Brain Implant Helps Man Feel Through Robotic Fingers

A paralyzed man is regaining a sense of touch while using a mind controlled robotic hand, feeling subtle pressure in his own fingers when the artificial ones are touched. The experiment reported on 13 October is an early step in the quest to create prosthetics that can feel. How it works: Tiny chips implanted in patient’s brain are bypassing his broken spinal cord, relaying electrical signals that govern movement and sensation to and from the robotic arm. When University of Pittsburgh researchers blindfolded patient, he could correctly identify which robotic finger they touched 84% of the time. Harnessing brain waves to power prosthetics is a hot field, with a goal of giving the disabled more independence and improving artificial limbs for amputees as well. Headlines in recent years have reported experiments that let paralyzed people move a robotic arm to touch a loved one or take a drink simply by imaging the motion. Their thoughts activate brain implants that relay electrical signals needed to command movement. The signals are transmitted through a computer to the robotic limb.

New Therapy 'Cures' Monkey Of HIV

A new drug could be a breakthrough in the project to cure HIV, according to researchers. The combination of drugs helped stave off a monkey version of HIV for nearly two years after the animals stopped receiving treatments. Now they hope that the same solution could work for humans. Four weeks after the rhesus macaques were given the therapy, almost no simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) could be found in their blood or gastro-intestinal tissues. And two years later they appeared to be entirely healthy. The treatment takes standard HIV drugs, known as antiretroviral therapy or ART, and combines them with an experimental antibody that grows for the same target as an existing drug used to treat inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. Tweaked slightly, it was used on SIV. A pilot trial of the effect of that drug, named vedolizumab, on HIV infected patients has already begun in the US. Scientist’s hope that will show that the therapy works in the same way it did on the monkeys in the study. Researchers have good reasons to believe that the therapy will work similarly in humans.

Zika Virus Unlikely To Infect Same Person Twice

People infected with Zika may not be susceptible to the virus again, according to new research which found that the infection provides excellent protection against re-infection. This means people infected during this current epidemic will likely not be susceptible again. When a large proportion of the population is protected known as herd immunity – the risk of future epidemics may be low. The research shows that infection provides excellent protection against re-infection. The findings also show that Zika virus is present in the blood very early during infection add remains in some tissues for a long time but is only briefly present in other tissues. The researchers produced Zika virus at the Bio-security Research Institute and provided it to collaborators to support studies performed at several other laboratories. The collaboration helped them to better understand the dynamics of Zika viral infection, replication and shedding. Zika RNA was detected in blood plasma as early as one day after the infection. It also was detected in saliva, urine, cerebrospinal fluid and semen, and in vaginal secretions.

Distant Ringed Object That Could Be 'Saturn On Steroids'

About 400 light years from our solar system, there is a celestial body that looks like Saturn on steroids. Its rings are about 200 times larger than its counterpart here, measuring about 75 million miles in diameter. The ring system is so large, in fact, that scientists aren’t sure why it doesn’t get ripped apart by the gravity of the star it orbits. One reason the rings might stay intact has to do with the direction in which they spin around the object at their centre, called J1407b. Scientists are not sure whether J1407b is a gigantic planet that measures many times larger than Saturn, or a failed star called a brown dwarf. There is a point in J1407b’s lopsided orbit when it comes close to its sun like star, which should disrupt the rings. But the rings remain unscathed for the most part because they spin around J1407b in the opposite direction that the object orbits around its star. Researchers run a lot of simulations of possible orbits for the planet to see if they could survive or not. If the planet moves clockwise and the rings moving counterclockwise, that is much more stable than if they move in the same direction, clockwise. The team realized that if the object and its rings spin out of syncs with each other the ice and debris that make up the ring system are never too close to the sun for too long, which makes them more stable. That means they can stay together in a ring formation in the face of the star’s intense gravity. Researchers prevailing theory for the retrograde spinning is that either the ring system or the celestial body was involved in some sort of catastrophic collision that altered how it spins, rather than forming naturally.

Art Work That Can Be Touched And Felt

Like most artworks in galleries worldwide, visitors haven’t been allowed to reach out and touch Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” at its home at Belvedere museum in Vienna – until now. On October 12 a special 3D version of the masterpiece was unveiled, aimed at enabling the visually impaired to enjoy the work by running their finger over it. The “interactive tactile relief”, made using a 3D printer, makes it possible to touch details of the 1907-8 original, the Belvedere said. Klimt (1862-1918) made “The Kiss”, depicting a couple embracing and enveloped in colorful robes, using oil paints and gold leaf during Vienna’s “belle époque” heyday. The new reproduction, which is much smaller than the original, also has sensors that when touched trigger audio commentary about the work. Maybe in the future (they) will have a 3-D printer of their own at home and will be able to download 3-D files from museum homepages. The relief is part of an EU project called AMBAVis (Access to Museums for Blind and Visually Impaired People) which aims to offer visually impaired people “barrier-free” access to art.

Now, You Can Be Citizen Of First Space Nation

 Scientists have launched the first new space nation, and anyone can become a citizen of it. The new space nation of Astgardia hopes to save the human race twice over. First, it will look to protect it from warfare in space; and second it will try and keep humanity safe from outside of atmosphere, protecting us from threats like space debris and asteroid collisions. Those behind Asgardia hope that creating the country is the first step of a new era in the space age. And they intend to start that by sending rockets into the sky. The country will send its first satellite into space in 2017. From there, Asgardia hopes to “open up access to space for commerce, science and peoples of all countries on earth”. The scientists behind the plan launched it in Paris this week, and named it after the city of skies that was ruled by Odin from Valhalla in Norse mythology. It is being led by Igor Ashurbeyli, who lead the Aerospace International Research Center in Vienna and is chairman of UNESCO’s science of space committee. But Asgardia was created in consultation with “globally renowned scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and legal experts”, according to those behind it. The country is hoping to become a fully recognized country said Ashburbeyli. And when it does so it will be able to promote values central to scientists. Asgardia is a fully fledged and independent nation, and a future member of the United Nations – with all the attributes this status entails. The essence of Asgardia is ‘Peace in Space’ and the prevention of Earth’s conflicts being transferred into space. Asgardia is also unique from a philosophical aspect – to serve entire humanity and each and everyone, regardless of his or her personal welfare and the prosperity of the country where they happened to be born. The country will allow for anyone to apply for citizenship. But the new project also hopes that it can completely change the idea of the nation state. It hopes to create a new framework for how space activities are regulated and owned changing who’s responsible for what goes on there and how it can be governed. But the project hopes to keep people on Earth more safe, too. One of the project’s first initiatives will be to create a protective shield that keeps human kind from “cosmic manmade and natural threats to life on earth such as space debris, coronal mass ejections and asteroid collisions. Scientists have warned repeatedly that those threats are being underestimated. Scientists have warned that there are thousands of pieces of debris that could crash down to Earth, and that coronal mass ejections coming from the Sun could potentially wipe out all communications on Earth.

A Device To Make Healthy Food Taste Like Treats

A device that tricks people’s tongues could be used to make healthy foods into delicious, exciting tasting treats. The Taste Buddy is placed in the mouth before eating something boring. And it then uses thermal and electric signals to make that taste far better, by stimulating the taste buds. For the moment, that stimulation can only come in the form of sweet or salty tastes. But in the future the people behind the tool hope that they can change diets entirely, transforming salads into the taste of juicy steak or making broccoli taste like chocolate. Researchers said what started out as a fun engineering experiment has now led to something much more exciting with the potential to have a positive social impact. The Taste Buddy could eventually help save lives, by allowing people to switch to healthier food choice. In its current early form the Taste Buddy consists of a 2cm wide tab that sits on the tongue and is wired to a bulky processor. To enhance sweetness, the device warms up very rapidly and stimulates specific taste receptors that react to heat a weak electric current is used to target other taste buds responsible for salty flavours. Members of the Public will have a chance to try out the Taste Buddy for themselves at the Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair. The event, aimed at young people interested in science, technology and engineering, takes place from March 15 to 18 at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. It could be engineered to fit everyday utensils such as cutlery, cups and cans. The team has begun working on a prototype spoon. The invention exploits the chemical reactions happening in the mouth when we eat. Sour and salty tastes are recognized when taste receptors on the tongue detect the reaction between saliva and the acidity of hydrogen or sodium.