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Autonomous vehicle development will be stalled by technological and regulatory barriers, says report

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Autonomous vehicles are currently more hype than substance, given the significant technological, financial, and regulatory barriers to their widespread use, according to GlobalData.

In its latest report, Tech, Media, & Telecom Predictions 2022, the data and analytics company predicts that focus will shift onto “lower-level” autonomous vehicles that require greater human supervision, while mergers and acquisition activity will continue to be driven by transport technology such as robotaxis.

Amrit Dhami, thematic analyst at GlobalData, offers her view on these predictions. She says technological barriers will shift focus onto lower-level autonomous vehicles. [Read more…] about Autonomous vehicle development will be stalled by technological and regulatory barriers, says report

Emissive and HTC Vive to create digital version of the original Notre Dame

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Tech companies Emissive and HTC Vive to re-create historic French site for virtual reality experiences

The construction of Notre-Dame de Paris began in the year 1163 and took over a century to be completed – with the exterior becoming globally recognised and admired.

Over time, its purpose changed back and forth, and it bore witness and host to key moments in history such as Napoleon Bonaparte crowning himself Emperor, was the setting of Victor Hugo’s classic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and is a Unesco World Heritage site.

The centuries of history and exquisite design made an impression across the world, and in 2019 when a fire destroyed significant parts of the interior and exterior, the loss was felt far beyond the borders of France. [Read more…] about Emissive and HTC Vive to create digital version of the original Notre Dame

How the brain’s blue spot helps us focus our attention

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The neurotransmitter noradrenaline regulates our brain’s sensitivity to relevant information

How can we shift from a state of inattentiveness to one of highest attention? The locus coeruleus, literally the “blue spot,” is a tiny cluster of cells at the base of the brain. As the main source of the neurotransmitter noradrenaline, it helps us control our attentional focus.

Synthesizing evidence from animal and human studies, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the University of Southern California have now developed a novel framework describing the way the blue spot regulates our brain’s sensitivity to relevant information in situations requiring attention.

Their findings have been published in an opinion article in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences. [Read more…] about How the brain’s blue spot helps us focus our attention

How does a flood become a disaster?

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What are the causes, patterns and effects of disastrous river flood? An international group of researchers led by GFZ hydrologist Bruno Merz has investigated this question in a review article published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth and Environment. The short answer: It’s complicated.

What is certain, however, is that there is an opposing trend of property damage and personal injury. Since the 1990s, the number of fatalities from river floods has declined worldwide, but the amount of damage has risen sharply. The researchers attribute the decline in casualties to improved flood warning, technical protection measures and heightened hazard awareness.

Asia is the worst hit by floods worldwide: “More than ninety percent of the people affected by flood disasters live in Asia,” says Bruno Merz. The head of GFZ’s Hydrology Section cites a few reasons: “There are huge floodplains of large rivers there, and that’s exactly where many people live together.” [Read more…] about How does a flood become a disaster?

Solving the cocktail party problem

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Conducting a discussion in a noisy place can be challenging when other conversations and background noises interfere with our ability to focus attention on our conversation partner.

How the brain deals with the abundance of sounds in our environments, and prioritizes among them, has been a topic of debate among cognitive neuroscientists for many decades.

Often referred to as the “Cocktail Party Problem”, its central question focuses on whether we can absorb information from a few speakers in parallel, or whether we are limited to understanding speech from only one speaker at a time. [Read more…] about Solving the cocktail party problem

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