The electrical grid isn't the only utility acquiring intelligence, as water and gas meters throughout the U.S. gain radio communication capabilities and other innovations.
Tom Geller
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Buildings collapse. Wind and rain beat them, temperatures cycle from freezing to blistering, and random strikes of lightning threaten sudden obliteration. Even more potent are the human challenges: war, fire, and deliberate destruction. But digital representations can survive such dangers, capturing structures forevermore.
To create shape-shifting robotic ensembles, researchers need to teach micro-machines to work together.
IT Drives Policy – and Vice Versa
Technologists discuss government policies affecting broadband, patent reform, privacy — and President Obama's effect on it all.
Practice Makes Perfect, Even For Brain-Controlled Prosthetics
Those who learn by repetition rely on "muscle memory," a sense that practice trains muscles to perform specific actions without thought. But does muscle memory exist if no actual muscles are involved? According to a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS Biology, the answer is a clear "yes." These findings strengthen hope for the future of brain-controlled prosthetics, or "neuroprosthetics", and may aid the development of robotic body extensions whose control is truly intuitive.
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