moth robots
from last week’s human nature
Scientists have built a robot controlled by a moth brain. They “immobilized” the moth and attached an electrode to a neuron in the vision area of its brain. Result: The moth’s eye movements steer the robot. Proposed applications: 1) Perfecting brain-machine connections so amputees and paraplegics can manipulate artificial limbs. 2)
“A robot hooked into the moth’s sophisticated olfactory system might one day be used to detect bombs.” (”If it blows up, all you’ve lost is a moth.”) 3) Down the road, “machines that can see and smell the world just as living things do.” Related: a robot controlled by a roach; a robot controlled by a detached eel brain; remote-controlled pigeons; remote-controlled rats; fighting terrorists with bomb-detecting robots. Human Nature’s prediction: Animal brain components will be the next stage of robots, because we’re learning that it’s a lot easier to engineer bodies than brains. Discussion question: Is it wrong to detach an animal brain and put it in a robot? Why?
-- olga, November 13, 2007 | Topics: robots | No Comments »
world’s highest cell phone transmission station
first karl lagerfeld staged the first ever fashion show on the great wall, now china has erected the tallest cell phone tower in the world… on mt. everest
according to wired news,
The new station, along with two other China Mobile stations at 17,060 feet and 19,095 feet, would provide cell phone service along the entire Mount Everest climbing route, Xinhua said. It would also be put into use during next year’s Olympic torch relay, which will take the flame to the 29,035-foot summit.
-- olga, November 13, 2007 | Topics: fashion, the china factor, science, China | No Comments »
2005 world map of corruption
according to wikipedia, this map measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among businesses, public officials and politicians. Colors range from green (top quartile) to yellow (middle high), orange (middle low) and red (bottom quartile).
-- olga, November 2, 2007 | Topics: government | No Comments »
oldest living creature found
a clam dug up from off the coast of iceland was recently discovered, estimated to be 400 years old
read the story here
note: this team is now being funded by a grant from help the aged
-- olga, October 31, 2007 | Topics: science | No Comments »
robot of the day
read the article here
-- olga, October 25, 2007 | Topics: culture, fashion, robots | No Comments »
google trends: axis of evil
okay so russia isn’t officially in the axis of evil but in light of current events, we’ll will make it a temporary honorary member
google trends is a nice tool that plots overall search volume and news searches for different topics of interest. for kicks (and previewing a very special post to follow shortly), we searched for ahmadinejad, kim jong il, and putin:
-- olga, October 17, 2007 | Topics: current events, culture, fun | No Comments »
The Red Apocalypse
Last week in international politics: the US managed to seduce former Eastern Bloc countries to allow a missile defense system on their soils (It is at least as dirty as it sounds). Putin is pissed, he’s like ‘The New Europeans are sluts but they were my sluts, whatever happened to bros before hos?’ In retaliation, he almost stands up Condoleeza Rice on a fake make up date that goes bad.
Next thing you know Putin is on a date with Ahmadinejad, and we all know that Condi thinks he’s an asshole and won’t even talk to him.
The Bachelor International ed. or the Apocalypse?
The latter, according to Dr. Jack Van Impe of Jack Van Impe Ministries International who predicted an eerily similar sequence of events a long time ago in a map of the Apocalypse detailing the (impending?) Russian invasion of the Middle East leading to Armageddon.
For a detailed explanation and legend please visit Jack Van Impe Ministries International, but basically Russia marches on Israel, the EU gets involved and then the Coalition of the Willing (Holy CoW?). There is something about Old Europe and New Europe, one of which gives birth to the Antichrist (The EU has been very strong against the dollar lately). The battle of Armageddon follows.
Here is a bootleg of the Russian Red Army Choir getting ready, singing ‘Sacred War’…
…Let the holy (noble) rage boil like a giant wave. Let’s go on a people’s war, a sacred war!For the curious but faint of heart, an illustrated account of what follows can be found at Apocamon.
-- olaf, October 17, 2007 | Topics: war, EU, Apocalypse, Russia, politics, religion, US | No Comments »
the P&H guide to China’s 17th Party Congress
everything that you wanted to know about the party congress (but were afraid to ask)
what is China’s political structure?
the main structure consists of the politburo standing committee (7-9 people), the politburo (22 people), and the central committee (200 people). the standing committee is responsible for the execution of state power and primary decision-making.
what is the party congress?
the party congress is a party meeting which occurs every five years. it makes all the important decisions and is followed by the national congress (usually the next spring) which approves all the party congress decisions.
what happens during the party congress?
during this meeting, the party makes major membership and leadership changes and forms long-term policies
who attends?
the congress is attended by 2,200 cadre members. according to wikipedia, the great majority of these are cadres, but about 30% are model workers and there are about 20 private businesspeople.
why is this party congress significant?
this is the first time we see plurality in the succession issue- meaning, this is the first time there is currently no top-down [dictated] approach of who’s in and who’s out. presidents typically are anointed by their predecessors or other high government figures; current president Hu Jintao represents the last of this system (Hu was chosen by Deng Xiaoping in 1992 to be the youngest member ever brought to the central committee).
how will successors be named then?
successors could be annointed (as they have been in the past). there has also been speculation that party leadership will designate two successors and party members will choose at the next congress. alternatively, nobody could also be chosen. recent nytimes and bbc pieces have reported that President Hu is to have closed the door on any kind of “western-style” democratic determination of leadership. in truth, any kind of formal voting system would be viewed as extreme and not a near possibility anyway.
who’s out
Hu Jintao, Zeng Qinghong (a Jiang Zemin loyalist), and Premier Wen Jiabao will stay in the politburo standing committee. in addition, Wu Bangguo and probably Li Changchun (though he’s getting up in age) will stay. likely members to leave are Luo Gan, Jia Qinglu, and Wu Guanzheng. member Huang Ju passed away this year.
who’s in
this is where things get interesting. a majority of the current members are engineers by training and have been known for a technical approach to governnance. rising stars in the party include Lu Keqiang (party secretary of Liaoning province), Li Yuanchao (Jiangsu), Xi Juping (Shanghai) and Wang Yang (Chongqing). this group of rising stars consists mainly of lawyers and economists; in addition, Li Yuanchao and Xi Juping had previous experience at the JFK school at Harvard. Li Keqiang and Xi Juping have also strongly supported President Hu. Hu is also expected to consolidate his power in this congress through the selection of members.
what changes are in store for China?
it’s tough to say. corporations of course are very interested to see how new leadership affects the government’s policies. china overall will probably change very little. also, there are two main party factions- that led by President Hu, and that led by former president Jiang Zemin. according to the BBC, Hu represents a more populist approach whereas Jiang represents an elitist approach (of concentrating wealth along the coastal regions).
images from nytimes.com
-- olga, October 16, 2007 | Topics: government, politics, China | 1 Comment »
most underappreciated scientists
hedy lamarr, glamorous hollywood star and co-inventor of spread-spectrum communications technology
we’ve all heard stories of grad students whose thesis advisors steal their work and claim as their own. wired magazine acknowledges these unsung heroes and heroines of science in a poll, as well as the many who were thankfully better scientists than PR hounds.
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/10/vote-the-most-u.html
-- midori, October 15, 2007 | Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
banned photo in russia
read the guardian story here
-- olga, October 12, 2007 | Topics: Russia, art, censorship | 1 Comment »