Origami Diagrams I thought of sharing some of the diagrams I have been collecting over the last few months from various websites. These are available freely over the Internet and are mostly in the PDF format. I still haven’t gotten around to folding most of these as yet. For some of these models, I have found instructional videos on YouTube; and have provided links to view these PDF files as well as instructional videos accordingly. For more videos, please check out the category Instructional Videos on this site. Model: Origami Tessellation batDesigned by: Anna Kastlunger (2006)Diagrammed by: Gerwin StrurmDiagram Courtesy: Origami ÖsteriieichDiagram: Tessellation Bat InstructionsImage Courtesy: Mélisande*’s photo stream Model: Car (VW Bug)Designed by: Charles Esseltine (2001)Edited by: Jeremy Shafer (2002)Diagrams: Car InstructionsImage Courtesy : egg.origamiYouTube Instructional Video: Part 1; Part 2 Model: Praying MantisDesigned by: Robert J.
living neural Researchers in Korea have taken a leaf out of the microengineer's book, and used lithographic techniques to build live neural circuits in a petri dish. They hope the technique could be exploited one day to build neural tissue scaffolds, to help regenerate neurons in damaged areas of the body, including the spinal cord. The development is not strictly materials science, but fascinating nonetheless — especially in a world where there is an increasing interplay between biology and technology, with proteins being used as the building blocks for circuits, and graphene proving itself adept at protein detection. The researchers printed a variety of single-cell-sized shapes — including triangles, circles, hexagons, squares and stars — onto a culture substrate using microcontact printing, a form of soft lithography, with a mixture of poly-L-lysine and laminin A chain synthetic peptide. Then they sprayed this surface with rat neurons that had been tagged with fluorescent dyes.
minded computer Scientists believe they have found a way to read people's minds in what could be the first step towards helping brain-damaged patients who cannot speak. US researchers used a computer programme to decode brain activity and put it into words using a form of electronic telepathy. Experts described the breakthrough, unveiled in the journal Public Library of Science Biology, as "remarkable" and believe it could ultimately be possible to decipher people's thoughts. Researchers at the University of California in Berkeley used the programme to predict what spoken words volunteers had listened to by analysing their brain activity. Previous research has shown imagined words activate similar brain areas as words that are said aloud, raising hopes they can also be uncovered by "reading" brain waves. Professor Robert Knight, who worked on the study, said: "This is huge for patients who have damage to their speech mechanisms because of a stroke or Lou Gehrig's disease and can't speak.
At age 62, albatross hatches a chick By Paul Rogers progers@mercurynews.com Posted: 02/07/2013 09:19:19 AM PST0 Comments|Updated: about a year ago November 2012: Wisdom (left) and her mate at the containing the couple's egg. SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT (publ. 2/8/2013, page A2) An earlier version of a about a 62-year-old albatross that hatched a chick incorrectly reported that Midway Atoll is northeast of Hawaii. The world's oldest-known wild bird -- a 62-year-old albatross on Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean -- is also a new mother. The bird, a Laysan albatross whom biologists have named Wisdom, hatched a chick this week, her sixth in the past six years. "If she were human, she would be eligible for Medicare in a couple of years, yet she is still regularly raising young and annually circumnavigating the Pacific Ocean," said Bruce Peterjohn, chief of the North American bird banding program at the U.S. The chick, which scientists describe as healthy, hatched Sunday. Albatrosses lay only one egg a year.
insects drones A conceptual insect robot If you are talking about big boys’ toys, then surely being part of the military’s hush-hush research and development team would place you squarely in the front line of being able to play with such new technology. While UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) have done their bit in wars across the world to be able to scout enemy territory without putting human lives at risk, they are large – and unwieldy at times. What happens when one wants to perform a delicate operation that has a far more covert objective? The extremely tiny remote controlled vehicles that are based on insects will most likely have been deployed in sensitive areas to date, where these are called the micro air vehicles (MAVs), and will share similar physics as that employed by flying insects. .
neurocell language Imagine if we could understand the language two neurons use to communicate. We might learn something about how thoughts and consciousness are formed. At the very least, our improved understanding of neuron communication would help biologists study the brain with more precision than ever before. Heather Clark, an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at Northeastern University, has received a $300,000 Young Faculty Award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to explore neural cell communication using her expertise in nanosensors. "We were interested in looking into neural cells because of the need to measure chemicals in the brain," she explained. In separate work, Clark had already been developing nanosensors to measure the biochemical environment inside a single neuron. The other DARPA project, she noted, enabled the team to incorporate enzymes into their sensor format.
Birdchick saisie sphère Robotics is the branch of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots,[1] as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing. These technologies deal with automated machines that can take the place of humans in dangerous environments or manufacturing processes, or resemble humans in appearance, behavior, and/or cognition. Many of today's robots are inspired by nature contributing to the field of bio-inspired robotics. The concept of creating machines that can operate autonomously dates back to classical times, but research into the functionality and potential uses of robots did not grow substantially until the 20th century.[2] Throughout history, robotics has been often seen to mimic human behavior, and often manage tasks in a similar fashion. Etymology[edit] History of robotics[edit] Robotic aspects[edit] Components[edit] Power source[edit]
hacked brain By Peter V. Milo August 25, 2012 1:56 AM News Get Breaking News First Receive News, Politics, and Entertainment Headlines Each Morning. Sign Up BERKELEY, Calif. Researchers from the University of California and University of Oxford in Geneva figured out a way to pluck sensitive information from a person’s head, such as PIN numbers and bank information. The scientists took an off-the-shelf Emotiv brain-computer interface, a device that costs around $299, which allows users to interact with their computers by thought. The scientists then sat their subjects in front of a computer screen and showed them images of banks, people, and PIN numbers. The P300 signal is typically given off when a person recognizes something meaningful, such as someone or something they interact with on a regular basis. Scientists that conducted the experiment found they could reduce the randomness of the images by 15 to 40 percent, giving them a better chance of guessing the correct answer.
French language learning games All French language learning exercises are completely free to use, do not require registration, and are suitable for both school kids and adult language learners. French language acquisition games that French learners can study with, that teachers can incorporate into lesson plans, or that can be used used in homeschooling environments. An introduction to listening, reading, comprehension and communication in the French language. Each French study topic includes word lists with audio for learning the correct French pronunciation, and practice games for testing your learning progress. Online games employ the fun, fast and easy study method of simple wordlists for studying phrases of words, visual-based learning, and vocabulary drills for practice and testing. Learn the words from the sentence, phrases, verbs or word lists, and then play the revision/practice games.
sized brain longevity By Ian Sample, The GuardianThursday, May 2, 2013 3:26 EDT US team identifies mechanism deep in brains of mice which can be tweaked to shorten or lengthen lives Scientists have found a biological command centre for the ageing process in a lump of brain the size of a nut. The US team identified the mechanism in the hypothalamus, which sits deep inside the brain, and showed they could tweak it to shorten or lengthen the lives of animals. In a series of experiments, the researchers found they could extend the lives of mice by a fifth, without the animals suffering from muscle weakness, bone loss, or memory problems common in old age. The work raises the tantalising prospect of drugs that slow down natural ageing to prolong life in humans, but more crucially to prevent age-related diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. “We’re very excited about this. © Guardian News and Media 2013 [women power via Shutterstock.com.]
gestion learning After 24 hours of staring at their screens, the teams that participated in our Disrupt NY 2013 Hackathon have now finished their projects and are currently presenting them onstage. With more than 160 hacks, there are far too many cool ones to write about, but one that stood out to me was NewsRel, an iPad-based news app that uses machine-learning techniques to understand how news stories relate to one other. The app uses Google Maps as its main interface and automatically decides which location is most appropriate for any given story. The app currently uses Reuters‘ RSS feed and analyzes the stories, looking for clusters of related stories and then puts them on the map. In addition to this, the team built an algorithm that picks the most important sentences from each story to summarize it for you. As you scroll through the stories, the app always recalculates the related stories on the fly, too, which makes for a pretty interesting news-reading experience.
French Parts of Speech Learning French is hard, and it's even harder if you don't understand the basics of grammar in your own language. If your mind boggles when people start talking about nouns, adjectives, and other parts of speech, this lesson is for you. The eight parts of speech are listed below, with each one bolded in a sample sentence. Click each term to learn more about it, including examples, tips on figuring out which part of speech a particular word belongs to, and links to more detailed lessons. Adjective Je parle lentement parce que les nouveaux étudiants sont à la table I am speaking slowly because the new students are at the table Adverb Je parle lentement parce que les nouveaux étudiants sont à la table I am speaking slowly because the new students are at the table Article Je parle lentement parce que les nouveaux étudiants sont à la table I am speaking slowly because the new students are at the table
social brain By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 8, 2012 New research from the Brain and Creativity Institute at USC suggests liking or disliking a person can affect how your brain processes actions. Researchers say that most of the time, watching someone else move causes a “mirroring” effect – that is, the parts of our brains responsible for motor skills are activated by watching someone else in action. However, in the new study, researchers discovered that whether or not you like the person you’re watching can actually have an effect on brain activity related to motor actions. This brain action can lead to “differential processing” – for example, thinking the person you dislike is moving more slowly than they actually are. The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE. “We address the basic question of whether social factors influence our perception of simple actions,” said Lisa Aziz-Zadeh, Ph.D. Source: USC Abstract of a blue brain photo by shutterstock.