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Amazon's Alexa Fellowship expands to 14 more universities
Amazon is eager to get more bright minds working on voice technology, so it's expanding the Alexa Fellowship program to 14 more universities, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Texas A&M and Cambridge. The fellowships are financed through Amazon's $200 million Alexa Fund.
Scientists successfully transplant lab-grown lungs into pigs
Lab-grown organ transplants aren't right around the corner, but they may considerably closer than you think. University of Texas Medical Branch researchers have successfully tested bioengineered lungs in adult pigs, with no signs of medical complications. While it's not certain how effective the lungs were at oxygenating the pigs, they developed the sturdy network of blood vessels needed to survive. The challenge, as you might guess, was producing a full structure that the pigs' bodies would accept.
Watson-based cancer project paused after running aground
It's tempting to treat IBM's Watson as a cure-all: just throw some cognitive computing at the problem and you'll make everything better. That can only happen if it's well-implemented, however, and we've just seen what happens when things go awry. The University of Texas' MD Anderson Cancer Center has put its highly-touted Watson project (the Oncology Expert Advisor) on hold after an audit discovered both spending issues and an unfocused strategy that didn't meet goals.
Researchers want to block HIV with a 'therapeutic' virus
Despite the best efforts to date, a vaccine for HIV remains beyond our reach. It seems every time researchers get close, the virus mutates to stay a step ahead, creating a biological arms race. But a team of scientists at the University of Texas believe they may have found a way to hobble HIV and drastically reduce its virulence. They want to infect susceptible cells with a "good" virus first, one that will effectively immunize them against HIV.
Largest-ever math proof chews up 200TB of data
You've probably been asked to prove a math solution at some point, but never like this. Researchers have created the world's largest math proof while solving the Boolean Pythagorean triples problem, consuming a whopping 200TB of data -- the previous record was 'just' 13GB. The sheer size came from having to consider the sheer range (nearly 1 trillion) of possibilities involved in coloring integers. You could technically use a 68GB compressed version at home, but it'd take about 30,000 hours of processing time to crunch the data.
Napster co-founder's new institute aims to beat cancer
Sean Parker is known for many things: co-founding Napster, joining Facebook in its early days, starting charities and creating his share of technology startups. If all goes well, though, he'll also add "helped cure cancer" to that list. He just founded the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, a $250 million effort to fight cancer by relying on the body's immune system. The organization will unite six universities (covering 40 labs and over 300 scientists), encouraging them to share research rather than compete. As Parker puts it, humanity is on the "bleeding edge" of what you can do with synthetic biology... it might just need a nudge to turn those findings into real-world treatments.
Scientists write with nanoparticles using a laser and a bubble
Nanoparticles are extremely small -- less than 100 nanometers in size -- but they can have a big impact on medicine, solar technology, batteries, computing and other industries. Nanoparticles are generally more reactive, stronger and more versatile than other molecules, though at just one-billionth of a meter in size, they're notoriously difficult to maneuver. But, that final barrier may disappear soon. Engineers Yuebing Zheng, Deji Akinwande and Andrew Dunn at the University of Texas' Cockrell School created a technique that allows researchers to deftly pick up individual nanoparticles and move them to specific locations. The creators call it "bubble-pen lithography."
Tattoo-like electronic health patches are now easy to make
However much you like the idea of a wearable electronic patch monitoring (or improving) your health, it's not all that practical. Making just one patch using current tech can take days, and you'd better believe that the result will be expensive. University of Texas researchers may have licked this problem, though. They've developed a "cut-and-paste" manufacturing method for tattoo-like patches that whittles the assembly time down to 20 minutes, and should reduce the cost in the process. The technique involves little more than cutting shapes out of metal placed on polymer sheets, and then printing the electronics on to polymer adhesives. Effectively, it's 3D printing in reverse -- you're taking material away until you get the design you want.
Hospital makerspace lets nurses build their own tools
Makerspaces are great for bringing your gadget ideas to life, but they're not usually much help to nurses who may want to invent (or improvise) tools needed to take care of their patients. That's where the University of Texas' new, permanent MakerHealth Space might just save the day. Nurses and other workers at the school's John Sealy Hospital now have a dedicated area with 3D printers, laser cutters and other equipment that lets them create or modify devices (say, a pill bottle sensor) without leaving work. The facility sterilizes and reviews every product before it's put into service, so you shouldn't have to worry about a risky tool ruining your hospital stay.
Android security flaw lets attackers in using a large password
There have been plenty of security holes involving mobile device lock screens, but a recently discovered Android flaw may give you more reasons than usual to be cautious. The technique bypasses the lock screen on most versions of Android Lollipop by crashing it with any large-enough password -- all you need to do is work with that text while the camera app is open, and then enter it into the password prompt. When the attack works, you have as much access as the hardware's rightful owner.
Robots can learn from their mistakes in real-time
Robots and other artificial intelligences can already learn from their mistakes, but they typically have to pause what they're doing to process what happened. They might not have to take a break in the future, though. Researchers have patented a technique, Integral Reinforcement Learning, that has devices continuously refining their actions based on each previous decision. If a machine doesn't already know the optimal way to handle a task, it can keep walking through the scenario (whether by predicting the outcome or actually trying) until it gets things right.
Genetic 'glue' helps make 3D-printed organs
No, you're not looking at a dessert gone horribly wrong -- that might just be the future of synthetic organ transplants. Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a genetic "glue" that forms gels useful for 3D printing organic tissues. The key is using custom-designed, complementary DNA strands that bond just the way you'd like them. This flexibility would let hospitals and labs create organs that grow in a specific way, and take on specific structures. In short, it'd be relatively easy to print the exact organ you need, and even customize it for the recipient if necessary.
NVIDIA unveils Tesla K40 accelerator, teams with IBM on GPU-based supercomputing
NVIDIA's Tesla GPUs are already mainstays in supercomputers that need specialized processing power, and they're becoming even more important now that the company is launching its first Tesla built for large-scale projects. The new K40 accelerator only has 192 more processing cores than its K20x ancestor (2,880, like the GeForce GTX 780 Ti), but it crunches analytics and science numbers up to 40 percent faster. A jump to 12GB of RAM, meanwhile, helps it handle data sets that are twice as big as before. The K40 is already available in servers from NVIDIA's partners, and the University of Texas at Austin plans to use it in Maverick, a remote visualization supercomputer that should be up and running by January. As part of the K40 rollout, NVIDIA has also revealed a partnership with IBM that should bring GPU-boosted supercomputing to enterprise-grade data centers. The two plan on bringing Tesla GPU support to IBM's Power8-based servers, including both apps and development tools. It's not clear when the deal will bear fruit, but don't be surprised if it turbocharges a corporate mainframe near you.
University of Texas students send yacht off-course with GPS exploit (video)
Students from the University of Texas gave us another reason not to mess with the Lone Star state: they'll hack your yacht. In cooperation with a luxury boat's owners, the Longhorns manipulated their $80 million vessel's nav system, covertly guiding it off-course -- all without the crew ever suspecting foul play. By transmitting spoofed global positioning system signals toward the craft, the students tricked its drivers into correcting a non-existent, three-degree course deviation, thus leading them off track. With their work done, the Texans believe this shows exactly how easy it is to exploit civil-band GPS signals. College kids may have conned the helm this time, but it isn't too far-fetched to think pirates could do the same. Our timbers are shivering just thinking about it.
University of Michigan activates antimatter 'gun,' cartoon supervillians twirl moustaches anew
At the University of Michigan, an international team of physicists has begun experimenting with its tabletop-sized super laser, modding it into an antimatter "gun." It's not quite a black hole-firing pistol, but we're slightly terrified nonetheless. Up until now, machines capable of creating positrons -- coupled with electrons, they comprise the energy similar to what's emitted by black holes and pulsars -- have needed to be as large as they are expensive. Creating these antimatter beams on a small scale will hopefully give astrophysicists greater insight into the "enigmatic features" of gamma ray bursts that are "virtually impossible to address by relying on direct observations," according to a paper published at arXiv. While the blasts only last fractions of a second each, the researchers report each firing produces a particle-density output level comparable to the accelerator at CERN. Just like that, the Longhorns/Wolverines super-laser arms-race begins again.
University of Texas gaming academy to be led by execs behind Deus Ex, Warcraft
Whatever value you see in game development schools, it's clear that few of them tout gaming industry veterans who can lead by example. The University of Texas' upcoming Denius-Sams Gaming Academy could solve this discrepancy by tapping two executives whose work many of us know by heart. Both legendary designer Warren Spector and Blizzard COO Paul Sams will guide (and sometimes teach) year-long post-baccalaureate certificate programs at the Academy that focus on creative leadership and game company management -- yes, that means instruction from gurus behind the Deus Ex and Warcraft franchises, among other classics. The programs will also emphasize that all-important ability to finish a game, rather than mastering skills in isolation. The first students join the Academy's ranks in fall 2014, although they'll need to be exceptional to stand a chance of getting in -- just 20 spots will be open in the first year. [Image credits: Nightscream, Wikipedia; Rob Fahey, Flickr]
Samsung explores touchless tablet interaction with brainwave technology
Try and wrap this one around your noggin. Samsung is currently working with researchers at the University of Texas on a project involving EEG caps that harnesses the power of one's mind to control tablets and smartphones, and if that weren't enough, the company's actually hoping to take it mainstream. Now, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's be clear: in its current stage, the system is cumbersome and aimed at those with disabilities, but Samsung's already proven that it's interested in alternative input methods, and this could certainly be the logical conclusion. As is, participants are asked to wear EEG caps that measure the electrical activity along their scalp. Then, they're able to make selections by focusing on an icon that flashes at a distinct frequency from others, which the system recognizes as a unique electrical pattern. Overall, the accuracy of the system is in the ballpark of 80 to 95 percent, and users are able to make selections on average of every five seconds. In order to make the system more approachable, the researchers hope to develop EEG hats that are more convenient and less intrusive -- in other words, ones that people can wear throughout the day. We can't promise this type of futuristic tech will come anytime soon, but for a closer peek, hit up the source link for a peek at Samsung's next wild idea.
Lynx A 3D point-and-shoot camera/tablet does motion capture and 3D modeling, we go hands-on
Earlier this year, a group of enterprising students from the University of Texas unveiled the Lynx A 3D camera and asked for money to fund its construction on Kickstarter. Since then, they've soared past their funding goal of $50,000, and are getting ready to ship out their first set of cameras. Today at DEMO Mobile SF, we finally got to see a prototype unit for ourselves and watch it scan someone's head in real-time. For the uninitiated, the Lynx A is billed as a point-and-shoot 3D camera that uses Kinect-esque hardware to obtain depth mapping and imaging info from your surroundings. Using GPU computing power and some custom code, it turns that data into 3D scene and object models or motion capture, and it displays the finished models on its 14-inch screen a minute or two after it's finished recording -- all for $1,799. The Lynx A we witnessed working in person today was a prototype unit, so fit and finish were far from being retail ready, as wide gaps and exposed screws abounded. Lynx assured us that the units going out to its backers will not only have a more polished appearance, but also be six times more accurate and 30 percent smaller due to newer hardware components. Despite the prototype's rough appearance, the modeling process went off without a hitch. It was able to scan 2/3 of a human head in about a minute and within a couple minutes more it was displaying a 3D model ready to be manipulated and printed out by a Replicator or a Form 1. Don't believe us? See for yourself in the video after the break.%Gallery-186010%
Alt-week 8.18.12: Graphene sponges, zero-g athletics and tweets in space
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. We see a lot of crazy stories here at Engadget, especially when we spend our week poking around in dark and scary corners of the internet specifically in search of them, just so you don't have to. We consider it a service almost. One that we're delighted to provide, we must add. When else would we be able to share such delights as an astronaut triathlete, soft, color-changing robots and a recent response to a thirty-year-old alien broadcast? Exactly. This is alt-week.
UT Dallas researchers seek to imbue your smartphone with X-ray superpowers
If anybody ever told you that the future would be awesome, they were right. A new bit of research has emerged from the University of Texas at Dallas, which describes equipment that may allow people to see through walls -- and if that weren't wild enough, creators of the specialized CMOS imaging hardware believe the same technology could be integrated into our mobile phones. To pull off the feat, the scientists tapped into a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that exists between microwave and infrared known as the terahertz range. Due to privacy concerns, the equipment is being designed to operate at a distance of no more than four inches, but its creator hypothesizes that the technology will still be useful for finding studs in walls, verifying documents and detecting counterfeit currency. In other words, this brand of x-ray vision isn't exactly on par with Superman's abilities, but it's bound to work better than mail order spectacles from Newark.
