[info] Complexity Digest 2007.13 (text version -2)
Eugen Leitl
<eugen at leitl.org> on
Fri Mar 30 12:53:47 UTC 2007
----- Forwarded message from Complexity Digest Distribution <comdig at ms68.hinet.net> -----
From: Complexity Digest Distribution <comdig at ms68.hinet.net>
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 20:36:07 +0800
To: "Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@leitl.org
Subject: Complexity Digest 2007.13 (text version -2)
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.3028
Complexity Digest 2007.13
Archive: [1]http://www.comdig.org, European Mirror: [2]http://www.comdig.de
[1] http://www.comdig.org/
[2] http://www.comdig.de/
Asian Mirror: [3]http://www.phil.pku.edu.cn/resguide/comdig/ (Chinese
GB-Code)
[3] http://www.phil.pku.edu.cn/resguide/comdig/
"I think the next century will be the century of complexity." Stephen
Hawking, 2000
_________________________________________________________________
01. Connections: Frontier At Your Fingertips, Nature
02. Artificial Intelligence, With Help From the Humans, NY Times
02.01. Citizendium Aims To Be Better Wikipedia, Associated Press
02.02. The Wiki Workplace, BusinessWeek.com
02.03. Agencies Join Forces To Share Data, Nature
03. Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don't Read This in Traffic, NY Times
03.01. Gone Parkin', NY Times
04. Failing Schools See a Solution in Longer Day, NY Times
04.01. Finding Math Hard? Blame Your Right Parietal Lobe, ScienceDaily
05. Monkey See, Monkey Do? Novel Study Sheds Light On Imitation Learning,
Innovations-report
05.01. Sustainable Energy, Planning Wind Turbines , Wikinomics
06. Would Industrial Ecology Exist Without Sustainability In The Background?,
J. Industrial Ecol.
07. Scientist Finds the Beginnings of Morality in Primate Behavior, NY Times
08. Future Recall: Your Mind Can Slip Through Time, New Scientist
09. The Mind-Bending New World Of Work, Business Week.com
10. Climate Change: Carbon Trading Over Taxes, Science
11. Geophysics: The Next Great Earthquake, Science
12. The New Face of Emoticons, Technology Review
12.01. Apple Cult Becoming a Religion, NY Times
13. Looking For Hidden Signs Of Consciousness, Nature
13.01. Pentagon Preps Mind Fields, Wired
14. Behavioural Neuroscience: Hare-Brained Flies, Nature
15. Engineering Bacteria to Harvest Light
15.01. Scientists Unlock Mystery Of Embryonic Stem Cell Signaling Pathway,
Innovations-report
16. UCF Researchers Work On Spy Drones, Orlando Sentinel
16.01. Robots With Rhythm Could Rock Your World, New Scientist.com
16.02. Raytheon Develops World's First Polymorphic Computer, Military Embedded
Systems
16.03. Working To Develop Robotic Locomotion That Mimics Amoeba, ScienceDaily
16.04. How Blood Cells Change Shape, ScienceDaily
17. Magnifying Superlens in the Visible Frequency Range, Science
17.01. Bolt-On 'Superlens' Gives Microscope Nanoscale Vision, New Scientist.com
18. Extrasolar Planets in the 'Goldilocks Zone', NY Times
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
19.01. C.I.A. Awaits Rules on Terrorism Interrogations, NY Times
19.02. Communication in the Face of Terror, NY Times
19.03. Deterring A Nuclear 9/11, Washington Quarterly
20. Links & Snippets
20.01. Other Publications
20.02. Webcast Announcements
20.03. Conference Announcements
20.04. Call for Papers - Course/Book Announcements
_________________________________________________________________
01. Connections: Frontier At Your Fingertips , Nature
Excerpts: Between the nano- and micrometre scales, the collective behaviour of
matter can give rise to startling emergent properties that hint at the nexus
between biology and physics. (...)
For example, 'quantum critical metals' develop a strange, almost linear
temperature dependence and a marked predisposition towards developing
superconductivity. The space-time aspect of quantum phase transitions gives
them a cosmological flavour (...). Another fascinating thread here is that like
life, these inanimate transformations involve the growth of processes that are
correlated and self-sustaining in time.
* [4] Connections: Frontier At Your Fingertips, Piers Coleman, 07/03/22, DOI:
10.1038/446379a, Nature 446, 379
[4] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7134/full/446379a.html
_________________________________________________________________
02. Artificial Intelligence, With Help From the Humans , NY Times
Excerpts: Jeff Bezos, chief executive of Amazon, has created Mechanical
Turk, a service in which humans are paid a small sum to do jobs that computers
can't do. The problem has prompted a spooky, but elegant, business idea: why
not use the Web to create marketplaces of willing human beings who will perform
the tasks that computers cannot? Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon.com,
has created Amazon Mechanical Turk, an online service involving human workers,
and he has also personally invested in a human-assisted search company called
ChaCha. Mr. Bezos describes the phenomenon very prettily, calling it
¡§artificial artificial intelligence.¡¨
* [5] Artificial Intelligence, With Help From the Humans, Jason Pontin,
07/03/25, NYTimes
[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/business/yourmoney/25Stream.html
_________________________________________________________________
02.01. Citizendium Aims To Be Better Wikipedia , Associated Press
Excerpts: In just six years, Wikipedia has mushroomed into one of the Web's
most astonishing successes, with 1.7 million articles in English alone. The
downside is that the free encyclopedia has its share of errors and juvenile
vandalism, and sometimes the writing is incomprehensibly arcane. To Wikipedia
fans, these blemishes are an unavoidable ¡X and relatively small ¡X price to
pay for the dazzling breadth spawned by its "anyone can edit" open design.
* [6] Citizendium Aims To Be Better Wikipedia, Brian Bergstein, 07/03/25,
Associated Press
[6]
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/2007-03-25-wikipedia-alternative_N.htm
_________________________________________________________________
02.02. The Wiki Workplace , BusinessWeek.com
Excerpts: Thanks in part to younger workers, more companies are using social
computing tools to aid collaboration and to foster innovation and growth When
Robert Stephens graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in
computer science in 1994, he wanted to start a business consultancy. But hiring
a staff of good consultants takes a lot of money, and Stephens had little, so h
e
founded Geek Squad, a cheekily branded computer repair company that helps
consumers navigate the increasing complexity of electronic gadgetry.
* [7] The Wiki Workplace, Don Tapscott , Anthony D. Williams, 07/03/26,
BusinessWeek.com
[7]
http://www.businessweek.com/print/innovate/content/mar2007/id20070326_237620.ht
m
_________________________________________________________________
02.03. Agencies Join Forces To Share Data , Nature
Excerpts: US to create a universal database of all its research results. The US
government is considering a massive plan to store almost all scientific data
generated by federal agencies in publicly accessible digital repositories. The
aim is for the kind of data access and sharing currently enjoyed by genome
researchers via GenBank, or astronomers via the National Virtual Observatory,
but for the whole of US science.
* [8] Agencies Join Forces To Share Data, Declan Butler, 07/03/22, DOI:
10.1038/446354b, Nature 446, 354
[8] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7134/full/446354b.html
_________________________________________________________________
03. Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don't Read This in Traffic , NY Times
Excerpts: Study participants were given two tasks and were asked to respond to
sounds and images. The first was to press the correct key on a computer
keyboard after hearing one of eight sounds. The other task was to speak the
correct vowel after seeing one of eight images. The researchers said that they
did not see a delay if the participants were given the tasks one at a time. But
the researchers found that response to the second task was delayed by up to a
second when the study participants were given the two tasks at about the same
time.
* [9] Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don't Read This in Traffic, Steve Lohr,
07/03/25, NYTimes
[9] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/business/25multi.html
_________________________________________________________________
03.01. Gone Parkin' , NY Times
Excerpts: Several studies have found that cruising for curb parking generates
about 30 percent of the traffic in central business districts. (...) The
balance between the varying demand for parking and the fixed supply of curb
spaces is the Goldilocks Principle of parking prices: the price is too high if
too many spaces are vacant, and too low if no spaces are vacant. But when only
a few spaces are vacant, the price is just right, and everyone will see that
curb parking is both well used and readily available.
* [10] Gone Parkin', Donald Shoup, 07/03/29, NYTimes
[10] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/opinion/29shoup.html
_________________________________________________________________
04. Failing Schools See a Solution in Longer Day , NY Times
Excerpts: The idea of a longer day was first promoted in charter schools ¡X
public schools that are tax-supported but independently run. But the surge of
interest has been spurred largely by the federal No Child Left Behind law,
which requires annual testing of students, with increasingly dire consequences
for schools that fall short each year, including possible closing. Pressed by
the demands of the law, school officials who support longer days say that much
of the regular day must concentrate on test preparation.
* [11] Failing Schools See a Solution in Longer Day, Diana Jean Schemo,
07/03/26, NYTimes
[11] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/us/26schoolday.html
_________________________________________________________________
04.01. Finding Math Hard? Blame Your Right Parietal Lobe , ScienceDaily
Excerpts: Scientists have, for the first time, induced difficulties with
mathematics (dyscalculia) in subjects who normally find math easy. The study,
which finds that the right parietal lobe is responsible for dyscalculia,
potentially has implications for diagnosis and management through remedial
teaching. Dyscalculia is just as prevalent in the population as dyslexia and
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder -- around 5% of the population is
affected. However, dyscalculia has not been given the same attention as other
disorders and the underlying brain dysfunction causing dyscalculia is still a
mystery. (...)
* [12] Finding Math Hard? Blame Your Right Parietal Lobe, 2007/03/23,
ScienceDaily & University College London
* Contributed by [13] Atin Das
[12] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070322132931.htm
[13] mailto:dasatin at yahoo.co.in
_________________________________________________________________
05. Monkey See, Monkey Do? Novel Study Sheds Light On Imitation Learning ,
Innovations-report
Excerpts: What is the very best way to learn a complex task? Is it practice,
practice, practice, or is watching and thinking enough to let you imitate a
physical activity, such as skiing or ballet? A new study (...) unravels some of
the mysteries surrounding how we learn to do things like tie our shoes, feed
ourselves, or perform dazzling dance steps. "What makes one person clumsy and
the next person a prima ballerina is a combination of talent and practice,"
explains study co-author Robert Sekuler a neuroscientist at Brandeis" Volen
Center for Complex Systems. (...)
* [14] Monkey See, Monkey Do? Novel Study Sheds Light On Imitation Learning,
2007/03/21, Innovations-report
* Contributed by [15] Atin Das
[14] http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/studies/report-81262.html
[15] mailto:dasatin at yahoo.co.in
_________________________________________________________________
05.01. Sustainable Energy, Planning Wind Turbines , Wikinomics
Excerpts: A wiki is used in the Netherlands to plan windturbines, to realise a
CO2 cut of 20 to 30%. On the wiki, extended with a googlemaps plugin, maps with
proposed windturbine locations are designed. The goal of the wikiproces is to
present locations for 6000 3MWatt turbines, enough to provide for all
electricity in the Netherlands. Locals can support designs in their own area,
by improving the design, and they can claim a part of a specific windturbine.
* [16] Sustainable Energy, Planning Wind Turbines [Using Wikiproces, Ed.],
2007, Wikinomics
[16] http://www.socialtext.net/wikinomics/index.cgi?wikinomics_beyond_business
_________________________________________________________________
06. Would Industrial Ecology Exist Without Sustainability In The Background? ,
J. Industrial Ecol.
Excerpts: Industrial ecology rests historically-even in a short lifetime of 15
years or so-on the metaphorical power of natural ecosystems. (...). This
article examines the relationships between industrial ecology and
sustainability and argues that, in its historical relationship to classical
ecology models, the field lacks power to address the full range of goals of
sustainability, however defined. (...) But by moving beyond this model to more
recent ecosystem models based on complexity theory, the field can expand its
purview to address sustainability more broadly and powerfully. Complexity
models of living systems can also ground alternative normative models for
sustainability (...).
* [17] Would Industrial Ecology Exist Without Sustainability In The
Background?, [18] J. R. Ehrenfeld, Winter 2007, Online 2007/02/05, DOI:
10.1162/jiec.2007.1177, Journal of Industrial Ecology
* Contributed by [19] Pritha Das
[17] http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/jiec.2007.1177
[18] mailto:john.Ehrenfeld at alum.mit.edu
[19] mailto:prithadas01 at yahoo.com
_________________________________________________________________
07. Scientist Finds the Beginnings of Morality in Primate Behavior , NY Times
Excerpts: Illustration by Edel Rodriguez based on source material from
Frans de Waal Social OrderChimpanzees have a sense of social structure and
rules of behavior, most of which involve the hierarchy of a group, in which
some animals rank higher than others. Social living demands a number of
qualities that may be precursors of morality. Some animals are surprisingly
sensitive to the plight of others. Chimpanzees, who cannot swim, have drowned i
n
zoo moats trying to save others. Given the chance to get food by pulling a chai
n
that would also deliver an electric shock to a companion, rhesus monkeys will
starve themselves for several days. Biologists argue that these and other
social behaviors are the precursors of human morality. They further believe
that if morality grew out of behavioral rules shaped by evolution, it is for
biologists, not philosophers or theologians, to say what these rules are.
* [20] Scientist Finds the Beginnings of Morality in Primate Behavior, Nicholas
Wade, 07/03/20, NYTimes
[20] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/science/20moral.html
_________________________________________________________________
08. Future Recall: Your Mind Can Slip Through Time , New Scientist
Excerpts: If you thought memory was all about making a record of the past,
think again IMAGINE your next vacation. You are relaxing on a beach, waves
lapping at the shore, a cool breeze wafting through the trees and the sun
caressing your skin. Fill in the details. What else do you see? Now, remember
yesterday's commute. Again, a picture emerges. You are on the train or in your
car, or maybe just wandering from your kitchen to your desk. Can you remember
what you were wearing? Perhaps you have forgotten that part already.
* [21] Future Recall: Your Mind Can Slip Through Time, Jessica Marshall,
07/03/24, New Scientist
[21]
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19325961.400?DCMP=NLC-ezine&n
sref=mg19325961.400
_________________________________________________________________
09. The Mind-Bending New World Of Work , Business Week.com
Excerpts: Motion-capture technology has burst out of Hollywood and into
businesses from aerospace to advertising (...) Motion tracking has all the
marks of a disruptive technology, slinking on to the scene in unexpected ways.
Sherry Turkle, a clinical psychologist and professor at MIT, talks about "the
mirroring of body motion, and of course the subtle things like hand gestures,
or the way someone characteristically cocks his head before speaking." Captured
and incorporated into business and entertainment systems, "these motions will
give us a much greater sense of connection with our online selves.
* [22] The Mind-Bending New World Of Work, 07/03/26, BusinessWeek.com
[22]
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_14/b4028001.htm?chan=innovation
_innovation+%2B+design_top+stories
_________________________________________________________________
10. Climate Change: Carbon Trading Over Taxes , Science
Excerpts: As the United States moves inevitably toward climate legislation,
discussion has shifted from the science to the policy options for slowing
emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. Some favor a tax
on CO2 emissions--referred to as a C tax ( [23] 1). Others favor government
subsidies ( [24] 2). If high enough to alter consumer behavior, a carbon tax
would reduce emissions by raising the effective price of carbon-intensive
energy relative to carbon-free sources. Subsidies may speed development of
specific, targeted low-C technologies.
* [25] Climate Change: Carbon Trading Over Taxes, William Chameides, Michael
Oppenheimer, 07/03/23, Science : 1670.
[23] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/315/5819/1670#ref1
[24] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/315/5819/1670#ref2
[25] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/315/5819/1670
_________________________________________________________________
11. Geophysics: The Next Great Earthquake , Science
Excerpts: There are more than 40,000 km of subduction boundaries (see the
figure). The rupture of any one contiguous segment ~800 km or more in length
can produce an M9 earthquake. Seismologists have long tried to determine which
segments are more likely than others to break. Yet, the M9 earthquake of 2004
ruptured a segment that was thought to be among the least likely to go. What
governs the frequency of these massive quakes, and are all subduction segments
capable of producing one?
* [26] Geophysics: The Next Great Earthquake, Robert McCaffrey, 07/03/23,
Science: 1675-1676.
[26] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/315/5819/1675
_________________________________________________________________
12. The New Face of Emoticons , Technology Review
Excerpts: Spot the difference: Warping software allows people to use their
faces as emoticons. They manipulate the image to depict different emotions; the
examples shown are "anger," "disgust," and "fear." Credit: X. Li, C. Chang, S.
Chang and J. Huang Warping photos could help text-based communications
become more expressive. Computer scientists at the University of Pittsburgh
have developed a way to make e-mails, instant messaging, and texts just a bit
more personalized. Their software will allow people to use images of their own
faces instead of the more traditional emoticons to communicate their mood. By
automatically warping their facial features, people can use a photo to depict
any one of a range of different animated emotional expressions, such as happy,
sad, angry, or surprised.
* [27] The New Face of Emoticons, Duncan Graham-Rowe, 07/03/27, Technology
Review
[27] http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18438/
_________________________________________________________________
12.01. Apple Cult Becoming a Religion , NY Times
Excerpts: After nearly three decades, Apple is finally being taken seriously
not just by the true believers, but by just about everybody.
(...) both the iPhone and, more recently, Apple TV, have quickly become must
have?products. A lot of people thought Apple got lucky with the iPod,?Mr.
Kahney wrote. (...) But the iPhone is already thought of as an
industry-changing smash hit,?and Apple TV, which at first drew shrugs, now
may even eclipse the iPhone, according to the predictions of some (though by no
means many) people (ipodnn.com).
* [28] Apple Cult Becoming a Religion, Dan Mitchell, 07/03/24, NYTimes
[28] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/24/technology/24online.html
_________________________________________________________________
13. Looking For Hidden Signs Of Consciousness , Nature
Excerpts: A 'brain-activity' test for patients in a vegetative state has
divided neurologists. Can brain-injured patients who show no response to their
surroundings ever be considered conscious? This question became a hot topic
last year after researchers who scanned the brain of a woman diagnosed as being
in a vegetative state found that she could perform certain mental tasks on
request.
* [29] Looking For Hidden Signs Of Consciousness, Kerri Smith, 07/03/22, DOI:
10.1038/446355a, Nature 446, 355
[29] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7134/full/446355a.html
_________________________________________________________________
13.01. Pentagon Preps Mind Fields , Wired
Excerpts: The U.S. military is working on computers than can scan your mind and
adapt to what you're thinking. Since 2000, Darpa, the Pentagon's blue-sky
research arm, has spearheaded a far-flung, nearly $70 million effort to build
prototype cockpits, missile control stations and infantry trainers that can
sense what's occupying their operators' attention, and adjust how they present
information, accordingly. Similar technologies are being employed to help
intelligence analysts find targets easier by tapping their unconscious
reactions.
* [30] Pentagon Preps Mind Fields, Noah Shachtman, 07/03/21, Wired
[30] http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/03/72996
_________________________________________________________________
14. Behavioural Neuroscience: Hare-Brained Flies , Nature
Excerpts: Using the fruitfly (...) as a model to investigate human traits such
as attention span might seem odd. But the power of Drosophila genetics,
together with previous studies pointing to sophisticated behavioural responses
in this organism, in fact makes it an ideal choice for studying how our minds
wander.
* [31] Behavioural Neuroscience: Hare-Brained Flies, Sadaf Shadan, 07/03/22,
DOI: 10.1038/446385a, Nature 446, 385
[31] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7134/full/446385a.html
_________________________________________________________________
15. Engineering Bacteria to Harvest Light
Excerpts: A set of genes found in marine microorganisms can endow common
bacteria with the ability to generate energy from light. (...) Some bacteria,
such as cyanobacteria, use photosynthesis to make sugars, just as plants do.
But others have a newly discovered ability to harvest light through a different
mechanism: using light-activated proteins known as proteorhodopsins, which are
similar to proteins found in our retinas. When the protein is bound to a
light-sensitive molecule called retinal and hit with light, it pumps positively
charged protons across the cell membrane.
* [32] Engineering Bacteria to Harvest Light, Emily Singer, 07/03/26,
Technology Review
[32] http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/18436/
_________________________________________________________________
15.01. Scientists Unlock Mystery Of Embryonic Stem Cell Signaling Pathway ,
Innovations-report
Excerpts: USC researchers discover small molecule that may allow for growth of
human stem cells without threat of contamination from mouse feeder cells. A
newly discovered small molecule called IQ-1 plays a key role in preventing
embryonic stem cells from differentiating into one or more specific cell types,
allowing them to instead continue growing and dividing indefinitely, according
to research performed by a team of scientists (...). This discovery takes
scientists another step closer to being able to grow embryonic stem cells
without the "feeder layer" of mouse fibroblast cells that is essential for
maintaining the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells, (...).
* [33] Scientists Unlock Mystery Of Embryonic Stem Cell Signaling Pathway,
2007/03/21, Innovations-report
* Contributed by [34] Atin Das
[33]
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/life_sciences/report-81243.html
[34] mailto:dasatin at yahoo.co.in
_________________________________________________________________
16. UCF Researchers Work On Spy Drones , Orlando Sentinel
Excerpts: A flock of migratory birds can find its way over wide areas of the
world. An army of ants working together can devour a large animal. Borrowing
from their behavior, two researchers at the University of Central Florida are
working to enable droves of small, unmanned aerial vehicles to operate together
in an intelligent, coordinated manner, scoping out enemy troops in combat zones
.
* [35] UCF Researchers Work On Spy Drones, Chris Cobbs, 07/03/22, Orlando
Sentinel
[35]
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-spyplanes2207mar22,0,7366553.story
_________________________________________________________________
16.01. Robots With Rhythm Could Rock Your World , New Scientist.com
Excerpts: Internal motors and wires make Keepon move in time to a tune
(Image: Marek Michalowski/CMU) Michalowski, however, believes robots could
usefully apply a sense of rhythm beyond the dance floor. In particular, during
ordinary conversations and other interactions with humans. He hopes this will
make robots move more like humans and make them more socially engaging. "Rhythm
and synchrony are the foundations of social interactions," he told New
Scientist. "So I think that for us to comfortably interact with a robot, it
needs to be capable of that."
* [36] Robots With Rhythm Could Rock Your World, Celeste Biever, 07/03/22,
NewScientist.com
[36]
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn11434-robots-with-rhythm-could-rock-y
our-world.html
_________________________________________________________________
16.02. Raytheon Develops World's First Polymorphic Computer , Military Embedded
Systems
Excerpts: The world's first computers whose architecture can adopt different
forms depending on their application have been developed by Raytheon Company
(NYSE: RTN). Dubbed MONARCH (Morphable Networked Micro-Architecture) and
developed to address the large data volume of sensor systems as well as their
signal and data processing throughput requirements, it is the most adaptable
processor ever built for the Department of Defense, reducing the number of
processor types required.
* [37] Raytheon Develops World's First Polymorphic Computer, 07/03/20, Military
Embedded Systems
[37] http://www.mil-embedded.com/news/db/?5784
_________________________________________________________________
16.03. Working To Develop Robotic Locomotion That Mimics Amoeba , ScienceDaily
Excerpts: (...) is designing a Whole Skin Locomotion (WSL) mechanism for robots
to work on much the same principle as the pseudopod -- or cytoplasmic "foot" --
of the amoeba. With its elongated cylindrical shape and expanding and
contracting actuating rings, the WSL can turn itself inside out in a single
continuous motion, mimicking the motion of the cytoplasmic tube an amoeba
generates for propulsion. "Our preliminary experiments show that a robot using
the WSL mechanism can easily squeeze between obstacles or under a collapsed
ceiling," Hong said. The mechanism, (...) can even squeeze through holes with
diameters much smaller than its normal width. (...)
* [38] Working To Develop Robotic Locomotion That Mimics Amoeba, 2007/03/23,
ScienceDaily & Virginia Tech
* Contributed by [39] Atin Das
[38] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070319175655.htm
[39] mailto:dasatin at yahoo.co.in
_________________________________________________________________
16.04. How Blood Cells Change Shape , ScienceDaily
Excerpt: Simulation of the cytoskeleton attached to the inside of the cell
membrane of a human red blood cell. When the cell is subjected to shear stress,
the bonds between actin molecules (large red beads) and spectrin molecules
(small gray, green, yellow and blue beads) can break, allowing the cell to
become more fluid-like. (Credit: MIT: Subra Suresh)
Millions of times during their four-month lifespan, human red blood cells must
squeeze through tiny capillaries to deliver their payload of oxygen and pick up
waste carbon dioxide-functions essential to life. Now, for the first time, MIT
researchers have developed a dynamic, molecular-level model that describes how
the cells deform their normal disc shape to pass through vessels that are often
much narrower than the cells themselves. Blood cells must rearrange components
of their internal scaffolding (so-called cytoskeleton), allowing the cells to
become almost liquid-like, in order to squeeze through the narrowest
capillaries found in the body, the researchers report (...).
* [40] How Blood Cells Change Shape, 2007/03/23, ScienceDaily & Massachusetts
Institute Of Technology
* Contributed by [41] Atin Das
[40] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070321104642.htm
[41] mailto:dasatin at yahoo.co.in
_________________________________________________________________
17. Magnifying Superlens in the Visible Frequency Range , Science
Excerpts: We demonstrate a magnifying superlens that can be integrated into a
conventional far-field optical microscope. Our design is based on a multilayer
photonic metamaterial consisting of alternating layers of positive and negative
refractive index, as originally proposed by Narimanov and Engheta. We achieved
a
resolution on the order of 70 nanometers. The use of such a magnifying superlen
s
should find numerous applications in imaging.
* [42] Magnifying Superlens in the Visible Frequency Range, Igor I.
Smolyaninov, Yu-Ju Hung, Christopher C. Davis, 07/03/23, Science : 1699-1701.
[42] http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/315/5819/1699
_________________________________________________________________
17.01. Bolt-On 'Superlens' Gives Microscope Nanoscale Vision , New
Scientist.com
Excerpts: Concentric rings of plastic on gold allow an optical microscope
to resolve objects too small to otherwise be seen (Image: Science/Maryland
University) A laser was shone onto the dots, exciting electrons from the
gold surface into waves called plasmons. These waves ripple through electrons
on the surface at the speed of light and, when they reach the concentric
plastic rings, the waves are refracted. "But they don't experience it like a
normal lens," Smolyaninov explains. "They are refracted the opposite way to
usual."
* [43] Bolt-On 'Superlens' Gives Microscope Nanoscale Vision, Tom Simonite,
07/03/22, NewScientist.com
[43]
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn11439-bolton-superlens-gives-microsco
pe-nanoscale-vision.html
_________________________________________________________________
18. Extrasolar Planets in the 'Goldilocks Zone' , NY Times
Excerpts: The COROT space telescope. (Copyright 2006 CNES) Space-based
planet-hunting missions are now under development on both sides of the
Atlantic, led by the French COROT (convection, totation & planetary transits)
space telescope, which achieved first light in January. It is quite possible
that within 10 years we will have a selection of local Earth-sized planets
within the wonderfully named "Goldilocks zone" (not too cold and not too hot)
and be able to study their atmospheres. Evidence of substantial oxygen in those
atmospheres would be as strong a sign of life as finding fossils on Mars.
* [44] Extrasolar Planets in the 'Goldilocks Zone', Chris Lintott, 07/03/26,
NYTimes
[44] http://acrosstheuniverse.blogs.nytimes.com/?th&emc=th
_________________________________________________________________
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
_________________________________________________________________
19.01. C.I.A. Awaits Rules on Terrorism Interrogations , NY Times
Excerpts: A sharp debate within the Bush administration over the future of the
Central Intelligence Agency's detention and interrogation program has left the
agency without the authority to use harsh interrogation techniques that the
White House said last fall were necessary in questioning terrorism suspects,
according to administration and Congressional officials. The agency for months
has been awaiting approval for rules that would give intelligence operatives
greater latitude than military interrogators in questioning terrorism suspects
but would not include some of the most controversial interrogation procedures
the spy agency has used in the
* [45] C.I.A. Awaits Rules on Terrorism Interrogations, Mark Mazzetti,
07/03/25, NYTimes
[45] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/washington/25interrogate.html
_________________________________________________________________
19.02. Communication in the Face of Terror , NY Times
Excerpts: One of the glaring shortfalls during the 9/11 attacks - the fumbling
attempt by federal agencies to communicate with one another in a crisis -
remains stuck at ground zero. Five years after the government's law enforcement
and disaster agencies vowed to develop a unified wireless network to put the
81,000 federal agents in sync, a scathing inspector general's report finds the
plan fractured, disjointed and facing "high risk of failure."
* [46] Communication in the Face of Terror, 07/03/29, NYTimes
[46] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/opinion/29thu2.html
_________________________________________________________________
19.03. Deterring A Nuclear 9/11 , Washington Quarterly
Abstract: Can a nuclear terrorist attack be deterred? Nuclear forensic
techniques to identify the origins of nuclear materials are improving, but
significant associated strategic, political, diplomatic, and organizational
challenges have yet to be sufficiently addressed.
* [47] Deterring A Nuclear 9/11, C. Talmadge, Spring 2007, Online 2007/02/20,
DOI: 10.1162/wash.2007.30.2.21, Washington Quarterly
* Contributed by [48] Pritha Das
[47] http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/wash.2007.30.2.21
[48] mailto:prithadas01 at yahoo.com
_________________________________________________________________
20. Links & Snippets
_________________________________________________________________
20.01. Other Publications
- The Fractal Nature Of Web Services, Mar. 2007, Computer Magazine, IEEE
- Dynamics Of Nonlinear Feedback Control, May 2007, Online 2007/03/23, Neural
Computation, DOI: 10.1162/neco.2007.19.5.1179
- About The "Right- And Left-Eyed" Persons, 2007/03/21, Innovations-report
- Life History And The Evolution Of Family Living In Birds, 2007/03/20,
Proceedings: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.0117
- Predicting Conditions For Migration: Effects Of Density Dependence And
Habitat Quality, 2007/03/20, Biology Letters, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0053
- New Evidence Of 'Human' Culture Among Primates, 2007/03/24, ScienceDaily &
University of Cambridge
- Biologists Learn Structure Of Enzyme Needed To Power 'Molecular Motor',
2007/03/23, ScienceDaily & Purdue University
- When $10 Billion Is Not Enough: Rethinking U.S. Strategy Toward Pakistan,
Spring 2007, Online 2007/02/20, Washington Quarterly, DOI:
10.1162/wash.2007.30.2.7
- The UN-Led Multilateral Institutional Response To Jihadist Terrorism: Is A
Global Counterterrorism Body Needed?, Winter 2006, online 2007/01/25, Journal
of Conflict and Security Law, DOI: 10.1093/jcsl/krl026
- Mechanochemistry: A reaction to stress p381, Chemists usually kick-start
reactions with heat, light or electricity, but a far less common option is to
use mechanical stress. It now seems that stress not only triggers reactions,
but can also direct their course.
- Gene Co-Inheritance and Gene Transfer, Science 23 March 2007: 1685.
Unexpectedly, in plant taxa that reproduce by self-pollination or cloning, more
mitochondrial genes have shifted to the nucleus than in taxa that reproduce
sexually.
- Far-Field Optical Hyperlens Magnifying Sub-Diffraction-Limited Objects,
07/03/23, Science: 1686. A lens with a negative refractive index can magnify an
object that is smaller than the diffraction limit of light and project it so it
can be seen with a conventional microscope.
- Mysterious Migrations, 07/03/24, Science News, New studies report that modern
humans from Africa launched cultural advances in Europe at least 36,000 years
ago and reached what's now western Russia more than 40,000 years ago, although
those conclusions generate much scientific controversy.
_________________________________________________________________
20.02. Webcast Announcements
[49] World Economic Forum , Davos, Switzerland, 07/01/24-28
TED Talks, TED Conferences LLC , since 2006
Talking Robots: The PodCast on Robotics and AI, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de
Lausanne, Switzerland, 06/11/03
Potentials of Complexity Science for Business, Governments, and the Media 2006,
Budapest, Hungary, 06/08/03-05
6th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 06/06/25-30
Artificial Life X,
10th Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, Bloomington,
IN, USA. 2006/06/03-07
6th Understanding Complex Systems Symposium, Urbana-Champaign, Il, 06/05/15-18
Ralph Abraham on Complexity Digest, , Calcutta, India, 05/12/27
[50] An Afternoon with Michael Crichton, Washington, 05/11/06
[51]
Illuminating the Shadow of the Future, Ann Arbor, Mi 05/09/23-25
[52]
Open Network of Centres of Excellence in Complex Systems - Brainstorming
Meeting, Paris, France 05/09/19-23
[53]
Complexity, Science & Society Conference 2005, U. Liverpool, UK 2005/09/11-14
[54]
ECAL 2005 - VIIIth European Conference on Artificial Life,
Canterbury, Kent, UK 2005/09/5-9
[55]
T. Irene Sanders, Executive Director and Founder, [56] The Washington Center
for Complexity & Public Policy, 05/08/27, QuickTime video (10:38 min), [57]
Podcast
[58] North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity
2005 Conference, Virtual Conference Network, St. Pete's Beach, Florida,
05/06/09-11
[59] Understanding Complex Systems - Computational Complexity and
Bioinformatics, Virtual Conference Network, Urbana-Champaign, Il, UIUC,
05/05/16-19
[60] Nonlinearity, Fluctuations, and Complexity, with a celebration of the
65th birthday of Gregoire Nicolis. , Complexity Session, Universite' Libre de
Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, 05/03/16
[61]
1st European Conference on Complex Systems, Torino, Italy, 04/12/5-7
>From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela
(1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20
Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium,
04/05/26-28
International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21
Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: Lab Demonstrations, Strogatz, Steven H.,
Internet-First University Press, 1994
CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
Edge Videos
[49]
http://gaia.world-television.com/wef/worldeconomicforum_annualmeeting2007/Targe
t=new
[50] http://www.complexsys.org/news.htm target=new
[51] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/05ISF/index.html target=new
[52] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/ONCECS05/ target=new
[53] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/CSS05/ target=new
[54] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/ECAL2005/ target=new
[55] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/Sanders0508/Sanders0508.mov target=new
[56] http://www.complexsys.org/ target=new
[57] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/Sanders0508/Sanders.mp3
[58] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/05NASPSA/ target=new
[59] http://complexity.vub.ac.be/~comdig/05UCS/ target=new
[60] http://www.comdig2.de/Conf/Nicolis05/Target=new
[61] http://www.comdig2.de/Conf/ECCS04/Target=new
_________________________________________________________________
20.03. Conference Announcements
American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) 2007 Conference,
Urbana IL, 07/03/29-04/01
Storytelling and Complexity in Human Systems, Las Vegas, NV, USA,
07/03/31-04/01
4th Lake Arrowhead Conference on Human Complex Systems,
Lake Arrowhead, CA, 07/04/25-29
Intl Conf on Morphological Computation, Venice Italy, 07/03/26-28
Capturing Business Complexity with Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation
Useful, Usable, and Used Techniques - A Course on Business Applications,
Argonne Natl Lab, Woodridge, IL, 07/04/16-20
New Trends in Mathematics for Complex Systems - Nouvelles approches en
mathématiques pour les systèmes complexes, Paris, 07/04/23-25
Complexity and Organizational Resilience
,
The Village, Pohnpei, Micronesia, 07/05
9th GEF -The World Festival of Creativity in Schools, Sanremo ITALY,
07/05/02-06
UCS 2007 - Understanding Complex Systems, Urbana-Champaign, Ill, 07/05/14-17
Visualizing Network Dynamics Competition @ NetSci07, New York, 07/05/20-25
2nd Intl Conf on Built Environment Complexity - Embracing complexity thinking
in built environments, Cape Town South Africa, 07/05/21-25
ECO 2007 Summit: Ecological Complexity and Sustainability: Challenges and
Opportunities for 21st-Century Ecology, Beijing, China, 07/05/22-27
2007 IEEE/ICME Intl Conf on Complex Medical Engineering-CME2007, Beijing,
China, 07/05/23-27
Analysis and Control of Complex Networks, Milan, Italy, 07/05/24-26
The 7th Intl Workshop on Meta-Synthesis and Complex Systems, Beijing,
07/05/27-30
2nd Intl Wkshp on Engineering Emergence in Decentralised Autonomic Systems
EEDAS 2007, Jacksonville, Fl, 07/06/11-15
7th conf
SYMMETRY IN NONLINEAR MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS, Kiev, Ukraine, 07/06/24-30
Symposium on Knowledge Domain Visualizations @ IV 2007, ETH Zürich,
Switzerland, 07/07/04-06
Summer School In Complexity Science, London, UK, 07/07/08-17
2007 Genetic And Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2007), London, UK,
07/07/07-11
Evolutionary Computation and Multi-Agent Systems and Simulation Workshop
(ECoMASS-2007), London, England, 07/07/07
22nd European Conference on Operational Research
EURO XXII, Prague, Czech Republic, 07/07/08-11
11th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, Orlando,
Florida, USA, 07/07/08-11
SASO 2007 - First IEEE Intl Conf Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems
, Boston, Mass., USA, 07/07/09-11
IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning 2007,
Imperial College London, 07/07/11-13
NKS 2007 Wolfram Science Conference,
Burlington, VT, 07/07/13-15
Complex Change Webinar: Planning in the Midst of Chaos, 07/07/17
Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences
17th Annual Intl Conf,
Orange, Ca, USA, 07/07/27-29
ICCM 2007 - 8th Intl Conf on Cognitive Modeling, Ann Arbor, Michigan,
07/07/27-29
ICS PIF Summer School 2007 - First French Complex Systems Summer School,
Paris, 07/07/30-08/26
Natural Complexity: Data and Theory in Dialogue, Cambridge, UK, 07/08/13-17
ECAL 2oo7 - 9th European Conference on Artificial Life
, Lisbon, Portugal, 07/09/10-14
ECAL 2007 Workshop on Machine Epigenesis , Lisbon, Portugal, 07/09/10
3rd Edition of the Econophysics Colloquium, Ancona, 07/09/27-29
European Conference on Complex Systems 2007 (ECCS'07) , Dresden, Germany,
07/10/01-05
Processes Of Emergence Of Systems And Systemic Properties.
Towards A General Theory Of Emergence.
, Castel Ivano (Trento), 07/10/18-20
2007 IEEE/WIC/ACM Intl Joint Conf on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent
Technology (WI-IAT'07), Silicon Valley, USA, 07/11/02-05
Theory In Cognitive Neuroscience,
Wildbad Kreuth (Bavaria), Germany, 07/11/04-07
7th Intl Conf on Epigenetic Robotics:
Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems
, Piscataway, NJ, 07/11/05-07
KSS 2007 - 8th Intl Symposium on Knowledge and Systems Sciences, Ishikawa
prefecture, Japan, 07/11/05-07
_________________________________________________________________
20.04. Call for Papers - Course/Book Announcements
[62]
EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION IN PRACTICE
Series in Studies in Computational Intelligence, Springer Verlag,
Chapter proposal due 07/02/04
Call for Papers:
Special Issue of the Artificial Life journal on the Evolution of Complexity,
Chaos and Complexity
Resources for Students and Teachers, 06/03/01
[62] http://seal.tst.adfa.edu.au/~ayang/ECP/ TARGET=new
_________________________________________________________________
[63]Complexity Digest is an independent publication available to
organizations that may wish to repost [64]ComDig to their own mailing
lists. [65]ComDig is published by [66]Dean LeBaron and edited by
[67]Gottfried J. Mayer.
To unsubscribe from this list, please send a note to
[68]subscriptions at comdig.org.
[63] http://www.comdig.org/
[64] http://www.comdig.org/
[65] http://www.comdig.org/
[66] http://www.deanlebaron.com/index.html
[67] http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/g/x/gxm21/
[68] mailto:subscriptions at comdig.org
----- End forwarded message -----
--
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE
More information about the info
mailing list