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Columbia researchers bioprint seamless 3D skin grafts for burn patients
Columbia University researchers have devised a novel method of 3D printing skin that comes out shaped to perfectly fit the patient's injury -- even on the weird parts, like your hands.
DARPA is helping six groups create neural interfaces for our brains
Elon Musk isn't the only one looking to rummage around inside your skull. DARPA announced on Monday that it has selected its five grant recipients for the Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program, which it began at the start of this year. Brown University, Columbia University, The Seeing and Hearing Foundation, the John B. Pierce Laboratory, Paradromics Inc and the University of California, Berkeley will all receive multi-million dollar grants to help develop various aspects of the emerging technology.
Knight Foundation invests $60 million to protect digital free speech
It's getting tough to be a journalist these days with the First Amendment seemingly encroached from all sides. That's why the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is granting Columbia University $60 million to create the Knight First Amendment Institute (FAI). The FAI will be tasked with preserving and expanding 1st Amendment protections. It will act as "a primary, durable and influential advocate of free expression in the digital age", according to a release from the Knight Foundation.
The future of higher education: reshaping universities through 3D printing
Featuring four towering limestone columns and classic Flemish-bond brickwork, the century-old Mackay School of Mines Building at the University of Nevada, Reno, has long served as a bastion of Silver State history. Named after Irish immigrant and "Comstock Lode King" John Mackay, notable touches such as a cast bronze statue designed by Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum just outside the building helped it earn a spot in the National Register of Historic Places. Within its oak doors, however, are the makings of an intriguing experiment that's decidedly more new school. Like a mini museum, a collection of 3D-printed models are displayed within the building's sunlit, three-story atrium -- attracting a mix of students and teachers. Even more popular than the displays of plastic gears and molecule models, however, are the two 3D printers that made them: a professional-grade Stratasys uPrint SE Plus and a hobbyist 3DTouch machine by 3D Systems Corporation.
Researchers expose printer vulnerability, turn LaserJets into literal time bombs (update)
Your precious printer might seem innocuous but, in reality, it could be a ticking time bomb just waiting for some hacker to trigger it. Oh, and we mean that not just figuratively, but literally as well -- they could actually be caused to burst into flames by some ne'er-do-well half-way around the globe. Of course, the potential doesn't end at remote arson, an attacker could easily gain access to a network or steal documents, and hijacking the lowly device would require little more than printing an infected file. So far researchers at Columbia University have only managed to exploit the hole on HP printers, but it's possible (if not likely) that others are also affected. Most printers look for a firmware update every time they receive a job but, for some reason, they rarely check the validity of an incoming file. A fake upgrade could easily be attached to a file sent over the internet, directly to a device -- no need to even trick anyone. HP says it's taking the issue very seriously and looking into the vulnerability, though, it says newer devices aren't affected (a claim the researchers challenge). For a lot more detail on the what and how check out the source link. Update: HP (unsurprisingly) issued a rebuttal. It's working up a firmware update right now for certain flaws, but it'll have you know that "no customer has reported unauthorized access."
$1 chip tests for HIV in 15 minutes flat, fits in your wallet
Getting tested for STDs used to mean a doctor's visit, vials of blood, and days, weeks, or even months of anxiously waiting for results. mChip aims to change all that, while simultaneously ridding your brain of viable excuses not to get tested. It works as such: one drop of blood goes on the microfluidics-based optical chip, 15 minutes pass, and boom, the AmEx-sized device will confirm whether or not you have syphilis and / or HIV. The bantam gizmo is practically foolproof, as reading the results doesn't require any human interpretation whatsoever. Plus, it's cheap -- cheaper than a coffee at Starbucks. One dollar cheap. Researchers at Columbia University claim the mChip has a 100 percent detection rate, although there's a four to six percent chance of getting a false positive -- a stat similar to traditional lab tests. As you'd likely expect, there's hope that the inexpensive mChip will help testing efforts in places like Africa to detect HIV before it turns into AIDS. Next stop: the self-service pharmacy at CVS?
IBM's Jeopardy-winning supercomputer headed to hospitals. Dr. Watson, we presume?
We always knew that Watson's powers extended well beyond the realm of TV trivia, and now IBM has provided a little more insight into how its supercomputer could help doctors treat and diagnose their patients. Over the past few months, researchers have been stockpiling Watson's database with information from journals and encyclopedias, in an attempt to beef up the device's medical acumen. The idea is to eventually sync this database with a hospital's electronic health records, allowing doctors to remotely consult Watson via cloud computing and speech-recognition technology. The system still has its kinks to work out, but during a recent demonstration for the AP, IBM's brainchild accurately diagnosed a fictional patient with Lyme disease using only a list of symptoms. It may be another two years, however, before we see Watson in a white coat, as IBM has yet to set a price for its digitized doc. But if it's as sharp in the lab as it was on TV, we may end up remembering Watson for a lot more than pwning Ken Jennings. Head past the break for a video from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, which, along with Columbia University, has been directly involved in IBM's program.
OnLive shows off UI and iPhone use in marathon tech demo (video)
Sure, OnLive has already done live demos of its "cloud gaming" service, but it never hurts to get another comprehensive 48-minute video on the subject. In a presentation at Columbia University, CEO Steve Perlman goes over the nitty gritty of how game streaming works, the OnLive user interface (11:53), an inevitable Crysis Wars demo (16:35), Brag Clips (17:49), and of course the iPhone app (19:31). Though cellphone integration is still limited to primarily spectating and social networking functions, PCs and Macs can get gaming via a 1MB browser plugin, or you can grab the microconsole streaming box for your TV, which Steve suggests might be given away for free with OnLive subscriptions. If you have any more unanswered questions, check out the audience Q&A at 33:14, and the full vid awaits after the break.
Meet MAYA-II, the new DNA computer that can play Tic-Tac-Toe
While strands of DNA may be able to pick fights with other strands, one thing that they can't do yet is play computer games -- that is, until now. In what appears to be an early proof-of-concept for DNA computing, scientists at Columbia University and the University of New Mexico have created a basic computer, called the MAYA-II, which has a molecular array of YES and AND logic gates made up of 100 DNA circuits. This allows the MAYA-II to play a complete game of Tic-Tac-Toe against a human opponent, and apparently nearly always win. However, this isn't exactly a fair test, given that the MAYA-II always goes first, and always opens with the center square. Still, even though each move takes 30 minutes to complete, the lead researcher on the project, Dr. Joanna Macdonald of Columbia, says that a DNA computer would be perfect for injection into human subjects to combat disease, because in theory, it would be able to "diagnose and kill cancerous cells or monitor and treat diabetes by dispensing insulin when needed." Useful applications aside, we're ready to take on the MAYA-II in Connect Four whenever Dr. Macdonald thinks it's ready.[Via MedGadget]
Molecular spiders can cut grass, fight one another, and save lives?
If you've read Engadget for any period of time, you know that we love robots. What do we love more than ordinary robots? Spider robots. But what do we love even more than spider robots? There's only one obvious answer: molecular robot-like spiders. The BBC has just reported on such research from Columbia University by Dr. Milan Stojanovic, a professor of biochemistry. Dr. Stojanovic and his team have built what they call a "molecular spider" that has four legs, each of which are made up of 10nm strands of DNA. The spider, once let loose in a solution of molecular-sized grass, acts as a miniature lawnmower when it releases an enzyme catalyst that cuts the tiny blades. But Dr. Stojanovic isn't stopping there -- he says that he plans to build a microscopic arena for dueling spiders to go at it: "We could have a simple predator-prey system in which one of them would try to cleave the legs of the other." However, the Beeb had to go and get a practical answer from him, explaining that "insulin could be steadily released from the surface of a tablet: if the spiders were sensitive to blood glucose, they could be automatically activated or halted according to the diabetic patient's immediate needs." That's useful, but BOR-ING! Dr. Stojanovic, let us know when we can start betting on molecular spider gladiator fights, ok?[Thanks, Chris W., illustration courtesy of the BBC]
Computer-brain interface device will speed up video footage review
No matter how many spy cams and unmanned surveillance drones government and law enforcement officials can pack into public spaces, their utility has traditionally been limited by the finite amount of footage human monitors can review in a given time frame. New DARPA-sponsored research out of Columbia University, however, may soon allow folks tasked with keeping an eye on video feeds to perform their jobs up to ten times faster -- by leveraging the rapid image processing abilities of cortical vision. Since people are able to recognize suspicious activity much more quickly than they can consciously identify what's wrong, professor Paul Sajda and his team developed a computer-brain interface device -- similar to ones we've seen control an on-screen cursor and bionic limb -- that monitors an operator's neural output while he/she is watching streaming footage, and tags specific images for later perusal. Once the technology is perfected in the coming months (it still emits too many false positives, apparently), it could allow for more thinly-staffed monitoring departments, though we suspect it will probably just convince officials to deploy more and more cameras.
