Bionic contact lens ‘to project emails before eyes’

A new generation of contact lenses that project images in front of the eyes is a step closer after successful animal trials, say scientists.

The technology could allow wearers to read floating texts and emails or augment their sight with computer-generated images, Terminator-syle.

Researchers at Washington University who are working on the device say early tests show it is safe and feasible.

But there are still wrinkles to iron out, like finding a good power source.

Currently, their crude prototype device can only work if it is within centimetres of the wireless battery.

And its microcircuitry is only enough for one light-emitting diode, reports the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering.

Our next goal is to incorporate some predetermined text in the contact lens” …

But now that initial safety tests in rabbits have gone well, with no obvious adverse effects, the researchers have renewed faith about the device’s possibilities.

They envisage hundreds more pixels could be embedded in the flexible lens to produce complex holographic images.

For example, drivers could wear them to see journey directions or their vehicle’s speed projected onto the windscreen.

Similarly, the lenses could take the virtual world of video gaming to a new level.

They could also provide up-to-date medical information like blood sugar levels by linking to biosensors in the wearer’s body.

via BBC News – Bionic contact lens ‘to project emails before eyes’.

Carbon nanotube ‘space camouflage’ coating invented

Tiny carbon tubes can be used to hide three-dimensional objects from view, according to a team of researchers.

The nanotubes are one-atom thick sheets of graphene wrapped into cylindrical tubes.

Engineers from University of Michigan found they could be used to obscure objects so that they appeared to be nothing more than a flat black sheet.

The team suggest “forests” of the material may one day be used to cloak spacecraft in deep space.

The group says the technology works because the nanotubes’ “index of refraction [is] very close to that of air”.

This means they slow down light to a similar degree.

As a result there is very little scattering of light as it passes from the air into the layer of nanotubes. …

via BBC News – Carbon nanotube ‘space camouflage’ coating invented.

Landmine use ‘highest since 2004′ despite record clearances

More countries deployed anti-personnel mines last year than in any year since 2004, an international survey of landmines has found.

The Landmine Monitor report says use of the weapons increased despite record areas of land being cleared of them.

Four countries which have not signed an international treaty outlawing the devices – Syria, Libya, Burma and Israel – laid new mines this year.

Armed groups in Afghanistan, Colombia, Burma and Pakistan also laid new mines.

On Tuesday, Colombian officials said three soldiers had been killed in the country’s south-west by landmines planted by leftist Farc rebels. The soldiers had been guarding workers destroying coca plantations.

The Landmine Monitor was created in 1998 by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

Its latest report also says funding to clear mines, and to help victims of them, reached an all-time high of $637m (£407m) in 2010.

“In these tough times government are showing their strong commitment to ridding the world of landmines by continuing to fund efforts to clear mines and assist survivors,” said Jacqueline Hansen, programme manager for Landmine Monitor.

Eighty percent of the world’s countries (158 nations) have signed the Ottawa Treaty to ban mines, with several more countries preparing to join. …

via BBC News – Landmine use ‘highest since 2004′ despite record clearances.

‘Body man’ Reggie Love leaving ‘big brother’ Obama

Reggie Love, personal assistant to US President Barack Obama for four years, is leaving the White House to focus on his studies.Mr Love, a former college basketball player, has been already been studying part-time to receive his MBA at the Wharton Business School.Speaking to ESPN, he said the president is “like big brother to me”.Before working at the White House, Mr Love played on Duke University’s basketball team.As personal assistant, known as the president’s “body man”, the 30-year-old has performed roles as varied as personal valet, gatekeeper and basketball partner.”His ability to juggle so many responsibilities with so little sleep has been an inspiration to watch,” Mr Obama said about Mr Love in a statement. “He is the master of what he does.”

via BBC News – ‘Body man’ Reggie Love leaving ‘big brother’ Obama.

Study: Physical activity impacts overall quality of sleep

People sleep significantly better and feel more alert during the day if they get at least 150 minutes of exercise a week, a new study concludes.

A nationally representative sample of more than 2,600 men and women, ages 18-85, found that 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week, which is the national guideline, provided a 65 percent improvement in sleep quality. People also said they felt less sleepy during the day, compared to those with less physical activity.

The study, out in the December issue of the journal Mental Health and Physical Activity, lends more evidence to mounting research showing the importance of exercise to a number of health factors. Among adults in the United States, about 35 to 40 percent of the population has problems with falling asleep or with daytime sleepiness.

“We were using the physical activity guidelines set forth for cardiovascular health, but it appears that those guidelines might have a spillover effect to other areas of health,” said Brad Cardinal, a professor of exercise science at Oregon State University and one of the study’s authors.

“Increasingly, the scientific evidence is encouraging as regular physical activity may serve as a non-pharmaceutical alternative to improve sleep.”

via Study: Physical activity impacts overall quality of sleep | News & Research Communications | Oregon State University.

Neanderthal Neuroscience

Paabo and his colleagues … began to use new gene-sequencing technology to assemble a draft of the entire Neanderthal genome. They’ve gotten about 55% of the genome mapped, which is enough to address some of the big questions Paabo has in mind. One is the question of interbreeding. Paabo and his colleagues compared the Neanderthal genome to genomes of living people from Africa, Europe, Asia, and New Guinea. They discovered that people out of Africa share some mutations in common with Neanderthals that are not found in Africans. They concluded that humans and Neanderthals must have interbred after our species expanded from Africa, and that about 2.5% of the genomes of living non-Africans comes from Neanderthals. …

Paabo described how David Reich of Harvard and other scientists measured the size of the chunks of Neanderthal DNA in people’s genomes. They found that in some of the Europeans they studied, the Neanderthal chunks were quite long. Based on their size, the scientists estimated that the interbreeding happened between 37,000 and 86,000 years ago. (This research is still unpublished, but Reich discussed it at a meeting this summer.)

… Paabo described some of his latest work on a gene called FoxP2. Ten years ago, psychologists discovered that mutations to this gene can make it difficult for people to speak and understand language. … Paabo and his colleagues have found that FoxP2 underwent a dramatic evolutionary change in our lineage. Most mammals have a practically identical version of the protein, but ours has two different amino acids (the building blocks of proteins). The fact that humans are the only living animals capable of full-blown language, and the fact that this powerful language-linked gene evolved in the human lineage naturally fuels the imagination. Adding fuel to the fire, Paabo pointed out that both Neanderthals and Denisovans had the human version of FoxP2. If Neanderthals could talk, it would be intriguing that they apparently couldn’t paint or make sculptures or do other kinds of abstract expressions that humans did. And if Neanderthal’s couldn’t talk, it would be intriguing that they already had a human version of FoxP2. …

via Neanderthal Neuroscience | The Loom | Discover Magazine.

Spectacular Photos of Monster Saturn Storm Snapped by NASA Spacecraft

A NASA spacecraft has chronicled the birth, evolution and death of the biggest storm to hit Saturn in two decades.

The monster storm on Saturn emerged in the ringed planet’s northern hemisphere on Dec. 5, 2010. It started out as a tiny spot but grew rapidly, completely encircling the planet by late January 2011. It eventually extended about 9,000 miles (15,000 kilometers) from north to south before sputtering out in late June.

The storm’s 200-day active period makes it the longest-lived planet-encircling tempest ever observed on Saturn, researchers said. And NASA’s unmanned Cassini probe watched everything unfold, snapping pictures all the while.

via Spectacular Photos of Monster Saturn Storm Snapped by NASA Spacecraft | NASA & Cassini Mission | Saturn & Great White Spot | LiveScience.

Netflix’s Profits Are Gone

This has been the year of Reed Hastings’ fall, and it gets more dramatic by the month. The Netflix CEO just revealed his movie streaming company won’t post a quarterly profit in all of 2012. His gruesome horror epic continues, grab the popcorn!

After being named Fortune’s “Business Person of the Year” in December, Hastings hiked prices 60 percent on a popular plan in July, and saw cancellations outpace signups by September. He promptly announced a new name for Netflix’s DVD service,got a verbal beatdown from his board, and reversed the name change by October. Now, notes Henry Blodget at Business Insider, he’s hidden in an SEC filing the news that “as a result of the relatively flat consolidated revenues and previously announced increased investment in our International segment, we expect to incur consolidated net losses for the year ending December 31, 2012.”

The big picture problem is that people continue to cancel their Netflix accounts in droves, especially on plans involving DVDs, plans that were subject to the July price increases. These cancellations are “steadily declining,” supposedly, but in the meantime Netflix needs to raise $400 million to shore up its balance sheet. …

via Netflix’s Profits Are Gone.

Greed kills companies.

Movie Snack Costs Texan 80 Years in Prison

And you thought your multiplex overcharged for snacks. Two hot dogs, two sodas, and a tub of popcorn has cost one Texas man 80 years in prison—because he tried to pay for them using a counterfeit $20 bill, reports the Dallas Morning News. The 48-year-old man, who has a history of theft and bank fraud, had an additional $120 in counterfeit bills on him when he was nabbed. Despite the heavy sentence, he’ll be eligible for parole in 15 years.

via Movie Snack Costs Texan 80 Years in Prison – Man tried to pay with counterfeit money.

Botanists discover ‘remarkable’ night-flowering orchid

A night-flowering orchid, the first of its kind known to science, has been described by a team of botanists.

Experts say the “remarkable” species is the only orchid known to consistently flower at night, but why it has adopted this behaviour remains a mystery.

The plant was discovered by a Dutch researcher during an expedition to New Britain, an island near Papua New Guinea.

The findings appear in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.

“It was so unexpected because there are so many species of orchids and not one was known [to flower] at night only,” said co-author Andre Schuiteman, senior researcher and an orchid expert at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

“It was quite remarkable to find one, after so many years of orchid research, that is night-flowering,” he told BBC News.

The specimen was discovered by co-author Ed de Vogel during a field trip in a region of lowland rainforest on the Pacific island. …

via BBC News – Botanists discover ‘remarkable’ night-flowering orchid.