“If looks could kill” is a common saying that is being taken seriously by researchers looking to create surveillance technology that notify the authorities of behavior that may be suspicious.
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12465303
www.OpenOffice.org
The Free and Open Productivity Suite
I highly recommend this open source software for anyone who wants a free and excellent alternative to Microsoft Office. It is completely compatiable with Microsoft Office meaning that you can save your file as a .doc and send it to whomever has Microsoft Word and they can open it just fine.
Essex University has created a device that is worn like a hat and can control moving robots or objects on a computer by only using your mind. I love this! They are developing it to do even more tasks. I want to be able to write in as word proeccing software by only using my mind. That would save a lot of time and make typing obsolete. However, I am recalling an “Outer Limits” episode where people became so dependent on technology that when it taken from them they did not know hoe to read or write.
Okay, so they have created a robot to help out in the kitchen in Munich. This robot can check your inventory and let you know what your grocery list is. It can also set the table. They are working on letting it get online and learn new things and share what has learned with other robots. The online thing is kinda creepy. But a better question to ask is “Are we really too lazy to set the table?”
Found this article in The Times of India:
Artificial DNA can power future comps
Announcing a major find that is expected to create ripples in fields as varied as genetic research and computer science, Japanese scientists claim that they have successfully created the world’s first DNA molecule made almost entirely of artificial parts.
The finding could lead to improvements in gene therapy, futuristic nano-sized computers, and other high-tech advances, the researchers say.
DNA, popularly illustrated as a double helix, holds the blueprints of life and controls what every living organism becomes and how it functions.
Scientists have tried for years to develop artificial versions of DNA in order to take advantage of its amazing information storage capabilities. Already, DNA has been harnessed to create simple electronic circuits.
DNA uses just four basic building blocks, known as bases, to code proteins used in cell functioning and development. Other researchers have crafted DNA molecules with a few artificial parts.
But Masahiko Inouye and colleagues at the University of Toyama stitched together four entirely new, artificial bases inside the sugar-based framework of a DNA molecule, creating unusually stable, double-stranded structures resembling natural DNA, they say.
Like natural DNA, the new ripoffs were right-handed and some easily formed triple-stranded structures. “The unique chemistry of these structures and their high stability offer unprecedented possibilities for developing new biotech materials and applications,” the researchers said.
The breakthrough will be detailed in the July 23 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
“The artificial DNA might be applied to a future extracellular genetic system with information storage and amplifiable abilities,” the researchers write.
In another development, scientists from the University of California, Berkley, are exploring whether high-speed gene-reading machines – like those used to decode the human genome – will be able to find subtle genetic flaws that can harm health and can be cured by treatments as simple as vitamins.
Eventually, they hope, these scans will help nutritionists customize a course of vitamins to match the strengths and weaknesses of every individual.
Scribd is a San Francisco startup company changing the way people share documents online. You can think of Scribd as a big online library where everyone can publish original content, including you!
Check out this online library:
I completely agree with Brewster Kahle’s comment in reference to the internet, “It is the library. If it’s not on the internet it is like it doesn’t exist” during the TWiT 144: The FBI vs The Internet netcast. The internet is our library now. Whenever I want to know something I go to Google. The benefits of having electronic texts is that it could lower over all costs in cities and schools by having centralized database that stores all the ebooks and other data that can be accessed by all schools and citizens. However, I will miss the smell of a good old book.
