Mind/Memory control a reality

"Flip the switch on, and the rats remember. Flip it off, and the rats forget," said Theodore Berger of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering's Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Of course, this comes out under the guise of repairing memory loss.

Is it just me or does it smack of mind control...

Check out the whole article on PRNewswire.


ht: Mike Thicke

What do you think of this?

Not suitable for work, but essential viewing.

Keep your air fresh

A few years ago Kemal Meattle gave a compelling TED talk entitled "How to grow your own fresh air." To show that we can grow our own air, Mr. Meattle has conducted extensive studies in office buldings in India. His studies have shown that having enough of the right plants around can give ordinary slobs extraordinary powers (such as the power to stave off lung disease!).

For a government commussioned study, an office with 300 occupants was filled with 1200 plants. "... compared to other buildings in Delhi, the incidence of eye irritation reduced by 52%, lower respiratory symptoms by 34%, headaches by 24%, upper respiratory symptoms by 20%, lung impairment by 10-12% and Asthma by 9%. As a result of fewer sick days, employee productivity also increased."

Our experience points to an amazing increase in human productivity resulting from using these plants to be >20%, and energy costs to reduce by an extraordinary >15%.

Mr. Meattle mentions three plants in particular that are best in class:

The Money Plant is a filter like no other. It traps and stores airborne volatile organic compounds, like formaldehyde, while pumping out fresh clean O2. Live in a polluted area? Get yourself a few of these puppies.

The Areca Palm is a fantastic fresh air machine during the day. It is hearty, requires little water and is therefore very easy to take care of. Mr. Meattle suggests 4 per person; I have one.

The Mother-in-law's tongue (sharp!) is the night time expert. It is known to absorb 107 air pollutants including carbon monoxide and nitrogen monoxide. The mother-in-law can also eliminate bad odours, and it never tells you what to do!

The key property of the Mother-in-law's tongue comes from the fact that is that it is a CAM plant. Unlike normal C3 and C4 plants, CAM plants fix CO2 during the night. They store the necessary energy for photosynthesis during while light is available, and carry out the process in the dark. I promise you this; you'll both breath easier if you and your mother-in-law sleep in the same room together (sorry, had to).

Keep your air fresh!

Tasty Little Plastic Fish

Do you find yourself pondering the future of global fish stocks? Are you worried that the seafood you are eating poses an existential threat to marine life due to the irresponsibility of the fishing industry?

Well, here is a site that should quell your anxiety somewhat: The Environmental Defence Fund's guide to eating eco-friendly fish. Now you know which fish is which!

I have been concerned since I heard Daniel Pauly talk about global fish stocks not lasting 50 years. Though I don't have that link, Prof. Pauly wrote this comprehensive piece in the New Republic

Well, If you weren't worried about overfishing for some reason, you can worry instead about our plastic consumption - It's ending up in the ocean. Every fish you have eaten had a little bit o' plastic inside when it was caught. Yuk.

 Hear about our plastic seas and the Pacific trash vortex in this short TED talk from Capt. Charles Moore:




If that still doesn't trouble you, or if you are passed the realm of concern and have entered the realm of impuissance, the 'marine debris' sometimes converges to form giant islands of trash that float around the pacific ocean.  Apparently it sometimes becomes dense enough to stand on.

Plastic island doomsday tiki party anyone?

Dear Kenya, GM Tastes Bad

After years of praising food in Kenya for being fresh, nutritious and delicious, I despair at the news of President Mwai Kibaki deciding to degrade Kenya's food supply and allow GM crops.

It is a bad idea for many reasons in addition to the fact that GM food is often less nutritious almost always tastes worse. Kenya does not have the technology to cope with the complications that GM crops bring with them. Issues like pest control, nutrient leakage, and cross pollination will all threaten Kenya's biosphere. Kenyan farmers will find themselves in the pocket of biotech companies that have a history of extortion. (I don't even need to provide you with links for that claim.) Big deals like this one only reinforce the structure of Kenyan politics and the rampancy of corruption.

Earlier this month Hatian farmers rose up against Monsanto. Powerful stuff. If only Kenyans could see this!






HT: Structurally Maladjusted

Website of the Week - Gapminder

You may say that Gapminder.org is old news. Well, that may be true; it blew up on the scene in early 2006. Since then they have not only been updating their software, statistics and style, but also producing an ever growing number of videos promoting "a fact based world-view." I use quotation marks because that is a direct quote from the site, but also because macro facts such as these have been the folly of development economics since the 60's. However, if we are aware of their limitations, as those at Gapminder are, the numbers are still compelling.

Gapminder is best put to use when debunking myths. One of my favourite myths is the answer to the question "What stops population growth?". On numerous occasions I have taken up the task of overthrowing popular misconceptions apropos this topic.

A popular fallacy I have dealt with is that war, disease and natural disasters help to curtail the growth of our population. If we do not closely examine the issue of population growth it is easy to fall into that trap. As Dr. Rosling will show you, the complete opposite is the case:



Broadly speaking, better health care and better education are the only things that slow population growth rates. (China notwithstanding)

Many other entertaining videos can be found at gapminder.org including this one where Dr. Rosling predicts when the income per person in India will catch up to the US.

A Nice, Healthy Taliban

I received a good question from Lady N today. Here is the news story that contains that very question:

"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) raised eyebrows on Tuesday when it announced it was giving first aid training and medical kits directly to the Taliban insurgency. The move is part of a wider Red Cross effort to save lives in Afghanistan. The agency is teaching local doctors and Afghan security forces how to deal with weapon-related wounds. But in April it also provided basic first aid training and emergency medical kits to "over 70 members of the armed opposition," the ICRC said."  - Richard Foot, Canwest News Service 

 Should the Red Crescent Teach the Taliban First Aid?  ( <- go ahead read more)

I say everyone should have access to the information/health care that
helps to save lives. However, if we (the royal we) have a limited
amount of resources we should spend those resources where
they do the greatest good. This is clearly ambiguous, but it is also
easy to see that saving the lives of people who wouldn't think twice
about killing other people is not very efficient (and therefore not
the greatest).  Although the efficiency argument is cold, I think it
fits this context of the moral dilemma quite nicely.

If we had unlimited health resources, or even a glut of localized and
immovable resources in taliban areas, I would argue that helping them
out is a good idea. A child in this part of the world who loses a
family member mostly or partly because health care is withheld is more
likely to grow to resent foreign organizations of any sort. (I think
this stands whether or not people are aware of intentional
restriction.) Anything perceived by locals as a positive influence
from foreign organizations is a good thing.

What do you think?