Old News is still Good News

Still purging my old news items worth noting. So here we go...

• Human 2.0, H2.0, H2O, whatever you want to call it, it is undeniably cool at all levels. Human 2.0 is a yearly event at the MIT Media Lab which highlights the latest in Human-Machine Interface in the broadest sense. Unlike other such events, H2.0 is actually based on current research and not far flung exaggerations of where things could lead 50 years out. Somewhat 'looser' than other scientific conferences, the event serves as an opportunity to let the imagination run a little further than usual. Wired has a mini-interview with Frank Moss, as well as its own coverage.

• Doug Smith at U Penn is working on a way to coax neural processes over long distances - up to 1 cm per day. This is only mentioned in New Scientist, and after looking at the lab site and pub med, I can't find any other info on it. If you have more info, please post it in comments.

• SCLin's blog has a nice thread on keeping up with the literature. He does the same thing I do, for the most part, but one of the comments to the article is a nice little gem. This link to an example of how to use Yahoo Pipes to filter out good articles is really sweet. I'll have to work up to something like that when I revise my current method.

• The goddess of neuro blogs at The Retrospectacle pointed out that Joseph LeDoux has a band that sings "nerdtastic" songs about brains. The Amygdaloids. Enjoy! Worth noting from the comments: This and this.

• Gizmodo had a post on a 3D mouse the size of a ring which could be used to control a computer cursor using standard mouse protocols. $155 worth of parts. The device uses an ultrasonic sound transmitter which is detected by five ultrasonic microphones to interpolate the ring's position. Not too shabby for a bunch of students, and I bet the power requirements are reasonable!

• There are plenty of theories for how information is storied in neocortex. Neurobot discusses Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM) work being done as part of the Numenta project. Groovy.

• The Neurocritic has a post on DBS in the Nucleus Accumbens for the treatment of depression. I heard a speaker discuss this at the NIH BCI workshop, and the prospects sound amazing.

• And finally, there is a monster-long PsyBlog series on non-verbal communication and gestures. This is one of those 'bookmark it now, read it in pieces later' type pages.

• And one bonus HCI item. Fresh from YouTube, and complete with description, here's a little machine vision type ditty where hand configurations seen by a webcam become cursor control.