CNN;
By routing signals from helmet-mounted cameras, sonar and other equipment through the tongue to the brain, they hope to give elite soldiers superhuman senses similar to owls, snakes and fish.Researchers at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition envision their work giving Army Rangers 360-degree unobstructed vision at night and allowing Navy SEALs to sense sonar in their heads while maintaining normal vision underwater -- turning sci-fi into reality.
The device, known as "Brain Port," was pioneered more than 30 years ago by Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita, a University of Wisconsin neuroscientist. Bach-y-Rita began routing images from a camera through electrodes taped to people's backs and later discovered the tongue was a superior transmitter.
(h/t America's #1 Kelly Pickler blog!)
Posted by Kate at April 28, 2006 12:32 AMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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whats unsettling to me is that we are turning our planet into gadgets and for all the so-called technology -well the V8 is back and we havnt been to the moon for awhile.
Posted by: disko at April 28, 2006 1:16 AMAs the cliché goes, yesterday's science fiction is today's science fact.
If you want to read about something even more incredible, the not-so-distant future of Artificial Intelligence, read this Scientific American paper by Professor Hans Morevec, former Director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. The hyperlink is at the bottom.
This field of Artificial Intelligence will almost certainly ultimately force Humanity to answer the question "not CAN we do it, but SHOULD we?" The consequences could be magnitudes higher for the human race than even nuclear energy.
It would definitely seem the 21st century will fulfill the ancient Chinese blessing/curse "May you live in interesting times."
http://cart.frc.ri.cmu.edu/users/hpm/project.archive/robot.papers/1999/SciAm.scan.html
Posted by: Dave at April 28, 2006 1:20 AMI was just wondering, instead of thinking about the military connotations, wouldn't this technology be beneficial to the blind. Kind of like a 21st century seeing eye dog, you might say.
Posted by: Rick W at April 28, 2006 2:05 AMRick W: I don't doubt the researchers already thought of that. The military is big on innovation, and a lot (probably almost all) of their original inventions are adapted for civilian use.
Posted by: Vox Mentis at April 28, 2006 2:20 AMimagine the pandimonium if the authorities could smell EVERYTHING-on the other hand it would be fun to watch!
Posted by: disko at April 28, 2006 2:37 AMHey, maybe they could tweek it so the folks on the lib-left can sense reality!
Posted by: Richard Evans at April 28, 2006 8:36 AMGotta love those people who believe each new scientific breakthrough is a moral hazard. The truth is this stuff makes our lives better no matter how many hollywood films like 'Frankenstein' and 'Jurasak Park' try to tell us otherwise.
Posted by: Farmer Joe at April 28, 2006 9:36 AMAlthough this sounds like an interesting line of research, the idea that soldiers, sailors, and airmen need more information without overloading it through standard channels isn't new.
I knew a fellow working at DCIEM at CFB Downsview years ago whose work's entire focus was on how to get more information to fighter pilots whose auditory and visual senses were already overloaded. In other words, they already had too many beeps and whistles indicating different things, and too many symbols and numbers on their HUD, so he was looking at how information could be passed using the other senses. His focus was mostly on touch (hot, cold and textures in responsive gloves), but that was just because it was the easiest to start with. In his mind, there was no reason distinct smells and tastes couldn't be used to communicate important info to the pilot as well (imagine if altitude were communicated on a sliding taste scale to a pilot, where the closer you were to the deck, the more sour the taste, and the higher the sweeter).
The idea of expanding beyond the five current senses through direct input into the nervous system is an interesting one, but I wonder if our brain is set up to handle another sense. If sonar was perceived as an image, we'd just be overloading the visual. If we could actually detect it as something separate above touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing, that would be very useful indeed.
Posted by: Damian at April 28, 2006 9:41 AM"What's the name of that terrorist camp I'm about to obliterate? It's on the tip of my tongue."
Posted by: molarmauler at April 28, 2006 12:45 PMHmmmm..I'm still waiting for flying cars...
Posted by: Bruce at April 28, 2006 12:46 PMI understand that a lot of blogs were knocked offline today due to a denial of service attack on Hosting Matters.
I suppose the culprits were the Gay Monkeys for Marriage coalition ... you do not want to get on the bad side of those animals.
Posted by: Mississauga Matt at April 28, 2006 12:50 PMHope we don*t need the gadgets real soon.
Iran is lining up Israeli targets
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Although the Lebanese government technically controls the border area, its military is not considered strong enough to control Hizbollah, which takes its orders directly from Teheran.
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http://tinyurl.com/qrj64
*Iran is playing a very dangerous game of cat and mouse on our northern border and it could easily spiral out of control at any moment,* said the officer.
In recent weeks Hizbollah sent unmanned aircraft on reconnaissance missions over the border to photograph sensitive Israeli military installations. The spy planes returned to base before being detected by air defence systems.
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Looks like an unpleasant warming up… TG