Complexity Digest 2004.03

Jan. 20, 2004

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Content

  1. Kutcher Shows Serious Side in 'Butterfly Effect', Reuters
    1. The Butterfly Effect - Change One Thing Change Everything, ButterflyEffectMovie.com
  2. Toward An Integrative Science Of The Person, Ann Rev Psychology
    1. Self-Knowledge, Annual Review of Psychology
    2. On Building A Bridge Between Brain And Behavior, Annual Review of Psychology
    3. The Psychology And Neuroscience Of Forgetting, Annual Review of Psychology
    4. Group Performance And Decision Making, Annual Review of Psychology
    5. Creativity, Annual Review of Psychology
  3. Wound-Healing Genes Influence Cancer Progression, Bio.com
    1. The Integration Of Pharmacokinetics And Pharmacodynamics: Understanding Dose-Response, Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology
    2. How Enzymes Work: Analysis by Modern Rate Theory and Computer Simulations, Science
    3. Stem Cells: How To Make Eggs And Sperm, Nature
  4. What Does A Molecule Want? The Myth Of The Self-Replicating Molecule, Biosystems
  5. Climate Change Science: Adapt, Mitigate, or Ignore?, Science
    1. Widespread Intense Turbulent Mixing in the Southern Ocean, Science
    2. To Avoid Fuel Limits, Subaru Is Turning a Sedan Into a Truck, NY Times
    3. Ecology: Clouded Futures, Nature
  6. Virus-Based Toolkit for the Directed Synthesis of Magnetic and Semiconducting Nanowires, Nature
    1. Synthetic Biology: Microbes Made to Order, Science
    2. Pig-Human Chimeras Contain Cell Surprise, NewScientist
  7. Power Laws in Biological Networks, arXiv
  8. Self-organized Patterns and Traffic Flow in Colonies of Organisms: From Bacteria and Social Insects to Vertebrates, arXiv
  9. Brain Architecture And Social Complexity In Modern And Ancient Birds, Brain, Behav. & Evol.
    1. Cortical Orofacial Motor Representation In Old World Monkeys, Great Apes, And Humans, Brain, Behav. & Evol.
  10. Complexities Of A Simple System: New Lessons, Old Challenges And Peripheral Questions, Brain Res. Rev.
  11. Transitions to Synchrony in Coupled Bursting Neurons, PRL
    1. Developmental Biology: Asymmetric Fixation, Nature
  12. Computation In Gene Networks, Chaos
  13. Multimedia PC With Instant Start-Up Launches, NewScientist
    1. Wireless Lamp Posts Take Over World!, Newswireless.net
  14. Puzzled Monkeys Reveal Key Language Step, NewScientist
  15. Closing a Window on the Universe, Washington Post
    1. NASA Cancels Trip to Supply Hubble, Sealing Early Doom, NYTimes
    2. Why Hubble Is Being Dropped, BBC News Online
  16. Reflectins: The Unusual Proteins of Squid Reflective Tissues, Science
  17. A Short-Order Revolutionary, NYTimes
  18. Greeting Big Brother With Open Arms, NY Times
    1. A Classic Tale Updated: Cleric vs. President, Toronto Star
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. Mad Cow As Bioterrorism?, The Scientist
    2. Deep Repositories: Out of Sight, Out of Terrorists' Reach, Science
    3. Bush's Power to Plan Trial of Detainees Is Challenged, NY Times
    4. The Justices Take On the President, NYTimes
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference & Call for Papers Announcements
    4. ComDig Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test

  1. Kutcher Shows Serious Side in 'Butterfly Effect', Reuters Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: The basic idea behind "Butterfly Effect" is that decisions create a wave of consequences over a lifetime. In the case of Treborn (Kutcher), audiences learn that he and his best friends are victimized as kids by a pedophile.

    Fast forward to Treborn in college studying the science of the brain. He stumbles onto his ability to travel back in time through his memories, and he attempts to return to his past, confront the pedophile and change events that took place.
    Editor's Note: The Sundance Online Film Festival now shows some of the films over the Internet. We are interested in learning more about other complexity related films. Any links and suggestions are welcome.

    1. The Butterfly Effect - Change One Thing Change Everything, ButterflyEffectMovie.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: We all have moments when we wish we could change something. Right a wrong. Correct a mistake. Gain love - or power. What if we really could? To find out, we asked some provocative thinkers to riff on chaos theory and explore the interplay of cause and effect in our lives. And surprise, surprise!- they suggest that things might not turn out the way we would expect.

  2. Toward An Integrative Science Of The Person, Ann Rev Psychology Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: To build a science of the person, the most basic question was, and remains, how can one identify and understand the psychological invariance that distinctively characterizes an individual and that underlies the variations in the thoughts, feelings, and actions that occur across contexts and over time? This question proved particularly difficult because of the discrepancies that soon emerged between the expressions of consistency that were expected and those that were found. The resulting dilemma became known as the classic "personality paradox": How can we reconcile our intuitionsand theoriesabout the invariance and stability of personality with the equally compelling empirical evidence for the variability of the person's behavior across diverse situations?(...)

    1. Self-Knowledge, Annual Review of Psychology Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Because of personal motives and the architecture of the mind, it may be difficult for people to know themselves. People often attempt to block out unwanted thoughts and feelings through conscious suppression and perhaps through unconscious repression, though whether such attempts are successful is controversial. (...)

      Other ways of increasing self-knowledge include looking at ourselves through the eyes of others and observing our own behavior. These approaches can potentially promote self-knowledge, although major obstacles exist. It is not always advantageous to hold self-perceptions that correspond perfectly with reality, but increasing awareness of nonconscious motives and personality is generally beneficial.

      • Source: Self-Knowledge, Timothy D. Wilson, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Annual Review of Psychology; Volume 55, Page 493 - 518

    2. On Building A Bridge Between Brain And Behavior, Annual Review of Psychology Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Cognitive neuroscience is motivated by the precept that a discoverable correspondence exists between mental states and brain states. This precept seems to be supported by remarkable observations and conclusions derived from event-related potentials and functional imaging with humans and neurophysiology with behaving monkeys. This review evaluates specific conceptual and technical limits of claims of correspondence between neural events, overt behavior, and hypothesized covert processes examined using data on the neural control of saccadic eye m

    3. The Psychology And Neuroscience Of Forgetting, Annual Review of Psychology Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: (...) everyday forgetting is attributable to an altogether different form of interference. According to this idea, recently formed memories that have not yet had a chance to consolidate are vulnerable to the interfering force of mental activity and memory formation (even if the interfering activity is not similar to the previously learned material). This account helps to explain why sleep, alcohol, and benzodiazepines all improve memory for a recently learned list, and it is consistent with recent work on the variables that affect the induction and maintenance of long-term potentiation in the hippocampus.

    4. Group Performance And Decision Making, Annual Review of Psychology Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Theory and research on small group performance and decision making is reviewed. Recent trends in group performance research have found that process gains as well as losses are possible, and both are frequently explained by situational and procedural contexts that differentially affect motivation and resource coordination. Research has continued on classic topics (e.g., brainstorming, group goal setting, stress, and group performance) and relatively new areas (e.g., collective induction). Group decision making research has focused on preference combination for continuous response distributions and group information processing. New approaches (e.g., group-level signal detection) and traditional topics (e.g., groupthink) are discussed. New directions, such as nonlinear dynamic systems, evolutionary adaptation, and technological advances, should keep small group research vigorous well into the future.

    5. Creativity, Annual Review of Psychology Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Creativity has clear benefits for individuals and society as a whole. Not surprisingly, a great deal of research has focused on creativity, especially in the past 20 years. This chapter reviews the creativity research, first looking to the relevant traits, capacities, influences, and products, and then within disciplinary perspectives on creativity (e.g., biological, cognitive, developmental, organizational). Great headway is being made in creativity research, but more dialogue between perspectives is suggested. New and important areas of research are highlighted, and the various costs and benefits of creativity are discussed.
      • Source: Creativity, Mark A. Runco, Annual Review of Psychology; Volume 55, Page 657 - 687

  3. Wound-Healing Genes Influence Cancer Progression, Bio.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Genes that help wounds heal are most often the "good guys," but a new study paints them as the enemy in some types of cancer. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that some tumors activate these wound-healing genes and, when they do, the tumors are more likely to spread. This work could help highlight new ways to treat the disease along with helping doctors decide which cancers to approach more aggressively.

    1. The Integration Of Pharmacokinetics And Pharmacodynamics: Understanding Dose-Response, Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: This review explores the utility and applications of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics in the study of drugs, provides examples of lessons learned from their application to studies of human pharmacology, points out some of their limitations, and advances the thesis that these tools ideally should be employed together in an integrated approach. As we continue to apply these tools across the continuum of age and disease, they provide a powerful means to enhance our understanding of drug action, drug interactions, and intrinsic host factors that influence pharmacologic response.

    2. How Enzymes Work: Analysis by Modern Rate Theory and Computer Simulations, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Advances in transition state theory and computer simulations are providing new insights into the sources of enzyme catalysis. Both lowering of the activation free energy and changes in the generalized transmission coefficient (recrossing of the transition state, tunneling, and nonequilibrium contributions) can play a role. A framework for understanding these effects is presented, and the contributions of the different factors, as illustrated by specific enzymes, are identified and quantified by computer simulations. The resulting understanding of enzyme catalysis is used to comment on alternative proposals of how enzymes work.

    3. Stem Cells: How To Make Eggs And Sperm, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Embryonic stem cells can develop into many specialized cell types in culture dishes. It now seems that they can also generate primordial germ cells, which then go on to form sperm and eggs.

      A fertilized egg is potentially immortal: this fusion of egg and sperm gives rise not only to a new individual, but also (theoretically at least) to an endless series of generations. Three groups now suggest that it is possible to generate both of these remarkable cells - known collectively as germ cells - in a culture dish.

  4. What Does A Molecule Want? The Myth Of The Self-Replicating Molecule, Biosystems Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: The non-equilibrium (...) theory, underlying the "selfish-gene" paradigm, is shown to be at several points insufficient and contradictory for the description of observed facts of biological systems. We analyze at some length these deficiencies as (1) statistical versus individual non-linear self-constraints, (2) the continuous versus discrete cause-effect evolutional transition, and (3) the nature of the emerging aim-directed biological systems. Concerning the latter, it is shown that it can only be described with reference to the origin of the genetic code, which cannot be accounted for by the continuous evolution of non-equilibrium (...) deficiencies might be covered by alternative (quantum) theoretical considerations.

  5. Climate Change Science: Adapt, Mitigate, or Ignore?, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Climate change is real, and the causal link to increased greenhouse emissions is now well established. Globally, the ten hottest years on record have occurred since 1991, (...) . This is a clear measure of increased frequency of high storm surges around North Sea coasts, combined with high flood levels in the River Thames. (...), extreme temperature events become more frequent and more serious. In my view, climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today--more serious even than the threat of terrorism.

    1. Widespread Intense Turbulent Mixing in the Southern Ocean, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Observations of internal wave velocity fluctuations show that enhanced turbulent mixing over rough topography in the Southern Ocean is remarkably intense and widespread. Mixing rates exceeding background values by a factor of 10 to 1000 are common above complex bathymetry (...). This suggests that turbulent mixing in the Southern Ocean may contribute crucially to driving the upward transport of water closing the ocean's meridional overturning circulation, and thus needs to be represented in numerical simulations of the global ocean circulation and the spreading of biogeochemical tracers.

    2. To Avoid Fuel Limits, Subaru Is Turning a Sedan Into a Truck, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Rachel Zahumensky for The New York Times
      Elizabeth Ike, from Albemarle County, Va, with her new Subaru Outback.
      The Subaru Outback sedan looks like any other midsize car, with a trunk and comfortable seating for four adults.

      But Subaru is tweaking some parts of the Outback sedan and wagon this year to meet the specifications of a light truck, the same regulatory category used by pickups and sport utilities. Why? Largely to avoid tougher fuel economy and air pollution standards for cars.

    3. Ecology: Clouded Futures, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Global warming is altering the distribution and abundance of plant and animal species. Application of a basic law of ecology predicts that many will vanish if temperatures continue to rise.

      Evidence that climate change is affecting life on Earth continues to mount. But how great is the threat to biodiversity? (...) Thomas et al.3 show that global warming, projected to the year 2050, could sharply increase extinction probabilities for a sample of 1,103 species representing terrestrial regions from Mexico to Australia.

      • Source: Ecology: Clouded Futures, J. Alan Pounds, Robert Puschendorf, DOI: 10.1038/427107a, Nature 427, 107 - 109 (08 January 2004)

  6. Virus-Based Toolkit for the Directed Synthesis of Magnetic and Semiconducting Nanowires, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: We report a virus-based scaffold for the synthesis of single-crystal ZnS, CdS, and freestanding chemically ordered CoPt and FePt nanowires, with the means of modifying substrate specificity through standard biological methods. (...). The unique ability to interchange substrate-specific peptides into the linear self-assembled filamentous construct of the M13 virus introduces a material tunability that has not been seen in previous synthetic routes. Therefore, this system provides a genetic toolkit for growing and organizing nanowires from semiconducting and magnetic materials.

    1. Synthetic Biology: Microbes Made to Order, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Bacterial blinking circuits are just one element in the MIT researchers' "registry of standard biological parts," which is akin to an inventory that electrical engineers or basement tinkerers might consult when they design a new device, says class co- instructor Drew Endy of MIT. Researchers at MIT and elsewhere are working on sensors and actuators, input and output devices, genetic circuits to control cells, and a microbial chassis in which to assemble these pieces. If they're successful, the registry will help them reach one of the goals of synthetic biology: to allow researchers to "go into the freezer, get a part, hook it up," and have it work the first time, Endy says.

    2. Pig-Human Chimeras Contain Cell Surprise, NewScientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Pigs grown from fetuses into which human stem cells were injected have surprised scientists by having cells in which the DNA from the two species is mixed at the most intimate level. It is the first time such fused cells have been seen in living creatures. The discovery could have serious implications for xenotransplantation - the use of animal tissue and organs in humans - and even the origin of diseases such as HIV. The adult pigs that had received human stem cells as fetuses were found to have pig cells, human cells and the hybrid cells in their blood and organs.

  7. Power Laws in Biological Networks, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: The rapidly developing theory of complex networks indicates that real networks are not random, but have a highly robust large-scale architecture, governed by strict organizational principles. Here, we focus on the properties of biological networks, discussing their scale-free and hierarchical features. We illustrate the major network characteristics using examples from the metabolic network of the bacterium Escherichia coli. We also discuss the principles of network utilization, acknowledging that the interactions in a real network have unequal strengths. We study the interplay between topology and reaction fluxes provided by flux-balance analysis. We find that the cellular utilization of the metabolic network is both globally and locally highly inhomogeneous, dominated by "hot-spots", representing connected high-flux pathways.

  8. Self-organized Patterns and Traffic Flow in Colonies of Organisms: From Bacteria and Social Insects to Vertebrates, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Flocks of birds and schools of fish are familiar examples of spatial patterns formed by living organisms. In contrast to the patterns on the skins of, say, zebra and giraffe, the patterns of our interest are {it transient} although different patterns change over different time scales. The aesthetic beauty of these patterns have attracted the attentions of poets and philosophers for centuries. Scientists from various disciplines, however, are in search of common underlying principles that give rise to the transient patterns in colonies of organisms. Such patterns are observed not only in colonies of organisms as simple as single-cell bacteria, as interesting as social insects like ants and termites as well as in colonies of vertebrates as complex as birds and fish but also in human societies. In recent years, particularly over the last one decade, physicists have utilized the conceptual framework as well as the methodological toolbox of statistical mechanics to unravel the mystery of these patterns. In this article we present an overview emphasizing the common trends that rely on theoretical modelling of these systems using the so-called agent-based Lagrangian approach.

  9. Brain Architecture And Social Complexity In Modern And Ancient Birds, Brain, Behav. & Evol. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Vertebrate brains vary tremendously in size, but differences in form are more subtle. To bring out functional contrasts that are independent of absolute size, we have normalized brain component sizes to whole brain volume. Among primates, cerebrotypes are linked principally to enlargement of the cerebral cortex and are associated with increases in the complexity of social structure. In birds the telencephalic volume fraction is strongly correlated with social complexity. This correlation accounts for almost half of the observed variation in telencephalic size, more than any other behavioral specialization examined, including the ability to learn song.

    1. Cortical Orofacial Motor Representation In Old World Monkeys, Great Apes, And Humans, Brain, Behav. & Evol. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Social life in anthropoid primates is mediated by interindividual communication, involving movements of the orofacial muscles for the production of vocalization and gestural expression. The current study reports results from quantitative image analysis of the region corresponding to orofacial representation of primary motor cortex in several catarrhine primate species (...). This cortical region has been implicated in the execution of skilled motor activities such as voluntary facial expression and human speech. Compared to Old World monkeys, the orofacial representation of area 4 in great apes and humans was characterized by (...) overall lower cell volume densities, providing more neuropil space for interconnections.

  10. Complexities Of A Simple System: New Lessons, Old Challenges And Peripheral Questions, Brain Res. Rev. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: The gill withdrawal reflex of Aplysia is generally depicted as a simple behaviour mediated by a simple neural circuit in a simple organism. In reality, however, the reflexive withdrawal of the gill and other mantle organs is anything but simple. First, the behaviour itself is complex (...) becomes even more complicated when hundreds of additional peripheral neurones (...). While daunting, the complexity of the total circuitry mediating the gill withdrawal reflex may provide yet another important lesson: even in simple systems, memory may not be localized to specific loci, but rather may be an emergent property of physiological mechanisms (...).

  11. Transitions to Synchrony in Coupled Bursting Neurons, PRL Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Certain cells in the brain, for example, thalamic neurons during sleep, show spike-burst activity. We study such spike-burst neural activity and the transitions to a synchronized state using a model of coupled bursting neurons. In an electrically coupled network, we show that the increase of coupling strength increases incoherence first and then induces two different transitions to synchronized states, one associated with bursts and the other with spikes. These sequential transitions to synchronized states are determined by the zero crossings of the maximum transverse Lyapunov exponents. These results suggest that synchronization of spike-burst activity is a multi-time-scale phenomenon and burst synchrony is a precursor to spike synchrony. ©2004 The American Physical Society

    1. Developmental Biology: Asymmetric Fixation, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Computer simulations and laboratory experiments have shed light on how an asymmetric pattern of gene expression is fixed in vertebrate embryos - an early step towards asymmetric development of the internal organs.

      As judged by external appearances, the left and right sides of vertebrate bodies are (more or less) identical. There are, however, consistent left-right differences in the structure and placement of the internal organs. The heart, for instance, usually forms on the left, the liver on the right.

  12. Computation In Gene Networks, Chaos Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Genetic regulatory networks have the complex task of controlling all aspects of life. Using a model of gene expression by piecewise linear differential equations we show that this process can be considered as a process of computation. This is demonstrated by showing that this model can simulate memory bounded Turing machines. The simulation is robust with respect to perturbations of the system, an important property for both analog computers and biological systems. Robustness is achieved using a condition that ensures that the model equations, that are generally chaotic, follow a predictable dynamics.
    • Source: Computation In Gene Networks, A. B.-Hur, H. T. Siegelmann, DOI: 10.1063/1.1633371, Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, 2003/12/31
    • Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinayahoo.co.in

  13. Multimedia PC With Instant Start-Up Launches, NewScientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: "Why can't a PC simply turn on like a TV?" (...) When they want to watch TV, play a DVD, listen to internet radio or play CDs and MP3s, they have to spend fruitless minutes watching the Windows egg timer while the PC boots up. Not any more. In a direct challenge to PCs running Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center, InterVideo of California last week launched the InstantOn PC. Instead of having to wait for Windows to boot, the technology allows all a PC's entertainment functions - TV, DVD, CD, MP3, radio - to be run on a pared-down version of the open-source Linux operating system, called LinDVD. Rather than sitting on a hard drive, LinDVD is small enough to be held in a read-only memory chip and boots in 10 seconds flat. "For consumer electronics activities, the InstantOn PC is strictly Linux. It simply uses Windows for the slower drudge work like word processing," said InterVideo spokesman Andy Marken, speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. Editor's Note: Time-scales are often critical parameters in complex systems. Here they can dramatically influence if an application is used or not and therefore can lead to the emergence of new collective modes of behavior.

    1. Wireless Lamp Posts Take Over World!, Newswireless.net Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: "Take a lamp post, put electronics in it, send messages to other wireless devices, including other lamp posts." You can link the lamp post to the Internet directly, if there's an internet connection available - any sort of connection at all will do. High speed fibre is best, but if that's not available, then a satellite, or maybe a phone line nearby can be used. And if there's nothing at all, then ask the next lamp post if it has any Internet connection. It may do. If it doesn't, the next one may do; and so you go along the road until you find one that does. It takes fractions of a second to complete the chain; and once the chain is complete, any data you like can be sent down it.

  14. Puzzled Monkeys Reveal Key Language Step, NewScientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The key cognitive step that allowed humans to become the only animals using language may have been identified, scientists say. A new study on monkeys found that while they are able to understand basic rules about word patterns, they are not able to follow more complex rules that underpin the...

  15. Closing a Window on the Universe, Washington Post Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: By any scientific measure, it has been the most successful astronomical exercise in history. Images sent back to Earth from Hubble have helped scientists determine the age of the universe. In 1995, Hubble was pointed at the same patch of sky for 10 days and programmed to take long exposures. What Hubble captured with those images enabled scientists to find at least 1,500 galaxies at various stages of evolution. Some of the galaxies were 10 billion light-years away. (...) The Hubble was scheduled to operate until 2010, (...).

    1. NASA Cancels Trip to Supply Hubble, Sealing Early Doom, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The demise of the Hubble will leave astronomers with no foreseeable prospect of a telescope in space operating primarily at visible wavelengths. The announcement also precludes hopes that astronomers had of using the Hubble in tandem with the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launching in 2011 and which is being designed for infrared wavelengths, to study galaxies at the far reaches of time.

      Ground-based telescopes (...) are blinded by the atmosphere to ultraviolet and infrared light.

    2. Why Hubble Is Being Dropped, BBC News Online Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Hubble
      Hubble has been a spectacular success
      Without doubt the Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most important telescopes ever built. Its clear view of the Cosmos, above the turbulent and distorting atmosphere, has changed our understanding of the Universe in which we live. Its science is remarkable, its images iconic and it had much more to give. So why is it being abandoned? Few were expecting such an announcement about the demise of Hubble. Just a few weeks ago Steven Beckwith, the director of Hubble's home institution, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, told BBC News Online that he was looking forward to the next servicing mission and the upgrade Hubble would receive.

  16. Reflectins: The Unusual Proteins of Squid Reflective Tissues, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A family of unusual proteins is deposited in flat, structural platelets in reflective tissues of the squid Euprymna scolopes. These proteins, which we have named reflectins, are encoded by at least six genes in three subfamilies and have no reported homologs outside of squids. Reflectins possess five repeating domains, which are highly conserved among members of the family. (...) These protein-based reflectors in squids provide a marked example of nanofabrication in animal systems.

  17. A Short-Order Revolutionary, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The next phase that Murphy and his backers envision is a ''pod,'' consisting of four diners and a central food-processing plant where animals from area farms would be slaughtered and local organic tomatoes would be turned into vats of salsa or pasta sauce. The greater Boston area seems the most likely location, since it has some continuing tradition of small-scale farming and a population that might appreciate what the diners would offer. Then the pod would be duplicated in other areas. Branding is part of the strategy. The processing plants would turn out sausage, smoked cheese and tomato sauce with the Farmers Diner label. You'd have a Farmers Diner on the local strip alongside Wendy's and Taco Bell. This is Murphy's fully realized dream: ''I want to blend my great-grandmother's business model with a multiunit one that relies on economies of scale.''

  18. Greeting Big Brother With Open Arms, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: For 50 years, Big Brother was an unambiguous symbol of malignant state power, totalitarianism's all-seeing eye. Then Big Brother became a hip reality television show, in which 10 cohabiting strangers submitted to round-the-clock camera monitoring in return for the chance to compete for $500,000.

    (...) Today, more than twice as many young people apply to MTV's "Real World" show than to Harvard, he says. Clearly, to a post-cold-war generation of Americans, the prospect of living under surveillance is no longer scary but cool.

    1. A Classic Tale Updated: Cleric vs. President, Toronto Star Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: So, we have the irony of an ayatollah calling for real democracy and an American president dodging it. Or, at the very least, wanting an Iowa-like caucus to serve as a substitute for a national vote. (...)

      Americans say there isn't enough time to organize a voters' list by June. True. But Sistani is not so much insisting on a timetable as a process free of American rigging and the dictates of Bush's re-election campaign. The ayatollah is calling the president's bluff. Democracy for Iraq? Sure. But make it real, not a phony one (...).

  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Mad Cow As Bioterrorism?, The Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: As public interest in bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) grows in the United States, strict controls on who is allowed to study could needlessly slow US research on the disease, contend some prion scientists. That's because as part of the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act that recently took effect, BSE prions are considered "select agents" that require special security arrangements, including background checks on anyone who may have access to this material in the lab.

    2. Deep Repositories: Out of Sight, Out of Terrorists' Reach, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Russia, on the other hand, is only too keen to open its planned repository to the world. "There are lots of places to put waste in Russia," says Taylor. The problem, he says, is inadequate legislation and regulation governing the nuclear industry. Moreover, Russia has its own problems with securing spent fuel, especially leftovers from its decommissioned nuclear submarines. "If they can't manage that properly, why send them more?" asks Taylor.

      One fear of antinuclear campaigners is that some countries will use repositories to help resurrect their nuclear programs. Closing the fuel cycle would deprive critics of a potent argument: that it is irresponsible to build new nuclear plants until there is a solution to the problem of high-level waste. "Nuclear waste has been seen as the Achilles' heel of the industry," Taylor says.

    3. Bush's Power to Plan Trial of Detainees Is Challenged, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: In a 30-page brief filed with the Supreme Court, five military lawyers assigned to defend detainees assert that President Bush worked to "create a legal black hole." (...)

      "Under this monarchical regime, those who fall into the black hole may not contest the jurisdiction, competency or even the constitutionality of the military tribunals," the defense lawyers wrote. They said they were not taking a position on whether the president may deny habeas corpus to people simply detained at Guantánamo, (...).

    4. The Justices Take On the President, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: (...) separation of the government into legislative, executive and judicial branches. If one of the three overreached, he wrote in the Federalist Papers, another would stop the abuse of power.

      Madison's theory is about to be profoundly tested. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear challenges to two of the Bush administration's most sweeping claims of power - the power to declare any American citizen an "enemy combatant" and detain him or her indefinitely without trial, and the power to hold the alien captives at the American military base at Guantánamo Bay (...)

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Chinese Turn to Web for Justice, In China, a car accident last October between a peasant and a wealthy woman left the peasant's wife dead. The wealthy woman, married to a politician, got off with a minor fine. The incident incensed ordinary people. Tens of thousands protested on the Internet last week, prompting the local government to reopen the case. NPR's Rob Gifford reports.
      2. Abiotic Forcing of Plankton Evolution in the Cenozoic, Daniela N. Schmidt, Hans R. Thierstein, Jörg Bollmann, Ralf Schiebel, Science Jan 9 2004: 207-210.
      3. Periodic Pulsing of Characteristic Microearthquakes on the San Andreas Fault, Robert M. Nadeau, Thomas V. McEvilly, Science Jan 9 2004: 220-222
      4. Neural Systems Underlying the Suppression of Unwanted Memories, Michael C. Anderson, Kevin N. Ochsner, Brice Kuhl, Jeffrey Cooper, Elaine Robertson, Susan W. Gabrieli, Gary H. Glover, John D. E. Gabrieli, Science Jan 9 2004: 232-235.
      5. Neuroscience: Calcium and CREST for Healthy Dendrites, Gregory S. X. E. Jefferis, Takaki Komiyama, Liqun Luo, Science Jan 9 2004: 179-181
      6. Toxicology: Survey Stokes Debate About Farmed Fish, Erik Stokstad, Science Jan 9 2004: 154-155.
      7. High-Energy Physics: Once Again, Muons Defy Reigning Theory, Charles Seife, Science Jan 9 2004: 154
      8. Synthetic Biology: Time for a Synthetic Biology Asilomar?, Dan Ferber, Science Jan 9 2004: 159
      9. U.S. Officials Try to Trace Illegal Sale of Nuclear Technology, Eric Lichtblau, American officials are investigating whether Pakistan took part in a scheme to export devices that could be used to trigger nuclear weapons.
      10. Farmed Salmon, Pro and Con, The real message of a study in the journal Science is that the fish farming industry n Emily Eakin eeds to clean up its feeding materials to reduce the level of contaminants.
      11. ERBB Receptors: Directing Key Signaling Networks Throughout Life , Thomas Holbro, Nancy E. Hynes, Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology; Volume 44, Page 195 - 217
      12. Mind Over Machine, Duke University research suggests we'll soon be able to move artificial limbs, control robotic soldiers, and communicate across thousands of miles -- using nothing but our...
      13. Nanotubes Grown On Plastic, University of Cambridge researchers have devised a way to grow vertical forests of carbon nanotubes on flexible plastic. The combination of nanoscale electronic components and a plastic substrate could enable applications ranging from flexible electronics like wearable computer displays to new...
      14. Chemists Build Curved Structures With Nanoscale Building Blocks, Northwestern University chemists report they have discovered ways to construct nanoscale building blocks that assemble into flat or curved structures with a high level of predictability. Using hybrid nanorods consisting of segments of gold and conducting polymers as their building blocks, the...
      15. Hints of a New Harmony on Iraq, The Bush administration and the United Nations are speaking of each other in far more constructive tones than those used in the past year.
      16. Apple Storms Market With XGrid, Grid Today, DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / JANUARY 12, 2004: VOL. 3 NO. 2. (…) Grid-enabled "virtual" IT environment that takes advantage of unused computing capacity to run batch and workload processing.
      17. Strategy+Business: When Art Meets Science: The Challenge of ROI Marketing, These days, there’s more pressure than ever to make marketing more of a quantifiable science than an ephemeral art. In response, a new management discipline called ROI marketing is emerging to help businesses attain the highest possible return on their marketing investments.
      18. Cells' Ability To Open Blood's Floodgates Hinges On Unexpected Factors, A mystery of basic cell metabolism that has persisted for a century has come a major step closer to giving up its secrets. Teams of scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a mechanism that triggers increased blood flow to brain cells actively engaged in work
      19. Visual Mechanisms Of Motion Analysis And Motion Perception , Andrew M. Derrington, Harriet A. Allen, Louise S. Delicato, Annual Review of Psychology; Volume 55, Page 181 - 205
      20. Cumulative Progress In Formal Theories Of Attention , Gordon D. Logan, Annual Review of Psychology; Volume 55, Page 207 - 234
      21. The Internet And Social Life , John A. Bargh, Katelyn Y. A. McKenna, Annual Review of Psychology; Volume 55, Page 573 - 590
      22. Moonlighting: Reflective Protein Causes Squid To Shimmer, Science News, Vol. 165, No. 2, 04/01/10, Also available in Audible format. Squid can manipulate light in amazing ways to camouflage themselves at night, and researchers have unveiled a bizarre set of reflective proteins in the animals' tissues that underlie this trait.
      23. Neural Road To Repression: Brain May Block Out Undesired Memories, Science News, Vol. 165, No. 2, 04/01/10, Also available in Audible format. Specific brain structures work together to allow people to repress certain memories intentionally.
      24. Flashy Transistors: Electronic Workhorses Also Shed Light, Science News, Vol. 165, No. 2, 04/01/10, Also available in Audible format. Researchers have discovered that the transistor can emit light, a yet-untapped talent.
      25. Disgust is good for you, shows study , Gaia Vince, 04/01/14, New Scientist, The purpose of disgust has been quantitatively demonstrated for the first time - it is an evolved response that protects people from disease or harm. (...) Significantly more people found the disease-related images more disgusting than their pairs. Women and younger people showed the greatest sensitivity to images of disease or body fluids.
      26. Language Tools For Fight On Terror, 04/01/15, Hi-tech tools are helping intelligence agencies track and trace terrorists. BBC News,
      27. Getting Sociable With Gaming, 04/01/18, Titles like EyeToy have made gaming more sociable, argues Daniel Etherington of BBCi Collective. BBC News
      28. Cyborg Systems as Platforms for Computer-Vision Algorithm-Development for Astrobiology, Patrick C. McGuire, et al., 2003-01-02, arXiv, DOI: cs.CV/0401004
      29. Long Chaotic Transients in Complex Networks, Alexander Zumdieck, Marc Timme, Theo Geisel, Fred Wolf, 2003-01-05, arXiv, DOI: cond-mat/0401038
      30. Assessing Conservation Trade-Offs: Identifying The Effects Of Flooding Rice Fields For Waterbirds On Non-Target Bird Species, C. S. Elphick - elphickauconnvm.uconn.edu, 2003/09/02, Biological Conservation, DOI: 10.1016/S0006-3207(03)00264-7
      31. Development, Crime And Punishment: Accounting For The International Differences In Crime Rates, R. R. Soares - soaresaecon.umd.edu, 2003/10/14, Journal of Development Economics, DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2002.12.001
      32. How to Find Decision Makers in Neural Circuits?, Alexei A. Koulakov, Dmitry Rinberg, Dmitry N. Tsigankov, 2004-01-05, arXiv, DOI: q-bio.NC/0401005
      33. MedBlast: Searching Articles Related To A Biological Sequence, Q. Tu, H. Tang, D. Ding, 2004/01/01, Bioinformatics
      34. Essentiality And Damage In Metabolic Networks, N. Lemke - lemkeaexatas.unisonos.br, F. Herédia, C. K. Barcellos, A. N. dos Reis, J. C. M. Mombach, 2004/01/01, Bioinformatics
      35. Neural Substrates Mediating Human Delay And Trace Fear Conditioning, D. C. Knight, D. T. Cheng, C. N. Smith, E. A. Stein, F. J. Helmstetter, 2004/01/07, The Journal of Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0433-03.2004
      36. The Selfish Nature Of Generosity: Harassment And Food Sharing In Primates, J. R. Stevens, 2004/01/12, Alphagalileo & Proceedings Biological Sciences
      37. Pollinator Attractiveness Increases With Distance From Flowering Orchids, B. B. M. Wong, C. Salzmann, F. P. Schiestl, 2004/01/12, Alphagalileo & Biology Letters
      38. Evidence That Disgust Evolved To Protect From Risk Of Disease, V. Curtis, R. Aunger, T. Rabie, 2004/01/12, Alphagalileo & Biology Letters
      39. New Device Can Help Defend Against Novel Biological Agents, 2004/01/12, ScienceDaily & Vanderbilt University
      40. Gene May Be Key To Evolution Of Larger Human Brain, 2004/01/13, ScienceDaily & Howard Hughes Medical Institute
      41. Why Did Sabertooth Tigers Need Such Big Teeth?, 2004/01/13, ScienceDaily & University At Buffalo
      42. Thinking About Actions: The Neural Substrates Of Person Knowledge, M. F. Mason, J. F. Banfield, C. Neil Macrae, Feb. 2004, Cerebral Cortex
      43. Age-related Changes In Neural Activity During Visual Target Detection Measured By fMRI, D. J. Madden, W. L. Whiting, J. M. Provenzale, S. A. Huette, Feb. 2004, Cerebral Cortex
      44. Relations Between Emotions, Display Rules, Social Motives, And Facial Behaviour, Zaalberg R., Manstead A., Fischer A., Feb. 2004, Cognition and Emotion, DOI: 10.1080/02699930341000040
      45. The Face Of Wrath: The Role Of Features And Configurations In Conveying Social Threat, Lundqvist D., Esteves F., Öhman A., Feb. 2004, Cognition and Emotion, DOI: 10.1080/02699930244000453
      46. Emotional Tagging Of Memory Formation-In The Search For Neural Mechanisms, G. R.-Levin - gal.r-lapsy.haifa.ac.il, I. Akirav, online 2003/11/14, Brain Research Reviews, DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresrev.2003.08.005
      47. A Computational Model Of A Class Of Gene Networks With Positive And Negative Controls, P. C. Y. Chen - engchenpanus.edu.sg, online 2003/12/25, Biosystems, DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2003.07.002

    2. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Cancer Biology , NPR Talk of the Nation, 04/01/16, How the spread of cancer is like wound healing gone awry.
      2. Tracking Ebola , NPR Talk of the Nation, 04/01/16, A new study might help scientists predict where Ebola may strike next.
      3. Animal Thought and Communication, NPR Talk of the Nation, 04/01/16, How do animals think and communicate with each other? And what can studying animals tell us about the evolution of language in humans? In this hour, NPR's Ira Flatow and guests look at thought and communication in apes, gorillas and monkeys. What can non-human primates tell us about communication in humans?
      4. CODIS 2004, International Conference On Communications, Devices And Intelligent Systems, 2004 Calcutta, India, 04/01/09-10
      5. EVOLVABILITY & INTERACTION: Evolutionary Substrates of Communication, Signaling, and Perception in the Dynamics of Social Complexity, London, UK, 03/10/08-10
      6. The Semantic Web and Language Technology - Its Potential and Practicalities, Bucharest, Romania, 03/07/28-08/08
      7. ECAL 2003, 7th European Conference on Artificial Life, Dortmund, Germany, 03/09/14-17
      8. IMA International Conference Bifurcation 2003, Univ. Southampton, UK, 27-30 July, 2003
      9. New Santa Fe Institute President About His Vision for SFI's Future Role, (Video, Santa Fe, NM, 03/06/04)
      10. SPIE's 1st Intl Symp on Fluctuations and Noise, Santa Fe, NM, 2003/06/01-04
      11. NAS Sackler Colloquium on Mapping Knowledge Domains, Video/Audio Report, 03/05/11
      12. Uncertainty and Surprise: Questions on Working with the Unexpected and Unknowable, The University of Texas Austin, Texas USA, 2003/04/10-12
      13. 13th Ann Intl Conf, Soc f Chaos Theory in Psych & Life Sciences, Boston, MA, USA, 2003/08/08-10
      14. CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
      15. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
      16. Edge Videos

    3. Conference & Call for Papers Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. 2004 Western Simulation MultiConference (WMC'04), San Diego, CA., USA, 04/01/18-24
      2. The Mathematica Gulf Conference, Muscat, Oman, 04/01/26
      3. 1st International Workshop on Biologically Inspired Approaches to Advanced Information Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 04/01/29-30
      4. Physics of Socio-Economic Systems, 1st Intl Winter School 2004, Konstanz, Germany, 04/02/16-20
      5. The O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, San Diego, CA, 04/02/09-12
      6. Advances in Molecular Electronics: From molecular materials to single molecule devices, Dresden, Germany, 04/02/23
      7. Leadership in Rapidly Changing Business Environments -Learning and Adapting in Time, Cambridge, MA, 04/02/26-27
      8. 4th Intl ICSC Symposium Engineering Of Intelligent Systems (EIS 2004), Island of Madeira, Portugal, 04/02/29-03/02
      9. Conference on Longevity , Sydney, Australia, 04/03/05-07
      10. Arbeitskreis Physik sozio-ökonomischer Systeme Jahrestagung (AKSOE), Regensburg, Germany, 04/03/08-12
      11. 11th Annual Winter Chaos Conference Dynamical Systems Thinking in Science and Society, Stony Creek, CT, USA, 04/03/12-14
      12. Capital Science 2004, Washington, 04/03/20-21
      13. Fractal 2004, "Complexity and Fractals in Nature", 8th Intl Multidisciplinary Conf, Vancouver, Canada, 04/04/04-07
      14. 6th German Workshop on Artificial Life 2004 (GWAL-6), Bamberg, Germany, 04/04/14-16
      15. The 9th IEEE Intl Conf on Engineering of Complex Computer Systems, Florence, Italy, 04/04/14-16
      16. 2004 Advanced Simulation Technologies Conference (ASTC'04), Arlington, VA., USA, 04/04/18-22
      17. NKS (New Kind of Science) 2004 Conference and Minicourse, Boston, Massachusetts, 04/04/22-25
      18. Urban Vulnerability and Network Failure: Constructions and Experiences of Emergencies, Crises and Collapse, Manchester, UK, 04/04/29-30
      19. What Really Matters ?The Global Forum 2004, Santa Fe, NM, 04/05/02-040
      20. 5th International Conference on Complex Systems (ICCS2004), Boston, MA, USA, 04/05/16-21
      21. 3rd Intl Conf on Systems Thinking in Management (ICSTM 2004) "Transforming Organizations to Achieve Sustainable Success", Philadelphia, Pa, USA, 04/05/19-21
      22. 4th Intl Conf on Fractals And Dynamic Systems In Geoscience, München, Germany, 04/05/19-22
      23. 9th Annual Workshop on Economics and Heterogeneous Interaction Agents (WEHIA04), Kyoto, Japan, 2004/05/27-29
      24. 13th International Symposium on HIV & Emerging Infectious Diseases, Toulon, France, 04/06/03-05
      25. ECC8 Experimental Chaos Conference, Florence, Italy, 04/06/14-17
      26. 7th Intl Conf on Linking Systems Thinking, Innovation,Quality, Entrepreneurship and Environment (STIQE), MARIBOR, SLOVENIA, 04/06/24-26
      27. NAACSOS 2004, North American Association for Computational Social and Organizational Science, Pittsburgh PA, 04/06/27-29
      28. 3rd Intl School Topics in Nonlinear Dynamics Discrete Dynamical Systems and Applications , Urbino (Italy), 04/07/07-09
      29. From Animals To Animats 8, 8th Intl Conf On The Simulation Of Adaptive Behavior (SAB'04), Los Angeles, USA, 04/07/13-17
      30. 3rd Intl Conf Autonomous Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Conference (AAMAS 2004), New York City, 04/07/19-23
        1. 7th Intl Workshop on: Trust in Agent Societies , New York City, 04/07/19-20
      31. 8th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, Orlando, Florida, USA, 04/07/18-21
      32. 2004 Summer Simulation MultiConference (SummerSim'04), San Jose Hyatt, San Jose, California, 04/07/25-29
      33. 6th International Mathematica Symposium (IMS 2004), Banff, Canada, 04/08/02-06
      34. Fractals and Natural Hazards at 32nd Intl Geological Congress (IGC), Florence, Italy, 04/08/20-28
      35. ANTS 2004, 4th International Workshop on Ant Colony Optimization and Swarm Intelligence, Brussels, Belgium, 04/09/05-08
      36. Dynamic Ontology, An Inquiry into Systems, Emergence, Levels of Reality, and Forms of Causality, Trento, Italy, 04/09/08-11
      37. 9th Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems (ALIFE9), Boston, Massachusetts, 04/09/12-15
      38. The Verhulst 200 on Chaos, Brussels, BELGIUM, 04/09/16-18
      39. The 8th Intl Conf on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN VIII), Birmingham, UK, 04/09/18-22
      40. XVII Brazilian Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Sao Luis, Maranhao - Brazil, 04/09/22-24
      41. TEDMED Conference , Charleston SC, 04/10/12-15
      42. Wolfram Technology Conference, Champaign, Illinois, 04/10/21-23

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