(Hurricane storms) US Military Creating an Artificial Intelligence
No commentsBy Robert Webb
The United States military has a program to create an cat level artificial intelligence. This project is called systems of neuromorphic adaptive plastic scalable electronics (SyNAPSE). The term neuromorphic means the creation of digial neurons on a microchip that is able to mimic the functioning of real neurons. So its basically a chip designed to replicate the functioning of a real brain. The brain of a cat has approximately 108 neurons and 1012 synapses compared to a human brain which has 1011 neurons and 1015 synapses. So this chip will likely have to mimic a fairly large proportion of those neurons to function properly. Basically they want to emulate a cat’s cortex or the outer layer of the brain which is important for cognitive processes.
The SyNAPSE project has a total of 5 different phases that need to be completed. In the first phase (0), they will have to demonstrate the underlying architecture of the synapses and neurons on the chip. They will also need to demonstrate that this technology can actually be scaled up to higher densities and also that it has a relatively low power consumption.
In Phase 2, they are going to start to run benchmark tests on the technology. They will test the chip out in a sensory enviroment like a virtual reality training ground. The ultimate goal of the project is to create a chip with a low power consumption and a compact design. They want the chip to have a neuroscience inspired architecture and an analog circuit design. When the chip is completed it will be able to address a variety of different cognitive abilities such as planning, perception, decision making and motor control. Scientists want this chip to be able to seek out resources and survive in a manner similar to a real cat.
In Phase 3 of this project researchers will have created a full-scale chip. The researchers hope that this artificial brain will be able to have several different attributes such as touch, vision, symbol manipulation and also survivability in a virtual environment. The other phases in the SyNAPSE program will consist of researchers further testing the chip.
It’s still too early to tell whether this project will be successful or not. Can you drastically simplify a brain on a chip and get it to function in a similar manner to a real brain? That is still not clear. However, this project will certainly give researchers a keener insight into how a brain works.
See my relatively new blog for more articles on neuroscience and neurotechnology magnetic stimulation and this article transcranial stimulation and also see this one transcranial magnetic.
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How to Use Sports to Enhance Your Child’s Understanding of Science
By Sara Jones
Kids are all reeling from the excitement of the Olympic Games these last few weeks, but can they relate any of that to science? Absolutely!
Aspiring athletes, or students struggling with a scientific concept, may find that the perfect demonstration is sports. Many kids love sports, and sports are science. Every skill, movement, victory, and loss kids experience is a science lesson waiting to be learned.
Everything from the exchange of O2 and CO2 as Michael Phelps breathes between swimming strokes, to the flight path of each ball, arrow, and body, can be explained to kids by science. Seeing science in action in a sporting event can go a long way to turning the words and diagrams in your kids’ science book into real understanding. The trick is helping them make that connection.
Try to stick to the basics. Kids aren’t usually going to carry their science book with them, but targeting general concepts can spark enough curiosity to get them to look it up later. Kids can easily relate biology to sports because they can see the science happening. Physiology, the function of the systems of the body and how they work together, can be easily demonstrated to kids with sports.
The nervous system tells Michael Phelps’ musculoskeletal system to contract and extend in the swim stroke he needs. His muscles are given oxygen and energy through chemical reactions of the digestive, circulatory, and respiratory systems. Show your kids science by having them flex a muscle. The nervous system doesn’t need them to talk to ask that muscle to move, and some muscles, like the heart, don’t even need a conscious thought to work.
Physics is also a fairly easy science for kids to see. Newton’s Laws of Motion can be observed in baseball. The first law is inertia - an object’s motion will not change until a force acts upon it. When Justin Verlander pitches a baseball, gravity, wind, and ultimately the hitter’s bat or the catcher’s mitt all force the ball to change speed and direction. He can keep a fast ball high in the air by giving it a lot of backspin, or pitch a curve low and left by giving the ball a side spin. The way the ball spins in the air changes how the air puts force on the ball. Ask your kid to identify the science behind the pitch. What forces acted on the ball? How did they affect the ball’s flight?
Chemistry is often a difficult concept for younger students, but you can still introduce your kids to chemical science. Try not to be discouraged by the complexity of the chemical reactions themselves.
Explain that Usain Bolt was breathing hard after his 200 meter sprint because of chemical reactions in his body. All the muscles in his body burn energy and use oxygen when he runs. The oxygen is brought to his muscles from the air around us by several chemical reactions. When you breathe in, the oxygen is taken from the air in your lungs and passed into your blood by a chemical reaction. The blood moves the oxygen to your muscles, where it is used in another chemical reaction.
Ask your kid if they can talk about the science behind food getting to muscles as energy. Usain’s body uses chemical reactions in digestion and in the blood to bring nutrients from food to his muscles, and his muscles use chemical reactions to store and use them to make energy. Kids will still grasp the basic concepts of chemical science without complex equations. Kids will also be better prepared to learn the specifics of science in school if they have been relating the concepts to the world around them.
You can use sports to help your kids learn and love science. Science can be applied to so many aspects and moments in every sport, it shouldn’t be hard for you to identify connections of your own. Take a look in your child’s science book this year, and next time you’re watching sports, bring up a few concepts. Before you know it, you kid will be talking about how Peyton Manning could improve his throw by considering Newton’s 3rd law more closely!
Sara Jones was a fine student but science was a source of frustration she didn’t want her kids to suffer. She met Rick and Amanda Birmingham and realized their grasp of everyday science was the secret to making science fun. To learn more about the solution to science stress visit www.SuperFunScience.com
Is It Possible for Strata Layers to Form Quickly?
By Russ Miller
A catastrophic event occurred in 1980 in the United States that created an incredible study opportunity for scientists:
The eruption of Mount Saint Helens in the state of Washington, and several associated events that followed.
Darwinian scientists holding to the belief that it took millions and even billions of years for Darwinian evolution to take place were startled by the documented findings.
Importantly, the eruption’s aftermath revealed to the world several methods of strata formation. In certain areas several hundred feet of finely-stratified strata layers were laid down in a matter of minutes, proving that these layers can form quickly as opposed to slowly over never-observed millions of years of time.
To begin the layering, air fall depositions formed finely-stratified layers in a matter of minutes following the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens. These continued to form for several days following the blast as debris continued to settle and come down from the atmosphere.
A layer of finely-stratified accumulations was produced within a matter of hours at Mount Saint Helens by flows that rushed from the crater of the volcano at velocities of hurricane-wind intensities. This twenty-five-foot-thick layer was laid down on top of the air fall deposits and is exposed where massive water and mud flows later carved a canyon through the strata layers.
This huge water and mud flow, which occurred on March 19, 1982, laid down yet another finely-stratified layer on top of the other layers, all of which formed rapidly, not over never-observed millions of years of time.
Mount Saint Helens exhibited three different methods that caused the sudden formation of finely-stratified layers. In review, these were: volcanic air fall deposits; pyroclastic flow accumulations; and layers which were laid down by water-borne sediment flows.
The fact is that scientific testing proves, as was scientifically observed at Mount Saint Helens, that whenever mixtures of various-sized grains are shifted or moved cataclysmically, whether by volcanic activity or massive water flow, they rapidly segregate by grain size and/or density. In fact, when a mixture of various-sized grains are poured in a pile, the larger grains tend to be found at the base of the pile, while the smaller grains generally end up on the top of the formation.
It is the same process that most kids know how to use in order to get more raisins in their Raisin Bran. By shaking the box for five seconds before pouring out their cereal they literally stratify out the cereal as the raisins move to the top, a fact that has been scientifically tested and repeated in homes around the world for the past several generations.
Russ Miller is author of The GENESIS Report Series. Register at http://www.new-earth-thought.com to receive FREE his 50 Facts vs. Darwinism e-mail series.
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 5:05 am and is filed under science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
