Every time we get behind the wheel of a car, we put our lives and the lives of others at risk. Self-driving cars are designed to reduce those risks by letting technology control our vehicles.

Accident rates for self-driving cars have been much lower than the rate, for human-driven cars. 【小题1】

As humans, we can make moral choices in avoiding accidents. To avoid hitting a child, for example, human drivers might sharply turn a car away from the child even if others may be injured. 【小题2】 Researchers studied this issue. They have developed the Moral Machine website to help explore the choices self-driving cars should make.

【小题3】. You are shown two possible traffic situations and you choose between them. An accident will take place. You choose how many living beings would be hurt or killed.

In one situation there may be a female doctor, a child, two dogs and a homeless person who would be killed. In the other situation, you might have two babies and a cat who would be killed. 【小题4】

The Moral Machine website has many situations and many possible outcomes. When you click on the situation of your choice, it will be highlighted. 【小题5】 At the end of the situation, you are shown the results, based on the choices you made. The results show which character you were most likely to save and which character you were most likely to have die.

Feel the Music

We’ve all heard of smart phones, but how about smart clothing? The CuteCircuit company has stepped up the technology beat and invented the SoundShirt, which was designed specifically for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. How does this incredible shirt work?

First, let’s talk about a little science. People who have either all or some hearing loss don’t actually listen to music the way that hearing people do, but they can feel it. Sound is made up of vibrations, called sound waves, which hearing people can hear through their ears with the help of the brain. What’s really cool is that deaf people sense vibrations in the part of the brain that others use for hearing!

So how is this remarkable technology able to function? First, CuteCircuit had to figure out a way to send signals to the body, kind of like how you can feel when your phone vibrates in silent mode. Those connections the body can feel are called haptics, a use of technology that simulates the senses of touch and motion. The SoundShirt has tiny sensors woven into the shirt to pick up sound and transfer signals to the brain and body.

To test this music-to-shirt-to-wearer’s brain connection, CuteCircuit set microphones around the stage of a symphony orchestra. The shirt’s computer system digitally received the sounds coming from the instruments. Then the sensors, working like little motors, changed the signals into vibrations and the shirt wearer’s brain did the rest.

The SoundShirt lets people who are deaf or hard of hearing enjoy music in a unique way. The very deep musical sound, or pitch, of instruments like drums and basses vibrates in the lower part of the shirt. Higher pitched sounds from instruments like the flute or violin vibrate higher, around the neck and arms. As the music plays, the sensations combine while the brain gets to work putting together all the different vibrations, allowing the wearer to “hear” the concert.

You might think this innovation would look like something out of a science fiction movie, but in fact, these shirts are wireless! And the decorative laser-lined design on the shirt looks like an image of sound waves.

Technology’s purpose is to help people and make life better. Think of all the amazing things designers, engineers, and producers of wearable tech will be able to do for humankind.

“How the brain perceives time depends on its expectations. The brain can predict the probability that something is going to occur, given that it hasn’t happened yet,” said Dr. Michael Shadlen, a scientist at Columbia University.

Every thought has various “horizons”, Shadlen told Live Science. In a book, for example, horizons lie at the end of every syllable (音节), the end of every word, the end of the next sentence and so on. Time moves according to how we anticipate these horizons, he said.

When you’re really absorbed in something, the brain anticipates the “big picture”, which makes time seem to fly, Shadlen said. But when you’re bored, you anticipate the closer horizons such as the end of a sentence instead of the end of the story; these horizons aren’t knitted together as a whole, and time slows down.

There isn’t a single spot in the brain that’s responsible for how we perceive time in this way. Rather, any area that gives rise to thought and consciousness is likely involved in this task, Shadlen said. “There are almost certainly a lot of timing mechanisms (机制) in the brain,” added Joe Paton, a scientist at the Champalimaud Foundation in Portugal. One mechanism involves the speed at which brain cells activate one another and form a network when you’re performing an activity. The faster those paths of neurons (神经元) form, the faster we perceive time, Paton and his team have found in some animals, such as rats and squirrels.

Another mechanism involves chemicals in the brain. Again, in rats, Paton and his colleagues found that a set of neurons that releases the neurotransmitter dopamine—an important chemical involved in feeling rewarded—impacts how the brain perceives time. When you’re having fun, these cells are more active. They release a lot of dopamine and your brain judges that less time has passed than actually has. When you’re not having fun, these cells don’t release as much dopamine, and time seems to slow down.