Learning

Robots can perform an ever-increasing number of human-like actions, but until recently, lying wasn’t one of them. Now, thanks to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, they can. More accurately, the Deep South robots have been taught “deceptive behavior.” This might sound like the recipe for a Philip K. Dick-esque disaster, but it could have practical uses. Robots on the battlefield, for instance, could use deception to elude captors. In a search and rescue scenario, a robot might have to be deceptive to handle a panicking human. For now, however, the robots are using their new skill to play a mean game of hide-and-seek.  Read More

In November 2008, we reported on the FEELIX GROWING (Feel, Interact, eXpress: a Global approach to development with Interdisciplinary Grounding) project’s aim of developing robots that are capable of identifying different emotions based on facial expressions. Now, that same project has announced the completion of its first prototype robots that are not only capable of developing their own emotions as they interact with their human caregivers, but they can also express those emotions.  Read More

Point the Piano and Violin Learning Pen from Gigiway at notation in a music book and it will either play the piece through its built-in speaker or repeat and re-repeat a chosen passage and tell you what all those complicated-looking symbols mean. Budding musicians can slow down the playback speed until they are ready to play at full pelt, activate the digital metronome and even compare tones to make sure their chosen instrument is in tune.  Read More

Guitarists are bound to suffer the occasional spot of memory loss given the volumes of material they're expected to remember. Those new to the instrument often have problems keeping up with all those bothersome chord and key changes. Happily, there is shortly to be a product released which can help with both issues. The i-Tab can be mounted on the guitar's headstock or on a mic stand or cabled up to a TV and will run through the song while you play, acting as a aide memoire when you find yourself drawing a blank or as a learning tool for new or unfamiliar songs.  Read More

The explosion in popularity of video games, coupled with the widespread availability of computers at home and school, has given educational software developers the impetus to harness the power of video games as a way of teaching children. Whether or not such educational games are effective in teaching the three R's is a topic for another day, but an Arizona State University scholar says commercial blockbuster video games can teach educators a thing or two about how to better educate children.  Read More

Ensuring the home computer is 100 percent safe for the youngest members of the family is a priority for most parents. But security software can be expensive and unfortunately is not always completely effective. A clever new product – the PeeWee Kit – not only makes any computer kid-safe, it won’t break your piggy bank either...  Read More

For certain school children with learning disabilities, focusing on the task at hand is a major challenge, especially with so many distractions to be found in the classroom. To address the problem university student Aaron Kowald has designed the Study Nook – a miniature desktop office that functions as a learning aid for children with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD), like autism and Down's Syndrome.  Read More

Your mother was right – eating your “greens” (which contain magnesium) is good for you. In fact, according to neuroscientists at MIT and Tsinghua University in Beijing, rats who were fed a new compound that increased their brain magnesium demonstrated enhanced learning abilities, working memory, and short- and long-term memory. The dietary supplement also boosted older rats’ ability to perform a variety of learning tests. Great, if it’s not hard enough getting rid of the rodents now, imagine trying to remove smarter rats!  Read More

If you’re the kind of person that seems to struggle every time you pick up a gaming controller you might need to blame your brain - which probably isn’t much of a consolation. Researchers say they can predict a person's performance on a video game simply by measuring the volume of a specific part of the brain.  Read More