Word: mimics
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...human brain. Tasks that stump the most advanced supercomputer -- recognizing a face, reading a handwritten note -- are child's play for the 3-lb. organ. Most important, unlike any conventional computer, the brain can learn from its mistakes. Researchers have tried for years to program computers to mimic the brain's abilities, but without success. Now a growing number of designers believe they have the answer: if a computer is to function more like a person and less like an overgrown calculator, it must be built more like a brain, which distributes information across a vast interconnected web of nerve...
...because redesigning computer chips took a lot of time and money. By experimenting with different approaches through software rather than hardware, scientists have been able to avoid costly mistakes. At last week's convention in San Diego, several firms introduced the real thing: chips that are actually wired to mimic the nerves in the brain...
...cues to take the illusion one step further. In Honeywell's F-18 fighter simulator, the strap-in harness pulls back on the trainee's chest when the jet slows down. Similar controls regulate the pilot's G suit, rushing air into pockets in the legs and abdomen to mimic the circulatory effects that accompany supersonic flight. Even the cockpit seat contributes to the illusion; the cushion contains seven air bladders that are pressurized or depressurized according to the flight maneuver...
...this young rock so successful is the shared avoidance of soul, a substitution of fantasy for flesh. The best song on the Dirty Dancing records is a piece of elaborate contemporary pop, Eric Carmen's Hungry Eyes, that recaptures the high, wide feeling of '60s music without trying to mimic it. It was hard anyway, even growing up with rock 'n' roll, to define what it was. All anyone ever really knew was that rock was the real thing, a way for a lot of kids to find a balance, share a feeling, even, sometimes, stay ahead and stay alive...
...Wampler, 39, a California physician, took his inspiration from pumps he saw in deep wells ten years ago in Egypt. The pump's spinning motion and the resulting continuous flow of blood from the heart represent a departure from the natural pulsating action that most other devices try to mimic. Some researchers at first feared that the whirling blades would destroy blood cells and that the body would be unable to tolerate the nonpulsating blood flow. So far, the problem has not materialized. Another potential drawback: small as the pump is, it may be too large to use in women...