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POPSLifelike Animation Breakthrough AMD last week released a new chip with a billion transistors that will be able to show off creations such as Emily by allowing a much greater number of computations per second. "If you're trying to process the graphics in a photo-realistic animation, in real-time, there's a lot of computation involved," said Mr Koduri. He said that AMD's new chip - the Radeon HD 4870 X2 - was able to process 2.4 teraflops of information per second, meaning it had a capability similar to a computer that - only 12 years ago - would have filled a room. AMD's chip fits inside a standard PC. But he said that the line between what was real and what was rendered would not be blurred completely until 2020.
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POPSField Testing Third World Computers This is a very interesting experiment in access and education. The most interesting part is that the children are expected to fix the computers themselves! Actually, I learned a lot of stuff this way - by tinkering - but is it realistically applicable to all the kids? If it works, it will work brilliantly. It is certainly a new way of networking information. Maybe clipmarks should get in on something like this...
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POPSFacing the Freshwater Crisis As demand for freshwater soars, planetary supplies are becoming unpredictable. Existing technologies could avert a global water crisis, but they must be implemented soon
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POPSFuture Drugs Will Make Troops Want to Fight Their report, “Emerging Cognitive Neuroscience and Related Technologies,” was released today. It charts a range of cognitive technologies that are potentially powerful — and, perhaps, powerfully troubling. Here are the report’s main areas of focus: Mind reading. The development of psychological models and neurological imaging has made it possible to see what people are thinking and whether they’re lying. Cognitive enhancement. Arguably the most developed area of cognitive neuroscience, with drugs already allowing soldiers to stay awake and alert for days at a time, Mind control. Largely pharmaceutical, for the moment, and a natural outgrowth of cognitive enhancement approaches and mind-reading insight: If we can alter the brain, why not control it? Mind control. Largely pharmaceutical, for the moment, and a natural outgrowth of cognitive enhancement approaches and mind-reading insight: If we can alter the brain, why not control it?
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POPSThe Physics of Information: What the Universe Doesn't Want You to Know The panellists for the discussion were:Dr. Leonard Susskind is widely recognized as one of the most creative researchers in the field of theoretical particle physics. Dr. Seth Lloyd is a Professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. Dr. Christopher Fuchs is a Long Term Visitor with Perimeter Institute and is an adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of New Mexico. Sir Anthony Leggett is from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
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POPSDepression: It's Spiritually Incorrect In the face of such ignorance I say this, a prayer a priest friend recently taught me: "Jesus, save me from your followers." (Or, my secular version: "I'm sorry. My fault. I forgot you were an idiot.")
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POPSThe Fantastic in Art & Fiction >>Images were selected for their intrinsic relationship to the topic, because they illuminated an important dynamic, or quite simply because they were unusually striking.Though, inevitably, some familiar pieces will be found in these pages, we have attempted to favor rare or unusual works that, to our knowledge, have not been reproduced before. Hence the concomitant emphasis on book illustration, and on a wealth of images that have remained more or less invisible in canonical art histories. Because of its rich and varied modes of representation the Fantastic also lends itself quite easily to interdisciplinary approaches. Psychology and sociology, art and literary history, anthropology and folklore among other disciplines, can provide avenues of investigation useful in the study of such basic critical or analytical concepts for the Fantastic as repression, the uncanny, indeterminacy, or the postmodern.<<
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POPSThe Straight Facts on Women in Poverty The best policy solutions to address women’s poverty must combine a range of decent employment opportunities with a network of social services that support healthy families, such as quality health care, child care, and housing support. Policy objectives must also recognize the multiple barriers to economic security women face based on their race, ethnicity, immigration status, sexuality, physical ability, and health status. These approaches must promote the equal social and economic status of all women by expanding their opportunities to balance work and family life.
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POPSIdentical twins lead to leukaemia breakthrough
The twins have been crucial to the new research, as they are genetically identical but one has developed cancer whereas the other has not. The scientists found that the girls’ blood contains genetically abnormal cells known as pre-leukaemic cells. These were formed by a mutation known as translocation, in which two genes fuse to create an abnormal new one. This random event happened in a single cell in one of the twins while they were still in the womb. As the twins shared a placenta, the original mutant’s daughter cells populated the blood of both sisters. The discovery will help doctors to monitor Isabella, and children like her, so that further genetic damage in her pre-leukaemic stem cells is caught early. By the time she is 14, her pre-leukaemic stem cells should have died naturally. “Pre-leukaemic cells are still evident, so the sword of Damocles is still hanging there,” Dr Ancliff said. “Hopefully, we will see them disappear.” (Times)
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POPSResearchers turn one form of adult mouse cell directly into another Joan Brugge, Chair of the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School, said the new study "provides exciting new insights into yet another aspect of cell plasticity that was not appreciated previously and that offers great potential therapeutically. Direct reprogramming represents a more straight-forward strategy to treat diseases involving loss of function of specific cell populations than approaches requiring an intermediate embryonic stem cell," she said.
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POPSYes, there really are gay animals From Salon magazine, 1999. Research into "alternative sexual behavior" among animals. Apparently, it's much more prevalent than you might think. So much for homosexuality being "unnatural."
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POPS'Fuel battery' could take cars beyond petrol ts negative electrode, or anode, is made from vanadium boride, which serves double-duty as a fuel too. But unlike the flowing fuel of a fuel cell, the material is held internally, like the anode material of a battery. The vanadium boride reacts with a constant stream of oxygen, as in a fuel cell, provided by the positive electrode, or cathode. This brings in a supply of air from outside. The cell has a theoretical energy capacity of 27 kilowatt hours per litre, compared to 9.7 kilowatt hours per litre for gasoline. But both approaches are limited by practical factors to smaller figures.
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POPSGene Therapy Might Cure AIDS While cautioning that the Berlin case could be a fluke, David Baltimore, who won a Nobel prize for his research on tumor viruses, deemed it "a very good sign" and a virtual "proof of principle" for gene-therapy approaches. Dr. Baltimore and his colleague, University of California at Los Angeles researcher Irvin Chen, have developed a gene therapy strategy against HIV that works in a similar way to the Berlin case. Drs. Baltimore and Chen have formed a private company to develop the therapy.
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POPSPlaying with drugs for "Mind Control" LSD, radiation, and electroshock all ended up as dead ends in the MKULTRA program's quest for mind control. Still, the search for ways to penetrate minds continues. Recent studies suggest that noninvasive brain scans, taken with a functional MRI (fMRI), make the mind more transparent. Private companies tout fMRI as an improved lie detector, and the government has taken notice. Programs funded by the Department of Defense have looked into the feasibility of fMRI research.
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POPSThe 2 Dollar Bill Me: "Just this fifty. You don't take $2 bills? Why?" Server: "I don't know." Me: "See here where it says legal tender?" Server: "Yeah." Me: "So, why won't you take it?" Server: "Well, hang on a sec." He goes back to his manager, who has been watching me like I'm a shoplifter, and says to him, "He says I have to take it." Manager: "Doesn't he have anything else?" Server: "Yeah, a fifty. I'll get it and you can open the safe and get change " Manager: "I'm not opening the safe with him in here." Server: "What should I do?" Manager: "Tell him to come back later when he has real money." Server: "I can't tell him that! You tell him." Manager: "Just tell him." Server: "No way! This is weird. I'm going in back." The manager approaches me and says, "I'm sorry, but we don't take big bills this time of night." Me: "It's only seven o'clock! Well then, here's a two dollar bill." Manager: "We don't take those, either." Me: "Why not?" Manage
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POPSThe InnerSpace Foundation A founding philosophy of The InnerSpace Foundation is that the shortest and most efficient path to solving humanity's most serious problems--including providing complete and lasting cures for the most diseased and disabled--is through widespread improvement of memory and mind, rather than through the best efforts of people who are well-meaning but of naturally limited abilities.
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POPSFuture for clean energy lies in 'big bang' of evolution For humans now there is the tantalising possibility of tweaking the photosynthetic reactions of cyanobacteria to produce fuels we want such as hydrogen, alcohols or even hydrocarbons, rather than carbohydrates. Progress at the research level has been rapid, boosting prospects of harnessing photosynthesis not just for energy but also for manufacturing valuable compounds for the chemical and biotechnology industries. Such research is running on two tracks, one aimed at genetically engineering real plants and cyanobacteria to yield the products we want, and the other to mimic their processes in artificial photosynthetic systems built with human-made components. Both approaches hold great promise and will be pursued in parallel, as was discussed at a recent workshop focusing on the photosynthetic reaction centres of cyanobacteria, organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF).
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POPSRethinking science and religion "But at the same time, we have uncovered profound mysteries - dark matter and dark energy, for example, 95 percent (!) of the cosmic order but of unknown character - and these awaken a tangible sense of humility: We do not know it all. Today, religious people have cause to rejoice. The god of the gaps may be dead, but spiritual life is reinvigorated because God is no longer just the perfunctory explanation for mystery. God is the author of wonder." i think that behind science wonder exists, its parallel in religion is bewilderment.
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POPSThe Courage to Be Useful overview of Tillich's The Courage to Be, supported by general account of existential approaches to anxiety of non-being, including Kierkegaard and Heidegger.
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POPSCradle of maternity in the brain discovered The study also showed that a partial restoration of Pet-1 function in the developing brain of females partially restored their serotonin levels, and maternal behaviour in adulthood. The finding indicated that subtle changes in the embryonic formation of the brain serotonin system in females could impact the quality of the maternal care they later provide for their offspring. The researchers say that future studies with Pet-1 deficient mothers may help to further elucidate the link between serotonin and maternal behaviour, and lead to the development of new therapeutic approaches for treatment of post-partum depression and child neglect.
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POPSConflict in Iran: Symbiosis between Bush and Ahmadinejad
I've stitched together three very interesting articles over the last week, which become much more interesting when you read them in sequence. Look carefully at what is happening. If there is anything that lays bare the role of the Bush Administration's jingoistic belligerence in the Middle East, it is the recent conflict in the Strait of Hormuz. With the international pressure off Ahmadinejad, he starts taking heat in Iran for the shortcomings of his leadership. Without fear, his belligerent and isolationist politics lose their appeal. In order to defend his world view, and preserve the source of his power, he needs America as an enemy... So some Iranian boats play around with one of our convoys, Bush comes out with some insane saber-rattling press conference, and, Ahmadinejad is back in business, courtesy of the Bush administration. If you desire war, you need an enemy. If you need an enemy, you desire war. Bush needs Ahmadinejad. Just like Ahmadinejad needs Bush.
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