Futurelawyer

A Light Just Went On In My Head

Tiny Injectable LEDs Manipulate the Brain With Light | Wired Science | Wired.com. Scientists, I kid you not, are injecting LEDs into brains and using them to manipulate responses of the brain's neural pathways. The possible uses for therapeutic purposes are many; but, I keep getting a picture of some future Doctor Frankenstein using them to create a monster, or some Manchurian Candidate scenario in which a human is manipulated to be an assassin. Brain manipulation, anyone? Hey, I wonder if they could transmit all case law using fiber optic techniques? Direct to brain knowledge transfer. What a concept! Then, I really would be the smartest lawyer on the planet!

Can The Thought Police Be Far Behind?

Brain Scans Can Now Reveal Who You're Thinking About. Scientists are demonstrating that brain scans can be used to determine who and what patients are thinking about. Say what? Measuring brain activity to determine thoughts is a scary prospect. In the future, will totalitarian governments control what you think about? I can save these guys a whole lot of trouble. All I ever think about is my lovely wife. I will leave it there. 

Mars Rover Curiosity Computer Fails - No, It Isn't Using Windows Vista

Mars Rover Curiosity in Safe Mode After Computer Glitch | Space.com.  Apparently, even NASA space scientists get computer glitches. Whether caused by random radioactive particles or an alien playing kick the can, Curiosity stopped sending data yesterday, and went into safe mode. Windows Vista users can identify. When a Windows computer goes into "safe" mode, you know you are anything but safe. NASA scientists are Boy Scout prepared, however, and they immediately rolled over to Computer B while they resolve the problem with Computer A. Earth users of Vista had the option of upgrading to Windows 7 or 8. Mars is a bit far for an upgrade on site. In any event, I have a message for the alien kid who is abusing our spacecraft. Don't make me come out there.

Big Dog Grows An Appendage

Now Boston Dynamics' BigDog can lift and toss (w/ video). It had to happen sooner or later. Big Dog, the Boston Dynamics, the rough terrain robot that can climb rough mountain grades and navigate deep ravines, has grown an appendage that makes it well on the way to being a useful machine in many environments. The appendage, which looks like an elephant trunk and which protrudes from the front of the machine, can pick up and move heavy objects, unattended by humans. I really could have used one of these as a teenager, when I spent holiday nights unloading box cars filled with 75 pound sacks of Sears Catalogues. That was back when the suckers were big and thick. I don't think I have shopped in a Sears since. 

What Did One Ant Say To The Other Ant?

Shhh, the Ants Are Talking - ScienceNOW. Entomologists are "buzzing" about a new discovery that ant pupae communicate with sound. Previously, it was thought that the chemical pheromones placed by ants as they walk were the only way they communicated with each other. You know, "hey ant! Stay in line!" The ants have been found to use spikes on their bodies to scrape against their legs to create the sound. This ability developed in mature pupae, and continued in adults. So far, the tests have only been run on Northern European ants. God knows what the American Ants have been saying to each other. 

BlueTooth? What's That?

A New Bluetooth Standard Lets Devices Communicate Without Draining Power | Popular Science. As more of us pair earsets and watches and speaker systems to phones and computers wirelessly, we know little or nothing about the science of what it is that makes it work. This PopSci feature will tell you all you need to know in one page. I am most interested in the evolution of BlueTooth to version 4.0, which will eliminate the need to charge my devices every evening. It contains circuitry that keeps the radio off unless data is being transmitted to or from the device. So, a smartwatch is coming that will run for up to a year without charging. My Sony Smartwatch sometimes dies in the afternoon if I am using it a lot. The standard is named after a Danish King who united warring factions in Scandanavia in the 10th century. Somehow, I don't think the King would understand that he now describes a method for joining two computer devices. The little blue symbol is the Rune Initials of King Harald Blatand. Now that you know that, I expect you to impress your friends.

Mars Rock Found On Earth - Contains Water

Sahara rock appears to be first meteorite from Mars' crust - Los Angeles Times. Okay, we spent millions of dollars sending spacecraft to Mars, so they could walk around, zap rock formations, and run chemical tests - and now they tell us we have a Martian rock on Earth? Apparently, Mars has been sending its criminal rock elements to earth for over 2 Billion years. We have found 110 of them, and we are studying, poking, prodding, and running chemical tests on them. So, why did we go millions of miles to kill them? Science, it's about playing with rocks.

Big Red Is Watching You

Verizon Files Patent For DVR That Watches Viewers, Delivers Targeted Ads Based On What It Sees. Reader J. Wallace Oman sent me this Huffpo article about a new Verizon patent that describes software that uses your TV and its camera to watch users and track their movements. In addition to the Big Brother vibe, the patent describes software that can make suggestions of products to you based on what it sees. Uh, I really don't want my TV to become an extension of SWMBO, and comment on the time I spend watching football on my TV. I can hear it now: "Do you really need to watch three football games in one day?" Of course, it isn't much of a stretch to go from there to the population control or thought police. Just exactly how much in home monitoring do we need? I love Big Red. But, this is creepy. I suggest that the next time you are TV shopping, and the ads say "Smart TV", that you inquire how smart it is. If it talks back to you and says: "You need to go on a diet", run like hell.

 

Oldest Edison TinFoil Recording Decoded

Oldest Edison TinFoil Recording. Some things never change. Give a family a brand new sound recording device, and they record their kid practicing the cornet, and dad laughing, and somebody mangling the reading of Mary Had A Little Lamb. This 1878 recording is the oldest recording of the human voice and sound available. It has been saved to digital format by scientists from the Berkeley National Laboratory and the Library of Congress. The TinFoil was wrapped around the cylinder of the Edison Phonograph when recorded. It is amazing that it has survived. I wonder if the videotapes I made of the kids' recitals will be national news in a hundred years?

Curiosity Finds Evidence Of Flowing Water On Mars

Curiosity Cam, Ustream.TV: UPCOMING EVENTS NASA Mars Rover News September 27, 2012 at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) NASA will host a news conference to present.... It has been speculated that the discovery of water on Mars would lead to other discoveries. Today, in the News live presentation, the NASA scientists confirmed that they have found evidence of flowing water, and rocks being formed by collision and flow to smaller, smooth rocks. An alluvial fan was found (An alluvial fan is a fan-shaped deposit formed where a fast flowing stream flattens, slows, and spreads typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain), which gives strong evidence of large quantities of water on Mars. As we know, that means the possibility of life, as we know it. The science fiction writers were closer to the truth than we thought. Amazing.