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Tobias Seidl

Structure and formation of ant transportation networks - Interface - 3 views

rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/...rsif.2010.0612.abstract

ant network transportation organisation bio

shared by Tobias Seidl on 03 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Tobias Seidl on 03 Feb 11
     
    You guys could like this....
Luís F. Simões

How to Grow a Mind: Statistics, Structure, and Abstraction - 4 views

www.sciencemag.org/...1279

AI cognition learning Bayesian probabilistic probabilistic computing

shared by Luís F. Simões on 21 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Luís F. Simões on 21 Mar 11
     
    a nice review on the wonders of Hierarchical Bayesian models. It cites a paper on probabilistic programming languages that might be relevant given our recent discussions. At Hippo's farewell lunch there was a discussion on how kids are able to learn something as complex as language from a limited amount of observations, while Machine Learning algorithms no matter how many millions of instances you throw at them, don't learn beyond some point. If that subject interested you, you might like this paper.
  • Ma Ru on 21 Mar 11
     
    Had an opportunity to listen to JBT and TLG during one summer school.. if they're half as good in writing as they are in speaking, should be a decent read...
Luzi Bergamin

Prof. Markrams Hirnmaschine (Startseite, NZZ Online) - 2 views

www.nzz.ch/...s_hirnmaschine_1.10736223.html

AI neuroscience SciFi

shared by Luzi Bergamin on 29 May 11 - No Cached
  • Luzi Bergamin on 29 May 11
     
    A critical view on Prof. Markram's Blue Brain project (in German).
  • ...4 more comments...
  • Luzi Bergamin on 29 May 11
     
    A critical view on Prof. Markram's Blue Brain project (in German).
  • LeopoldS on 30 May 11
     
    so critical that the comment needed to be posted twice :-) ?
  • Luzi Bergamin on 30 May 11
     
    Yes, I know; I still don't know how to deal with this f.... Diigo Toolbar! Shame on me!!!
  • dejanpetkow on 30 May 11
     
    Would be nice to read something about the modelling, but it appears that there is nothing published in detail. Following the article, the main approach is to model each(!) neuron taking into account the spatial structure of the neurons positions. Once achieved they expect intelligent behaviour. And they need a (type of) supercomputer which does not exist yet.
  • Ma Ru on 31 May 11
     
    As far as I know it's sort of like "Let's construct an enormous dynamical system and see what happens"... i.e. a waste of taxpayer's money... Able to heal Alzheimer... Yeah... Actually I was on the conference the author is mentioning (FET 2011) and I have seen the presentations of all 6 flagship proposals. Following that I had a discussion with one of my colleagues about the existence of limits of the amount of bullshit politicians are willing to buy from scientists. Will there be a point at which politicians, despite their total ignorance, will realise that scientists simply don't deliver anything they promise? How long will we (scientists) be stuck in the viscous circle of have-to-promise-more-than-predecessors in order to get money? Will we face a situation when we'll be forced to revert to promises which are realistic? To be honest none of the 6 presentations convinced me of their scientific merit (apart from the one on graphene where I have absolutely no expertise to tell). Apparently a huge amount of money is about to be wasted.
  • Luzi Bergamin on 01 Jun 11
     
    It's not just "Let's construct an enormous dynamical system and see what happens", it's worse! Also the simulation of the cosmological evolution is/was a little bit of this type, still the results are very interesting and useful. Why? Neither the whole cosmos nor the human brain at the level of single neurons can be modelled on a computer, that would last aeons on a "yet-to-be-invented-extra-super-computer". Thus one has to make assumptions and simplifications. In cosmology we have working theories of gravitation, thermodynamics, electrodynamics etc. at hand; starting from these theories we can make reasonable assumptions and (more or less) justified simplifications. The result is valuable since it provides insight into a complex system under given, explicit and understood assumptions. Nothing similar seems to exist in neuroscience. There is no theory of the human brain and apparently nobody has the slightest idea which simplifications can be made without harm. Of course, Mr. Markram remains completely unaffected of ''details'' like this. Finally, Marek, money is not wasted, we ''build networks of excellence'' and ''select the brightest of the brightest'' to make them study and work at our ''elite institutions'' :-). I lively remember the stage of one of these "bestofthebest" from Ivy League at the ACT...
Luís F. Simões

Bitcoin P2P Currency: The Most Dangerous Project We've Ever Seen - 10 views

launch.is/...dangerous-project-weve-ev.html

bitcoin p2p money disruptive

shared by Luís F. Simões on 16 May 11 - No Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • After month of research and discovery, we’ve learned the following:1. Bitcoin is a technologically sound project.2. Bitcoin is unstoppable without end-user prosecution.3. Bitcoin is the most dangerous open-source project ever created.4. Bitcoin may be the most dangerous technological project since the internet itself.5. Bitcoin is a political statement by technotarians (technological libertarians).*6. Bitcoins will change the world unless governments ban them with harsh penalties.
  • The benefits of a currency like this:a) Your coins can’t be frozen (like a Paypal account can be)b) Your coins can’t be trackedc) Your coins can’t be taxedd) Transaction costs are extremely low (sorry credit card companies)
  • An individual with the name -- or perhaps handle -- of Satoshi Nakamoto first wrote about bitcoins in a paper called Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • * We made this term up to describe the “good people” of the internet who believe in the fundamental rights of individuals to be free, have free speech, fight hypocrisy and stand behind logic, technology and science over religion, political structure and tradition. These are the people who build and support things like Wikileaks, Anonymous, Linux and Wikipedia. They think that people can, and should, govern themselves. They are against external forms of control such as DRM, laws that are bought and sold by lobbyists, and religions like Scientology. They include splinter groups that enforce these ideals in the form of hacktivism, such as the takedown of the Sony Playstation Network after Sony tried to prosecute a hacker for unlocking its console.
  • Ma Ru on 17 May 11
     
    Sounds good!
  • ...9 more comments...
  • pacome delva on 18 May 11
     
    wow it's frigthening! it's the dream of every anarchist, every drug, arm, human dealer! the world made as a global fiscal paradise... the idea is clever however it will not replace real money because 1 - no one will build a fortune on bitcoin if a technological breakthrough can ruin them 2 - government never allowed parallel money to flourish on their territory, so it will be almost impossible to change bitcoin against euros or dollars
  • Nicholas Lan on 18 May 11
     
    interesting stuff anyone read cryptonomicon by neal stephenson? similar theme.
  • Luís F. Simões on 18 May 11
     
    :) yes. One of the comments on reddit was precisely drawing the parallels with Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash / Diamond Age / Cryptonomicon. Interesting stuff indeed. It has a lot of potential for misuse, but also opens up new possibilities. We've discussed recently how emerging technologies will drive social change. Whether it's the likes of NSA / CIA who will benefit the most from the Twitters, Facebooks and so on, by gaining greater power for control, or whether individuals are being empowered to at least an identical degree. We saw last year VISA / PayPal censoring WikiLeaks... Well, here's a way for any individual to support such an organization, in a fully anonymous and uncontrollable way...
  • tvinko on 18 May 11
     
    One of my colleagues has made a nice, short write-up about BitCoin: http://www.pds.ewi.tudelft.nl/~victor/bitcoin.html
  • LeopoldS on 18 May 11
     
    very nice analysis indeed - thanks Tamas for sharing it!
  • pacome delva on 20 May 11
     
    mmm I'm not an expert but it seemed to me that, even if these criticisms are true, there is one fundamental difference between the money you exchange on internet via your bank, and bitcoins. The first one is virtual money and the second one aims at being real, physical, money, even if digital, in the same way as banknotes, coins, or gold.
  • nikolas smyrlakis on 20 May 11
     
    An algorithm wanna-be central bank issuing untraceable tax free money between internet users? not more likely than the end of the world supposed to take place tomorrow, in my opinion. Algorithms don't usually assault women though !:P
  • LeopoldS on 21 May 11
     
    well, most money is anyway just virtual and only based on expectations and trust ... (see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_supply) and thus if people trust that this "money" has some value in the sense that they can get something of value to them in exchange, then not much more is needed it seems to me ...
  • pacome delva on 23 May 11
     
    @Leopold: ok let's use the rigth words then. Bitcoin aim at being a currency ("physical objects generally accepted as a medium of exchange" from wikipedia), different than the "demand deposit". In the article proposed by Tamas he compares what cannot be compared (currencies, demand deposits and their mean of exchange). The interesting question is wether one can create a digital currency which is too difficult to counterfeit. As far as I know, there is no existing digital currency except this bitcoins (and maybe the currencies from games as second life and others, but which are of limited use in real world).
  • nikolas smyrlakis on 23 May 11
     
    well of course money is trust, and even more loans and credit and even more stock and bond markets. It all represents trust and expectations. However since the first banks 500 years ago and the first loans etc. etc., and as well the fact that bonds and currencies bring down whole countries (Greece lately), and are mainly controlled by large financial centres and (central) banks, banks have always been on the winning side no matter what and that isn't going to change easily. So if you are talking about these new currencies it would be a new era, not just a new currency. So should Greece convert its debt to bitcoins ;P ?
  • pacome delva on 23 May 11
     
    well, from 1936 to 1993 the central bank of france was owned by the state and was supposed to serve the general interest...
Ma Ru

Multi-robot olfactory search in structured environments (Robotics and Autonomous Systems) - 3 views

www.sciencedirect.com/...S0921889011001321

technology INF robotics science

shared by Ma Ru on 03 Aug 11 - No Cached
  • Ma Ru on 03 Aug 11
     
    Anyhow related to the "scent of science"?
Kevin de Groote

Gartner Adds Big Data, Gamification, and Internet of Things to Its Hype Cycle - 2 views

www.readwriteweb.com/...ner-adds-big-data-gamifica.php

shared by Kevin de Groote on 24 Aug 11 - No Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • LeopoldS on 27 Aug 11
     
    nice idea to bring some structure to the list of IT novelties ...
LeopoldS

Shake, rattle and … power up? - MIT News Office - 0 views

web.mit.edu/...ower-from-vibrations-0914.html

NRG

shared by LeopoldS on 16 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Instead of taking a cantilever-based approach, the team went a slightly different route, engineering a microchip with a small bridge-like structure that’s anchored to the chip at both ends. The researchers deposited a single layer of PZT to the bridge, placing a small weight in the middle of it. The team then put the device through a series of vibration tests, and found it was able to respond not just at one specific frequency, but also at a wide range of other low frequencies. The researchers calculated that the device was able to generate 45 microwatts of power with just a single layer of PZT — an improvement of two orders of magnitude compared to current designs.
  • LeopoldS on 16 Sep 11
     
    should we have another look at this type of technology?
pacome delva

Photonic Thermos | Physical Review Focus - 0 views

focus.aps.org/st14

phy thermodynamics insulator

shared by pacome delva on 19 Oct 09 - Cached
  • The pure vacuum of a thermos is not the best possible insulator for keeping your soup warm. Last year a team found theoretically that a structure known as a photonic crystal could block heat flow even more effectively than vacuum.
pacome delva

Attracting a mate, nano-style - 0 views

www.rsc.org/...Attracting_mate_nanostyle.asp

bio nan phy photonics

shared by pacome delva on 01 Sep 09 - Cached
  • As well as helping us to understand the mechanisms underlying the evolution of beauty in nature, Dufresne adds that his research has the 'potential for finding a new class of photonic (light-emitting) materials, based on disordered, instead of periodic structures.'   
pacome delva

Temperature-induced film deformation produces teeth-like structures - 0 views

www.rsc.org/...buckling_microgears.asp

phy micromechanics microgears

shared by pacome delva on 01 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Thin films can buckle round curved substrates to form gears for micromachines
  • Until now, making microgears has required expensive etching and micromachining. Chen's method only requires a change in temperature - no external guidance is required.
  • The team have made gears with diameters of 6 millimetres but they are keen to go smaller and make true microgears that could be used in biomedical engineering or aerospace.
  • ...1 more annotation...
    • pacome delva
      pacome delva on 01 Sep 09
       
      Where microgears could be useful in space ?
ESA ACT

Design and fabrication of multi-material structures for bioinspired robots - Philosophi... - 0 views

rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/...1799

BIO robotics

shared by ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09 - Cached
  • ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09
     
    Could be an interesting paper. Unfortunately the pdf is locked...
ESA ACT

nature01941.pdf (application/pdf Object) - 0 views

Photonics structures in nature

BIO NAN optics

shared by ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09 - No Cached
  • ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09
     
    A number of biological models with interesting photonic properties are reviewed, such as butterfly wings or moth eyes.
ESA ACT

Microfibre-nanowire hybrid structure for energy scavenging : Abstract : Nature - 0 views

www.nature.com/...nature06601.html

NRG NAN harvesting

shared by ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09 - Cached
  • ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09
     
    This work establishes a methodology for scavenging light-wind energy and body-movement energy using fabrics.
ESA ACT

Cellulose Nanopaper Structures of High Toughness - 0 views

pubs.acs.org/...bm800038n.html

NAN BIO materials bng

shared by ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09 - No Cached
  • ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09
     
    The end of the Carbon Nanotubes.
ESA ACT

Design and fabrication of multi-material structures for bioinspired robots - 0 views

rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/...1799.full.pdf+html

BIO nan materials integration sensors

shared by ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09 - Cached
  • ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09
     
    A paper claiming to have the perfect production technique for bio-inspired robotics.
ESA ACT

Novel Photoanode Structure Templated from Butterfly Wing Scales - 0 views

pubs.acs.org/...cm702458p

Bio paper optics energy

shared by ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09 - No Cached
  • ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09
     
    Full pdf
ESA ACT

Surface structure and frictional properties of the skin of the Amazon tree boa Corallus... - 0 views

www.springerlink.com/...7364173l68486347

BIO friction paper locomotion

shared by ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09 - Cached
  • ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09
     
    Anisotropic frictional properties for crawling locomotion.
ESA ACT

Colours light up brain structure : Nature News - 0 views

www.nature.com/...news.2007.209.html

BIO methods paper

shared by ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09 - Cached
  • ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09
     
    A new and amazing method for neuron staining.
LeopoldS

Fire ants self-assemble into waterproof rafts to survive floods - 5 views

www.pnas.org/...1016658108.abstract

BIO technology science AI swarms

shared by LeopoldS on 27 Apr 11 - No Cached
pacome delva and Ma Ru liked it
  • LeopoldS on 27 Apr 11
     
    swarm intelligence very impressive ...
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Ma Ru on 27 Apr 11
     
    Have you seen the movies? Awesome!
  • LeopoldS on 27 Apr 11
     
    yep ... fantastic ...
  • pacome delva on 28 Apr 11
     
    impressive, particularly the two last videos where u can see the structure growing !
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