues have developed a prototype chair designed specifically for negotiating sidewalks, parking lots and other outdoor areas."

GR: some students will recognize John Spletzer as the speaker that a group of us heard last year at Millersville University.

First Programmable Quantum Computer Created

First Programmable Quantum Computer... from Science News. "Using a few ultracold ions, intense lasers and some electrodes, researchers have built the first programmable quantum computer. The new system, described in a paper to be published in Nature Physics, flexed its versatility by performing 160 randomly chosen processing routines.

Earlier versions of quantum computers have been largely restricted to a narrow window of specific tasks. To be more generally useful, a quantum computer should be programmable, in the same way that a classical computer must be able to run many different programs on a single piece of machinery."

GR: with only 79% reliability, it doesn't sound terribly impressive, but given the pace of technological advancement, the first step is the most important.