May 2008 There are some bad things going on in the world. Natural disasters in the Far East are taking up a lot of the headlines. But a lot of things are happening closer to home. And now, another sign of desperate times, these so called xenophobic attacks in Gauteng. But it isn't all bad. So on a happier note, I had the most lovely sunny autumn weekend in Durban that consisted mostly of laying about on a blanket on the grass and just reeeelaxing. Stellarium 40 websites that will make you cleverer right now The indexed web contains an incredible 14 billion pages. But only a tiny fraction help you improve your brain power. Here are 40 of the best. whizzpast.com – Learn about our awe inspiring past all in one wonderful place. khanacademy.org – Watch thousands of micro-lectures on topics ranging from history and medicine to chemistry and computer science. freerice.com – Help end world hunger by correctly answering multiple-choice quizzes on a wide variety of subjects. artofmanliness.com – Blog/site dedicated to all things manly, great for learning life skills and good insights. unplugthetv.com – Randomly selects an educational video for you to watch. coursera.org – An educational site that works with universities to get their courses on the Internet, free for you to use. mentalfloss.com – Interesting articles guaranteed to make you smile and get you thinking. feelgoodwardrobe.com – Find out how the world of fashion really works and what you can do to combat it. lifehacker.com – Learn to hack life!
WiredDifferently – Uniting Us to Explore the Jungle of the Mind Watch Free Documentaries Online | Documentary-Log.com 50 Things Everyone Should Know How To Do Self-reliance is a vital key to living a healthy, productive life. To be self-reliant one must master a basic set of skills, more or less making them a jack of all trades. Contrary to what you may have learned in school, a jack of all trades is far more equipped to deal with life than a specialized master of only one. While not totally comprehensive , here is a list of 50 things everyone should know how to do. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. Check out these books for more ideas on pertinent life skills:
Researchers Map Brain Regions Linked to Intelligence FRIDAY, April 13 (HealthDay News) -- The physical architecture of intelligence in the brain has been mapped by scientists who used brain injury patients to conduct their research. The findings provide new insight about the specific brain structures involved in general intelligence and specific skills such as memory and the ability to understand words. The study included 182 Vietnam War veterans who had highly localized brain damage caused by penetrating head wounds. [Read: Health Buzz: Dental X-Rays Linked to Brain Tumors.] "It's a significant challenge to find patients [for research] who have brain damage, and even further, it's very hard to find patients who have focal brain damage," study leader Aron Barbey, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Illinois, said in a university news release. Many people who've suffered brain damage from stroke or other causes have multiple impaired brain areas. [Read: Study Suggests Vaccine May Help Kids With Brain Cancer.] More information
Knotology, the art of creating spheres from strips of paper Projects The second project: A sphere of colored strips. Take 6 strips with a length of 12 times the with. In our example we will use 6 strips of 2cm x 24cm in the colors purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Because of the fact that these strips also need diagonal folds, you can make witches ladders at a different way. Take 5 strips, leave the 6th. First we are going to make the "northpole". You will get 5 pyramids, with triangular bases, who will meet in one point. The 6th strip we call the equator.
Geeklist - A place for geeks to share what they've done, who they did it with and connect with great companies Pentagon enlists universities to collaborate on brain implants to repair brain injury DARPA, the U.S. Department of Defense's research arm, has announced $14.9 million in funding for major research institutions to collaborate on brain implants that can help repair traumatic brain injury. The Pentagon project, called RePAIR ("Reorganization and Plasticity to Accelerate Injury Recovery"), aims to find a way to better analyze brain activity to develop more advanced models of how it operates. The effort is comprised of 10 professors and their research teams, culled from fields such as neurobiology, psychiatry and network engineering. The researchers hail from Stanford and Brown universities, the University of California-San Francisco and University College London. Brain injury is not an uncommon injury. The problem? Currently, scientists can create conceptual models of brain activity and can record electrical pulses emitted by individual neurons in the brain. Enter optogenetics. Here's an excerpt from the DARPA solicitation: [via Danger Room]
CrimethInc. Ex-Workers’ Collective : Home 15 Outstanding Tools to Collect, Organize and Share Your Web Experience If you’re a blogger, journalist, or simply have a desire for more knowledge, you’ve most definitely faced information organization problems. Sometimes being able to access and find information quickly is crucial. Nowadays the web is enormous and it’s a big advantage to have a place where you can store all your bookmarks, pictures and links, access them anytime, anywhere and be able share them quickly. If you’re as lazy as I am you’ve probably got something like a ‘Do it later’ folder in your bookmarks. And then you’re just shoving links there until that list is the length of your screen. Sometimes you’ve got a great idea and you write it down on a notepad, for example. I remember those times when I had to dig through my browser’s history to find an image I wanted to show my friend. After some time and research I came across Zootool. 1. Zootool is about collecting, organizing and sharing your favorite images, videos, documents and links from all over the internet. Get the Lasso Collect Share
Brain cost-efficiency linked to family genes Some brains are wired more efficiently than others, and new research has shown that 60% of the differences can be explained by genetic factors. Credit: iStockPhoto SYDNEY: How well our brain functions is largely based on our family’s genetic makeup, according to a new study which provides the first evidence of a genetic effect on how ‘cost-efficient’ our brain network wiring is. The study, led by Australian researchers, was published in The Journal of Neuroscience and could shed light on why some people are better able to perform certain tasks than others and the genetic basis of mental illnesses and neurological diseases. “Some brains are wired better than others, and 60% of the differences can be explained by genetic factors,” said lead author Alex Fornito from the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre at the University of Melbourne. More bang for your buck Cost efficiency involves a balance between two competing priorities. Strongest effects in prefrontal cortex