Media "Balance" Misreports Climate Change Impact

The mass media is blowing their responsibility to accurate reporting. (Image Source)

"Reporters need to learn that, if they wish to discuss 'both sides' of the climate issue, the scientifically legitimate "other side" is that, if anything, global climate disruption is likely to be significantly worse than has been suggested in scientific consensus estimates to date."
- Prof. William Freudenburg, University of Colorado at Boulder

A recent symposium on "Understanding Climate Change" at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)" discussed how even though the evidence for anthropogenic climate change (AAC) has become stronger and has scientific consensus, it remains controversial among the public and policy makers. The symposium highlighted the influence of the fossil fuel industry, conservative think tanks and others.

Presentations from the speakers can be found here

Further discussion and more links to informative background can be found here.

Climate Change Impact Worse Than You Thought

Here is an outstanding, up to date summary of the best scientific understanding of the climate with links to more in-depth discussion and source publications. The author, Dr. Joseph Romm is a physicist and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His blog Climate Progress is one of the best sources for climate change information.

"In 2009, the scientific literature caught up with what top climate scientists have been saying privately for a few years now: Many of the predicted impacts of human-caused climate change are occurring much faster than anybody expected — particularly ice melt, everywhere you look on the planet. If we stay anywhere near our current emissions path, we are facing incalculable catastrophes by century’s end, including rapid sea level rise, massive wildfires, widespread Dust-Bowlification, large oceanic dead zones, and 9F warming — much of which could be all but irreversible for centuries. And that’s not the worst-case scenario! The consequences for human health and well being would be extreme."

The following article in the same blog is also the best summary I've found regarding the specific impacts of climate change we can expect, especially if little or no action is taken: An Introduction to Global Warming Impacts

UAVs for Police Surveillance and Arrest

A helicopter UAV equipped with infra-red cameras has been used for the first time in the UK to make an arrest. Thermal imaging transmitted to the officer operating the UAV enabled police to find a suspected car thief hiding in bushes in a thick fog. The UAV was originally designed for military reconnaissance but has been used in the UK for two years for search and rescue and to "crack down on anti-social behaviour". The drones are near silent and can hover or "perch" for hours.

The UK already has more CCTV per capita than any other country, and now these mobile platforms are adding to its reputation as the "surveillance state".

Weaponizing Mozart

Bringing the fictional authoritarian police behavior of "A Clockwork Orange" to reality, classical music is being used increasingly in Great Britain as a tool for social control and a deterrent to "bad behaviour". A school district "subjects" badly behaving children to hours of Mozart in "special detention" isolations. Unsurprisingly, some of these youth now find classical music unbearable. Recorded classical music is blared through speakers at bus stops, outside stores, train stations and elsewhere to drive away loitering youth. Apparently it works. Detentions are down, graffiti is reduced, and naughty youth flee because classical music now is "repugnant" instead of providing an intellectual and emotional opportunity to experience one of humanity's greatest arts.

Read About it.

The Science of Avatar

A professor of astrophysics blogging as "Copernicus" has graded Cameron on the science of the movie "AVATAR".

As a professor of physics who has worked on SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) programs and exoplanetology, Copernicus's detailed essay gives AVATAR a "B" for astrobiology (scale of the alien ecosystem), an A+ for astronomy (choice of star system and setting), an "A" for astrophysics (atmospheric features), but a marginal "fail" on physics due to the floating mountains. However, in an update Copernicus revises his physics grade with a explanation for the floating mountains based on the superconducting properties of "unobtainium", a mineral figuring prominently in the movie.

Additional sources on the science of AVATAR are the pandorapedia and A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora.

In other words, even a hardened scientist skeptic (like me) can find a lot to like in this movie!

Here, sniff this: Oxytocin Accelerators

Oxytocin is a naturally occurring human hormone produced in the hypothalamus where it acts as a neurotransmitter. Oxytocin receptors are expressed by neurons in many parts of the brain and spinal cord, including the amygdala, ventromedial hypothalamus, septum and brainstem.

Oxytocin is known by many women as the drug (called "Pitocin") they were given to induce labor. Indeed, it has significant physical effects related to birth and maternal bonding. It is also known as the "tend and befriend" hormone. Studied since the 1990's, some recent research suggests that oxytocin has numerous psychological effects on those exposed to it.

What psychological effects? Consider these:

Trust
Bonding
Fear Reduction
Empathy
Intimacy
Sexual Receptiveness
Generosity


Time Magazine quoted Tom Insel, the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, who said, ""Somehow, the peptide increases trust, or alters the way individuals see each other."

Oxytocin is produced normally in response to various emotional states, in such situations as hugging or touching, and it is produced prodigiously in both men and women during orgasm.

Proving once again that "the street finds its own use for technology" (Wm. Gibson, Neuromancer), you can now buy small spray bottles of oxytocin "accelerators" online from a number of sources (google it yourself). The idea is to spray it directly into the nose or mouth, or where it can be deeply inhaled. (It has no effect when ingested.)

Scents, aromas, perfumes, incense, and more have long been used in human society to create moods, induce relaxation, and otherwise influence behavior. It appears we are now entering a new stage where bio-engineered products may be employed for the same purposes. There are many other hormones that may just as important as oxytocin in influencing mood and behavior.

The next time you walk into a business meeting, what aerosol hormones will be in the air? How will casinos use oxytocin and other hormones? Will you use it with your spouse? On a date?

Researchers remain skeptical of the use of oxytocin for the notion of "paradise engineering". That's their job as scientists.

Resources and Further Reading
Nature (Vol. 435, No. 7042, pages 673–676) June 2, 2005

Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE (Vol. 2, No. 11) Nov. 7, 2007

About Oxytocin

Monitor on Psychology, Volume 39, No. 2 February 2008
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The Story of the Transgenic Goats (continued)

A while ago I wrote about some wonderful transgenic goats that produce spider silk stronger than steel. (Original post here).

The company that produced the goats, Nexia Biotechnologies, was concentrating on developing materials for space elevators. Needless to say, the market today is somewhat limited and before long the goats found themselves without much of a future.

The world is smaller than you think. At a recent Air Force Office of Scientific Research program review I attended, I met the program manager who provided some of the resources (genes, funding, whatever) that went into making the goats in the first place. He told me a story of learning that the goats were homeless - in Canada - and then sending a small team over to take custody of the goats and bring them to the US.

US law requires live animals brought into the country to be branded with the country of origin, so the team branded the goats with a big letter C. They were promptly arrested.

It is illegal in Canada to brand animals, where it is considered cruel.

How the team and the goats got out of jail and over the border I don't know. But I can report that the transgenic goats are now happily living at the University of Montana where they being studied. Stay tuned for further adventures!

Ominous Dark Energy

When theories are in trouble, scientists get creative. A great example of this is the current struggle with "dark energy". Today I was amused by an article in the Washington Post, "Mysterious 'Dark Energy' Not as Ominous as Thought".

Consider how the piece starts:

New observations offer evidence that astronomers are not simply imagining that there is a mysterious essence they call "dark energy" that is causing the universe to expand at an ever-accelerating pace.

After discussing some recent findings and a rather bizarre claim that dark energy is a "force that permeates empty space and ... has precisely the opposite effect of gravity", we find the most wonderful quote I have heard from an astrophysicist (read the article for his name):

"Even nothing, even empty space, weighs something [!!!!], and because in our universe we've got a lot of nothing, it has a major effect on our evolution and causes space itself to accelerate", said Prof. xyz, an astrophysicist at Princeton University.

I want whatever he is having for lunch.

Astutely, the author then states, "What remains unclear is what dark energy is, exactly"

Another prominent physicist gives us this cogent response:

We've discovered this incredible dark energy; we don't understand what the hell it is."

The article concludes that we should be reassured that what will not happen "apparently", is:

"... the cosmic apocalypyse that scientists call the big rip. That would occur if dark energy was strong enough to rend asunder all the stars, planets, moons, rocks, dust and even atomic nuclei, as well as any and all innocent bystanders."

I love physics and physicists. They are touched and it is wonderful.

[Still confused about "dark matter"]

Updated Biography Online

Just a brief note to announce my updated biographical site is online and can be found at http://davidatkinson.is.dreaming.org/

Amazing Robotic Exoskeleton

A robotic exoskeleton that reflects every body movement of the wearer, with gentleness or force, and smooth as can be. This is a real advance, if they can get it off the tether (which is there for power and safety).

"The human is a machine that functions only within the limitations of
flesh and bone...

Robotic exoskeleton mimics everything [Rex] wants to do...

If you step out of it, it becomes a humanoid [autonomous] robot. If you step into it, it becomes teleoperated and you become a superhero."

VIDEO



Add a protective shell, with all the networking and comm gear you need ...

...and you have the warrior of the future...

... but who says a human has to be inside?

Such a machine could be teleoperated (like a UAV) from thousands of miles away, providing complete safety to the human soldier.

The future? Machines fighting machines... until the batteries wear out

Direct Neural Interface - Brain to Speech Synthesis

In what may be a breakthrough, a research team at Boston University has been recording the neural firing in the speech areas of the brain belonging to Mr. Eric Ramsey. Mr. Ramsey is unable to speak. He has been paralyzed but conscious for the past eight years, following a car accident.

The team claims that they can correctly identify the sound that Mr. Ramsey is "imagining" about 80% of the time. Now that they have trained their computer algorithm to this level, the research will now move towards translating these "imagined" sounds, the "thoughts" of Mr. Ramsey, directly into speech. This will involve providing Mr. Ramsey with real-time feedback so that he may learn to adjust has ability to "think out loud".

If it works, it will be a major advance for neuroscience. However, it has not come as a complete surprise. Researchers have been progressively improving at decoding primitive vocabulary for some time.

The wireless electrode probe, which is surgically implanted just six-millimeters below the surface of his brain, records pulses from 41 surrounding neurons involved in speech generation. Although the technique is invasive it may offer hope for many paralyzed people to speak. Certainly, we would like to hear the words of Dr. Hawking once again.

More Information
Neural Signals, Inc. - Cutting Edge Assistive Technology

Home Auto-Fabrication is Here

A fabber is an automated system that can create three-dimensional objects from raw materials. They have been common in the electronics industry for many years -- the electronics of many devices are far to small and delicate to be handled by humans. Now, you may soon have one on your desk or "in your kitchen", according to these inventors. Technically, this device is called an "additive fabber", last discussed in this blog in 2005 "Additive Fabbers: Build it yourself from raw materials", and a related topic on molecular fabrication in 2006 "Timeline for Molecular Manufacturing"



"You can't put chocolate in an industrial fabber or you'll void your warranty" says one of the inventors in this short video, "but with this, why not use chocolate if you want?". Think of it like printing, but instead of a document or picture, you send a model / description of an object (a cell phone, a bottle, whatever) to the device. Then "go get a cup of coffee" say the inventors and when you come back, voila' presto chango there is your object.

The plans for the device will be posted free on the internet. The video is interesting but only shows it making a cup out of some gluey plastic substance. Still, major progress in low-cost home fabbers! Believe it or not, this is the future. You will one day have a personal fabricator.