Inspired by fossilized bones, researchers say they’ve found a way to preserve data in the form of DNA encased in silica. Compared to ancient scrolls that have survived for thousands of years, the information written on servers and hard drives will last for a surprisingly short amount of time: 50 years or so. That’s why in the last few years, researchers have been eyeing DNA, nature’s storage medium. We already know that genetic material can store large volumes of information in a compact way, but attempts thus far have been thwarted by chemical degradation and mistakes in sequencing, resulting in errors and gaps in the encoded data once its retrieved.

To simulate data-destroying conditions over hundreds of years, they stored the DNA sheathed in glass at 60 to 70 degrees Celsius for up to a month. Afterwards, they used a fluoride solution to separate the DNA from the silica glass, and then they read the stored data using simple DNA sequencing techniques. When they compared that DNA with those stored on filter paper and biopolymers, they found that their glass shell was especially robust. If stored at minus 18 degrees Celsius, like the temperatures found at Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the information could survive over a million years, according to their calculations.

Machines Master Classic Video Games Without Being Told The Rules

Posted on February 23, 2015March 9, 2015 by fioperations

Think you’re good at classic arcade games such as Space Invaders, Breakout and Pong? Think again….

In a groundbreaking paper published today, a team of researchers led by co-founder Demis Hassabis reported developing a deep neural network that was able to learn to play such games at an expert level. What makes this achievement all the more impressive is that the program was not givenany background knowledge about the games. It just had access to the score and the pixels on the screen. It didn’t know about bats, balls, lasers or any of the other things we humans need to know about in order to play the games.

Here is a link to the game on youtube check it out … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=437Ld_rKM2s

But by playing lots and lots of games many times over, the computer learnt first how to play, and then how to play well.

A machine that learns from scratch:

This is the latest in a series of breakthroughs in deep learning, one of the hottest topics today in artificial intelligence Actually, DeepMind isn’t the first such success at playing games. Twenty years ago a computer program known as TD-Gammon learnt to play backgammon at a super-human level also using a neural network. Many other technology companies are spending big in this space.

The Apple Car Will Be Really Different … If It Exists!!!

Posted on February 20, 2015March 9, 2015 by fioperations

It has been a week and the Apple Car rumor hasn’t been denied by Apple. So what are we to make of all this? image-20150220-21916-10kizk6

Much of what has been talked about is complete speculation. That it will be electric, autonomous, a mini-van! all seem obvious or mis-communicated hearsay. Thinking about cars is the wrong way to approach thinking about the Apple Car. Instead, you have to think about Apple’s identity and how it approaches new markets. And let’s face it, a car would be a new market.

First, Apple does not introduce incremental product improvements. This won’t be a car with an Apple logo or something that Tesla is doing. Instead, it will be something at least ten times better (you pick the metric) than anyone else is doing. It did that with the Apple II, the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad and, possibly, the Apple Watch. Apple TV was ten times better than your TV or cable box, but it wasn’t ten times better than everyone’s product, which is probably why Apple deemed it a hobby.

Second, when Apple release these products, it envisages them as part of its hub of products. For the iPod, it was part of the personal computer as a hub concept. For the iPhone and iPad, that became the cloud as a hub. I suspect we are back to the iPhone as a hub with the Apple Watch. The question is, in five years’ time, what will be the device that is the hub for people. If you can answer that question, you may be able to guess what the Apple Car might do that will be new.

Third, design and user-interfaces are where these new products come from. Looking good happens, but after function. So thinking about what a new Apple Car might look like is crazy. As crazy as thinking about whether the company will ship the car for US$29,999 for the 16GB model and $39,999 for the 64GB one. Instead, think about the designers. In this case, Jonny Ive.

So what is this car going to look like?? Im really excited to find out it this actually happens!

Researchers Achieve Record-Smashing Wireless Connection Speeds

Posted on February 18, 2015March 9, 2015 by fioperations

Do you know what wireless speeds of one terabit per second gets you? One hundred full-length movies downloaded onto your phone in just three seconds. Researchers in the U.K. are now saying that they’ve achieved just that: 1 Tbps over a 5G connection for the first time ever. That’s the fastest wireless speed to date.
The speed is more than 65,000 times faster than average 4G download speeds (that’s just 15 megabits per second, or Mbps). And it also smashes the previous 5G (or fifth generation) speed record achieved last October in tests: Samsung’s 7.5 gigabits per second (Gbps)

Blind Man Now Able To See Shapes Thanks To Bionic Eye

Posted on February 16, 2015March 18, 2015 by fioperations

If there is one thing we don’t seem to be able to get enough of, it is emotional YouTube videos showcasing the moment someone’s life changed for the better. Just over a month ago, we shared with you the moment a legally blind woman saw her baby for the first time thanks to a pair of innovative electronic glasses. Now, after being fitted with a “bionic eye,” a blind man has been able to see his wife again for the first time in a decade, and they are both pretty overwhelmed, to say the least.

Paralyzed Woman Moves Thought Controlled Robotic Arm With Immense Precision

Posted on February 12, 2015March 9, 2015 by fioperations

Over the last few years there have been some incredible technological developments that are offering new hope for paralyzed patients. Electrical Stimulation and nerve cell transplants have enabled individuals to regain movement in their legs, and even allowed them to stand or walk with a frame. Brain implants have allowed quadriplegic patients to move their fingers and hands for the first time in years using their minds.

And now, scientists have developed a system that has allowed a paralyzed woman to control a robotic arm with immense precision, using only her thoughts. They implanted two microelectrode grids, just four millimeters in size, in a particular spot of the left motor cortex that is responsible for controlling movement of her right arm and hand. The grid contains 96 tiny contact points, each of which pick up firing signals from an individual neuron. These devices were then hooked up to a computer, which recorded and analyzed brain activity within this region.