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I2T security camera generates searchable text transcript in real-time
Researchers in California have developed a prototype camera called I2T that can capture video, parse out the background, analyze the action, and then export the content to a text file "that can be searched using simple text search," according to Song-Chun Zhu, lead researcher and professor of statistics and computer science at UCLA. Using a database of over two million images, the system is pretty good at annotating surveillance footage, which generally relies on a static camera. Before the technology can be commercialized, however, they need to significantly expand the database. "If set loose on random images or videos found online," writes Technology Review, the camera would "struggle to perform." If Song-Chun Zhu is interested, we have a library of Greatest American Hero images we can donate to the cause (they're left over from our other blog, GreatestAmericanHeroFanfiction.blogspot.com). Check out the links below to see it in action. [Warning: PDF source link]
UCLA nanowire discovery could lead to faster, stronger, smaller electronics
Advancements in silicon-germanium have been going on for years now, but a team at UCLA is convinced that their discovery really is "the next big thing." For scores now, microchip makers have struggled with miniaturizing transistors as the public at large demands that things get smaller and smaller. Thanks to researchers at the aforesaid university, it's looking like silicon-germanium nanowires could be the key to making the process a whole lot easier. According to study co-author Suneel Kodambaka, the new nanowires could "help speed the development of smaller, faster and more powerful electronics," also noting that they're so small that they can be "placed in virtually anything." Which is great, because the Adamo XPS is just entirely too pudgy.
Microfluidic chip does 1,000 parallel chemical reactions, looks glorious
We'd never considered a career in biochemistry until we saw this wild beast of a chemical microprocessor. Microfluidic chips, used to test chemical reactions and properties, have been known to be smaller, but they've never before been quite this powerful. The result of a joint study between California State University, UCLA and China's Wuhan University, the "integrated microfluidic device" is capable of performing 1,024 in situ chemical reactions at a time, making the researcher's life, oh, about 1,024 times easier. Most importantly though, costly enzymes previously used for a single test can now be split up into hundreds and tested simultaneously, which should pave the way for exponentially faster and easier medical research. It's not clear when these will be widely available, but we're sure PhDs around the world are trying to order one as we speak.[Via medGadget]
World's fastest camera manipulates supercontinuum laser pulses, moonlights at the Hacienda
Researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles have developed a new imaging system called Steam, or Serial Time-Encoded Amplified imaging. Billed as the"fastest imaging system ever devised," it works by carefully manipulating so-called supercontinuum laser pulses, for imaging fast-moving or random events, such as communication between neurons. Instead of a flashbulb, this bad boy disperses a fast laser pulse, which then gets stretched in time and detected electronically, for a "shutter speed" of half a billionth of a second. When not being used to "trip people out" at "raves," this camera can capture over six million images a second. Our old PowerShot can't even do half that! According to the head of the research team, Bahram Jalali of UCLA, the next step is to improve the spatial resolution of the technology so they can take crystal clear pictures of the inner structure of cells. The team is also working on a similar technique for 3-D imaging.[Via BBC]
Cellphone hacked to analyze blood, detect diseases on the spot
Not that the whole using-cellphones-for-disease-detection is completely fresh, but the latest handset hack for medical purposes is still mighty impressive. UCLA researcher Dr. Aydogan Ozcan has essentially converted a standard cellphone into a portable blood tester of sorts, which is capable of detecting HIV, malaria and various other illnesses. Put as simply as possible, the device works by analyzing blood cells that are placed on an integrated off-the-shelf camera sensor and lit up with a filtered light source. Said light source exposes unique qualities of the cells, and from there, the doc's homegrown software interprets the data and determines what's what. So, has anyone given this guy the main line to NTT DoCoMo, or what?[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Scotch tape surprises everyone by producing X-rays
As far as we're concerned, sticky tape is mostly just for out-there modding projects, but scientists have confirmed another use for it: X-rays. After hearing word of research in that direction by Soviet scientists in the 1950s, researchers at UCLA peeled scotch tape at 1.18 inches per second in a vacuum chamber and found that X-ray pulses were emitted by the process. A human thumb has already been successfully X-rayed by this technique, and if future investigation proceeds swimmingly, paramedics and aid workers operating off the grid might be able to do X-rays without bulky and dangerous nuclear technologies. We'll admit it -- we never saw scotch tape X-rays coming, but then, neither did you, right?[Via Switched]
Artificial kidney enables "dialysis-on-the-go"
Not like we haven't heard of at-home dialysis before, but a pair of researchers from UCLA and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System concocted a design which would make the process even more portable. The AWAK (automated, wearable artificial kidney) would "avoid the complications patients often suffer with traditional dialysis" by being bloodless in nature; additionally, it would theoretically "reduce or even eliminate protein loss." Fittingly, UCLA-VA has already inked an agreement with Singapore-based AWAK Technologies in order to develop a commercial version, but there's no mention of how soon the creators expect said device to be widely available.[Via Physorg]
UCLA researchers create self-healing, power-generating artificial muscle
We've seen self-healing materials and artificial arms, but a team of researchers hailing from UCLA have taken two fabulous ideas and wed them together to create "an artificial muscle that heals itself and generates electricity." Put simply, the contracting / expanding of the material can generate a small electric current, which can be "captured and used to power another expansion or stored in a battery." The scientists have relied on carbon nanotubes as electrodes rather than metal-based films that typically fail after extended usage, and in an ideal world, the research could eventually lead to (more) walking robots and highly advanced prosthetics. Integrate an AC adapter in there and we're sold.[Via CNET]
Researchers devise WiFi music polling system for DJing by consensus
It may kinda defeat the purpose of a DJ, but a group of UCLA researchers seem to think their new "Smart Party" WiFi music polling system provides an adequate substitute, and that detailed diagram above is certainly hard to argue with. As you may or may not be able to discern form that, the system relies on software to poll the music stored on each person's WiFi-enabled music device (just laptops in its current form), in turn creating a playlist based on the most popular tracks or music genres. It also keeps track of people coming and going, with it constantly ditching and adding users' preferences in order cater to those still at the party. Not surprisingly, there's still a few problems they need to overcome, including a little thing called DRM, which could be quite the hurdle given that the system must first temporally copy the tracks before playing 'em.
Researchers tout better, brighter LEDs
A pair of researchers at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science seem to think they're well on their way to building a better LED -- one that's not only brighter than existing LEDs, but more energy efficient and less expensive to boot. According to Physorg, the team's biggest success so far is red phosphorescent LED (or PLED) that delivered a record-breaking 18 lumens per watt (compared to an average of 12 lumens per watt with current red LEDs). The key to that, it seems, was to simplify the LED as much as possible, which they did by adding a polymer powder and liquid mixture to a "previously top-secret material" developed by Canon. The resulting "paint-like product" was then used to coat a layer of glass, with a charge then added to get the whole thing going. From the sound of it, these new wonder LEDs should be making their way into consumer products sooner rather than later, with Canon (naturally) reportedly already having licensed the technology and the first commercial products expected in "about three years."
Researchers craft microscale robotic hand for surgeries
It's no surprise that humans are doing less and less of the dirty work while they simply control robotic creatures that are actually doing the internal repairs, but a UCLA researcher has devised a ridiculously tiny "microhand" to handle even the smallest surgery-related tasks. The hand, which is said to be a "feat of microscale mechanical systems (MEMS)," measures just one millimeter across when closed into a fist, features four "fingers" made of six silicon wafers each, and touts four gas-powered balloons acting as the muscles at the wafers' joints. As you may expect, the gas lines that run to the balloons inflate and deflate the joints, causing the fingers to grasp and release as needed. The primary purpose is to eventually use the technology in new forms of "minimally invasive surgery," and although the microhand is likely years away from practical use, they're already in cahoots with robotic firm to develop a "slightly larger" rendition with an onboard camera for live action video feeds.[Via MedGadget]
Researchers churn out "world's densest" memory circuit
Undoubtedly, there's been quite a few chips claiming to hold some sort of "world's smallest" title, but a team of researchers have crafted what they call the "most dense computer memory circuit ever fabricated," capable of "storing around 2,000 words in a unit the size of a white blood cell." Scientists at Caltech and UCLA put their proximity differences behind them for a bit to develop a 160-kilobit memory cell that purportedly has a record-setting density of "100 gigabits per square centimeter." The bantam chip is capable of holding a document the size of the US Declaration of Independence with room leftover for a few quarterly reports (or slow jams), but Caltech chemistry professor James Heath doubts that we'll see it in mainstream action anytime soon. Still, the team isn't backing down from its discovery, and hopes to see this manufactured and placed into laptops in the coming years.[Via Slashdot]
California scientists unveil new way to make organic transistors
Our visions of cheap electronic paper may finally come to fruition, if scientists at Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles have their way. A joint team from the two universities just published a paper in the journal Nature, which outlines a new technique for mass producing single-crystal organic transistors (previously, the transistors had to be made by hand). According to the researchers, they can print transistors on silicon wafers and flexible plastic, meaning that soon it may be possible to print external inexpensive sensors for commercial products like future generations of LCDs. Exciting times, people, exciting times.[Via CNET]
