Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the images inside a person’s mind and display them on a computer monitor, it was announced on December 11. Further development of the technology may soon make it possible to view other people’s dreams while they sleep.
Category: General Blog
New Study Links Green Spaces to Healthier Bodies & Minds
A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that inner-city kids living in neighborhoods with more green space gained about 13% less weight over a two-year period than kids living amid more concrete and fewer trees.
Memories may be stored on your DNA
Remember your first kiss? Experiments in mice suggest that patterns of chemical “caps” on our DNA may be responsible for preserving such memories.To remember a particular event, a specific sequence of neurons must fire at just the right time. For this to happen, neurons must be connected in a certain way by chemical junctions called synapses.
Top 4 Foods To Boost Your Memory
Here are some of the memory foods that you should incorporate into your diet to reap the benefits of memory enhancement.
Radical Evolution: The Future of Human-Machine Intelligence
Ray Kurzweil sees a radical evolution of the human species in the next 40 years. The merger of man and machine, coupled with the sudden explosion in machine intelligence and rapid innovation in gene research and nanotechnology, will result in a world with no distinction between the biological and the mechanical or physical and virtual reality.
15 Ways to Hack Your Brain For A Better Life
If you ’re looking to improve mental cognition, increase your memory, and enhance your alertness, here are 15 easy ways to give your brain a six-pack.
Seven of the Greatest Scientific Hoaxes Ever
The history of science is replete with frauds and fakers. Of course, there are serious cases of scientific fraud, such as the stem cell researchers recently found guilty of falsifying data and the South Korean cloning fraud. The following stories, however, are not so serious.
Proof’ David slew Goliath found as Israeli archaeologists unearth ‘oldest ever Hebrew text’
Astounding new evidence has been unearthed in Israel that could confirm the biblical story of King David.
Until now, almost nothing has been found that would prove the biblical account of a shepherd boy from the 10th century BC who slew the giant Goliath and went on to become the King of Israel who founded Jerusalem.
But today Hebrew University archaeology professor Yosef Garfinkel announced the discovery of a tiny, but potentially invaluable, piece of pottery at the site of the ruins of an ancient fortified city south-west of Jerusalem dated to the time of King David.
Yossi Garfinkel displays the ceramic shard bearing a Hebrew inscription that may be evidence supporting the biblical story of David and Goliath
Garfinkel said that it carried the earliest-known Hebrew inscription, some 850 years earlier than the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Scholars are still trying to decipher the full text of the inscription, but Garfinkel said they are excited at the prospect of a link to David because they have already translated the words for "king," "judge," and "slave" , which he said suggested it was some sort of official note from the time of his reign.
Until now, scholars have been unable to say whether King David was indeed the heroic, psalm-composing monarch depicted in the Bible or the local and unimportant leader of a small tribe.
The archaeological site called Elah Fortress, or Khirbet Qeiyafa, seen in an undated aerial photograph, where the shard was found
Only one biblical-era inscription with the words "House of David" has ever been discovered, leading some scholars to question whether King David existed at all.
The pottery fragment was inscribed with five rows of text in black ink divided by black lines written in an early Hebrew-Canaanite script.
Archaeologists also found lamps, pottery jars and other items. Carbon-14 tests carried out at Oxford University dated them to the 10th century BC, the era according to the Old Testament of King David and his son Solomon, who built the Temple in Jerusalem.
The ruins of the Elah Valley fortress was discovered in 2003 near the modern Israeli city of Beit Shemesh in the Judean Hills, south-west of Jerusalem. The huge complex is spread over nearly six acres and surrounded by a 700-metre long city wall built with stones weighing up to eight tons each.
Bible come true? David with the head of Goliath by William Daniels
Yossi Garfinkel is seen at the excavation site
Detailed excavations began only earlier this year.
The fortress would have controlled the ancient trading route from Jerusalem to the coast and overlooks the plain where David engaged in his legendary mortal combat with Goliath, giant champion of the rival Philistines.
Goliath's home town of Gath was unearthed just a few miles away to the south.
"The chronology and geography of Elah Fortress create a unique meeting point between the history, historiography and origins of the early Davidic Kingdom," said Garfinkel.
"This is the oldest Judean city uncovered to date, and its very construction has unprecedented implications on our understanding of this era."
Garfinkel said the sophistication and size of the city suggested it was part of a strong, centrally-planned kingdom.
It has been a busy week for archaeologists searching for King David and his family. In Jerusalem, a researcher said she had found an ancient water drain mentioned in the Bible as the route used by David's forces to capture the city from the Jebusites.
In Jordan, scholars said they had uncovered an ancient copper excavation site that tests showed could be the legendary King Solomon's Mines.
What happened at Lambeth 2008
THE 2008 LAMBETH CONFERENCE of Anglican bishops in Canterbury July 16-August 3 was a milestone in this march of relativism. While nothing extraordinary happened – no fist fights or beatific visions – a number of prelates came away from Lambeth realizing the Anglican Communion no longer worked. Its structures were not a place for holy men, but for hollow men: bishops who knew in their hollow hearts they were stuffed with straw, trapped in a purposeless whirl of apathy and spiritual torpor called "dialogue." The Anglican Communion had finally broken, coming to an end "not with a bang but a whimper."
While past Lambeth Conferences have endeavored to speak clearly on matters of common concern as a guide to the global church, Lambeth 2008 was designed to, and did, decline to draw the line between the irreconcilable claims of the left and right. Gene Robinson's cry that "God is doing a new thing," and that the affirmation of his election as Bishop of New Hampshire showed that "God has once again brought an Easter out of Good Friday," was left to stand alongside the claims of traditionalists like Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker, who argued that the standard the church must use in moving forward with change was the rule of Vincent of Lerins: a once-for-all received faith, witnessed everywhere and by all. Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est.
While the liberal juggernaut has ground through The Episcopal Church (TEC) over the past generation, carrying prayer book revision and women's ordination with it across the 38-province Anglican Communion, Vincent's 5th century rule had been consistently applied to questions of sexual ethics. At the 13th Lambeth Conference in 1998, bishops of the Communion affirmed by a 7 to 1 margin the church's traditional teaching on human sexuality, as informed by Scripture and the church's unbroken teaching of 2,000 years.
The onus lies with those who seek change to convince the church of the need for it, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, explained after Lambeth '98. Listening to proponents of change acknowledges their honorable motives, he told the clergy of the Diocese of Central Florida in 2003, but entering into a conversation with them does not validate their arguments.
"Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent," George Orwell once wrote of Gandhi, and the same standard applies in the development of doctrine, Lord Carey argued. However, the 14th Lambeth Conference under the presidency of Archbishop Rowan Williams said goodbye to all that.
AT LAMBETH '08, Dr. Williams lost the confidence of his fellow archbishops, and left the Communion millions in debt, and on the same trajectory as before the Conference began. Left and right have rejected his pleas for restraint, vitiating the renewed call in Canterbury for moratoria on gay bishops and blessings and cross-border episcopal actions, pending putative rescue by an Anglican Covenant at some uncertain date. New layers of bureaucracy suggested at Lambeth (e.g. a "Pastoral Forum" and "Faith and Order Commission") remain to be developed at a time when many saw stronger measures to restore order as overdue. Meanwhile, Roman Catholic and Orthodox representatives announced the effective end of talks aimed at corporate reunion and the recognition of Anglican orders.
Philosophically, the Lambeth Conference witnessed the retirement of the historic Anglican guides of Scripture, Tradition and reason in divining truth. Scripture was subordinated to experience and culture, reason rejected in favor of political power, and Tradition debased into equal parts antiquarianism and haberdashery.
Some Regulations coming into force in UK in October 2008
Employment Bill
On 6 December 2007 the Employment Bill was published in the House of Lords. It aims to simplify, clarify and develop a stronger enforcement regime for certain aspects of employment law. Provisions include:
- changes to the law relating to dispute resolution in the workplace as a response to the Gibbons review. This will include:
- repealing the current statutory dispute resolution procedures and related provisions about procedural unfairness in dismissal cases,
- changes to the law relating to conciliation by Acas
- revision of the Acas code on discipline and grievance and tribunals will be able to adjust awards by 25% where parties have unreasonably failed to follow the code,
- the delivery of a more straightfoward and transparent enforcement and penalties regime for the national minimum wage (NMW) and employment agency standards,
- compliance with the European Court of Human Rights decision in Aslef v UK which concerned the rights of trade unions to determine their members.
Will apply to Great Britain, but the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, which is amended in clauses 8 to 13 also extends to Northern Ireland.
No implementation date has been given but the Bill is likely to come into force in April 2009.
The text of the Bill, explanatory notes and details of its progress through Parliament are available on the Parliament website.
More information on the Bill can be found on the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) website.
Details of the revised Acas code are available in the Codes of practice section. Acas has published draft non-statutory guidance to complement the code.
Education and Skills Bill
The Bill was published on 29 November 2007 and aims to meet the ambition set out in the Leitch Review of achieving world class skills by 2020. Key proposals include:
- raising education or training leaving age to 17 years by 2013 and to 18 years by 2015
- giving adults a right to basic and intermediate skills and enabling the benefits of adult skills to be measured.
Will apply to the United Kingdom.
The text of the Bill, explanatory memorandum and details of its progress through Parliament are available on the Parliament website.
Additional paternity leave
In March 2006 the Government published a consultation paper on how to implement the scheme under the Work and Families Act 2006 which will allow employed fathers to take up to 26 weeks Additional Paternity Leave (APL), some of which could be paid if the mother has returned to work. The Government intends to introduce the scheme alongside the extension of statutory maternity pay and statutory adoption pay to twelve months. Consultation ended on 31 March 2006.
In November 2006 the Government published its response to the consultation. The response and further information is available on the Department Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website.
In May 2007 the Government launched a further consultation on the administration of APL following the November 2006 response. Employed fathers (including civil partners or adoptive parents) will be able to take up to 26 weeks additional paternity leave, some of which can be paid if the mother of the child returns to work. Consultation ended on 3 August 2007. The earliest date that the leave would be implemented would be for babies due on or after 5 April 2009, but this was not definite. In January 2008 the Government published its response to the consultation. The consultation paper and Government response is available on the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website.
Is Oversleeping Hazardous To Your Health?
When it comes to sleep, can you have too much of a good thing? It’s true a good night’s sleep is essential for health. But oversleeping has been linked to a host of medical problems, including diabetes, heart disease, and increased risk of death.
Babies respond to classical music at 5 months, study reveals
Even though they are still too young to speak, babies at just five months old are able to distinguish the differences between the works of major classical composers, scientists reveal. Researchers found that babies responded differently to upbeat tunes, such as ‘Ode to Joy’ from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, compared to a selection of gloomier tunes.
Brain boost drugs ‘growing trend’
Increasing numbers of people are using prescription drugs like Ritalin to boost alertness and brain power, say experts.
The ‘thinking cap’ that could unlock your inner genius
A ‘thinking cap’ capable of unlocking the inner genius in all of us is being developed by scientists. The device uses tiny magnetic pulses to change the way the brain works and has produced remarkable results.
Faculty of Law and Philosophy 