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POPSA Holocaust Photo Essay This photo essay is part of a compilation of photos, documents and other information related to the Holocaust. Go to source for captions and photo credits that accompany these photos, and for the other documents and links provided. Last night I watched two parts of an excellent PBS series "Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State", which is a chronological exploration of the largest mass murder site in history. Information about that series can be found here , with a link that allows you to check for local listings by zip code, state or territory if you live in the US. I watched it in Canada on our PBS station.
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POPSGet Out of Your Own Way Conscious thought may well be largely overrated according to some of these studies. Alternatively, however, perhaps we do not fully understand the function of consciousness. For example, perhaps it is important in reflective thought which is not time bound and goal oriented. Some of our most profound thought processes of self description and self definition, might be of such kind. At any case, in matters of clear cut decision making and choice, consciousness seems to be more of a disturbing factor than anything else.
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POPSHow Your Brain Controls Time
Warren Meck of Duke University argues that the brain measures long stretches of time by producing pulses. But the brain does not then count the pulses in the way a clock does. Instead, Meck suspects, it does something more elegant. It listens to the pulses as if they were music. At Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany, scientists have been building a model of how memory may store time. When neurons produce a regular cycle of signals, some signals come a little sooner and some come a little later. The researchers propose that as neurons pass these signals along, they can add tiny advances, some bigger than others. With these tiny wobbles, the brain can compress memories of time from several seconds down to hundredths of a second—a small enough package to store for later retrieval. As it stores time in memories, the brain may alter it in another way that is even more radical. It may record time so that our brains recall events in backward order. Scientists at MIT discovered re
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POPSEvolution of the Olympic Torch The 2008 Beijing Olympic torch can reportedly withstand winds of up to 40 miles an hour (65 kilometers an hour), partly due to the flat top of its Chinese-scroll-based design, according to engineer Richard Kelso.The exterior of the torch is made of aluminum-magnesium alloy and is decorated with 56 swirling clouds, one for each of China's ethnic groups.<<
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POPSStunning B & W Animal Photographs Born and raised in London, Nick Brandt studied Film and Painting at St. Martins School of Art. He started photographing in December 2000 in East Africa, beginning the body of work that is his signature subject matter and style. He no longer directs, devoting himself full time to his fine art photography now. Brandt's first book of photographs, "On This Earth", was published in October 2005, by Chronicle Books, with forewords by Jane Goodall and Alice Sebold (author of "The Lovely Bones"). He has had numerous one-man exhibitions between 2004 and 2006, including London, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, Hamburg, Santa Fe, Sydney, Melbourne and San Francisco.
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POPSThe Ancient Mechanics and How They Thought He also majored in astronomy as an undergraduate, and about nine years ago, feeling science-deprived, he joined a multinational research endeavor called the Archimedes Project, based at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. The Archimedes team studies the history of mechanics, how people thought about simple machines like the lever, the wheel and axle, the balance, the pulley, the wedge and the screw and how they turned their thoughts into theories and principles. The textual record begins with “Mechanical Problems,” moves to Rome and then through the medieval Islamic world to the Renaissance. It ends, finally, with Newton, who described many of the basic laws of mechanics in the 18th century. By following the historical record, the Archimedes researchers have discovered that the evolution of physics — or, at least, mechanics — is based on an interplay between practice and theory.
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POPSNorth Pole without Ice I look forward to the comforting data from real scientists which will refute such alarmist liberal mischief that has even fooled the CIA. I suspect these silly rumours began oin a bunker in Berlin.
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POPSSilly String saves US soldiers' lives Odd as it sounds, Silly String helps soldiers detect booby traps safely. You can help - several groups are collecting the stuff and sending it over there. I'll post more information as I get it.
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POPSGet Out of Your Own Way In ways we are only beginning to understand, the synapses and neurons in the human nervous system work in concert to perceive the world around them, to learn from their perceptions, to remember important experiences, to plan ahead, and to decide and act on incomplete information. In a rudimentary way, they predetermine our choices.
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