Imitation of Life: How Biology Is Inspiring Computing, MIT Press 
Excerpts:: 
As computers and the tasks they perform become increasingly complex, researchers are looking to nature -- as model and as metaphor -- for inspiration. The organization and behavior of biological organisms present scientists with an invitation to reinvent computing for the complex tasks of the future. In Imitation of Life, Nancy Forbes surveys the emerging field of biologically inspired computing, looking at some of the most impressive and influential examples of this fertile synergy.
Inkjet Printing of Viable Mammalian Cells, Biomaterials
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the use of a commercial thermal printer to deposit Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) and embryonic motoneuron cells into pre-defined patterns. These experiments were undertaken to verify the biocompatibility of thermal inkjet printing of mammalian cells and the ability to assemble them into viable constructs. Using a modified Hewlett Packard (HP) 550C computer printer and an HP 51626a ink cartridge, CHO cells and rat embryonic motoneurons were suspended separately in a concentrated phosphate buffered saline solution (3?). The cells were subsequently printed as a kind of "ink" onto several "bio-papers" made from soy agar and collagen gel. The appearance of the CHO cells and motoneurons on the bio-papers indicated an healthy cell morphology. Furthermore, the analyses of the CHO cell viability showed that less than 8% of the cells were lysed during printing. These data indicate that mammalian cells can be effectively delivered by a modified thermal inkjet printer onto biological substrates and that they retain their ability to function. The computer-aided inkjet printing of viable mammalian cells holds potential for creating living tissue analogs, and may eventually lead to the construction of engineered human organs.
Will RFID Spark the Next Revolution in Retailing?, Knowledge@Wharton
Excerpts: Wal-Mart, Target and other companies see radio-frequency identification (RFID) as a technology that will usher in the next revolution in the world of retailing. How real is this revolution? And what does it mean for retailers and customers? Experts at Wharton and elsewhere say that RFID is a potentially powerful technology that is on the brink of having a big impact. Still, several hurdles remain that make it hard to predict whether its benefits will be immediate or spread out years into the future.
Big Bang! Digital Convergence is Finally Happening, Business Week
Excerpts: What's this, A digital role-playing game? There's Dell Inc. (...) selling flat-screen TVs. Microsoft Corp. (... ) execs are unveiling a system to compete with the iPod that plays movies as well as music. And Cisco Systems Inc. (... ) is hawking a Wi-Fi boombox you can carry out by the pool. Nearly everyone, it seems, is venturing far from their specialties. (...) TV manufacturers in Japan and cell-phone makers in Korea are jerry-rigging their products with microprocessors and software, racing to turn them into a new generation of digit-gobbling, network-ready contraptions.
Who's The Real Mr. Chips?, Business Week
Excerpts: The work of three scientists gave birth to transistors -- and to Silicon Valley (...)
As part of its anniversary celebration, BusinessWeek is presenting a series of weekly profiles for the greatest innovators of the past 75 years. Some made their mark in science or technology; others in management, finance, marketing, or government. In late September, 2004, BusinessWeek will publish a special commemorative issue on Innovation.
Artificial Intelligence: Animation Finally Gets NextGen Technology, Financial Express
Excerpts: (...), in a battle sequence, the technology applies artificial intelligence to character animation. In other words, the spaceships have learned to react and adapt. It's quite a breakthrough for the future of video games and movie animation. (...)
In video games, characters can learn to compete and make it more challenging for the user. In movies, animators can automate characters in scenes so they don't have to tell each character what to do.
German motor manufacturer Audi has turned to 3D animation to support the launch of its new A6 online (...).
The Ties That Bind, Nature
Excerpts: Attachment: the nature of the bonds between humans are becoming accessible to scientific investigation.
Attachment is the name we give to bonds between people. It has been central to song and story since the dawn of human time, but has only recently become a subject of scientific study. Sigmund Freud had much to say about how the mind handles it, but conceded that "our provisional ideas in psychology will someday be based on an organic substructure". Today, we have glimmerings of that substructure.
- Source: The Ties That Bind, Melvin Konner, DOI: 10.1038/429705a, Nature 429, 705, 04/06/17
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Excerpts: Situated in the middle between sensation and action is decision-making. Choosing between actions usually requires learning how these actions determine the rewards and punishments that an environment affords, and how this depends on sensory circumstance. Computationally, decision-making is hard to study because these factors are nonstationary: The environment may be dynamic. The subject's knowledge about the environment surely is. Experimentally, the information associated with choice (...) is rather slippery. It is only loosely amenable to experimental control, and only dimly illuminated by behavior.
- Source: Matchmaking, Nathaniel D. Daw, Peter Dayan, Science : 1753-1754, 04/06/18
Matching Behavior and the Representation of Value in the Parietal Cortex, Science
Excerpts: Psychologists and economists have long appreciated the contribution of reward history and expectation to decision-making. Yet we know little about how specific histories of choice and reward lead to an internal representation of the "value" of possible actions. We approached this problem through an integrated application of behavioral, computational, and physiological techniques. Monkeys were placed in a dynamic foraging environment in which they had to track the changing values of alternative choices through time. In this context, the monkeys' foraging behavior provided a window into their subjective valuation. We found that a simple model based on reward history can duplicate this behavior and that neurons in the parietal cortex represent the relative value of competing actions predicted by this model.
The Poor Are Always With Us. Why?, Knowledge@Wharton
Excerpts: Reading David Shipler's most recent book, The Working Poor: Invisible in America, it's difficult not to think about the metaphor for chaos theory: A butterfly flaps its wings in China resulting in a hurricane in New York. As a matter of both economics and sociology, Shipler works doggedly to show us that, in the lives of the working poor in America, small actions have disproportionately large impacts.
U.S. Cotton Subsidies Criticized, NPR ATC
Excerpts: Brazil has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization against U.S. cotton subsidies. African and South American cotton growers claim that American cotton subsidies violate international trade laws. Hear NPR's Martin Kaste.
Music Lessons Give Kids A Small IQ Advantage, Science News
Excerpts: Researchers have debunked the much-publicized idea, known as the Mozart effect, that listening to classical music improves children's ability to reason about spatial relations and other nonverbal tasks. Learning to play a musical instrument or to sing, however, may indeed give youngsters an intellectual edge over their peers, a new study suggests.
Six-year-olds who took weekly piano or singing lessons throughout the school year exhibited an average IQ increase of 7.0 points (...).
Other 6-year-olds who either took weekly drama lessons or received no extracurricular lessons displayed an average IQ rise of 4.3 points,(...).
Tunes Create Context Like Language, Nature
Excerpts:
Repitition of notes in music create semantic meaning.
© BrandX
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(...) musical notes are strung together in the same patterns as words in a piece of literature, according to an Argentinian physicist.
His analysis also reveals a key difference between tonal compositions, which are written in a particular key, and atonal ones, which are not. This sheds light on why many people find it so hard to make sense of atonal works.
In both written text and speech, the frequency with which different words are used follows a striking pattern.
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Excerpts: The brain-enhancement revolution is already under way. The drug Ritalin, first given to control hyperactivity in children, now is routinely used by healthy high school and college students to sharpen their thinking before taking exams. The long-term health effects are unknown.
Modafinil was developed to treat narcolepsy, a rare condition causing daytime sleepiness. But now it is used by those who simply want to be wakeful and alert, (...). Transcranial magnetic stimulation, used for nearly two decades to treat depression, has also been found to enhance problem-solving abilities in normal individuals.
My Left Brain And Me: A Dissociation In The Perception Of Self And Others, Neuropsychologia
Excerpts: We investigated hemispheric asymmetries in face processing using a task in which participants judged the likeness of chimeric faces to their own face and to the face of a close friend based on their memory for those faces. (...) This result shows that in the case of these highly familiar faces-self and friend-the perceptual asymmetry is preserved in the memory representation. Assuming that people remember their own face as a mirror-image, the data also suggest a dissociation in face processing such that the left brain is dominant for the recognition of self and the right brain is (...) of others.
Brain Plasticity - Whole Cells and Synapses, q-bio arVix
Author's summary: Learning-related plasticity in the brain may not be limited to synaptic strength,
so-called long-term potentiation and depression (LTP/LTD).
There is an intricate and complex regulation of receptor density and placement
for other neurochemicals like dopamine, acetylcholine. Like LTP,
they depend on the history of exposure and are thus use-dependent and
plastic. Known to be the target of many psychoactive substances, these
receptors could be prominent in different forms of 'emotional memory'.
See also:
Regulation of Neuromodulator Efficacy - Implications for Whole-Neuron and Synaptic Plasticity, Gabriele Scheler, Progress in Neurobiology 72(6), pp. 399-415, 04/04
New Technique Developed For Deciphering Brain Recordings Can Capture Thinking As It Happens, ScienceDaily
Excerpts: A team (...) has developed a new approach to interpreting brain electroencephalograms, or EEGs, that provides an unprecedented view of thought in action and has the potential to advance our understanding of disorders like epilepsy and autism. The new information processing and visualization methods that make it possible to follow activation in different areas of the brain dynamically are detailed in a paper (...). The significance of the advance is that thought processes occur on the order of milliseconds--thousandths of a second--but current brain imaging techniques, such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and traditional EEGs, are averaged over seconds. (...)
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Excerpts: We applied infomax independent component analysis (ICA) to parse the dynamics of the unaveraged 31-channel EEG signals into maximally independent processes, then clustered the resulting processes across subjects by similarities in their scalp maps and activity power spectra, identifying nine classes of EEG processes with distinct spatial distributions and event-related dynamics. (...)
The observed event-related changes in local field activities, within and between cortical areas, may serve to modulate the strength of spike-based communication between cortical areas to update attention, expectancy, memory, and motor preparation during and after target recognition and speeded responding.
Molecular Biology: The Loader Of The Rings, Nature
Excerpts: Among the numerous molecular machines involved in the process of DNA replication are the ring-shaped sliding clamp and the clamp loader. Intriguing structural details of their interaction are now revealed.
(...) the sliding clamp can slide along DNA, and so provides a mechanism for tethering the DNA polymerase to the template. (...)
The ring-shaped nature of the sliding clamp presents a simple topological problem: how is DNA introduced into the hole in the clamp's centre? This is the job of a complex molecular engine termed the clamp loader, (...).
Adding A Chromosome May Treat Disease, NewScientist
Excerpts: Genetic diseases might one day be treated by adding an entirely new chromosome to people's cells. (...)
Conventional gene therapy relies on modified viruses to insert the desired bit of DNA into a cell's genome. But viruses can carry only short sequences of DNA. And if the DNA lands in the wrong place, (...) it can trigger cancer.
Adding an entirely separate chromosome, however, eliminates this risk. And rather than being limited to one or two small genes, vast chunks of DNA can be added if desired.
Validating the Interactome, The Scientist
Excerpts:
MOLECULAR CARTOGRAPHY: Recognizing that much of the cell's work is done not by individual proteins but by large macromolecular complexes, researchers increasingly are trying to map protein-protein interactions throughout the cell. This map of the C. elegans interaction network, or "interactome," links 2,898 proteins (nodes) by 5,460 interactions (edges). (reprinted with permission, Science, 303:540-3, 2004.)
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Molecular cartographers who choose to take on the interactome should be patient, long-lived, or both, at least if they adhere to Marc Vidal's definition. The interactome, says the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researcher, is a map of "all interactions that take place in an organism between all proteins, in all cells, all tissues, at all ages, and in response to all possible environmental conditions the organism sees in the wild." (...)
The studies are remarkable for their scale. But their real power, (...), lies in what they reveal about the underlying biology.
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Excerpts: Supertrees result from combining many smaller, overlapping phylogenetic trees into a single, more comprehensive tree. As such, supertree (...) remains our only way of visualizing the Tree of Life as a whole. Here, I review the history of the supertree approach, focusing mainly on its current implementation. The supertrees of today represent some of the largest, complete phylogenies available for many groups, but are not without their critics. I conclude by arguing that the ever-growing molecular revolution will result in supertree construction taking on a new role (...) as part of a divide-and-conquer phylogenetic approach.
- Source: The Evolution Of Supertrees, O. R. P. B.-Emonds - olaf.bininda
tierzucht.tum.de, DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2004.03.015, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Jun. 2004, online 2004/03/19 - Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinyahoo.co.in
Mutation And Selection In A Large Population, Biosystems
Abstract: In this paper we study a large, but finite population, in which mutation and selection occur at a single genetic locus in a diploid organism. We provide theoretical results for the equilibrium allele frequencies, their variances and covariances and their equilibrium distribution, when the population size is larger than the reciprocal of the mean allelic mutation rate. Our results provide a rapid way of obtaining useful information in the case of complex mutation and selection schemes when the population size is large. We present numerical simulations (...) are in very reasonable agreement with the theoretical predictions.
- Source: Mutation And Selection In A Large Population, J. R. Peck - j.r.pecksussex.ac.uk, D. Waxman, A. Cruikshank, DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2004.12.004, Biosystems, Apr.-Jun. 2004, online 2004/04/22
- Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01yahoo.com
Embryonic Stem Cells Work, The Scientist
Excerpts: "The Parkinson's model has been regarded as the number-one model system to test whether stem cells will fulfill their potential or not," (...). Together these papers show that ESCs could differentiate into functional neurons and could be used to treat disease.
(...) ESCs can differentiate and function in vivo, but controlling tumorigenic growth is a hurdle that has yet to be cleared. McKay's group prevented tumorigenesis by differentiating the ESCs outside of the brain, but the transgenic techniques they used might not pass muster for clinical trials in humans.
HALF A MIND: Lesioned brains 16 weeks after embryonic stem cell transplant stain positive for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH: green), dopamine transporter (DAT: red), and aromatic amino acid decarboxylase (AADC: blue) in an overlaid image. Bar equals 25 µm.
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Excerpts: Negative senescence is characterized by a decline in mortality with age after reproductive maturity, generally accompanied by an increase in fecundity. (...) We review empirical studies of various plants and some kinds of animals that may experience negative senescence and conclude that negative senescence may be widespread, especially in indeterminate-growth species for which size and fertility increase with age. We develop optimization models of life-history strategies that demonstrate that negative senescence is theoretically possible. More generally, our models contribute to understanding of the evolutionary and demographic forces that mold the age-trajectories of mortality, fertility and growth.
- Source: The Case For Negative Senescence, J. W. Vaupel - jwvdemogr.mpg.de, A. Baudisch, M. Dölling, D. A. Roach, J. Gampe, DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2003.12.003, Theoretical Population Biology, Jun. 2004, online 2004/04/02
- Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01yahoo.com
Nano Silicon Boosts Tumour Fight, BBC News
Excerpts:
The new nano-material has broad applications
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The new nano drug-delivery system is based on the material known as BioSilicon.
Its developers expect it to be part of the next generation of brachytherapy - cancer-zapping treatment given at a very short distance from the tumour. (...)
"Silicon, when reduced to the nanoscale (less than one thousand millionth of a metre) becomes biodegradable and dissolves into the body as silicic acid."(...)
"Because BioSilicon is a semi-conductor, we can move more towards smart devices which can sense and monitor activities then release its drugs,"(...).
How Do You Persist When Your Molecules Don't?, Science & Consciousness
Excerpts: Now the brain is supposed to be some sort of computer. It is an intricate network of some 1,000 trillion synaptic connections, each of these synapses having been lovingly crafted by experience to have a particular shape, a particular neurochemistry. It is of course the information represented at these junctions that makes us who we are. But how the heck do these synapses retain a stable identity when the chemistry of cells is almost on the boil, with large molecules falling apart nearly as soon as they are made?
Survival Of The Fastest: Scientists 'Selectively Breed' Winning Formula One Cars, ScienceDaily
Excerpts: Speed is the name of the game in the world of racing and now University College London scientists have developed a technique that 'breeds' winning Formula One cars. By applying Darwinian principles to the art of motor racing, the researchers demonstrate in simulations that it's possible to knock crucial tenths of a second off lap time by tailoring a car's setup to whatever conditions are faced on the track. (...) researchers will report on a new computer model based on genetic algorithms that optimises performance by selectively combining the best settings of Formula One cars to produce the ultimate configuration. (...)
Fast Cars Could Be Tuned By Evolution, NewScientist
Excerpts: (...) used genetic algorithms software (...) to breed the best tuning configurations for racing cars.
Using the technique, they shaved a second off the best time achieved by an expert. (...).
Unfortunately Bentley and Wloch did not have any real cars to hand, so instead they applied their algorithm to virtual cars in the PC game Formula One Challenge.
This lets players set 68 variables governing the car's performance, (...). They say there is no reason why the same principle could not be applied trackside at Formula 1 races.
Computers Chase the Checkered Flag, NY Times
Excerpts:
Photograph from Ferrari
Man and Machine - Rubens Barrichello of the Ferrari team, left, inside his Formula One car at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. A steering wheel, with its screen and controls, is essentially a computer itself.
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The data is transmitted to a computer center in the team's garage on the pit lane, (...). It is simultaneously sent over the Internet to a larger data center in Maranello, Italy, where more complex analysis is done (...).
But in Formula One racing, it is at the center of the sport, a test of the ability to perfect the synergy between man and machine. And the result has been to create a cyborg - a blend of man and machine in every sense of the word.
Utah Rocks Help Explain Martian "Blueberries", NewScientist
Excerpts: Rounded rocks in Utah may help explain the peculiar 'blueberries' that NASA's Opportunity rover found embedded in Martian bedrock.
Geologists studying the marble-sized rocks in the deserts of Southern Utah, US, say that these marbles must have formed in the same way as the ones on Mars. And they may provide a unique insight into early conditions on the Red Planet.
The discovery of small spherical nuggets in Martian bedrock that look like "blueberries in a muffin" puzzled planetary scientists when Opportunity stumbled across them in February 2004.
Mars Rover Spies Pot Of Gold, NewScientist
Excerpts:
The rover will use its robotic arm to study the nodule-covered "pot of gold" (Image: NASA/JPL/Cornell)
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Though similar in size, the spheres seem to be more varied in shape, ranging from spherical to egg-shaped. And, as at Meridiani Planum, they seem to be weathering out of layered rocks.
Here, some of those rocks look like "a loaf of bread that's under a state of decay," (...).
One of these rocks is so varied and different from any seen before at Meridiani Planum, that it prompted Soderblom to call it "the pot of gold, the prize at the end of the rainbow".
NASA: Comets Richer Than Previously Thought, NPR ATC
Excerpts: At a NASA press briefing today, scientists said that comets are more than just a loose collection of space rubble. They can be solid bodies with craters and other geological features. The findings come from observations by the Stardust spacecraft, which had a close encounter with the comet Wild 2 in January. NPR's Richard Harris reports.
Florida Will Reinstate Voting for Ex-Felons, NPR ATC
Excerpts: Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announces that 20,000 ex-felons who have served their time will see their voting rights restored. Bush also said 22,000 additional ex-felons could request to have their civil rights restored. But civil liberties groups argue that hundreds of thousands of ex-felons should be able to vote but are denied their civil rights. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and NPR's Phillip Davis.
Sweeping Stun Guns To Target Crowds, NewScientist
Excerpts: Weapons that can incapacitate crowds of people by sweeping a lightning-like beam of electricity across them (...).
(...) projects an ionised gas, or plasma, towards the target, producing a conducting channel. (...)
Instead of firing ionised gas, it will probably use a powerful laser to ionise the air itself.(...)
This intense pulse - which is said not to harm the eyes - ionises the air, producing long, thread-like filaments of glowing plasma that can be sustained by repeating the pulse every few milliseconds.
Show Us the Proof, NY Times
Excerpts: When the commission studying the 9/11 terrorist attacks refuted the Bush administration's claims of a connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, we suggested that President Bush apologize for using these claims to help win Americans' support for the invasion of Iraq. (...) But we were surprised by the depth and ferocity of the administration's capacity for denial. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have not only brushed aside the panel's findings and questioned its expertise, but they are also trying to rewrite history.
Marine Commander Admits Iraqi Unit Has Been Erratic, Washington Post
Excerpts: A senior U.S. military commander acknowledged Friday that he almost abandoned efforts several times to have an Iraqi security force (...).
While attacks on the Marines have dropped off, masked insurgents have returned to the streets of the city. Not only has the brigade failed to disarm the militants, it has made little evident progress in capturing foreign guerrillas known to have taken refuge in the city or in apprehending the killers of four American security contractors whose bodies were burned and mutilated in March.
Mistakes Loom Large as Handover Nears, Washington Post
Excerpts: The ambitious, 15-month undertaking stumbled because of a series of mistakes that began with an inadequate commitment of resources and was aggravated by a misunderstanding of Iraqi politics, religion and society in occupied Iraq, (...).
But American officials who once roamed the country to share their sense of mission with Iraqis now face such mortal danger that they are largely confined to compounds surrounded by concrete walls topped with razor wire. Iraqis who come to meet them must show two forms of identification and be searched three times.
Rumsfeld Acknowledges Prisoner Held in Secret, NPR ATC
Excerpts: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledges ordering that an Iraqi prisoner be held in secret for more than seven months, violating the Geneva Conventions. Rumsfeld says that he was acting at the request of George Tenet, the director of central intelligence. Hear NPR's Eric Westervelt.
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Excerpts: Yet over the past month we have learned that much of what the guards did -- from threatening prisoners with dogs, to stripping them naked, to forcing them to wear women's underwear -- had been practiced at U.S. military prisons elsewhere in the world. Moreover, most of these techniques were sanctioned by senior U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Iraqi theater command under Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez. Many were imported to Iraq by another senior officer, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller.
Report Faults U.S. Action on Nuclear Proliferation, Washington Post
Excerpts: But according to a critical report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, it has not helped secure vulnerable nuclear facilities, criminalized the transfer of weapons technology or meted out punishments for countries that renege on their commitment to remain nuclear-free.
"If you're really worried that terrorists are going to get nuclear materials and build a bomb, then we have to be acting a lot more aggressively and thinking more comprehensively to lock down the global nuclear complex,"(...)
Conspiracy Threat To Anti-Nuke Treaty, NewScientist
Excerpts:
Nuclear Arsenals
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The US and UK governments will this week be accused of conspiring to break the international agreement to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
The claim will be backed by detailed evidence of the large-scale collaboration by the two countries to develop their nuclear arsenals, an activity that the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) is specifically designed to prevent.
The claim comes from the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), a think tank based in London and Washington DC.
Nuclear Politics and Proliferation, NPR TOTN
Excerpts: The United Nations rebukes Iran for failing to make its nuclear program transparent, but the United States and Russia maintain thousands of nuclear warheads. Some activists say those stockpiles should cause more concern than the efforts of Iran and other countries. Join NPR's Neal Conan and his guests for an update on the global nuclear threat.
Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
Chaotic Civilian, Military Reaction to Attacks Recounted, NPR ATC
Excerpts: Confusion and miscommunication reigned on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, as civilian and military air controllers tried to cope with four airliners hijacked by terrorists. Today, the memories were all too vivid as the bipartisan commission investigating those terror attacks replayed the events minute by minute, with chilling conclusions. Hear NPR's Larry Abramson.
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Excerpts: The terrorists attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, demonstrated the urgent need for the US government to use insights from "complexity science" to better understand our interconnected world.
"Complexity thinking" is an essential 21st-century skill. It involves recognizing changes in the broadest context; taking a big-picture approach to intelligence-gathering and analysis; and developing deeper understanding of complex human systems and the dynamics influencing regional politics and conflicts.
By all rational assessments, 9/11 was a systems failure. While individuals and agencies within our intelligence and law-enforcement organizations may have performed exceptionally, there was a significant failure as a whole (...).
Capitol Plane Scare Blamed On Lack of Communication, Washington Post
Excerpts: Officials from the Defense and Homeland Security departments ordered two F-15 fighter jets and a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to intercept Fletcher's aircraft at 4:25 p.m. without knowing that FAA controllers had been in radio contact with the plane for at least 40 minutes and had determined it was not hostile, according to interviews and a preliminary report by the Transportation Security Administration that was obtained by The Washington Post.
U.S. Said to Overstate Value of Guantánamo Detainees, NY Times
Excerpts: Some officials are now saying that most of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, are not dangerous or in possession of vital intelligence about Al Qaeda.
No Saudi Payment to Qaeda Is Found, NY Times
Excerpts: The staff of the Sept. 11 commission has put forward what amounts to a major revision of a widely held perception in Washington that top Saudi officials gave money to Al Qaeda.
The new account, (...), asserts flatly that there is "no evidence" that the Saudi government or senior Saudi officials financed the group, which is led by Osama bin Laden.
In 2002, a joint Congressional committee was reported to have concluded the opposite in a classified study that was then the most extensive on the issue.
Links & Snippets
Other Publications
- Striatal Plasticity And Motor Learning-Importance Of Circadian, Rhythms, Sleep Stages And Dreaming... , R. Horowski, H. Benes, K. Fuxe, ScienceDirect, pp 315-317
- Turning the Tables on E-Mail Swindlers, Seth Schiesel
- Potent Tumor Suppressor Found, Science Now, 04/06/18
- U.S. Is Quietly Spending $2.5 Billion From Iraqi Oil Revenues to Pay for Iraqi Projects, Steven R. Weisman, Faced with delays on the disbursement of funds to rebuild Iraq, U.S. authorities have been financing reconstruction projects with Iraqi oil revenues.
- Clothes Launder Own Fabric, Mark Peplow, Catalytic cotton chows down on dirt.
- Squirrels Use Infrared Against Snakes, Michael Hopkin, Heated tail display warns off would-be predators.
- Leaders of 9/11 Panel Ask Cheney for Reports, Philip Shenon, Richard W. Stevenson, 04/06/19, NYTimes
- Hewlett & Packard: Architects of the Info Age , 04/03/29, BesinessWeek, The founding fathers of Silicon Valley steered tech away from hierarchy
- John von Neumann: MANIAC's Father , 04/04/08, BesinessWeek, Inventing the computer that helped the U.S. win the Cold War was only one of this mathematician's many accomplishments
- David Sarnoff: "The General" of Mass Media , 04/04/26, BesinessWeek, David Sarnoff created radio and TV networks that connected people across the country
- Alan Turing: Thinking Up Computers , 04/05/10, BesinessWeek, The Cambridge University mathematician laid the foundation for the invention of software
- Octopuses Have A Preferred Arm, Michael Hopkin, 04/06/15, Eight-limbed creatures have a favourite.
- Commentary: Reality TV Pushing Out Writers , 04/06/17, NPR ATC
- Local-Feature Assembling In Visual Pattern Recognition And Generalization In Honeybees, Silke Stach, Julie Benard, Martin Giurfa, 04/06/17, Nature 429, 758 - 761, DOI: 10.1038/nature02594
- A Good Nose for Ovulation, 04/06/18, Science Now
- Rumsfeld Authorized Secret Detention of Prisoner , Josh White, 04/06/18, Washington Post
- Superbugs Resist "Last Resort" Antibiotics, Shaoni Bhattacharya, 04/06/18, New Scientist
- Bitterness Illuminates Plant Lore, Michael Hopkin, 04/06/18
- The Hedgehog Response Network: Sensors, Switches, and Routers, Lawrence Lum, Philip A. Beachy, 04/06/18, Science : 1755-1759
- Research On Aging:Gene Links Calorie Deprivation and Long Life in Rodents, Jennifer Couzin, 04/06/18, Science : 1731.
- Evolutionary Biology:Changing a Fish's Bony Armor in the Wink of a Gene, Elizabeth Pennisi, 04/06/18, Science : 1736
- Glaxo Plans Public Listing of Drug Trials on Web Site, Barry Meier, 04/06/19, NYTimes, The decision comes in the wake of complaints about GlaxoSmithKline selectively disclosing results from pediatric trials of its antidepressant drug Paxil.
- Teleporting Matter's Traits: Beaming information quantum-style, Peter Weiss, 04/06/19, Science News
- Sixth Sense, 04/06/19, Science News, A budding technology called electric field imaging may soon enable devices such as appliances, toys, and computers to detect the presence of people and respond to their motions.
- Narcolepsy Science Reawakens, 04/06/19, Science News, Recent advances in understanding the biological underpinnings of narcolepsy have created a new diagnostic tool and point toward possible future therapies.
- Online Extra: Q&A With MIT's Nicholas Negroponte, 04/06/21, BesinessWeek, The cyber-soothsaying author of Being Digital looks at what's next: "Peer-to-peer is key"
- A Medical Journal Quandary: How to Report on Drug Trials, Barry Meier, 04/06/21, NYTimes, A recent drug trial involving an antidepressant's effect on children and teenagers reveals the problems involved when corporations sponsor drug trials.
- Old Search Engine, the Library, Tries to Fit Into a Google World, Katie Hafner, 04/06/21, NYTimes, Librarians have increasingly seen people use online search sites not to supplement research libraries but to replace them.
- The Internet Ad You Are About to See Has Already Read Your E-Mail, Saul Hansell, 04/06/21, NYTimes, Google's new sponsored e-mail service turns out to have some interesting self-imposed constraints.
- Sea Slug Gives Clues to How Memory Works , 04/06/21, NPR ME
- Dogs Can Predict Epileptic Seizures, Emily Singer, 04/06/21, New Scientist
- Virus Robs Addicts Of Their High, Laura Nelson, 04/06/22, Transgenic carrier inactivates cocaine in rat brains.
- On Network Form and Function, Andrea Rinaldo, J.R.Jayanth R. Banavar, Vittoria Colizza, Amos Maritan, 2004-06-09, Physica A, Article in Press, Uncorrected Proof, DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2004.05.016
- Interaction Between The Amygdala And The Medial Temporal Lobe Memory System Predicts Better Memory For Emotional Events, F. Dolcos, K. S. LaBar, R. Cabeza, 2004/06/01, online 2004/06/09, Neuron, DOI: 10.1016/S0896-6273(04)00289-2
- Three Logistic Models for the Two-Species Interactions: Symbiosis, Predator-Prey and Competition, R. Lopez-Ruiz, D. Fournier-Prunaret, 2004/06/12, arXiv, DOI: nlin.AO/0406020
- Synapse Size And Shape Key In Storing Long-term Memories, 2004/06/14, ScienceDaily & Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
- Did Comets Flood Earth's Oceans?, G. D. Marchi - guido.de.marchiesa.int, 2004/06/16, Alphagalileo
- Virtual Reality Lends Helping Hand To Stroke Patients, D. Young - pressofficeulster.ac.uk, 2004/06/16, Alphagalileo
- Emory Researchers Study The Effects Of Zen Meditation On The Brain, 2004/06/17, ScienceDaily & Emory University Health Sciences Center
- The High Price Of Fatigue, G. Bradley - pressbiomedcentral.com, 2004/06/18, Alphagalileo & BioMed Central
- The Neural Areas That Control The Retrieval And Selection Of Semantics, U. Noppeney - u.noppeneyfil.ion.ucl.ac.uk, J. Phillips, C. Price, 42:9, 2004, online 2004/03/18, Neuropsychologia, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2003.12.014
- Cortical Activations During Judgments About The Self And An Other Person, C. A. Seger - segerlamar.colostate.edu, M. Stone, J. P. Keenan, 42:9, 2004, online 2004/04/08, Neuropsychologia, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2004.02.003
- A Comparison Of Perceptions Of Biological Value With Scientific Assessment Of Biological Importance, G. Brown - greg.brownunisa.edu.au, C. Smith - corinne_smithtnc.org, L. Alessa - liluaa.alaska.edu, Apr. 2004, online 2004/05/07, Applied Geography, DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2004.03.006
- Emergence Of Power Laws From Partitional Dynamics, A. G.-Olivares - agarciaicm.csic.es, P. C. Marijuán, Apr.-Jun. 2004, online 2004/05/10, Biosystems, DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2004.02.005
- A Mathematical Model For Chagas Disease With Infection-Age-Dependent Infectivity, H Inab - inabams.u-tokyo.ac.jp, H. Sekine, Jul. 2004, online 2004/04/09, Mathematical Biosciences, DOI: 10.1016/j.mbs.2004.02.004
- Synchronous Cultures From The Baby Machine. A Model For Animal Cells, N. B. Grover - normanmd.huji.ac.il, K. L. Eward, C. E. Helmstetter, Jul. 2004, online 2004/05/14, Mathematical Biosciences, DOI: 10.1016/j.mbs.2004.02.005
- What Is Genetic Quality?, J. Hunt - john.huntunsw.edu.au, L. F. Bussière, M. D. Jennions, R. Brooks, Jun. 2004, online 2004/04/14, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2004.03.035
- Mental State Discourse, Theory Of Mind, And The Internalization Of Self-Other Understanding, D. K. Symons - doug.symonsacadiau.ca, Jun. 2004, online 2004/04/24, Developmental Review, DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2004.03.001
- The Shape Of Things To Come: Using Models With Physiological Structure To Predict Mortality Trajectories, M. M. Mangel - msmangelams.ucsc.edu, M. B. Bonsall, Jun. 2004, online 2004/05/08, Theoretical Population Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2003.07.005
- Resemblance To Self Increases The Appeal Of Child Faces To Both Men And Women, L. M. DeBruine - debruilmmcmaster.ca, May 2004, online 2004/05/26, Evolution and Human Behavior, DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.03.003
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