Tuesday, November 14, 2006

VR Cures Amputees' Phantom Limb Pain. An anonymous reader writes, "Scientists have developed a virtual world like Second Life where real-life amputees have their limbs restored. The experience can cure patients of the perception of pain in their missing limbs. From the article: 'The machine is designed to combat phantom limb pain (PLP) [~] a sensation of pain experienced by an amputee that appears to originate in the missing limb. Intriguingly, researchers have discovered that if a person's brain can be tricked into believing they can see and move a "phantom limb," this motion reduces the perception of pain in PLP.' The graphics used by the computer look very crude, almost comically so, but apparently the system works."[Slashdot] 1:19:27 PM      Google It!.

What Are the Best Education Blogs? . Walt Gardner had a nice letter in The Washington Post last week. He gently reminded the headmaster of the Washington Latin School, who had called for a new training institute for principals, that good principals alone cannot save the city's schools. Something more is necessary, Gardner said, to... By Jay Mathews. [washingtonpost.com - Technology - Industry News, Policy, and Reviews] 9:22:39 AM      Google It!.

Scientists Find New Painkiller From Saliva. dptalia writes "Scientists have found a new pain killer based on human saliva. Apparently 1 gram of the new drug provides as much pain blocking as 3 grams of morphine. The drug blocks the breakdown of the body's natural pain killing mechanism. Scientists say the molecule is simple and synthesis is expected to be simple."[Slashdot] 9:12:22 AM      Google It!.

Death of the Cell Phone Keypad As We Know It?. An anonymous reader writes, "According to a CNet article, two companies called Mobience and Nuance have created viable and possibly better alternatives to the standard cell phone keypad. 'Mobience, which is based in South Korea, has redesigned the ABC and Qwerty key layout, and come up with MobileQwerty. It's essentially the same three-letters-per-key system as the standard mobile keypad layout, but the letters have been rearranged in a Qwertyesque way to increase efficiency.' The other system developed by Nuance is a mobile speech platform that turns speech into text and replaces the keypad altogether. I was skeptical at first but the video of Nuance's software vs. Ben Cook, the ex world texting champion, is undeniably impressive."[Slashdot] 9:08:21 AM      Google It!.