December 12, 2008 – 5:09 pm
Your thoughts are no longer your own. Japanese scientists have created a device that can decipher the images in your own mind.
Researchers at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories succeeded in processing and displaying images directly from the human brain, they said in a study unveiled ahead of publication in the US magazine Neuron.
While the team for now has managed to reproduce only simple images from the brain, they said the technology could eventually be used to figure out dreams and other secrets inside people’s minds.
“It was the first time in the world that it was possible to visualise what people see directly from the brain activity,” the private institute said in a statement.
So we may be able to watch people’s dreams…This is somewhat disturbing. Imagine an industry devoted to feeding people weird and scary images (and cheese) before collecting their dream-juice to sell on as entertainment… Doomed future, people!
LINK (Yahoo News)
Tweet This Post
December 12, 2008 – 2:02 am
At this time of year, with huge Christmas parties providing lots of lovely free booze, its sometimes easy to forget those less fortunate (and indeed, to forget how you got to Tanzanere, whose blood this is, where the bishop’s outfit came from….). Anyway, as anyone who has sat through Ice Cold in Alex knows, the presence of lager in desert states is mandatory, which is why we are pleased to see that Sudan is finally coming down the international pub after 25 years on the wagon.
It seems that Miller are taking the brave step and will begin brewing in the country in February, thanks to the region being more stable after the 2005 peace accord. According to Sudanese Minister for Agriculture Samson Kwaje:
“We will not only be consuming but producing alcohol. It’s a serious political message”
It certainly is, and one we will happily drink to (along with anything else we can think of).
LINK (BBC)
Tweet This Post
December 12, 2008 – 1:34 am
As we all know, laser scalpels are notoriously bad at delicate work, which makes them all but redundant when it comes to brain surgery (because they will quite literally bake your noodle). But thanks to a former scramjet designer from Texas, we now have a super fine femtosecond laser that fits in a crystal fiber (Think super-fine fibre optic cable). According to Adela Ben Yakar:
“The laser turns the targeted cell into atomic dust, but leaves surrounding tissue untouched”
ES are hoping there’s a way to switch this useful safety feature off.
LINK (BTS)
Tweet This Post
December 12, 2008 – 1:13 am
OK, So Project Aiko has been runnng for nearly a year now, but crazed inventor/Kooky Canadian Trung Le has finally whipped her out for the public and claims she’s pretty much complete. Well, complete if you consider an answerphone that tells you to stop molesting it the perfect woman. We at the Spectre are unsure whether we’re more aroused by the cold, dead ewok eyes or the mental image of a zuchini being lowered into a blender.
LINK (CNN)
Tweet This Post
December 10, 2008 – 10:24 pm
Good to see there is some real esoteric looming galactic terror out there to counterbalance the collapse of the global economy and terrorism and that. Yes – the Universe’s big bad, the black hole has been spotted slap bang in the middle of our own Milky Way. Not a regular one either. A super-massive black hole.
“Undoubtedly the most spectacular aspect of our 16-year study, is that it has delivered what is now considered to be the best empirical evidence that super-massive black holes do really exist,” said Professor Reinhard Genzel, head of the research team (at the Max Planck Research Facility)
“The stellar orbits in the galactic centre show that the central mass concentration of four million solar masses must be a black hole, beyond any reasonable doubt.”
The black hole is four million times more massive than our Sun, according to the paper in The Astrophysical Journal.
Just what we need, a huge light crushing entity sitting in the middle of our Galaxy. Sleep well.
LINK (BBC)
Tweet This Post
