Brain Maps and Global Warming Solutions (kinda)

[dracodraconis]

Source: PhysOrg University of Texas researchers have developed a way to marry light-sensitive nanoparticle films to neurons. The scientists layered two types of ultrathin films on glass before coating that with clay and amino acids. Light passing through the glass causes the sandwiched material to sets up a current through the amino acids. Any cells in contact with this material are depolarized by the current, so if the cell is a neuron then you would have replicated the effect of sending a signal to the neuron. Not only does this provide a way to transmit a signal directly to neurons, it could eventually be adapted to augment or replace retinal cells by converting light into neural impulses. The process would remove the need to implant batteries or perform complex data processing so would be suitable for chronic implantation.

Source: EurekAlert! Researchers at the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience have just created BrainMaps.org (found at http://brainmaps.org/) consisting of 50 Terabytes of brain imagery covering a variety of species. The data presents, free to all visitors, detailed images of the brain down to the microscopic level. Think of it as brain porn, and lots of it.

Source: PhysOrg Paul Hellyer, a former Canadian Defense minister, has informed the Ottawa Citizen of what we need to do to combat global warming.... the US government has to make public all the alien technology they have accumulated since the Roswell incident in 1947. When compared to supposedly "realistic" ideas like giant space mirrors, his suggestion appears to be just as feasible any anything else being floated recently (floated being an excellent term to infer the quality of some of these ideas).

Source: PhysOrg Scientists have developed what they are referring to as a "tricorder" which could bring chemical analysis to the streets. The hand held device is a type of miniature mass spectrometer that ionizes particles in the air immediately in front of the device. The device is small (less than 20 pounds), fast (processing times of less than 1 second), and accurate (it was able to detect traces of cocaine on a $50 bill). Although not a replacement for a full laboratory analysis, it maybe sufficient for alerting people to potential contaminants.

Source: ABC News A recent study has apparently confirmed that today's students have become more narcissistic than students were in "my day" (mid-1980s). The results were based on data collected from 16,475 college students nationwide who completed an evaluation called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) between 1982 and 2006. The NPI scores have apparently risen steadily between 1982 and 2006.