Researchers at Duke University have developed a new brain-machine interface that allows a pair of monkeys to control motorized wheelchairs with only their thoughts. This development is intended to provide an alternative method of controlling the mobility devices for physically disabled people, as some individuals are unable to blink their eyelids to direct a wheelchair’s controls.
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The computer industry has been facing an existential problem for a number of years now: because of the physical and quantum limitations of silicon dioxide, the speed of a silicon-based computer processor can only pushed so far before it melts. To get around this, the industry has resorted to packing more processors into individual devices, hoping that the additional processing power will make up for the lack of an increase in speeds, but this method can also only be pushed so far. Researchers are working on new technologies in the hopes of replacing silicon altogether, with optical and quantum-based processors being developed. And conversely, at least one tech startup is using a very old technology in their bid to push beyond the silicon wall.
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A new study has highlighted an acceleration in the rise of global sea levels over the past 3 millennia, showing a dramatic increase in those levels over the 20th century.
This new study, conducted at Rutgers University, charted sea level increases over the past 28 centuries, using geological data gathered from marshes, coral atolls and archaeological sites. When compiled, the data showed that sea level increases not only accelerated in the 20th century, but that this acceleration has increased even further since the 1990s.
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One of the major roadblocks our culture has in regards to space travel is that in order to travel at speeds that could make a trip to a distant planet or star in a reasonable time frame is the application of energy: currently, we’re stuck burning chemical fuel to propel our vehicles, of which means also lugging that fuel along with the vehicle, meaning the vehicle weighs more because of the extra fuel, meaning the vehicle has to carry more fuel to offset that weight — it unfortunately becomes a cycle of inefficiency, making for a very slow vehicle.
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