Clipmarks | Silkweaver's 'science' clips

Four Reasons Not to Give Up on Interstellar Travel

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:42:25 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: It looks far, dark, and cold... Yet, 120 years ago, flight was science fiction as well. C. G. Jung said that all dreams of space travel are just an escape from one most difficult challenge of all, that is the journey to man's inner space.

...and see my clip from last week on suggested FTL drive. It seems the motivation to escape an inner journey just grows.

Clip Source: io9.com

According to the scientists who attended this year's Joint Propulsion Conference in Hartford, Connecticut, humans may never be able to achieve interstellar travel.

But don't add "space adventure" to your list of unlikely futures for the human species just yet — here are four reasons why.

1. We are likely to develop new propulsion methods.

2. Humans could figure out ways to endure long space journeys.

3. Earth is not the only source of fuel.

4. We may yet discover a way to achieve faster-than-light travel.

According to NASA's Robert Frisbee:

It's always science fiction until someone goes out and does it.

Tags: space, space travel, propulsion

Future Drugs Will Make Troops Want to Fight

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:29:15 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Their report, “Emerging Cognitive Neuroscience and Related Technologies,” was released today. It charts a range of cognitive technologies that are potentially powerful — and, perhaps, powerfully troubling.

Here are the report’s main areas of focus:

Mind reading. The development of psychological models and neurological imaging has made it possible to see what people are thinking and whether they’re lying.

Cognitive enhancement. Arguably the most developed area of cognitive neuroscience, with drugs already allowing soldiers to stay awake and alert for days at a time,

Mind control. Largely pharmaceutical, for the moment, and a natural outgrowth of cognitive enhancement approaches and mind-reading insight: If we can alter the brain, why not control it?

Mind control. Largely pharmaceutical, for the moment, and a natural outgrowth of cognitive enhancement approaches and mind-reading insight: If we can alter the brain, why not control it?

Clip Source: noworldsystem.com

Drugs that make soldiers want to fight. Robots linked directly to their controllers’ brains. Lie-detecting scans administered to terrorist suspects as they cross U.S. borders.

These are just a few of the military uses imagined for cognitive science — and if it’s not yet certain whether the technologies will work, the military is certainly taking them very seriously.

“It’s way too early to know which — if any — of these technologies is going to be practical,” said Jonathan Moreno, a Center for American Progress bioethicist and author of Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense. “But it’s important for us to get ahead of the curve. Soldiers are always on the cutting edge of new technologies.”

Moreno is part of a National Research Council committee convened by the Department of Defense to evaluate the military potential of brain science.

Tags: neuroscience, war

Complex decision? Don't sleep on it

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:09:34 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Since its publication two years ago by a Dutch research team in the journal Science, the earlier finding had been used to encourage decision-makers to make "snap" decisions (for example, in the best-selling book Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell) or to leave complex choices to the powers of unconscious thought ("Sleep on it", Dijksterhuis et al., Science, 2006).

But in the new study, to be published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, scientists ran four experiments in which participants were presented with complex decisions and asked to choose the best option immediately ("blink"), after a period of conscious deliberation ("think"), or after a period of distraction ("sleep on it"), which is claimed to encourage "unconscious thought processes".

In all experiments, there was some evidence that conscious deliberation can lead to better choices and little evidence for superiority of choices made "unconsciously".

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Neither snap judgements nor sleeping on a problem are any better than conscious thinking for making complex decisions, according to new research.

The finding debunks a controversial 2006 research result asserting that unconscious thought is superior for complex decisions, such as buying a house or car.

If anything, the new study suggests that conscious thought leads to better choices.

"Claims that we can make superior 'snap' decisions by trusting intuition or through the 'power' of unconscious thought have received a great deal of attention in the media," says University of New South Wales psychologist, Dr Ben Newell, lead author of the new study.

"At best, these sorts of headlines are misleading," says Dr Newell. "At worst, they're outright dangerous. In stark contrast to claims made by the Dutch research team and in the media, we found very little evidence of the superiority of unconscious thought for complex decisions.

Tags: behavior, decision making, rationality, intuition

Do economists need brains?

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:20:20 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: For the past four years, a group of leading neuroeconomists and neuroscientists has met to refine questions about the brain and economic behaviour. Researchers trained in both neuroscience and economics are entering the field.

Daniel Kahneman, a Princeton University psychologist who in 2002 won the Nobel prize in economics for his contribution to behavioural economics, is an enthusiastic supporter of the new field. “In many areas of economics, it will dominate, because it works,” says Mr Kahneman.

Interesting read...

Clip Source: pragmasynesi.wordpress.com

A new school of economists is controversially turning to neuroscience to improve the dismal science

In 1996 Mr LeDoux, who by day is a professor of neuroscience at New York University, published a book, “The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life”, that helped to inspire what is today one of the liveliest and most controversial areas of economic research: neuroeconomics.

These new neuroeconomists saw that it might be possible to move economics away from its simplified model of rational, self-interested, utility-maximising decision-making. Instead of hypothesising about Homo economicus, they could base their research on what actually goes on inside the head of Homo sapiens.

The dismal science had already been edging in that direction thanks to behavioural economics.

Early successes for neuroeconomists came from using neuroscience to shed light on some of the apparent flaws in H. economicus noted by the behaviouralists.

Tags: economics, neuroscience

Top 10 Mad Scientists

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:55:37 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: An absolutely respectable club. The kind of madness we all need.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

From mildly eccentric to downright wacky, these 10 hyper-intelligent characters didn't just march to a different beat, they each played their own tune altogether, all while changing how we look at the world.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Johann Konrad Dippel

Wernher von Braun

Robert Oppenheimer

Freeman Dyson

Richard Feynman

Jack Parsons

James Lovelock

This modern environmental scientist and inventor of the world-as-superorganism Gaia Hypothesis

Nikola Tesla

Leonardo da Vinci

Albert Einstein

Tags: science, history

Quiet Explosion: Object Intermediate Between Normal Supernovae And Gamma-ray Bursts Found

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:17:38 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Stars that were at birth more massive than about 8 times the mass of our Sun end their relatively short life in a cosmic, cataclysmic firework lighting up the Universe. The outcome is the formation of the densest objects that exist, neutron stars and black holes. When exploding, some of the most massive stars emit a short cry of agony, in the form of a burst of very energetic light, X- or gamma-rays.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

A European-led team of astronomers are providing hints that a recent supernova may not be as normal as initially thought.

Instead, the star that exploded is now understood to have collapsed into a black hole, producing a weak jet, typical of much more violent events, the so-called gamma-ray bursts.

The object, SN 2008D, is thus probably among the weakest explosions that produce very fast moving jets. This discovery represents a crucial milestone in the understanding of the most violent phenomena observed in the Universe.

These striking results, partly based on observations with ESO's Very Large Telescope, will appear tomorrow in Science Express, the online version of Science.

What made this event very interesting," says Mazzali, "is that the X-ray signal was very weak and 'soft' [1], very different from a gamma-ray burst

The scenario we propose implies that gamma-ray burst-like inner engine activity exists in all supernovae that form a black hole

Tags: astronomy, astrophysics, black holes, supernova

Religious beliefs significantly tied to political participation

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:15:30 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: In contrast, if one believes that God is more inactive, as is common with Jews and mainline Protestants, then one would need to take action and more likely be politically engaged.

"Our results have wide-ranging implications for both the study of political participation and the field of religion," the authors conclude. "It is focused types of religious beliefs, more than broad religious traditions, which impact political participation."

Clip Source: jan.ucc.nau.edu

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

A study recently published in Social Science Quarterly explores the effects of religious behaviors and beliefs on political participation and finds that religious beliefs play a more significant role than church attendance or religious traditions in political participation.

Religious beliefs affected political participation more than other measures of religious behavior. In addition, different types of religious beliefs influence political participation differently.

Generalized, macro religious beliefs affected national political participation.

Macro beliefs include religious beliefs that involve broad, worldly concerns. Narrow, individually experienced micro beliefs that are personal and affect individual concerns had no effect on national politics.

Those who believe that God is directly involved in world affairs, such as evangelical Protestants, are less likely to be involved in world affairs.

Tags: religion, social science, politics

5 Superpowers Science Will Give Us in Our Lifetime (part 2)

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:40:36 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Funny, yet not implausible...

Clip Source: www.cracked.com

Wolverine

The Character's Power: Fast-healing wounds via tissue regeneration.

How Science Can Give It To You:
The extracellular matrix.

This protein-based substance can also be found in human fetuses and assists in repairing any damage incurred by even the most hardcore fetus. Supposedly when the extracellular matrix is turned into a powder and applied to a wound the substance breaks down the surrounding tissue and causes it to rebuild in the same way it would in the womb.

Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman

The Character's Power: Invisibility.

How Science Can Give It To You:
Retro-Reflectum.

What Tachi has done is create the fabled invisibility cloak through the usage of a camera that records a background image. This Background image is then projected via a device that scientists have dubbed a "Projector" that actually "projects" the background image on to a screen.

Time magazine even dubbed it one of the "Coolest Inventions" of 2003, saying it would be on the market by 2008, so it's a little late

Tags: super powers, futuristic technology

5 Superpowers Science Will Give Us in Our Lifetime (part 1)

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:32:50 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: One super power I would like to have is to clip and directly post real life thoughts and experiences in real time.
Anybody in Clipmarks programming team is up for the challenge?

Clip Source: www.cracked.com

Iron Man

The Character's Power: Technologically advanced battle suit.

How Science Can Give It To You:

HAL 5 is an acronym for Hybrid Assistive Limb ... 5. HAL is an artificial powered exoskeleton. In other words, a technological wonder of a suit that is capable of allowing the user to carry five times the weight they could normally carry.

Jean Grey (X-Men)

The Character's Power: Telekinesis.

How Science Can Give It To You:

The Brain-Gate Neural Interface System (BGNIS).

Foxborough, Massachusetts based company Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc. is working on technologies that let the paralyzed interact with their surroundings using only their thoughts.

Spider-Man

The Character's Power: Web slinging and wall climbing.

How Science Can Give It To You:

Carbon nanotube technology and nanoglue.

Italian scientist Nicola Pugno, says that when placed on gloves and boots, his wall-crawling breakthrough would be able to keep a fully grown person suspended on a ceiling.

prototype suit out by 2010.

Tags: super powers, futurist technology

Scientists to Launch Missle Attack on the Moon -Will Jupiter's Europa Follow?

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:11:28 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: This is obviously a good plan that will probably bring many insights at a relatively low price. And yet.... I cannot escape the feeling that it is not very elegant; this primitive human trait of blowing things up, even if it is done in the name of science.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Researchers are preparing to launch a missile attack on the moon in the name of science. If you're anything like us, this news has you fist-pumping and thinking "It's about time!"

As the name suggests, these missiles aren't designed to blow the moon up (sorry to disappoint any Michael Bays out there) but to embed themselves into the lunar surface.

From under the lunar soil a battery of seismic sensors and mineral analyzers can uncover a wealth of information about the moon's makeup.

The moon is only the first planned stop for Qinetiq's kinetic probes. The same approach can be applied to other rocky planets like Enceladus and Titan, though the most interesting destination has to be Europa. Long suspected of hiding a liquid ocean in a heated core, a prime life-capable site, seismic data from inside the icy shell would be extremely revealing.

The recent tests exceeded all expectations.

Tags: space exploration, moon

Eight ways to get exactly what you want

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:06:57 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Lifting the lid on the science of persuasion

Cajole your boss into giving you a raise, win someone round to your point of view, or persuade your partner it's their turn to put out the trash - getting people to do what you want can be very handy.

1 Be a mimic

WHEN you're aware of it, it's one of the most infuriating behaviours imaginable.

2 Look at it this way...

IF YOU want to bring people round to your point of view, try "framing", a favourite tactic of spin doctors.

3 Less is more

IN MOST battles, outnumbering your opponent will hand you victory, and it would seem common sense that the more arguments you can call on, the more persuasive you'll be.

so you should avoid engaging in argument or doing battle with sales people when your mental batteries are running low. Conversely, if you're trying to be persuasive, strike when your target is running low on mental energy.

5 The medium is the means

6 Style over substance

7 Get them angry

8 Resistance isn't futile

Tags: behavioral science, persuation

Scientific information largely ignored when forming opinions about stem cell research

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 12:41:34 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: This only show, how far we as a society and as individuals from establishing a minimal standard of critical thinking.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

When forming attitudes about embryonic stem cell research, people are influenced by a number of things. But understanding science plays a negligible role for many people.

That's the surprising finding from a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison communications researchers who have spent the past two years studying public attitudes toward embryonic stem cell research.

"More knowledge is good - everybody is on the same page about that. But will that knowledge necessarily help build support for the science?"

"The data show that no, it doesn't. It does for some groups, but definitely not for others."

used national public opinion research to analyze how public attitudes are formed about controversial scientific issues such as nanotechnology and stem cells. What they have found again and again is that knowledge is much less important than other factors, such as religious values or deference to scientific authority.

Tags: public opinion, behavioral science

Holodeck 1.0? Star Trek-style 3-D displays make their debut

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:19:32 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

True 3-D display technology developed by European researchers offers enormous potential for design, education and collaboration.

Star Trek's holodeck is a famous science fiction concept.

The holodeck is still science fiction, but last year researchers took the first, confident steps towards its realisation with the Coherent project. This EU-funded research project, developed a commercial, true 3-D display that could one day be called Holodeck version 1.0. It is called HoloVizio.

The researchers based the display component on innovative holographic techniques that can present, at natural human interaction scale, realistic animated 3-D images simultaneously to an unlimited number of freely moving viewers.

Tags: visualization, 3d displays

The ghostly gaze of science

Thu, 29 May 2008 11:54:47 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Are you looking at me ???

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

An award-winning visual illusion developed by university psychologists will be shown as part of this year’s Glasgow Science Festival on 15 June.

The illusion plays on the way our minds decipher the direction of an individual’s gaze. From a distance the two figures in the Ghostly Gaze image appear to be looking at each other but as the image gets larger the figures appear to be looking straight ahead.

University of Glasgow lecturer in Psychology, Rob Jenkins, said: “Gaze direction is an important cue in social interactions. In most circumstances we are very accurate in judging where other people are looking, but under some conditions normal gaze perception can be led astray.

“The technique I used to create the image involves blending the fine detail from one photo with the broad strokes of a conflicting photo. Which photo is dominant then depends on the viewing distance. The illusion helps us to understand eye contact, and the sense of being stared at.”

Tags: visual illusions

Post Mortal syndrome

Wed, 28 May 2008 22:04:05 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Interesting. Read slowly, by the time you finish it might become a reality

Clip Source: www.cosmosmagazine.com

Can science find a way to defeat death? Will it offer humans the gift of potentially endless, healthy life - and if so, at what cost? Will people spared the curse of ageing, and even of mortality itself, become inhuman - or more human than ever? And who or what will control this perilous boon? Government or corporations? 'Faith-based' caregivers? Organised crime? Or individual choice?

Post Mortal Syndrome is an exciting blend of thriller and science fiction, with a poignant love story at its heart.

Post Mortal Syndrome began publication on 16 April 2007, and was published every weekday, five days a week, in tasty, bite-sized chunks that could be enjoyed in a few minutes. The serialisation ended on 2 July 2007, but you can still enjoy Australia's first online serialisation of a novel by reading each stimulating chapter at your own pace here.

Tags: immortality, science fiction