CHINESE have developed the "world's first"
mind-reading chip that they claim enables people to control
computers using just brain signals. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are devices that have been designed to
create simple communication between the human brain and computers.
A collaboration between Tianjin University and the
state-owned China Electronics Corporation led to the recent unveiling of “Brain
Talker,” a computer chip designed specifically for use in BCIs.
“The signals transmitted and processed by the brain are
submerged in the background noise,” Tianjin University researcher Ming Dong
said in a press release. “This BC3 [Brain-Computer Codec Chip] has the ability
to discriminate minor neural electrical signals and decode their information
efficiently, which can greatly enhance the speed and accuracy of brain-computer
interfaces.”
Ming believes the chip could help bring BCIs out of labs and
into the mainstream. "The Brain Talker chip advances BCI technology allowing it to become
more portable, wearable, and accessible to the general public."
In future, this technology could be used for a variety of purposes,
such as imparting education to disabled people, gaming, or creating
medical devices for people that have problems with body movements, for
example, those suffering from motor neurone disease. The researchers have not yet revealed whether Brain Talker will be worn outside the body or embedded in the user's brain.
Stephen Hawking had a vision that the universe expanded out of a
dimensionless point, rather like a shuttlecock. Recently, his stunning
proposal has come under attack, but a vigorous defense has been mounted.
“If you know the wave function of the universe, why aren’t you rich?” — Murray Gell-Mann
" The “no-boundary proposal,” which Hawking and his frequent
collaborator, James Hartle, fully formulated in a 1983 paper, envisions
the cosmos having the shape of a shuttlecock.
Just as a shuttlecock has a diameter of zero at its bottommost point
and gradually widens on the way up, the universe, according to the
no-boundary proposal, smoothly expanded from a point of zero size.
Hartle and Hawking derived a formula describing the whole shuttlecock —
the so-called “wave function of the universe” that encompasses the
entire past, present and future at once — making moot all contemplation
of seeds of creation, a creator, or any transition from a time before.
Hartle and Hawking’s proposal radically reconceptualized time. Each
moment in the universe becomes a cross-section of the shuttlecock; while
we perceive the universe as expanding and evolving from one moment to
the next, time really consists of correlations between the universe’s
size in each cross-section and other properties — particularly its
entropy, or disorder. Entropy increases from the cork to the feathers,
aiming an emergent arrow of time. Near the shuttlecock’s rounded-off
bottom, though, the correlations are less reliable; time ceases to exist
and is replaced by pure space. As Hartle, now 79 and a professor at the
University of California, Santa Barbara, explained it by phone
recently, “We didn’t have birds in the very early universe; we have
birds later on. … We didn’t have time in the early universe, but we have
time later on.”
Military life can also involve difficulties for families,
particularly in managing the expectations of military and civilian
cultures. Values that may be important in a military context such as
discipline and obedience to authority may not always mesh with civilian
behaviours and values, such as negotiation and compromise.
Mental health issues can impact on a person’s ability to parent
effectively. For example, a parent with depression may find he or she
has little motivation or energy, and therefore struggles to interact
with the children; he or she may become irritable and less patient with
children or may lack the confidence to set limits.
The practical
realities of military life have perhaps the most significant impacts on
family functioning, including long absences during training and
deployments, changes in roles and responsibilities, adapting to regular
relocations, and managing upheavals in partners’ careers and children’s
schooling. Military families have to cope with the potential for
exposure to extraordinary risks, such as the injury or death in combat
of a family member. A potentially challenging period for some is the
transition out of the military. Separation from Defence can involve
changes in location, finances and family roles (e.g., the partner of a
veteran becoming the main income earner).
The emotional and physical impact of exposure to combat,
humanitarian, peacekeeping and peacemaking experiences for veterans can
have long-term consequences for many families. For example, recurring
depression, chronic substance abuse or posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) may lead to long-term conflict or disengagement within the
family. Anxiety about the veteran’s mental health and taking on the role
of carer can also take a toll on family members.
The difficulties encountered by military families have had varied
impacts across generations and for different conflicts. For example, the
Vietnam War involved conscription as well as deployment of full-time
professional forces. Many families of conscripted veterans were shaped
by the unexpected impact of the war and what often turned out to be well
over 300 days of absence. It was not unusual for Vietnam veterans to
have started a relationship or a family just before being conscripted,
and to return markedly changed by their war experience. For more than
half of recent veterans, their families have had to cope with multiple
deployments, which can place significant strains on relationships,
change parenting roles, and impact on the whole family’s social networks
Children who have a
parent with a mental health issue are more likely to experience behavioural
problems, difficulties in forming and maintaining relationships, poor
coping skills, academic difficulties, and are more likely to develop
mental health issues themselves. These issues can continue into
adulthood. For example, adult children of Vietnam veterans have a higher
rate of accidental death and suicide
the findings:
Combat trauma experiences, such as engaging directly with the enemy,
were associated with more negative outcomes. But psychological trauma,
such as witnessing noncombatant injuries or injuries of a comrade, and
physical injuries, sometimes resulted in improved outcomes for families.
Meadows explained that in some cases, the service member may have
gained a greater appreciation for family and life in these cases. These
findings merit more exploration, researchers noted.
Across the
deployment cycle, on the average, couples become less satisfied with
their marriage. But those changes aren’t significantly different from
the changes experienced by matched couples that didn’t deploy. Meadows
said it’s not unusual for marital satisfaction to decline in civilian
couples, too.
For spouses, more frequent communication with
the service member during deployment is associated with greater marital
satisfaction after the deployment.
There was no overall
significant effect of deployment on psychological or behavioral health
problems for service members or spouses. But service members who
experienced deployment trauma showed an increase in depression,
post-traumatic stress and anxiety symptoms, compared with their levels
before deployment. When the service member was injured during the study
deployment, the spouse showed increases in these symptoms, as well as in
binge drinking. Researchers recommended, during that post-deployment
phase for military families, that programs, services and polices should
target families whose service member experienced deployment trauma.
Leaving the military in the post-deployment period had effects on
service members and spouses. For spouses, there was lower marital
satisfaction; and deployed members who subsequently separated from or
retired from the military showed increased levels of psychological
symptoms. Addressing psychological problems around the time of
separation from the military may be important for avoiding longer-term
problems, the researchers noted.
There generally was no
significant effect from deployment on children and teens. But an
exception was found from spouses who reported concerns following a study
deployment about their children who were younger than 11. There were
more difficulties, such as emotional conduct and peer problems, and more
need for child mental health services, compared with these younger
children in matched families who didn’t experience a deployment during the research period.
Sometimes teens disagreed with their parents’ perceptions of how the
family was adjusting after the deployment. Teens said after the
deployment, family cohesion was not as good, and the relationship with
the parent at home was not as good. Some said that after the deployment,
the relationship with the deployed parent was not as good. Of the 425
teens who provided information, the changes the researchers saw "were
enough to be statistically significant," Meadows said.
Teens
reported that their drug use increased slightly after deployment. They
self-reported drug use as very low (around "never") before and during
deployments, but increased afterward to just slightly more than "never."
Service members and spouses who engaged in predeployment activities
reported higher satisfaction with parenting post-deployment.
Financial distress declined during the deployment for both the spouse and the service member.
Communication with other military families and other military teens
during the deployment was strongly associated with more positive
outcomes.
A Father’s War, A Son’s Toxic Inheritancehttps://www.propublica.org/…/a-fathers-war-a-sons-toxic-inh… Psychological Problems in Children of War Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2525831/ https://at-ease.dva.gov.au/professionals/client-resources/mental-health-advice-book/12-impact-veterans-experiences-their https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2016/04/11/study-families-experience-generally-few-long-term-effects-from-deployment/
