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Scientists are getting another chance to get inside Phineas Gage’s head. The 25-year-old Gage was a railroad supervisor back in 1848, using a 13-pound, 3-foot-7 iron rod to pack blasting powder into a rock just moments before becoming history’s most interesting neuroscience case. Gage somehow triggered an explosion that drove the rod straight through his left cheek and out the top of his head, taking a chunk of his left frontal lobe with it.

Yet somehow Gage survived, though not really as Phineas Gage. The previously likeable young man underwent severe personality changes, becoming irritable and profane, far from the person he once was. Scientists studied his case for the dozen years he survived after the accident, and have been fascinated with Gage’s brain ever since–up to an amazing reconstruction just completed.

Studying Gage’s brain today has proven difficult, and scientists have long argued over just how much of his brain matter was removed or damaged in the incident–key data that could help explain both his profound changes in behavior and the causes and effects of certain deleterious frontal lobe disorders like Alzheimer’s. When Gage died there was no recorded autopsy, and while his skull was preserved it is now deteriorating. As such, the last time it was allowed to be imaged was in 2001, and those computed tomography scans were quickly lost somewhere at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, an affiliate of Harvard. The last, best data on Gage went missing.

But the authors of a paper publishing in yesterday’s issue of the journal PLoS ONE were able to finally recover the CT data files that had been lost for more than a decade, and using them they have reconstructed Gage’s brain using modern-day brain images of males matching Gage’s age and handedness (he was a righty). These new models are the best look yet at what most likely happened to Gage’s brain.

The real question here isn’t how he survived, but one of the architecture of the brain and how it’s wired together. The researchers, from UCLA, found that their models show that nearly 11 percent of Gage’s white matter was damaged, as well as 4 percent of the cortex. That basically means that while the cortical damage was restricted to Gage’s left frontal lobe, the disruption to his brain’s connectivity via the white matter damage reverberated throughout the brain, severing connections between the left frontal, left temporal, and right frontal cortices as well as the left limbic structures of his brain even though the rod completely missed those areas.

This explains why this iron tamping rod–which gruesome as it may sound only physically impacted a small portion of his brain–had such widespread impact on behaviors governed by other brain regions. Gage’s injury is not unlike many traumatic brain injuries, or even certain degenerative diseases. So understanding what went on in Gage’s head should inform the way neurologists thing about the human brain even a century-and-a-half later.

[Science Daily]

The future of user interfaces seems to be gesture-based, at least if one simply looks at where research dollars are flowing and what products–yes, like the Kinect–are coming to market. But the peripheral is not dead. Jinha Lee at the Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab sees a different future, one that dispenses with gravity to create a much more tangible yet futuristic UI that lets users move and interact with floating, gravity-defying objects in 3-D space.

Lee’s prototype ZeroN is a small metal orb floating in free space that users can manipulate by moving around and placing in midair. Suspended by a highly tuned electromagnetic field, the orb really does seem to levitate, and the degree to which the system keeps the ball stable even as it is moved around on all three axes is pretty mind-blowing. The ball floats until it is moved, and when placed in a point in space it stays there. And with an added layer of software surrounding it, the orb becomes a tool for all sorts of applications.

For instance, the ZeroN can be used as the stand-in for a camera in a 3-D scene (imagine a scale architectural model placed in the ZeroN’s working space; the ball can be moved around the model, changing the point-of-view of the 3-D representation in a graphic representation). The ZeroN can also remember how it has been moved in the past, retracing a path that it was previously moved along (the ZeroN doesn’t have to be moved by a human hand, but can also be moved around the space by the computer).

The trick to all this is a precision electromagnet fitted to a moving actuator above the ZeroN’s workspace. The electromagnet can move around the space above and rapidly adjust its magnetic pull or resistance based on where the ZeroN is in space, a value that is measured every few milliseconds by an array of IR cameras. So while the ZeroN appears to float as if in defiance of gravity, the setup is purely mechanical. All it really requires is a very precise electromagnet and the right software to keep the orb stable.

Next up: replacing the actuator with solenoids, which might allow the system to place several objects in the same ZeroN workspace at the same time, allowing for whole new applications. More on this over at Co.Design and in the video below.

[Co.Design]

Eternal, a sand-blast art company, offers a glass engraving service using sandblasting for items such as wine bottles.

“The method we use is sand-blasting. This is a particular kind of engraving, using special sand in high-pressure air. Our service gives customers a way to preserve cherished memories, such as special occasions and words, through engraving. The original is created on PC, and transferred to a special mask. The mask is exposed to UV to transfer the design. Here, a bottle is being engraved by sand-blasting. Bottles for sparkling wines like champagne can’t be engraved very deeply, but sake and liquor bottles can be engraved as deep as 2-3 mm. There are also lots of nozzle sizes available, and the size can be freely chosen, too. Basically, fine ones are for photos, and wide ones are for designs.”

After the glass has been sand-blasted, an air-brush is used to add color. Decoration is also added if needed. Recently, Swarovski crystals have been popular for decoration. At Eternal, each crystal is attached by hand.

“The price depends on whether a photo is engraved or not. With a photo, the service costs 6,000 yen ($75), and without a photo, it’s 4,500 yen ($55).”

As all the steps in Eternal’s service are done by hand, orders usually take 3-5 days to complete.

By Marth Lundby

After you have learned the game, you can create your own character in the game. There are five races for you to choose. Then you should take part inside the quests. Let’s continue to talk about the NPC. The NPC will make his way across the river. Then you will see the statue displeases him. That manes the group of players have accomplished the previous quest. They will be informed with the updated quest text.

They should blow the unpleasant up. When the players are casting magic at the objects, the monsters will attack them from every side. At this time, you have to split your focus between the statue and the aggression. Its not all player can stand this. The weak Mesmer will exhaust all their energy and die. But in the final, the Mesmer will revive. So you can just walk over and leave him alone.

Things within the Guild Wars 2 are far from simple. You will experience the complex even in the starting area. The Norn race has a complex event progression. The impressive things are in the level 10 to level 15 zones. The NPC will walk down from a hut and it will across the frozen lake. Your own questing log will alert you to protect the NPC.

All of them start the game for a reason. The reason might be their choice, or they want to trust up somebody by circumstance. The reason will provide an objective for the players. The players want to achieve the goal then that will provide a story. We have been the storytellers of our own life.

We will like nothing than the path we take.Picking out mine will begin the adventure of my own life. I will perform in my own world and I need to fight against the environment and the monsters encountered. The Runescape gold guide is one of the objectives in my game playing. It is important for the leveling up of my character.