Tiny brain implant delivers drugs with a remote control

An implant, the size of a human hair, can deliver drugs to the brain with the click of a button. A team of researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Illinois have demonstrated the wireless technology in mice. While a previous iteration of the device delivered LED to neurons that respond to light, the latest experiment successfully introduced pharmacological agents directly to the brain. A drug was first sent to one side of the brain that made a mouse move around in a circle. Next, shining a light onto cells that cue the release of dopamine rewarded the mice with happy feelings. When the rodents came around for more, the researchers used a remote control to interject with a drug that put a halt on the dopamine effect.

Previous experiments required that drugs or other compounds be delivered while the animals were tethered to tubes. But the mice in this particular demonstration roamed free (in a maze) while the drugs were carried wirelessly to the brain. “We’ve designed it to exploit infrared technology, similar to that used in a TV remote,” Jordan McCall, a graduate student at the lab said in a statement. “If we want to influence an animal’s behavior with light or with a particular drug, we can simply point the remote at the animal and press a button.”

This remote-controlled technology, for now restricted to lab animals, has a specific purpose. Over time it might be used to treat depression or epilepsy by directly targeting specific parts of the human brain with therapies. The soft implant is designed to fit in with the rest of the brain tissue so it can stay lodged for a long time without causing inflammation or damage.

[Image credit: Lyn Alweis via Getty Images]

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Source: Business Insider

Plastic roads may put asphalt to shame

The days of putting up with crumbling asphalt streets might just come to an end. Construction company VolkerWessels has revealed plans for recycled plastic roads that are both more sustainable and more practical than old-fashioned blacktop. Besides reusing material, they’d last about three times longer and survive greater temperature ranges (between -40F and 176F) — despite their fragile look, they’re less likely to crack under the strain of vehicles or the weather. You can pre-assemble them to lay them down faster, too, and their hollow structure is handy for cabling and pipes.

This is just a concept at the moment, but VolkerWessels fully intends to test it and make sure that it holds up in the real world. That’s not idle talk, either. The Dutch city of Rotterdam is interested in trying out these plastic surfaces in its “street lab,” and the company hopes to have an honest-to-goodness route in operation within three years. If the idea still sounds outlandish, look at it this way: it’s likely the closest you’ll ever get to driving a Hot Wheels track in real life.

Filed under: Transportation, Science

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Via: The Guardian, IEEE Spectrum, Slashdot

Source: VolkerWessels

Massachusetts grills Uber and Lyft over disability access

Ridesharing outfits make some effort to accommodate disabled passengers, but Massachusetts isn’t sure that they go far enough. Reuters has learned that the state’s Attorney General is grilling Uber and Lyft over the levels of disability access they provide. There aren’t any official actions under way, but this is the first time that any US attorney general’s office has given accessibility a look. That’s bound to make the two companies nervous when both of them are facing lawsuits over their support for guide dogs and wheelchairs.

For its part, Uber says it both talks to lawmakers about accessibility and has a team “dedicated” to improving access. If Massachusetts presses for changes, there’s a real chance that it’ll get at least some concessions rather than face a legal battle. With that said, ridesharing companies have historically resisted measures that potentially hike their costs — we wouldn’t rule out some pushback if they believe the state is taking things too far.

[Image credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu]

Filed under: Transportation, Internet

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Source: Reuters

Drones are pestering Spain’s royal family

France isn’t the only European country grappling with suspicious drone flights, it seems. Reportedly, guards at the Spanish royal family’s La Zarzuela palace have spotted numerous robotic aircraft flying through its airspace at night, including the residences. That’s bad enough by itself, but the kicker is that radio jamming isn’t working — short of breaking out guns, the guards can’t just bring these machines down.

There aren’t any telltale clues as to who’s responsibility, and the palace isn’t commenting. While paparazzi seem like an obvious answer, nighttime doesn’t really provide the best conditions for taking photos of the King and Queen. There’s also a concern that terrorism might be afoot, but the pilots could just as easily be activists, pranksters or even curious locals. Either way, it looks like Spain will have to follow the lead of other countries and tighten its anti-drone measures around high-security areas.

[Image credit: AP Photo/Abraham Caro Marin]

Filed under: Robots

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Via: The Local, Slashdot

Source: Monarquia Confidencial (translated)

UK sets the rules of the road for driverless car tests

A bunch of driverless cars are now being trialled in the UK, so it makes sense to give researchers a special kind of road-testing rulebook. After all, Britain’s existing laws were never written with autonomous vehicles in mind. To support the new wave of research, the Department for Transport (DfT) has published a Code of Practice which sets out some basic ground rules for testing driverless cars on public roads. These include having a backup driver that can retake control at any moment — similar to how Google’s driverless cars operate in the US. Supervisors should also hold an appropriate UK driving licence and be familiar with new systems that might cause problems and require intervention.

Most of the rules should be obvious — for instance, the vehicles must be insured and obey the UK’s normal road laws. Even in an automated mode, however, the supervisor should adhere to the same rules as an active driver — that means they can’t use their phone or anything else that might distract them. The Code of Practice also suggests alerting the highway authorities to testing zones and setting up a specialised contact with the local police and fire services. Finally, driverless cars should capture and store data while they’re out on the road. Similar to a plane’s flight recorder, this will give researchers and investigators a way to determine what went wrong after an accident or mechanical failure.

The Code of Practice shouldn’t trouble the trials already underway in the UK. Most of the prototype vehicles haven’t been designed for public roads anyway — the Lutz pod and Meridian shuttle are gliding around parks and other pedestrian spaces, for instance — but it lays the groundwork for when researchers are ready to tackle the open road.

To coincide with today’s release, the UK government is opening up a fifth of the £100 million investment announced in George Osborne’s March budget statement. The DfT says it’s looking for projects that can improve the safety, reliability and awareness of driverless cars, as well as new research examining how such vehicles could be used to help elderly people. The investment is, however, dependent on bidders match-funding projects with their own money — so only companies with deep pockets should probably apply.

Filed under: Transportation

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Source: Department for Transport

Ashley Madison hack threatens to expose millions of users

Ashley Madison, the dating website that purports to connect people looking for an affair, has been the victim of a hack that has exposed the personal data of its 37 million users. Krebs on Security is reporting that the perpetrators are a hacker or hackers going by the name of Impact Team. So far, only a small selection of information has been uploaded, but the group is threatening to post the entire haul unless Ashley Madison and sister site Established Men are shut down for good. CEO Noel Biderman has confirmed that the attack is legitimate and has pledged to take down compromising files as they’re found online. Not that it’s likely to be much comfort to the people waking up to find their personal details splashed across the internet.

It’s believed that the hack was carried out because of a much-derided feature that the company offers called Full Delete. Should a user wish to leave the site, they can pay a $19 fee to have all of their personal data scrubbed from the Madison servers. There’s only one catch: according to Impact Team, it’s all a lie, and despite making $1.7 million from the service in 2014, the data remains safely preserved.

For his part, Biderman believes that the attack was an inside job and that he is close to confirming the identity of the culprit. Right now, it’s thought that the person wasn’t an employee, but someone who had “touched” the company’s “technical services.” That makes sense, since the Impact Team statement offers an apology to Mark Steele, the website’s director of security.

At the time of publication, Ashley Madison remains online, but we imagine that we’ll be spending the rest of the day updating this piece as new developments occur. Perhaps the company should change its tagline from “life is short, have an affair” to “it’s all fun and games until everybody finds out.”

[Image Credit: AFP/Getty Images]

Filed under: Internet

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Via: FT

Source: Krebs on Security, PR Newswire