Biomedical technology

Researchers demonstrate miniature brain stimulator in humans

Rice University engineers have developed the smallest implantable brain stimulator demonstrated in a human patient. Thanks to pioneering magnetoelectric power transfer technology, the pea-sized device developed in the Rice ...

Oncology & Cancer

How cellular plasticity drives cancer metastasis

About 90% of deaths from cancer are a result of metastasis—that is, from cancer's ability to spread from an initial primary tumor to seed new tumors throughout the body, often in the lungs, liver, and brain.

Neuroscience

Researchers develop neural decoding that can give back lost speech

Losing the ability to speak due to neurological damage can be incredibly isolating. But thanks to recent advancements in technology, there's hope on the horizon. Scientists have been working on neural speech prostheses, special ...

Neuroscience

Neuroscientists release state-of-the-art spike-sorting software

How do researchers make sense of the mountains of data collected from recording the simultaneous activity of hundreds of neurons? Neuroscientists all over the world rely on Kilosort, software that enables them to tease apart ...

Addiction

New study explores video game addiction rates

Using data from a top video game streaming service, Puneet Manchanda, Isadore and Leon Winkelman Professor of Marketing, and Ph.D. student Bruno Castelo Branco have challenged preconceived notions of high addiction rates ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Researchers map how the brain regulates emotions

Ever want to scream during a particularly bad day, but then manage not to? Thank the human brain and how it regulates emotions, which can be critical for navigating everyday life. As we perceive events unfolding around us, ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

New electronic medical record tool helps clinicians diagnose mpox

Diagnosing infectious conditions can be challenging. Diagnosis is especially challenging for uncommon and emerging infectious diseases for which there's limited clinical experience. Nevertheless, successfully identifying ...

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Computer

A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.

Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century (1940–1945). These were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers (PCs). Modern computers based on integrated circuits are millions to billions of times more capable than the early machines, and occupy a fraction of the space. Simple computers are small enough to fit into a wristwatch, and can be powered by a watch battery. Personal computers in their various forms are icons of the Information Age and are what most people think of as "computers". The embedded computers found in many devices from MP3 players to fighter aircraft and from toys to industrial robots are however the most numerous.

The ability to store and execute lists of instructions called programs makes computers extremely versatile, distinguishing them from calculators. The Church–Turing thesis is a mathematical statement of this versatility: any computer with a certain minimum capability is, in principle, capable of performing the same tasks that any other computer can perform. Therefore computers ranging from a mobile phone to a supercomputer are all able to perform the same computational tasks, given enough time and storage capacity.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA