Quantum computers will radically change how we communicate

By Dick Pelletier

   Since the beginning of the 21st century, advances in computing technology, from processing speed to network capacity and the Internet have revolutionized our lives. From sequencing genomes to monitoring the climate, many scientific advances would have been impossible without an increase in computing power.

   Now, quantum computers with superconductors made of carbon nanotubes are about to harness atoms and molecules and will soon be able to calculate billions of times faster than silicon-based computers. Scientists predict this technology will radically improve our lives. By 2030, we will have access to something approaching all information all the time. Our lives, much longer by then because of the quantum impact on healthcare, will experience huge changes.

   Already most software and data is moving to the Internet. Photos, music, programs like Microsoft Word (which formatted this article) and other applications we use a computer for will be accessible anytime, anywhere.

   In a Fortune Magazine article, Peter Schwartz and Rita Koselka describe how quantum computers could combine all of our communication systems – cell phone, computer, TV, radio, and the Internet – into chips on a thin headband that transmits information between the Internet and our brain, and to other headbands.

   Stuart Wolf, Nanostar director at University of Virginia predicts an even more Earth-shaking change. Within 20 years, he says, instead of cell phone conversations we will have "network-enabled telepathy." We will communicate directly to another person's headband from anywhere in the world – using just our thoughts.

   Recognizing thoughts instead of `voice-speak' may be confusing at first experts say, but with training, "thought-talking" could become easy and routine by mid-2030s. The following scenario portrays what life might be like in this future time:

   Your computer-driven auto-drive electric car rolls its top down on this warm day. You manually drive to the electronic roadway on-ramp and relinquish the wheel. Your headband selects a video to enjoy on the way to the airport where your `smart' car drops you off at the terminal, then auto-parks itself. An "intelligent cam" scans your mind and quickly approves you; no waiting for ticket-check or security.

   While boarding the plane, you see a familiar face. Your headband immediately flashes his identity data and displays it on your eyes. "Dr. Jones," you call out. "It's so nice to see you again. How was the conference?" only a slight flicker of Jones' eyes betrays that he is Googling your details too. "Hi Dick; the conference was great and congrats on your Estonia presentation.

   Welcome to the 2030s. Our headband enables us to speak or think of any question and get an immediate answer. Experts believe every adult and student on Earth will one day become connected to a system similar to this.

   Consider how this would benefit 3rd world citizens. The necessity to learn languages would disappear; and if the devices were cheap enough, which experts claim will be a certainty with nano-replicators expected by 2030; headbands will be affordable for everyone.

   Quantum computers will greatly improve relationships. No more forgetting names and details; plus, increased intimacy generated by communicating by thought, could bring people around the world closer together, as we enter this "magical future" time. Comments welcome, Dick.

Public-school education
Desert excellence

Oct 29th 2009 | SCOTTSDALE
From The Economist print edition
An Arizonan model

AND what was the Minotaur? The ten-year-olds scribble their answer onto tiny
whiteboards and hold them up for the teacher to see. Once each has got a nod,
they repeat together: "half-man, half-bull."

By the time these fifth-graders at the BASIS school in Scottsdale, Arizona,
reach 8th grade they will have the option of taking Advanced Placement (AP)
exams, standardised nationally to test high-school students at college level. By
the 9th grade, they must do so. As a result, says Michael Block, the school's
co-founder, our students are "two years ahead of Arizona and California schools
and one year ahead of the east coast."

But that, he emphasises, is not the yardstick he and his wife Olga use. Instead,
their two BASIS schools, one in Tucson and this one in suburban Phoenix,
explicitly compete with the best schools in the world—South Korea's in maths,
say, or Finland's in classics.

They had the idea after Olga Block came to Arizona from her native Czech
Republic, looked for a school for her daughter and was horrified by the
mediocrity and low expectations at American public schools. So they decided to
"establish a world-standard school in the desert," says Mr Block. They started
the Tucson campus in 1998 and added the Scottsdale one recently.

On both occasions they had to overcome fierce resistance, as anybody must who
takes on America's unionised and sclerotic public-school system. But they
persevered. Their schools have charters to receive public money, so they cannot
charge tuition fees or select the best students as private schools can. Instead,
they have hired the best teachers they can find, many from Ivy League
universities. They give them autonomy in the classroom, but then hold them
accountable for meeting AP standards.

It is working. The BASIS schools rank at or near the top in most surveys of
American public schools. One part of a documentary about America falling
hopelessly behind China and India in education features BASIS as the rare
exception. Politicians from Newt Gingrich on the right to Al Sharpton on the
left have taken an interest. Craig Barrett, a former boss of Intel, sat in on a
chemistry class and donated about $500,000 for teachers' bonuses on the spot.
"Every community should have a BASIS school," he says.

Time Travel moving from sci-fi fantasy to real science

By Dick Pelletier

   At a UCLA workshop attended by yours truly and a group of future-thinkers, the late physicist Dr. Robert Forward predicted that a better understanding of general relativity and quantum mechanics may one day enable humans to travel through time. "Given the money and the mandate," Forward said, "a time machine will be built."

   This discussion convened in 1983 and today, 26 years later, scientists are bringing this bold concept ever closer to reality. Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider in Cern, Switzerland believe their machine can recreate conditions like the "big bang" which created our universe and brought time and space into existence.

   The LHC smashes particles into each other traveling at light speeds which cause collisions that experts theorize can create tiny black holes and wormholes; elements that some believe offer the best chance to prove the concept of sending information; possibly even matter, back through time.

   Cal-Tech Physicist Kip Thorne in Black Holes and Time Warps describes how wormholes can be used successfully to travel through time. While acknowledging that it may be years before humanity develops this technology – if ever, Thorne says, "It could one day become reality."

   Though the laws of physics do not forbid time travel, the idea poses critical problems. Say we travel back in time and stop our parents from getting together. This would prevent us from being born, we would not exist, and thus our journey in time couldn't happen. Scientists call this a paradox. By changing the past, we've created a different present from the one that already exists.

   Clearly, mischievous time travelers cannot change the present. People are not disappearing because a rerun of events has prevented their birth. Thus something else is stopping time travelers from changing our present, and forward-thinkers believe they know what it is: parallel universes.

   This holds that our universe is surrounded by an infinite number of other universes, each one slightly different from ours. If you travel through time and prevent your parents from getting together, you have created a new universe where you never existed; you only appear as a time traveler in that universe. But beware; you could be stranded in a world without family and friends.

   Advantages to time travel are mind-boggling. A glimpse at the future could reveal how our life will unfold. Will we be happy and healthy living an indefinite lifespan; or is death in our future? Gaining popularity also is the hope that within 200-to-300 years, we could go back in time, scan the minds of lost loved ones before they died and allow them to continue living in our future time.

   Although many believe it impossible to travel back in time before a time-traversing wormhole was created, UK theoretical physicist Jim Al-Khalili predicts that naturally-occurring wormholes might already exist in our universe, which in theory, could allow travel to any past time.

   Experts believe we're approaching a decisive time in human evolution. Will we merge with our machines by mid-century and become immortal as futurist Ray Kurzweil and others predict? What role might the miracles of time travel play in our lives? Welcome to this amazing "magical future." Comments welcome, Dick

Proactive healthcare: more patient control, higher quality care

By Dick Pelletier

   Regardless of how the U.S. healthcare debate plays out, America could find itself more than 200,000 physicians short by 2020. There are simply not enough medical schools in the country to produce the amount of doctors needed to address patient demands.

   However, experts predict that new technologies expected 2015-to-2025 will give more control to patients and eliminate many time-consuming office visits; thus freeing doctors to treat additional patients while delivering a more individualized care.

   The new technologies include affordable personal genomes that will help patients prevent many diseases before they happen; health-monitoring systems that can record caloric intake, glucose levels, heart rhythm, and respiratory rates, then transmit this data via the Internet for doctor and patient review; and regenerative medicine techniques that use stem cells and gene therapies to regrow damaged and aging tissues and organs.

   One of the oldest names in computing, IBM, is joining the race to sequence the genome for $1,000 with a goal of ultimately reducing the cost to as low as $100, making a personal genome cheaper than a Las Vegas show ticket. Scientists predict that within five years DNA sequencing will be affordable enough that personal genomics can be integrated into routine clinical care.

   San Diego-based Corventis is entering clinical trials with the PiiX, a disposable device that sticks to a patient's chest like a Band-Aid and monitors heart and respiratory rates, bodily fluids, and many other activities.

   The technology has already received FDA approval, but Corventis envisions the PiiX as much more than a monitoring system. Newly-developed algorithms can predict when a patient is on the verge of heart failure.

   "What Corventis wants to do is create machine intelligence that can manage patients' overall health," says CEO Ed Manicka. "It moves from the reactive approach of practicing medicine prevalent today, to something more proactive, preventative, and individualized."

   Eric Topol, director of Scirpps Translational Science Institute sees a power-driven consumer movement ahead, which will allow patients to exert more control over their healthcare.

   In the future, armed with remote monitoring and low-cost personal genomes, patients will be more involved in self-care, said researcher Gary West, head of West Wireless Health Institute.

   Congestive heart failure is the leading reason for hospital admission in the U.S., and recently it was shown that 26.9% of Medicare patients are re-hospitalized within 30 days. This adds another $10 billion to spiraling costs. But new technologies could eliminate the majority of these expenses.

   Automated health monitoring will reduce costs related to chronic diseases and improve quality of life, according to analysts at a recent Gartner Symposium in Sidney, Australia. Patient interest will ultimately decide how fast this fledgling industry grows, which some predict will surpass $2 billion in sales within five years.

   Positive futurists believe that healthcare will soon undergo huge transformations. By 2015 to 2025, most of these new technologies will become reality; and by 2030 or before, nanobots will be cruising through our bodies repairing all of the accumulated damages caused by aging.

   Will this "magical future" unfold at such a fast pace? Experts say it certainly has a chance, and many people alive today could survive and become part of this amazing future.

This piece, written 12/01/2009 will appear in various print media and blogs; comments welcome. See other articles by Dick at http://www.positivefuturist.com; click the "published work" tab.

Tiny magnetic discs could kill cancer cells

November 29, 2009 Tiny magnetic discs just a millionth of a metre in diameter
could be used to used to kill cancer cells, according to a study published on
Sunday.

Laboratory tests found the so-called "nanodiscs", around 60 billionths of a
metre thick, could be used to disrupt the membranes of cancer cells, causing
them to self-destruct.

The discs are made from an iron-nickel alloy, which move when subjected to a
magnetic field, damaging the cancer cells, the report published in Nature
Materials said.

One of the study's authors, Elena Rozhlova of Argonne National Laboratory in the
United States, said subjecting the discs to a low magnetic field for around ten
minutes was enough to destroy 90 percent of cancer cells in tests.

In a commentary on the report, Jon Dobson of Keele University in Britain said
antibodies could be used to direct the discs towards tumour cells.

"This provides an elegant and rapid technique for targeting tumour destruction
without the side effects associated with systemic treatments such as
chemotherapy," Dobson wrote.

(c) 2009 AFP

John Brockman

            The Next 50 Years – Science in the first half of the 21^st century

Jane Buckingham

            What's next? – Predictions from 50 of America's most compelling people

Bill Frank

            Forever Young – 100 age-erasing techniques

Joel Garreau

            Radical Evolution – The promise and peril of enhancing our mind and bodies

Jerome Glenn

            Future Mind – Artificial Intelligence

William E. Halal

            Technology's Promise – The Transformation of Business and Society

J. Storrs Hall

            NanoFuture – What's next for nanotechnology?

            Beyond AI – Creating the conscience of the machine

Jeff Hawkins

            ON Intelligence – How understanding the brain will lead to intelligent machines

Douglas Hofstadter

            I Am a Strange Loop – What do we mean when we say I?

Michio Kaku

            Parallel Worlds – Creation, higher dimensions, and the future of the cosmos

            Physics of the Impossible – Phasers, force fields, teleportation, and time travel

Ray Kurzweil

            Are We Spiritual Machines? – Kurzweil vs. the Critics of Strong A.I.

            Fantastic Voyage – Live long enough to live forever

            The Singularity is near – When humans transcend biology

            Transcend – Nine Steps to Living Well Forever

Ellen J. Langer

            Counter Clockwise – Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility

Ramez Nam

            More than Human – Embracing the promise of biological enhancement

Ted Sargent

            The Dance of Molecules – How nanotechnology is changing our lives

Paul Steinhardt

            The Endless Universe – Beyond the big bang

Adam Zeman

            A Portrait of the Brain: From the Atom to the Mind

Thanksgiving 2034: A glance at turkey day in 25 years

By Dick Pelletier

   No one knows for sure how the future will unfold in 25 years, but by projecting present-day knowledge with expected technology breakthroughs, we can make plausible guesses about what America's Thanksgiving could be like in 2034.

   Advancing technologies suggest that in 25 years we will meet loved ones via Internet-delivered holograms; receive most of life's essentials from personal nanofactories; be pampered by loyal, caring robots; run errands in computer-driven skycars; and enjoy a disease-free indefinite lifespan.

   Thanksgiving still includes sharing with family and friends, both live and virtual. Wall-size screens display interactive videos created by holographic Internet cameras that bring friends and families together from around the world – in virtual environments indiscernible from reality. As people touch, hug, or kiss a hologram image, nanobots convince participant's minds that the encounters are real.

   Turkey dinner still remains the favorite; but nanofactories, which first appeared in late 2020s, have eliminated messy food preparation. Personal nanofactories provide food, clothing, and nearly all family essentials at little or no cost. Mom replicates dinner with all the trimmings, which is then served by the family robot, voicing its often-humorous attempts at making conversation.

   Robots have become an essential acquisition in our homes. Priced at $10,000-to-$30,000 in 2030s dollars, these artificial beings understand and respond to our every need. They maintain home security, keep family members out of harm's way; and manage complex technologies such as nanobots that maintain our health, and simulations that send us to entertainment dreamland.

   Flying cars, promised since the 1950s, have finally arrived. Powered by superconductive electromagnetic drives with interactive speech capability, these computer-driven wonders allow riders to direct the vehicle with their voice. Skycars can travel streets and highways, or rise silently in the air and glide to destinations. A quantum-technology GPS system prevents accidents on the ground and in the air, making collisions impossible.

   Science has radically changed the ways that we supply nutrition to our bodies. Trillions of tiny nanorobots, produced inexpensively by personal nanofactories and housed in a special belt, deliver the exact required nutrients direct to every cell in the body. This revolutionary system eliminates the need for eating food; but more important, it keeps us forever trim and healthy.

   However, most people do not wish to give up their eating pleasures, so researchers have created a special digestive tract that receives `real' food such as our Thanksgiving feast, but prevents those nutrients from entering the blood stream. Nanobots break down this food, then route it into a disposable pouch.  Food lovers can now eat anything their heart desires without gaining an ounce.

   A government report predicts that by 2030, researchers will develop robots that swim through arteries and repair bodies. This medical nanotechnology has helped people realize that indefinite lifespans are no longer theory; in the 2030s, they have become reality. Most doctors now view indefinite lifespan as simply a natural progression of continued good health.

   Other breakthroughs expected by 2034: doctors can reprogram human consciousness to enhance happiness levels in marriages and friendships; and diminish violent tendencies in criminals, which has reduced crime rates.

   Will this "magical future" happen in just 25 years? Forward-thinkers believe that it will.

This piece, written 11/17/2009 will appear in various print media and blogs; comments welcome. See other articles by Dick at http://www.positivefuturist.com; click the "published work" tab.

Implant-based cancer vaccine is first to eliminate tumors in mice

November 25, 2009 Enlarge

A polymer implant, 8.5 mm in diameter, is embedded with chemical signals that
encourage immune cells to attack tumors. Photo: Omar Ali/Harvard University

(PhysOrg.com) -- A cancer vaccine carried into the body on a carefully
engineered, fingernail-sized implant is the first to successfully eliminate
tumors in mammals, scientists report this week in the journal Science
Translational Medicine.

The new approach, pioneered by bioengineers and immunologists at Harvard
University, uses plastic disks impregnated with tumor-specific antigens and
implanted under the skin to reprogram the mammalian immune system to attack
tumors. The new paper describes the use of such implants to eradicate melanoma
tumors in mice.

"This work shows the power of applying engineering approaches to immunology,"
says David J. Mooney, the Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering in
Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Wyss Institute for
Biologically Inspired Engineering. "By marrying engineering and immunology
through this collaboration with Glenn Dranoff at the Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute, we've taken a major step toward the design of effective cancer
vaccines."

Most cancer cells easily skirt the immune system, which operates by recognizing
and attacking invaders from outside the body. The approach developed by Mooney's
group redirects the immune system to target tumors, and appears both more
effective and less cumbersome than other cancer vaccines currently in clinical
trials.

Conventional cancer vaccinations remove immune cells from the body, reprogram
them to attack malignant tissues, and return them to the body. However, more
than 90 percent of reinjected cells have died before having any effect in
experiments.

The slender implants developed by Mooney's group are 8.5 millimeters in diameter
and made of an FDA-approved biodegradable polymer. Ninety percent air, the disks
are highly permeable to immune cells and release cytokines, powerful recruiters
of immune-system messengers called dendritic cells.

These cells enter an implant's pores, where they are exposed to antigens
specific to the type of tumor being targeted. The dendritic cells then report to
nearby lymph nodes, where they direct the immune system's T cells to hunt down
and kill tumor cells.

"Inserted anywhere under the skin -- much like the implantable contraceptives
that can be placed in a woman's arm -- the implants activate an immune response
that destroys tumor cells," Mooney says.

The technique may have powerful advantages over surgery and chemotherapy, and
may also be useful in combination with existing therapies. It only targets tumor
cells, avoiding collateral damage elsewhere in the body. And, much as an immune
response to a bacterium or virus generates long-term resistance, researchers
anticipate cancer vaccines will generate permanent and body-wide resistance
against cancerous cells, providing durable protection against relapse.

Mooney says the new approach's strength lies in its ability to simultaneously
regulate the two arms of the human immune system: one that destroys foreign
material and one that protects tissue native to the human body. The
implant-based vaccine recruits several types of dendritic cells that direct
destructive immune responses, creating an especially potent anti-tumor response.

"This approach is able to simultaneously upregulate the destructive immune
response to the tumor while downregulating the arm of the immune system that
leads to tolerance," Mooney says. "In cancer, this latter arm is typically a
limiting feature of immunotherapies, since it can extinguish vaccine activity
and afford tumors a degree of protection."

Source: Harvard University (news : web)

There will be a bunch of transhumanists in Southern California next weekend!

See here for the schedule and details:
http://hplus.eventbrite.com/

"The goal of Humanity+ is to support discussion and public awareness of
emerging technologies, to defend the right of individuals in free and
democratic societies to adopt technologies that expand human capacities,
and to anticipate and propose solutions for the potential consequences
of emerging technologies."

Hi All:

Mike and Gilda will host a Future Salon and Potluck on SATURDAY December 19  at their home. 

We will combine holiday themed potluck with discussions on Epigenetics and Machine Learning.

Please RSVP to gcabral@... if you wish to attend.

Gilda

21st century terrorists changing the face of war

By Dick Pelletier

   In The American Way of War, historian Russell Weigley describes a crushing strategy of destruction used by the U.S. over the last 150 years.

   To end the Civil War, Grant felt he had to completely destroy Lee's soldiers; in World War I, Pershing relentlessly bombarded and wore down Germany's proud fighting machine; and the Army Air Corps pulverized major German and Japanese cities to win World War II.

   These wars were not won by tactical or strategic brilliance but by the sheer weight of numbers, the awesome destructive power that only a fully mobilized and highly industrialized democracy can bring to bear.

   In these conflicts, U.S. armies suffered and inflicted massive casualties. Our ability to inflict and endure such casualties more effectively than could our adversaries ultimately resulted in victory.

   However, these tactics are no longer effective. Inspired by information technologies and robotics, the U.S. has adopted new techniques that eliminate the bloody matches of old. The new style seeks quick victory with minimal casualties on both sides utilizing speed, flexibility, and surprise. This procedure was demonstrated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

   But now, even this latest approach is inadequate. Today, we are experiencing warfare in which dominant military powers are confronted by groups of ideological extremists emboldened by radical religious' beliefs, bent on inflicting harm while capitalizing on publicity. These groups include al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas, and many others.

   And the danger isn't about to go away anytime soon. From suicide bombers to bio-warfare attacks; according to a national security panel assembled at a recent congressional meeting, the world faces an estimated 50 percent chance of a terrorist WMD strike within five years.

   Experts believe that radicals with biological weapons could cause unthinkable horrors. A single terrorist infected with a contagious disease that has been genetically altered to slow the infection process, could enter a large city and infect others who would then infect others. People would become carriers before they even realized they were infected. By the time authorities became aware of the threat, more than a million victims could be on their way to dying.

   So how can we defend against such a danger? The panelists saw no easy solutions, but they suggested measures that would minimize the risks. "America should increase public awareness about contagious diseases; stock more vaccination supplies; criminalize unauthorized use of pathogens; and above all, convince every country in the world to join forces to fight bio-warfare."

   Nevertheless, positive futurists believe that this will not be enough. It may require future technologies to eliminate the threat of terrorism completely.

   Within two decades, biotechnologies will improve health and extend lives, and nanotechnology is expected to end food, water, and energy shortages. As these breakthroughs materialize, they will increase prosperity and eliminate much of the underlying causes of unrest in developing nations.

   And even more important, will be the development of a better understanding of consciousness expected by mid-2020s, combined with tomorrow's artificial intelligence. These advances could lead to mind-enhancements that would reduce; or even eliminate human tendencies to commit violence towards each other.

   Some may cry `big brother', but most people would welcome a safer, "magical future" world.

This piece, written 11/24/2009 will appear in various print media and blogs; comments welcome. See other articles by Dick at http://www.positivefuturist.com; click the "published work" tab.

Computer Based on Insights From The Brain Moves Closer to Reality

November 18, 2009

BlueMatter, a new algorithm created in collaboration with Stanford University,
exploits the Blue Gene supercomputing architecture in order to noninvasively
measure and map the connections between all cortical and sub-cortical locations
within the human brain using magnetic resonance diffusion weighted imaging.
Mapping the wiring diagram of the brain is crucial to untangling its vast
communication network and understanding how it represents and processes
information.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Today at SC 09, the supercomputing conference, IBM announced
significant progress toward creating a computer system that simulates and
emulates the brain's abilities for sensation, perception, action, interaction
and cognition, while rivaling the brain's low power and energy consumption and
compact size.

The cognitive computing team, led by IBM Research, has achieved significant
advances in large-scale cortical simulation and a new algorithm that synthesizes
neurological data -- two major milestones that indicate the feasibility of
building a cognitive computing chip.

Scientists, at IBM Research - Almaden, in collaboration with colleagues from
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, have performed the first near real-time cortical
simulation of the brain that exceeds the scale of a cat cortex and contains 1
billion spiking neurons and 10 trillion individual learning synapses.

Additionally, in collaboration with researchers from Stanford University, IBM
scientists have developed an algorithm that exploits the Blue Gene®
supercomputing architecture in order to noninvasively measure and map the
connections between all cortical and sub-cortical locations within the human
brain using magnetic resonance diffusion weighted imaging. Mapping the wiring
diagram of the brain is crucial to untangling its vast communication network and
understanding how it represents and processes information.

These advancements will provide a unique workbench for exploring the
computational dynamics of the brain, and stand to move the team closer to its
goal of building a compact, low-power synaptronic chip using nanotechnology and
advances in phase change memory and magnetic tunnel junctions. The team's work
stands to break the mold of conventional von Neumann computing, in order to meet
the system requirements of the instrumented and interconnected world of
tomorrow.

As the amount of digital data that we create continues to grow massively and the
world becomes more instrumented and interconnected, there is a need for new
kinds of computing systems - imbued with a new intelligence that can spot
hard-to-find patterns in vastly varied kinds of data, both digital and sensory;
analyze and integrate information real-time in a context-dependent way; and deal
with the ambiguity found in complex, real-world environments.

Businesses will simultaneously need to monitor, prioritize, adapt and make rapid
decisions based on ever-growing streams of critical data and information. A
cognitive computer could quickly and accurately put together the disparate
pieces of this complex puzzle, while taking into account context and previous
experience, to help business decision makers come to a logical response.

"Learning from the brain is an attractive way to overcome power and density
challenges faced in computing today," said Josephine Cheng, IBM Fellow and lab
director of IBM Research - Almaden. "As the digital and physical worlds continue
to merge and computing becomes more embedded in the fabric of our daily lives,
it's imperative that we create a more intelligent computing system that can help
us make sense the vast amount of information that's increasingly available to
us, much the way our brains can quickly interpret and act on complex tasks."

To perform the first near real-time cortical simulation of the brain that exceed
the scale of the cat cortex, the team built a cortical simulator that
incorporates a number of innovations in computation, memory, and communication
as well as sophisticated biological details from neurophysiology and
neuroanatomy. This scientific tool, akin to a linear accelerator or an electron
microscope, is a critical instrument used to test hypotheses of brain structure,
dynamics and function. The simulation was performed using the cortical simulator
on Lawrence Livermore National Lab's Dawn Blue Gene/P supercomputer with 147,456
CPUs and 144 terabytes of main memory.

The algorithm, when combined with the cortical simulator, allows scientists to
experiment with various mathematical hypotheses of brain function and structure
of how structure affects function as they work toward discovering the brain's
core computational micro and macro circuits.

After the successful completion of Phase 0, IBM and its university partners were
recently awarded $16.1M in additional funding from the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) for Phase 1 of DARPA's Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive
Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) initiative. This phase of research will
focus on the components, brain-like architecture and simulations to build a
prototype chip. The long-term mission of IBM's cognitive computing initiative is
to discover and demonstrate the algorithms of the brain and deliver low-power,
compact cognitive computers that approach mammalian-scale intelligence and use
significantly less energy than today's computing systems. The world-class team
includes researchers from several of IBM's worldwide research labs and
scientists from Stanford University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell
University, Columbia University Medical Center and University of California-
Merced.

"The goal of the SyNAPSE program is to create new electronics hardware and
architecture that can understand, adapt and respond to an informative
environment in ways that extend traditional computation to include fundamentally
different capabilities found in biological brains," said DARPA program manager
Todd Hylton, Ph.D.

Modern computing is based on a stored program model, which has traditionally
been implemented in digital, synchronous, serial, centralized, fast, hardwired,
general-purpose circuits with explicit memory addressing that indiscriminately
over-write data and impose a dichotomy between computation and data. In stark
contrast, cognitive computing - like the brain - will use replicated
computational units, neurons and synapses that are implemented in mixed-mode
analog-digital, asynchronous, parallel, distributed, slow, reconfigurable,
specialized and fault-tolerant biological substrates with implicit memory
addressing that only update state when information changes, blurring the
boundary between computation and data.

More information: Technical insight and more details on the SyNAPSE project and
recent milestones can be found on the Cognitive Computing blog at
http://modha.org/ .

Source: IBM

Why not capture step cells? then filter out the fly paper with
attached stem cells and grow more stem cells for reinserting?
Eric

"UCLA researchers create 'fly paper' to capture circulating cancer cells"
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/uoc--urc111809.php

___________________________________________________________

This message was sent from EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS,
the science society.

Visit http://www.eurekalert.org for more breaking science,
health and technology news.

eric (eric25001@...) has sent you a link to the following page on
ScienceDaily:

New on-off 'switch' triggers and reverses paralysis in animals with a beam of
light
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118112421.htm

In an advance with overtones of Star Trek phasers and other sci-fi ray guns,
scientists are reporting development of an internal on-off "switch" that
paralyzes animals when exposed to a beam of ultraviolet light. The animals stay
paralyzed even when the light is turned off. When exposed to ordinary light, the
animals become unparalyzed and wake up.

* Note: the sender's email address has not been verified.

Wow if this explains 80% of aging in mammals then a mimic could
make average life spans longer.  from 80 to 120 would be a step
toward indeterminate lifespan.

Does anyone have an opinion on how long to understand the
pathway? Create a drug and dosage to mimic Caloric Restriction?

"Scientists find molecular trigger that helps prevent aging and disease"
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/tmsh-sfm111809.php

___________________________________________________________

This message was sent from EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS,
the science society.

Visit http://www.eurekalert.org for more breaking science,
health and technology news.

eric (eric25001@...) has sent you a link to the following page on
ScienceDaily:

Early cooling in cardiac arrest may improve survival
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091115191011.htm

In a new study, patients were more likely to survive without brain damage after
a cardiac arrest if emergency medical technicians lowered their body temperature
early during resuscitation. Cooling is recommended for comatose patients after
cardiac arrest, and this study demonstrates the potential benefits of beginning
cooling even sooner during the arrest in the pre-hospital setting.

* Note: the sender's email address has not been verified.

eric (eric25001@...) has sent you a link to the following page on
ScienceDaily:

Green heating and cooling technology turns carbon from eco-villain to hero
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111111257.htm

Carbon is usually typecast as a villain in terms of the environment but
researchers have now devised a novel way to miniaturize a technology that will
make carbon a key material in some extremely green heating products for our
homes and in air conditioning equipment for our cars.

* Note: the sender's email address has not been verified.

Hi All:

Stay posted for Epigenetics Meeting details to be scheduled in December.

Sorry for the short notice.

Gilda

Hi Gang,

I just finished my Estonia Skype presentation and I guess, based on the rather large applause from the audience, it must have been a success.

The response from this foreign group was not much different than what I have experienced with local Las Vegas organizations where I have given talks. There were a few dissenters, but for the most part they totally embraced the positive future I laid out.

Will I do this again? Yes; in a heartbeat. This was loads of fun.

Comments welcome, Dick

Longevity Tied to Genes That Preserve Tips of Chromosomes

Now can this be used to increase lifespans? Maybe a youthful dose would alow
lifespans like the bristle pine of 5,000 years or more!

Click the Following Link to View This Story (
http://www.aecom.yu.edu/home/news.asp?id=435 )

Some friends of ours rescued two abandoned kittens that need a good home:
http://pariahdesign.net/kittens/

If you'd like to adopt them or want more information, contact me and
I'll put you in touch.

Paul

From a struggling past to a bold future, technology leads the way

By Dick Pelletier

   After celebrating my 79th birthday recently, I began thinking about how technologies have affected my life. In 1930, President Hoover announced that "Prosperity is just around the corner," but he couldn't have been more wrong. The 1929 Stock Market Crash had just brought America into The Great Depression.

   My five siblings and I were raised on a farm near Hermiston, Oregon. Our home had no electricity and few modern conveniences. We bathed in a small tub with little privacy, drank water from a hand pump in the back yard, and made bathroom trips to a two-seater outhouse.

   Then in 1938, we were connected to the electric grid. We installed electric lights, a water pump, an inside shower, and replaced the outhouse with an indoor toilet. As an eight-year-old, I was in awe of how electricity had changed our lives

   Jet travel didn't exist in the 1930s; a five-day ocean trip was the main way to go from America to Europe, and wireless meant the wood-paneled Zenith radio in the living room. Radio was the most popular form of home entertainment; and for travel, we rode crude cars on mostly unpaved roads.

   Today, we drive cars loaded with creature comforts on superhighways. America's mastery of the physical and biological world grew tremendously. Life expectancy soared from 50 years in 1930 to nearly 80 today. TV, cell phones, and computers are everywhere, and modern machines have transformed agriculture, which now provides food for 6.7 billion people.

   In late 1930s, President Roosevelt, emboldened by his "New Deal" legislation which ended the depression, authorized the "Manhattan Project," an effort to build an atomic bomb and use it to hasten the end of World War II.

   Understanding atoms helped drive our nation's hi-tech prowess, which prompted demands for machines to crunch numbers and arrange data; this brought us the PC and email. These advances raised worker output by 2% per-year, giving Americans the world's highest standard of living.

   So, if technology altered lives so drastically over the last 79 years, what might we expect in the next 79 years? The following predictions describe some mind-boggling possibilities:

   2020 – Personal genomes and regenerative medicine changes healthcare from reactive to proactive enabling doctors to replace damaged and aging body parts and cure some diseases.

   2030 – Nanotech provides household replicators that supply food, clothing, and necessities at little or no cost; and nanorobots whizz through our bodies to eliminate aging and restore youthful health and beauty to older adults.

   2050 – Scientists have produced non-biological bodies, immune to disease, accidents, and violence. Should a fatal disaster occur, consciousness and memories are transmitted to an automated system where a new body is cloned with the original mind intact. Patients `wake up' in their new body and resume life; not even realizing they had died. All deaths are now preventable.

   2088 – Nanotech eliminates storms and bad weather, Moon and Mars colonies will soon boast one billion inhabitants, and intelligent aliens were discovered on a planet orbiting a nearby star.

    Could these events unfold so quickly? Forward-thinkers believe this "magical future" will happen, and many alive today could live to experience it.

This piece, written 10/27/2009 will appear in various print media and blogs; comments welcome. See other articles by Dick at http://www.positivefuturist.com; click the "published work" tab.

enjoy.
cheap nano chips?
replicate the brain?

Self assembled house, car, clothes, food, robot??

"Caltech scientists develop DNA origami nanoscale breadboards for carbon
nanotube circuits"
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/ciot-csd111009.php

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