Tech posts are back

Source: The Independent An interesting article sent to me by ancalagon_tb. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a growing problem in the US which has recently spread to Europe. This occurs when all the bees in a colony suddenly abandon the hive and its queen. The bees and the hive, understandably, perish. More than 60 percent of the commercial bee population on the west coast of the US has been lost to this disorder, and the problem affects more than just honey production: bees are responsible for pollinating crops so substantial bee population loses can translate into crop failures. Many theories have been put forward, but one of the more recent is that cell phones interfere with the bees' ability to navigate. One preliminary study determined that bees refused to return to a hive when a cell phone has been placed in close proximity to it. An earlier study had already determined that bees change their behaviour around power lines. The jury is still out as the to true cause.

Source: New York Magazine Another article sent to me by ancalagon_tb. A Columbia professor has an interesting proposal for both increasing the availability of fresh produce in the city and combat global warming. He proposes building 30 story "vertical greenhouses" to raise fruits and vegetables, as well as generate energy cleanly. The system could also be used to purify wastewater, allowing the city to conserve water resources. The system would reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere if, for each building completed, an equivalent amount of farmland was covered with trees.

Source: PhysOrg You can't get a runner much more dedicated than this. Suni Williams, currently serving on board the International Space Station, ran the Boston Marathon while orbiting 210 miles above the Earth. She circled the Earth twice in the 4 hours and 24 minutes it took her to complete the race.

Source: Technology Review Recent advances may give sight to congenitally blind people. The approach is based on research that visual sensations can be generated in blind individuals by electrically stimulating the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) which is located between the optic nerve and the visual cortex. The LGN is one of the first "routing stations" along the visual pathway so visual information that reaches this point has been minimally processed. This means that it is easier to correlate parts of the visual field with parts of the LGN. The only drawback is that the LGN is located deep within the brain so is difficult to access. Recall, though, that in an earlier post that there have been recent advances in using lasers to stimulate and suppress individual neurons.

Source: Technology Review Scientists have used brain imaging to detect the differences in neural behaviour between psychopaths and non-psychopaths. Non-psychopaths who were shown horrific images displayed significant activity in the amygdala; however psychopaths displayed little or no activity. They theorize that psychopaths may lack the neural wiring "...to generate the basic emotions that keep primitive killer instincts in check." Don't expect to see a "test" for psychopaths soon; the lack of activation in response to such images may also be important to those in more "heroic" professions such as police officers and firefighters. Moreover, non-psychopaths can also become killers so detecting potential psychopaths would not end acts of mass violence.

More tech photos

I had planned to post these yesterday before getting overwhelmed with formatting (not editing) a journal paper.

( plenty of tech photos under the cut )