This is cool in a creepy “this could really advance science, but what about our impending robot masters?” sort of way. But hey, the “animat” — which is bascially a bunch of neurons on a circuit board that moves a virtual mouse — is still a far cry from Mr. Data.
Category Archives: Science
seeing the world from both sides
This article from the San Jose Mercury News, Seeing the World from Both Sides, is worth a read:
When a Stanford University neurobiologist made a case this week that discrimination, not genetics, keeps women out of science, his comments carried more weight than usual.
Ben A. Barres spent most of his life — and his career as an accomplished scientist — as a woman. Only nine years ago did he complete the process of changing into a man; only recently, he says, did he begin to realize how bias holds women back.
Oddly enough, I just had a conversation about this with Bryan Monroe from work. One point I’ve heard before that this article doesn’t make: girls in science classes often give up on further science if they don’t excel, while boys are encouraged to continue even if they do poorly. That seemed telling to me, because it’s less about a specific person discriminating and more about internalized cultural bias.
Sex is essential, kids aren’t – Los Angeles Times
I just read a wonderful opinion piece in the LA Times called Sex is essential, kids aren’t:
When it comes to human behavior, there are actually very few genetic dictates. Our hearts insist on beating, our lungs breathing, our kidneys filtering and so forth, but these internal-organ functions are hardly “behavior” in a meaningful sense. As for more complex activities, evolution whispers within us. It does not shout orders.
Odd that it’s in the op-ed section, but that’s probably because the Times doesn’t have a “Common Sense Intro to Science” section.
Hawking to write children’s book
I so thoroughly want this:
Physicist Stephen Hawking and his daughter are to write a science book for children which will be “a bit like Harry Potter”, but without the magic. “It is a story for children, which explains the wonders of the universe,” she [his daughter] said.
I hope it’s something in the vein of Heinlein’s juvenile fiction, basically a scientifically-accurate adventure story. It would be great to give Ben a copy along with the Heinlein, Asimov, Rowling, Pullman, Pratchett, and Nix he’ll have on his “Daddy Recommends” shelf.
(I have to post this before that list gets any bigger. I keep adding authors. Who would you recommend to a young reader?)
Scientists Predict How to Detect a Fourth Dimension of Space
From PhysOrg:
Scientists at Duke and Rutgers universities have developed a mathematical framework they say will enable astronomers to test a new five-dimensional theory of gravity that competes with Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.
I especially like that the test uses gravitational lensing, the same effect that was used to test the General Theory back in 1919. This time the effect is subtle enough to require a gamma-ray observatory in orbit, which is expected to be launched in 2007.