Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought

Human ancestors walked comfortably upright 3.6 million years ago

NLN — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:28:26 -0400

A comparison of ancient and contemporary footprints reveals that our ancestors were strolling much like we do some 3.6 million years ago, a time when they were still quite comfortable spending time in trees, according to a study which will be published in the March 22 issue of the journal PLoS ONE.

Saturday movie: A Feasability Study

NLN — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:42:11 -0400

In this episode of the 1963 television series "The Outer Limits," six city blocks are transported intact to an alien planet. With Sam Wanamaker and David Opatoshu. Presented here in its entirety.

US to develop smart machines with visual intelligence

NLN — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:37:50 -0400

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is set to develop a system that will let machines or robots have visual intelligence similar to humans.

Evolution of intelligence and consciousness

NLN — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:30:28 -0400

The human brain is a physical organ, governed by the laws of physics.

To infinity and beyond

NLN — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:05:24 -0400

By our third year, most of us will have learned to count. Once we know how, it seems as if there would be nothing to stop us counting forever. But, while infinity might seem like a perfectly innocent idea, keep counting and you enter a paradoxical world where nothing is as it seems.

Mark Roth: Suspended animation is within our grasp

NLN — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:01:01 -0400

Mark Roth studies suspended animation: the art of shutting down life processes and then starting them up again. It's wild stuff, but it's not science fiction. Induced by careful use of an otherwise toxic gas, suspended animation can potentially help trauma and heart attack victims survive long enough to be treated.

Ending the pretense of faith

NLN — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:57:18 -0400

Question: What should pastors do if they no longer hold the defining beliefs of their denomination?

Designer nanomaterials on-demand

NLN — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:29:14 -0400

Composites are combinations of materials that produce properties inaccessible in any one material. A classic example of a composite is fiberglass - plastic fibers woven with glass to add strength to hockey sticks or the hull of a boat. Unlike the well-established techniques for producing fiberglass and other macroscale composites, however, there aren't general schemes available for making nanoscale composites.

Brain waves and mediation

NLN — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:25:30 -0400

Forget about crystals, candles, Eastern philosophy, and about sitting and breathing in awkward ways. Meditation research explores how the brain works when we refrain from concentration, rumination and intentional thinking. Electrical brain waves suggest that mental activity during meditation is wakeful and relaxed.

The Boxology of Self-Knowledge

Eric Schwitzgebel — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:24:25 -0400

It’s often helpful for cognitive scientists modeling psychological processes to describe the mind’s functional architecture using boxes and arrows, with the boxes indicating various functionally discrete processes or systems and the arrows indicating the causal or functional relationships among those discrete processes or systems.

Big Bang for beginners-6: The evidence

Mano Singham — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:46:22 -0400

Why has the Big Bang theory become the standard model for understanding the origins of the universe?

Bacteria divide like clockwork

NLN — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:41:02 -0400

MIT researchers show how circadian rhythms in bacteria control their rate of reproduction.

Students discover new species of raptor dinosaur

NLN — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:36:33 -0400

A new species of dinosaur, a relative of the famous Velociraptor, has been discovered in Inner Mongolia by two PhD students.

Ability to tolerate enemies influences evolution

NLN — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:25:13 -0400

Stay and fight, or flee? These are usually the alternatives facing a victim when it is attacked by an enemy. Two researchers from Lund University have now collected various examples from the animal world where the victim makes use of another possibility.

His fortune polishes atheists' reputation

NLN — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:19:15 -0400

When GlaxoSmithKline bought ToddStiefel's family business for $2.9 billion last April, he began to think about what to do with the rest of his life.