.jpg)
Don't Miss
Just write a short essay, speak or upload an recorded audio on the given #topic and #grab your #chance to #WIN #weekly #surprise rewards | Sign In at
www.taaray.com to #participate.
TaaRay.com is an e-Learning and Collaborative networking website. Learn, Share, Grow. Let's come together to experience what we call as Generation Next Education...!! Expand your knowledge while staying connected to the world around you !
Weekly smart skills contest
.jpg)
Going on LIVE at www.taaray.com - #SPEAK UP - #Online essay #writing & #speech #competitionDon't Miss
Just write a short essay, speak or upload an recorded audio on the given #topic and #grab your #chance to #WIN #weekly #surprise rewards | Sign In at
www.taaray.com to #participate
Scientists use brain imaging to reveal the movies in our mind
BERKELEY
— Imagine tapping into the mind of a
coma patient, or watching one’s own dream on YouTube. With a cutting-edge blend
of brain imaging and computer simulation, scientists at the University of
California, Berkeley, are bringing these futuristic scenarios within reach.
Using
functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and computational models, UC
Berkeley researchers have succeeded in decoding and reconstructing people’s
dynamic visual experiences – in this case, watching Hollywood movie trailers.As
yet, the technology can only reconstruct movie clips people have already
viewed. However, the breakthrough paves the way for reproducing the movies
inside our heads that no one else sees, such as dreams and memories, according
to researchers. The approximate reconstruction (right) of a movie clip
(left) is achieved through brain imaging and computer simulation“This is a major leap toward reconstructing internal imagery,” said Professor Jack Gallant, a UC Berkeley neuroscientist and coauthor of the study published online in the journal Current Biology. “We are opening a window into the movies in our minds.”Eventually, practical applications of the technology could include a better understanding of what goes on in the minds of people who cannot communicate verbally, such as stroke victims, coma patients and people with neurodegenerative diseases.It may also lay the groundwork for brain-machine interface so that people with cerebral palsy or paralysis, for example, can guide computers with their minds.
However,
researchers point out that the technology is decades from allowing users to
read others’ thoughts and intentions, as portrayed in such sci-fi classics as
“Brainstorm,” in which scientists recorded a person’s sensations so that others
could experience them.
Previously,
Gallant and fellow researchers recorded brain activity in the visual cortex
while a subject viewed black-and-white photographs. They then built a
computational model that enabled them to predict with overwhelming accuracy
which picture the subject was looking at.In their latest experiment, researchers
say they have solved a much more difficult problem by actually decoding brain
signals generated by moving pictures.
“Our
natural visual experience is like watching a movie,” said Shinji Nishimoto,
lead author of the study and a post-doctoral researcher in Gallant’s lab. “In
order for this technology to have wide applicability, we must understand how
the brain processes these dynamic visual experiences.”
Mysterious UFO spotted on India-China border by Indian Army troops
There have been over 100 sightings of UFOs along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the last several months but this sighting has come after some time-gap, they said. Asked about the UFO sightings by the Army troops in Ladakh sector, Defence Minister A K Antony had told Parliament that there is no conclusive proof of sighting of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) over the Sino-Indian border. The UFO sighting on August 4 comes after reports suggested that a top-level science research institute had found that the UFOs were actually planets Jupiter and Venus, which are clearly visible from the high altitude and thin atmosphere terrain of Ladakh.
The reports said that the research institute had found out that the Army troops deployed in the area had mistaken the two planets as UFOs. However, it is not clear whether the conclusion arrived at by the research institute has been accepted by the Army and Government or not. Last year, the 14 Corps, which looks after military deployment along Kargil-Leh and the frontiers with China, had sent reports to the Army Headquarters about the sightings of UFOs by an ITBP unit in Thakung near the Pangong Tso Lake.
Reports suggested that these yellowish spheres appear to lift off from the horizon on the Chinese side and slowly traverse the sky for three to five hours before disappearing. The officials had confirmed that these UFOs were not Chinese drones or satellites.
Human Body Facts
Read some fun human body facts for kids and find out more about bones, skeletons, eyes, blood, muscles, the brain, heart and much more.
The brain uses over a quarter of the oxygen used by the human body.
Your heart beats around 100000 times a day, 36500000 times a year and over a billion times if you live beyond 30.
Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body. They are created inside the bone marrow of your bones.
The colour of a humans skin is determined by the level of pigment melanin that the body produces.
Those with small amounts of melanin have light skin while those with large amounts have dark skin.
Adult lungs have a surface area of around 70 square metres!
Humans have a stage of sleep that features rapid eye movement (REM). REM sleep makes up around 25% of total sleep time and is often when you have your most vivid dreams.
The smallest bone found in the human body is located in the middle ear. The staples (or stirrup) bone is only 2.8 millimetres long.
Your nose and ears continue growing throughout your entire life.
Infants blink only once or twice a minute while adults average around 10.
As well as having unique fingerprints, humans also have unique tongue prints.
The left side of your body is controlled by the right side of your brain while the right side of your body is controlled by the left side of your brain.
Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, they won't help in fighting off a virus.
It takes the body around 12 hours to completely digest eaten food.
Your sense of smell is around 10000 times more sensitive than your sense of taste.
The brain uses over a quarter of the oxygen used by the human body.
Your heart beats around 100000 times a day, 36500000 times a year and over a billion times if you live beyond 30.
Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body. They are created inside the bone marrow of your bones.
The colour of a humans skin is determined by the level of pigment melanin that the body produces.
Those with small amounts of melanin have light skin while those with large amounts have dark skin.
Adult lungs have a surface area of around 70 square metres!
Humans have a stage of sleep that features rapid eye movement (REM). REM sleep makes up around 25% of total sleep time and is often when you have your most vivid dreams.
The smallest bone found in the human body is located in the middle ear. The staples (or stirrup) bone is only 2.8 millimetres long.
Your nose and ears continue growing throughout your entire life.
Infants blink only once or twice a minute while adults average around 10.
As well as having unique fingerprints, humans also have unique tongue prints.
The left side of your body is controlled by the right side of your brain while the right side of your body is controlled by the left side of your brain.
Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, they won't help in fighting off a virus.
It takes the body around 12 hours to completely digest eaten food.
Your sense of smell is around 10000 times more sensitive than your sense of taste.
Latest Trends in e-Learning!
Elearning is
constantly evolving, and so are its uses in both academia and the corporate
world. Looking at the trends of elearning provides useful insight into what is
working and what is not. Every year, Elearning Magazine administers a survey to
their readers asking for their input into some of the more key areas of
elearning. Their study has shown that over the past year, the most important
training programs are as follows:
Compliance
Product
Training
Professional/Industry
Training
Desktop/IT
Training
Number one
doesn’t surprise me much as it is often the easiest to create elearning for
(and ultimately the most cost effective given that they are pretty change
adverse). There is still very much a need for compliance training to be
developed as some organization still rely on dated methods. I would estimate
that professional/industry training begins to gain some ground though as more
people are looking for certifications through distance learning.
Another part
that I found interesting from their survey is that respondents indicated that they plan to
invest nearly 240% more into elearning in 2013. This was a similar pattern
found in the previous year’s report, and the data is backing it up as a
reported $1.46 million was spent in 2011 compared to the $3.5 million spent in
2012.
I’m going to
make a guess that we’ll see somewhere in the realm of $4.1 million in 2013.
This is merely speculation though as I anticipate the mobile learning industry
will drive much of the continuing growth. New technologies and specifications
(such as TinCan API) are leading the charge, giving the rise to a boatload of
startups all over the world.
As many
instructional designers and elearning professionals know, this industry is
growing every year, it’s really starting to turn heads. The likes of Google are
now entering the elearning industry, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see others
follow, and the overall demand for skilled instructional designers and
technologists to grow. Exciting times we live in!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)