Lifeboat Foundation

The hippocampus is a region of the brain known to the associated with memory, learning, spatial navigation and emotion. In 1971, neuroscientists discovered that the hippocampus influences spatial navigation through the formation of a series of “spatial codes,” which encode characteristics related to an animal or human’s surrounding environment, including sensory cues and where rewards are located.

These codes are encoded by a type of neurons known as “place cells,” which were found to become active when an animal is entering a specific place or location in its environment. Together, place cells in the hippocampus form representations of the places that animals are navigating, also known as cognitive maps.

Since place cells were first uncovered, numerous teams worldwide have been conducting studies aimed at better understanding their function and how they encode spatial information. While there is now a large body of research focusing on place cells, some of the factors influencing their functioning are still poorly understood.

Google Maps to add “immersive view”

Google Maps, the world’s most-downloaded travel app, will soon become more immersive and intuitive thanks to a major upgrade.

The online tool is used by over 1 billion people every month. It already includes satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets, real-time traffic conditions, and route planning. At its annual I/O developer conference held in California, Google announced key features being added to further enhance its appearance and functionality.

Google’s new Immersive View is a leap forward for how data is displayed in Google Maps.

The robotic explorer GLIMPSE, created at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, has made it into the final round of a competition for prospecting resources in space. The long-term goal is for the robot to explore the south polar region of the moon.

The south polar region of the moon is believed to contain many resources that would be useful for lunar base operations, such as metals, water in the form of ice, and oxygen stored in rocks. But to find them, an explorer robot that can withstand the extreme conditions of this part of the moon is needed. Numerous craters make moving around difficult, while the low angle of the sunlight and thick layers of dust impede the use of light-based measuring instruments. Strong fluctuations in temperature pose a further challenge.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Space Resources Innovation Center ESRIC called on European and Canadian engineering teams to develop robots and tools capable of mapping and prospecting the shadowy south polar region of the moon, between the Shoemaker and the Faustini craters. To do this, the researchers had to adapt terrestrial exploration technologies for the harsh conditions on the moon.

If you look at Amtrak’s route map, you’ll notice that the service isn’t really geared toward serving rural areas and smaller cities. Sure, they do stop at some smaller cities along existing rail routes, but those aren’t the point as much as a place to get fuel and let people get onto connecting services. On top of that issue, Amtrak largely uses the same tracks as freight trains, and the freight lines have been placed according to freight needs and not the needs of potential passengers. In one particularly weird case, it completely skips the Phoenix metro area, with the nearest station in Maricopa.

But I’m getting off topic a bit with that last one. The main point to gather from the map is that it’s designed mostly to connect larger cities with other large cities. Going from New York to Los Angeles isn’t a big deal. Going from El Paso to Albuquerque, well, even Amtrak tells you on the map that you’re getting on a Greyhound. Public transit really isn’t a priority in the United States, though. So maybe this isn’t a fair comparison. Let’s look at some maps in other countries for a minute:

Weber State’s new augmented reality sandbox uses 3D sensors and a projector to instantly display topographic maps on to the sand. The display moves with the sand, adjusting for different elevations, features, and weather events.

May was using a feature on the glasses called Ally, which lets him start video calls with friends and family to get help.

“I called up one of my colleagues, Evelyn, and said, ‘What do you see?’ and she described the environment to me,” said May, chief evangelist at accessible navigation company Goodmaps. “She told me where the tables were and just gave me the lay of the land.”

Envision Glasses are built on the enterprise edition of Google Glass. (Yes, Google Glass is still alive.) Google unveiled these smart glasses back in 2013, then touting them as a way for users to take calls, send texts, snap pictures and look at maps, among other things, right from the headset. But after a limited — and unsuccessful — release, they never hit store shelves.

Continue reading “These Glasses for the Blind Can Read Documents, Scan Faces” »

𝙉𝙚𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙. 𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠, 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙮, 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙢, 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙮, 𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙝-𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙮, 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙡… See more.

The Neuro-Network.

𝐌𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝

Continue reading “Mapping the brain to understand the mind” »

The world seems to have taken notice of the level of details services like Google Maps offer on an everyday basis. A Twitter account supporting the Ukrainian forces recently shared some images of Russian military establishments that were in public view on Google Maps.

⚡️GOOGLE MAPS ВІДКРИВ ДОСТУП ДО ВІЙСЬКОВИХ ТА СТРАТЕГІЧНИХ ОБ’ЄКТІВ РОСІЇ. Тепер кожен може побачити різноманітні російські пускові установки, шахти міжконтинентальних балістичних ракет, командні пункти та секретні полігони з роздільною здатністю близько до 5 метра на піксель. pic.twitter.com/i75wR8Efwo — Armed Forces 🇺🇦 (@ArmedForcesUkr) April 18, 2022

As the caption reads, Google has opened access to Russian military and strategic facilities. The tweet was probably an attempt at virtue signaling that Google had taken a stance against Russian aggression. However, as a Google spokesperson told The Verge, the information was available in the public domain well before the Ukraine conflict.