The Daily Populous

Sunday November 12nd, 2017 night edition

image for How does your brain pick one word from 50,000 in 0.6 seconds?

A Bangor University expert believes the constant battle for prominence between words like "cat" and "dog" could help to explain.

Dr Gary Oppenheim, of the university's Language Production Lab, is working to reveal the "algorithms and architectures" behind vocabulary.

So he has built a computer system which aims to mimic human word production and "learns as it speaks".

"Often, we're producing two or three words per second and speaking about 15,000 words in a given day, which is pretty amazing.

Dr Oppenheim, originally from Detroit, Michigan, argues the mind retrieves words by activating their "semantic features" - the elements that make up their meaning.

Some words share a number of features - for instance, the words "dog" and "cat" are both furry, quadrupeds, with a tail that are domesticated.

He argues such words, linked by their shared semantic features, are constantly reorganised and refined based on their usefulness in the recent past. »

Fully integrated circuits printed directly onto fabric

Authored by cam.ac.uk

Based on earlier work on the formulation of graphene inks for printed electronics, the team designed low-boiling point inks, which were directly printed onto polyester fabric.

Additionally, they found that modifying the roughness of the fabric improved the performance of the printed devices.

Most wearable electronic devices that are currently available rely on rigid electronic components mounted on plastic, rubber or textiles. »

Hundreds join pride march in India, where gay sex is illegal

Authored by abcnews.go.com
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Hundreds of gay rights activists and supporters, many wearing colorful costumes and holding balloons, marched through India's capital on Sunday in celebration but also defiance in a nation that continues to outlaw homosexual acts.

Many bars have gay nights, and some high-profile Bollywood films have dealt with gay issues.

But being gay is still seen as shameful in most of the country, and many homosexuals remain closeted. »

One year after President Trump’s election, these 11 science and tech posts in government are still lacking leaders

Authored by recode.net
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Under former President Barack Obama, it spearheaded eight years’ worth of work on everything from wireless spectrum to nanotechnology to online privacy.

In previous administrations, the OSTP director also doubled as the president’s chief science adviser — though the roles, technically, can be different.

That includes one of the White House’s leading councils of science and tech experts from the private sector, a group called PCAST. »