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(02/15/12 5:00am)
For the 20 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds who wear contact lenses, high-tech applications will soon be available in a very small form. The Washington-based company Innovega focuses on connecting eyewear with digital media and is currently developing full-color megapixel displays that can be viewed using contact lenses. The goal of Innovega is to find a way to project complex displays, such as virtual reality and augmented reality, to someone's eyes without the need to wear bulky headgear such as helmets. This would provide greater convenience and functionality for consumers of many different products, such as cell phones and games. Researchers claim that the displays projected on the lenses have a screen size equal to that of a 240-inch television when viewed from 10 feet away. Also, the contact lenses project a slightly different picture to each eye, which creates the illusion of 3D. These displays would have a variety of different purposes. Mainly, they could be used in conjunction with mobile devices to give users a better look at the screen. Other applications include watching videos, playing games and creating augmented reality displays, which allow users to view computer-generated images overlaid over the real world.Innovega researchers also hope that their device will be able to be used by the military. A few specific uses for the contact lenses in a military environment are to assist soldiers who pilot the drones looking for bombs, to help medics who need to get information about injured soldiers quickly and to aid soldiers on the ground that need unobstructed vision but also data and maps of the area. Medically, these contact lenses could assist people with vision problems such as macular degeneration, which is a disease that compromises the retina's ability to pick up on details. This disease affects about 10 million people in the United States. Other researchers have also looked into contact lenses with displays. Scientists at the University of Washington conducted research about putting virtual displays into contact lenses back in 2008, but could only manage to project one or two pixels and only for a short amount of time. However, they took a different approach, encapsulating LEDs inside the lens. Innovega's main target audience is the 100 million people who already wear contact lenses, particularly those between the ages of 18 and 34. Eventually, the designers hope that users can simply change prescriptions to Innovega's contact lenses. However, for those who don't want to worry about inserting and removing contact lenses every day, researchers also plan to develop lenses that could be directly implanted into customers' eyes. This would be performed similarly to a cataract operation, where part of the patient's own lens is replaced with the contact lens. In addition to providing customers with all the displays that would be available on the contact lens, it would also improve the patient's vision. This process would be useful for the vision-impaired and also for soldiers, who don't want to have to worry about contact lenses. The company exhibited the lenses in January at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Los Vegas. Innovega plans to put out the first prototypes of their devices throughout 2012 and 2013. This year, they are also planning to get FDA approval to manufacture the lenses commercially. The first release of the lenses will most likely be in 2014 to the defense community and those with vision problems. Eventually, in 2014 and 2015 Innovega wants to release the lenses to the general public, hopefully after reaching deals with other companies, such as gaming companies.
(02/15/12 5:00am)
Schizophrenia severs one's connection to reality by inhibiting perception of real voices, leaving the patient at the mercy of his or her inner voice. A research team at the University of Borgen recently elucidated the neural basis of these auditory hallucinations, using their findings to develop an electronic application that may help patients to better cope with schizophrenia's symptoms. According to Dr. Kenneth Hugdahl, auditory hallucinations appear very real to the schizophrenic, as if someone were standing in close proximity and speaking to the patient. At the same time, the patient is unable to hear the voices of people who are actually present. What makes voices pathological has to do with the frequency of their recurrence. People tend to hear their names spoken in a crowd because the brain is primed to receive information that is of unique importance to the individual. Occasionally, the brain slips up and reconstructs unrelated sounds into a false perception of the person's name. For the schizophrenic, however, the inner voices can be a recurring and relentless plague. One of the most common symptoms of schizophrenia, auditory hallucinations, go beyond mistakenly hearing one's name in a crowd. The hallucinations can manifest in a variety of ways, from a running commentary of a person's thoughts to a voice ordering him or her to commit suicide. The powerful emotions experienced by some patients may increase the frequency of these verbal messages, leading to feelings of distress and helplessness. Dr. Hugdahl and colleagues have attempted to better understand these hallucinations using a variety of neuroimaging techniques, including functional magnetic resonance imaging technology (fMRI). They found that in healthy patients, the perception of speech was accompanied by the spontaneous activation of neurons in the upper region of the left temporal lobe. From these findings, Dr. Hugdahl theorized that neural activity in this area would be somewhat increased, or even doubled, in schizophrenic patients. Instead, the team found that activity in the upper left temporal lobe ceased altogether in the presence of an inner voice. Dr. Hugdahl and his colleagues, Kristina Kompus and Ren?? Westerhausen, followed up with a meta-analysis of 23 studies. The researchers looked at spontaneous inner-voice triggered neural activation in patients with schizophrenia or the stimulatory reaction prompted by actual sounds in healthy as well as schizophrenic subjects. Through their examination, the researchers discovered that most papers reported either the perception of inner voices was accompanied by a spontaneous activation of neurons, or the patients' perception of actual voices was suppressed when inner voices were simultaneously present. Hugdahl and his colleagues are the first to see the connection between these seemingly separate phenomena. Further analysis revealed that one phenomenon was caused by the other; when neurons are activated by inner voices, the perception of outside speech is inhibited. This relationship exists because the preoccupied neurons are unable to properly process speech coming from the external environment. The findings may explain why schizophrenics lose touch with reality and close themselves off when experiencing hallucinations. As further support for why schizophrenic patients become consumed by their inner voices, Hugdahl and colleagues found that the frontal lobe did not function normally in patients with schizophrenia. The result is poorer impulse control and an inability to block out hallucinations. While everyone hears inner voices or melodies from time to time, non-schizophrenic patients are better at tuning out these internal voices. To help patients learn to suppress their inner voices, Dr. Hugdahl's team developed an application for mobile phones and other simple electronic devices. The application broadcasts simple speech sounds via headphones and plays different sounds in each ear. The patient must learn to hear the sound in one ear while blocking out the sound in the other. So far, the application has been tested on two patients with schizophrenia. The results are promising; while the voices are still there, the patients report feeling that they have more control over the voices. The patients are able to actively shift their focuses from the inner voices to external sounds, a possible breakthrough in the treatment of schizophrenia.
(02/15/12 5:00am)
Depicting the interactions of the greater cosmic world, a computer-generated illustration by a Hopkins researcher has won the National Science Foundation's 2011 Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge in the "Informational Posters and Graphics" category. Miguel Angel Aragon, an associate research scientist at the Hopkins Department of Physics and Astronomy, based the poster on different views of the structure and dynamics of the Universe. "Dark matter drives the development of structure in the universe," Aragon said, explaining how the dynamics of the Universe driven by gravity are dominated by dark matter. From top to bottom, the poster spans 240 million light years, with actual images of galaxies used in the far right frame. According to Aragon, dark matter simulations were the basis for the placement of the galaxies in his image. While not actually visible or physically detectable, dark matter is the most abundant matter in the universe. In creating the poster, titled "The Cosmic Web," Aragon portrayed the way the universe is organized due to dark matter's influence. "The poster shows the structures in the universe, the dynamic structure of the universe and the galaxies, how everything is connected and how everything is related to each other," he said. Aragon's poster, which he developed in collaboration with colleagues Julieta Aguilera, graphic and interaction designer, and Mark Subbarao, director of visualization of Chicago's Adler Planetarium, was featured on the front cover of the Feb. 3rd edition of the journal Science. Aragon's research, supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, involves mapping out the universe and improving our understanding of interactions between galaxies. "We are basically doing a Google Maps of the universe, where you have roads that are like filaments that are connected to clusters, which would be like cities," he said. "We have algorithms that make a network of structures, and then we are using these structures to understand the relation between the cosmic world on very large scales and the galaxies that are inside them." The images Aragon used for his poster come from material he had prepared for a paper, which he anticipates to submit this week. Supplying the images and the theory behind what he wanted to portray, Aragon relied on Aguilera and Subbarao to bring it altogether in a unifying way for his poster. The National Science Foundation and Science created the Visualization Challenge nine years ago in an effort to get scientists to better communicate their work to the general public through visuals. Other categories in the Visualization Challenge include videos, interactive games, photography and illustrations. Honorable mention in the Informational Posters and Graphics category includes a detailed depiction of the Ebola virus and its molecular components, put together by a team of Russian scientists. The People's Choice, new to the competition this year in allowing the public to weigh in on the entries, went to a group from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease who explained the parts, structure and function of a Transmission Electron Microscope.
(02/15/12 5:00am)
Electronic devices in the past few decades have increasingly been focused on portability and ease of use. Look at the Apple iPod: the earliest iPod offered the ability to store thousands of songs on a pocket-sized device. Since then, the basic premise of a small music player has persisted, with features such as touch-screen and voice control, giving the user a better experience. However, what if instead of taking a device out of your pocket to swipe your finger on the screen, all you had to do was swipe your pocket? Based on a set of recent papers published in Smart Materials and Structures and the Journal of the Electrochemical Society, this scenario may soon become a reality. A typical electronic system requires three main things: a power supply, a suite of sensors and actuators and some controlling electronic circuitry. Maksim Skorobogatiy, a researcher at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal in Canada, has developed one and two-dimensional touch pads and integrated batteries in woven textiles. The batteries were made using lithium ion technology, though packaged in very thin, narrow strips, which were woven into textiles. The sensors were made in a similar way, by making capacitors in the form of long strings. The new fibers measure touch location by characterizing the AC signal produced when touched at a given location. When a hand touches a touchpad, a small amount of electric charge is transferred, resulting in a signal that can be exploited to control some other actuator. For example, swiping on a screen may result in headphones increasing volume. Touchpads in use today also rely on capacitors, though they typically have a large planar array of small capacitors, each of which reacts to a touch in a precise location. The 2D touchpad produced by Skorobogatiy instead features a woven configuration of 1D capacitive fibers. By aligning the fibers into a dense textile, location of a touch can be accurately measured. Until fundamental circuitry elements can be made compatible with textiles, traditional electronic packaging will still be required. However, the potential for flexible power sources and human interfaces is a promising indicator.
(02/15/12 5:00am)
According to the study published in the journal Science, neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have found a promising drug that reversed the cognitive, social and olfactory deficits and improved the neuronal circuit function in mice caused by the onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Bexarotene, FDA approved for cancer treatment, is the miraculous drug of this study. Scientists knew that the bexarotene activates a protein that helps switch on the ApoE gene. Thus, they hypothesized that bexarotene would enhance normal A-beta clearance mechanism by inducing ApoE expression. Although the exact cause of the disease is yet unknown, the build-up protein called Amyloid-beta (A-beta), which leads to the development of amyloid plaques, is one of the two hallmarks of the disease, the other being the abnormal tangles created by Tau protein. A-beta itself is not problematic; in fact, all human brains produce A-beta, but, in healthy individuals, enzymes break the fragments down with help from a protein called Apolipoprotein E (ApoE). According to the Alzheimer's Association, 5.4 million Americans are living with AD today. One in eight Americans aged 65 and over, and nearly half of people aged 85 and older have the disease. Every 69 seconds, another American develops AD. It is estimated that by 2050, approximately 16 million Americans will be suffering from AD. AD is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and the only cause of death among the top 10 in America without a way to prevent, cure or even slow its progression. Between 2000 and 2008, mortality rates for AD increased by 66 percent, whereas the mortality rates for other major diseases, including heart diseases, decreased. For years, scientists and doctors have searched for the cure of this disease, which has resulted in no fruitful outcomes. According to the National Institute of Health, as of 2012, more than 1,000 clinical trials have been or are being conducted to find ways to treat AD, but so far we have been able to treat only symptoms of the disease. The results of the study were impressive; in two months old mice with Alzheimer's-like condition, within 6 hours of administering the drug, brain interstitial fluid A?40 and A?42 levels were rapidly reduced, with 25% reduction by 24 hours. There was a 30% reduction in soluble A? levels throughout 14 days treatment and 40% reduction in insoluble A? level 72 hours post drug administration with progressive decrease over subsequent 14 days. Total A? plaques were reduced by nearly 75% after 14 days of treatment. Similar results were obtained in older mice, indicating that the bexarotene works efficiently in both early and later stages of AD in mouse model. The drug rapidly restored cognition and memory, which were assessed by contextual fear conditioning. Also, mice treated with bexarotene for 90 days exhibited improved hippocampal function, which was assessed by Morris water maze performance. Furthermore, just 72 hours post treatment with bexarotene nest construction behavior was restored in mice. And finally, 9 days treatment of bexarotene significantly improved the odor habituation behavior in mice. Ultimately, bexarotene has the potential to help more than 36 million people suffering from Alzheimer's disease worldwide. Plus, the drug has a good safety and side-effect profile. According to the authors of the study, there is a plan to launch a clinical trial of the drug as soon as possible.
(02/15/12 5:00am)
Representatives of the LaRouche Political Action Committee paid a visit to Homewood on Tuesday, setting up camp at the corner of North Charles Street and East 34th in a well-traveled spot in front of Charles Market. Though physically unobtrusive-their exhibit consisted of a table littered with one to two dozen packets of hand-outs-it can only be said to be politically provocative, decorated with their defining Obama-Hitler Mustache poster and a number of others on subjects ranging from impending nuclear holocaust to the necessity of presidential impeachment in order to save the global economy. At arm's length, history does not paint a particularly bright picture of the LaRouche movement. Formed in the turbulence of the 1960s as a conglomeration of counterculture student groups, it spent its early years as a Marxist union bent quite literally on world domination. This did not go quite as planned, and it instead became an organization with the sole purpose of advancing the ideas of its namesake: Lyndon LaRouche, a longtime political activist whose agenda is, for lack of better words, unusual to the point of being wholly indescribable and unclassifiable. Suffice it to say, the LaRouche movement has stuck around since then, their activities now largely defined by demonstrations, information sessions and unsuccessfully running hundreds of candidates for public office. So in the midst of all this, what do they stand for? Well, that's a pretty good question. Having chatted with the two gentlemen representing the movement, I can only offer some conjecture; I was left with a mixture of fascination, bemusement and utter terror. Their answer seems to be everything and nothing. Economically, they make a great deal out of their support for the reenactment of Glass-Steagall, the 1933 law that established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and created a separation between investment banking and commercial banks. This seems sensible at first blush, but is confounded by their notion that repeal is contingent upon impeachment of the "Obama dictator." Toss in their advocacy for a return to the gold standard, a belief that all nations (stressing China and Russia) would cooperate happily and completely with global financial reform, and a mortifying fear of the evil and manipulative British Empire, and one is left to wonder if their agenda really makes any sense. That is to say nothing of their political policy, which currently revolves around the impeachment of President Obama not only to save the global economy but also to prevent an impending nuclear holocaust. To paraphrase the LaRouche movement, this holocaust is the work of the drug-dealing Queen Elizabeth II and manipulative Prince Philip, and the United States is but a puppet in the hands of the all-powerful British Empire. Removing Obama, according to their theory, would prevent the British from continuing their campaign of global domination, which, left unabated, would render the earth an apocalyptic wasteland. I hope nobody on campus drank their Kool-Aid.
(02/12/12 5:00am)
Last week, President Obama delivered his State of the Union speech, and at first blush, it seemed like a delight to hear. America's economy is on the rise, and the wars overseas are finally ending. Although it is true that Bin Laden is dead, the U.S. military has withdrawn from Iraq, and the unemployment rate has fallen to 8.5 percent, the brunt of Obama's speech seems grounded more in election rhetoric than in fact.
(02/11/12 5:00am)
There is some value to using CPS clickers in large lectures. By quizzing the class after the introduction of challenging topics, professors can quickly assess whether the majority of people are following the day's lecture and keeping up with the material.
(02/10/12 4:58pm)
Anyone who has been on AOL.com in recent years can undoubtedly attest to the site’s lack of quality journalism. Titles such as “Don’t Mess With This ‘Grandma’” and “Taste-Testing New Wendy’s Sandwich” litter the site, tributes to “The AOL Way.” The AOL Way refers to a recently leaked AOL memo profiling the company’s goals and methods for attracting readers.
(02/09/12 5:00am)
If you played a drinking game with The Fray's latest album and took a shot every time they sang about love or hearts, you'd be on the floor by the third song.
(02/09/12 5:00am)
When I first started getting into electronica, Air was a big deal. If Zero 7 was the Beatles of Chill, Air was the Led Zeppelin. They brought it to a new level, every song an exercise in relaxation and serenity.
(02/09/12 5:00am)
Valentine's Day is less than a week away, but you don't need a calendar to tell you that. Just turn on a computer, and you'll immediately be bombarded by posts on Facebook about people hating on Valentine's Day, or, even better, people complaining about people hating on Valentine's Day. There are endless ads for Groupons for that special dinner, and various Internet memes making fun of all of the above. From this foray onto my computer, I have come to the realization that you can tell what kind of person one is based on one's thoughts about Valentine's Day.
(02/09/12 5:00am)
If you're looking for a good gift to get your significant other for Valentine's Day, look no further. Here are a couple of options on campus that you can take advantage of before that special day gets here on Tuesday.
(02/09/12 5:00am)
The idea of "what if" has always been tantalizing, from the children who fantasize about being born into royalty to the adults who wonder what would have happened if they had made one different decision. In reality, it's impossible to know what would have happened in an alternate dimension of one's life. That's where television comes in.
(02/09/12 5:00am)
For students looking to get away from the dreary Baltimore winter, Intersession's Italian Renaissance Art and Culture course was the perfect chance to jet off to Europe for a whirlwind class that investigated the rich artistic and cultural treasures of Florence, Italy.
(02/09/12 5:00am)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, directed by Stephen Daldry, is a tear-jerking cinematic adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foe's 2005 novel. The plot follows young Oskar Schell's (Thomas Horn) journey to keep his father's memory alive after his tragic death during the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
(02/09/12 5:00am)
Smash is the show that musical theatre fans have been waiting for.
(02/09/12 5:00am)
Big Baby Ghandi, quirky Brooklyn Hip Hop artist, is fresh off the success of his much-talked about mixtape Big F***ing Baby, and bringing you this Single of the Week with his new song "Hi, It's Me Baby."
(02/09/12 5:00am)
There are a lot of very nice things to be said about the Barnstormers' Intersession production of David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago, but a complaint is warranted first. The play is not nearly perverse enough, some might say, to earn a title that could suggest an epidemic of sexual degeneracy running rampant across the backdrop of America's third largest city.
(02/09/12 5:00am)
Strong is when you've run out of weak. Pleasure is when you've had enough pain. Success is when you've had enough failure.
