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Quirky 19th century postcards depict what life would be like in 21st century


Postcards from the edge: The year 2000 was supposed to see us enjoying a whale bus
(Picture: Caters)


Foresight for sore eyes: Artists predicted aerial battles
(Picture: Caters)


Flying firemen that could easily reach the top of buildings were depicted
(Picture: Caters)

A set of show just what artists thought we would be doing at the turn of the 21st century.

By Hayden Smith - 10th September, 2012

The year 2000 may have passed some time ago – but no one has yet invented underwater tours in which a submerged bus is powered by a tame whale.

And despite the wizardry and fast pace of modern technology, we are yet to be saved from burning buildings by flying firemen – or enjoy a game of underwater croquet.

They may sound ridiculous ideas now but this set of 19th century postcards show just what artists thought we would be doing at the turn of the 21st century.

The quirky collection of cards were produced in France between 1899 and 1910 and range from the extraordinary to the revolutionary.

In one, a barber ‘En L’an 2000’ – in the year 2000 – uses a variety of levers and buttons to help machines cut his clients’ hair.

But in others what first appears to be unbelievable flights of fancy have proved to be spookily prescient.

Rows of school pupils wear headphones in one image while a schoolmaster grinds up textbooks that appear to be pumped straight into their minds – a bizarre version of the internet.

In another, the artists appear to have predicted video calls – as a man has a conversation with the image of a woman beamed onto a screen.

Others show a remarkable grasp of where the development of transport was heading – with postcards depicting an electric train and an aerial battle involving an airship-like craft.

© 2012 Associated Newspapers Limited

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/911458-quirky-19th-century-postcards-depict-what-life-would-be-like-in-21st-century [no comments yet]


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Scientists Invent Method to Create Memories in Brains

Jesus Diaz
Sep 11, 2012 1:31 PM

I find this extremely hard to believe, but according to new research published in Nature Neuroscience, scientists have invented a method to induce memories in brains for the first time in history.

Total Recall—here we come.

The study [ http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.3208.html ]—published by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine's Professor of Neurosciences and Physiology/Biophysics Ben Strowbridge, PhD, and MD/PhD student Robert A. Hyde—shows a method to store different types of short-term memories, which they have successfully tested in brain tissue stored in vitro.

Titled "Mnemonic Representations of Transient Stimuli and Temporal Sequences in Rodent Hippocampus In Vitro", their paper describes how they used a piece of mouse brain tissue to form the necessary circuits to record a short-term declarative memory. This type of memory can be something like names, places and events.

These neural circuits—located in the hippocampus—retained the memory from different stimuli for ten seconds. The researchers were able to observe the recording of these artificial memories by tracing the activity of the brain cells. According to Hyde, "the type of activity we triggered in isolated brain sections was similar to what other researchers have demonstrated in monkeys taught to perform short-term memory tasks. Both types of memory-related activity changes typically lasted for 5-10 seconds."

Uncanny. The rat brain in vitro was even able to remember different sequences of events.

The objective of the study is to better understand how short-term memories form in our brains. According to Doctor Strowbridge, "this is the first time anyone has found a way to store information over seconds about both temporal sequences and stimulus patterns directly in brain tissue. This paves the way for future research to identify the specific brain circuits that allow us to form short-term memories." Their research would also help in the fight against diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. [Nature [ http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.3208.html ] via Science Daily [ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120910143407.htm ] via Geekosystem [ http://www.geekosystem.com/test-tube-brain-remembers/ ]]

Copyright 2012 Gizmodo

http://gizmodo.com/5942291/scientists-invent-method-to-create-memories-in-brains [with comments]


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