Monthly Archive for February, 2006

Unintelligent Design

Published
by
billycuts
on February 28, 2006
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

A monstrous discovery suggests that viruses, long regarded as lowly evolutionary latecomers, may have been the precursors of all life on Earth

Few things on Earth are spookier than viruses. The very name virus, from the Latin word for “poisonous slime,” speaks to our lowly regard for them. Their anatomy is equally dubious: loose, tiny envelopes of molecules—protein-coated DNA or RNA—that inhabit some netherworld between life and nonlife. Viruses do not have cell membranes, as bacteria do; they are not even cells. They seem most lifelike only when they invade and co-opt the machinery of living cells in order to make more of themselves, often killing their hosts in the process. Their efficiency at doing so ranks them among the most fearsome killers: Ebola virus, HIV, smallpox, flu. Yet they go untouched by antibiotics, having nothing really biotic about them.

Now, with the recent discovery of a truly monstrous virus, scientists are again casting about for how best to characterize these spectral life-forms. The new virus, officially known as Mimivirus (because it mimics a bacterium), is a creature “so bizarre,” as The London Telegraph described it, “and unlike anything else seen by scientists . . . that . . . it could qualify for a new domain in the tree of life.” Indeed, Mimivirus is so much more genetically complex than all previously known viruses, not to mention a number of bacteria, that it seems to call for a dramatic redrawing of the tree of life.

“This thing shows that some viruses are organisms that have an ancestor that was much more complex than they are now,” says Didier Raoult, one of the leaders of the research team at the Mediterranean University in Marseille, France, that identified the virus. “We have a lot of evidence with Mimivirus that the virus phylum is at least as old as the other branches of life and that viruses were involved very early on in the evolutionary emergence of life.”

That represents a radical change in thinking about life’s origins: Viruses, long thought to be biology’s hitchhikers, turn out to have been biology’s formative force.

Discover Magazine

Read the full post "Unintelligent Design" (2 words, estimated 0 secs reading time)

Canada Clear Cuts Overgrow.com

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 28, 2006
in Cannabis and Law
. 0 Comments

MONTREAL, Feb. 28 /CNW Telbec/ – The members of the Marihuana Grow Operations Enforcement Team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police concluded their first major operation when they uncovered a Montreal based criminal organization involved in the trafficking, importation and exportation of cannabis seeds, as well as in conspiring for the purpose of cannabis cultivation via the Internet. This operation was launched in November 2004 under the name “Courriel” and culminated with the seizure of 200,000 cannabis seeds and the arrest of seven persons.

Project “Courriel” revealed that Richard Hratch BAGHDADLIAN, 38, from Marsan Street in Montreal, and six other persons operated the Heaven’s Stairway company. This company was on the web claiming to be the North American supplier for indoor and outdoor cannabis production. The cybercompany Heaven’s Stairway used the Internet sites hempqc.com, cannabisworld.com, overgrow.com, eurohemp.com, cannabisseeds.com, and cannabisbay.com. These sites were used to order cannabis seeds online and obtain information on cannabis cultivation. These Internet sites also suggested ways to outsmart the police.

Read the full post "Canada Clear Cuts Overgrow.com" (579 words, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)

Secret Service Agents say Cheney was Drunk When he Shot Friend in the Face

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 27, 2006
in Big Brother and Political
. 0 Comments

Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Dick Cheney when he shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington on a hunting outing two weeks ago say Cheney was “clearly inebriated” at the time of the shooting.

Agents observed several members of the hunting party, including the Vice President, consuming alcohol before and during the hunting expedition, the report notes, and Cheney exhibited “visible signs” of impairment, including slurred speech and erratic actions.
According to those who have talked with the agents and others present at the outing, Cheney was drunk when he gunned down his friend and the day-and-a-half delay in allowing Texas law enforcement officials on the ranch where the shooting occurred gave all members of the hunting party time to sober up.

CapitalHillBlues

Read the full post "Secret Service Agents say Cheney was Drunk When he Shot Friend in the Face" (638 words, estimated 2:33 mins reading time)

The CIA’s ‘Black Sites’

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 27, 2006
in Big Brother, Human Rights Violations, Law and Military
. 0 Comments

The CIA’s top counterterrorism official [Robert Grenier] was fired last week because he opposed detaining Al Qaeda suspects in secret prisons abroad, sending them to other countries for interrogation, and using forms of torture such as “waterboarding,” [making a prisoner believe he is about to be drowned] intelligence sources have claimed. The Sunday Times, London, February 12

For more than three years, I’ve been reporting on what has been increasingly, but fragmentarily, revealed about secret CIA prisons around the world. On September 17, 2001, the president, in a classified order, gave the CIA these “special powers” (as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales agreed during his confirmation hearings).

These “black sites”—as they are called in CIA, White House, and Justice Department files— escaped attempted congressional oversight until December 2005. But in the National Defense Authorization Act, the Senate finally called for regular reports on where those prisons are, what plans there are for the ultimate release of their prisoners, and “a description of the interrogation procedures used.” Ted Kennedy and John Kerry introduced the resolution.

Village Voice

Read the full post "The CIA’s ‘Black Sites’" (1041 words, estimated 4:10 mins reading time)

Android Science

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 27, 2006
in Robots/A.I.
. 1 Comment

repliee2q<——Android ReplieeQ2

Hiroshi Ishiguro, who is the creator of the world’s most human-like robot named ReplieeQ2 (a short video clip), is going forward with a seminal idea and hard work, some of which he may soon be able to delegate to an android of himself.

“I will not need to come here again” “I will send my android instead” – according to The Sydney Morning Herald, that is what he said at at an international conference that recently took place in Sydney. In order to ensure his new android would resemble him as closely as possible, he was already covered from top to toe in a plaster cast and precise measurements of his skull were taken. He expects to finish building the android of himself within a few months.

Last summer, Ishiguro gave a planery talk at a workshop, in which he talked about Android Science, a cross-interdisciplinary framework.

His paper is available for download from the workshop website. Androids and other robots are different in the way they are evaluated—because androids are expected to resemble humans as much as possible. There are a number of unique research challenges that need to be addressed for building better androids. And one could say that many of these challenges are related to the issue of anthropomorphism.

Androids could also enable new methods for congnitive science research. Imagine an android version of Turing Test. Well, you can already do it with ReplieeQ2, I guess. Ishiguro discusses the issue of uncanny valley in relation to such a test. Uncanny valley corresponds to the state that androids imperfectly resemble humans and look like moving corpse. People will like them better if they look either more like humans or less like humans. I’m not an expert in this field, but it sounds like a key issues in this research.

Again, what’s particularly interesting is the mutually benefitting relationship of android engineering and cognitive science—because androids could help advance cognitive science research, which will perhaps help build better androids.

WMMNA | Android World

Read the full post "Android Science" (3 words and 1 image, estimated 1 secs reading time)

Plants Distinguish Between Self and Other

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 27, 2006
in Biology and Consciousness/Psych/Brain
. 0 Comments

New data suggest that molecular communication between the plant sexes—specifically the pollen of males and pistils of females—is more complicated than originally thought. Plants, like animals, avoid inbreeding to maximize genetic diversity and the associated chances for survival. For decades, scientists have sought to fully understand the plant’s molecular system for recognizing and rejecting “self” so that inbreeding does not occur.

FutureFeeder < NSF

Read the full post "Plants Distinguish Between Self and Other" (445 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Light Powered Quantum Computers?

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 27, 2006
in Computers and Physics
. 0 Comments

Ohio University scientists who hope to use quantum dots as the building blocks for the next generation of computers have found a way to make these artificial atoms communicate.

They found that when the dots were arranged at a distance from each other greater than the radius of the dots, light waves traveled between the nanocrystals coherently. In previous research, the light’s wavelength would change or become irregular during the energy exchange, which creates a breakdown in communication between quantum dots.

The results suggest that there could be a way to transmit information using light waves, laying the groundwork for a possible optical quantum computer.

The applications of the new quantum dot technology also could include medical imaging. Quantum dots could be injected into the patient, and a device containing more quantum dots could be used to show the position of dots under the skin.

KurzweilAI < OhioU

Read the full post "Light Powered Quantum Computers?" (535 words, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)

Scientists Have Grown a Complete Human Prostate From Embryonic Stem Cells

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 27, 2006
in Health/Bio-Tech
. 0 Comments

In a giant step towards understanding prostate disease, a study published in the March edition of Nature Methods describes how human embryonic stem cells were developed into human prostate tissue equivalent to that found in a young man, in just 12 weeks.

Co-first authors of the study, Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR) scientists Prue Cowin and Dr Renea Taylor, said the discovery will allow scientists to monitor the progression of the prostate from a normal to a diseased state for the first time.

Biosingularity

Read the full post "Scientists Have Grown a Complete Human Prostate From Embryonic Stem Cells" (491 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

More Easy Fusion Technology

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 25, 2006
in Physics and Technology
. 0 Comments

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a tabletop accelerator that produces nuclear fusion at room temperature, providing confirmation of an earlier experiment conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), while offering substantial improvements over the original design.

The device, which uses two opposing crystals to generate a powerful electric field, could potentially lead to a portable, battery-operated neutron generator for a variety of applications, from non-destructive testing to detecting explosives and scanning luggage at airports. The new results are described in the Feb. 10 issue of Physical Review Letters.

“Our study shows that ‘crystal fusion’ is a mature technology with considerable commercial potential,” says Yaron Danon, associate professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at Rensselaer. “This new device is simpler and less expensive than the previous version, and it has the potential to produce even more neutrons.”

The device is essentially a tabletop particle accelerator. At its heart are two opposing “pyroelectric” crystals that create a strong electric field when heated or cooled. The device is filled with deuterium gas — a more massive cousin of hydrogen with an extra neutron in its nucleus. The electric field rips electrons from the gas, creating deuterium ions and accelerating them into a deuterium target on one of the crystals. When the particles smash into the target, neutrons are emitted, which is the telltale sign that nuclear fusion has occurred, according to Danon.

Rensselaer>

Read the full post "More Easy Fusion Technology" (560 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

3d Plasma Display

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 25, 2006
in Technology
. 0 Comments
The Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) announced an exciting breakthrough in optoelectronics — a working three dimensional display. The display does not rely on any sort of optical illusion or disorientation. Instead, infrared lasers are aligned to converge and create small amounts of plasma. The plasma acts as a floating “dot” on top of the laser grid.

The infrared laser pulses across several reflectors so that 100 dots can be created per second. The initial reports from AIST are a little light on details, but it appears as though the plasma dots can be drawn up to several meters away from the laser source. It also appears as though the device needs a vapor source with specific electron/ion content in order to generate the dots.

DailyTech

Heavy Metal Drummer by Fred Tomaselli

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 22, 2006
in Art
. 0 Comments

drummer

(photocollage, leaves, acrylic, gouache and resin on wood panel, 183×183 cm, 2004)

Culture Beyond Homo

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 22, 2006
in Activism, Anthropology, Biology, Environmental/Nature, Futurism/Transhumanism, Philosophy and Society/Social Systems
. 0 Comments

According to this news release by Nature, The American Association for the Advancement of Science has finally begun to believe, and thus make it a science fact, that culture actually exists in non-Human ape species.

The evidence is mounting that great apes are a cultured lot, researchers heard at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in St. Louis this week.

It is well established that apes are clever: gorillas lift electric wires with sticks to slip underneath; orang-utans can crack nuts open with rocks; and chimpanzees have been spotted elegantly sipping water from a sponge of crumpled leaves.

But these tool-using apes also show signs of cultural traditions that vary from group to group, just as some customs are passed down from one generation to another in human societies. According to a trio of researchers at the AAAS, recent work has underscored the rich cultures of our nearest relatives.

This acceptance comes at glacial speed compared to anthropological, ethological and post/trans humanist theory, as well as a heap of field data well over two decades old.

Regardless of the slow acceptance (compared to philosophy and theory... political and religious acceptance will come far slower), it is a notable waypoint in the evolution of the group mind towards a post/transhumanist future.

Now how long is it going to take before the bounds of our acceptance grow wider?

Social animals have been studied in the context of complex systems especially in regards to the emergence of collective solutions of problems involving cooperative behavior. The standard example are ant colonies that can exhibit behavioral patterns that are often associated with intelligence of the colony. Individual ants, however, follow simple rules and do not show signs of individual intelligence. Although they have a sophisticated communication system they are not able to learn from each other.

This is, however, what takes place among whales and dolphins, whose individual intelligence is, along with us humans and other primates, the most highly developed on our planet. Rendell & Whitehead build a case for the claim that cetaceans (as well as apes) satisfy the defining criteria for forming different cultures that are robust (over several generations) and that can interact.

Read the full post "Culture Beyond Homo" (371 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Aluminum and Multiple Sclerosis Linked

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 21, 2006
in Health/Bio-Tech
. 0 Comments

Scientists at Keele University in Staffordshire, England, have discovered the first evidence of a link between human exposure to aluminum and multiple sclerosis.

Their research has demonstrated very high (up to 40 times the control level) urinary excretion of aluminum in MS, particularly so in the relapsing-remitting form of the disease. Urinary excretion of iron was also significantly elevated in MS and particularly so in the secondary progressive form of the disease.

Urinary excretion of silicon, the ‘natural’ antagonist to the potential toxicity of aluminum, is decreased in MS and particularly so in secondary progressive form of the disease.

SciScoop

Read the full post "Aluminum and Multiple Sclerosis Linked" (210 words, estimated 50 secs reading time)

Japan Launches Space Telescope

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 21, 2006
in Space
. 0 Comments

A rocket carrying a satellite space telescope has lifted off from the Uchinoura Space Centre in Japan.

The M-5 rocket blasted off at 0628 local time (2128 GMT Tuesday) after a 48-hour delay caused by heavy rain.

The Astro-F probe will use infrared wavelengths to study the heat glow of space objects hidden by clouds of cosmic dust.

European astronomers are collaborating with Japan on the 500-day mission to make a map of the Universe.

BBC

Read the full post "Japan Launches Space Telescope" (270 words, estimated 1:05 mins reading time)

The Click That Broke a Government’s Grip

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 21, 2006
in Activism, Big Brother, Civil Rights, Freedom of Information, Political, Resistance and Web News
. 0 Comments

The top editors of the China Youth Daily were meeting in a conference room last August when their cell phones started buzzing quietly with text messages. One after another, they discreetly read the notes. Then they traded nervous glances.

Colleagues were informing them that a senior editor in the room, Li Datong, had done something astonishing. Just before the meeting, Li had posted a blistering letter on the newspaper’s computer system attacking the Communist Party’s propaganda czars and a plan by the editor in chief to dock reporters’ pay if their stories upset party officials

No one told the editor in chief. For 90 minutes, he ran the meeting, oblivious to the political storm that was brewing. Then Li announced what he had done.

The chief editor stammered and rushed back to his office, witnesses recalled. But by then, Li’s memo had leaked and was spreading across the Internet in countless e-mails and instant messages. Copies were posted on China’s most popular Web forums, and within hours people across the country were sending Li messages of support.

The government’s Internet censors scrambled, ordering one Web site after another to delete the letter. But two days later, in an embarrassing retreat, the party bowed to public outrage and scrapped the editor in chief’s plan to muzzle his reporters.

Read the full post "The Click That Broke a Government’s Grip" (2440 words, estimated 9:46 mins reading time)