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Aboriginal Kids Can Count Without Numbers


Science Daily
Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:51 UTC
Knowing the words for numbers is not necessary to be able to count, according to a new study of aboriginal children by UCL (University College London) and the University of Melbourne. The study of the aboriginal children - from two communities which do not have words or gestures for numbers - found that they were able to copy and perform number-related tasks.

Image
©iStockphoto/Dan Talson
A new study of the aboriginal children -- from two communities which do not have words or gestures for numbers -- found that they were able to copy and perform number-related tasks.

The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that we possess an innate mechanism for counting, which may develop differently in children with dyscalculia.

Professor Brian Butterworth, lead author from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, says: "Recently, an extreme form of linguistic determinism has been revived which claims that counting words are needed for children to develop concepts of numbers above three. That is, to possess the concept of 'five' you need a word for five. Evidence from children in numerate societies, but also from Amazonian adults whose language does not contain counting words, has been used to support this claim.
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Magnet

Sloshing Inside Earth Changes Protective Magnetic Field

Jeremy Hsu
Space.com
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:31 UTC
Something beneath the surface is changing Earth's protective magnetic field, which may leave satellites and other space assets vulnerable to high-energy radiation.

The gradual weakening of the overall magnetic field can take hundreds and even thousands of years. But smaller, more rapid fluctuations within months may leave satellites unprotected and catch scientists off guard, new research finds.
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Display

Lifelike animation heralds new era for computer games


The TimesOnline
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:21 UTC
'Emily' will set a new precedent for photo-realistic characters in video games and films, says her creator, Image Metrics

Extraordinarily lifelike characters are to begin appearing in films and computer games thanks to a new type of animation technology.

Emily - the woman in the above animation - was produced using a new modelling technology that enables the most minute details of a facial expression to be captured and recreated.

She is considered to be one of the first animations to have overleapt a long-standing barrier known as 'uncanny valley' - which refers to the perception that animation looks less realistic as it approaches human likeness.

Researchers at a Californian company which makes computer-generated imagery for Hollywood films started with a video of an employee talking. They then broke down down the facial movements down into dozens of smaller movements, each of which was given a 'control system'.

Comment: Have a look at the following marketing presentation by Image Metrics - to fully appreciate the implications of the above article.

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Binoculars

Bluetongue virus strain identified


Cordis News
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:15 UTC
An international team of scientists including both European institutes and an institute in South Africa has identified the strain of bluetongue that threatened European livestock in 2006-2007. The strain is believed to have originated in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Question

Flashback Are human beings genetically programmed to seek the sunshine?


The Boston Globe
Mon, 14 May 2007 05:45 UTC
Personally, I've always thought so. And now a new study suggests that there may really be a genetic impulse to seek the sun, though there's plenty of evidence that excess exposure to sunlight can cause skin cancer.

In the study, published in the March 9 issue of Cell, Dr. David E. Fisher , director of the melanoma program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, reported that the same biochemical process that leads to skin tanning also raises levels of a natural opiate, the "feel good" chemical, beta-endorphin.

Evolution might have favored this because, by making sunning pleasurable, the body increases production of melanin, the pigment that makes the skin tan. People who can tan have a much lower risk of skin cancer, including melanoma, than non tanners.
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Better Earth

Key photosynthesis step replicated: Scientists learn from nature to split water into hydrogen and oxygen


ScienceDaily
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:33 UTC
An international team of researchers led by Monash University has used chemicals found in plants to replicate a key process in photosynthesis paving the way to a new approach that uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The breakthrough could revolutionise the renewable energy industry by making hydrogen - touted as the clean, green fuel of the future - cheaper and easier to produce on a commercial scale.
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Bizarro Earth

Military funds mind-reading science

Alicia Chang
The Associated Press
Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:11 UTC
Here's a mind-bending idea: The U.S. military is paying scientists to study ways to read people's thoughts. The hope is that the research could someday lead to a gadget capable of translating the thoughts of soldiers who suffered brain injuries in combat or even stroke patients in hospitals.

Comment: Just to help the sick and injured... Right...


But the research also raises concerns that such mind-reading technology could be used to interrogate the enemy.
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Magnify

Shroud of Turin stirs new controversy

DeeDee Correll
Los Angeles Times
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:47 UTC
A Colorado couple researching the shroud dispute radiocarbon dating of the alleged burial cloth of Jesus, and Oxford has agreed to help them reexamine the findings.

Shroud of Turin
©Ellen Jaskol / The Times
A life-sized illuminated photograph of the Shroud of Turin, believed by some--including John and Rebecca Jackson--to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.
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Sherlock

Gene Hunt Hints at Cause of Bipolar Disorder

Nicholas Wade
The New York Times
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:30 UTC
A gene hunt among more than 4,000 British, Irish and American patients suffering from bipolar disorder has turned up two genes that put new emphasis on a possible cause of the disease.

bibolar gene hunting
©Times
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Meteor

First object seen from solar system's inner Oort cloud

Jeff Hecht
NewScientist.com
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:40 UTC
Add yet another new class of objects to the solar system's growing bestiary - the first known visitor from the inner part of the Oort cloud. Many comets originate in the outer Oort cloud, a shell of icy bodies that surrounds the main part of the solar system.

2006 SQ372
©Illustration: N Kaib
No known object has a similar orbit to 2006 SQ372. Sedna, the fifth-largest object beyond Neptune, has an elongated orbit stretching nearly 1000 times farther from the Sun than the Earth, but it never comes closer to the Sun than 75 AU. 2006 SQ372, on the other hand, comes within 24 AU of the Sun, putting it in a different dynamical category
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