If you possess an internet connection, it’s more than likely you’ve been reading up on the next big tech trend predicted to sweep the globe: augmented reality, centering around the much-hyped visual interactivity of Google Glass.

Recently, researchers in the BrainGate program here at Brown University announced a breakthrough that has the potential to add an entirely new dimension to augmented reality: an implantable, wireless, rechargeable brain interface. The implantable Brown-computer implant has been tested on animals before, but humans have only undergone tests with a tethered BCI rather than a wireless one. An incredible video of a May 2012 test (below) shows a paralyzed woman using a tethered BCI to manipulate a bottle with a robotic arm.

According to a recent article in ExtremeTech, scientists here at Brown have implanted the wireless BCIs in animals; after 13 months of testing, the researchers are planning to move to human subjects for testing in the future.

Despite what Jersey Shore may lead you to believe, recent studies have shown that there is a positive relationship between your intelligence level and your level of drinking.

According to various studies, you are boozing it up because a.) you are an early adopter of this marvelous new thing known as “alcohol,” or b.) you are making up for a childhood spent time mastering the intricacies of D&D, or c.) it’s the only way you can deal with stupid people around you.

© Copyright SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan)

If you’ve seen a bill from Brown, it won’t surprise you that the US spends a ton of money on higher education. But what about other countries? Check out the map above, which presents countries’ size as a function of their spending on tertiary education (college, law schools, etc.)

At Worldmapper, visual leaners and dataheads alike can find this and over 700 other maps addressing issues from vegetable consumption to condom use.

Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog group, called out Rhode Island representatives and Brown University in its “Pork Alert” covering House appropriations for energy and water for fiscal year 2011.

One earmark, sponsored by House Reps. Patrick Kennedy and Jim Langevin will give Brown $1.2 million to research carbon sequestration. CAGW complains about the funding because,

“With an endowment of $2.04 billion, Brown could surely afford its own research.”

Well, we’d like to beg to differ. In case you hadn’t heard, Brown’s endowment has suffered “horrendous” losses lately. As have university endowments all across the country.

Besides, the government has always supported research in the arts and sciences. Federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation are primary sources of funding. It’s even in the Constitution (with selective reading). If the government stops funding university research, who’s going to find solutions for global warming?

CAGW needs to stop pretending universities don’t need support from outside.

Trust us, the only pork at Brown is in the form of hot ham on a bulky roll.

A study conducted by UPenn professor Uri Simonsohn found that students are more likely to attend a school if they visit when it is cloudy. If this is the case, today’s gloomy, unattractive weather would have been sure to snag some newly-accepted students for next year.

Any biology-and-political-science double-concentrators hard at work in the depths of Sidney Frank Hall may have gotten a surprise treat Friday afternoon: none other than Rhode Island’s junior senator was in town and paying a visit to the building.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat elected in 2006, visited campus Friday afternoon to tour the building (better known to students as the LiSci) and meet with deans and researchers.

Included on the agenda:

• A meeting with Dean of Medicine Edward Wing, Vice President for Research Clyde Briant, and director of Governmental Relations Tim Leshan

• A discussion of climate change with Professor of Geological Sciences Jack Mustard and Professor of Biology Joanna Schmitt, who directs Brown’s Environmental Change Initiative

• A visit to the lab of Associate Professor of Medical Science Tricia Serio, who studies prion proteins

(Continued after the jump.)

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