Friday 28 February 2014

Eating Chocolate Can Improve Math Skills

Bad at maths? Gorge on chocolates before you attempt your next examination. A study from a few years back revealed that eating chocolate could improve the brain’s ability to do maths as well as boost your energy level. Researchers carried out the study in 2009 and found that flavanols, compounds found in chocolate and part of a group of chemicals called polyphenols, actually work by increasing the flow of blood into the brain.

According to the study’s lead author David Kennedy of Northumbria University, the findings suggest that students who binge on chocolate when revising for examination might gain a real benefit from doing so and chocolate could be beneficial for mentally challenging tasks also. ‘For things that are difficult to do, mentally demanding things that may crop up in your work it could help,’ Prof Kennedy was quoted as saying.

In the study, 30 volunteers were asked to count backwards in groups of three from a random number between 800 and 999 generated by a computer. The findings showed that they could do the calculations more quickly and accurately after they were given a hot cocoa drink containing 500 mg flavanols. However, the same was not true when the group was asked to count backwards in groups of seven, which the researchers described as a more complex task, requiring a slightly different part of the brain.

 

Tuesday 25 February 2014

Computers will in 15 years be smarter than us

Ray Kurtzvail, an expert in artificial intelligence at the company'' Google'', predicts that by the 2029  computers will be smarter than humans. Entrepreneur and futurist, predicted that in the next 15 years, computers will become more intelligent and will be able to understand what you're talking about, learn from experience, joke, tell stories, and even flirt.

Kurtzvail ( 66 ), which is considered one of the world's leading experts in artificial intelligence , and the technologists has popularized his idea of ​​" singularity " - the moment in the future when humans and machines become one.
'' Google '' hired him end of 2012. to work on future projects of the company - a search engine that is used artificial intelligence and knows us better than we know ourselves .
In an interview with the Observer New Review, Kurtzvail says his company has not given any explicit instructions , except that he was ordered to find a way to " teach " Google to understand natural language .
" My project is to start a search for understanding of the language ," he says .
" When you write an article , you do not create an interesting collection of words . You have something to say and ' Google ' should be intelligently organized and processed information from around the world . The message in your article is the information , but that computers do not understand . Therefore , we want them to read everything there is on the internet and each page of each book , so that they could participate in an intelligent dialogue with customers and answer their questions, " he explained.
Kurtzvail predictions are only part of the earlier announcement that Google makes the largest laboratory in the world of artificial intelligence . The company has acquired several companies engaged in " teaching " machines and production of robots , including '' Boston Dynamics '' .
Kurtzvail is known for his inventions that changed the world - the first desktop scanner , the first computer program that is able to recognize the first syllable fonts and speech synthesizer .
It was in 1990. predicted that the computer would beat the world chess champion to in 1998. ( In 1997. IBM 's Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov ) and the world wide web to be hit and at a time when the network used by a few scientists.

Friday 14 February 2014

On Titan the atmosphere is so thick and the gravity so low that humans could fly through it by flapping “wings” attached to their arms

Titan is one of the moons on Planet Saturn. It is said that here, the atmosphere is so thick and the gravity so low that you could fly through it like a bird does on Earth by flapping wings attached to your arms. This statement can be found in the book Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization by Robert Zubrin.

Of course, the atmosphere on Titan would not be conducive for your health, so a spacesuit could come in handy. The Voyager has been able to make some observations that prove the atmosphere on Titan is denser than Earth’s, and this has been put at about 1.19 times as immense as Earth’s overall.

The lower gravity on Titan implies that the atmosphere extends way much more than Earth’s. This was even proven by the Cassini spacecraft that flying at a distance of 975 km, had to make adjustments to maintain a steady orbit against atmospheric drag.

Friday 7 February 2014

The stem cells will be tested in space

Researchers at Mayo Clinic are preparing to test the theory that stem cells rapidly proliferate in the absence of gravity. Dr. Aba Zubair sent a group of stem cells on the International Space Station, because he believes that there lies the future of human tissue.

Medical researcher Aba Zubair, was once a dream of becoming an astronaut, but has achieved a satisfactory compromise, because his scientific experiment to be conducted in space.

As a stem cell researcher at the Mayo Clinic, Zubair got three hundred thousand dollars to investigate the behavior of stem cells in space.


Dr. Zubair said that the simulation showed that the stem cells are able to grow faster in zero gravity . He hopes the experiment on the International Space Station and to prove it, and also to find out whether there is some abnormality in the development of :
" When it stimulates the growth of cells, there is a danger of an abnormality , which means that such a cell converted in carcinogen . Another factor that we want to examine is the transformation into malignant cells . "
While one group of cells propagated in space , the other will develop on Earth . In addition to gravity , all the conditions will be the same .
Zubair continues to colleagues examined the effects of gravity on stem cells . If the initial experiments are successful, and weightlessness show appropriate for the growth of stem cells Zubair added , the next challenge will be to transform cells in tissues and organs in the end .
Zubair has already predicted that human bodies could easily grow in space and later , if necessary transplant :
" Imagine , you can have a spare heart , kidney or liver , somewhere in the universe . Only someone on the phone when you need it . So from your stem cells obtain tissue or organ and use it when you need it . "
While this can happen only a few decades , Zubair said that this research could affect the near future . If the cells are rapidly developing in the universe , adds Zubair , doctors would be better able to treat patients on Earth .

Tuesday 4 February 2014

What is expected of the "reinforced" Hadron Collider?

The Large Hadron Collider is currently undergoing changes that should double its power and allow researchers to uncover the secrets of the functioning of the universe.

It will open up the possibility of solving the mysteries of dark matter and should find evidence of cosmic concept known as " supersymmetry " . It should find signs of hidden dimensions that can explain the existence of gravity.
By the end of the year , a gigantic machine for colliding atoms should have to increase energy particles from eight billion electro-volt to 14 tera elektronvolt, which will allow the most powerful particle collisions so far .
A new series of experiments should lead scientists outside the field of physics known as the " standard model" .
Scientists may yet discover the Higgs boson - different versions of the so-called " God particle " that is predicted Nobel Prize winner Professor Peter Higgs and other particle gives mass .
The Higgs boson was the last " missing fraction " of the "standard model " .
Now scientists want to go a step further and explain the mysteries of the cosmos functioning .
Professor Tony Doyle of the University of Glasgow , a leading member of the team that manages the giant Atlas detector says that the current priority is to explain supersymmetry .
Super-symmetry to a hypothesis that the basis of each particle of matter exist , and the particles bearing the appropriate force .
This requires the existence of several Higgs bosons .
" The universe is driven by supersymmetry key ideas . Currently separate the particles of matter and particles that carry force . Evidence of supersymmetry would change the way we look at space , "says Doyle.
Survey Supersymmetry could explain the mystery of dark matter - the invisible bond that holds galaxies together , and whose nature is still unknown .
More powerful large proportion Hadron Collider could offer scientists an insight into the hidden dimensions and thus reveal the mystery of gravity.
Do 2020th the system will be changed so that the collider energy levels remain the same, but the detectors become 10 times more sensitive .
It is expected that the machine will be operative to 2030th.