Teleportation - StumbleUpon Teleportation is the name given by science fiction writers to the feat of making an object or person disintegrate in one place while a perfect replica appears somewhere else. How this is accomplished is usually not explained in detail, but the general idea seems to be that the original object is scanned in such a way as to extract all the information from it, then this information is transmitted to the receiving location and used to construct the replica, not necessarily from the actual material of the original, but perhaps from atoms of the same kinds, arranged in exactly the same pattern as the original. A teleportation machine would be like a fax machine, except that it would work on 3-dimensional objects as well as documents, it would produce an exact copy rather than an approximate facsimile, and it would destroy the original in the process of scanning it. In 1993 an international group of six scientists, including IBM Fellow Charles H. C.H. Bennett, G. Experimental Articles D.
First 3D Map of the Brain's Connections - GEARFUSE We knew anatomy could be gorgeous, but this is beyond anything else we’ve ever seen, and it’s guaranteed to be something you haven’t seen, being the first 3D image of a brain’s connections. Van Wedeen, a Harvard radiology professor, is awestruck: “We’ve never really seen the brain – it’s been hiding in plain sight.” Conventional scanning has offered us a crude glimpse, but scientists such as Wedeen aim to produce the first ever three-dimensional map of all its neurons. They call this circuit diagram the “connectome”, and it could help us better understand everything from imagination and language to the miswirings that cause mental illness. But with 100 billion neurons hooked together by more connections than there are stars in the MilkyWay, the brain is a challenge that represents petabyte-level data. Photographed above is the 3D image of an owl-monkey’s brain. Link [via]
Motion Mountain - The Free Physics Textbook for Download - StumbleUpon Agents An agent is an animate entity that is capable of doing something on purpose. That definition is broad enough to include humans and other animals, the subjects of verbs that express actions, and the computerized robots and softbots. But it depends on other words whose meanings are just as problematical: animate, capable, doing, and purpose. Animate. Psychology of Agents Linguistically, an agent is an animate being that can perform some action, and an action is an event that is initiated or carried out by some animate being. The word animate comes from the Latin anima, which means breath or soul. We must inquire for each kind of living thing, what is its psyche; what is that of a plant, and what is that of a human or a beast. Aristotle's hierarchy of functions was based on his extensive study of the plants and animals known in his day. Competence Levels Aristotle's hierarchy resembles the competence levels that Rodney Brooks (1986) defined for mobile robots. Avoiding. Artificial Psyches
The History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less - StumbleUpon Quantum fluctuation. Inflation. Expansion. Copyright 1996-1997 by Eric Schulman. This piece was the inspiration for the book A Briefer History of Time and led to the Annals of Improbable Research Universal History Translation Project. Interested in learning more about any of these events? Encountering the Gifted Self Again, For the First Time Encountering the Gifted Self Again, For the First Time By Mary-Elaine Jacobsen, PhD Telltale Signs of Adult Giftedness: There are many confusing notions about what giftedness is and is not. Indeed, in several respects, the life experience of the gifted individual seems paradoxical (e.g., being considered highly successful while secretly feeling like an impostor). Dabrowski's (1972) theoretical construct of giftedness suggests that the development of gifted individuals is a matter of nature (heredity), nurture (environmental influences), and a dynamic inner force that fuels self-motivation and self-direction. He proposed five developmental levels that encompass the evolution of the personality. Crisis and pain generally act as essential catalysts for this growth, which is frequently the point at which the counselor meets the gifted adult. Gifted clients must be respected and acknowledged for daring to go down the unpredictable road of self-actualization. It can also wear them out. Dr.
'Multiverse' theory suggested by microwave background 3 August 2011Last updated at 09:38 By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News The team has located possible "bubble universe" evidence in WMAP data The idea that other universes - as well as our own - lie within "bubbles" of space and time has received a boost. Studies of the low-temperature glow left from the Big Bang suggest that several of these "bubble universes" may have left marks on our own. This "multiverse" idea is popular in modern physics, but experimental tests have been hard to come by. The preliminary work, to be published in Physical Review D, will be firmed up using data from the Planck telescope. For now, the team has worked with seven years' worth of data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, which measures in minute detail the cosmic microwave background (CMB) - the faint glow left from our Universe's formation. 'Mind-blowing' Continue reading the main story “Start Quote End QuoteGeorge EfstathiouUniversity of Cambridge
Speed Bumps That Flatten for Slow Speeds by Jae-yun Kim & Jong-Su Lee... Speed Bumps That Flatten for Slow Speeds Today my uncle and I were driving in his truck. We live in the USA, in Minnesota, where it’s currently snowing; his truck has a plow on the front. What could be done! So what do they do? They make a speed bump that’s based on retractors that open if the impact with them is small enough. What a lovely goal: “Encouraging drivers to retain a constant slow speed will reduce the amount of stops and starts made, and thus, the amount of exhaust waste from the car. Designers: Jae-yun Kim & Jong-Su Lee
World's Top Scientists Ponder: What If The Whole Universe Is, Like, One Huge Atom? PALO ALTO, CA—Gathering for what members of the international science community are calling "potentially the most totally out-to-lunch freaky head trip since Einstein postulated that space and time were, like, curved and shit," a consortium of the world's top physicists descended upon Stanford University Monday to discuss some of the difficult questions facing the cutting edge of theoretical thinking. Cal Tech physicist Dr. Jonathan Friedrich postulates a bunch of freaky shit that makes his colleagues' heads spin right the hell off. Among the revolutionary ideas expected to be raised at the historic week-long summit is the possibility that, like, our whole friggin' universe might be just one big atom in, say, some super-duper huge thing out there somewhere, or something. "Whoa, man," Dr. "I'm like, 'Whoa there, man, slow down,'" said Dr. On Monday, the most high-profile conference attendee, Cambridge's Dr. Hawking's ideas provoked strong reaction.
Just what is Neuro-Linguistic or Neurolinguistic Programming? Or Neuro-Linguistic Programming? Or even Neurolinguistic Programming? NLP is a bit like an 'owners manual' on how to use your brain! At school and college we learned wonderful things like history and geography and algebra but we did not learn much about how to feel good or to have great relationships. That's where NLP comes in. NLP is a set of insights and skills You can use the NLP methods and insights to be more in charge of your thoughts and feelings. NLP is an ever-growing collection of information and insights, backed up by a huge range of mental NLP Techniques that can enable you to improve how you think, behave and feel - and assist others do the same. We have an article here on the benefits of learning NLP and here are details of our NLP courses. NLP: ‘the study of success’ NLP has been variously described as the technology of the mind, the science of achievement, and the study of success. How is it possible to be an idiot... or an expert? NLP - that name! Is all 'NLP' the same?
Higgs Running Out Of Hiding Places Even as physicists in Europe close in on their most-wanted quarry — a particle known as the Higgs boson — scientists in Illinois are helping narrow the hunt. New measurements of a different particle, one called the W boson, confirm the Higgs is in the mass range that most physicists had thought. Theory suggests that the Higgs particle must exist in order to imbue many other particles with mass. Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, have shown that the Higgs’ own mass must be less than 127 billion electron volts. (Though it sounds like a unit of electricity, the electron volt is particle physicists’ fundamental unit of mass. The new W boson findings confirm that the Higgs must be less than 145 billion electron volts. Narrowing the Higgs mass range with different methods helps scientists cross-check and thus have more confidence in their results. In December, LHC scientists reported seeing hints of a Higgs around 125 billion electron volts.