David Lidsky's Blog, page 3304
March 24, 2014
Electrical Brainstorm! Can This Electrico-Stimulation "Thinking Cap" Help You Learn Faster?
Developed by a pair of psychologists at Vanderbilt University, it works by stimulating the medial-frontal cortex, or the part of the brain that goes "Oops!" when we make a mistake.
A new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience hints at something truly sci-fi: an electro-stimulation thinking cap.
Gwar Frontman Dave Brockie Dead At 50
Even if you weren't a fan of the band Gwar, you have to appreciate the theatrical contribution frontman Dave Brockie made to the world of music. At age 50, he has passed away.
Dave Brockie, who went by the stage name Oderus Urungus when fronting the band Gwar, has passed away at age 50.
LG's "Smart Lamp" Looks To Take On Philips's Hue
The Korean gadget maker is throwing its hat into the connected lighting space.
For all the comforts that modern technology provides, turning a lamp on or off in your house is still done the same way it was in the '90s. You still have to physically flick a switch or dim a dimmer, which requires that you get up from the sofa and walk across the room, or stretch out of bed when you're already warm and cozy. Small inconveniences, but inconveniences nonetheless.
Cyborg Baby Spinach Could One Day Detect Chemical Weapons
Imagine bomb sniffing plants in airports. Scientists are turning your average shrub into a sophisticated data collector.
"I like to think/(right now, please!)/of a cybernetic forest/filled with pines and electronics/ where deer stroll peacefully/past computers/as if they were flowers/with spinning blossoms," poet Richard Brautigan wrote in 1967. His heavily optimistic (or heavily satirical) take on cyborg plants was prescient. Now, half a century later, researchers are working on giving baby spinach bomb-detecting capabilities.
March 21, 2014
One Of America's Largest Hospitals Brings Google Glass Into The ER
Boston's Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center, one of America's largest hospitals, is testing Google Glass in their ER so doctors don't have to break eye contact with patients while treating them.
Patients at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center (BIDMC) might notice something different if they end up in the emergency room: Their doctors wear Google Glass. The huge hospital is at the forefront of a movement that uses augmented reality technology to improve service, efficiency, and comfort in the waiting room. Since December 2013, four ER doctors have been sporting neon, hunter's-orange Google Glasses on the job--and more than 10 other clinicians have been participating in testing Google Glass out.
Medium's Read-Only IPhone App Focuses On Simplicity
"It's a simple app because every week, thousands of people come to Medium to write," says founder Ev Williams. "We're just helping amplify their voices."
We're constantly being inundated with new apps that promise to give us good stuff to read. So where does Medium, which just landed on the iPhone, fit into the picture? In an introductory post by Ev Williams, the Medium founder stresses one key differentiator to separate it from the flotsam: simplicity.
Robbie The Robot Will Be Hands And Legs For Limbless Woman
"As a child and even today, I've always wanted and would love to have a robot. This robot will become my hands and legs."
Joanne O'Riordan was born with a rare condition called Tetra-amelia syndrome, and as a result, she doesn't have any arms or legs. In the spring of 2012, the 18-year-old spoke at the United Nations telecommunications conference, challenging developers to build a robot that could make her life easier. "As a child and even today, I've always wanted and would love to have a robot," O'Riordan said. "This robot will become my hands and legs."
John Oliver Has His Own Version Of Those Clumsy Ads Targeting Republican Millennials
Although John Oliver's new HBO show won't debut until April, some content is already rolling out online, including these videos spoofing some recent GOP ads that try perhaps a little too hard to appeal to millennials.
On March 16th, the GOP introduced a new series of ads geared toward the very specific audience of young republicans who live inside Portlandia. To describe these ads as clumsy and pandering would be a generous understatement. They feature a guy who looks like a Macklemore-maned West Side Story extra complaining in a whiny tone nobody would want to hear themselves reflected in. But even though the ads already seem like works of parody, that hasn't stopped the folks at John Oliver's forthcoming HBO show from faithfully mocking them.
Every Minute This "Machine Of Death" Prints A Woman's Name Who Died From Pregnancy-Related Complications
New Medecins du Monde campaign aims to raise awareness for reproductive rights by giving names to the 300,000 women who die in childbirth or from unsafe abortions each year.
Large-scale statistics are rarely if ever able to evoke the same emotional response as a personal story. It's why TV news features and magazine profiles so often introduce us to the individuals behind the numbers of societal issues like unemployment, disease, and victims of war.
The Early Posters For "Gravity" Capture The Terror Of Space
The early designs for Gravity's posters are all about the loneliness of life beyond our planet.
Framestore, a visual-effects and animation studio, designed the posters for the many-Oscar-winning film Gravity. The final posters, the ones we saw in movie theaters and subway stops, are lovely, but we're just as taken by the early, unused poster designs Framestore just revealed.
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