Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Fatal Familial Insomnia
Fatal familial insomnia (FFI) is a very rare autosomal dominant inherited prion disease of the brain. It is almost always caused by a mutation to the protein PrPC, but can also develop spontaneously in patients with a non-inherited mutation variant called sporadic fatal insomnia (SFI). FFI is an incurable disease, involving progressively worsening insomnia, which leads to hallucinations, delirium, and confusional states like that of dementia.[1] The average survival span for patients diagnosed with FFI is 18 months.[2]
The mutated protein, called PrPSc, has been found in just 40 families worldwide, affecting about 100 people; if only one parent has the gene, the offspring have a 50% chance of inheriting it and developing the disease. The first recorded victim was an Italian man, deceased in Venice in the year 1765. [3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia
Monday, October 24, 2011
Scientists discover most relaxing tune ever
Weightless works by using specific rhythms, tones, frequencies and intervals to relax the listener. A continuous rhythm of 60 BPM causes the brainwaves and heart rate to synchronise with the rhythm: a process known as ‘entrainment’. Low underlying bass tones relax the listener and a low whooshing sound with a trance-like quality takes the listener into an even deeper state of calm.
Listen here: http://www.shortlist.com/resource/binary//f930079828e80dc02164c02d88e78283/Weightless.mp3
http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/music/scientists-discover-most-relaxing-tune-ever
Listen here: http://www.shortlist.com/resource/binary//f930079828e80dc02164c02d88e78283/Weightless.mp3
http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/music/scientists-discover-most-relaxing-tune-ever
TWENTY MILLION tons of Japan tsunami debris is closing in on Hawaii
Televisions, fridges and furniture pieces are heading for Hawaii, as a huge amount of debris from Japan’s earthquake sails across the Pacific.
Up to 20 million tons of debris from the earthquake in March is traveling faster than expected and could reach the U.S. West Coast in three years.
A Russian ship’s crew spotted the debris - which included a 20ft long fishing boat - last month after passing the Midway Islands.
‘We have a rough estimate of 5 to 20 million tons of debris coming from Japan,’ University of Hawaii researcher Jan Hafner told KITV.
http://www.trustedworldnews.com/hawaiijapandebris.html
Up to 20 million tons of debris from the earthquake in March is traveling faster than expected and could reach the U.S. West Coast in three years.
A Russian ship’s crew spotted the debris - which included a 20ft long fishing boat - last month after passing the Midway Islands.
‘We have a rough estimate of 5 to 20 million tons of debris coming from Japan,’ University of Hawaii researcher Jan Hafner told KITV.
http://www.trustedworldnews.com/hawaiijapandebris.html
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Chinese-Manned Moon Base to Be Massive Lunar Land Grab?
There is at least one person who believes that ownership of the moon could go to China once the country's efforts to actualize a moon base are realized (planned for the 2020s) -- even though there exists an international treaty that forbids direct ownership by claim, use, or other means of the moon by any one country or organization.
However, space exploration advocate Robert Bigelow says, according to Discovery News, that China's economic strength, national direction, and proposed timeline for reaching the moon and constructing a lunar base will place the Asian nation in an optimum position to dictate moon matters and claim important mineral rights. He says the international treaty will not matter and ownership of the moon will be the first step in China's gambit to win what he calls "Solar System Monopoly."
"This will characterize the 21st and 22nd centuries and beyond. If we ignore this, it will be at our extreme peril," Bigelow told his audience at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight going on this week in Las Cruces, N.M. "Nothing else China could possibly do in the next 15 years would cause as great a benefit for China."
Read more
However, space exploration advocate Robert Bigelow says, according to Discovery News, that China's economic strength, national direction, and proposed timeline for reaching the moon and constructing a lunar base will place the Asian nation in an optimum position to dictate moon matters and claim important mineral rights. He says the international treaty will not matter and ownership of the moon will be the first step in China's gambit to win what he calls "Solar System Monopoly."
"This will characterize the 21st and 22nd centuries and beyond. If we ignore this, it will be at our extreme peril," Bigelow told his audience at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight going on this week in Las Cruces, N.M. "Nothing else China could possibly do in the next 15 years would cause as great a benefit for China."
Read more
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Ohio Man Lets His 50 Wild Animals Loose & Commits Suicide
"There was no choice but to kill 49 animals, including tigers, lions and bears, that were released from their enclosures in Zanesville, Ohio, wildlife expert Jack Hanna told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer. “I’m sorry to say, but what the sheriff did had to be done,” Hanna said. “Otherwise, we would have had carnage out here in Zanesville, Ohio. “Tragedy-wise for me,” he added, “[it's] probably the worst thing in 45 years of history of working with animals. … I’ve seen poachers kill in the wild. I’ve seen animals killed right in front of me with their horns cut off. I’ve seen a lot of things happen in my career, but nothing like this have I ever witnessed.” Hanna said tranquilizing wild animals is not as easy as many people believe. “I’ve been out all over the world tranquilizing animals,” he said. “Can you imagine trying to tranquilize an animal in the dark. Fine, we have a spotlight. We hit it. You don’t know exactly: Did you hit a muscle? Did you hit a bone? If you hit the bone, the plunger might not work and put the medicine in. So what do we do? Then we send a veterinarian or the sheriff up there to see if the animal is down, right? What’s gonna happen if the animal is just sitting there not even asleep? You’re dead.”" - ABC
A mountain lion, grizzly bear and monkey were the only animals still running loose after being set free from an exotic-animal preserve, an Ohio sheriff said. What is not clear is why their owner set them free before killing himself.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Rat cyborg gets digital cerebellum
An artificial cerebellum has restored lost brain function in rats, bringing the prospect of cyborg-style brain implants a step closer to reality
AN ARTIFICIAL cerebellum has restored lost brain function in rats, bringing the prospect of cyborg-style brain implants a step closer to reality. Such implants could eventually be used to replace areas of brain tissue damaged by stroke and other conditions, or even to enhance healthy brain function and restore learning processes that decline with age.
Cochlear implants and prosthetic limbs have already proved that it is possible to wire electrical devices into the brain and make sense of them, but such devices involve only one-way communication, either from the device to the brain or vice versa.
Now Matti Mintz of Tel Aviv University in Israel and his colleagues have created a synthetic cerebellum which can receive sensory inputs from the brainstem - a region that acts as a conduit for neuronal information from the rest of the body. Their device can interpret these inputs, and send a signal to a different region of the brainstem that prompts motor neurons to execute the appropriate movement.
"It's proof of concept that we can record information from the brain, analyse it in a way similar to the biological network, and return it to the brain," says Mintz, who presented the work this month at the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence meeting in Cambridge, UK.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128315.700-rat-cyborg-gets-digital-cerebellum.html
AN ARTIFICIAL cerebellum has restored lost brain function in rats, bringing the prospect of cyborg-style brain implants a step closer to reality. Such implants could eventually be used to replace areas of brain tissue damaged by stroke and other conditions, or even to enhance healthy brain function and restore learning processes that decline with age.
Cochlear implants and prosthetic limbs have already proved that it is possible to wire electrical devices into the brain and make sense of them, but such devices involve only one-way communication, either from the device to the brain or vice versa.
Now Matti Mintz of Tel Aviv University in Israel and his colleagues have created a synthetic cerebellum which can receive sensory inputs from the brainstem - a region that acts as a conduit for neuronal information from the rest of the body. Their device can interpret these inputs, and send a signal to a different region of the brainstem that prompts motor neurons to execute the appropriate movement.
"It's proof of concept that we can record information from the brain, analyse it in a way similar to the biological network, and return it to the brain," says Mintz, who presented the work this month at the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence meeting in Cambridge, UK.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128315.700-rat-cyborg-gets-digital-cerebellum.html
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Apple's Siri and the Future of Artificial Intelligence
Apple’s new iPhone 4S has met with record sales, topping the release of the iPhone 4 last year. The iPhone 4 debuted with 1.7 million units sold. The iPhone 4S is projected to sell anywhere between 2 and 4 million units by the end of this weekend.
With an improved camera and a faster chip, the iPhone 4S easily outpaces its predecessor as well as most of its competitors.
Even Samsung’s Galaxy SII can’t compete with the remarkable voice recognition software included on the new iPhone: Siri.
Siri is smart voice recognition software, capable of intuitively answering a wide array of questions from iPhone users. But Alexis Madrigal says it’s more than that:
The genius of Siri is to combine the new type of information bot with the old type of human-helper bot. Instead of patterning Siri on a humanoid body, Apple used a human archetype — the secretary or assistant. To do so, Apple gave Siri a voice and a set of skills that seem designed to make everyone feel like Don Draper. Siri listens to you and does what you say. “Take this down, Siri… Remind me to buy Helena flowers!” And if early reviews are any indication, the disembodied robot could be the next big thing in how we interact with our computers.
Read more
With an improved camera and a faster chip, the iPhone 4S easily outpaces its predecessor as well as most of its competitors.
Even Samsung’s Galaxy SII can’t compete with the remarkable voice recognition software included on the new iPhone: Siri.
Siri is smart voice recognition software, capable of intuitively answering a wide array of questions from iPhone users. But Alexis Madrigal says it’s more than that:
The genius of Siri is to combine the new type of information bot with the old type of human-helper bot. Instead of patterning Siri on a humanoid body, Apple used a human archetype — the secretary or assistant. To do so, Apple gave Siri a voice and a set of skills that seem designed to make everyone feel like Don Draper. Siri listens to you and does what you say. “Take this down, Siri… Remind me to buy Helena flowers!” And if early reviews are any indication, the disembodied robot could be the next big thing in how we interact with our computers.
Read more
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
The Caves of Crystals
Mexico's Cave of Crystals stunned geologists when it was first discovered in 2000. The underground chamber contains some of the largest natural crystals ever found - some of the selenite structures have grown to more than 10m long. Professor Iain Stewart got a rare glimpse of the subterranean spectacle while filming for the new BBC series How the Earth Made Us.
Professor Stewart describes the cave as a geological wonder of the world
We kept on being told how difficult it was going to be to film in the Naica Cave, but nothing really prepares you for the extremes of that cavern.
It's about 50C in there but it's the virtually 100% humidity added on top that makes it a potential killer.
That combination means that when you breathe air into your body, the surface of your lungs is actually the coolest surface the air encounters. That means the fluid starts to condense inside your lungs - and that's really not good news.
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