What is Artificial Intelligence?

A chip implanted into a human brain attached to a gadget that reads the signal

Particular experiments are being conducted on different animal subjects to test the viability of the brain chip. We have seen the monkey at work with the robotic arm using its mind. And another, we've witnessed how a rat was removed of a part of its brain and inserted the same kind of chip. Both experiments showed the same results, that same electronic signals were sent to a robot, as the real thing.

Now the next question is, who gets to be implanted with the chip first? To answer this, I researched the web for some references, and mostly, the results were the same. The soldiers will have their brains implanted first!

In the news, the U.S. Military is attempting to create a troop of 'super-human soldiers' who will be more intelligent, swift and deadly.

These 'super-human' soldiers will be implanted with a brain chip that will vastly improve their memory of troops and recall and use every detail of their trainings efficiently to become more effective fighters. Researchers at the University of Southern California's bio-engineering department have created the chip, which acts in exactly the same way as the hippocampus - the part of the brain that deals with memory.

A monkey implanted with a brain chip to control a robotic arm

If you have read about my previous articles about brain-computer interfacing, here is another breakthrough in science that enables the brain to control a robotic arm by the power of thought.

Using artificial intelligence, researchers at Pittsburg conducted laboratory experiments on a monkey, implanted with a microchip into its brain. The brain chip, thinner than human hair and 4mm long, is directly implanted in the motor cortex portion of the brain, which controls the voluntary movement of the muscles. The chip captures the electrodes in the neurons, deciphers it and sends signals to move the robotic arm.

The robotic arm moved freely and with dexterity, as if, it moved on his own, or it may have been used with micro-controllers. However, the movement was directly controlled by the brain, in fact, the monkey was fastened, so there was no way that the test be biased. The subject didn't even show stressed or disturbed. Disregarding the monkey for a second, the robotic arm looked autonomous.

After a successful test with an animal subject, human experiments will be conducted over the next year. So you could imagine now, how the human subject will be implanted with a microchip!

Watch the actual laboratory test of the project here.

An actual B2B communication conducted by Dr. Chris James

Communication is a very powerful way in understanding human intentions and decisions. While there are many tools for humans to communicate from different locations, there are only a few which can help disabled individuals to say what's on their minds. Paralytics and stroke patients can benefit mostly from technologies that will enable them to communicate.

Following the research of BCI or Brain-Computer-Interface, now comes another breakthrough in brain science. B2B or short for Brain-to-Brain communication is presented recently by Dr. Chris James from the University of Southampton, in response to the need of people with severe debilitating muscle wasting diseases, or with the so-called 'locked-in' syndrome, to communicate.

It works with the use of an Electroencephalogram (EEG) amplifier worn on the head of the patient. EEG captures and sends digital brain signals via the computer.

'His experiment had one person using BCI to transmit thoughts, translated as a series of binary digits, over the internet to another person whose computer receives the digits and transmits them to the second user's brain through flashing a LED lamp', sciencedaily.com.

A computer software that scans through images in a video to detect a particular person or object

Are you frequently doing video or photo searches on the internet? Perhaps, in the span of time you search for these things, you may only have little or no chance at all to see the minor details in those photos. Well you're not alone.

Most people see only the major sections of a video or photo. But researchers at MU's College of Engineering led by Tony Han, developed a computer software that can search inside videos, detect humans and specific objects, and perform other video analysis tasks.

These tasks include interpreting videos and detecting an incident before it occurs. For example, if a security camera captures an image of an injured person lying on the ground, the computer would not only store this image, but also be able to detect that a human is falling and send signals for help. Sounds like the Minority Report's pre-crime project.

Well, the goal of this project is to improve on the computer's ability to interpret video contents and how to identify them. The team is currently working on the project's algorithm for automatic object detection. Though for now, it may seem difficult, time will come that this computer detection software will reach its perfection.

The mysterious Mona Lisa smile, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci

Everybody, or rather the whole world, knows about the Mona Lisa smile. It has been a mystery for centuries, why the famous smile of a beautiful painting subject could create such an impact in the world of art. Done by the very famous medieval painter, Leonardo da Vinci, created an Obra that will cause many to wonder about the smile.

Today, it's no longer a mystery. The secret of the famed painting is revealed. Thanks to artificial intelligence, a researcher from Amsterdam, Netherlands developed a computer software which can analyze the emotions of a person by calculating the expression based on facial points like lip curvature, eyebrow position, and cheek contraction, with 85-percent accuracy.

The software can detect happiness, sadness, fear, anger and disgust. For example, Michael Jackson was 33-percent fearful in his mug shot and angry and disgusted as the press snapped pictures after his trial. This technology can also be used in driving to detect if the driver is getting sleepy at the wheel and have an alert signal.

And, for the anticipated score, Mona Lisa's expression is 83-percent happy, 9-percent disgusted, 6-percent fearful, and two-percent angry.