Remember the story about memristors? Now HP, the company developing the memristor, have talked to the media. The memristor promises to perform data processing and storage tasks (even without an electrical charge) - sounds a lot like the brain.

HP’s scientist claim that the human brain are made of memristors - so they could build a Memristor-based brain that could learn and think just as the human brain.

Read the article (New York Times) or watch the 6-minute memristor guide (youtube).

In 1940, futurist Bel Geddes predicted that “in two generations, we will drive in a new kind of driverless car that is controlled by the push of a button”. So far, this is still science fiction. Recently however, GM’s R&D has unveiled a space-age “talking car” - that is, it can “sense” other cars. Read more about projects of other vehicle manufacturers (via newscientist.com)

Maybe it is not mind over matter, like Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am”. Research has shown that we think abstract concepts in terms of how our bodies function (see Embodied Intelligence Or Thinking with The Body). For example, researchers found, that the eye movements of the subject could be used to predict the size of the next number before it was spoken. Read more on how your body does your thinking (newscientist.com).

Filmmaker Noah Hutton is making a 10-year documentary of the Blue Brain Project (see Reverse-engineer the brain to build it). Watch the introduction of the project in which Henry Markram aims to reverse engineer an entire human brain, neuron for neuron (vimeo.com).

It seems, it is not a specific region (or regions) of the brain but more how efficiently wired specific brain areas make up what is called “general intelligence”. Read more on how the connections between very specific areas of the brain that determine intelligence and even how well someone does in life (businessweek.com).

Watch Hod Lipson talk about “Adaptive and Self-Reflective Systems”. Hod Lipson demonstrates several experiments in self reflecting robotic systems and argues that reflective processes are essential in achieving meta-cognitive capacities.

While we are wondering if machines can think about themselves, why not watch Michael Anissimov who tells us not to fear the Singularity - and why not.

(via vimeo.com)

Peter Norvig, Director of Google Research answers our top ten questions (reddit.com/youtube.com), like if Google is working on Strong AI. The video is 30min long. You can also follow and be part of the post-interview discussion here.

You can address your iPhone like Captain Kirk the Enterprise’s computer (see Your personal assistant Siri). How about letting your computer summarize (verbally) in almost real time what has been said in a business meeting (especially, when you were boosting your brain power with a kip at your desk)?

Read about the system Catchup (newscientist.com) which is able to identify the important words and edit out the unimportant ones and about how a midday nap markedly boosts the brain’s learning capacity (theregister.co.uk).

After the universal translator how about addressing your iPhone like Captain Kirk the Enterprise’s computer?

With the new application, Siri, you can literally have a conversation with your Apple iPhone. Expect “Better wear a warm winter coat today” when asking for the weather report.

The tech behind this app came out of a project from the Stanford Research Institute as part of a government funded artificial intelligence project called CALO, or Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes. Over time, the app will learn about what a user likes and the searches will get better and better.

(via wired.com)

Remember the science fiction Star Trek and how human beings could communicate with each other and also with aliens? They had a so called universal translator.

Now Google is working on an automatic system for translating languages which will be based upon the existing translate.google.com and the voice recognition system goog-411. And, with each use, translation software is likely to become smarter.

(via timesonline.co.uk)