Archive for April, 2008
Brain Implants Are Here… And They Work
We’ve read about them for years in science fiction. They’ve been testing them for decades. Some people can’t wait to get their hands on them while others are afraid they could be used for malicious purposes. Brain Implants are small devices that stimulate areas of the brain that don’t quite work right on their own. Mostly due to the short lengths of the studies, reports have so far been hazy regarding their overall effectiveness until now. A long-range study being presented at the upcoming American Association of Neurological Surgeons meeting demonstrates how, over a 10-year period, patients aided by brain implants increasingly regained control over their moods and obsessive behaviors.
The data we are presenting on 43 patients is the result of more than 10 years of work across multiple institutions worldwide. These data represent the largest number and the longest evaluation of patients with psychiatric disorders who have undergone DBS implants, including some with long-term follow up,” said Dr. Rezai, who represented an international working group of physicians studying DBS therapy for treatment resistant OCD and depression.
To me, the scariest possibility with brain implants is security. As the technology proliferates, it’ll only be a matter of time until they become connectivity devices. Once they’re open to a network, the threat of malicious compromise becomes very real. How long does a device need to be connected to the internet before someone learns how to break in and use it for their own nefarious purposes? I could imagine some form of hierarchy of low-level to high-level where some implants are allowed connectivity with the outside and each other whereas others are hard-wired and dedicated to one task. Then we have the Black Market or the use of implants as drug relaying devices.
Regardless of the social implications, it’s still cool to know the technology is picking up and looking good.
Via: io9
I Knew Those Were Useless
A new study by Ohio State University researchers reported in the April 25th issue of the journal Science reveals the old “two trains traveling at 60 miles per hour in opposite directions” style word problems are less effective at training students in math than more abstract concepts, such as finding the value of x.
When asked to solve new problems using these teachings, major discrepancies appeared. In one case, abstract-learning students scored an average of 80 percent on a test. Their “real-world” counterparts, however, seemed unable to transfer their knowledge to a new situation, posting only a 44 percent average.
I always said thought it was the word problems that were abstract but that’s semantics. I don’t know that the blame of this lies solely in the type of problem but more in the execution of that style of problem. Word problems should be “real-world” and not concepts that have no bearing in real life, like trains leaving stations. Who cares? That’s what the train’s schedule is there for. So you can see when they arrive ahead of time. In my opinion, these “real-world” word problems would be more effective if they focussed on useful economics and statistics instead of pointless distances and concepts that only relate to the “real-world” in a teacher’s head.
Via: Scientific American
Five Albums For The Rest Of Your Life
Imagine you’re stranded for the rest of your life and only had five albums to listen to. (And never-ending batteries, I guess.) Which albums would you want them to be?
- Apollo (Atmospheres & Soundtracks) – Brian Eno
- Lifeforms – The Future Sound of London
- The Pavilion of Dreams – Harold Budd
- Neroli – Brian Eno
- Debussy for Daydreaming – Claude Debussy
The first three are obvious. Pleasant ambient atmospheres, melodic movements and layered grooves. If you question their place in this list you should probably be smacked hard on the cranium.
I had to include Neroli because I would have to have some form of background sonics to keep from going insane. You can leave Neroli on repeat for a week and it’s fine. Elegant, simple melodic tones passing through the air.
The final album was a tough decision. I wanted a classical album and it was between Holst’s The Planets and something by Claude Debussy. I love The Planets but, in the end, Debussy’s themes won. I chose a compilation, Debussy for Daydreaming, because it’s a good mix of Debussy’s thematic work with a good combination of piano and full orchestral arrangements throughout. The arrangement and performance of Clair de lune alone is worth the price of this album.
I’ve picked music without lyrics because I think the same words would get old after a while. I’d much rather have the option to simply listen to the music or create my own lyrics and let them evolve over time into a meaningful statement of my situation.
Crowd-Funding For Better Movies
Jessica Mae Stover has come up with a pretty nifty idea to fund her movie, ‘Artemis Eternal‘. Cut out the middleman and let the people fund the movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tokCs7Wl5d8
The idea is simple enough: visitors get to follow the entire process. Contributions for the film range from $1+ with the contributor getting an online credit for the contribution, $25+ gets the contributor a credit in the film, and $100+ gets credit in the film and “Wingman” status that offers name credits on the “silver aurum,” the development map on the front page of the movies website. So far the project has raised $40,000 of the $100,000 required to produce the movie.
Micro-funding and Crowd-funding has been picking up steam mainly due to the ease of the transaction through the internet. I can’t really think of a better industry to relinquish its powers back to the people than Hollywood… well, maybe the music industry.
Donations and ‘crowd-funding’ are near the core of most of today’s popular internet media outlets like Podcasts and Internet TV studios. Just outside of in-media advertising. Personally, I’d much rather live in a world where interested parties fund projects up front rather than everyone being subjected to advertisements in the end product.
Via: TechCrunch
Patriotism
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.” – George Bernard Shaw
Orangutan Spear Hunter
This is just hella-cool!
An Orangutan has been seen attempting to spear fish with a pole in Borneo on the island of Kaja. This is the first time an orangutan has been seen using a tool to hunt.
This individual had seen locals fishing with spears on the Gohong River.
Although the method required too much skill for him to master, he was later able to improvise by using the pole to catch fish already trapped in the locals’ fishing lines.
Via: Daily Mail.
Blow Jobs Are Like Flowers
Via: Someecards
Even Creationists Thumb Down Expelled
Reason To Believe, an old-earth creation science ministry has been going out of its way to distance itself from Ben Stein’s Expelled and has issued a statement against the film and its claims.
In Reasons To Believe’s interaction with professional scientists, scientific institutions, universities, and publishers of scientific journals we have encountered no significant evidence of censorship, blackballing, or disrespect. As we have persisted in publicly presenting our testable creation model in the context of the scientific method, we have witnessed an increasing openness on the part of unbelieving scientists to offer their honest and respectful critique.
Our main concern about EXPELLED is that it paints a distorted picture. It certainly doesn’t match our experience. Sadly, it may do more to alienate than to engage the scientific community, and that can only harm our mission.
- Hugh Ross, Fazale Rana, Jeff Zweerink, David Rogstad, and Kenneth Samples
You know you’ve made a high quality, documentary when people on your own side say you’re full of it.
Via: Post-Darwinist
Can’t Argue With That!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXf8COiHMuM
Please, please go watch the rest of his videos. Good stuff.
Get Skeptical… Again
Pull yourself out from underneath the cool shade of that igneous and bask in the eye-opening light of your 85th Skeptic’s Circle, hosted by Andrea’s Buzzing About. There tons to keep you reading all weekend long.
What Moms Are For
John Oliver’s Sticker Solution
Skepchick pointed me to this brilliant bit of old stand-up comedy by Daily Show corespondent John Oliver regarding politics, evolution and creationism.
I agree. Let’s teach the controversy about creationism. Let’s put stickers on all Bibles explaining that they only offer one of many creation theories.
Support ‘The Skeptologists’
The Skeptologists is a badly needed TV show that looks at cultural and pop phenomena with a scientific and skeptical approach. The concept is in its beginning stages and needs public support to get the attention of network executives. You can help by sending in an email describing why you think this TV show needs to be taken seriously and put on the air. The emails will be collected and presented to network executives during the pitch process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0xAv_CEuaE
Raise your voice! Let it be known that it’s time for a TV series that focuses on the real, the intelligent and important advances in science, critical thinking and skepticism.
Obama Wrong About Autism
Already? He’s not even in the White House yet and he’s already making idiotic claims that go against scientific evidence. That little image on my sidebar shows that I support Barack Obama in the 2008 US Presidential election. I’ve agreed with most of what he’s said… until now.
We’ve seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it’s connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it.
Oh dear. The evidence clearly shows that it is indeed a combination of increased awareness as well as new diagnosis criteria. When you broaden the definition of an illness you’re bound to find more cases. Here’s a nice simplified thought experiment.
Imaging there is an illness that causes headaches and runny noses. For years you only define the illness by the symptom of headaches. People with headaches have the illness. New evidence starts to show a connection with runny noses and the headaches. This new evidence clearly shows that the two symptoms are part of the same illness so you broaden your definition of the illness to now include both headaches and runny noses. In one fell swoop, you’ve increased the number of reported cases. Are there really more cases of the illness or just more people being diagnosed using the new definition?
My point isn’t to add fuel to the autism / vaccine debate because I don’t believe there is one. It’s a non-debate. The majority of respectable scientists agree that there is no link between vaccines and autism. My point is how numbers can be confusing and that it would do everyone a world of good to be a little skeptical. Our presidential candidates included. These candidates intend to run my country and I don’t take well to them being idiots who don’t do research before making public statements.
I also want to make the point that this is exactly what happens when select interest groups come down on the candidates with questions that pertain solely to their misguided and often misinformed causes. I’m sure Obama is only making attempts to stay neutral. He doesn’t want to shut the potential voters out by putting their idiotic cause in it’s rightful place. Saying, “I’m sure you have a legitimate concern, I’ll look into it.”, is far from admitting the validity of those concerns. But it’s also far from having the integrity to put misguided and misinformed causes where they belong. I believe the President of the United States should be informed enough to feel confident in putting ludicrous claims in the grave. I wonder if Obama would stand so neutral over James Watson’s claims that African Americans are less intelligent than Caucasians. A claim that respectable scientists rightfully refute. Something tells me he would have a somewhat stronger opinion about that non-debate.
UPDATE: After watching the video, I see the “This person included” remark was directed at someone in the audience. My point remains about being informed enough to stamp out dangerous notions when they’re presented.
Brian Eno’s ‘77 Million Paintings’
I’ve been hooked on watching Brian Eno’s latest visual music installation, 77 Million Paintings, quite a lot lately. Since the actual installation is still making its way through museums and galleries across the globe, I’ve been enjoying the PC/Mac DVD software version that lets you experience the installation on your computer’s monitor.
I’ve always been fond of Eno’s generative work (Ambient 1, Neroli, Thursday Afternoon) and the art generated by 77 Million Paintings is no exception. I love the concept of self-generating music that never ends. The songs on albums like Ambient 1: Music for Airports are but fractions of the actual music created during those sessions.
One of the things that is interesting in this, and about generative work in general, is that the artist doesn’t actually know exactly what the result is going to be.
I really think Eno missed a golden opportunity with this software though. Instead of creating a stand-alone art program, he could have created an open software system for creating generative paintings in addition to the stand-alone program. He could have opened up the basic rule sets and image choices, letting users create their own paintings or share ’sets’ of paintings over the internet. I’m sure the basic functionality could be designed in Flash using PNG transparencies and various overlay effects. I would love to see an open project for software like this develop on the web.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRkNrWp6tLg
Brian Eno – 77 Million Paintings
