Category Archives: Uncategorized

Brain implant helps stroke victim speak again – tech – 09 July 2008 – New Scientist

http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/dn14277-brain-implant-helps-stroke-victim-speak-again.html

Nine years ago, a brain-stem stroke left Erik Ramsey almost totally paralysed, but with his mental faculties otherwise intact. Today he is learning to talk again – although so far he can only manage basic vowel sounds.

In 2004, Ramsey had an electrode implanted in his speech-motor cortex [in the hope that] the signal from Ramsey’s cortex could be used to restore his speech.

Game theory could save the world – Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/07/09/scigame109.xml

A team has been using “game theory” – where mathematics is used to capture how people deal with each other – to show that a classic problem that undermines the ability of individuals to cooperate can be overcome, if people are diverse enough, as is the case when it comes to the 6.5 billion citizens of planet Earth.

Working together for the common good is crucial for progress in any society – not least for effectively addressing big issues such as recycling and tackling climate change. But there is a basic problem with how to make the public share responsibility for common problems, such as climate change.

Shooting holes in gaming theories – Articles – Games – Digital Life

http://www.theage.com.au/news/articles/shooting-holes-in-game-theories/2008/07/09/1215282891184.html

Young people are being corrupted by a seductive new form of popular entertainment. Oddly enough, this seems to happen in every generation.

In his 1883 book Traps for the Young, US postal inspector Anthony Comstock warned of the sinful hazards of reading dime novels. In his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent, child psychiatrist Fredric Wertham warned of the psychosexual perils of poring over comic books.

In their 2008 book, Grand Theft Childhood, Harvard Medical School psychiatrists Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson warn about video games. The gist of their warning: don’t jump to conclusions.

The couple, who are also the parents of a video game-playing teenage son, surveyed more than 1200 US school students aged 12-14 and 500 of their parents.

Their survey did not directly ask about serious criminal behaviour, in part to avoid children incriminating themselves, but their book uses statistics published by the Justice Department to conclude that “videogame popularity and real-world youth violence have been moving in opposite directions.

Sign in to read: New legal threat to teaching evolution in the US – science-in-society – 09 July 2008 – New Scientist

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19926643.300

On the 28 June, The Science Education Act was passed as law in the State of Louisiana. This piece of legislature now allows teachers in this US state to present non-scientific alternatives to evolution, global warming and cloning – including ideas related to intelligent design. Opponents fear that Louisiana teachers are now free to present evolution and other targeted topics as matters of debate rather than broadly accepted science, and could have national implications.

How to Win (or Avoid) a Bar Fight | Sloshspot Blog

http://www.sloshspot.com/blog/07-08-2008/How-to-Win-or-Avoid-a-Bar-Fight-27

At some point in your life you are likely to find yourself a participant in a bar fight. These altercations occur for various reasons, but can usually be attributed to some drunken chump who couldn’t keep his mouth shut, couldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, or couldn’t handle the fact you just snatched up his lady’s digits while he was peter-gazing in the urinal. Regardless of whether or not that drunken chump is you, it is all about self preservation. Here are some tips for surviving such a confrontation or avoiding it altogether.