The Math Formula That Tells Us How Long Everything Will Live Where Are My Medical Nanobots? @Log1c: Can you cite specific examples of these claims? I've been following this field very closely for many years now. As I recall, Smalley and Drexler had big public debate about the feasibility of advanced, dry nano five or so years ago. I recall that Smalley's arguments against it were based on several misconceptions. However, since Smalley (Nobel prize winning chemist and co-discoverer of the buckyball (C60) molecule.) quite sadly died of cancer in the last few years, the debate was never really concluded. I don't know if there are still debates going on in the community of chemists about feasibility of dry nano. @corpore-metal: Two places to check - www.crnano.typepad.com used to have a lot of good discussion on various types of nanotechnology, including a rather interesting debate between Chris Phoenix and Dr Moriarty (honest, that's his name!). @corpore-metal: My knowledge is specifically with the background in robotics/control systems. Basically the thought experiment is this.
Scientists create artificial link between unrelated memories -- ScienceDaily The ability to learn associations between events is critical for survival, but it has not been clear how different pieces of information stored in memory may be linked together by populations of neurons. In a study published April 2nd in Cell Reports, synchronous activation of distinct neuronal ensembles caused mice to artificially associate the memory of a foot shock with the unrelated memory of exploring a safe environment, triggering an increase in fear-related behavior when the mice were re-exposed to the non-threatening environment. The findings suggest that co-activated cell ensembles become wired together to link two distinct memories that were previously stored independently in the brain. "Memory is the basis of all higher brain functions, including consciousness, and it also plays an important role in psychiatric diseases such as post-traumatic stress disorder," says senior study author Kaoru Inokuchi of the University of Toyama.
The top 10 classic fears in literature By Marianna Torgovnick It’s the story that inspired Moby Dick. In 1819, the crewmembers of the whaleship Essex watched in horror as their boat was struck by a sperm whale and began to flood. Forced into small boats with little food or water, they had three options: they could head to the nearest land, the Marquesas Islands, believed to be populated by cannibals; they could make a run for Hawaii and pray to escape the massive storms of the season; or they could attempt to catch a current to take them 1,500 miles to the coast of South America and risk running out of supplies on the way. As author Karen Thompson Walker shares in today’s talk, given at TEDGlobal 2012, the crew took option three because of the vivid, terrifying images that options one and two brought to life in their minds. “Fear is a kind of unintentional storytelling that we’re all born knowing how to do,” says Walker. So what do people fear most? Fear #1: Death, death, death—did I mention death?
The fine line between replicating cells and cancer, explained Ah, that is a totally different kind of animal (pardon the pun). I don't see a distinction, however, between transmitting a disease vector from a person carrying the virus to another host, and the disease being transmissible. It is similar to a tuberculosis patient transmitting the bacterium from one person to the next; they may have no symptoms - no coughing, fatigue, fever, fluid on the lungs, etc. (analagous to a person who carries cancer-causing virus, but having no warts or tumors) to another person: The distinct cause of the disease is the TB bacteria (HPV virus). We make little distinction between being infected by other disease viruses (cold, influenza, HIV) and the condition; why are we still treating HPV and other cancer-causing viruses and the cancer itself? Here is the main difference between your TB example and cancer example: In TB, once you kill the infectious agent (the bacterium), you cure the disease. That's a very good example...would you be able to give references?
10 theories that explain why we dream Kinja is in read-only mode. We are working to restore service. I like #7 and #8 of sorts, as they sort of fit in with the kinds of dreams I have. On that note after seeing Inception I loved the comments about how our dreams are basically "filled in" with familiar places/things to make them feel more complete. Flagged
Virtues of Cognitive Workout: New Research Reveals Neurological Underpinnings of Intelligence | Guest Blog How much does environment influence intelligence? Several years ago University of Virginia Professor Eric Turkheimer demonstrated that growing up in an impoverished and chaotic household suppresses I.Q. – without nurture, innate advantages vanish. What about genes? They matter too. A 2008 paper out of the University of Michigan turned all of this on its head. This brings me to a brand new paper recently published in the journal Neuroscience by DRDC Toronto researcher and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto-Scarborough, Oshin Vartanian. To answer these questions Vartanian and his team gathered 34 participants and assigned each of them to either an experimental or control group. For the cognitive training portion of the study participants took part in three training sessions on separate days. Vartanian and his fellow researchers found that the results mostly confirmed the original hypotheses.
How to Attract Positive Energy and Dispel Negative Energy Every moment you have a choice – to be at peace or to be in resistance. When you are at peace you attract positive energy and when you resist you create negative vibes that reflect back on your being. It’s a simple choice and yet most people unconsciously choose to live in negativity. It’s not your boss, colleagues, parents, ex or the traffic, but your own perception that creates stress and negative energy. Circumstances are neutral. Here are a few tips to attract positive energy by staying in touch with your inner peace and stillness. Start Your Day With Meditation Any form of meditation is helpful but it’s best to keep it simple. Treat Everyone the Way You Want to be Treated A day is easily ruined when you start holding resentment against someone. Let Go of Your Need to Control Life is a flux and its nature is change. See the Positive in Every Situation Know that good and bad are just perceptions created in the conditioned mind. Visualize a Peaceful Life Stop Worrying About the Future
Physicians in China treat addictions by destroying the brain's pleasure center "Many Chinese scientists conduct shoddy and unethical research where 'rewards for publication in international journals are high.'" I'm am so fed up with China & all their stupid antics, it's one thing after another & it's all negative, shortcuts to shortcuts, fast & cheap, screw originality, screw safety, screw the environment, & yet we are to play nice or else. They're like the big crazy person in the mall's food court that's acting out, but no one is willing to say or do anything because they're afraid if what might happen.
The Future of Existential Psychology: Humanistic Psychology’s Chief Task: To Reset Psychology on its Rightful Existential Base | The New Existentialists Posted on 14 Feb | 3 comments Photo by NASA. While some in the field continue to believe that psychology proceeds purely on the basis of positivistic science (e.g., Baker, McFall, & Shoham, 2008), I contend that this is patently naïve. The first time the field was reset was at the point where its standing as an explicit philosophy was replaced by its “formalization” as an explicit laboratory science. The third major period of philosophical resetting was the usurpation of the psychoanalytic model by the behavioral model, where only overt and measurable human actions were considered the domain of legitimacy. So where does that bring us to at present? I believe that psychology should now be reset on its rightful base in existence. In a nutshell then: The chief task for humanistic psychology going forward is to reset psychology on its rightful existential-humanistic base. Consider the following: Mystery is a place where religion and science meet. Dogma is a place where they part.
Stephen Cook: 2013 – What’s Changed This Year? By Stephen Cook, the Golden Age of Gaia, With just three days to go until 2013 has transitioned to 2014, I wonder what great and amazing things await us all? Each and every day lately, I awake with the sense that something ‘big’ is about to happen. That feeling of anticipation has continually increased, especially in this last month. On my final Lift Your Spirit radio program for the year last Saturday, titled December 21 – One Year On…What Now? But in the meantime, at Steve’s suggestion – and while my comments are not in any way conclusive – I share an excerpt from the show where I talk about the really big changes in the wider world that I believe we can look back on even now and say: “Yes, that was significant move towards a world that works for everyone.” Stephen Cook: To me, I think the world has changed a lot. Yes, there is, and we all expand our love and our compassion to those countries. Stephen Cook: Yes.
Hypnagogic State & Hypnopompic hallucination Hypnagogia Hypnagogia (also spelled hypnogogia) are the experiences a person can go through in the hypnagogic (or hypnogogic) state, the period of falling asleep. Hypnopompia are the experiences a person may go through in the hypnopompic state, the period of waking up. The term “hypnagogic” is derived from the French word hypnagogique, coined by the 19th century French psychologist Louis Ferdinand Alfred Maury from the Greek words hupnos, meaning sleep, and agogos, meaning leading. Hypnagogic sensations Hypnagogic sensations are vivid dream-like experiences that occur as one is falling asleep or waking up. Most common * Vividness * Falling sensation * Fear Common * Sensing a "presence" (often malevolent) * Pressure/weight on body (especially the chest or back). * A sensation of not being able to breathe * Sense of impending doom/death Fairly common * Auditory sensations (often footsteps or indistinct voices, or pulsing noises). Less common * Tactile sensations (such as a hand touching or grabbing)
How does the Anthropic Principle change the meaning of the universe? I'm agreeing with Mokkari because we have overwhelming evidence that his or her statement is true. People still hate evolution despite all the evidence for it. People used to hate the idea of an ancient and vast universe, despite all the evidence. People used to hate the Big Bang, despite all the evidence for it. "To me, the idea that we resulted from pure chance sounds about as ludicrous as winning the lottery without even participating,..." First, this part of your statement indicates a complete misunderstanding of how things actually happen in cosmology and evolution. Just because some of us don't like this, doesn't mean it's not true. "...but I'm not sure if that's just because I highly enjoy the idea that we were an inevitable result of a Universe of this configuration." Sorry, but we have no evidence that humans are inevitable. The early Earth was a highly complex, nonlinear, dynamic system and very sensitive to change in initial conditions.
Lucid Dreaming “It’s the only way to fly.” Lucid dreaming is the experience of being completely aware within a dream that you are, in fact, in a dream. This realization leads to complete power for the dreamer, allowing him/her to go anywhere and do anything in their dream. You might have had this happen to you once or twice in your life, but chances are the dream didn’t last very long. This is because as soon as people get excited from realizing they have achieved lucidity, they tend to wake up. So how does one avoid this problem, or even have more consistently lucid dreams in the first place? 1) Master Dream Re-Call Before you can lucid dream, you have to be able to remember that dreams that you have so that you can improve your technique. Second, figure out your method for recording your dreams when you do remember them. 2) Carry Over Some Consciousness Pick a night when you are so tired that you will fall asleep as soon as you hit the bed…but don’t. 3) Reality Checks 4) Final Tips