Science & TechnologyS


Eye 1

Our pupils adjust as we imagine bright and dark scenes

Anna Mikulak
Association for Psychological Science
Tue, 03 Dec 2013 14:13 UTC
Conjuring up a visual image in the mind - like a sunny day or a night sky - has a corresponding effect on the size of our pupils, as if we were actually seeing the image, according to new research.

These findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggest that the size of our pupils is not simply a mechanistic response, but one that also adjusts to a subjective sense of brightness.

"Visual imagery is a private and subjective experience which is not accompanied by strongly felt or visible physiological changes," explains psychological scientist and lead researcher Bruno Laeng of the University of Oslo. "It is a particularly difficult topic to research, as years of controversy about the nature of mental imagery testifies."

Along with co-author Unni Sulutvedt, also from the University of Oslo, Laeng conducted a series of experiments to see whether they could tap into subjective mental imagery by monitoring pupillary size with an eye-tracking device.
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Robot

Sheep to the slaughter: Former DARPA director, now Google executive, Regina Dugan is selling 'Beast Tech'

Thomas Horn
YouTube
Tue, 12 Nov 2013 04:58 UTC
Watch this audience applaud as Regina E. Dugan, former Director of DARPA and current executive at Google, describes with excitement the coming BEAST TECH smart tattoos and ingestible biochips that are ALREADY FDA-APPROVED and which she says people will want to receive (and eventually be REQUIRED to receive) by 2017. She glows about the "super powers" the MARK will give her and says today's generation wants them too. Unfortunately, as documented in the book BEAST TECH, she is right.


Comment: "Teens will wanna wear an electronic authentication tattoo, if only to piss off their parents"... cute.

Diabolically cute.

Why don't we all just drink the kool-aid and be done with it?!

Authoritarian follower-ism gone insane.

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Galaxy

Spooky physics phenomenon may link universe's wormholes

Charles Q. Choi
LiveScience
Tue, 03 Dec 2013 07:25 UTC
Wormhole
© lgartist 79 | ShutterstockThough wormholes have never been proven to exist, these theoretical passageways through space-time are predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Wormholes - shortcuts that in theory can connect distant points in the universe - might be linked with the spooky phenomenon of quantum entanglement, where the behavior of particles can be connected regardless of distance, researchers say.

These findings could help scientists explain the universe from its very smallest to its biggest scales.

Scientists have long sought to develop a theory that can describe how the cosmos works in its entirety. Currently, researchers have two disparate theories, quantum mechanics and general relativity, which can respectively mostly explain the universe on its tiniest scales and its largest scales. There are currently several competing theories seeking to reconcile the pair.

One prediction of the theory of general relativity devised by Einstein involves wormholes, formally known as Einstein-Rosen bridges. In principle, these warps in the fabric of space and time can behave like shortcuts connecting any black holes in the universe, making them a common staple of science fiction.
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Comet

Fate of Comet ISON uncertain after fiery sun encounter

Joe Rao
SPACE.com
Mon, 02 Dec 2013 17:31 UTC
Comet ISON
© ESA/NASA/SOHO/SDO/GSFCIt initially appeared that the comet did not survive its inbound journey toward the sun — indeed, images and video ofCometISON from NASA spacecraft suggested that the comet had completely disintegrated just prior to its closest approach. But by Friday, the comet most definitely appeared alive and well, suggesting that previous reports of ISON being "sun and done" were at the very least, premature.
The celestial saga continues for Comet ISON, which crept close to the sun like the fabled Icarus, only to apparently survive the encounter at first. But whether the comet will once again be visible to stargazers is far from certain.

On Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28), many amateur and professional astronomers declared that Comet ISON was dead after the comet flew within 684,000 miles (1.1 million km) of the sun. But on Friday, to paraphrase Mark Twain: "The report of Comet ISON's death was an exaggeration."

It initially appeared that the comet did not survive its inbound journey toward the sun - indeed, images and video of Comet ISON from NASA spacecraft suggested that the comet had completely disintegrated just prior to its closest approach. But by Friday, the comet most definitely appeared alive and well, suggesting that previous reports of ISON being "sun and done" were at the very least, premature.
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Comet

A new theory on the origins of desert glass - Comet impact

Maggie Koerth-Baker
Boing Boing
Mon, 02 Dec 2013 11:16 UTC
Desert Glass
© H. Raab, used via CC license.
Libyan Desert Glass is opaque, greenish glass formed when the desert sands fused in some sort of extremely hot incident. (Alternately, Sandman Volume 2 Number 9 proposes that the glass is the remains of an ancient city.) What, exactly, created the heat that made the glass is a source of scientific debate, but a new paper suggests it might have been the result of a comet impact.

Why a comet and not, say, an asteroid? Scientists studied a stone found in conjunction with the glass and discovered that it contained a mixture of elements that you'd be unlikely to get from an asteroid impact. Instead, the elements suggest an origin outside our solar system's asteroid belt.
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Info

Scientists create functional lung cells using human stem cells

Lee Rannals
RedOrbit
Mon, 02 Dec 2013 18:13 UTC
Lung Function
© Thinkstock
Scientists have used human stem cells to create functional lung and airway cells, according to a study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

The latest research, reported by a team from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), could have significant potential for modeling lung disease, screening drugs, studying human lung development, and generating lung tissue for transplantation.

"Researchers have had relative success in turning human stem cells into heart cells, pancreatic beta cells, intestinal cells, liver cells, and nerve cells, raising all sorts of possibilities for regenerative medicine," stated study leader Hans-Willem Snoeck, MD, PhD, professor of medicine in microbiology and immunology. "Now, we are finally able to make lung and airway cells. This is important because lung transplants have a particularly poor prognosis. Although any clinical application is still many years away, we can begin thinking about making autologous lung transplants - that is, transplants that use a patient's own skin cells to generate functional lung tissue."

In 2011, Snoeck discovered a set of chemical factors that can turn human embryonic stem (ES) cells or human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into anterior foregut endoderm. In the latest study, the team found new factors that complete the transformation of human ES or iPS cells into functioning lung epithelial cells.
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Robot

Amazon delivery drones: Jeff Bezos promises half-hour shipping soon

David Pierce
The Verge
Sun, 01 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
delivery drones
© Unknown
Jeff Bezos is nothing if not a showman. Amazon's CEO loves a good reveal, and took the opportunity afforded by a 60 Minutes segment to show off his company's latest creation: drones that can deliver packages up to five pounds, to your house in less than half an hour. They're technically octocopters, as part of a program called "Amazon Prime Air."

A drone sits at the end of a conveyer belt, waiting to pick up a package - Bezos says 86 percent of Amazon's packages are under five pounds - and can carry them up to ten miles from the fulfillment center. As soon as Amazon can work out the regulations and figure out how to prevent your packages from being dropped on your head from above, Bezos promised, there will be a fleet of shipping drones taking the sky.

The segment focused primarily on holiday shopping, particularly the annual shopping extravaganza that is Cyber Monday. It's a huge day for Amazon - more than 300 items will be ordered each second - and does much to reveal the company's true ambitions. Amazon doesn't just want to reinvent the way we shop for and buy things, it wants to upend every step of the process - including how our purchases come to us.


Comment: This reckless 'drone-ification' of human activities in the name of 'pioneering work' has alarming consequences for our collective future, including the loss of privacy, the loss of jobs and the dangers of such technology merging seamlessly with the National Security State global police state infrastructure.

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Comet

Comet ISON does not survive perihelion, only a ghost remains

Lawrence LeBlond
RedOrbit
Mon, 02 Dec 2013 11:16 UTC
Comet ISON
© NASAIllustration showing where to search for remainder of Comet ISON in the east-southeast skies before dawn.
In true soap opera fashion, the enigmatic comet ISON has followed a somewhat tumultuous lifestyle. It has kept us on the edge of our seats like a good cliffhanger, and excited us when we least expected it to.

Now after and up-and-down journey through the cosmos, ISON has seemingly met its match and it its fate has been sealed once and for all.

Astronomers for over a year have been calling ISON the "comet of the century," claiming it was going to put on a spectacular show around Thanksgiving 2013. However, others had pegged the comet to actually "fizzle out" and not even offer us a glimmering chance of show.

But as the comet approached its perihelion with the sun on Thanksgiving Day it was sure to be a feast for the eyes for many. With several space observatories focused on ISON, the frozen chunk of gas, dust and debris made its final approach Thursday afternoon (Nov 28) at around 1:40pm EST.
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Cell Phone

Nevermind the Apocalypse, a new smartphone app can help you track, identify meteors falling to Earth!


UPI
Wed, 27 Nov 2013 04:56 UTC
I-Meteor
© Unknown
A smartphone app can track meteors as they enter the Earth's atmosphere, sending information back to users about their sightings, its Australian developers say.

Developed by a team at Curtin University, the app called Fireballs in the Sky can return details on what created the fireball and where it came from in the solar system.

App users are asked to point at the sky where they think the fireball started and click on their phones, then do the same for where they think it ended.
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Black Cat 2

Cats suffering from 'Tom and Jerry' syndrome

Jasper Copping
The Telegraph, UK
Sun, 01 Dec 2013 11:23 UTC
Vets warn of a new phenomenon whereby cats suffer seizures triggered by everyday sounds around the house, like the clicking of a computer mouse or the tapping of a boiled egg

Image
© WARNER BROSVets are investigating an apparently new phenomenon whereby pet cats are suffering seizures triggered by everyday sounds
If you ever irritated by the sound of your spouse crinkling a packet of crisps, or rustling with a newspaper, then spare a thought for your cat.

Vets are investigating an apparently new phenomenon whereby pet cats are suffering seizures triggered by everyday sounds around the house.

As well as the sounds of newspapers and crisps packets, the animals have also been observed having the reaction to the clicking of a computer mouse, the tapping of a boiled egg and even the sound of a tin of cat food being opened.

The bizarre phenomenon - likened to the cartoon Tom and Jerry - has also been triggered by the popping of pills from blister packs, the dropping of metal items on tiled floors or ceramic bowls and the hammering of nails, as well as the sounds of owners slapping their foreheads or clicking their tongues.

The new research began after International Cat Care (ICC), a feline charity, began receiving reports from owners across the country reporting the strange behaviour in their pets.
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