Paper Computers

Researchers at ASU, including Win Burleson and Byron Lahey, have developed a revolutionary new flexible paper computer.  The paper computer uses a flexible E Ink display and the prototype they made is of a smart phone.  The flexible display allows for many gestures that aren't possible on a rigid device.  For example, the corners can be bent to flip a page or the entire screen can be bent in or out to zoom a page.

If the technology is refined a little more, it could be truly revolutionary.  Flexible screens can be put in clothes, appliances, phones, and just about anywhere else.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110504111147.htm

Near Perfect Visual Search Discovered ... Millions of Years Ago

It turns out our brains perform a near optimal visual search.  Given the available information in a scene, human brains can pick out objects surrounded by distractions in the best possible way.  It's believed that this initially evolved so mammals could see predators in shadows and in camouflage.  The same skill is also being used by TSA agents when they scan the X-Ray machine for outlawed objects.

If we can duplicate the visual search algorithm used by mammals in a computer, it could mean huge advances in human computer interaction.  Self driving cars could see as much detail as human drivers.  Robot interaction with humans could also be greatly improved.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110508134929.htm

Finding Out How We Learn

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara developed a predictive model that determines how much a person is able to learn.  They found that this capacity is independent of how much a person already knows.  The brain is made up of many different "modules" that all interconnect and talk to each other.  These connections change over time and the researchers found that the flexibility of these connections and the capacity for them to change is the biggest determinant of how much a person is able to learn.

Using this knowledge, people might be able to know when studying or physical therapy is going to be effective.  This could help people better schedule their day and increase the efficiency of these processes.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110419091157.htm

Thinking With Your Hands

This article can be filed into the "people aren't as rational as we thought" folder.  I found out that it has been known for a while that right-handers associate "good" with the right half of their vision and "bad" with the left half and left-handers have the opposite association.  When shown two options side by side, right-handers will more often choose the one on the right.  The crazy part is that people will make up reasons why the one on the right is better to justify their decision.  When the images are switched without the participant knowing, they will justify why the one now on the right is better.

The new research out of University of Pennsylvania contradicts the common belief that this favoring of the right side was hard-wired in the brain since birth.  They showed that when the right hand of a right-handed person was temporarily handicapped with burdensome ski mittens, the participants fairly quickly developed a left-side bias.  This shows that the brain is much more elastic than we thought.  It also raises the question "if what was once thought to be a deep held belief can be reversed in a matter of minutes with a simple glove, what does that say about the rest of our supposedly deep held beliefs?"

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110310131006.htm

Copy-Cat Online Training Helpers

Researchers at North Carolina State University did a study and found that virtual avatars are most useful when they physically resemble the person using them. They did the test with an online educational training system.  Participants performed much better when the virtual helper shared the same communication style and had similar physical characteristics.

This confirms the belief that while opposites may attract, they rarely stay together.  Relationships are built upon commonalities and shared beliefs.  This information could be used to create better training systems but could also be expanded to create more emotionally engaging advertisements and video games.  You can add this to an ever growing list of "bran hacks" that marketers can use to manipulate people.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110302101658.htm

Driving With Your Mind

I read a cool article about Berlin researchers developed a car you can drive with your mind.  They used new and improved EEG brain wave sensors and training software to distinguish between brainwaves for "accelerate", "brake", "turn left", and "turn right".  They hooked the device directly to the car control system and the test subject was successfully able to navigate a course using thought alone.

They also did a second experiment which I think is even cooler.  They used a hybrid autonomous/mind-control vehicle that drove most of the way on its own and only used mind-inputs to determine which way to turn at an intersection.  This is like having your own chauffeur drive you around where ever you want to go.  You just occasionally give instructions and he handles all the details of the actual driving.  I could see this as a viable stepping stone between human-controlled vehicles and completely autonomous vehicles, assuming of course that we don't need to wear ugly helmets to properly read brain signals.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110218083711.htm

Brain Mouse

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are performing experiments with brain-computer interfaces.  There have already been multiple studies of monkeys controlling a robotic arm by thought and some experiments on human epilepsy patients who already had the motor areas of the brain exposed, thus allowing the temporary implantation of a brain-computer interface that let the patients move a mouse cursor and play games by thought alone.

The exciting part of the current research is that the scientists are ready to start testing brain-computer interfaces on people who actually need them.  They will soon begin testing the devices in conjunction with robotic prosthetic limbs on paralyzed patients.

This technology, if it gets off the ground, can make so many Hollywood movies come to life.  We could have Avatars or Surrogates that we control from a distance.  We could have robotic hands like Anakin Skywalker or Will Smith in I, Robot.  We could have fully roboticized exoskeletons like Iron Man.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll live to see any of these actually happen and I think I have a pretty good chance.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110217124913.htm