No matter what country you’re in, you’ll find at least one body-painted sports nut willing to act a fool in the name of fandom. To figure out what makes these hooligans tick, Sharp’s setting up trucks outside EuroCup 2012 matches to measure fans’ brainwaves using biometric technology. Once inside these mobile FanLabs, volunteers will watch the game while wearing the company’s NeuroSky headsets — a super sensitive EEG that uses dry electrodes to measure cerebral activity. By looking at brainwaves, along with heart rate and vocal excitement, scientists hope to reveal what levels of attention, stress, relaxation and excitement a fan goes through while supporting a specific team. Even if you’re not lending your melon to science, you can still join in the fun online, and see how you stack up against fans from around the world. So, bust out the body paint, grab your foam fingers and check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Sharp FanLabs goes inside soccer fans’ minds, measures loyalty with brainwaves (video)

Sharp FanLabs goes inside soccer fans’ minds, measures loyalty with brainwaves (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Oct 2011 22:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In all probability by far the most common {type} of varistor might be the Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV). This {includes} a ceramic mass of zinc oxide grains, {within} a matrix of other metal oxides (like {small} levels of bismuth, cobalt, manganese) sandwiched {amongst} two metal plates (the electrodes). The boundary {amongst} each and every grain and its neighbour kinds a diode junction, which permits current to {motion} in only {one} {route}. The mass of aimlessly oriented grains is electronically similar to some network of back-to-back diode pairs, every single pair in parallel with a lot of other pairs. Each time just a little or sensible voltage is {used} throughout the electrodes, only a tiny current flows, {introduced} on by reverse leakage by way of the diode junctions. When a major voltage is {used}, the diode junction breaks down due to a {combination} of thermionic emission and electron tunneling, {together with} a huge current flows. {The end result} of this carry out is genuinely a highly nonlinear current-voltage attribute, for the duration of which the MOV {consists of} a {greater} resistance at {decreased} voltages {together with} a {decreased} resistance at {greater} voltages.

Follow-through current {as a result} with the lightning strike could possibly make intense current that totally damages a varistor. In typical, the major circumstance of varistor breakdown is localised heating {introduced} on becoming an influence of thermal runaway. This seriously is due to a absence of conformality in {individual} grain-boundary junctions, which prospective customers toward the failure of dominant current paths {beneath} thermal pressure.

varistor  can soak up {element} of your surge. Just {just how much} influence this has on risk to joined gear {is dependent} {on} the gear and particulars {using the} {selected} varistor. Varistors {do not} soak up a significant proportion of your lightning strike, as {energy} that will need to be carried out elsewhere is various orders of magnitude {greater} than {what is} absorbed by means of the {small} gadget.

Researchers over in the land of the robot-obsessed have found a new, non-invasive way to control your hand while your brain recoils in horror. Reassuringly named the PossessedHand, this belt of electro-stimulation wraps its pad of twenty-eight electrodes around your forearm triggering a range of sixteen bewitched joint actions. Project leader Emi Tamaki claims it feels more like a light massage than say, a full-on Freejack. However, one test subject confessed, “[It was] like my body was hacked” — so that’s comforting. This joint production between the University of Tokyo’s Rekimoto Lab and Sony Computer Science Laboratories was first tested as a musical training aide, but could someday help stroke victims regain mobility. For now, the stimulation isn’t strong enough to turn you into an automated Steve Vai (or secret assassin), but it definitely lends new meaning to ‘hands-off.’ Check the video after the break for a demonstration and some unsettling narration.

Continue reading Tokyo researchers hijack your hand, help you play the koto (video)

Tokyo researchers hijack your hand, help you play the koto (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Jun 2011 09:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Researchers at MIT reckon they’ve struck oil. In fact, you’re looking at what they call “Cambridge crude” — a substance that could halve the weight and cost of EV batteries and make them quicker to charge too. The black goo is packed with a high concentration of energy in the form of particles suspended in a liquid electrolyte. When separated by a filter, these particles function as mobile electrodes that can be pumped into and around a system before the energy is released. So instead of waiting up to 20 hours to juice your Nissan Leaf, you could potentially just pump this pre-charged substance into it — rather like dirty old gas. Until now, no such “semi-solid flow cell” has been able to hold useful quantities of energy, but this stuff literally oozes with it. Not only could it power EVs, it could even be used for large-scale electricity storage for utilities. The researchers insist this energy revolution is years off — but when it comes, there will be blood.

New ‘semi-solid’ battery for EVs could recharge as fast as pumping gas originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen robots that perform brain surgery and lasers that cook tumors, and now a team of researchers are well on their way to bringing mobility to the battle against brain cancer. The NovoTTF-100A, which just received FDA approval, is basically a set of insulated electrodes, attached to an electronic box, that pumps low intensity electrical fields to the site of a freshly diagnosed GBM (glioblastoma multiforme) tumor. The fields, known as Tumor Treatment Fields (TTF), play off the electrically charged elements of cancer cells to stunt the tumor’s growth, and may in some cases actually reverse it. A recent test of the system showed comparable results to chemotherapy, without the usual lineup of side effects, including nausea, anemia, fatigue, and infection. Given, patients using the system are expected to wear the thing continuously, but we’d say walking around with a cap full of electrodes is a small price to pay for giving cancer the boot. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Portable brain tumor treatment system kills cancer while you take out the trash

Portable brain tumor treatment system kills cancer while you take out the trash originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Apr 2011 03:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I remember the glory days of bionics… you know, when I’d see an article on bionic eyes and not think “Another one?” Because really, there are a lot out there. From homegrown products like Eyeborg and this lady’s webcam eye to more substantial efforts like Second Sight and the Boston Retinal Implant Program, it seems like everybody and their dog is whipping up some sort of vision substitution system. And my visual neuroanatomy professor said it couldn’t be done! In your face, Dr. Schein!

Anyway, the latest is an Australian company with a method that reminds me of the excellent 2002 Wired article that got me interested in this stuff: basically, you have a camera that has its signal sent to a set of microelectrodes, which in turn stimulate the retinal cells, which respond as if there is a light stimulus. Same approach as a decade ago, but hey, whatever works.

As I actually wrote in a paper some time ago, the limitations of this method are clear: it requires not only a working visual system in the brain (some people are “brain blind,” i.e. the problem is not in the eye proper) but a working retina, which can be a tall order; many accidents and disorders would preclude the usage of this method. But it’s not meant to be a universal cure, and a microelectrode array in the visual system would have to be unbelievably precise. Even with the system being proposed by Bionic Vision Australia, they can only make an array of 98 electrodes, resulting in a resolution of about 10×10. Better than nothing, but there will be jaggies.