25 June 2008 – 9:15 pm +0800
The New Yorker has a fascinating article on how complicated the process of perception in the human brain is turning out to be, starting from a peculiar case of itching.
The grabber:
One morning, after she was awakened by her bedside alarm, she sat up and, she recalled, “this fluid came down my face, this greenish liquid.” [...]
By Ian Michael Hamet
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Also posted in Philosophy
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Tagged article, erroneous impression, experience, george berkeley, human brain, nerve signals, new yorker, perceptual data, process of perception, psychology, sensory nerve, visual perception
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29 January 2007 – 8:01 am +0800
Us caffeine addicts have a new god to add to our pantheon:
So the molecular scientist who moonlights as a cafe owner developed a way to add caffeine to baked goods, one that eliminates the natural, bitter taste of caffeine.
[...]
The amount of caffeine in his creations can vary, but Bohannon can easily put 100 milligrams of [...]
28 December 2006 – 10:32 am +0800
Man, modern man, especially modern western white man, has no respect for nature, the environment, the ecosystem, Mother Earth, Gaea. What he should do is to look to the past, when humanity was uncorrupted by civilization and lived at one with nature, in total harmony with the ecological balance.
Right?
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s giant prehistoric [...]
5 November 2006 – 11:41 am +0800
Or: Totally non-shocking headline of the week:
“Professor’s Bigfoot research criticized”
He’s produced no body, no bones, nothing tangible. So, really, where’s the story?
12 May 2006 – 5:55 pm +0800
..Tryin’ to hold back these feelings for so long
And if you feel, like I feel baby
Come on, oh come on,
Let’s get it on…
(Ooooh, those naughty, naughty bears!)
1 April 2006 – 3:05 pm +0800
Calvin would be so happy:
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., though, is so hopeful of the possibilities that it is launching a multimillion-dollar, multi-year effort to prove them. Citing “emerging research” that suggests chewing may be beneficial, the gum maker has created the Wrigley Science Institute, consisting of an international advisory panel of scientists and research experts [...]
8 November 2005 – 8:40 am +0800
Scientists say that women enjoy humor more than men:
“The long trip to Mars or Venus is hardly necessary to see that men and women often perceive the world differently,” a research team led by Dr. Allan L. Reiss of the Stanford University School of Medicine reports in Tuesday’s issue of Proceedings of the National Academy [...]
23 October 2005 – 2:20 pm +0800
That isn’t science fiction artwork.
It’s a photograph of a cancer cell metastasizing.
It won an award.
And gives me the screaming willies.
11 October 2005 – 9:32 pm +0800
From Wired:
At the University of Arizona, a psychology laboratory devotes its time to investigating “dynamic info-energy systems” and a “survival of consciousness hypothesis.” University of Virginia cardiologists have been studying whether heart patients enter “transcendental environments” in the operating room. Meanwhile, a psychiatrist colleague compiles records of alleged “transmigration” events from around the world.
Translation? At [...]
6 October 2005 – 7:21 am +0800
Has someone (or something) been using one of Saturn’s moons for target practice?
And, if so, why?
28 September 2005 – 1:44 pm +0800
Finally caught sight of a living Architeuthis:
This is the first ever photograph of a giant squid in the wild. Japanese researchers snapped the eight-metre monster as it attacked their bait in the inky blackness almost a kilometre below the waves.
The giant squid, Architeuthis, is the largest invertebrate in the world. More than 580 individuals have [...]
25 September 2005 – 7:41 am +0800
Another example of why we live in the most intellectually exciting time in history (þRand Simberg):
POROS, Island of Kefalonia, Greece — The tomb of Odysseus has been found, and the location of his legendary capital city of Ithaca discovered here on this large island across a one-mile channel from the bone-dry islet that modern maps [...]
22 September 2005 – 8:31 pm +0800
If time-travel ever comes to pass, and some company offers time safaris to hunt dinosaurs… I’ll pass, thankyewverymuch:
The giant reptiles that flew above the earth until about 65 million years ago could have grown to twice the size originally thought with wingspans of at least 18 metres, a paleontologist said on Thursday.
That would be almost [...]
21 September 2005 – 10:46 pm +0800
The Singularity may just be a whole hell of a lot closer than anyone imagined…
(No matter what, it’s going to take us by surprise. If not tomorrow, then in twenty years. Or any time in between.)
18 September 2005 – 7:32 pm +0800
I like the way these guys think:
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — All companies set goals, but newly formed 4Frontiers is eyeing some expansive horizons. The company’s mission: to open a small human settlement on Mars within 20 years or so.
Sure, it may sound far-fetched. And the company’s initial plans are a lot more terrestrial than ethereal, like [...]