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POPSA snow white science? “People shouldn’t think of this as the one language gene but as part of a broader cascade of genes,” he said. “It would have been truly spectacular if they had wound up with a talking mouse.”
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POPSThe Coming Superbrain Some more excerpts: not all humans of the industry are optimistic, "The computer designer and venture capitalist William Joy, for example, wrote a pessimistic essay in Wired in 2000 that argued that humans are more likely to destroy themselves with their technology than create a utopia assisted by superintelligent machines." And some worst fear is the Moses Syndrome being just one generation before: "Indeed, despite this high-technology heartland’s deeply held consensus about exponential progress, the worst fate of all for the Valley’s digerati would be to be the generation before the generation that lives to see the singularity; Kurzweil will probably die, along with the rest of us not too long before the ‘great dawn,’ ” said Gary Bradski, a Silicon Valley roboticist. “Life’s not fair.”
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POPSSynthetic biology gets ethical An interesting and important move. In these days there is a real need to implement ethical thinking together with the technological developments. Only then will the transition to a new era may become smoother.
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POPSThe Science of Concentration "direct therapy that could help people with schizophrenia and attention-deficit problems (and might have fewer side effects than drugs)." Of course again the direction of the improved concentration is to the disabled. Why? i , as far as i know, do not fill the criteria for both conditions mentioned above, and still i would want to use such a device; there are some things that demand more than is possible for this body to perform, so why not augment it?
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POPSRage Against the Art Gene On the other hand: Stephen Jay Gould. Until his death in 2002, he stood as one of the great champions and evangelists of science, as well as one of the most exacting critics of its tendency to overreach. According to Gould, life's history needs to be understood not just as the result of natural forces explicable by science, but also of contingency: strange, unplanned events that change the course of everything that follows. The arts, likewise, may be one of the many adaptively useless byproducts of a complex brain that evolved to perform other tasks. something rings false in the overriding impression created by evolutionary esthetics: that a mental trait is ennobled when we supply it with Darwinian roots. Gould, the self-described "naturalist by profession, and a humanist at heart," knew the opposite to be true. An interesting debate, one that surely is only beginning as we enter this era of progress...
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POPSThe blurry line between life, nonlife Twitches of life are showing up where life shouldn't exist. In southern Africa, for example, scientists burrowed 2 miles beneath the earth's surface,discovering bacteria that feed on radioactive rocks. "That's crazier than any science fiction," said Pratt, part of the team that made the 2006 discovery. "This is life that shouldn't be there. Except it is." interesting concept.
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POPS"Innerspace" the artistic landscapes of nano-scale worlds Most artists use a paintbrush or a camera, but Michael Oliveri sometimes prefers a scanning electron microscope. The University of Georgia digital media professor finds inspiration in science, from organic chemistry to space exploration. In his recent project "Innerspace," he explores the landscapes of nano-scale worlds where objects are up to 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. beautiful. The samples Oliveri captures come from University of Georgia materials scientist Zhengwei Pan, who creates nanowires and other puny structures that may one day lead to miniscule electronics. Pan heats metals up to temps so hellish that they turn into vapor. Then the metals settle down to form rods, spheres and other shapes. Oliveri combines up to 40 smaller images to create his panoramas, which resemble familiar cornfields and underwater vistas.
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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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POPSGod Or Science? It is the human need to know that gave birth to god/religion as an overall description that provides answers. it is that need that gives birth to an alternative worldview, such as science to replace the older theories.
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POPSA ray of fight. "If the ray gun works, it will have joined the self-driving car in the ranks of fulfilled sci-fi." and maybe other things as well from the Sci-Fi will come true, like space travel, life time extension, different stage for humanity... and so on.
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POPSSEEx, (science entertainment exchange :) more: "We are also well positioned to work with you on public policy issues that relate to science such as stem cell research, global climate change, and teaching about evolution and the nature of science. " Very nice initiative.
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POPS"Do the robot", in the art of dance, of course. Last quote from him: "If you think about it, we are all made of mechanisms and neurones and codes and stuff. Human hardware and software. That's more fundamental to dance than characters and stories, isn't it?" Interesting
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POPSInvention: Self-replicating materials Experiments on colloids have proved that self-replication is possible, they say. By tagging colloid particles with a range of DNA coatings that fluoresce at different wavelengths, they were able to see how a mixture gradually turned into a collection of ordered lines of particles after a self-replicating "seed" structure was added." This ir really a potential breakthrough! slowly science fiction looses its fiction part :)
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POPSObama and McCain Walk Into a Bar ... :) The second category was reported to appeal to liberals because of their “openness to ideas” and their tendency to “seek new experiences.” But then why didn’t the liberals in the Boston experiment like the nonsense humor? "Conservatives tend to be happier than liberals in general" now this is interesting. liberal outlook leads to dissatisfaction with the world as it is, and a sense that things need to change . I agree :)
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POPS"To create visions of the future people can believe in" The most interesting part is: "The best science fiction, as with all great art, doesn't just reflect the world but seeks to influence it." For that one needs a clear description of what should be. A sight that can take the present closer to the desired future.
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POPSAbout body image, fashion and then some science... one more: "However, Thompson's study of optical illusions casts doubt on another piece of popular wisdom. He believes that the standard advice from estate agents to show off your house with clear, uncluttered rooms is wrong. Filling up rooms with furniture should make them appear slightly bigger than they actually are, he said. Patterned wallpaper has the same effect."
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POPSThe Broad- science free trade zone “My rough estimate is that a scientific paper emerges about once every three days from collaborations that have come out of this institute,” Dr. Lander said. (Eric S. Lander, the founding director of the institute and a leader of the Human Genome Project, which sequenced the human genome.) Collaboration is possible...
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POPSEducating evolution It is so amazing that after so many years and progress; educating youth about evolution is still considered revolutionary. this must be evolved :)
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POPSGiant Impactor Theory what makes science attractive, is the ability to develop methods to test the solidity of the basic theories. one has to wait and see what would be the impact :)
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POPSGender difference real or fiction? In search of bridges across the math gender gap, Sapienza and her colleagues analyzed data from more than 276,000 children in 40 countries. The large number of subjects and broad range of social systems represented were key to the validity of the study. Each child took the 2003 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an internationally standardized assessment of math, reading, science and problem-solving ability. The team used four tools to measure how well women were integrated into each society compared with men. These tools were the 2006 Gender Gap Index (GGI) developed by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
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