Researchers create robot that can learn, think and act by itself

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC2TTslf_YM&hd=1[/youtube]

At the Tokyo Institute of Technology researchers with the Hasegawa Group have created a robot that is capable of applying learned concepts to perform new tasks. The Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network (SOINN) uses a type of self-replicating neural technology.  The research team has released a video demonstrating the robot’s ability to understand it’s environment and to carry out instructions that it previously didn’t know how to do.

 

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New device captures ambient energy from the air to power small electronic devices

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Professor Manos Tentzeris displays an inkjet-printed rectifying antenna used to convert microwave energy to DC power.

Researchers have found a way to capture and harness energy transmitted by such sources as radio and television transmitters, cell phone networks and satellite communications systems. By getting this ambient energy from the air around us, the technique could provide a new way to power networks of wireless sensors, microprocessors and communications chips.

 

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Scientists develop ‘electronic tongue’ to rival sommeliers in wine tasting

wine tasting

The ‘electronic tongue’ may have a commercial use and could eventually replace the teams of experts needed in each bodega.

Spanish scientists have developed an “electronic tongue” that promises to rival the work of the traditional sommelier and identify different grades of the Spanish sparkling wine, cava. The electronic device has been developed by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) and uses electronic sensory systems with “advanced mathematical procedures” to analyse different varieties of the Catalan alternative to champagne according to taste.

Dieting forces brain to eat itself: study

brain

A cross-section of the human brain

A lack of nutrition when dieters are trying to lose weight forces their brain cells to eat themselves, making the feeling of hunger even stronger, scientists claim.  Brain cells begin to eat themselves like other parts of the body do as a last-ditch source of energy to ward off starvation, a study found.

Evatran wireless charging system for cars

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Evatran’s Plugless Power electric vehicle charging system.

When it comes to technology, the old adage of “bigger is better” died a long time ago. “Smaller is smarter” thinking is being applied to products and prototypes across the board. Today’s “smaller is smarter” wonder is Evatran’s Plugless Power electric vehicle charging system: now smaller, more efficient, and primed for its first trial phase.

 

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So far Twitter is not allowed to operate in China, but twitter-like companies are springing to life anyway

microblogs

Train crash in China

“Our train bumped into something.Our carriage has fallen onto its side. Children are screaming . . . Come to help us please! Come fast!”

These were the words tweeted by a passenger on high-speed train D301 on July 23 that were clearly a cry for help. But these words also initiated a wave of unprecedented “citizen journalism” on China’s Twitter-like micro blogs.

 

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Growth in China’s car ownership drives parking space shortage

supermarket parking

These cars lined up outside a supermarket, waiting for someone to leave and open up a space.

Finding a parking spot in China is now an expensive endeavor. Homebuyers in China are learning that too many cars means too few parking spaces.  If you think the price of putting a roof over your head has soared, wait until you try to secure a parking space for your car.

 

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First 24/7 solar plant

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Solar energy produced from all angles.

One of the difficulties with using solar energy is its inability to produce electricity around the clock. Torresol Energy in southern Spain has solved this problem by storing thermal energy in two tanks of molten salt. This enables the plant to generate electricity long after sundown in order to satisfy the energy needs of the local populace. The molten salt — known as MSES — stores enough thermal energy during the day to create steam power during the night…

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