Decoding the words in the brain; Research

Researchers from University of Maryland, UC Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland have successfully decoded the words in the brain through latest technology.


Researchers have placed electrical rods on the brains of participants and worked with them while the participants were in conversation. They found that brain processes the information in the speed between one to 8000 hertz.


One of the words reproduced by scientists was "Structure".

Prof Robert Knight, one of the researchers from the University of California at Berkeley, said: "This is huge for patients who have damage to their speech mechanisms because of a stroke or Lou Gehrig's disease and can't speak.

"If you could eventually reconstruct imagined conversations from brain activity, thousands of people could benefit."

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Another mirrorless camera by Pentax Ricoh Imaging

Pentax K-01 is another brand of introduced by Pentx Ricoh Imaging with mirrorless features.

The camera features a new Prime M imaging engine and an additional H.264 video format. The video recording is up to 60 fps. The camera has an Ultrasonic dust removal.

From SayPeople,

The pancake lens is 9.2 mm in depth and weighs about 52 gm. It also features a nine-bladed, rounded aperture diaphragm providing smoother defocused backgrounds.
It will be available in March in three color options i.e. yellow, white and black. The camera will sell for $899.95 with the 40mm lens or for $749.95 without a lens.

Xstrata in merging deal with Glencore

Xstrata, Swiss mining company, confirms in a report on its website that it in merging deal with Glencore, commodities trader.

“Glencore being such a dominant trader and marketer of commodities, and Xstrata being such a strong operator of difficult assets, I think it creates enormous value,” Prasad Patkar, who helps manage about $1 billion at Platypus Asset Management Ltd. in Sydney, said by phone before the statement. “On one end you have great mining expertise, on the other you’ve got great marketing expertise. Two and two together should make five.”

According to the experts, the merger deal could be of $80 billion. Moreover, the transaction could generate $794 million in savings as reported by Credit Suisse Group AG in October.

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Sony's new president and CEO; Kazuo Hirai

Sony has announced that Howard Stringer, who worked as CEO of the company since 2005, will start working as Chairman of the Board and he will be succeeded by Kazuo Hirai, video game executive.


Kazuo Hirai will have to face a challenging post in the new position as company is expecting big losses this year.


Kazuo Hirai said,

As challenging as times are for Sony now, were it not for the strong leadership of Sir Howard Stringer these past seven years, we would have been in a much more difficult position. I am grateful to Sir Howard and to the Board for their confidence in me, and I look forward to working with everyone at Sony more closely than ever before to build a strong future for our customers, shareholders, partners and employees. The path we must take is clear: to drive the growth of our core electronics businesses - primarily digital imaging, smart mobile and game; to turn around the television business; and to accelerate the innovation that enables us to create new business domains. The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony’s diverse electronics product portfolio, in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways.

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Sleep apnea patients can become the patient of silent stroke

Researchers have found that the patients of sleep apnea can become the patients of silent stroke. They have found that there are more chances of white matter lesions in the brain of the patient of sleep apnea.

On the other hand, Researchers have discovered that approximately 91% of patients of stroke also had sleep apnea.

"Sleep apnea is widely unrecognized and still neglected," Dr. Kepplinger of the University of Technology in Dresden, Germany in a news release. "Patients who had severe sleep apnea were more likely to have silent strokes and the severity of sleep apnea increased the risk of being disabled at hospital discharge."

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Dr. Richard Olney died in the course of disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Dr. Richard Olney (Credit: thirdage)

Dr. Richard Olney who spent 18 years of research in University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in the research of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) has been died on January 27.

He was diagnosed with ALS 8 years ago and resigned from the UCSF ALS center which he established for the treatment and research of ALS in the early years of 1990.

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LightSquared and Sprint's agreement is under risk

LightSquared and Sprint has agreed last year to work together for 15 years. They were agreed that they will share wireless spectrum, equipment costs and network construction. This agreement was on the provisions of Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) approval to LightSquared.

Recently, Sprint reported that it has given LightSquared six weeks to get FCC approval, so that the agreement could run smoothly.

"Sprint and LightSquared have extended their agreement until mid-March to give LightSquared additional time to address issues associated with the 1.6 spectrum," Sprint said in a statement on Tuesday. It also gave more details about a temporary stop to work on the project pending the regulatory approval, "At the end of 2011, Sprint and LightSquared jointly decided to pull back on expenses and stop new deployment design and implementation. All work has been halted. This helps ensure Sprint's Network Vision project remains on schedule."

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