Laurence Fried and his colleagues at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California decided to see if they could get water to go superionic. To do so, they recreated the conditions inside the giant planets of our Solar System. Such planets are extremely hot (more than 1,000 ºC) and have extremely high pressure (some 100,000 times the pressure on earth). The team used a device that smashed water between two diamonds. Then they heated the water with an infrared laser. The calculations and experiments appear to show water shifting to a superionic phase. It has been predicted for years that water in this weird state is structured such that the oxygen atoms are essentially frozen, but the hydrogen atoms can whiz around at high speed.

“By looking at [the frequency with which the water molecules vibrated] we are able to determine phase boundaries, but we don’t really know what is on the other side of the boundary.”

The researchers also studied computer models of the atoms’ behaviour, which suggested that the water had indeed entered a superionic phase, a strange state between solid and liquid. Tracking a group of some 60 simulated atoms took weeks, and required computing power equivalent to 1,000 laptops.

Why I blog this? It is cool science and I like to keep track of projects which require decent amounts of computing power. The amount of processing power in the world will continue expanding rapidly, and the price to compute will continue to drop. Thus, any problem which requires a lot of work to solve and is considered hard now could possibly be within reach a few years from now. My computer science background and entrepreneurial mindset scream “Opportunities abound!”

via news@nature.com

Wordcount is an online interactive visualization of the frequency of word usage in the English language. I created the above image after searching for echo and generation. The graph below shows how most of the time people stick to a small subset of available words.

Why I blog this? It offers a different perspective on how we use language. It is also an example of a simple, clean, and stylish flash interface which presents a massive set of data in an easy to interpret way.

via Genius Now

Here is an example of another java graph visualization, Tree by Texon. Quite pretty. Looks like they are using Processing for the smooth visuals.

tree accesses the source code of a webdomain through it’s url and transforms the syntactic structure of the website into a tree structure represented by an image. this image illustrates a tree with trunk, branches and ramifications. first each tree is initialized, than all html links are detected, chronologically saved and finally displayed.

the first tree corresponds to the domain; according to the syntax of the website each further tree that builds up represents a subpage including all existing elements. the color of these trees reflects the color values of the domain and its subpages.

The image below is the tree for this blog.

And this is the forest that appears after leaving it on long enough. (I am one of the trees on the right side)

The forest is built in real-time without any noticable refresh. Looks like an interesting art project, but there is no interactivity from what I can tell.

Why I blog this? Mark added a comment to my previous post about his visualization tool, MyDensity. I think he will enjoy the link - it seems to be fairly good example of a similar Java visualization. And to answer your question: I want it to be real-time, interactive, and visually pleasing. Basically, let me hunt with ease through the mass of data. And find subtle ways to give me more information on that data, such as using different colours, sizes, etc. But keep it simple :)

via Josh Robin via Protein

My prediction was correct - Mitch did notice my posting about MyDensity. Check out his recent RafcliffBlog post entitled Bolstering our maps.

So, how has my MyDensity graph changed? Let’s take a look:

The results are quite different than the results from a few days ago. Last time it only returned a few sites that linked to me.

The results are different than what I expected. It just seems to be a graph of the sites I link to. I was hoping to see new sites (like his) that had linked to me since I posted about MyDensity.

So I became bored and decided to use the Fengshuinate box, which I had not noticed last time. I had no idea what it did, but here is the results:

According to his 1-minute-guide:

use the Fengshuinate box to see the map of how all the sites are interconnected, which rearranges the map to show the most central sites in the network. Unchecking Fengshuinate will freeze the map in its new arrangement; the longer you leave Fengshuinate checked, the more dispersed the map will become.

It is kinda cool, but each iteration takes a while and Java visuals are hurting. The applet also consistently crashed my Opera 7.54, but Opera 8 seems fine.

Why I blog this? It relates to my previous post about MyDensity.

via Livejournal we have How to really confuse your party guests . Someone created a room that literally rotates your perspective by 90 degrees - the furniture is stuck to the walls. This must have been fun to build and socialize in!

via near near future comes LED-lit ‘emotional’ public furniture. Illuminated chairs meant to be placed in artificially-lit indoor spaces (shopping malls, subway stations, etc.) which glow, dim, flash and change color in response to people sitting on it throughout the day. The chairs are embedded with sensors that measure the presence of people over time and translate both the number of people sitting and the length of time they stay into ’social interactive pattern’ light effects.

via New Scientist comes the headline: Blood vessels recovered from T. rex bone. Jurassic Park is beginning to seem less like science fiction and more like science.

Mitch Ratcliffe is the founder of a small company named Persuadio. Persuadio was recently featured in Esther Dyson’s PC Forum - one of hottest annual events in the technology and venture capital worlds. Why? Because Mitch is an entrepreneur with an innovative piece of software. His company has created a free blog social relationship exploration tool called MyDensity. MyDensity maps the first two degrees of the social network around any URL. People can use it to figure out where they are and how people find them. The basic idea is to increase understanding of how people’s sites are rising and falling in popularity and where those changes start in the market.

What we hope to let you do with our tool is let you see where [on the Web] you are compared to all of these other kinds of interests and then measure how much value is somewhere and who you need to influence in order to get people to start paying attention to you.

I found out about MyDensity thru stories Mitch is posting about his ongoing entrepreneurial experiences. See his Red Herring posts entitled We’re talking real money now (Mar. 9/05), Crunch Time (Mar. 17/05), and The extraordinary lightness of entrepreneuring (Mar. 23/05).

Also check out RatcliffeBlog, his personal blog, where he announces Persuadio LLC.

Why I blog this? Because I think he is on to something.

We need more ways to visualize the heaps of metadata the Blogosphere produces. The picture below (created about 24 hours ago) shows the results of a search for this blog. This is a young blog so I did not expect any results, but I had a few.

Searching with MyDensity returns a graph that you can dig into. Needless to say I am impressed with the application. The visual interface and navigation need work but can be upgraded later - innovative functionality comes first. When the resources are available a better visual interface can be built and MyDensity could be set to kick ass. But hey… maybe I am biased?

Why I really blog this? As you may have guessed, the primary reason for this post is to attract Mitch’s attention. I would hazard a small bet that he notices. Maybe this post will help increase Echo Generations popularity. I guess I will just have to check in from time to time using MyDensity to see if it does.

If he notices this post I wager mucho dinero that the next time I use his search engine the results for this blog will be worth posting about… again. :)

via ZDNet - Startup Persuadio visualizes opportunity in the Internet’s long tail. ZDNet also hosts an audio interview with Ratcliffe (mp3).

Recent research at the California Institute of Technology has confirmed that an area of the human brain, the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vPF), is involved in the planning stages of movement. The planning stages of movement happen during the instantaneous flicker of time when we contemplate moving a limb. This has implications for the development of brain-machine interfaces for the paralyzed as well as for able-bodied people who may seek to augment themselves with such technology. According the press release, the work currently appears in the online version of Nature Neuroscience. I do not subscribe to Nature so unfortunatly I can not access this paper.

“We were looking for the brain regions that may be contributing to planned movements. And what I was able to show is that a part of the brain called the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex is indeed involved in planning these movements.” Just by analyzing the brain activity from the implanted electrodes using software algorithms that he wrote, Rizzuto was able to tell with very high accuracy where the target was located while it was on the screen, and also what direction the patient was going to reach to when the target wasn’t even there.

Why I blog this? Practical consumer/amateur level brain-computer interfaces, with at least rudimentary functionality, are within reach. Obviously implanted electrodes are not practical for most people, but research is advancing in all directions. So, if we do get external BCI’s, even if they act simply as a new form of mouse, they will still be very hot technology to play with. I try to keep somewhat up to date on developments in this field.

via Caltech Press Release - Scientists Discover What You Are Thinking, March 16, 2005
via KurzweilAI.net

Why I blog this? From what I can see, Andrew has an eye for catching the right everything in a picture - but so do other photographers. So what makes his story any different? Because Andrew tries to explain how and why he takes pictures, using theoretical physics as his basis. His website has some interesting content but is mostly a mess of Java, so I suggest checking out his lecture notes (PDF - 7.5MB) or his 2004 Portfolio and Artist’s Statement (PDF - 15.6MB) directly.

Talk about sensory overload! A company called Lightspace has created an amazing LED powered interactive lighting system that looks mighty fun.

Lightspace is a revolutionary entertainment system that combines the latest lighting and interactive technologies to produce a recreational experience that will provide hours of fun to children and adults of all ages. The system is capable of storing and running a potentially limitless variety of interactive programs and can be used by any number of participants simultaneously. Lightspace creates an engaging experience that will draw young children, teenagers and adults. Lightspace provides significant return on investment by generating the repeat-customer business so critical for family entertainment center growth and profitability.

This looks awesome, I can think of a number of ways this could add value in a club or a restaurant environment. It could be part of the dance floor, and also be part of the tables and walls - you could allow people to order using the interactive visual interface. I think it would be great fun for a certain type of techno-crowd. We are used to interacting with interfaces - and this one looks extremely fun!

The Lightspace™ system is comprised of programmable LED lit tiles that are assembled together to form a floor of any size or shape. At the heart of the Club Scene product is the Lightspace™ Management System (LMS). The LMS provides DJs and VJs complete control over the floor so that they can effectively integrate it into their current routine or create a totally new immersive experience.

Why I blog this? I am very interested in interactive display technology, and this is one of the best examines I have seen. I would even consider something like this in my house, so I could design personalized visuals to go with the music I am producing.

via pasta and vinegar
via Chris O’Shea’s blog. He has made a few cool posts this week - I suggest checking out his site.

A company called Plustech, a part of John Deer, produces a six-legged walking forest machine that adapts automatically to the forest floor.

Moving on six articulated legs, the harvester advances forward and backward, sideways and diagonally. It can also turn in place and step over obstacles. Depending on the irregularity of the terrain, the operator can adjust both the ground clearance of the machine and heigh of each step.

The machine’s nerve center is an intelligent computer system that controls all walking functions - including the direction of movement, the travelling speed, the step heigh and gait, and the ground clearance.

Why I blog this? During a conversation with my friend Murat I referenced this six-legged beast. Enjoy the link Murat.

via worldchanging

I subscribe to a PubSub feed that searches for my name. Today I was able to see that the IFTF’s Future Now blog has linked to a story I posted a few days ago about an online name popularity visualizer. Also, checking my Bloglines account, I can see that I have been subscribed to the ITFT’s Future Now blog since March 8, 2005. Bloglines lists 579 total and 213 public subscribers to their blog.

Why I blog this? I blog this for two reasons. First, it is a great example of how efficient and connected the Blogosphere is. I was able to get this information effortlessly. Secondly, I can’t seem to add a comment to their site. They have used my correct name and blog address, but the name of my blog is wrong. It should be Echo Generation, not Echo Location. Maybe they will notice this post.

How much can we understand about human motion using only simple cues? Take a look for yourself using BioMotionLab1.6, a flash-based visual demonstration developed by an international team of researchers headed by Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Troje. Adjust four different sliders (male/female, heavy/light, nervous/relaxed, and happy/sad) to change the motion of the dots. It is amazing how much the human mind can ‘read’ from the motion, even though only minimal data is presented. I played around with it for a few minutes and found their simulation to be a fairly elegant examination of human movement using such a small number of points.

Dr. Troje holds a Canadian Research Chair in Vision and Behavioural Sciences. The Biomotion lab operates out of two locations: Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany.

From the Biomotion lab site:

We are working on several aspects of visual perception and cognition. Our major interest is focused on questions concerning the biology and psychology of social recognition. That is: conspecific recognition, gender recognition, individual recognition, recognition of an agent’s actions, intentions, and emotions and personality traits.

In the past, we had mainly worked on the psychophysics and modelling of human face recognition. More recently, our focus shifted towards perception of biological motion as a major source of social information.

The goal of our current work is to provide a solid basis for the description, analysis and synthesis of animate motion patterns. We want to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the information transmitted through biological motion, its perception and underlying neuronal mechanisms. In addition to human psychophysics, we are using the pigeon as a model for ethological and neurophysiological investigations in the context of courtship behaviour, social learning, and social fascilitation.

The procedure they used to create the display will be described in detail in a forthcoming paper submitted to the Journal of Vision. Troje, N. F. (submitted) Decomposing biological motion: A framework for the analysis and synthesis of human gait patterns.

Why I blog this? I referenced it in my Cybernetics and Society (STV205) class, but was unable to actually demonstrate the visualization because I did not have a computer available at the time. To anyone from class who was interested - Enjoy :)