Why Minds Are Not Like Computers

From The New Atlantis:

People who believe that the mind can be replicated on a computer tend to explain the mind in terms of a computer. When theorizing about the mind, especially to outsiders but also to one another, defenders of artificial intelligence (AI) often rely on computational concepts. They regularly describe the mind and brain as the “software and hardware” of thinking, the mind as a “pattern” and the brain as a “substrate,” senses as “inputs” and behaviors as “outputs,” neurons as “processing units” and synapses as “circuitry,” to give just a few common examples.

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Russia Plots Return To Venus

The Venera missions produced tantalising images of the Venusian surface.

From The BBC:

Densely clouded in acid-laden mist, Venus used to be the Soviet Union's favourite target for planetary exploration.

Now, after a lull of almost three decades, Russia is making plans for a new mission to the "morning star" and has invited Western scientists to participate.

Last week, Moscow-based space research institute IKI hosted an international conference aimed at luring scientists from Europe and possibly other countries such as the US into the ambitious project, officially scheduled for launch in 2016.

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Studies Suggest South Coast Of South Africa Birthplace Of Modern Humans

Stratigraphic layers visible in this lower section of the PP5-6 archaeological site at Pinnacle Point, Mossel Bay, date to 79,000 to 86,000 years ago. Credit: Photo by Simen Oestmo/South African Coast Paleoclimate, Paleoenvironment, Paleoecology, Paleoanthropology Project (SACP4)

From Science In Africa:

Studies published in the journal Science reports that early modern humans living 72 000 years ago along the south coast of South Africa used fire to improve the quality and efficiency of their stone tool manufacturing. This research provides further evidence that this area may have been the origin location for the lineage that leads to all modern humans, which appeared between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago in Africa.

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18th Century Ships' Logs Predict Future Weather Forecast

Dr Dennis Wheeler launches the new project at HMS Trincomalee based at Hartlepool Marina. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Sunderland)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Oct. 6, 2009) — One hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species revolutionised how we view the natural world. Now his voyages on HMS Beagle are influencing modern research on the evolution of our climate.

A ground-breaking partnership between JISC, the University of Sunderland, the Met Office Hadley Centre and the British Atmospheric Data Centre sees historical naval logbooks being used for the first time in research into climate change. The logbooks include famous voyages such as the Beagle, Cook’s HMS Discovery and Parry’s polar expedition in HMS Hecla.

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Does Taste Decrease With Age?

From Live Science:

This Week’s Question: I have a bet with a friend that you start losing your sense of taste as you get older. She says that her taste is as strong as ever and thinks I’m wrong. Who wins the bet?

In general, sensitivity to taste gradually decreases with age. But there are some whose taste isn’t affected by getting older. Who wins the bet? I won’t touch that one.

The ability to taste food and beverages means a lot to seniors. Let’s face it; we lose a lot of the pleasures of our youth, but eating well isn’t usually one of them.

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Abruptly Forgotten: Working Memory Disappears In A Blink

From Scientific American:

Certain memories die suddenly rather than fading away.

When you go from bed to bathroom on a dark night, a quick flick of the lights will leave a lingering impression on your mind’s eye. For decades evidence suggested that such visual working memories—which, even in daylight, connect the dots to create a complete scene as the eyes dart around rapidly—fade gradually over the span of several seconds. But a clever new study reported in the journal Psychological Science finds that such memories actually stay sharp until they are suddenly lost.

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Nobel Prizes For Chemistry Awarded -- News Roundup

From left, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England; Thomas A. Steitz of Yale University; and Ada E. Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel will share the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Reuters

Three Win Nobel For Ribosome Research -- New York Times

Three researchers whose work delves into how information encoded on strands of DNA is translated by the chemical complexes known as ribosomes into the thousands of proteins that make up living matter will share the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Swedish Academy of Sciences said Wednesday.

The trio are Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England; Thomas A. Steitz of Yale University; and Ada E. Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. Each scientist will get a third of the prize, worth 10 million Swedish kronors in total, or $1.4 million, in a ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10.

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More News On the Nobel Prize For Chemistry

Trio wins chemistry Nobel for solving ribosome riddle -- Reuters
2 Americans, Israeli share Nobel Prize in chemistry -- L.A. Times
Ada Yonath: first Israeli woman to win a Nobel -- AFP
US duo, Israeli win Nobel Chemistry Prize -- AFP
3 Scientists Share Nobel Chemistry Prize for DNA Work -- Voice of America
2 Americans, 1 Israeli win Nobel chemistry prize -- AP
Cambridge chemist wins Nobel prize for showing how proteins are made in cells -- The Guardian
Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded for ribosome research -- Science News
X-ray crystallography at the heart of the 2009 Nobel chemistry prize -- Physics Today
Nobel Prize In Chemistry: What Ribosomes Look Like And How They Functions At Atomic Level -- Science Daily
Unraveling the Ribosome: Chemistry Nobel Awarded to Modelers of Cells' Protein-Maker -- Scientific American
FACTBOX: Nobel chemistry prize - Who are the winners? -- Reuters
List of recent Nobel Prize in chemistry winners -- AP

Flying Feline, Hidden Kitten: The Fur Flies In Amazing 'Ninja' Cat Fight

Take that: This frame catches the two pals getting to grips mid-air

From The Daily Mail:

Leaping through the air, claws outstretched these cats appear locked in mortal combat.

But rather than a deathly duel over a mouse or territory, this acrobatic pair are simply play-fighting.

Dubbed the 'ninja cats' after the Japanese feudal warriors, the sparring pair are in fact Muffi and his friend Tiger.

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Discovery Sheds New Light On Stonehenge

Members of a British archaeological team stand in newly discovered holes that once held the stones of a circular monument connected to Stonehenge by an avenue. It may have served as a crematory. (Aerial-Cam)

From The L.A. Times:

Archaeologists say the remains of another large henge near the River Avon offer clues to the building of Stonehenge and the significance of the river. They had sought the telltale holes for years.

British archaeologists have found the remains of a massive stone henge, or ceremonial circle, that was part of the ancient and celebrated Stonehenge complex, a find that is shedding new light on how the monument was built and its religious uses.

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Is The Arctic Ready To Give Up Its Treasures?

The icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnicov in pack ice off Canada Photo: Daisy Gilardini

From The Telegraph:

Global warming could reveal lucrative reserves of untapped oil, gas and precious metals beneath the ice caps in the near future - but at what environmental cost?

For all the talk among world leaders of the perils of climate change, many are scenting an opportunity. As the Arctic ice retreats, surrounding nations are looking to plunder those natural resources under the surface, estimated by the US Geological Survey to constitute as much as 13 per cent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 per cent of its undiscovered natural gas – as well as precious metals including iron ore, gold, zinc and nickel.

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Nasa 'Needs Another £30bn To Fulfil Moon Mission'

Photo: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon in 1969. He believes a new lunar mission would be pointless - even if it were affordable. (Nasa/EPA)

From Times Online:

Nasa will not be able to meet its target of sending humans back to the Moon by 2020, or even dream of landing on Mars, because it is suffering from chronic underfunding, a presidential review panel has warned.

The US space agency needs at least another $50 billion (£30 billion) over the next decade if it is to come close to delivering on its vision for retiring the space shuttle, completing construction of the International Space Station and launching ambitious new voyages of discovery.

The bleak assessment comes from a ten-member committee established by President Obama to review America’s manned spaceflight programme. Made up of aerospace experts and former astronauts, it is not due to make its final report until the end of this month.

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Why Women Have Sex

RCWW Inc. / Corbis

From Time Magazine:

While figuring out what women want has stumped men for centuries, understanding how they think about sex may have just gotten easier. Cindy Meston and David Buss, psychologists at the University of Texas, interviewed over 1,000 women around the world for their book Why Women Have Sex and managed to come up with 237 reasons, ranging from the predictable — commitment — to the puzzling — curing a headache. Spoiler alert: love may be further down on the list than one might think. TIME spoke to Buss about the myriad mind games, turn-ons and turn-offs involved in female sexuality, and what a guy can do to stand a chance.

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The Faces of Singularity: Are You Ready For The Human-Robot Merge?

Singularity Summit Crowd David Orban/Flickr

From Popular Science:

We asked an assortment of the Singularity Summit's brilliant minds how they're looking forward to a life merged with artificial intelligence

The Singularity Summit drew a wide range of people from around the globe. There were technology companies hoping to spread brand recognition, quasi-spiritual sojourners looking for a new clue to the secret of immortality, and serious academics interested in cutting edge in artificial intelligence.

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Acidic Clouds Nourish World's Oceans

Water droplets in clouds generally form around dust and other particles. When clouds evaporate, as they often do naturally, the surface of the particle can become very acidic. This is especially true where the air is polluted. Paradoxically, scientists suggest that large scale industry in countries like China could be combating global warming to some extent by creating more bioavailable iron in the oceans, and therefore increasing carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere. (Credit: Copyright Michele Hogan)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Oct. 6, 2009) — Scientists at the University of Leeds have proved that acid in the atmosphere breaks down large particles of iron found in dust into small and extremely soluble iron nanoparticles, which are more readily used by plankton.

This is an important finding because lack of iron can be a limiting factor for plankton growth in the ocean - especially in the southern oceans and parts of the eastern Pacific. Addition of such iron nanoparticles would trigger increased absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

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Ancient Rome's Real Population Revealed

From Live Science:

The first century B.C. was one of the most culturally rich in the history of the Roman Empire — the age of Cicero, Caesar and Virgil. But as much as historians know about the great figures of this period of Ancient Rome, they know very little about some basic facts, such as the population size of the late Roman Empire.

Now, a group of historians has used caches of buried coins to provide an answer to this question.

During the Republican period of Rome (about the fifth to the first centuries B.C), adult male citizens of Rome could be taxed and conscribed into the army and were also given the right to vote. To keep track of this section of the population (and their taxable assets), the Roman state conducted periodic censuses.

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My Book Is Mine, Not Google's -- A Commentary

Who's book is it anyway? (Image: Andrzej Krauze)

From New Scientist:

NEXT week details of a plan that could shape the future of books and publishing in the digital age will be spelled out in a New York courtroom. The plan is complex but, in a nutshell, search engine giant Google intends to scan and make available perhaps a million or more books that are out of print but still in copyright.

Google has the support of the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, but it faces formidable opposition. Some 400 legal objections have been filed, and the US Department of Justice has serious concerns. The dispute was due to be resolved in court next week, but at the last minute Google and its partners asked for the case to be adjourned so they could make revisions. A hearing will still take place, but only to inform the parties concerned how Google intends to proceed.

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Black Holes Go 'Mano A Mano'

Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/C.Canizares, M.Nowak; Optical: NASA/STScI.

From Space Daily:

This image of NGC 6240 contains new X-ray data from Chandra (shown in red, orange, and yellow) that has been combined with an optical image from the Hubble Space Telescope originally released in 2008. In 2002, the discovery of two merging black holes was announced based on Chandra data in this galaxy.

The two black holes are a mere 3,000 light years apart and are seen as the bright point-like sources in the middle of the image.

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Flu Widespread In Most Of U.S.

From The L.A. Times:

The infections are 'overwhelmingly' pandemic H1N1 influenza, or swine flu, the CDC director says. Vaccine demand exceeds supply, but that will soon reverse, he says.

Influenza is widespread in most of the United States, with the incidence continuing to increase in some states and to decline very slightly in others, the director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. The infections are "overwhelmingly" pandemic H1N1 influenza, commonly known as swine flu.

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Light Pollution: Night Skies, Dark No More

(Click Image to Enlarge)

From U.S. News And Report:

The ecological risks and health effects of a bright night are becoming more apparent.

The night is not what it was. Once, the Earth was cast perpetually half in shadow. Man and beast slept beneath inky skies, dotted with glittering stars. Then came fire, the candle, and the light bulb, gradually drawing back the curtain of darkness and giving us unprecedented control over our lives.

But a brighter world, it is becoming increasingly clear, has its drawbacks. A study released last month finding that breast cancer is nearly twice as common in brightly lit communities as in dark ones only added to a growing body of evidence that artificial light threatens not just stargazing but also public health, wildlife, and possibly even safety.

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Gmail, Yahoo And AOL Dragged Into Hotmail Hack Alert

From Times Online:

The theft of thousands of passwords to online email services is now known to include account details for all major e-mail providers, including Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo and AOL.

Full details of over 10,000 e-mail accounts were published on a specialist website for developers on October 1. As reported yesterday, the list was believed to comprise Microsoft Hotmail accounts, but it has since emerged that users of other e-mail services, such as Google’s Gmail, may also have had their passwords stolen.

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