Awesome // Current

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2 days ago

What if Earth had Rings

What would Earth look like if it had rings like Saturn? This animation was done by Roy Prol, and it shows not only how the... more

pjacobs51
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16 golden retrievers explain atoms

A crack team of PhD-trained golden retrievers illustrate the structure of atoms - the particles that make up everything around you.

TravG73
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Demonstration of Chrome OS

Nifty demonstration of the Chrome OS. Makes me want to get a netbook now. Chrome OS looks extremely simple to use and a lot faster... more

TheBrownKid
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Space Invaders Invades Car Paint

Amazingness. http://kotaku.com/5407969/space-invaders-invades-car-paint

Nettle
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The Biggest Artificial Brain Ever

"Scientists at IBM's Almaden research center have built the biggest artificial brain ever—a cell-by-cell simulation of the human visual cortex: 1.6 billion virtual neurons connected by 9 trillion synapses. This computer simulation, as large as a cat's brain, blows away the previous record—a simulated rat's brain with 55 million neurons—built by the same team two years ago.

"This is a Hubble Telescope of the mind, a linear accelerator of the brain," says Dharmendra Modha, the Almaden computer scientist who will announce the feat at the Supercomputing 2009 conference in Portland, Ore. In other words, in the realm of computer science, the team's undertaking is grand.

The visual cortex, the wrinkly outer layer of the brain, performs most of the higher functions that make humans human, from recognizing faces and speech to choreographing the dozens of muscle contractions involved in a perfect tennis serve. It does this using a universal neural circuit called a microcolumn, repeated over and over. Modha hopes the simulation, assembled using neuroscience data from rats, cats, monkeys and humans, will help scientists better understand how the brain works—and, in particular, how the cortical microcolumn manages to perform such a wide range of tasks.

But deciphering the microcolumn can also help build better computers, Mars rovers and robots that are truly intelligent. By reverse engineering this cortical structure, Modha says, researchers could give machines the ability to interpret biological senses such as sight, hearing and touch. And artificial machine brains could process, intelligently, senses that don't currently exist in the natural world, such as radar and laser range-finding. "Imagine peppering the entire surface of the ocean with pressure, temperature, humidity, wave height and turbidity sensors," Modha says. "Imagine streaming this data to a reverse-engineered cortex." In short, he envisions wiring the entire planet—transforming it into a virtual organism with the capacity to understand its own evolving patterns of weather, climate and ocean currents.

IBM has revealed the biggest artificial brain of all time, a simulation run by a 147,456-processor supercomputer that requires millions of watts of electricity and over 150,000 gigabytes of memory. The brain simulation is a feat for neuroscience and computer processing—but it's still one-eighty-third the speed of a human brain and is only as large as a cat's. Will we ever get to truly capable artificial intelligence?"

MUCH more at link:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4337190.html?nav=RSS20&src=syn&dom=yah_buzz&mag=pop

What are you thoughts on the future of AI?"Scientists at IBM's Almaden research center have built the biggest artificial brain ever—a cell-by-cell... more

DeliaTheArtist
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13 comments

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5 days ago

1950s Stereo 3D Projector Is Luke's Grandpa

I first saw this 1950s projector when I was a kid. He was evil, he killed that Old Dude, but at the end the Goodguys blew up his... more

pjacobs51
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6 days ago

The Throne of Sadtopia

This is a seven-foot-tall throne made entirely of Famicom (NES) cartridges. Whoever sits in it becomes king for the day of the... more

pjacobs51
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1 comment

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7 days ago

Confirmed: R2-D2 Discovered In Star Trek

At last, here's the droid we were all looking for. In this frame you can clearly see R2-D2's cameo in JJ Abrams'... more

pjacobs51
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13 comments

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8 days ago

Democrat-Led healthcare reform could make things WORSE

WHOO! The Democrats in Congress passed a bill! Healthcare for all! Awesome! Right? ...right?

asherp
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4 comments

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9 days ago

Live Painting in NYC! (with me!)

The Antagonist Art Movement presents a night of exhibitions from innovative NY artists, drinking, networking and yours truly,... more

DeliaTheArtist
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3 comments

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10 days ago

Anime short movie 'Fumiko's Confession'

Fumiko’s Confession is an adorable and exciting short film. What is really remarkable about it is that it was animated by... more

Nettle
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9 comments

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11 days ago

Storm at Devil’s Tower

This image was the winner in the Parks category of the 2008 Great Outdoors Photo Contest.... more

TravG73
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12 days ago

Heart of the Milky Way Photos From NASA

really amazing composite image of the Milky Way released by NASA. They combined infra red, visible, and x-ray images taken by... more

Tyrannous
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8 comments

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12 days ago

Stunning Cassini Image

This image, taken by the Cassini spacecraft are Saturn, its rings and the moon Rhea. Amazingly, this is a raw image straight from... more

pjacobs51
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13 days ago

Corporations Win Again - Healthcare

We shouldn't have been surprised. I'm right now working on a book that exposes anew our corporate-owned government, which didn't change in any way when hope was reported to have prevailed a year ago. The new day in Washington when lobbyists would supposedly take backseats to citizen needs became instead The Washington Post calling last summer the Summer Of The Lobbyist. We're seeing now that insurance industry lobbyists did their work well.

Thus, I wouldn't get too excited about health care reform just yet. The word "historic" has been liberally tossed around everywhere since the House bill passed by five votes on Saturday night, but commentators in other countries noticed before the bill even made it to vote that it's ludicrously light fare compared to citizen health coverage in other countries.

The House bill -- which is more ambitious than the Senate bill -- does almost nothing to contain runaway health care costs. Those are what threaten to consume one-fifth of the US gross domestic product in coming years. Health insurance companies are surely laughing themselves silly as the bill would force people to buy insurance from them. The remnant of the public insurance option is pretty barebones, so those unable to pay for insurance won't be well covered.

Nothing is law yet and it remains to be seen if reform will get through, but even if it does, it's almost guaranteed to turn into another bonanza for health corporations, more national debt, and little improvement in access to health care. That's the worst of all combinations, but seems to so often be the one we get. More spending with real benefits would be good, less spending and thus less collected in taxes so we have more left over to get our own coverage would be good, but more spending and little new coverage is not good.

I'm afraid this will end the way so many issues end, with corporations winning while citizens get screwed.

In my opinion, the best summary of what's wrong with the ramshackle attempt to reform American health care was presented by Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich in his article, Why I Voted No. I recommend that you read it. At just 770 words long, it's worth your time.We shouldn't have been surprised. I'm right now working on a book that exposes anew our corporate-owned government,... more