The cool science thread

[Chris N]

That's a perfect signature quote for the moment, Kosmopolit.

[mikekerr3]

I'm sorry but every physicist since around 1890 disagrees with you.

Even Schrodinger's cat would not agree

[Tages]

I'm sorry but every physicist since around 1890 disagrees with you.

More or less.

Basically, the universe's fundamentally limited computational capacity is such precisely because of the premise that Arvandor rejects.

If I understand things correctly.

[berk]

Because your brain didn't get freezed up enough today:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...its-arrow.html

That is truly mind-blowing.

I have to admit that I have a hard time getting my head around the information/entropy relationship. I've read what I thought were two good books that touch on the idea Seth Lloyd's Programming the Universe and Charles Seife's Decoding the Universe, but I still find it a very tricky concept and one that's easy to get confused. This article adds yet another twist, but skimming through the relevant sections of those two books, I think it's starting to come together for me.

BTW Paul, the article I was thinking of appeared in New Scientist May 3-9, 2008. Here's the link.

String theory's still the frontrunner, of course; so much so that everything else can almost be considered as operating in fringe territory, at least in terms of the number of physicists working on them. But until we can find a way to test whatever predictions emerge from any of these ideas, I don't think we can assume it's a done deal.

[thespianphryne]

LEVITATING MICE!

[Paul McEnery]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...-to-brain.html

STEM cells show promise for treating a range of neurological conditions, including Parkinson's, strokes and Alzheimer's, but it is tricky getting them into the brain. Perhaps inhaling stem cells might be the answer - if mice are anything to go by.

Other options all have their drawbacks. Drilling through the skull and injecting the stem cells is painful and carries some risks. You can also inject them into the bloodstream but only a fraction reach their target due to the blood-brain barrier.

The nose, however, might be a viable alternative. In the upper reaches of the nasal cavity lies the cribriform plate, a bony roof that separates the nose from the brain. It is perforated with pin-size holes, which are plugged with nerve fibres and other connective tissue. Since proteins, bacteria and viruses can enter the brain this way, Lusine Danielyan at the University Hospital of Tübingen in Germany, and her colleagues, wondered if stem cells would also migrate into the brain through the cribriform plate.

[thespianphryne]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...-to-brain.html

I promise, officer. That wasn't coke it was stem cells.

[Chris N]

I promise, officer. That wasn't coke...

Not a promise I can ever make.

[Paul McEnery]

Not a promise I can ever make.

Not given the state of your brain!

[darkhanamaru]

Blind People See With Tongue Device

[Paul McEnery]

Free Will(ie)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0914172644.htm

Evidence Points To Conscious 'Metacognition' In Some Nonhuman Animals
ScienceDaily (Sep. 15, 2009) — J. David Smith, Ph.D., a comparative psychologist at the University at Buffalo who has conducted extensive studies in animal cognition, says there is growing evidence that animals share functional parallels with human conscious metacognition -- that is, they may share humans' ability to reflect upon, monitor or regulate their states of mind.

Smith makes this conclusion in an article published the September issue of the journal Trends in Cognitive Science (Volume 13, Issue 9). He reviews this new and rapidly developing area of comparative inquiry, describing its milestones and its prospects for continued progress.

He says "comparative psychologists have studied the question of whether or not non-human animals have knowledge of their own cognitive states by testing a dolphin, pigeons, rats, monkeys and apes using perception, memory and food-concealment paradigms.

"The field offers growing evidence that some animals have functional parallels to humans' consciousness and to humans' cognitive self-awareness," he says. Among these species are dolphins and macaque monkeys (an Old World monkey species).

Smith recounts the original animal-metacognition experiment with Natua the dolphin. "When uncertain, the dolphin clearly hesitated and wavered between his two possible responses," he says, "but when certain, he swam toward his chosen response so fast that his bow wave would soak the researchers' electronic switches.

[Roquefort Raider]

Blind People See With Tongue Device

Hey, you, blind guy! Were you looking at my wife's breasts???

[Gary_B]

Human evolution is happening at an accelerated rate.

This article jumped out at me partly because an ID proponent claimed the opposite in a recent thread here. I would have thought population growth and ever increasing abilities to travel long distances would have accelerated evolutionary processes but I'm surprised that the research suggests a 100 fold increase compared to pre-agricultural rates.

[Michael P]

Human evolution is happening at an accelerated rate.

This article jumped out at me partly because an ID proponent claimed the opposite in a recent thread here. I would have thought population growth and ever increasing abilities to travel long distances would have accelerated evolutionary processes but I'm surprised that the research suggests a 100 fold increase compared to pre-agricultural rates.

Yes! Mutant powers, here we come!

[Chris N]

$150 space camera

Bottle of whisky or space camera? Whisky or space camera?

I think I've made my choice.

Wish I could afford a space camera.