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Story Archives of 'Technology'
What's Becoming Obsolete?
By Jen Nathan on Thursday, November 5, 2009.Pity the poor maligned typewriter. It was once the axis of a writer’s life. Hemingway packed up his portable Royal in its well-worn leather case and dragged it to Cuba because he couldn’t live without it. In the 1960s, school children practiced speed typing on sturdy Underwoods and adults pushed down shiny black keys every time they paid a bill or wrote a letter.
The Robot Will See You Now
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, November 4, 2009.In 1985, the world witnessed the first robot-assisted surgery. The PUMA 560 angled its white plastic arm towards the brain of a patient and carefully inserted a biopsy needle. The procedure was a success and the field of medical robotics was born.
Now researchers are creating robots capable of much more than mechanical tasks. A new crop of social robots cheer on stroke victims struggling through physical therapy, help Alzheimer’s patients remember events from the past, and give Autistic children encouragement as they connect with the outside world.
Some patients actually prefer the mechanical voice of these robots over the prompting of therapists and family members. Programming robots to display more and more human-like characteristics raises the question of whether we are coming dangerously close to singularity -- the point at which machines achieve human-level intelligence.
Dr. Jerome Groopman wrote about the rise of medical robots for The New Yorker, where he’s staff writer. He’s also the author of several books including How Doctors Think.
The New Yorker: Robots That Care
(Photo by Roberto Rizzato via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Inside The Minds of Smart Mice
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, November 3, 2009.Imagine a surgery that could triple your IQ with the nick of a scalpel. That’s what happens to Charlie Gordon, the developmentally-disabled protagonist of the 1958 novel Flowers for Algernon.
A lab mouse named Algernon is the first to get the experimental surgery. Suddenly he can wind his way through intricate mazes in seconds. Algernon easily beats charlie, leaving him to wonder why this mouse is smarter than he is. Then Charlie’s teacher secretly tells him that the mouse he’s been pitted against is no ordinary rodent.
In labs across the country, researchers are experimenting with smart mice that learn more quickly using neuroenhancing drugs. But these same mice get scared more easily, have higher rates of cancer, and can’t seem to solve some simple problems.
As pharmaceutical companies race to develop the next generation of neuroenhancing drugs for humans, scientists are discovering what can get lost when using pills to learn faster and think more clearly.
Science writer Jonah Lehrer delved into the world of cognitively enhanced mice for Nature News. He’s contributing editor at Wired and author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist and How We Decide, and he joins us with more.
The Frontal Cortex: Smart Mice
(Photo by Michail Pishchagin via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Smart Phones for Pre-Schoolers
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, November 3, 2009.
Disney is offering refunds to parents who feel duped by its Baby Einstein videos, and parents and researchers alike are questioning brain-boosting tools for kids. So you might be surprised to learn that 60% of the 25 top-selling smart phone apps in the education section of iTunes are aimed at under five set.
Researchers are now finding that something as simple as a smart phone app might help little kids learn. The apps claim to teach children to recognize symbols and encourage kids’ interaction with the natural environment. With us to talk about whether smart phones are the next big teaching tool is Neil Swidey. He wrote about smart phones for toddlers for The Boston Globe Magazine
Boston Globe Magazine: Why an iPhone could actually be good for your 3-year-old
(Photo by Genta Masuda via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Hello, AIDA
By Jen Nathan on Monday, November 2, 2009.
We’re happy to report that you will soon be able to buy your very own The Truly Smart City
By Laura Sheeter on Monday, November 2, 2009.
For urban dwellers, the question of how well you know your city is quickly being replaced with the question of how well does your city know you? Transportation systems can track your comings and goings, utility companies know your usage patterns and banks know what you spend and when. Does that make for a city of dreams, or a nightmare?
May The Hologram Be With You
By Virginia Prescott on Monday, November 2, 2009.Think back to that iconic Star Wars scene when R2D2 beams in a hologram of Princess Leia to deliver an urgent message to Obi-Wan Kenobi. A tiny image of Princess Leia flickers before Obi Wan’s eyes, a technological marvel when the film came out in 1977. Audiences were equally entranced when a hologram of Yoda was transported through space and time to a Jedi Council Meeting.
Now researchers are taking a cue from star wars and developing 3D technology that can beam anyone – Jedi or mere mortal – to a meeting far, far away. If a 3D image isn’t tactile enough, maybe an animatronics robot would do the trick. These life-like avatars move their mouths and eyes, mirroring a person’s expression in real time.
Universities are now considering these avatars and holograms as high-tech updates to old school speaker phone and video conference technologies.
We’ve beamed in Jeffrey Young, so to speak, to tell us more. He’s senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education and writes for their College 2.0 blog.
The Chrinicle of Higher Education: Beam Me to the Faculty Senate
(Photo by Chris Hildreth for The Chronicle of Higher Education)
Rena Jones: The Diva of Ambient Cello
By John Diliberto on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.
There are plenty of electronic cellists who loop their own music, but Rena Jones is one of the few who also orchestrates her own electronica arrangements. She creates intricate patterns of rhythms, glitches and ambient moods.
Scanning for Criminals
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.
It just got a lot harder to go on the lam in North Carolina. The FBI has teamed-up with the Department of Motor Vehicles there to help them track down suspects. They’re using new facial-recognition software that compares drivers license photos in the DMV database to pictures of alleged criminals.
So even if a suspect changes his name and gets a new drivers license, the feds can find him and track him down based on his facial structure. If successful, the program could prove to be a huge boon for law enforcement, but it’s also a big concern for privacy advocates.
Steve Morris is Deputy Assistant Director in the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division. We’re also joined by Jared Kaprove, a Domestic Surveillance Fellow with the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
The Associated Press: FBI delves into DMV photos in search for fugitives
(Photo by buhny via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Grammar Girl to the Rescue
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, October 27, 2009.A generation of American kids learned its grammar from Saturday morning cartoons. School House Rock sung out the rules on adverbs, conjunctions and interjections.
Today, we have the grammar girl podcast. Mignon Fogarty created Grammar Girl and the Quick and Dirty Tips network to address grammar questions she encountered while working as a copy editor. In the age of texting, email, Twitter and blogging, the craft of writing is mutating and good grammar is going the way of the abacus.
Mignon’s newest book, The Grammar Devotional, is a collection of daily tips for polished writing that will stand out like a jewel among the slurry of 140-character tweets. Mignon Fogarty joins us now with more on our evolving language.
(Immage courtesy of Grammar Girl)
