This past weekend, Jonathan Trappe successfully lifted a Pixar-esque house to a height of 20,000 feet over Leon, Mexico, by using a cluster of helium-filled balloons. Trappe has performed similar stunts before, including toy balloon rides over the Alps, Lake Michigan, and the English Channel. But this latest feat was in preparation for something far grander: A journey across the Atlantic ocean.

Trappe already holds the world record for the largest balloon cluster flight when he used 300 weather balloons to lift a yellow house over 10,000 feet in the air for about an hour.

But the prospect of a trans-Atlantic flight presents an entirely new set of challenges. To make it work, Trappe is planning to build an array that would require 365 helium balloons occupying a space 106,215 cubic feet in size.

And smartly, the gondola will double as a boat should he have to ditch it in the ocean, what Trappe describes as "a perfect, sturdy, rigid, double-hulled proactive lifeboat."

The project won't be cheap; he's hoping to raise nearly $300,000 via an Indiegogo campaign. And should the project get off the ground, the ensuing adventure would likely be featured in a television documentary.

As exciting as this stunt is bound to be, somebody needs to tell Trappe that the Earth is running out of helium — a chemical element so light that it can evaporate into space.

H/t Buzzfeed. All images: LAURENTIU GAROFEANU / BARCROFT U/Barcroft Media /Landov via Buzzfeed.

Cities across North America and Europe are in the midst of a bed bug epidemic, a plague of bloodsucking parasites that are infesting bedrooms and hotel rooms across the nations. And they are so gross, leaving unwary victims with irritated skin and a profound case of the willies. It's gotten so bad that the U.S. alone spends $250 million each year to fight the bugs, and with little progress. Part of the problem is the understandable reluctance to use chemical pesticides in our sleeping quarters — a dilemma that could be solved by using a natural alternative: fungus.

According to a new study published in the Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, a natural fungus called Beauveria bassiana is being seriously considered in the war on bed bugs. B. bassiana causes disease in insects, including bed bugs. And it's relatively easy to produce in the lab, making them a viable alternative to chemical pesticides.

During the study, which was conducted by entomologist Nina Jenkins, an airbrush sprayer was used to apply the fungal spores to paper and cotton jersey (what are common bed sheet materials). A control surface was also used in which a basic oil was applied.

After drying, three groups of 10 bed bugs were then exposed to one of the two surfaces for an hour. Following the exposure, the bugs were placed on clean filter paper in a petri dish along with unexposed bed bugs. Over the course of the next five days, all bed bugs exposed to the fungal spores had died. And encouragingly, the researchers noted no prominent differences in susceptibility by feeding status, sex, strain, or life stages.

Moreover, the diseased bed bugs infected their unexposed comrades. And in fact, they observed 100% infection. What this implies is that direct exposure to the fungus is not required — what will certainly help exterminators given the bed bugs' penchant for occupying hard-to-reach places. As the researchers noted, bed bugs can hide behind light switches, power sockets, and in between the cracks of the baseboard beneath carpets.

For the next phase of the project, Jenkins and her colleagues will test exposure times and apply the fungal spray to bed bugs in their natural hiding areas. It's not known, for example, the rate at which the bugs can develop an immunity — if at all.

All this said, while Beauveria bassiana is reported to be non-toxic to humans and other vertebrates, its potential allergenicity has not been widely studied. Early indications, however, suggest that it's safe.

The study will appear online at the Journal of Invertebrate Pathologylater this week.

Top image: Shutterstock/Margaret M Stewart. Inset image: Nina Jenkins, Penn State.

Earlier this week, The New Star published an article questioning the way Louisiana goes about its funding of nonpublic schools. According to the state's constitution, all nonpublic schools must certify that it has "curriculum or specialized course of study of quality at least equal to that prescribed for similar public schools." This has prompted some critics to point out the sorry state of affairs found in many private and parochial schools in Louisiana — institutions that brazenly tout a creationist agenda. And indeed, a closer look at the educational literature reveals a definite anti-science bias.

As The New Star is reporting, it's not clear that the state's requirements are being met before it dishes out millions of dollars to private and parochial schools:

"We don't look at the quality of the curriculum," said BESE member James Garvey of Metairie, who co-chairs the board's School Innovation and Turnaround Committee.

"We don't look at what they teach," he said. "We look at the system. We look at policies and procedures, not what they teach. It's how they teach and not what they teach."

Garvey, an attorney, said he wasn't aware of the constitutional requirement but knew that it's in rules BESE adopted for approving nonpublic schools.

The constitutional provision has been used in court decisions to show that curriculum equality is the only basis BESE can use to approve or reject a nonpublic school's application for state endorsement.

Currently, 377 nonpublic schools have state approval, and a BESE member raises doubts about whether their approval meets the constitutional requirement.

Indeed, as BuzzFeed's Andrew Kaczynski pointed out on Monday, fifth graders in some state-sponsored schools in Louisiana study both creationism and evolution as competing theories. The students are told to question science and ask, "Is it fact, or theory?" The BJU Press materials that they use offer "Christ-centered resources for education, edification, and evangelization."

Check out what Kaczynski dug up:

As Greg Mayer of Why Evolution Is True points out, it's not clear from Kaczynski's article what schools are using these materials. "However, even if these schools were held to state standards, that wouldn't be saying much in Louisiana," he writes, "which passed its infamous, creationist Louisiana Science Education Act."

Mayer also points to a recent report (be sure to check out the cover) on science education standards which sums up Louisiana's constitution:

The Louisiana science standards are reasonably challenging and comprehensive, but they suffer from a devastating flaw: Thanks to the state's 2008 Science Education Act, which promotes creationism instead of science, the standards (especially for biology and life science) are haunted by anti-science influences that threaten biology education in the state.

Thankfully, efforts to repeal the law are already underway, including an endorsement from 78 Nobelists.

All images via BuzzFeed.

As the conflict between Israel and Hamas extends into its second week, it has become quite clear that the renewed hostilities are markedly different that that ones that came before. Unlike previous engagements, this war has been characterized by the innovative use of new technologies — including rockets that target rockets, unmanned drones, and even social media. Given these early precedents, it's fair to say that the means of war have changed yet again — but in a way that's certainly not for the better.

Note: As of this writing, a ceasefire has been declared between Israel and Gaza, one that took effect today at 19:00 GMT.

#ThisMeansWar

In conjunction with the escalating number of rocket attacks coming from within Gaza, the first significant act of aggression came from Israel when it assassinated Hamas military head Ahmed Said Khalil al-Jabari on November 14. On that same day, Avital Leibovich, the international press spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) sent out the following tweet:

This message — and the medium — made it crystal clear that Israel wasn't going to go about its business in the usual way, this time using Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube to both get the word out and to intimidate its opponents. The IDF's Twitter account later announced that it had initiated a military operation on terror sites and leaders in the Gaza Strip, and that:

It's obvious that the IDF is using hashtags like #PillarOfDefense to shape the conversation and influence the way information is being disseminated in wartime. Israel knows it can't control information (unlike the deposed leaders of Egypt and Libya), but it's trying to at least play a part in directing the narrative.

But not everyone sees this development as a positive thing. Futurist Jamais Cascio worries that social media is being used as an enabler of political violence.

"Twitter and similar media had the potential to serve a role similar to the radio stations used to drive the 1990s Rwandan genocide," he recently wrote. Moreover, it's not the first time we've seen this kind of use of social media, he argues, and it won't be the last:

Pro-Israel/IDF, pro-Palestine/Hamas, it doesn't matter here: this is a step forward in what we might term the "weaponization of social media" — the use of Twitter and similar platforms as a parallel battlefield, trying not just to direct the global narrative but to shape the outcome of the fight, as well.

Rocket on rocket violence

And then there's the Iron Dome defense shield, what has become a veritable rock star in Israel on account of its ability to knock down incoming rockets. The system, which automatically calculates the trajectory of incoming projectiles, launches rockets in order to knock them down before reaching a populated area.

It comes as no surprise that Israel has implemented the system, both because of the ongoing threat of rocket attacks from Gaza and elsewhere, and because it has been an early adopter of advanced technologies.

Indeed, as Patrick Lin told io9, Israel has long been a leader in technology and was the country who gave the U.S. one of its first modern drones — another tool that is being used in the conflict.

"Technologies certainly are changing both war and broader society — though automated defenses such as the Iron Dome really aren't that new," he told us. "In the U.S., we've had fully automated military systems for decades, such as the Phalanx CIWS and Aegis Combat System."

What's new, says Lin, is that only recently have we started to worry about ethical, legal, and policy implications of these technologies, what can only be intensified as weapons become truly autonomous.

Lin, who is the the Director of Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group at California Polytechnic State University, is worried that commentators are missing the bigger picture.

"New war technologies will proliferate as history shows they always do," he says, "So whatever advantage one side has now will be erased later as adversaries also obtain the same weapons, and this seems to be a silly, unproductive arms race."

Moreover, argues Lin, as these seemingly fantastic technologies get integrated into society and war making, they also make our infrastructure more fragile and vulnerable.

"Think about how devastating a simple cyberattack can be to military, financial, and other systems," he says, "or how disruptive a loss of Internet access or electrical power would be to your work day or society at large."

That being said, he concedes that the Iron Dome is an effective defense — though very expensive. He notes that each Israeli interceptor missile costs about $60,000, compared to the $800 rockets fired by Hamas.

'A poor substitute for true diplomacy'

As Lin notes, a quick calculation reveals that, at some point, the Iron Dome will be an unsustainable solution — never mind any technical vulnerabilities with the system itself.

"Worse, it is a technology solution to what is a political or human problem: it is a poor substitute for true diplomacy, which is more enduring and less expensive path," he says.

At best, the Iron Dome is a quick-fix that might very well make the problem worse, particularly if it encourages war instead of negotiations.

Like Cascio, Lin is concerned that these new technologies, whether they be drones, Iron Domes, or social media channels, are preventing both Israel and Hamas from getting to the root of the problem.

If anything, they're making an awful situation even worse.

Images: IDF/Flicker, USA Today.

By next March, a 220-floor skyscraper will stand in Changsha that will measure 838 meters (2,749 feet) in height, what will be the world's tallest building. And amazingly, construction hasn't even begun. While it took Dubai more than five years to build the Burj Khalifa building — what is currently the world's tallest at a majestic 828 meters (2,716 feet) — the Chinese are hoping to pull off a similar feat, but in only 90 days. So can they do it? Probably not — but it could be close.

Called Sky City, it will house 31,400 people and be equipped with offices, schools, hospitals, shops, and restaurants. Residents and visitors will travel up and down the building using 104 high-speed elevators (yes, you read that correctly).

It will cost $637 million dollars to build, and require over 220,000 tons of steel. But it'll also be state-of-the-art - a building that will require only a fifth of the energy required to power a conventional skyscraper. For this to work, the engineers will use novel construction methods, including quadruple glazing and 15cm-thick exterior walls for thermal insulation.

And it'll all come together in just three months! Or, more accurately, it's won't.

First, given that construction itineraries are almost never accurate, a 90-day schedule is ridiculously ambitious. For everything to come together in such a short amount of time — from suppliers through to the actual building of the skyscraper itself (including unforeseen problems) — it would be a logistical masterpiece the likes of which humanity has yet to experience. This is not likely to happen — and certainly not in quasi-communist China where most things run as efficiently as molasses.

Second, the architects at Broad Sustainable Building (BSB) — a unit of the air conditioning maker Broad Group — are using a construction company that has never built anything taller than 30 stories before. That's gonna be a problem.

Lastly, this is just another example of the Chinese government's bombast — an attempt to instill confidence in a population currently on the verge of a housing shortage.

Now all this said, BSB does have a plan. Sky City, which was designed by engineers who worked on the Burj Khalifa, will be assembled in a modular fashion. Nearly 95% of the building will be click-locked into place with pre-fabricated materials, allowing the construction workers to raise the building at a breakneck pace of five stories per day. Interestingly, BSB recently built a 30-storey hotel in just 15 days.

And indeed, given just how butt-ugly and simple the building's design appears to be (it looks like something a four-year-old designed with cereal boxes), they may very well come close to their 90-day target.

Moreover, China is very motivated to build and to build quickly. As the UK's Independent recently reported, there are 179,000 people moving into urban areas every week. To deal with the situation, there are 239 buildings taller than 200m being constructed in China, with plans to build many more.

For the record, I would love for them to prove me wrong — but let's hope the final result is something that's both sensible and safe.

Source: Independent.

Images: BSB.

A South Pacific island that's been on scientific charts for at least a decade — including Google Earth and Google Maps — has just been undiscovered. Eager to check out "Sandy Island" for the first time, a group of Australian scientists recently ventured to the spot where it was supposed to be, and were instead greeted by a vast expanse of the Coral Sea and over 1,400 meters (4,260 feet) of ocean depth.

According to various maps, including some dating back to 2000, the island was a sizeable strip of land situated somewhere between Australia and New Caledonia — what would technically be French territory (for what it's worth).

"We became suspicious when the navigation charts used by the ship showed a depth of 1,400 metres in an area where our scientific maps and Google Earth showed the existence of a large island," said geologist Maria Seton when speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald after her team's 25-day voyage. "Even onboard the ship, the weather maps the captain had showed an island in this location."

Seton has no idea how the supposed island made its way onto so many maps, but is planning to follow up and find out.

More from the SMH:

Steven Micklethwaite from the University of Western Australia said, "We all had a good giggle at Google as we sailed through the island, then we started compiling information about the seafloor, which we will send to the relevant authorities so that we can change the world map."

Mike Prince, the director of charting services for the Australian Hydrographic Service, a department within the Navy that produces the country's official nautical charts, said the world coastline database incorporated individual reports that were sometimes old or contained errors.

"We take anything off that database with a pinch of salt," he said.

While some map makers intentionally include phantom streets to deter copyright infringements, that was not standard practice with nautical charts, said Mr Prince.

"[That would] reduce confidence in what is actually correct," he said.

According to a product manager at Google Maps for Australia and New Zealand, Google Earth consults a variety of authoritative public and commercial data sources when compiling its maps. But that said, he encouraged users to alert Google to incorrect entires using the 'Report a Problem' tool, found at the bottom right corner of the map.

Noted.

Images via Google.

In a medical first, researchers have streamed Braille patterns directly onto a blind person's retina, allowing him or her to read letters and words visually, with almost 90% accuracy. Developed by researchers at Second Sight, the headset-like device is set to revolutionize the way degenerative eye diseases like Retinitis Pigmentosa are treated.

To help us better understand the breakthrough and its implications, we spoke to Thomas Lauritzen, Senior Research Scientist at SMP and lead author of the study.

"It's basically a cochlear implant," he tells io9, "but for the eyes."

According to Lauritzen, a cochlear implant circumvents dead hair cells on the inner ear that respond to acoustic signals, by having cells measure sounds as vibrations. The Argus II device, on the other hand, circumvents photoreceptors, the cells that measure light.

"It just so happens that the cochlear implant is about 30 years ahead of the retinal prosthesis," he told us.

Rethinking Argus II

For the experiment, Lauritzen re-worked the way the Argus II normally functions — an ocular neuroprosthetic device that has already been implanted in over 50 patients. Primarily intended for those with Retinitis Pigmentosa, an inherited degenerative eye disorder, the device helps the visually impaired to see color, movement, and objects.

The system works — but it's not perfect. Visual cues, such as letters and short sentences, tend to be cumbersome to read, resulting in unacceptably slow reading times. So in an effort to create something more efficient, the researchers considered a more tried-and-true means of communication: visual Braille.

To make it happen, Lauritzen and his team implanted a 10x6 electrode array directly onto the patient's retina, which was connected to a tiny video camera mounted on a pair of glasses. The system also taps into a wearable computer that processes the video and regulates the strength of the current sent to the electrodes in real-time.

'Seeing' Braille

Interestingly, Braille also works in accordance to a grid system. It's essentially a 3x4 array of six dots that represent individual letters.

So, for the Argus II, a grid of six electrodes were chosen from the 10x6 grid. The researchers then stimulated groups of these electrodes — bypassing the camera and going directly to the retina — to create a visual perception of the letters in Braille. So instead of feeling Braille with his finger tips, the patient could actually see the succession of Braille symbols streaming onto his or her retina.

And the results were incredibly encouraging. "For this specific visual Braille project," says Lauritzen, "we were able to increase reading speeds by more than 20-fold."

In terms of specifics, the scientists were able to create two to four letter words in an open-choice reading format. The patient was able to identify 89% of the single letter, 80% of the 2-letter, 60% of 3-letter, and 70% of 4-letter words.

Moving forward, Lauritzen is hoping to get FDA approval for the device in the United States. The Argus II is already commercially available in Europe (CE approved).

"We are continuously working to improve future versions of the device," he told us. "This is basic research that offers one possible future addition to the system."

The entire study can be found at Frontiers in Neuroprosthetics

Images: Second Sight.

A brand new art installation honoring the memory and work of astronomer Carl Sagan has been unveiled at the Cornell University Campus. Designed by artist Leo Villareal, the dynamic light display is located on the ceiling of the Sherry and Joel Mallin Sculpture Court — what can be seen on campus and from within the city of Ithaca itself.

Called Cosmos, the ever-changing piece is generated by nearly 12,000 LEDs of white light. The configurations are all pre-programmed with algorithmic sequences — what creates an non-repeating visual display that's meant to convey abstract interpretations of nature, including moving water, clouds, and of course, the night sky.

It took Villareal two years to develop Cosmos. He's constantly "tuning" it to get the desired effect — what he compares to a musical instrument.

And to honor Sagan, who once taught at Cornell, the immersive light display is intended to pull visitors into the starry night.

Villareal is no stranger to working with LEDs. His previous piece, Multiverse, is located in the tunel within the National Gallery of Art.

H/t Architizer. All images via Architizer and DesignBoom.

One day, we may be able to make ourselves superintelligent with futuristic biotechnology. We're not there yet, but for the impatient among us there are still some things we can do to give us that little extra bit of brain power. By supplementing with so-called 'nootropics,' you may not become the next Stephen Hawking, but you may experience some noticeable improvements to your learning abilities, memory, mental clarity, and mood. Here are ten supplements you can take today to boost your intelligence.

Before we get started, a disclaimer: consult with your doctor prior to taking any of these (except the dark chocolate — feel free to eat that with reckless abandon). While most of the supplements listed in this article are fairly benign, you still need to make sure that you're healthy enough to take them, and that you're not susceptible to any allergic or negative reactions. Cool? Cool.

Similarly, while we make some dosage recommendations, you must adhere to the dosage instructions as described on the package of your particular product.

Also, it's crucial that you not blindly go ahead and start consuming all of these supplements at once. Unless otherwise noted, all studies cited in this article assessed the cognitive benefits of these compounds in isolation. By combining two or more of these supplements, you risk creating a cocktail effect in which the benefits may not work — and you might actually start to feel worse.

And lastly, you'll also want to measure and track any potential benefits you glean from these supplements. We are all different, so some may not work in the way described. Keep a log and see which supplements works best for you.

Alright, with that out of the way, here's the list (in no particular order):

1. Creatine

Creatine, a nitrogenous organic acid that occurs naturally in animals, is quickly becoming a popular supplement — and not just because it boosts muscle power (which it does by helping to supply energy to cells in the body and assisting in the growth of muscle fibres). Physiological benefits aside, creatine has also been shown to improve memory and attention span. Scientists have discovered that it plays a pivotal role in brain energy homeostasis, acting as a buffer for cytosolic and mitochondrial pools of cellular energy. Start by taking about 5,000 mg per day, or better yet, follow the dosage instructions specified by your specific product.

2. Caffeine + L-theanine

Caffeine on its own is not a great cognitive enhancer. In fact, studies show that it doesn't usually improve performance in learning and memory tasks, though its stimulant properties may occasionally have beneficial effects on cognitive performance and mood (though temporarily — what is usually accompanied by jitters and a crash). Now that said, when consumed in conjunction with L-theanine, a common amino acid found in green tea, it does in fact create more long-lasting and beneficial effects, including a boost to working memory, rapid visual information processing, and especially attention switching (i.e. reduced distractibility). The reason this works is that the L-theanine, which can cross the blood-brain barrier, counteracts the negative stimulant effects of caffeine, including anxiety and increased blood pressure. Researchers have found that this effect can be achieved with 50 mg of caffeine (that's about a cup of coffee) and 100 mg of L-theanine (green tea only contains about 5-8 mg of it, so you'll want to supplement — though some people follow a 2:1 rule in which they drink two cups of green tea for every cup of coffee).

3. Dark Chocolate (Flavanols)

Dark chocolate — or more accurately the cocoas found in chocolate — contain flavanols, a phytochemical that has cognitive enhancing effects (as well as impacting positively on mood and cardiovascular health). It works through the action of antioxidant molecules, what stimulates brain perfusion and an array of other neurological processes in regions that involve learning and memory. Though not as powerful as some of the other supplements listed here, dark chocolate is readily accessible and a treat to eat. That said, be sure to avoid super-sweet dark chocolate, otherwise the sugar will counter many of its benefits (so start getting used to 90% cacao). Go ahead and eat about 35 to 200 grams a day, but divide it out evenly.

4. Piracetam + Choline

This combination is probably the most popular stack used by nootropic buffs. Piracetam, what is also known as Nootropyl or Lucetam, works by improving the functioning of (ACh) transmitters and receptors. Though primarily prescribed by doctors for people suffering from Alzheimer's, depression, and even schizophrenia, it is used off-label by healthy adults as a way to boost acetylcholine function — what is an important neurotransmitter. But in order to experience its benefits, including increased mental clarity, spatial memory, and an overall boost in brain functioning, choline needs to be ingested along with it. Choline, as a water-soluble essential nutrient, works with the Piracetam and is often used to prevent headaches that is sometimes associated with its use (see, this is why we told you to see a doctor before trying any of this stuff). An effective dose would be 300 mg of Piracetam plus 300 mg of Choline three times per day (about every four hours or so). Those willing to step it up a bit can also try the Focus XT + Piracetam stack. And interestingly, Piracetam is a popular supplement in the subculture of lucid dreaming.

5. Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids are a common compound that's found in fish oil (which can be consumed directly via fish oil pills), grass-fed livestock, walnuts, flaxseed, and beans. It has been a staple brain food for quite some time now, and is increasingly being used as a dietary supplement to stave off the effects of age-related cognitive decline, including neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. And encouragingly, a recent study published in PLOS has shown that the same brain boosting effects can also work for perfectly healthy adults. Benefits of Omega-3 DHA/EPA include an improved ability to focus and it acts as a mood enhancer. In terms of dosage, about 1,200 mg to 2,400 mg per day should suffice (about 1-2 fish oil pills).

6. Bacopa Monnieri

Found primarily in northern India, Bacopa monnieri is a perennial creeping herb that's been used for centuries to enhance memory, learning, and overall cognitive performance (in addition to its use as an anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, and sedative). The active ingredients responsible for these effects include sulfhydryl and polyphenol, compounds that lessen oxidative stress. A reasonable dose would include 150 mg of bacosides each day. And for those looking to improve their long term memory, you might want to stack this with the Piracetam + choline combo.

7. Ginkgo Biloba Extract

Ginkgo Biloba extract comes from maidenhair, an extremely unique tree native to China that has no relatives — what is considered a living fossil. Extracts of Ginkgo leaves contain flavonoid glycosides and terpenoids (ginkgolides, bilobalides) which are renowned for their pharmacological benefits, including their ability to improve memory and concentration. Recently, Ginkgo biloba extract has been used to help dementia patients, although its ability to stave off Alzheimer's is contested. Recent studies have shown that it can significantly improve the speed of attention factor in healthy adults, peaking about 2.5 hours after intake. Other cognitive benefits include increased attention, faster memorization speed, and improved quality of memory. Some studies, however, suggest that Ginkgo doesn't work well as an enhancer. And dosage is critical; studies have shown that 120 mg per day is too little, so you'll want to boost it up to a single 240 mg or 360 mg dose each day. Also, Ginkgo biloba is commonly stacked with Bacopa monnieri, though its synergistic effects are contested.

8. Panax Ginseng (Asian Ginseng)

Asian ginseng, what's been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years, is a remarkable supplement in that it hits virtually all the marks; it can be used to improve working memory, attention, calmness, mood, and even reduce fatigue. It's a slow-growing perennial with fleshy roots — one that can decrease fasted blood-glucose levels and modulate cognitive performance in healthy adults. Go ahead and take about 500 mg twice a day.

9. Rhodiola Rosea

Rhodiola rosea can certainly be used to improve cognition and memory, but its real power comes from the way it reduces feelings of fatigue and anxiety — what can definitely improve your overall performance. It's a plant that thrives in colder climates, including arctic regions — and it has extremely beneficial phytochemicals that northern folks in Russia and Scandinavia have been taking advantage of for years; the herb has an affect on serotonin and dopamine levels due to monoamine oxidase inhibition. Studies have shown that Rhodiola rosea can improve a person's overall level of mental and stress-induced fatigue and complex perceptive and cerebral functions (such as associative thinking, short-term memory, calculation, ability of concentration, and speed of audio-visual perception). In terms of dosage, take anywhere from 100 mg to 1,000 mg each day, but divide it into two equal doses.

10. Spanish Sage (Salvia Lavandulaefolia)

Found in Spain and southern France, Salvia lavandulaefolia is an aromatic herb that boosts acetylcholine function. Studies have shown that it can enhance memory and mood in healthy young adults, as well as having benefits for those with Alzheimer's. Spanish sage has other beneficial attributes, including anxiolytic (calming), antioxidant, estrogenic, anti-depressive, and anti-inflammatory properties. A reasonable dose would be 300 mg of dried sage leaf once a day.

Top image: Shutterstock/agsandrew; creatine; dark chocolate:avs/shutterstock; omega-3:nikkytok/shutterstock; Ginkgo: tihis/shutterstock; rhodiola:moritorus/shutterstock.

Humanity+, an organization that advocates the ethical use of technology to expand human capacities, is holding their annual conference next weekend from December 1-2 at the Seven Hills Conference Center at SF State in San Francisco. The theme for this year's confab is "Writing the Future" — and seeing as that's exactly what we do here at io9, we'll be there to represent and share our insights.

The ultimate aim of the conference will be to "encourage refined communication about the future in creative ways, and thereby promote serious attention to the opportunities and risks we are facing."

Subsequently, the conference will primarily focus on how emerging sciences and technologies are communicated and how this affects the way the future unfolds. Specific subject areas will include advances in robotics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, human enhancement, brain-computer integration, regenerative medicine, and radical life extension.

These breakthroughs and future visions are often conveyed by scientists, futurists, sci-fi writers, and the media. To that end, Humanity+ has assembled an impressive list of speakers, a group that includes science fiction authors Kim Stanley Robinson and David Brin, acclaimed biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey, designer and theorist Natasha Vita-More, and futurists Jamais Cascio, Ramez Naam, Max More, James Hughes, and many more.

And of course, io9 will be there as well. Annalee will be speaking about "Slow Futures: Using History to Write about Tomorrow," and I'll be there to talk about futureshock and how I cover the future beat.

We certainly hope to see you there next weekend. Tickets are still available here.

Over at the Edge there's a fascinating article by Thomas W. Malone about the work he and others are doing to understand the rise of collective human intelligence — an emergent phenomenon that's being primarily driven by our information technologies. We may be on an evolutionary trajectory, he argues, that could someday give rise to the global brain. And amazingly, he's developing an entirely new scientific discipline to back his case.

Malone, who is the Director at MIT's Center for Collective Intelligence, studies the way people and computers can be connected so that — collectively — they can act more intelligently than any single person, group, or computer.

And in fact, Malone is even mapping what he calls the "genomes of collective intelligence," a list of convergent examples and design patterns of this phenomenon — things that are assisted by Google, Wikipedia, InnoCentive, (the community that developed the Linux open source operating system), and others. He claims to have identified about 19 of these collective intelligence design patterns — or genes — theat occur over and over in different examples. He writes:

For instance, the community of people that developed the Linux open source operating system embodies what we call the "crowd" gene, because anyone who wants to can contribute new modules for the Linux operating system. But that community also embodies what we call the "hierarchy" gene, because Linus Torvalds and a few of his friends and lieutenants decide-essentially hierarchically-which of the modules that people send in will actually be included in the new versions of the system. So that's the genomes of collective intelligence project.

Among the other things Malone is working on, he's trying to understand how our whole society is evolving in a way that makes us more intelligent. "It's becoming increasingly useful to think of all the people and computers on the planet as a kind of global brain," he writes. Moreover, "our future as a species may depend on our ability to use our global collective intelligence to make choices that are not just smart, but also wise." He continues:

What's the science here? In a sense, we're trying to understand scientifically how groups of humans work together now using the means we have and have had for connecting humans to each other, face to face communication, telephone, Internet, et cetera. More importantly, perhaps, we're also trying to understand the science behind the deeper phenomena of humans working together or humans and computers working together in ways that will help us understand how to create new kinds of human or human and computer cooperatives or collective intelligences. So in that sense, the boundary between science and engineering begins to blur.

Science is about understanding what is, engineering is about how to create what you want to be. But they're clearly related to each other. Understanding better how the world works helps you shape the world in ways you want it to be, and often trying to shape the world in ways you want helps you understand fundamental scientific questions about how the world is in ways that you might never have thought of asking before. Another way of thinking about the question of what's the science here is to relate what we're doing in collective intelligence.

We just had the first academic conference on collective intelligence in April of 2012 held at MIT. I was one of the two co-organizers. We had a number of very interesting speakers and people there, and many people said it was one of the best conferences they'd ever been to. There's a sense that there is a field catalyzing here, a field congealing here.

Malone's essay is a long read, but well worth it — including his insights into ant intelligence and the idea that we should start to measure not the relative intelligence of individuals in a species, but rather the overall intelligence of their emergent group behavior.

Image: Facebook. Other image: Edge

In a country where women are denied the right to vote, are not allowed to drive, and are basically treated like children, Saudi Arabia has taken its next giant leap backwards by rolling out an SMS electronic tracking system that alerts male "guardians" by text message whenever women under their protection leave the country. The development has been met with outrage by reformers, who have turned to Twitter to voice their concern.

Saudi Arabia is a complete mess as far as women's rights is concerned. It ranks 130th out of 134 countries for gender equality — a nation where only 16.5% of women make up the workforce. As devout followers of Sharia Law, all women, regardless of age, require a male guardian and cannot leave the country without written consent.

And now, judging by a flurry of incoming accounts, it's clear that the country has covertly implemented a new system that will further serve to strengthen its control over women.

It all started last week when a Saudi man travelling with his wife began to get text messages on his phone from the immigration authorities alerting him to the fact that his wife had left the international airport in Riyadh (she was listed as a dependent on his national identity card). Concerned, he contacted Manal al-Sherif, a women's rights campaigner in Saudi Arabia, who then broadcast the news over Twitter.

Al-Sherif made headlines last year when she was arrested after uploading a video to YouTube in which she could be seen driving.

And as it turned out, the text messages weren't an isolated case. Similar accounts started to pour in, strongly suggesting that a new system had been rolled-out without so much as a peep from the Saudi authorities. It now appears that every guardian whose dependent has a passport is receiving a text after cross border crossings.

In response, the Ministry of the Interior has denied the allegations, saying it's not intended to connect women with their guardians. And according to the Riyadh Bureau, the system has been in place since 2010, but now the service works without having to register with the ministry. It claims that the system is part of a larger e-Government plan to use technology in order to facilitate access to its services — such as electronic travel permits (thus replacing the need for "yellow slips").

But while some see it as a convenience, others interpret is yet another way to exert control. It's becoming evident that Saudi Arabia has entered into a new era in which it's increasingly turning to high-tech solutions to enforce its laws. But as Wired reports, the issue has put the plight of Saudi women into the spotlight:

"For us, it's good to use this thing to go back to the main subject — treating women as minors," says Al-Sharif. "Before, I used to have to have a piece of paper for when I left the country saying my guardian had given me written permission. It could be for one-off travel or as long as the passport was valid. The Gulf used to make so much fun of us — 'how can you treat women this way?' they'd ask when we'd travel there. So what they did was start showing it electronically. Now it's invisible; we don't need to carry the piece of paper."

It seems that in a rapidly changing world, Saudi Arabia has chosen to keep up with the times by concealing its controls to outsiders while ensuring technology makes those same controls as efficient as they are subtle.

At the same time, it has also prompted a number of critics to express their angst over Twitter — what is the only real voice available to them. The French Press Agency recently compiled some of the highlights:

"Hello Taliban, herewith some tips from the Saudi e-government!" read one post.

"Why don't you cuff your women with tracking ankle bracelets too?" wrote Israa.

"Why don't we just install a microchip into our women to track them around?" joked another.

"If I need an SMS to let me know my wife is leaving Saudi Arabia, then I'm either married to the wrong woman or need a psychiatrist," tweeted Hisham.

"This is technology used to serve backwardness in order to keep women imprisoned," said Bishr, the columnist.

"It would have been better for the government to busy itself with finding a solution for women subjected to domestic violence" than track their movements into and out of the country.

Women in Saudi Arabia cannot vote or be elected to high political positions. However, King Abdullah recently declared that women will be able to vote and run in the 2015 local elections, and be appointed to the Consultative Assembly. So perhaps reforms are coming — but given how far behind Saudi Arabia is compared to other nations, it's clear women still have a long road ahead.

Images: Lisa S./shutterstock.

A few months ago, physicist Harold White stunned the aeronautics world when he announced that he and his team at NASA had begun work on the development of a faster-than-light warp drive. His proposed design, an ingenious re-imagining of an Alcubierre Drive, may eventually result in an engine that can transport a spacecraft to the nearest star in a matter of weeks — and all without violating Einstein's law of relativity. We contacted White at NASA and asked him to explain how this real life warp drive could actually work.

The above image of a Vulcan command ship features a warp engine similar to an Alcubierre Drive. Image courtesy CBS.

The Alcubierre Drive

The idea came to White while he was considering a rather remarkable equation formulated by physicist Miguel Alcubierre. In his 1994 paper titled, "The Warp Drive: Hyper-Fast Travel Within General Relativity," Alcubierre suggested a mechanism by which space-time could be "warped" both in front of and behind a spacecraft.

Michio Kaku dubbed Alcubierre's notion a "passport to the universe." It takes advantage of a quirk in the cosmological code that allows for the expansion and contraction of space-time, and could allow for hyper-fast travel between interstellar destinations. Essentially, the empty space behind a starship would be made to expand rapidly, pushing the craft in a forward direction — passengers would perceive it as movement despite the complete lack of acceleration.

White speculates that such a drive could result in "speeds" that could take a spacecraft to Alpha Centauri in a mere two weeks — even though the system is 4.3 light-years away.

In terms of the engine's mechanics, a spheroid object would be placed between two regions of space-time (one expanding and one contracting). A "warp bubble" would then be generated that moves space-time around the object, effectively repositioning it — the end result being faster-than-light travel without the spheroid (or spacecraft) having to move with respect to its local frame of reference.

"Remember, nothing locally exceeds the speed of light, but space can expand and contract at any speed," White told io9. "However, space-time is really stiff, so to create the expansion and contraction effect in a useful manner in order for us to reach interstellar destinations in reasonable time periods would require a lot of energy."

And indeed, early assessments published in the ensuing scientific literature suggested horrific amounts of energy — basically equal to the mass-energy of the planet Jupiter (what is 1.9 × 10²⁷ kilograms or 317 Earth masses). As a result, the idea was brushed aside as being far too impractical. Even though nature allowed for a warp drive, it looked like we would never be able to build one ourselves.

"However," said White, "based on the analysis I did the last 18 months, there may be hope." The key, says White, may be in altering the geometry of the warp drive itself.

A new design

In October of last year, White was preparing for a talk he was to give for the kickoff to the 100 Year Starship project in Orlando, Florida. As he was pulling together his overview on space warp, he performed a sensitivity analysis for the field equations, more out of curiosity than anything else.

"My early results suggested I had discovered something that was in the math all along," he recalled. "I suddenly realized that if you made the thickness of the negative vacuum energy ring larger — like shifting from a belt shape to a donut shape — and oscillate the warp bubble, you can greatly reduce the energy required — perhaps making the idea plausible." White had adjusted the shape of Alcubierre's ring which surrounded the spheroid from something that was a flat halo to something that was thicker and curvier.

He presented the results of his Alcubierre Drive rethink a year later at the 100 Year Starship conference in Atlanta where he highlighted his new optimization approaches — a new design that could significantly reduce the amount of exotic matter required. And in fact, White says that the warp drive could be powered by a mass that's even less than that of the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

That's a significant change in calculations to say the least. The reduction in mass from a Jupiter-sized planet to an object that weighs a mere 1,600 pounds has completely reset White's sense of plausibility — and NASA's.

Hitting the lab

Theoretical plausibility is all fine and well, of course. What White needs now is a real-world proof-of-concept. So he's hit the lab and begun work on actual experiments.

"We're utilizing a modified Michelson-Morley interferometer — that allows us to measure microscopic perturbations in space time," he said. "In our case, we're attempting to make one of the legs of the interferometer appear to be a different length when we energize our test devices." White and his colleagues are trying to simulate the tweaked Alcubierre drive in miniature by using lasers to perturb space-time by one part in 10 million.

Of course, the interferometer isn't something that NASA would bolt onto a spaceship. Rather, it's part of a larger scientific pursuit.

"Our initial test device is implementing a ring of large potential energy — what we observe as blue shifted relative to the lab frame — by utilizing a ring of ceramic capacitors that are charged to tens of thousands of volts," he told us. "We will increase the fidelity of our test devices and continue to enhance the sensitivity of the warp field interferometer — eventually using devices to directly generate negative vacuum energy."

He points out that Casimir cavities, physical forces that arise from a quantized field, may represent a viable approach.

And it's through these experiments, hopes White, that NASA can go from the theoretical to the practical.

Waiting for that "Chicago Pile" moment

Given just how fantastic this all appears, we asked White if he truly thinks a warp-generating spacecraft might someday be constructed.

"Mathematically, the field equations predict that this is possible, but it remains to be seen if we could ever reduce this to practice."

What White is waiting for is existence of proof — what he's calling a "Chicago Pile" moment — a reference to a great practical example.

"In late 1942, humanity activated the first nuclear reactor in Chicago generating a whopping half Watt — not enough to power a light bulb," he said. "However, just under one year later, we activated a ~4MW reactor which is enough to power a small town. Existence proof is important."

His cautious approach notwithstanding, White did admit that a real-world warp drive could create some fascinating possibilities for space travel — and would certainly reset our sense of the vastness of the cosmos.

"This loophole in general relativity would allow us to go places really fast as measured by both Earth observers, and observers on the ship — trips measured in weeks or months as opposed to decades and centuries," he said.

But for now, pursuit of this idea is very much in science mode. "I'm not ready to discuss much beyond the math and very controlled modest approaches in the lab," he said.

Which makes complete sense to us, as well. But thanks to these preliminary efforts, White has already done much to instill a renewed sense of hope and excitement over the possibilities. Faster-than-light travel may await us yet.

Top image: CBS Studios Inc. Spearpoint, zamandayolculuk.com, Harold White, Flickriver.

Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of the private spaceflight company SpaceX, has announced an ambitious plan to colonize Mars by shuttling 80,000 pioneers to the Red Planet at a cost of $500,000 a trip. The first phase of the program, which is contingent on the development of reusable rocket that can take off and land vertically, would start off modestly with only a handful of explorers leaving Earth at a time. But in short order, the self-sustaining population could grow into something far greater.

The announcement was made by the billionaire Musk to an audience at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London on November 16. He was there to talk about his business plans and to receive the Society's gold medal for helping to advance the commercial space industry.

Writing in Space.com, Rob Coppinger reports on the details:

Accompanying the founders of the new Mars colony would be large amounts of equipment, including machines to produce fertilizer, methane and oxygen from Mars' atmospheric nitrogen and carbon dioxide and the planet's subsurface water ice.

The Red Planet pioneers would also take construction materials to build transparent domes, which when pressurized with Mars' atmospheric CO2 could grow Earth crops in Martian soil. As the Mars colony became more self sufficient, the big rocket would start to transport more people and fewer supplies and equipment.

Musk's architecture for this human Mars exploration effort does not employ cyclers, reusable spacecraft that would travel back and forth constantly between the Red Planet and Earth — at least not at first

"Probably not a Mars cycler; the thing with the cyclers is, you need a lot of them," Musk told SPACE.com. "You have to have propellant to keep things aligned as [Mars and Earth's] orbits aren't [always] in the same plane. In the beginning you won't have cyclers."

Musk came up with the $500,000 price tag claiming that it would be within the means of most people in advanced countries — what would be akin to purchasing a new home. He estimates that the entire program would cost about $36 billion, an expense sheet that would likely have to be offset by government and private enterprise:

"Some money has to be spent on establishing a base on Mars. It's about getting the basic fundamentals in place," Musk said. "That was true of the English colonies [in the Americas]; it took a significant expense to get things started. But once there are regular Mars flights, you can get the cost down to half a million dollars for someone to move to Mars. Then I think there are enough people who would buy that to have it be a reasonable business case."

To make it happen, SpaceX has already started to work on their next-generation reusable Falcon 9 rocket. The prototype, called Grasshopper, is a Falcon 9 first stage with landing legs. This rocket has already made two short flights, including one in which it reached a height of six feet (two meters), and another in which it leaped to a height of 17.7 feet (5.4 meters).

Musk is hoping to have a functional first stage version of the rocket finalized around 2018, but admitted that those could be "famous last words."

Read more at Space.

Image: Space.

In 1988, Topps released its Dinosaurs Attack! trading cards — an extraordinarily graphic and brutal collection of artwork, featuring all the horrible things that could go wrong in the unfortunate event that dinosaurs (inexplicably) made their way to the present day. The series, which consisted of 55 cards and 11 stickers, is a tribute to a bygone era when trading card manufacturers were allowed to produce ridiculously gory cards for unsuspecting children.

Here's a sampling from the series:

Via So Bad So Good.

Naturalists in Africa have long noted that some lions in Ethiopia look a bit different than regular lions, mostly on account of a dark mane that extends from the head, neck, and chest to the belly. They're also smaller and more compact. It wasn't known, however, if they represented a distinct species. But now, a genetic analysis conducted on a group of these lions found only at the Addis Ababa zoo has shown that they are in fact a genetically distinct species — a discovery that has prompted immediate conservation action to preserve them in the wild.

The researchers, an international team led by the University of York, UK, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany, compared DNA samples from 15 Addis Ababa zoo lions (eight males and seven females) to breeds found in the wild (six distinct wild groups). Analysis of both the microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA indicated that the zoo lions are genetically distinct compared to their wild brethren.

Consequently, the researchers have declared the lions to be a distinct species. They are urging immediate conservation management actions, including a captive breeding program. The researchers also note that their examination of the genetic diversity of the captive lions showed little effect of inbreeding — which is a good sign.

Unfortunately, the males at the zoo are the only lions known to exist who possess the distinctive mane — a possible indication that the Addis Ababa lion won't be found in the wild. But there is still hope. Wildlife Extra elaborates:

It has previously been suggested that no lions comparable to those at Addis Ababa Zoo still exist in the wild, mainly due to hunting for their mane. However, the researchers say that according to the Ethiopian authorities, lions with a similar appearance to those at Addis Ababa Zoo still exist in the east and north-east of the country, notably in the Babille Elephant Sanctuary near Harar and southwards to Hararghe. These regions, the researchers say, should be prioritised for field surveys.

Professor Hofreiter said: "A key question is which wild population did the zoo lions originate from and whether this wild population still exists; this would obviously make it a priority for conservation. What is clear is that these lions did not originate in the zoo, but come from somewhere in the wild - but not from any of the populations for which comparative data is available."

The results of the study were published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research.

Photos courtesy Joerg Junhold and Klaus Eulenberger, Leipzig Zoo.

When the pending robopocalypse strikes, you may be tempted to seek refuge in the water. Don't do it — and watch this video to see why. It's the HiBot ACM-R5 robotic snake, a twirling and swirling amphibious machine developed by Japanese researchers. And what's just as remarkable (or is that horrifying?) is that it can maneuver itself on both land and in the water — leaving humans no place to hide.

From Hirose Fukishima Labs:

The control system of ACM-R5 is an advanced one. Each joint unit has CPU, battery, motors, so they can operate independently. Through communication lines each unit exchanges signals and automatically recognizes its number from the head, and how many units join the system. Thanks to this system operators can remove, add, and exchange units freely and they can operate ACM-R5 flexibly according to situations.

H/t Geekologie. Image via Hirose Fukishima Lab.

Trampolines used to be the kind of thing you assembled in your backyard, its only purpose being something that could propel your body through the air in a monotonously repetitive vertical manner. And indeed, the whole point of trampolines was that there was no point. But trampolines, it would now appear, can also be useful. As a pair of European designers have demonstrated, it is in fact possible to intertwine the fun-factor of trampolines with utility. And the world is now a better place.

First off is the proposed trampoline "Bridge in Paris," a design that was put together by Atelier Zündel Cristea of AZC Architecture Studios. His describes his floaty bridge thusly:

It appears to us that Paris has enough bridges. Our intention is to invite its visitors and inhabitants to engage on a newer and more playful path across this same water.

We propose an inflatable bridge equipped with giant trampolines, dedicated to the joyful release from gravity as one bounces above the river. Installed near the Bir-Hakeim Bridge, it is formed of inflatable modules, like giant life-preservers, 30 meters in diameter.

In the central part of each ring, a trampoline mesh is stretched. The floating buoys, fabricated in PVC membrane, are attached together by cord to form a stable and self-supporting ensemble. Each module under tension – filled with 3700 cubic meters of air – develops in space with an arch-like form.

Given its light-weight and flexible design, the trampoline bridge could be adapted to other rivers of various widths.

And for those looking to stay on dry land, there's Salto Architect's "Fast Track" trampoline sidewalk.

Assembled for the annual Archstoyanie Creative Festival in the forest of Nikola-Lenivets, Russia, the 170 foot long track "is an attempt to create intelligent infrastructure that is emotional and corresponds to the local context, giving the user a different experience of moving and perceiving the environment." Okay, sure, but it also looks impossibly fun and crazy-dangerous.

The trampoline sidewalk was designed by Maarja Kask, Karli Luik, and Ralf Lõoke.

Trampoline bridge h/t dsgnwrld; images courtesy AZC. Trampline sidewalk h/t Knstrct; images courtesy Nikita Šohov & Karli Luik.

A team of researchers at McGill University in Montreal announced that they've successfully reversed the symptoms of autism in mice. By restoring the production of a critical neural protein (which they had knocked out in the first place), the geneticists were able to alleviate symptoms consistent with the disorder. They caution that this is not a cure, nor is it the sign of a drug to come.

Instead, this is a breakthrough that will inform the development of a multi-faceted approach to a syndrome that affects nearly one in every 110 people.

The study, which was led by Nahum Sonenberg, began after the researchers developed a new mouse model for autism (though how the researchers can say they've created a mouse model that can accurately reflect the neurological and psychological complexities of human-borne autism is beyond me — but there you have it). They then genetically engineered the mice such that they were deficient in a specific gene — what's called Eif4ebp2.

This gene is responsible for the production of a protein called 4E-BP2, what thwarts the expression of certain messenger RNAs. So by removing this gene from the picture, the researchers were able to create mice brains that produced these proteins at levels above normal — what resulted in autism-like symptoms in the mice, including poor social interaction, altered communication, and repetitive behaviors.

Writing in Nature News, Dan Jones explains the mechanics behind the process:

Sonenberg and his co-workers found that one group of proteins that proliferates in the absence of Eif4ebp2 is the neuroligins (NLGNs), which sit in the membrane of neurons and help to create and maintain the connections, or synapses, between nerve cells.

When the authors examined mouse brain slices, they discovered that overproduction of NLGNs results in synapses that are prone to overstimulation, establishing a ‘hyperconnectivity' that many researchers believe underlies the symptoms of ASD.

Based on this insight, the researchers went on to show that they could still reverse the effects of deleting the Eif4ebp2 gene. And they did so by concocting a small-molecule drug that could bind to one of the protein components of the translation-initiation process —what counteracted the gene deletion. After the drug was administered to the mice, their symptoms disappeared, restoring them to their initial state. Essentially, the researchers were able to correct autism-associated behaviors in adult mice.

But this doesn't mean that a drug is around the corner.

First, as we already pointed out, the autism mouse model maybe a poor substitute for human autism. Also, the deletion of a gene in an adult-stage mouse may create a condition that is autism-like — but not necessarily autism proper.

Second, the drug that the researchers developed would be too toxic for humans. At best, it demonstrated that a pathway exists, and that there are identifiable therapeutic targets.

And lastly, as Jones points out, "The search for drug therapies is complicated by the fact that [autism] has many genetic causes, each of which accounts for no more than 1% of cases." Nonetheless, the researchers suggest that these diverse mutations could be part of the same pathway, something that they'll have to prove.

As an aside, given the potential for a genetically targeted autism therapy, we should probably start to consider the ethics involved. While some individuals with severe autism could certainly use the therapy, other people on the spectrum, such as people with Asperger's, may not require genetic manipulations of the sort — which could have a profound impact on their personality and psychological awareness.

It's fair to say that this therapy should not be imposed upon anyone, if it's actually developed.

Read the entire study at Nature.

Image: lculig/shutterstock.com.

We're still a fair ways off from having domestic robots that can fold our laundry, or empty the dishwasher. Part of the problem, aside from the mechanical challenges, is developing a robot that's smart enough and adaptable enough to learn simple tasks — a cognitive skill that's called artificial general intelligence.

But as a new research project conducted by Maya Cakmak from Georgia Tech has revealed, it may soon be possible for everyday people to teach robots some very basic skills — and without having any prior knowledge of robotics or programming languages.

To make this work, Cakmak used a mobile manipulator system called PR2 — an agile robot with two arms and tweezer-like fingers that it uses to perform simple manipulation tasks. To help "teach" the robot, Cakmak developed a spoken dialogue interface that end-users can use to instruct it. Additionally, the robot can be taught to perform certain tasks by having its arms and fingers manipulated — movements that it learns, stores in memory, and then executes on command (i.e. programming by demonstration).

To see if it could work, Cakmak recruited 30 participants who had no experience programming software or working with robots. Armed with a basic tutorial and an end-goal in mind, the volunteers successfully taught the PR2 how to do basic things like fold sheets or pick up a bottle of medicine from a cabinet.

Though not super-futuristic, the programmable PR2 could be used in the very near future (if not already) to bridge the gap until the day more sophisticated robots can be developed. Moreover, Cakmak's research shows that (1) robots can be taught to perform a near endless array of unorthodox tasks and (2) virtually anybody can program these robots to suit their needs.

Be sure to watch the video above — including right up until the very end, for a cute surprise.

Source: Willow Garage. H/t Tobislu.