Quantum Sagas

Super Intelligent, "Human-Brained" Monkeys

From a report on NEWS.com.au:

In cutting-edge experiments, scientists have injected human brain cells into monkey fetuses to study the effects.

Critics argue that if these fetuses are allowed to develop into self-aware subjects, science will be thrown into an ethical nightmare.

An eminent committee of American scientists will call for restrictions into the research, saying the outcome of such studies cannot be predicted and may in fact produce subjects with a 'super-animal' intelligence.
...

These procedures, known as 'human-primate chimeras', involve the combination of human and monkey cells, tissue and DNA to observe any effect and examine the possibility that such combination could actually exist.

While experimentation like this seems wildly unethical and rife with moral implication, there really is only one thing to be said: We'll never know until we try it. Isn't this how science makes determination? Through experimentation? Is it possible that the experiment subjects could outwit their laboratory creators and propagate out of control throughout the world and planning domination? It's possible, but not likely. Just imagine what the animal-rights activist idiots must be saying about this.

This could potentially lead to better understanding and resources for the human brain, ethical problems aside. With the capabilities we have today, however, we have to assume stuff like this is inevitable. People will contort the possible negative outcomes of this into all manners of wild science-fiction, but reality is never quite that bad. I expect this is just the beginning.

Stem Cells Restore Eyesight

This is amazing:

Stem Cells Used to Restore Vision

Just think: what would have become biological waste can be used to help those of us who are actually alive. If that doesn't convince people of the power of stem cell research, then they are not very intelligent.

The Beauty of Progress

UCLA researchers have created a device which creates fusion at room temperature. No, this is not something out of a dream -- this is very real. Admittedly, 10^-8 Joules of energy is very small, but this can only be the beginning. Remember the cold-fusion hoopla?

Also, Los Alamos creates a material that superconducts at 18K. Better superconductors in magnets can pave the way for higher-energy particle accelerators. Deeper into the rabbit hole we go.

It could happen again, let's do nothing.

Global warming is harmful and has caused devastation in the past.

RFID in the OR

Surgichip has put RFID technology to practical use in the medical field, to prevent "wrong-site, wrong-procedure and wrong-patient surgery." Instead of hand-written instructions and information for the surgeon to refer to prior to surgery, an RFID tag is affixed to the skin like a sticker (not implanted), preprogrammed with patient information, procedure, etc. The image shows a PDA doing the scanning, and presumably the programming. The attending nurse can later review the information and change it if necessary, as can the doctor performing the surgery. Additionally, the patient will be able to verify the information if necessary.

Apparently, incorrect surgical procedures are more common than one might expect. While this will reduce the risk of improper procedure, it is still desirable for medical professionals to do their jobs well. I have a feeling that the real answer is to focus more on the medical profession's inefficiencies, underemployment, and bureaucracy. The RFID Surgichip is a step in the right direction, however.

Music in Numbers

This is beautiful:

pi10k

On the formation of snow

Here is a tremendously comprehensive paper (PDF) discussing the construction of snow crystals, studies which better understand crystallization, and designer snowflakes:

Morphogenesis on Ice: The Physics of Snow Crystals

How fitting for the beginning of our winter wonderland!

So when are we going to start taking Soma?

While I applaud the use and practical application of new technology; and noting that I also partake of design and application of technology in the electronics field, the following application of RFID tags have me raising an eyebrow:

NYT: In Texas, 28,000 Students Test an Electronic Eye

Especially noteworthy is one of the last few paragraphs:

Advocates of the technology said they did not plan to go that far. But, they said, they do see broader possibilities, such as implanting RFID tags under the skin of children to avoid problems with lost or forgotten tags. More immediately, they said, they could see using the technology to track whether students attend individual classes. [New York Times, 11.17.2004; Matt Richtel]

I believe that it's important to have a general view of our children's daily activities, and to nudge them in the right direction -- but parenting today has become a capitalized monstrosity, to the point where adults are using their children as status bytes, not unlike proudly displaying their latest Hummer or Mercedes purchases. I'm not going to get into that discussion, or a tirade about microchipping pets, or whose plasma TV is bigger... But more importantly, this gives us the potential to keep a constant eye on our children, knowing where exactly they are at any given time, and even possibly without their knowing it (if implanted during early development). Even worse, as an implant, if they do find out they will be more likely to want to avoid it, as it is after all an assault on personal freedom. Given the increasing quality of morbidity and psychological disorders in todays youth, I could see children digging said implants out of their own skin. Taken to even more of an extreme, the potential is there to determine exactly who your children are spending time with. Penultimately, and admittedly conspiracy-theoretical in nature, the government could be looking at maps to know exactly where every individual with an implant is at any given time. Understandably, such a notion reeks of paranoia, but if steps are taken very gradually and no one thinks twice about it, stuff such as this can be done right under our noses. I won't go crafting any tin-foil hats just yet, but it still makes me a little bit weary.

The application of the RFID tag is very beneficial in many circumstances. The number one: luggage and cargo at the airport. They are experimenting with RFID labels of ever decreasing cost at specific terminals around the world, with much success:

Delta Tests RFID Tags

McCarran Airport in Vegas Implements RFID on a Large Scale

...and countless other articles in EE industry publications. The point here is that the baggage handlers don't have to see every piece of luggage or cargo in order to know that it is loaded on the plane, etc. Human error is, after all, the only mistakes that can be made. Upgrade.

I'm afraid, though, that parents will take a similar stance with their tagged children (why not? the term can also be used with wild animals being tracked by researchers) by becoming lazy. Parents are already lazy enough, they don't need to neglect their children any more than they already do. It's alright, though, because when it comes time for them to feel better about being poor parents, they spoon-feed them religious ideals, in hopes that they are raising them to be of morally sound mind. Regardless, if they know where their children are 95% of the time, they will be less likely to seek them out and pay attention to them.

RFID tags that contain key-codes to one's medical records would be a great thing to have, aside from the implant part. Granted, the implants themselves are innocuous: posing no electrical or biological threats (no more than having your ear pierced); but the idea of being a number won't sit well with a great deal of people. Picture this, however: a patient comes into the emergency room, in a comatose state or cardiac arrest, and the person who brought them in doesn't even know who they are. With a simple scan of the forearm, the emergency team knows that this patient is highly allergic to nitroglycerin (is that possible?), or some otherwise life-saving chemical.

Perhaps the emergency bracelets that people get for diabetes, epilepsy, etc. could contain the tags, rather than having them implanted?

Look for Soma in the next few years... It will probably be released by Merck.