Neurosynaptic Chips: Building Blocks for Cognitive Systems
September 19th, 2013Via: IBM:
In many ways computers today are nothing more than very fast number-crunchers and information manipulators. They can process lots of data, but they really don’t think. They all adhere to the Von Neumann architecture, largely unchanged in the last half-century, in which computers are constructed by separating memory and processing and operate by executing a series of pre-written “if X then do Y” equations. With the advent of Big Data, which grows larger, faster and more diverse by the day, this type of computing model is inadequate to process and make sense of the volumes of information that people and organizations need to deal with.
In searching for an answer, IBM researchers found inspiration for a new computer chip design from the most powerful, efficient information processing device in the world: the human brain. The cognitive capabilities of the brain includes understanding the surrounding environment, dealing with ambiguity, acting in real time and within context – all while consuming less than power than a light bulb and occupying less space than a two-liter bottle of soda.
In August 2011, as part of the SyNAPSE (Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics) project IBM researchers led by Dharmendra S. Modha successfully demonstrated a building block of a novel brain-inspired chip architecture based on a scalable, interconnected, configurable network of “neurosynaptic cores” that brought memory, processors and communication into close proximity. These new silicon, neurosynaptic chips allow for computing systems that emulate the brain’s computing efficiency, size and power usage.
The Play Deficit
September 19th, 2013Via: Aeon Magazine:
If we love our children and want them to thrive, we must allow them more time and opportunity to play, not less. Yet policymakers and powerful philanthropists are continuing to push us in the opposite direction — toward more schooling, more testing, more adult direction of children, and less opportunity for free play.
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Families with MMR Vaccine Injured Children Receive Compensation
September 18th, 2013Via: Huffington Post:
The federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, better known as “vaccine court,” has just awarded millions of dollars to two children with autism for “pain and suffering” and lifelong care of their injuries, which together could cost tens of millions of dollars.
The government did not admit that vaccines caused autism, at least in one of the children. Both cases were “unpublished,” meaning information is limited, and access to medical records and other exhibits is blocked. Much of the information presented here comes from documents found at the vaccine court website.
Some observers will say the vaccine-induced encephalopathy (brain disease) documented in both children is unrelated to their autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Others will say there is plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise.
What’s more, these cases fit the pattern of other petitions, (i.e., Poling and Banks) in which the court ruled (or the government conceded) that vaccines had caused encephalopathy, which in turn produced permanent injury, including symptoms of autism and ultimately an ASD diagnosis.
And most of these children now have taxpayer dollars earmarked for applied behavioral analysis (ABA), an effective therapy specifically designed to treat ASD.
Meanwhile, parents, grandparents, friends and neighbors of both children testified they were developmentally normal, if not advanced for their age when they developed seizures, spiking fevers and other adverse reactions to their vaccines. According to these eyewitnesses, the children never fully recovered, and instead began losing vocabulary, eye contact and interest in others around them, all classic symptoms of regressive autism.
Research Credit: alvinroasting
Abandoned NHS IT System Has Cost £10bn So Far
September 18th, 2013Via: Guardian:
An abandoned NHS patient record system has so far cost the taxpayer nearly £10bn, with the final bill for what would have been the world’s largest civilian computer system likely to be several hundreds of millions of pounds higher, according a highly critical report from parliament’s public spending watchdog.
MPs on the public accounts committee said final costs are expected to increase beyond the existing £9.8bn because new regional IT systems for the NHS, introduced to replace the National Programme for IT, are also being poorly managed and are riven with their own contractual wrangles.
When the original plan was abandoned the total bill was expected to be £6.4bn.
Richard Bacon, a Conservative member of the committee, said the report was further evidence of a “systemic failure” in the government’s ability to draw up and manage large IT contracts. “This saga is one of the worst and most expensive contracting fiascos in the history of the public sector.
Satire: iPhone 5 NSA
September 18th, 2013Via: We Are Change:
DARPA to Start Reusable Launch Vehicle Program
September 18th, 2013Via: Space News:
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is about to start a program to develop a reusable first stage that could be used to launch medium-sized satellites for as little as $5 million each.
Speaking Sept. 12 at the AIAA Space 2013 conference in San Diego, Pam Melroy, deputy director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, said the agency would release a Broad Agency Announcement in the next few weeks for a program called Experimental Spaceplane, or XS-1. An industry day for the program is planned for early October.
“The goal of the program is to fly 10 times in 10 days, and to achieve Mach 10,” Melroy said. The XS-1 itself would not fly into orbit, but could carry an expendable upper stage to place payloads weighing up to 1,800 kilograms into orbit at a target price of $5 million per launch. The vehicle could also be used as a platform for hypersonics research.
Melroy’s presentation included several illustrations of potential XS-1 designs, all featuring wings. However, she said DARPA was not restricting the XS-1 program to winged designs. “The key is that it needs to be a reusable first stage,” she said.
Tesla Enters Race to Build Self-Driving Car
September 18th, 2013Via: Reuters:
Electric car company Tesla Motors is working to produce a car capable of running on “auto-pilot” within the next three years, CEO Elon Musk said, joining tech giant Google and rival carmakers in the race to roll a driverless car into the market.
The California-based company’s autonomous car would allow the driver to hand 90 percent of the control of the car over to the vehicle’s computer system, Musk said in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper.
Fully autonomous cars would take longer to develop, he said.
The self-driving car would be developed in-house using Tesla’s own technology, not that of another company, Musk said in comments confirmed by a Tesla spokesperson.
Related: A Mercedes-Benz S-500 Just Drove 62 Miles All by Itself
Gas Prices Set Record: 1,000 Days Above $3 a Gallon
September 17th, 2013Via: USA Today:
Well, AAA has come up with a sobering statistic: the average price of gasoline will surpass $3 per gallon Tuesday for the 1,000th consecutive day. That’s never happened before, the motoring organization says.
Dutch Health Official: Sugar Is Dangerous, Very Addictive
September 17th, 2013Via: Telegraph:
Paul van der Velpen, the head of Amsterdam’s health service, the Dutch capital city where the sale of cannabis is legalised, wants to see sugar tightly regulated.
“Just like alcohol and tobacco, sugar is actually a drug. There is an important role for government. The use of sugar should be discouraged. And users should be made aware of the dangers,” he wrote on an official public health website.
“This may seem exaggerated and far-fetched, but sugar is the most dangerous drug of the times and can still be easily acquired everywhere.”
Mr Van der Velpen cites research claiming that sugar, unlike fat or other foods, interferes with the body’s appetite creating an insatiable desire to carry on eating, an effect he accuses the food industry of using to increase consumption of their products.
