What is Artificial Intelligence?

A hypothetical question was raised during a forum on robot morality "can a machine be programmed to act or decide morally, as much as humans?"

In a recent paper published in the International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems, the authors Luís Moniz Pereira of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, in Portugal and Ari Saptawijaya of the Universitas Indonesia, described a method for computers to calculate the future consequences of hypothetical moral judgments.

The paper, Modelling Morality with Prospective Logic, made particular mention "that morality is no longer the exclusive realm of human philosophers".

They've proven their findings by creating models of moral dilemmas inherent in a specific problem called "the trolley problem" and in creating a computer system that delivers moral judgments that conform to human results.

They have cited scenarios that build their theories around the "trolley problem".

And based of these typical scenarios where moral judgments are drawn, the authors claimed that they have been successful in modeling these difficult moral problems in computer logic by resolving the "hidden rules" that people use in making moral judgments and then modeling them for the computer using prospective logic programs.

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Chris Li (left) and Dr. Peter Hall have developed a program that automatically life-like tree images. (Credit: Nic Delves-Broughton)

A new computer animation technique has been recently developed to aid animators in creating life-like objects automatically.

Dr. Peter Hall at the University of Bath explained: "rendering trees has always been a headache for animators. Trees move in irregular ways, and it's very hard to achieve natural-looking movement."

In many ways, several scientists have created algorithms to improve on this profession. However, the more the system gets sophisticated, the more it becomes expensive for film producers.

So, computer scientists Dr. Peter Hall and Chris Li, of the University's Department of Computer Science, created a software that will allow the computer "watch" actual video footage of a tree to enable it to make computer-animations automatically that mimic the way real branches and leaves move in the wind.

This new rendering technique uses an algorithm that copies these natural movement and uses this data to "grow" lots more trees that are individually unique.

Chris Li, who developed this system as part of his PhD at Bath, said "in the future we want to use this same technique to animate other objects like clouds, water, fire and smoke."

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The artificial eye is going to be embedded in Rob’s eye socket.

Maybe you heard a lot about cyborgs but an eyeborg? Is that another science fiction innovation? Perhaps, but it is more than that because it's real!

An eyeborg is an artificial intelligent eye that has a very tiny camera and a transmitter installed somewhere in it. It works similarly with the other eye prosthesis, which send information to the brain via the transmitter. You would not want to use it, if you can still see with your two eyes, because this little eyeborg is designed for the blind or visually impaired individuals.

It's quite intriguing and useful of course. Bionic engineers, Rob Spence and Kosta Grammatis developed this tiny masterpiece to help give our friends see better.

We have already seen several models or designs of a retinal prosthesis, but this one is very lightweight which means, one need not carry an extra backpack to carry a motor or battery and it can even be plucked out of the eye sockets for some cleaning routines. How cool is it?

I don't know if Rob is really blind because he tested the eyeborg in his own eyes. (see picture above).

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This three-dimensional visualization of synapses shows the tomography mail synaptic vesicles (yellow), cell membrane (purple), connectors between vesicles (red), filaments that anchor the vesicles to the cell membrane (blue), microtubule (dark green), material synaptic space (light green) and postsynaptic density (orange). (Photo Credit: Fernández-Busnadiego et al.)

A new technique in electron microscopy has recently made a breakthrough in observing a huge number of filamentous structures within the presynaptic terminal and learning about their significant role in responding to the electrical activity of the brain.

This new technique is called electron cryotomography, by ultra-fast freezing of cells maintained at liquid nitrogen temperatures (below -140 ºC), researchers are able to obtain three-dimensional images of the cells interior and to minimize any changes to their structure.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry lead by Rubén Fernández-Busnadiego, were able to study about said filaments connecting the vesicles and how these structures can act as barriers that block the free movement of the vesicles, keeping them in their place until the electric impulse arrives, as well as determining the ease with which they will fuse with the membrane.

During laboratory experiments, the "frozen cells" were maintained at liquid nitrogen temperatures and can be physically observed using specially-equipped microscopes.

Click here to read more about New Technique in Electron Microscopy and Electron Cryotomography.

Game creation tool for teens

Computer scientists in the United States believe that creating computer games, rather than just playing them could boost students' critical and creative thinking skills as well as broaden their participation in computing.

Researchers Nikunj Dalal, Parth Dalal, Subhash Kak, Pavlo Antonenko, and Susan Stansberry of Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, described in a paper how creating computer game can be an innovative teaching method that could ultimately help bridge and define the digital divide between people lacking computer skills and access and those with them.

This project named Rapid Computer Game Creation (RCGC) came about in response to the "increasing gap between groups that use information and communication technologies widely and those that do not," the team explains, which is rapidly becoming a problem.

This gap is technically known as the digital divide. In addition to what the team said, "digital divide refers not only to unequal access to computing resources between groups of people but also to inequalities in their ability to use information technology fully."

After defining the problem, the team came up with a solution, which was proven using a preliminary survey of this approach. The approach proved largely positive effects of using the method RCGC.

RCGC was proven effective to provide pre-requisite knowledge in computer programming among students, whether schoolchildren or adult learners.

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