Researchers from the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT have recently found that contrary to popular belief, neurons do grow in mature brains. It had been widely accepted that structural remodeling of neurons does not occur in adult brains, but the discovery that it does could lead to advances in treatments of spinal cord injuries and other neural damage caused by accidents or disease. The study, co-authored by Elly Nedivi, appears in the December 27th issue of Public Library of Science […]

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have done a study confirming a long held belief by most neuroscientists that during memory recall the brain "time travels" back to the state it was in when the memory was formed. As reporterd by LiveScience.com today, the scientists have found that by recording the brain activity of people while they are forming memories, they can later predict ahead of time what memory a person is trying to recall by analyzing their brain activity during the memory retrieval […]

The Discovery Channel has a story today about researchers from the Meiji University in Japan that have created a robot able to tell the difference between looking at its own image reflected in a mirror and looking at an identical robot. The research, led by Junichi Takeno, is a big advance towards understanding human consciousness and emotions and ultimately creating self aware, emotive robots. […]

Researchers from MIT studying brain plasticity, the reorganization of brain cells and their connections over time, have recently discovered a "backtalk" or retrograde signal from post-synaptic to pre-synaptic neurons that plays a crucial role in synapse development. It has long been known that synaptic strength, the strength of the connections between neurons, plays a central role in learning and memory in neural networks. The scientists hope their work will lead to breakthroughs in understanding and fighting neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease. […]

Hot on the heels of Honda's Asimo update announced this past Tuesday, Sony today introduced the world to the newest version of their humanoid robot, QRIO. The enhancements to the QRIO include an additional camera mounted in its forehead, mechanical improvements to its arms and hands, and better machine vision algorithms and AI. Like its Honda counterpart, QRIO is now able to recognize faces, colors, and stationary and moving objects. […]

Nature.com is reporting today that researchers from MIT have created a robotic snail capable of climbing vertical walls and traveling upside down across ceilings. The team, led by Anette Hosoi, developed the mechanical slug primarily to study the locomotive mechanisms of biological snails, although they believe the results of their research will eventually end up in practical robot applications. […]

It was announced yesterday that in an effort to create better models for studying neurological disorders, a team of scientists from the Salk Institute led by Dr. Fred Gage have successfully bio-engineered mice to be born with a small percentage of human brain cells. The process involves injecting 2-week-old mouse embryos with roughly 100,000 human embryonic stem cells. The mice created could be a valuable asset to scientists as they struggle to understand and combat neurological disorders like epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. […]

Honda Motor Co. introduced the second-generation Asimo today. While walking and obstacle avoidance were considered highlights of the previous model, the new Asimo includes many advancements that science fiction has groomed us to expect from humanoid robots. The five-year old Asimo can now handle simple office tasks like greeting visitors and showing them to meeting areas, walking with a tray of drinks, and pushing a 10 kg cart. The new model is even capable of running at speeds of up to 3.7 mph. […]

World Science is reporting about a surprising discovery made by researchers from Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany who have determined that honeybees can not only be taught to recognize human faces, but can also remember them for several days. The study re-opens a human neuroscience question thought by many to be already definitively answered and may lead to advances in face-recognition software. […]

I'm finally getting through posting about the robots at IREX last week, but the one that is left on my list, the ROBOTIS Bioloid robot kit, may be of the most interest to amateur roboticists. There are several robot kits available these days, and they run the gamut from relatively simple and cheap to expensive and complicated. On the more affordable end of the spectrum are Lego Mindstorms and Radio Shack's VEX system. More expensive (and complex) products include Kondo's KHR-1. Korean manufacturer ROBOTIS offers […]