New software, developed by Xiaolin Wei and Jinxiang Chai of Texas A&M University in College Station, tracks humans in video footage, and creates 3D models of them. This new technology is expected to bring motion capture to the masses without the need for high-end equipment.
(Via Animated 3D models extracted from single-camera video – tech – 10 July 2010 – New Scientist.)
A professor at University of Essex compared physical ability of gamers with atheletes. I agree with much of the article feedback, the researcher picked an extreme example (10 hour/day gamer) to conclude they have the fitness level of a 60 year old smoker. The good news, his extreme gamer candidates are happy and have great reaction times.
Here is the the Telegraph article.
NeuroSky has released dry sensor ECG headset geared toward gamers. These have been announced for some time, but it’s the first time I’ve played with them. The idea is to record brain activity when the player is in the “zone” and then use biofeedback to assist the player to get BACK into the “zone”. One group at their GDC booth was collecting data on player concentration/interest via a puzzle game. With a large enough dataset, this will be a breakthrough to measure user interest during game testing. It’s quite a leap to suggest ECG patterns would be similar enough between people to assess interest, boredom, etc. But if they are successful, it would be a boon for game testing and hopefully produce more engaging titles.
There is an old New Yorker cartoon that features two dogs. One says to the other, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”
Indeed, it has been common for people to hide behind fake personas online for most of the commercial life of the internet. Many did so with chat (remember AOL’s chat rooms?), and many do so with their avatars in Second Life and in online games (e.g. World of Warcraft).
But at least one place on the internet, what you see is what you get. A recent study shows, at least for subset of the population on Facebook, users present a truer representation of themselves.
see No Lie! Your Facebook Profile Is the Real You | Wired Science | Wired.com.
I have been a science fiction fan for as long as I can remember. Despite my wide reading in this genre, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) never ceases to amaze me. The work they fund is straight from the pages of the books I read in my youth.
I found this blog post about a project presented this week at the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), in Baltimore, Md. Cornell University engineers presented their work with hybrid cybernetic organisms. In a nutshell, they are able to control the flight path of an insect. These can be used for stealthy military reconnaissance, etc.
Caloric restriction has been shown to increase life span in primates, dogs, rats, worms, fruit flies, and other animals. Although these animals live longer, caloric restriction also has profound effects such as inhibition of reproduction.
A new study at University College London further teased apart this effect. Fruit flies reproductive abilities were followed during caloric restriction. Scientists then added single nutrients back into the flies diet.
The scientists found the addition of vitamins and minerals had no effect on the fruit flies reproductive abilities. Adding essential amino acids to the diet returned reproduction to normal, but also shortened the flies lives. Interestingly, a single amino acid, methionine, could restart the flies reproductive abilities without reducing the flies lifespan. Other scientists have found that reducing methionine in normal diet could extend lifespan.
It is unknown if this same effect will be present in humans.
via Amino Acid Recipe Could Be Right For Long Life – Science News.