Scientists restore vision in a mouse

Through the years, there have been reports of various cures for blindness, but this new one seems to be definitive. Researchers and scientists from the University of Berkley have managed to restore the vision of a mouse after injecting a chemical directly in their eyes.

This chemical is known as AAQ, and acts as a kind of photo interrupter, and which does is to unite the ion channel proteins with cells from the surface of the retina. When exposed to light, the chemical changes the flow of ions in the eye, activating neurons and returning the light to the mouse.

If that sounds confusing, it simply means that a small dose of AAQ, the mouse was able to regain his sight temporarily. The effect lasted only a few hours, but of course this fact has led scientists to improve the chemical and are now working on an enhanced version they hope will last a couple of days.

We hope to have more news soon.

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University of Taiwan claims that Apple copied the Siri

 

Accustomed to sue the other for breach of patents, Apple had a taste of own medicine last Friday, when a university in Taiwan announced that it would bring a lawsuit against the U.S. company for an alleged illegal use of patents in personal assistant Siri.

The system Siri allows iPhone users to perform various tasks using just your voice. However, Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, claims that the voice recognition tool infringes two of its patents, registered in the U.S. in 2007 and 2010. The study center charge compensation - the value has not yet revealed - from Apple.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. federal court in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, on Friday. "The lawsuit was filed in a Texas court because the cases are processed faster and in general there favor patent holders, with higher compensation," Chen said Yama, legal director of the university, told Reuters.

The Apple has not yet ruled on the case.

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Time to write to the movement of our eyes

 

The dr. Jean Lorenceau, University Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris, has developed a device by which the movements of our eyes can be used as a way of writing.
This product was not developed earlier because of a simple cause: lack of technology. The human eye produces many involuntary movements, and these to be interpreted by the device became anything but writing desired. With some new developments, dr. Lorenceau been able to use an optical illusion called "reverse-phi motion" which was widely studied last year. Finally, with the addition of this illusion to the system, it was possible to monitor the voluntary movements of the human eye.
Lorenceau says that with practice 90 minutes a person can use the system to write about 20 characters per minute. Yes, there is a great speed, but for many people with various disabilities, is a new form of expression. In addition to letters, you can also use the system to write numbers and drawings.

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The shirt of the future may charge the 'tablet' or 'smartphone'

 

Researchers at the University of South Carolina have invented a shirt that can store energy and charge mobile devices. This technology is still under experimentation that could design the clothes of the future, because we are increasingly dependent on electricity in motion.
The project began when researchers at the University of South Carolina and Lihong Bao Xiaodong Li tried to find out what happened to the cellulose fibers of the clothes if they are loaded with energy, according to the journal of Chemical Technology in Advanced Materials Journal the number 24.
They developed their experiment by immersing the garment in a fluoride solution and dried. Subsequently, heated to high temperatures, eliminating the oxygen and succeeded in converting cellulose activated carbon particles, making act as an electric double layer capacitor. The garment was so conductive as any device of electric charge.
Subsequently, Bao and Li nanometer applied a manganese oxide to improve the conductive capacity of the fabric. "This created a very stable supercapacitor," says Li.
Once you create a super-conductive shirt with a condenser, the researchers developed a test phase loading and unloading the shirt with electricity. They claim the results are "excellent", with a loss of performance after several rounds of 5 percent.
"Lumping these supercapacitors, we should be able to carry electrical devices such as mobile phones," he assured Professor Li.
The applications of this technology would be used to charge mobile devices, but still unknown how they could insert chargers and adapters on the shirt without losing its shape. Also, Bao and Li have not provided details on the likely effects on health, if any, or at least in the aesthetic design of our clothes.
The main advantage is in the same medium as Li stressed: "we have shirts every day, and could have more uses." Convert all items that user has smartphone in a walking boot certainly very attractive and it is possible to imagine a rapid spread of the invention.
The researchers say that would improve performance by increasing the conductivity of the material with carbon nanotubes (CNT), but considerably increase the price and they are contaminants. For now, boast to say they have managed to create a cheap and green driver.
Related links:
- Avanced Materials Journal Magazine
(Http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.201200246/full)

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