(no subject)

Duke scientists have demonstrated a monkey's ability to control a robot arm using just thier brain. There have been some experiments with using direct brain interface to move cursors on screens and virtual arms but this is the first time they've actually plunked a real robot into the loop.

Initially they taught the monkeys to move the arm with a joystick, recorded the neural firing patterns, then they switched the robot to respond to the brainwaves, and finally they pulled the joystick and the monkeys quit moving their arms but still made the robot dance. They were using neural patterns fromt he frontal and parietal regions to do the control rather than motor cortex.

Almost as interesting as the study itself is the fact that it is published in a new "Open Source" Journal, the Public Library of Science - Biology which is free to the public unlike most of the other big science journals. If you want to read the actual study:
http://www.plosbiology.org/pips/plbi-01-02-carmena.pdf

(no subject)

Manufacturing Public opinion:
Identical letters pumping US successes in Iraq with different signatures have been showing up in letters to the editor columns around the country. Some of the soldiers who's names are on them even say they didn't even sign the letters.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-10-12-iraq-letters-usat_x.htm