Planets Jupiter, Venus, Mercury and Mars to line up in Australian sky

FORGET the hippie-era song that has Jupiter aligning with Mars and love steering the stars. The fact is, those two orbs get together all the time.

The truly remarkable event - when Jupiter lines up with Venus, Mercury and Mars in the pre-dawn sky - will be visible in Australia's eastern sky on Friday.

The alignment of the four planets, which happens only once every 50 to 100 years, will occur just before sunrise, Sydney Observatory says.

"Every couple of years you get two or three planets that come close together, but to have four is particularly rare," the observatory's education officer, Geoffrey Wyatt, said today.

The last time Australians saw such a show was in 1910, and the next occasion would not be until 2056, Mr Wyatt said.

During the alignment, from 5am on Friday, the four planets will be visible just above the horizon in the east.

Venus, in the middle of the group, will be the brightest. Just above and to the left will be Jupiter, while Mercury will be to the right of Jupiter and slightly fainter.

Early risers have already noticed Jupiter and Venus in the eastern sky before sunrise, Mr Wyatt said.

"It looks pretty much like two headlights coming towards you. We are getting lots of calls already saying there are two bright lights in the sky."

He wouldn't speculate on how the alignment might influence people, astrologically speaking.

"Astronomers don't put any credence into that, in terms of the force exerted on people," he said.

"A mosquito buzzing around a room is going to have far more effect on you."

Sydney Observatory is hosting a public breakfast viewing with astronomers.

University researchers create networked flying robots that build complex structures

Future where massive, flying robots assemble complex structures like skyscrapers or houses, with all the machines working as one, coordinated through a wireless network and custom algorithm.

Granted, a similar process already takes place today on a much smaller scale, albeit guided by human pilots.

But with the potential for human error eliminated, construction times could be drastically reduced. Ultimately, a hyper-streamlined system could result in thousands of construction jobs being eliminated and a surge in urban sprawl.

Such an invention, properly scaled upward, would be simply revolutionary -- and that radical vision, scarcely imagined even in science fiction, took its first step toward becoming a reality in 2011.

University of Pennsylvania PhD candidate Daniel Mellinger, in a project by the school's GRASP Lab (General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception), created a set of flying, networked robot builders that can quickly and accurately assemble structures made out of magnetic rods.

The only input required from a human equipped with such a system would be her choice of blueprint: the drones handle everything else.

The robotic helicopters, equipped with a specialized grabbing mechanism for Mellinger's latest demonstration, were shown last year to be dexterous enough to do mid-air flips, pass through windows, perch on vertical surfaces and swarm in predefined patterns.

While it was just a small-scale project, it was likely to go down as one of the first to truly show the potential of hive-mind robotic assistants.

"I think this work is a first step in autonomous aerial robotic assembly," Mellinger told Raw Story. "I think it is reasonable to say that in the near future we can have large-scale aerial robots autonomously building structures that are useful to humans."

This video is from the University of Pennsylvania's GRASP Lab, published Jan. 13, 2010.

'Team Frankenstein' launch bid to build a human brain within decade

A team of scientists has assembled in Switzerland and Germany to pursue a unique goal - the building of a computer model of a human brain.
Called the Human Brain Project - but perhaps inevitably dubbed 'Team Frankenstein' in the media - it is in discussion with the EU for a £1billion grant.
Scientists claim success may lead to cures for various diseases like Parkinson's.

Hope: Henry Markram, director of the Human Brain Project in Switzerland, leads of a team of scientist in a project that could lead to cures for various diseases
It could also lead to intelligent robots and supercomputers which would dwarf those currently in existence.

Henry Markram, a neuroscientist at the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Switzerland, has assembled a team of nine top European scientists for the research effort.
‘This is one of the three grand challenges for humanity. We need to understand earth, space and the brain. We need to understand what makes us human.’ Markram told Germany's Spiegel magazine.
The scientists and researchers working with the Human Brain Project believe that if they secure the funding, they will be able to replicate mankind's most vital organ in 12 years.

First step: Rat brains were first analysed (above) before the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology was given permission to lead the Human Brain Porject
The applications for it if successful are enormous; drug companies for instance would be able to dramatically shorten testing times by bypassing humans to test new medicaments on the computer model.

Supercomputers at the Jülich Research Center near Cologne are earmarked to play a vital role in the research which Makram says will involve ‘a tsunami of data.’
Jülich neuroscientist Katrin Amunts has begun work on a detailed atlas of the brain which involved slicing one into 8,000 parts which were then digitalized with a scanner.
Makram added: ‘It is not impossible to build a human brain. We can do it in just over 10 years.
‘This will, when successful, help two billion people annually who suffer from some type of brain impairment.’

Scan: Ying Shi works on the 3D modelling of a neuron. It is this work that could ultimately lead to a fully-functioning copy of a human brain

The project has already created an artificial neocortical column which is unique to mammals.
We have many of these columns to cope with complex cognitive functions including parenthood and social interactions.
It was digitally constructed using a software model of tens of thousands of neurons.

PC : Pocket Computers

WORLD IN UR POCKET

Look closely and guess what they could be...


Are they pens with cameras?


Any wild guesses? No clue yet?
Ladies and gentlemen... congratulations! You've just looked into the future... yep that's right! You've just seen something that will replace your PC in the near future. Here is how it works:


In the revolution of miniature computers, scientists have made great developments with bluetooth technology.. . This is the forthcoming computers you can carry within your pockets.


This "pen sort of instrument" produces both the monitor as well as the keyboard on any flat surfaces from where you can carry out functions you would normally do on your desktop computer.