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Human Connectome Project maps brain's circuitry, produces super trippy graphics
A team of researchers at the Human Connectome Project (HCP) have been carving up mice brains like Christmas hams to find out how we store memories, personality traits, and skills -- the slices they're making, though, are 29.4 nanometers thick. The end goal is to run these tiny slices under a microscope, create detailed images of the brain, and then stitch them back together, eventually creating a complete map of the mind, or connectome. The team, comprised of scientists at Harvard, UCLA, University of Minnesota, and Washington University, is still a long way from cutting up a human brain, partially due to storage limitations -- a picture of a one-millimeter cube of mouse brain uses about a petabyte of memory. A human brain would require millions of petabytes, and an indefinite number of years, causing speculation that the payoff isn't worth the effort -- although, we're convinced the HCP wallpaper possibilities are totally worth it.
Metamaterials used to focus Terahertz lasers, make them useful
Forget old and busted X-rays, T-rays are the future, man! It was only recently that we were discussing Terahertz lasers and their potential to see through paper, clothes, plastic, flesh, and other materials, but that discourse had to end on the sad note that nobody had managed to make them usable in a practical and economically feasible way. The major hurdle to overcome was the diffusion of Terahertz radiation -- which results in weak, unfocused lasers -- but now researchers from the universities of Harvard and Leeds seem to believe they've managed to do it. Using metamaterials to collimate T-rays into a "tightly bound, high powered beam" will, they claim, permit semiconductor lasers (i.e. the affordable kind) to perform the duties currently set aside for sophisticated machinery costing upwards of $160,000. Harvard has already filed a patent application for this innovation, and if things pan out, we might be seeing body scanners (both for medical and security purposes), manufacturing quality checks, and a bunch of other things using the extra special THz stuff to do their work.
Researchers create functioning human lung on a microchip
Researchers at Harvard University have successfully created a functioning, respirating human 'lung' on a chip in a lab. Made using human and blood vessel cells and a microchip, the translucent lung is far simpler in terms of observation than traditional, actual human lungs (for obvious reasons), in a small convenient package about the size of a pencil eraser. The researchers have demonstrated its effectiveness and are now moving toward showing its ability to replicate gas exchange between lung cells and the bloodstream. Down the road a bit more, the team hopes to produce other organs on chips, and hook them all up to the already operational heart on a chip. And somewhere in the world, Margaret Atwood and her pigoons are rejoicing, right? Here's to the future. Video description of the device is below.
Self-assembling nanodevices could advance medicine one tiny leap at a time
Seems like Harvard wasn't content with making robotic bees, and has taken its quest for miniaturization right down to the nanoscale level. One nanometer-wide, single-stranded DNA molecules are the topic of the university's latest research, which sets out a way they can be used to create "3D prestressed tensegrity structures." Should these theoretical scribblings ever pan out in the real world, we could see the resulting self-assembled nanodevices facilitating drug delivery targeted directly at the diseased cells, and even the reprogramming of human stem cells. Infusing a nanodevice with the relevant DNA data passes instructions on to your stem cells, which consequently turn into, for example, new bone tissue or neurons to augment your fleshy CPU. Yes, we're kinda freaked out, but what's cooler than being able to say you're going to the doctor for a shot of nanotransformers?
First quantum cryptographic data network demoed
With so much sensitive data traveling among governmental agencies, financial institutions, and organized crime rackets, the need for ultra-secure communication has never been higher, and now it seems like the holy grail of unbreakable encryption is almost upon us. Researchers from Northwestern University and Massachusetts-based BBN Technologies recently joined forces to demonstrate what's being hailed as the world's first fully-functional quantum cryptographic data network, as the system leverages the quantum entanglement properties of photons for both data transfer as well as key distribution. The magic of quantum cryptography lies in the fact that not only can two parties exchange the so-called keys without the risk of an eavesdropper ever being able to fully ascertain their values, but the simple act of eavesdropping on an encrypted data transfer can easily be detected on both ends of the line. This current breakthrough combined Northwestern's data encryption method (known as AlphaEta) with BBN's key encryption scheme to enable a completely secure fiber optic link between BBN's headquarters and Harvard University, a distance of nine kilometers. As you might imagine, the entire project was funded by a $5.4 million grant from DARPA, an agency which has a vested interest in transmitting data that not even a theoretical quantum computer could crack. It will be a while before this technology filters down to the consumer, but when it does, you can bet that BitTorrenting pirates will be beside themselves with joy.[Via Slashdot]
