Technology
The metronome seems such a simple thing, just a machine that goes tick tick, and you then play in time with it. So, why is it that beginner musicians often have so much difficulty keeping in time with it? And why is it that humans find it hard to play like a metronome, why doesn't that come natural to us?
Many musicians and entire musical cultures with a wonderful sense of rhythm don't use a metronome at all. Yet many western musicians spend hours every day with the tool. Do we need it, does it help - and if so what's the best way to work with a metronome? And what about ways of working on…
U.S. law requires posting summarized results on ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the National Institutes of Health, within one year of study completion for certain categories of industry-sponsored trials.
The European Union is considering following the US lead yet in some fields compliance with the U.S. law is still rather poor.
Does it matter? There is increasing public pressure to report the results of all clinical trials. The belief if this would eliminate publication bias and improve public access but that is not evidence-based. What is the point of reading about failed…
A new robot is capable of reacting quickly and catching objects with complex shapes, like bottles and tennis rackets, in less than 5/100ths of a second.
The robot arm measures about 1.5 meters long, has three joints and a hand with four fingers. It was programmed at the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory at
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
(LASA) and designed to test robotic solutions for capturing moving objects.
The ability to catch flying things requires the integration of several parameters and reacting to unforeseen events in record time. Today's machines are often…
ST. LOUIS – Air and surface sampling techniques currently used by the US government are effective in fighting bioterrorism and potentially saving lives, according to a new paper in Biosecurity and Bioterrorism.
The authors made the determination after reviewing the data from a series of experiments simulating a bioterrorism attack against the Pentagon.
In 2005 and 2009, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) in order to simulate a deliberate attack, staged the release of a harmless bacteria that is biological similar to Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes the disease…
The PRIORI project at University of Michigan says they have created a smartphone app that monitors subtle qualities of a person's voice during everyday phone conversations - and can detect early signs of mood changes in people with bipolar disorder.
The app still needs a lot of testing before it can be used outside controlled conditions, but the creators say early results from a small group of patients show its potential to monitor moods while protecting privacy.
The project is
led by computer scientists Zahi Karam, Ph.D. and Emily Mower Provost, Ph.D., and psychiatrist…
Homemade, inexpensive stink bug traps crafted from simple household items outshine pricier models designed to kill the invasive, annoying bugs.
So save your money. Fill a foil roasting pan with water and dish soap and put a light over the pan to attract the bugs in a dark room. It is not only inexpensive, it is also technically pesticide-free. Not that you can drink dish soap.
The Virginia Tech researchers say the homemade trap eliminated 14 times more stink bugs than store-bought traps that cost up to $50. That's good to know, since warm weather is coaxing the critters out…
Chronic constipation is a disorder that affects approximately 15 percent of the U.S. population. Symptoms can be burdensome, leading to a reduction in patients' quality of life.
An oral capsule that vibrates as it moves through the digestive tract has shown notable promise as a non-pharmacological treatment for constipation, according to new research presented today at Digestive Disease Week.
In the pilot study, the vibrating capsule was found to nearly double the weekly bowel movements of patients suffering from chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) and constipation predominant…
Researchers at
Medical University of Vienna
say it is possible for a blood test to detect depression.
Mental illness in the blood? They say, in principle, depression can be diagnosed. Serotonin transporter (SERT) is a protein in the cell membrane that facilitates the transport of the neurotransmitter serotonin (the "happiness hormone") into the cell. In the brain, serotonin transporter regulates neural depression networks. Depressive conditions can frequently be caused by a lack of serotonin.
As a result, the serotonin transporter is also the point of action for the major…
The mobile using public became turned off by QR codes for mobile devices that were nothing but a coupon that they were going to find in the newspaper or on the website.
Similarly, gimmicky contest ads and flashy free-prize messages that can at least be somewhat ignored on a desktop monitor are hard to miss on a mobile, and that may be even more of a turnoff for mobile users.
The scholars recruited 220 participants to test four different mobile sites. The participants were first asked to navigate to a mobile site. One site included a caution symbol and a security warning that the site was…
The idea of a smart home sounds promising enough, and a house full of automated gadgets, from light switches to appliances to heating systems, will impress your friends.
But they need to be programmed. And that means either learning how to program or dealing with programmers. If you think a 'reboot your PC' response is annoying when it comes to asking why Microsoft Bob won't work on Windows 8.1, imagine the shame at calling tech support to turn on your lights.
Computer scientists from Brown and Carnegie Mellon universities say they have a workable programming solution - a style of…