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Allow me to introduce you to HAL – the “Hybrid Assistive Limb” from Cyberdyne. HAL, is a robotic suit or rather exoskeleton that can be worn by humans to potentially give them superhuman strength by multiplying the users strength by a factor of 2 to 10. Created by Prof. Yoshiyuki Sankai of Tsukuba University of Japan the HAL robotic suit is able to detect minute bio-signals on the skin when sent from the nervous system to the muscles which are then read by a computer system and translated into movement by the power units. After receiving the signals the power units on the arms and legs are then activated to mimic the movement of the limbs.
Will we see these HALs being used on our streets soon? Perhaps in the near future, however, at the moment the HAL is touted for use in Japan only. A quick look at HAL’s product page offers some insight on what exactly the suit could be used for:
HAL is expected to be applied in various fields such as rehabilitation support and physical training support in medical field, ADL support for disabled people, heavy labour support at factories, and rescue support at disaster sites, as well as in the entertainment field.
Currently, at the cutting edge of cyborg technology, HAL, could potentially create the watermark that could lead to further studies and applications of robotic suits to help us in our day to day activities. And in those special circumstances help rescue and support services in saving lives and in helping those in need. I hope that we’ll see more HAL like suits in the near future as it could only lead to better things.
YouTube – [Link]
Cyberdyne – [Link]
Can you imagine a language without any word for "one" or any other numbers? Aren’t numbers so important that life would be nearly impossible if you don’t have words to express them?
Apparently not, as scientists found one such number-less language:
The team, led by MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences Edward Gibson, found that members of the Piraha tribe in remote northwestern Brazil use language to express relative quantities such as "some" and "more," but not precise numbers.
It is often assumed that counting is an innate part of human cognition, said Gibson, "but here is a group that does not count. They could learn, but it’s not useful in their culture, so they’ve never picked it up."
The study, which appeared in the June 10 online edition of the journal Cognition, offers evidence that number words are a concept invented by human cultures as they are needed, and not an inherent part of language, Gibson said.
(Photo: Edward Gibson)
Here’s an unexpected side effect of the economic downturn in the U.S.: more and more illegal immigrants are going back to Mexico!
According to informal surveys by the Mexican consulate in Dallas, most of those wanting to return to Mexico cite the sudden scarcity of jobs, fear of deportation and uncertainty about obtaining legal resident status any time soon.
In the last few years, and particularly the last few months, Mr. Sánchez struggled to find work. His earnings dwindled as his children grew up and their needs multiplied.
"People like me, if you don’t work one day, you worry about how to feed your family the next day," he said. "We as immigrant workers never have stability, even if the economy is doing well. Imagine how things are now."
Also, he said, there is growing anti-immigrant sentiment that he would rather not experience anymore.
"Those of us who live here live depressed all the time, in hiding," he said. "They don’t like us here, and those who love us and whom we love are far away. I prefer to go back, even if it means living in poorer conditions."
Octavia Rivera López of the Dallas Morning News reports: Link
Image: Zettl Research Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California at Berkeley
Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and UC Berkeley (my alma mater, yay!) have just created the world’s smallest radio: from a single carbon nanotube!
The single nanotube serves, at once, as all major components of a radio: antenna, tuner, amplifier, and demodulator. Moreover, the antenna and tuner are implemented in a radically different manner than traditional radios, receiving signals via high frequency mechanical vibrations of the nanotube rather than through traditional electrical means. We have already used the nanotube radio to receive and play music from FM radio transmissions such as Layla by Eric Clapton (Derek and the Dominos) and the Beach Boy’s Good Vibrations. The nanotube radio’s extremely small size could enable radical new applications such as radio controlled devices small enough to exist in the human bloodstream, or simply smaller, cheaper, and more efficient wireless devices such as cellular phones.
Photo: Bobak Bakhtiari
When it comes to gas prices, Tanforan Shell gas station (in San Bruno, California – I used to live near there!) owner Bobak Bakhtiari feels your pain. So he installed a dunk tank to let his customers vent their frustration on a man dressed as in Shell uniform!
Here’s an interview with Bobak (who also happens to be an anger management counselor) by Weekend America’s John Moe:
Moe: Gas prices are high everywhere — what are you doing about it that’s unique?
Bakhtiari: We’ve installed a dunk tank about 10 days ago and every Saturday, there’s live music and dunking going on.
Who is in the dunk tank? Who do the customers have an opportunity to dunk?
A Shell employee — someone dressed up either as a corporate Shell employee or a typical cashier.
And what are the rules to that? Do you get a free softball toss with every fill-up? Or can anybody just walk up to the gas station and do it?
Well it’s been going well with anybody just walking up to the station and doing it. They each get three tosses. If that doesn’t help, we also offer an express rant, where if they can creatively rant about gas prices they can receive a free express car wash. Cashiers are trained to really encourage all forms of expression during the rant. Well, except for throwing a chair through the window.
Link – via metafilter
A couple of days ago, I posted about Replate, a movement in San Francisco to help feed the homeless that stirred an interesting discussion on Neatorama.
San Francisco, bless its heart, spends hundreds of millions of dollars trying to help and house the extremely poor – but it ignores a large segment of its population who committed the big mistake of … getting a job.
C.W. Nevius, a columnist for San Francisco Chronicle, wrote:
A family of four that makes more than $24,850 – which is 30 percent of San Francisco’s average median income – will be unable to find any subsidized housing, according to local experts. Instead, the family can either cram into a tiny studio or flee the city – along with the better-paid teachers, firefighters and police officers who have already done so.
Unfortunately, all of these people made a single, critical mistake: They got a job.
In a system set up to lend a hand to those well under the poverty line, someone forgot to factor in the price of living in San Francisco. The San Francisco branch of ACORN, a national grassroots organization of low- and moderate-income people, says that 80 percent of those who receive subsidized housing in the city are making $17,400 or less for a one-person household.
So if a person finds a job at the city’s minimum wage ($9.36 an hour) he’s almost certainly out of luck when it comes to the city’s vaunted housing assistance programs. Working a 40-hour week for 52 weeks a year, he will make over $19,000. Too much to get help.
Ask Jackie Phillips, a lifelong Bayview-Hunters Point resident whose son’s family, including three children, recently moved in with her. Their problem? Both her son and his wife work.
"Their income is not low enough to qualify for the programs, but not high enough to buy at market rate," Phillips said. "So we’re saying: Be all you can be, but don’t be too much, or you will have to move out."
11-year-old Savannah Haworth was riding her bike home when a car ran over her arm, shoulder and head! She was taken to a hospital, but suffered only minor scrapes and bruises.
The helmet she was wearing bore the brunt of the impact and shattered into pieces.
Savannah’s parents Harvey and Gillian believe if their daughter had not been wearing the protective head gear, she would now be dead.
Accounts manager Harvey said: ‘Without her helmet Savannah would have sustained serious head injuries or would have been killed. She’s been a very, very lucky girl.’
Link -via Unique Daily
In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it.
Directed by Josh Raskin with illustrations by James Braithwaite and Alex Kurina. -via Viral Video Chart
