The "News" thread.

[Buster's Uncle]

Huh.  I would have expected more liberal arts education in Europe, not less.

[Geo]

Huh.  I would have expected more liberal arts education in Europe, not less.

Not in my corner of the continent.
But classes at age 12-13 are a bit before stuff like that should come up.

[Rusty Edge]

Agree with the Tesla/theramin/Toccata& Fugue!

Well, maybe you'd have to wear sorcerer's robes to play that...


So. Deaf dolphins.

I can relate. For those of you who don't recall, I have an inner ear disorder and noise damage,  so I'm about 55- 60% hearing loss, and some frequencies I can't hear at all anymore. Buncle is worse.

I was consulting with my Ear, Nose, Throat specialist yesterday. She was telling me 100 year olds in New Guinea have no hearing loss. It's not about aging, it's about noise exposure damaging nerves and diminishing them.

I often contemplate marine mammals and sonar. They have evolved and adapted to use the most effective frequencies for communication and echo location. More recently humans have learned some of their secrets.   Now sonars are commonplace, not just for military, but  for fish finding. Cruise ships use them for detecting hazards - rocks, wrecks, icebergs.

I doubt if marine mammals much like it. It would be like unintelligible loud voices from far away. Even if it only interferes with their hearing, and doesn't damage it, what does it do to their sanity? It must seem like demons and gods shouting.

[JarlWolf]

Funny how Dolphins seem to take so well to us; some people even consider Dolphins like the dogs of the sea in terms of how friendly they are.


Personally, while my hearing has degraded over the years, its my sense of smell that's suffered the worse. Burning fuel and... other odours will do that to you.

[gwillybj]

MMI Steps Closer to Reality

The New York Times
Bits

August 4, 2013, 1:39 pm
Computer-Brain Interfaces Making Big Leaps
By NICK BILTON

(Image credit: David Lee/Focus Features
In the movie, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” a character played by Jim Carrey uses a service that erases memories to wipe his brain of his former girlfriend, played by the actress Kate Winslet.)

Scientists haven’t yet found a way to mend a broken heart, but they’re edging closer to manipulating memory and downloading instructions from a computer right into a brain.

Researchers from the Riken-M.I.T. Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology took us closer to this science-fiction world of brain tweaking last week when they said they were able to create a false memory in a mouse.

The scientists reported in the journal Science that they caused mice to remember receiving an electrical shock in one location, when in reality they were zapped in a completely different place. The researchers weren’t able to create entirely new thoughts, but they applied good or bad feelings to memories that already existed.

“It wasn’t so much writing a memory from scratch, it was basically connecting two different types of memories. We took a neutral memory, and we artificially updated that to make it a negative memory,” said Steve Ramirez, one of the M.I.T. neuroscientists on the project.

It may sound insignificant and perhaps not a nice way to treat mice, but it is not a dramatic leap to imagine that one day this research could lead to computer-manipulation of the mind for things like the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, Mr. Ramirez said.

Technologists are already working on brain-computer interfaces, which will allow us to interact with our smartphones and computers simply by using our minds. And there are already gadgets that read our thoughts and allow us to do things like dodge virtual objects in a computer game or turn switches on and off with a thought.

But the scientists who are working on memory manipulation are the ones who seem to be pushing the boundaries of what we believe is possible. Sure, it sounds like movie fantasy right now, but don’t laugh off the imagination of Hollywood screenwriters; sometimes the movies can be a great predictor of things to come.

In the movie, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” a character played by Jim Carrey uses a service that erases memories to wipe his brain of his former girlfriend, played by Kate Winslet.

But it seems the movie’s screenwriter, Charlie Kaufman, was selling science short.

“The one thing that the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” gets wrong, is that they are erasing an entire memory,” said Mr. Ramirez of M.I.T. “I think we can do better, while keeping the image of Kate Winslet, we can get rid of the sad part of that memory.”

Hollywood and science-fiction writers, of course, have had fun with memory manipulation over the years.

In the film “Total Recall,” which is based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, a character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger receives a memory implant of a fake vacation to Mars. In “The Matrix,” characters can download new skills like languages or fighting techniques to their mind, much like downloading a file to a computer.

Far-fetched? Perhaps, and we’re not yet fighting our robot overlords as the humans were in “The Matrix,” but researchers really are exploring ways to upload new information to the brain.

In 2011, scientists working in collaboration with Boston University and A.T.R. Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, published a paper on a process called Decoded Neurofeedback, or “DecNef,” which sends signals to the brain through a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine, or FMRI, that can alter a person’s brain activity pattern. In time, these scientists believe they could teach people how to play a musical instrument while they sleep, learn a new language or master a sport, all by “uploading” information to the brain.

Writing to the brain could allow us to interact with our computers, or other human beings, just by thinking about it.

In February, Dr. Miguel A. Nicolelis, a neuroscientist at Duke University successfully connected the brains of two rats over the Internet, allowing them to communicate with their minds so when one rat pressed a lever, the other one did the same. The rats were in different locations, one at Duke University, in North Carolina, and another in a laboratory in Natal, Brazil.

(Image credit: Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times
Dr. Miguel A. Nicolelis, a neuroscientist at Duke University, in 2008.)

Dr. Nicolelis said he has recently performed other experiments in his lab where he has connected the brains of four mice in what he calls a “brain net” allowing them to share information over the Internet. In another experiment, he took two monkeys and gave them both half of a piece of information to successfully move a robotic arm, which required them to share the information through their brain.

Last week scientists at Harvard Medical School created a brain-to-brain interface that enables a human to move a rat’s tail just by thinking about it.

Of course, in all the movies about brain technology and enhancing memories there is usually a downside. In “Total Recall,” the character has a difficult time distinguishing between reality and his fantasy adventure. This leads to mayhem. In “Eternal Sunshine,” after Mr. Carrey’s character erases his memories, they reappear in a jumble. Hilarity (and insight into love and loss) ensues.

But some researchers don’t appear to be worried about that sort of thing. In his book, “Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines — and How It Will Change Our Lives,” Dr. Nicolelis said he believes it is possible that humans will be able to communicate wirelessly without words or sound, where brain waves are transmitted over the Internet.

“I think this is the real frontier of human communication in the future. We already can get our monkeys, and even humans, to move devices just by thinking,” he said. “Once you can write to the brain, I can imagine the same type of logic working for communication where your thoughts and a message will be communicated to another human being and they will be able to understand it.”

It looks like mending that broken heart, through manipulation of our memories, might be here closer than we think.

A version of this article appeared in print on 08/05/2013, on page B4 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Big Leaps in Linking Computers and Brains.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/disruptions-rather-than-time-computers-might-become-panacea-to-hurt/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130805&_r=0

[Unorthodox]

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/focus/08/04/13/holy-cow-worlds-first-vitro-beef-burger-make-history-monday

Holy cow! World's first in-vitro beef burger to make history on Monday
By Kate Kelland, Reuters
Posted at 08/05/2013 12:01 AM | Updated as of 08/05/2013 12:01 AM
LONDON - A corner of west London will see culinary and scientific history made on Monday when scientists cook and serve up the world's first lab-grown beef burger.

The in-vitro burger, cultured from cattle stem cells, the first example of what its creator says could provide an answer to global food shortages and help combat climate change, will be fried in a pan and tasted by two volunteers.

The burger is the result of years of research by Dutch scientist Mark Post, a vascular biologist at the University of Maastricht, who is working to show how meat grown in petri dishes might one day be a true alternative to meat from livestock.

The meat in the burger has been made by knitting together around 20,000 strands of protein that has been cultured from cattle stem cells in Post's lab.

The tissue is grown by placing the cells in a ring, like a donut, around a hub of nutrient gel, Post explained.

To prepare the burger, scientists combined the cultured beef with other ingredients normally used in burgers, such as salt, breadcrumbs and egg powder. Red beet juice and saffron have been added to bring out its natural colours.

"Our burger is made from muscle cells taken from a cow. We haven't altered them in any way," Post said in a statement on Friday. "For it to succeed it has to look, feel and hopefully taste like the real thing."

VIABLE ALTERNATIVE?

Success, in Post's view, would mean not just a tasty burger, but also the prospect of finding a sustainable, ethical and environmentally friendly alternative to meat production.

According to a 2006 report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), industrialized agriculture contributes on a "massive scale" to climate change, air pollution, land degradation, energy use, deforestation and biodiversity decline.

The report, entitled Livestock's Long Shadow, said the meat industry contributes about 18 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions and this proportion is expected to grow as consumers in fast-developing countries such as China and India eat more meat.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), annual meat production is projected to rise to 376 million tonnes by 2030 from 218 million tonnes in 1997-1999, and demand from a growing world population is expected to rise beyond that.

Post cites FAO figures suggesting demand for meat is expected to increase by more than two-thirds by 2050.

Animal welfare campaigners applauded the arrival of cultured meat and predicted a great future for it.

"In vitro technology will spell the end of lorries full of cows and chickens, abattoirs and factory farming," the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) campaign group said in a statement. "It will reduce carbon emissions, conserve water and make the food supply safer."

A study published in 2011 comparing the relative environmental impacts of various types of meat, including lamb, pork, beef and cultured meat, said the lab-grown product has by far the least impact on the environment.

Hanna Tuomisto, who conducted the study at Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, found that growing meats in-vitro would use 35 percent to 60 percent less energy, emit 80 percent to 95 percent less greenhouse gas and use around 98 percent less land than conventionally produced animal meat.

While Monday's fry-up will be a world first and only an initial proof-of concept, the Dutch scientist reckons commercial production of cultured beef could begin within the next 20 years.

"What we are going to attempt is important because I hope it will show cultured beef has the answers to major problems that the world faces," he added

[Buster's Uncle]

Anybody think there's much chance these lab burgers will taste good anytime soon?


I've been ignoring stories about this for days - I wish I'd thought of this thread.

[Unorthodox]

Right now...I'm guessing it's going to be like growing up for me.

Meat was scarce, and we hunted what we did get.  Venison is NOT good meat most the time. 

But, you turn it into burger, you spice it up, and make it into taco meat or throw some in the spaghetti, or mix it into some kind of casserole 50/50 with the real stuff, yeah, it quickly blends into the background. 

That would be my first guess, anyway. 

I've eaten enough mystery meat I'm not afraid of it by any stretch. 

[Buster's Uncle]

It is rare for me to like the taste of artificial food products, even ones most people do.  I can taste the difference, and pretty much all food science is good at faking, to my palette, is margarine and artificial vanilla.  I still taste the difference, but those two are credible attempts.

I'll be happy to let others serve as guinea pigs while they work the bugs out of fake meat - if they ever do.

[Unorthodox]

I found out about theremins from a 7th grade music teacher who brought one to class and let us fool with it a little.

yeah, it was among the devices in the only school assembly I ever remember.  It's also the only one I don't have. 

Some Bill Nye type up on stage explaining various things to do with tesla coils, black lights, etc.  My 9 year old brain was connecting the dots of "oh, that's how they do that in the haunted houses..." 

Yeah, that set up the worst attempt at a mad scientist lab ever.  Good thing I'm not a quitter at first failure. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Did he play "Somewhere over the Rainbow"?  That seems to be one of the main signature pieces for the instrument, along with the Star Trek theme.

[Rusty Edge]

I can see the merits, but don't put no stinkin' beet juice in my burger!

[Unorthodox]

No, he was literally showing us piece by piece how effects were done.  The theremin was for the UFO sound effects.  Blacklights on UV paint, strobe lights for effect, how to make a jacob's ladder work, tesla coil, etc, pieces of the set, then how it all come together at the end.  Quite a defining moment for me.  I have a feeling there was supposed to be some overall message other than what I took away...

[Buster's Uncle]

An interest in science and engineering?

I can see the merits, but don't put no stinkin' beet juice in my burger!

Absolutely.

[Unorthodox]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-23590756

Telepathy could have been used to compel four young Turkish engineers to kill themselves, it's been suggested.

That's one explanation of the deaths of four workers at the defence giant Aselsan contained in a report presented to the PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to reports. All four deaths, within the space of 14 months during 2006 and 2007, were initially recorded as suicides. The men had been undergoing psychological treatment before they died but doubts persisted from their sceptical families, reports newspaper Today's Zaman. And last year the Inspection Board of the Prime Ministry launched a fresh probe.

Included in its report was a study by a neuropsychologist, Nevzat Tarhan, who asks prosecutors not to disregard the possibility of telepathy causing severe distress and headaches in the victims, giving them a tendency to kill themselves, reports Hurriyet Daily News. Brainwaves could have been sent from 1.5km (just under a mile) away, Hurriyet quotes Tarhan as saying. The report apparently doesn't offer a clear answer as to whether the deaths were murder or suicide but it's been submitted to the Ankara Chief Prosecutor's Office for further investigation.