friday, march 23, 2012 friday, march 16, 2012 bruce charlton, professor of theoretical medicine, university of buckingham, uk, hypothesizes that psychological neoteny, “ retention of youthful attitudes and behaviors into later adulthood ” - thanks to the impact of higher education and more time spent in school - equips people to deal more effectively with our ever changing world. psychological neoteny would seem to put youthful characteristics of learning readiness and thinking flexibility at our disposal. according to charlton, " a child - like flexibility of attitudes, behaviours and knowledge is probably adaptive in modern society because people need repeatedly to change jobs, learn new skills, move to new places and make new friends. " so, that perhaps points to value in nurturing youthful attitudes and behaviors in the context of organizational change to help those who are less change - adaptable to become a bit more so. but, as we all know, youthfulness is a double edged sword, and charlton points to an associated delay in maturation, particularly among academics, professionals and other groups with long educational cycles. do you remember being young, unpredictable, quickly shifting priorities, being attached to the next " shiny new thing, " maybe being overly superficial, fascinated with short lived fashion? ( i do - though i ' ll never admit it in public. ) perhaps then, communications and marketing efforts that support organizational change need to adapt some techniques used to market products and services to youth - " red bull gives you wings! " bruce charlton ' s miscellany ( one of his many blogs ) psychological neoteny, ny times, by clay risen serious study : immaturity levels rising - jennifer viegas, discovery news charlton bg. psychological neoteny and higher education : associations with delayed parenthood. medical hypotheses. 2007 ; 69 : 237 - 40. charlton bg. the rise of the boy - genius : psychological neoteny, science and modern life. medical hypotheses. 2006 ; 67 : 679 - 81


the latest centers for disease control and prevention ( cdc ) figures indicate not only the lowest current rate of abortion in the united states, but also the largest drop in the rate in 10 years. it will be difficult to determine the precise reason for this trend. as with most public health issues, but especially those that relate to sexual and reproductive health, there are myriad of potential explanations for the decline. the most important questions we need to ask now are : does the decline in abortion rates indicate better reproductive health choices and outcomes for women? and if so, how do we continue to build on this success? researchers have shared several theories behind the decline. some believe the economic recession has affected reproductive decision - making. a washington post report suggests that women are making decisions to continue their pregnancy rather than terminating. cdc says the decline is due to more effective contraception and increased access and use by women. a study from the journal fertility and sterility supports the cdc view with the finding that the use of long - acting contraceptives such as intrauterine devices had tripled between 2002 and 2009, with most of this increase happening within the last two years. these data suggest that our efforts in primary prevention are paying off, which is, to me, perhaps the most hopeful explanation. it is interesting to note that trends in abortion rates match the current trends in teen pregnancy rates. the teen pregnancy rate and the teen birth rate have declined by more than 40 percent since the early nineties, according to the national campaign to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy. the decline, says national campaign chief program officer bill albert, is due to the “ magic combination of less sex and more contraception. ” there is a way to keep the trend going. research tells us that information has a protective effect, and information plus the availability of contraception reduces teenage pregnancy, stds, and abortions. the data leads to some inescapable conclusions : repressed sexual culture equals earlier sex, less ability to refuse sex, more unwanted pregnancies and thus more abortions. effective sex education programs have been shown to decrease sexual activity and to increase contraceptive use among those already sexually active. so young people need information, that much is clear. who do they get it from? john snow, inc. has conducted two studies which explored issues and factors associated with choosing birth control methods and unintended pregnancy in two colorado counties. two key messages came out of these studies. the first is that young women ( and men ) want information about making healthy choices if


conducted two studies which explored issues and factors associated with choosing birth control methods and unintended pregnancy in two colorado counties. two key messages came out of these studies. the first is that young women ( and men ) want information about making healthy choices if they decide to become sexually active ; and secondly their parents and health care providers are their most trusted sources of information. these results are similar to national campaign findings. participants in the jsi study underscored the value of providers. here is one participant ’ s comment : “ i think doctors should spend more time talking about birth control. even if it ’ s just 15 minutes, like this is what it is, this is what it ’ s going to do to you, this is what it may cause for you. because for them, what ’ s that? what ’ s five minutes to them for a lifetime to someone else? that right there could change someone ’ s life. they ’ re getting paid good money, why don ’ t they sit there for another 10 minutes? it ’ s not going to hurt. ” the information imparted during a contraceptive method visit is very important, as it enables women to choose and employ contraception with satisfaction and technical competence. a long - running quality improvement project with title x family planning clinics found that a lack of information is a reason for discontinuing method use, and belief in rumors may be a deterrent to use altogether. the common response in this study was that women would like more information about the method that they are going to use so that they can make sure that it will fit into their lifestyle, among other considerations. reducing unintended pregnancies, particularly among adolescents, would improve educational and employment opportunities for women which would, in turn, contribute to improving the status of women, increasing family savings, reducing poverty and spurring economic growth. we have to end our taboo on open, honest conversations about sex because the stakes are too high.


what is the title and abstract of this new paper? normalized tornado damage in the united states : 1950 - 2011why is this paper important? in press, environmental hazards kevin m. simmons, daniel sutter and roger pielke, jr. tornadoes and more than $ 28 billion in property damage, according to data from the us national oceanic and atmospheric administration, with the vast majority of economic losses resulting from tornadoes. this paper normalizes u. s. tornado damage from 1950 to 2011 using several methods. a normalization provides an estimate of the damage that would occur if past events occurred under a common base year ' s societal conditions. we normalize for changes in inflation and wealth at the national level and changes in population, income and housing units at the county level. under several methods, there has been a sharp decline in tornado damage. this decline corresponds with a decline in the reported frequency of the most intense ( and thus most damaging ) tornadoes since 1950. however, quantification of trends in tornado incidence is made difficult due to discontinuities in the reporting of events over time. the normalized damage results are suggestive that some part of this decline may reflect actual changes in tornado incidence, beyond changes in reporting practices. in historical context 2011 stand out as one of the most damaging years of the past 61 and provide an indication that maximum damage levels have potential to increase should societal change lead to increasing exposure of wealth and property. this is the first paper to comprehensively " normalize " historical economic losses from us tornadoes. normalization methods have been widely applied to phenomena around the would including us hurricanes and australian bushfires. we use damage data collected by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, a us government agency which houses the storm prediction center. we use three methods to adjust the data to a common base year ( 2011 ). the analysis allows us to say something about damage over time, in this case since 1950. the figure below shows normalized damage 1950 - 2011 for one of our adjustment methods. - overall we find a decrease in damages since 1950. - even so 2011 was one of the 3 most costly years in our dataset. - our dataset includes 56, 457 tornadoes, of which 33, 746 caused some recorded damage. - since 1950, in round numbers, tornadoes resulted in about half the normalized damage as did hurricanes and twice that of earthquakes - the strongest two categories of tornadoes ( called ef4 and ef5 ) represent about 1 % of all reported events but have caused almost 45 % of all


tornadoes resulted in about half the normalized damage as did hurricanes and twice that of earthquakes - the strongest two categories of tornadoes ( called ef4 and ef5 ) represent about 1 % of all reported events but have caused almost 45 % of all normalized damage. - the most damage per sqaure mile from1950 - 2011 has occurred in massachusetts and connecticut. - the most damage overall from 1950 - 2011 has occurred in texas and alabama. - during the calendar year 80 % of damage occurs january - june. - the most damaging months are april ( 31 % ), may ( 20 % ) and june ( 16 % ). here is what we say in the paper : how can i get an advance copy? on climate time scales there is no indication of increasing incidence of tornadoes, and the increases documented over the short ( sub - climate ) period 2000 - 2011 are strongly influenced by the large number of events documented in 2011. however, the decreased frequency of high damage events in recent decades as compared to previous decades is a notable feature in the time series and provides strong counter - evidence to claims found in the scientific literature that the atmospheric environment that spawns tornadoes has intensified leading to more intense events on climate time scales ( e. g., trenberth, 2012 ). such claims are commonly found in the popular media and also in the insurance / reinsurance sector where they influence public opinion and decision making in business and government. the most recent review by the ipcc found no basis for claiming an increase ( or decrease ) in tornado incidence or intensity ( ipcc, 2012 ). " if you would like a copy of the accepted paper ( that is, before the final revisions and pre - proof ) you can send an email request to me, firstname. lastname @ example. org.


wisps before craters january 31, 2011 saturn ' s ' ' wispy ' ' moon dione lies in front of the cratered surface of the moon tethys, as seen by the cassini spacecraft. dione is closest to the spacecraft here. at the top of the image, the bright ' ' wispy ' ' fractures are visible on dione ( 1, 123 kilometers, or 698 miles, across ). see dione ' s icy wisps and highest resolution view of dione to learn more. beyond wispy dione, the large crater penelope can be seen near the equator of tethys ( 1, 062 kilometers, or 660 miles, across ). see penelope crater for a closer view of penelope. lit terrain seen here is on the trailing hemispheres of the two moons. the image was taken in visible red light with the cassini spacecraft narrow - angle camera on dec. 6, 2010. the view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2. 1 million kilometers ( 1. 3 million miles ) from dione and at a sun - dione - spacecraft, or phase, angle of 75 degrees. the view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2. 2 million kilometers ( 1. 4 million miles ) from tethys and at a sun - tethys - spacecraft, or phase, angle of 75 degrees. scale in the original image was 12 kilometers ( 7 miles ) per pixel on dione and 13 kilometers ( 8 miles ) per pixel on tethys. the image was contrast enhanced and magnified by a factor of two to enhance the visibility of surface features. the cassini - huygens mission is a cooperative project of nasa, the european space agency and the italian space agency. the jet propulsion laboratory, a division of the california institute of technology in pasadena, manages the mission for nasa ' s science mission directorate in washington. the cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at jpl. the imaging team is based at the space science institute, boulder, colo. credit : nasa / jpl / space science institute


the attributes of the universe discovered by science point to the existence of god. science leads us to the conclusion that the universe has a creator and this creator is perfect in might, wisdom and knowledge. it is religion that shows us the way in knowing god. it is therefore possible to say that science is a method we use to better see and investigate the realities addressed by religion. nevertheless, today, some of the scientists who step forth in the name of science take an entirely different stand. in their view, scientific discoveries do not imply the creation of god. they have, on the contrary, projected an atheistic understanding of science by saying that it is not possible to reach god through scientific data : they claim that science and religion are two clashing notions. as a matter of fact, this atheistic understanding of science is quite recent. until a few centuries ago, science and religion were never thought to clash with each other, and science was accepted as a method of proving the existence of god. the so - called atheistic understanding of science flourished only after the materialist and positivist philosophies swept through the world of science in the 18th and 19th centuries. particularly after charles darwin postulated the theory of evolution in 1859, circles holding a materialistic world view started to ideologically defend this theory, which they looked upon as an alternative to religion. the theory of evolution argued that the universe was not created by a creator but came into being by chance. as a result, it was asserted that religion was in conflict with science. the british researchers michael baigent, richard leigh and henry lincoln said on this issue : for isaac newton, a century and a half before darwin, science was not separate from religion but, on the contrary, an aspect of religion, and ultimately subservient to it.... but the science of darwin ' s time became precisely that, divorcing itself from the context in which it had previously existed and establishing itself as a rival absolute, an alternative repository of meaning. as a result, religion and science were no longer working in concert, but rather stood opposed to each other, and humanity was increasingly forced to choose between them. ( michael baigent, richard leigh, henry lincoln, the messianic legacy, gorgi books, london : 1991, p. 177 - 178. ) as we stated before, the so - called split between science and religion was totally ideological. some scientists, who earnestly believed in materialism, conditioned themselves to prove that the universe had no creator and they


1991, p. 177 - 178. ) as we stated before, the so - called split between science and religion was totally ideological. some scientists, who earnestly believed in materialism, conditioned themselves to prove that the universe had no creator and they devised various theories in this context. the theory of evolution was the most famous and the most important of them. in the field of astronomy as well certain theories were developed such as the " steady - state theory " or the " chaos theory ". however, all of these theories that denied creation were demolished by science itself, as we have clearly shown in the previous chapters. today, scientists who still keep to these theories and insist on denying all things religious, are dogmatic and bigoted people, who have conditioned themselves not to believe in god. the famous english zoologist and evolutionist d. m. s. watson confesses to this dogmatism as he explains why he and his colleagues accept the theory of evolution : if so, it will present a parallel to the theory of evolution itself, a theory universally accepted, not because it can be proved by logically coherent evidence to be true, but because the only alternative, special creation, is clearly incredible. ( d. m. s. watson, " adaptation ", nature, no. 124, p. 233 ) what watson means by " special creation " is god ' s creation. as acknowledged, this scientist finds this " unacceptable ". but why? is it because science says so? actually it does not. on the contrary, science proves the truth of creation. the only reason why watson looks upon this fact as unacceptable is because he has conditioned himself to deny the existence of god. all other evolutionists take the same stand. evolutionists rely not on science but on materialist philosophy and they distort science to make it agree with this philosophy. a geneticist and an outspoken evolutionist from harvard university, richard lewontin, confesses to this truth : it is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter - intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. moreover, that materialism is absolute, so we cannot allow a divine foot in the door. ( richard levontin, the demon - haunted world, the new york review of


, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. moreover, that materialism is absolute, so we cannot allow a divine foot in the door. ( richard levontin, the demon - haunted world, the new york review of books, january, 9, 1997, p. 28 ) on the other hand, today, just as in history, there are, as opposed to this dogmatic materialist group, scientists who confirm god ' s existence, and regard science as a way of knowing him. some trends developing in the usa such as " creationism " or " intelligent design " prove by scientific evidence that all living things were created by god. this shows us that science and religion are not conflicting sources of information, but that, on the contrary, science is a method that verifies the absolute truths provided by religion. the clash between religion and science can only hold true for certain religions that incorporate some superstitious elements as well as divine sources. however, this is certainly out of the question for islam, which relies only on the pure revelation of god. moreover, islam particularly advocates scientific enquiry, and announces that probing the universe is a method to explore the creation of god. the following verse of the qur ' an addresses this issue ; do they not look at the sky above them? how we have built it and adorned it, and there are no rifts therein? and the earth - we have spread it out, and set thereon mountains standing firm, and caused it to bring forth plants of beauteous kinds ( in pairs ). and we send down from the sky blessed water whereby we give growth unto gardens and the grain of crops. and tall palm - trees, with shoots of fruit - stalks, piled one over another. ( surah qaf, 6 - 7, 9 - 10 ) as the above verses imply, the qur ' an always urges people to think, to reason and to explore everything in the world in which they live. this is because science supports religion, saves the individual from ignorance, and causes him to think more consciously ; it opens wide one ' s world of thought and helps one grasp the signs of god self - evident in the universe. prominent german physicist max planck said : " anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words : ye must have faith. it is a quality which the scientist cannot dispense with. " ( j. de vries,


in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words : ye must have faith. it is a quality which the scientist cannot dispense with. " ( j. de vries, essential of physical science, wm. b. eerdmans pub. co., grand rapids, sd 1958, p. 15. ) all the issues we have treated so far simply put it that the existence of the universe and all living things cannot be explained by coincidences. many scientists who have left their mark on the world of science have confirmed, and still confirm this great reality. the more people learn about the universe, the higher does their admirations for its flawless order become. every newly - discovered detail supports creation in an unquestionable way. the great majority of modern physicists accept the fact of creation as we set foot in the 21st century. david darling also maintains that neither time, nor space, nor matter, nor energy, nor even a tiny spot or a cavity existed at the beginning. a slight quick movement and a modest quiver and fluctuation occurred. darling ends by saying that when the cover of this cosmic box was opened, the tendrils of the miracle of creation appeared from beneath it. besides, it is already known that almost all the founders of diverse scientific branches believed in god and his divine books. the greatest physicists in history, newton, faraday, kelvin and maxwell are a few examples of such scientists. in the time of isaac newton, the great physicist, scientists believed that the movements of the heavenly bodies and planets could be explained by different laws. nevertheless, newton believed that the creator of earth and space was the same, and therefore they had to be explained by the same laws. he said : this most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being. this being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as lord over all, and on account of his dominion. he is wont to be called lord god, universal ruler. as is evident, thousands of scientists who have been doing research in the fields of physics, mathematics, and astronomy since the middle ages all agree on the idea that the universe is created by a single creator and always focus on the same point. the founder of physical astronomy, johannes kepler, stated his strong belief in god in one of his books where he wrote : since we astronomers are priests of the highest god


that the universe is created by a single creator and always focus on the same point. the founder of physical astronomy, johannes kepler, stated his strong belief in god in one of his books where he wrote : since we astronomers are priests of the highest god in regard to the book of nature, it befits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of god. ( dan graves, scientists of faith,. 51 ) the great physicist, william thompson ( lord kelvin ), who established thermodynamics on a formal scientific basis, was also a christian who believed in god. he had strongly opposed darwin ' s theory of evolution and totally rejected it. in 1903, short before his death, he made the unequivocal statement that, " with regard to the origin of life, science... positively affirms creative power. " ( david darling, deep time, delacorte press, 1989, new york. ) one of the professors of physics at oxford university, robert mattheus states the same fact in his book published in 1992 where he explains that dna molecules were created by god. mattheus says that all these stages proceed in a perfect harmony from a single cell to a living baby, then to a little child, and finally to an adolescent. all these events can be explained only by a miracle, just as in all the other stages of biology. mattheus asks how such a perfect and complex organism can emerge from such a simple and tiny cell and how a glorious human is created from a cell even smaller than the dot on the letter i. he finally concludes that this is nothing short of a miracle. ( robert matthews, unravelling the mind of god, london bridge, july, 1995, p. 8 ) some other scientists who admit that the universe is created by a creator and who are known by their cited attributes are : robert boyle ( the father of modern chemistry ) iona william petty ( known for his studies on statistics and modern economy ) michael faraday ( one of the greatest physicists of all times ) gregory mendel ( the father of genetics ; he invalidated darwinism with his discoveries in the science of genetics ) louis pasteur ( the greatest name in bacteriology ; he declared war on darwinism ) john dalton ( the father of atomic theory ) blaise pascal ( one of the most important mathematicians ) john ray ( the most important name in british natural history ) nicolaus steno ( a famous strat


between animals and people, a bond of friendship is often established. this often occurs when the role of the animal is being a pet. but did you know that animals also take in pets at times? flickr image credit between animals and people, a bond of friendship is often established. this often occurs when the role of the animal is being a pet. but did you know that animals also take in pets at times? this usually occurs among animals in captivity. just like with some humans, it is a luxury to have a pet. one case is told about lucy, who was a chimpanzee raised by humans. in the intention to relieve her loneliness, lucy was given a kitten as a companion. during her initial encounter with the little cat, her hair stood up on end. barking, she grabbed it, threw it to the ground, and attempted to bite it. their next encounter was similar, but during third meeting lucy was calmer. as she roamed around the kitten walked with her, and half an hour later, lucy picked up the kitten, kissed and hugged it, showing a complete shift of attitude. lucy groomed and cradled the kitten later, carried it often, made nests for it and protected it from humans. the chimpanzee acted in a way as do affectionate small children with ideas of what think would please their pets. the kitten “ no longer looked nervous to be carried by the chimpanzee ” although it was unwilling to cleave to lucy ’ s stomach, so she either carried it in one hand or let it ride on her back. in a similar case, a gorilla named koko demonstrated great fondness toward pet kittens. her first pet was named all ball. when the kitten died because it was hit by a car, koko was crying, which sounding something similar to a human weeping. she later took on two other pet manx cats named “ lipstick ” and “ smokey. ” this animal behavior appears strikingly similar to what we humans called love. there are several accounts wherein horses were known to forge friendship bonds with other animals such as goats. they are careful not to hurt the goats. in fact, they often protect these goats. there are reports of racehorses who mope and refuse run well when detached from their goat friends. these goats may considerably be the equivalent of pets. the horses are not confused about species : they recognize that the goat is not a horse, but they like it anyway. there was also an account that one captive elephant routinely set aside a


lower town in oradour - sur - glane the lower town in the ruined village of oradour - sur - glane is the section of the main street that is at the south end. the church where the women and children were massacred is behind the camera in the photo above which shows rue de emile desourteaux as it curves around and climbs up to the upper town at the north end of the village. les bordes road is to the right behind the first building on the right. the town is on the ridge of a gentle hill. notice the overhead electrical wires which get electricity from the tram line that was installed the photo below shows a view of the outdoor market place which is to the left of the tree. the church is on the left, but out of camera range. this market place had a pitched roof over it which collapsed when the town was destroyed. the large tree was there before the massacre. the tree shown in the photo above is the " tree of liberty, " planted in 1848 after the revolution when the second republic was established. to the left of the tree is the remains of the market hall, which was built in 1903. on the 15th of each month, there was a market day in oradour - sur - glane. the photo above shows the southern entrance to the town in the center background. the small building at the end of the road was the original building where tourists could buy postcards, maps and brochures about the town. on the right is the old church and behind it, the presbytery where two priests and a seminary student lived. all three were killed in the massacre. this is the road that the ss soldiers used to enter the town. the opening in the retaining wall in the right hand corner of the photo above was for a water pump, since the town had no running water. the church doorway above this opening is the entrance to the sacistry, where the women and children tried to find refuge, but ss soldiers standing guard outside the church fired machine guns into the room. the area across the road from the church is covered with grass and is labeled as the market square on some maps. this is not the place where the villagers were assembled, although the assembly place is also called the market square by some authors of books about the village. the photo below shows the grassy area across from the church which is in the background. the tree in the foreground is a chestnut tree. the bouchoule barn, where some of the women and children


drugs and alcohol the relationship between children ' s health, safety and nutrition is very important relationship. understanding certain guidelines, and potential hazardous conditions can help prevent physical and emotional incidents. some preventive health practices of care that people can take are to avoid the smoke and abuse of substances like drugs and alcohol, eat a healthy diet low in fat, exercising regularly, brush your teeth regularly and frequently washing hands. to help promote good health, people must realize that to some extent, which can prevent certain health problems. instilling healthy habits and practices in children can help prevent accidents due to lack of proper nutrition all the way to make sure to wear a safety helmet when riding your bike. it has been documented by the world health organization health is a state or quality of the total physical, mental and social well - being. some factors that may affect the health of children are the heritage and the environment. through inheritance, this is when the child ' s characteristics are passed from parents to their children at the time of conception to determine genetic traits. understanding a child ' s inheritance can help determine the readiness of health problems like heart disease, cancer, allergies, etc. environment can play an equally important role in child development. the environment includes physical, social, economic and cultural rights. these factors often influence how children think, perceive, and act in certain situations in their environment. there are some positive environmental factors that can affect children as healthy eating, recreation, regular exercise and adequate rest, access to health care and dental care, limited stress and a clean and safe for children, the opportunities for a stable and friendly relations. child safety is very important. safety is the behavior and practices that protect children from risk or injury. the control of safe environments for children, such as having the right equipment for development, help prevent accidents. even minor accidents have immediate effects on children ' s health. it is imperative that adults scan the area from which children are going to remove and store hazardous materials out of reach of young children. strict control that is needed. another form of protection is to establish the rules and limitations. rules help children learn what is expected, and ensuring safety. nutrition is defined as all the processes used by a child to take in food and to digest, absorb, transport, utilize and excrete food substances. the substances found in food are called nutrients. eating is a very important component of life. eating the right foods to ensure good nutrients increases a child ' s energy, growth and development, normal behavior, resistance to disease and infection, and tissue


this paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at bryn mawr college. like other materials on serendip, it is not intended to be " authoritative " but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. web links were active as of the time the paper was posted but are not updated. 2006 second web paper how can fear have such a strong hold on an individual? fear can be seen as an emotion that can protect humans or animals from potential danger ( 1 ). fear can also be seen as a feeling of uneasiness and hypervigilance. experience and culture play a role in our feelings because they teach us what to fear in the world around us. perhaps this is why people are disproportionately afraid of some things but can ignore others. fear can be a healthy emotion because it keeps us on alert and watchful for possible threats. death, i think is safe to say, is our most basic fear. i believe this because the fear of death functions to make us alert in dangerous situations. this idea definetly accounts for some fears but what about other fears that just have to do with being uneasy in certain settings or situations? what about fear of things that do not even cause a major threat to our lives? fear can be innate and / or acquired through experiences. acquired or learned fear comes as a conditional reflex which is in response to two types of stimuli. one stimulus is usually neutral or harmless and that can be for example a bell ringing while, the other stimuli can be potentially harmful like an electric shock. if an animal is given a shock treatment immediately after the bell rings, it learns to associate the ringing of the bell with the shock treatment. from this observation, the animal will exhibit fearful behavior when it hears the sound of a bell ringing. from the two types of fear, acquired fear can at many times manifest itself as an anxiety disorder or mental illness. so is there a neurological difference between the two types of fear? what is happening in the brain when the feeling of fear arises? the emotion or feeling of fear in mammals, including humans, is processed in a pair of tissues located along the middle part of the brain, called amygdala. this processing occurs in the amygdala regardless of whether the fear is innate or conditioned. studies by dr. gleb shumyatsky and colleagues, according to india ' s national newspaper the hindu, indicated that a gene known as grp or gastrin releasing peptide


be valid because the purpose of fear is to warn or keep us from future discomfort yet we experience fear itself in an uncomfortable state. i guess the overall goal with quirk ' s study, is trying to help individuals feel comfortable while still avoiding possible threats or situations that could cause future discomfort. from what i understand, when we experience fear we are in a state of caution from a possible threat. some people could argue that fear is always based on something that has not happened yet, and is therefore a fantasy of our mind rather than fact. however, if someone knows that lions like meat, is it not reality ( and not fantasy ) that if i sleep next to a lion in the zoo, 9 times out of 10 i will not wake up with all of my body parts? in fact i may not even wake up... why? i would be dead! just because it has not happened yet, does not mean that it is just part of my imagination. what we know to be true or factual is from what we have learned in life experiences and from our culture or from tv shows like " when animals attack ". people who have not had experiences with certain animals but are still afraid of the animals, are sometimes seen as irrational or abnormal. why? what classifies an individual as abnormal or normal when it comes to fear and disorders like phobias? what i find to be a bit unsettling is the fact that i to some may seem to be abnormal because i have a phobia of cats. however, what level must be reached to qualify me as an abnormal individual simply because what seems to scare me does not scare others. where is the line drawn between normal fears and abnormal or irrational fears? i feel at times people with irrational fears as with phobias, are immediately shut down by others because their fears are not rational, but where is the line between realistic and non realistic fear. according to dr. jeffy ricker, a fearful individual may be classified as abnormal if their fear is more severe than is warranted by the actual threat and / or if the individual ' s behavioral response to the fear is severely maladaptive ( 2 ). i concur with dr. jeffy to some extent with his beliefs because some fears of like fish or heights may not seem to be rational because those things are not fatal. however, the question still remains of how exactly you determine what fear is more severe than is warranted? is it just based on what the majority of people feel towards the animal or situation?


not seem to be rational because those things are not fatal. however, the question still remains of how exactly you determine what fear is more severe than is warranted? is it just based on what the majority of people feel towards the animal or situation? fear is a tough subject to tackle with because it seems to be all relative to one ' s own experiences. at the same time though, it seems like there is a clear difference between what i think poses a threat to a person versus what another person might think poses a threat to them. since there is this difference i do not think it is fare to minimize someone else ' s fear simply because it does not fit in the category of accepted fears. innate fear and acquired fear does not even help in the distinction of what is normal and what is abnormal because then you would be making a nature versus nurture argument. i think that fear plays a very important role in how we live our lives because it can definitely protect us from certain situations but it can really hold us back from situations where there really is no threat. i think that is where the idea of nothing to fear but fear itself, comes in. 1 ) http : / / www. hindu. com / seta / 2005 / 12 / 15 / stories / 2005121500071600. htm. the hindu : india ' s national newspaper. 2005. 2 ) dr. jeffy ricker. http : / / www. sc. maricopa. edu / sbscience / psy266 / course / fear - anxiety. html. fear and anxiety. 3 ) john travis. http : / / www. sciencenews. org / articles / 20040117 / bob9. asp. science news : fear not. | course home | serendip home |


" hemoglobin is the key to a healthy heartbeat. " - placebo, haemoglobin blood - vertebrate * blood, at any rate - is red because the erythrocytes that float in plasma are red. the erythrocytes, in turn, are red because of all the hemoglobin in their cytoplasm. it ' s chock - full of the stuff. in the diagram below, the four green wire - frame looking bits ( as opposed to the red and blue ribbon - looking bits ) are the ferrous heme groups that bind up the oxygen you breathe into your lungs : oxygen diffuses into your red blood cells through the alveoli of the lungs, where each of those heme groups grabs an oxygen molecule. it ' s easy to do, since oxygen is fairly plentiful in the air we breathe. that may not seem like a whole lot, but it increases the amount of oxygen your blood can absorb by about seventy times, since otherwise oxygen could only dissolve into your plasma as a gas. then, as your blood courses through your body, the lack of oxygen causes the iron atom in each heme group to lose its grip on the oxygen molecule it ' s holding, and the oxygen diffuses into nearby cells where it fuels the chemical reactions that drive you. that ' s... really all it is! just pressure. lots of chemical reactions, it turns out, are more like making soup than they are like building a machine, and the body ' s urgent need for oxygen in every cell means that a quick and dirty solution like this is all it takes ( no fancy - pants calcium ion pumps or anything ). of course, hemoglobin isn ' t the only solution to this problem. molluscs and arthropods use cuprous hemocyanin, which does the same thing but has way cooler color - change action. see, deoxygenated blood is dark burgundy in color, whereas oxygenated blood is a more vibrant red. when hemocyanin is deoxygenated, it ' s colorless - but when oxygenated, it ' s blue. look at this crab : to be fair, hemocyanin bonds a little stronger to oxygen, which is what makes it so good for the invertebrates that use it, because they often inhabit oxygen - poor environments. on a related note, carbon monoxide bonds much stronger to the heme groups, rendering them useless because it never leaves


to oxygen, which is what makes it so good for the invertebrates that use it, because they often inhabit oxygen - poor environments. on a related note, carbon monoxide bonds much stronger to the heme groups, rendering them useless because it never leaves, and this is why co is such a deadly poison. other solutions to the " gee, i need oxygen in my blood " problem include hemerythrin, which is pink when oxygenated and colorless when deoxygenated, and the christmas - themed chlorocruorin, which is red when oxygenated but green when deoxygenated. ok, enough about other kinds of blood, back to your blood! after your erythrocytes have dumped their truckload of oxygen into your hungry hungry cells, they pick up the carbon dioxide to carry it to the lungs for exhalation. this is done in three ways : about 7 % of your waste co2 is dissolved directly into plasma, 23 % combines with hemoglobin, and a whopping 70 % is transformed by carbonic anhydrase ( which is in your erythrocytes ' cytoplasm ) into carbonic acid. the alert reader who is passing familiar with chemistry will notice that carbonic acid dissolves in water by separating into a negatively charged bicarbonate ion and a positively charged hydrogen ion ( or, as physicists are wont to call it, a proton ). the alert reader who is passing familiar with chemistry will also notice that free - floating protons in water tend to result in hydronium ions, and the negative log of the hydronium ion content is what is measured when we refer to " ph ". here is a chart showing what happens when your blood ph gets outside the narrow range of 7. 35 - 7. 45 that i mentioned when we spoke last : the alert reader who is passing familiar with greek will notice that everything outside of normal ends in " - osis ", which means problem ( loosely translated ). so how does your body fastidiously avoid such problems? well, in the first place, it ' s not like all your cells take in oxygen at once and then pass off carbon dioxide all at once. that would just be silly. but your body is always metabolizing, all the time always until you ' re dead, and so it needs to keep a tight rein on your blood ph as you go through your varying levels of activity. blood is slightly alkaline, and your bones are basically load - bearing mineral


, all the time always until you ' re dead, and so it needs to keep a tight rein on your blood ph as you go through your varying levels of activity. blood is slightly alkaline, and your bones are basically load - bearing mineral deposits, so that helps at least a little bit ( fun fact : consuming too much animal protein in relation to vegetable protein has been implicated in bone mass loss in females! ). short term ph imbalance can be corrected by altering respiration : expelling more co2 will increase the proportion of co2 dissolved in blood ( less carbonic acid means more alkaline blood ), and holding on to more co2 will increase the proportion held as carbonic acid ( or h + and hco3 - ) and increase acidity. in the long term, your kidneys respond by excreting the leftover acid or base that builds up in your bloodstream, and also regulating the amount of buffering ammonia in your blood. your blood also helps regulate your body temperature through the clever application of plumbing. heat is generated in various organs such as the liver and the brain ( even thinking is exothermic! ), and blood acts as a coolant to help you avoid overheating by absorbing some of the heat and bringing it to the heat sink that is your skin. in addition to sweating, your body sheds excess heat by expanding its arterial walls, increasing blood flow to the capillaries near the surface of the skin where the heat escapes into the atmosphere, or at least into your sweat ( if the surrounding air temperature is higher than your body temperature ). when you need to conserve heat, your arteries constrict, reducing blood flow to the skin and extremities to conserve heat and thus maintain core body temperature. this is why the cold will often make you numb and pale : your thoracic cavity needs all the heat it can hold on to, and the rest of you is somewhat more expendable. note that this is distinct from frostbite, which results from ice crystals puncturing cellular membranes and causing cell death ( this is why frostbitten tissues are kinda gelatinous when thawed, and one of the key hurdles for cryonics to overcome in the quest for legitimacy ). ok, oxygen transport, acid - base homeostasis, and thermoregulation - check! tune in next wednesday when i chatter on about the army of your immune system! * - there just had to be an exception, didn ' t


much of the brain ' s visual processing can change dynamically with changes in environment. for example, a common experiment in college psych courses is to give a student glasses that flip the world upside - down. it takes a few days for the student ' s brain to adapt to the new inputs, and then they see the world normally ( and revert after a few days w / o the glasses ). patients with macular degeneration can wear glasses that stretch - map the visual input around areas of missing vision ( in the manner of a cylindrical mirror ). after some time, they report seeing the world normally - their visual system has adapted and remapped the input. i wonder if the effect simply measures the amount of reading the subject does ; in other terms, perhaps it ' s just measuring the amount of fine - focus eye training? what does the test show for people who play a lot of arcade games ( shooters, especially ones that throw a lot of targets at you )? or people who use a lot of visual perception in their daily lives? the article stated that the authors " tested for other possible explanations ". also, the correlation was at most 71 %, note that flipping a coin is expected to correlate to around 50 %. their data seems to be awfully well clustered and the slope seems to be due to the outliers. the first study used 12 subjects, and the second only 53. i ' m unconvinced. it could be promising, but i would like to see correlations from more data.


what kind of evidence of a disease would survive after 12, 000 years? as a cause of death among animals, disease is probably a much more significant factor than predation, especially if they are under stress, though given the penchant of predators to pick out the weak and infirm, it may be difficult to distinguish ( shipman, 1981 ). a disease that could kill 3 sloths at once would have to have been dangerous and fast - acting, but can you prove it from fossils? a hypervirulent disease has been suggested as a possible cause of the pleistocene mass - extinction ( macphee and marx, 1997 ). the theory is humans or their dogs ( or their fleas ) brought a pathogen with them when they arrived in the new world, and while they were immune, the new world fauna was not, and large mammals died in unprecedented numbers – a dress rehearsal, if you will, for the devastation wreaked by measles, small pox, etc. when those pathogens arrived with europeans 12, 000 years later. but small pox didn ’ t exterminate dozens of species. as a rule, disease - causing microbes adapt to a limited number of hosts with a life - style and genes that make them susceptible. diseases that can infect widely disparate species are rare. macphee and marx offer rabies and leptospira as models for the plague microbe, though neither has the requisite characteristics today ( e. g. aerosol transmission, range of hosts, etc. ). you also need to assume some different social systems among the infected animals, i. e. more direct contact to maintain the plague. of course, you don ’ t need to assume a super bug killed the tarkio valley trio – a bad sloth - cold could have had the same effect if stress had left them vulnerable. proving the sloths died of a fast - acting acute disease is a challenge. such diseases generally act on soft tissues, rarely do they leave an imprint on bone ( manchester, 1987 ). a long - term chronic disease has a better chance of leaving fossil evidence, but arthritis, or another such disease couldn ’ t kill three sloths at once. does that just leave us with an interesting theory and no way to prove it? maybe not. the ability to detect disease directly in fossils took a giant leap forward in 2005 when hendrik poinar, in the ancient dna center at mcmaster university in hamilton, ontario, and an international team,


no way to prove it? maybe not. the ability to detect disease directly in fossils took a giant leap forward in 2005 when hendrik poinar, in the ancient dna center at mcmaster university in hamilton, ontario, and an international team, succeeded in sequencing 28 million base pairs ( bp ) of dna from a well - preserved siberian wooly mammoth jaw ( poinar et al., 2006 ). in a field where getting a few hundred bp of dna is viewed as a significant achievement, they recovered 13 million bp of the mammoth ’ s genome. the remaining sequences were traced to a wide range of internal viruses and bacteria, a number of soil organisms, and even the mammoth ’ s last meal. poinar ’ s team used a database of dna sequences on file at the national center for biotechnology information ( ncbi ), and software they developed, to identify the dna sequences down to the species level in many cases. sequencing dna from our fossils is a long shot. the mammoth was preserved under ideal conditions. iowa ’ s wet temperate climate makes finding dna extremely unlikely. however, the nsf wants us to try and poinar has agreed to help. who knows what we ’ ll discover along the way – hopefully proof we have a sloth family, and maybe entire internal and external ecosystems in those fragile strands.... dave poinar, hn, schwarz, c, qi j, shapiro, b, macphee, rde, buigues, b, tikhonov, a, huson, dh, tomsho, lp, auch, a, rampp, m, miller, w, schuster, sc. 2006. metagenomics to paleogenomics : large scale sequencing of mammoth dna. science 311 ( 5759 ) : 392 - 294. rowe, b. 2005. re disease and mass extinction the sneeze heard ’ round the world : disease and the great pleistocene extinction. abstracts, society for american archaeology 70th annual meeting, march 30 - april 3, 2005, salt lake city. p. 254. macphee, r. d. e. and marx, p. a. 1997. the 40, 000 year plague : humans, hyperdisease and first - contact extinctions. in natural change and human impact in madagascar. s. goodman and b. patterson ( eds. ) smithsonian institution press. manchester, k. 1987. skeletal evidence for health and disease. in death, decay and reconstruction : approaches to archaeology and forensic science. a.


long axis of base up to 100 mm, span of tentacles to 50 mm. base and lower part of the column expanded laterally, forming two lobes enveloping a hermit crab and its gastropod shell so that the disc is beneath the crab with the two lobes meeting on its dorsal side. base capable of secreting a chitinous membrane which effectively increases the capacity of the shell so that as the crab grows it has no need to change its abode. upper part of column short and cylindrical. cinclides are present on low mounds on the lower part of the column, from which long acontia are profusely and freely emitted at the slightest provocation. colouration : column, disc and tentacles white, the lower part of the column more or less suffused with chestnut. column usually spotted with lilac - pink or crimson and a line of the same running around its upper margin ; acontia usually pink, rarely white. usually found on substrata of sand or gravel, especially where stones or broken shells are present, or near rock outcrops, etc. typically a sublittoral species occurring down to 200 m or more but occasionally found on the lower shore where it may he washed up after storms. young specimens, of normal anemone - shape but possessing the characteristic pink spots of the adult, may occur on rocks or shells between tidemarks. it lives almost exclusively on the hermit crab pagurus prideauxi ( leach ) in british waters, although other species may be involved elsewhere. common around all coasts of britain and western europe in general, from norway to the mediterranean.


next - to - the - best technologies of 2000 - 2010 these innovations just barely missed the cut for our top 11 list this is part of ieee spectrum ' s special report : top 11 technologies of the decade paper or plastic? in 2020, newspapers will still be with us, but they won ' t be paper despite the increasing sophistication of electronic displays, with their staggering color palettes and expanding contrast levels, gutenberg ' s 15th - century technology didn ' t begin to give way until the 2000s. that was when electronic paper made its debut in digital book readers like amazon ' s kindle and barnes & noble ' s nook. e - paper exploits a phenomenon called electrophoresis, discovered in 1807 and revived at xerox parc in the 1970s but put to practical use at mit ' s media lab only in 1997. it uses a jolt of current to make the black dye inside thousands of microcapsules sandwiched between flexible polymer sheets rise to the top of the capsules so that the " ink " becomes visible through one of the sheets. a great advantage of this method is that it draws power only when updating the image on the screen. recent models offer a contrast ratio similar to that of a newspaper. speaking of the dailies, they just may supplant books as the killer app for e - readers. uploading a digital version of your hometown broadsheet on a plastic sheet that you can roll up and tuck in your bag would eliminate the cost of printing and distribution, and it ' d also save a lot of trees. — willie d. jones the new computing covenant apple brings tablets down from the mountain in his 1972 article " a personal computer for children of all ages, " computer scientist alan kay imagined the dynabook, then a computer of " science fiction, " around 2 centimeters thick, weighing less than 2 kilograms, and the size and shape of a paper notebook, with a power - charging connection for use at work or in libraries. arguably, the first machines even to resemble kay ' s tablet device emerged in the 1980s, as digital clipboards for insurance adjusters and salespeople. then, in april 2010, apple released the ipad. only 1. 34 cm thick, the wi - fi – enabled and 3g - capable model weighs just 0. 73 kg. apple sold some 2 million units in 60 days and 3 million in 80 days. meanwhile, hp, dell, samsung, notion ink, asus, and lenovo, among others, all have similar tablet


capable model weighs just 0. 73 kg. apple sold some 2 million units in 60 days and 3 million in 80 days. meanwhile, hp, dell, samsung, notion ink, asus, and lenovo, among others, all have similar tablet computers on the market or are planning them. according to jeff hawkins, developer of the 1989 gridpad, an early tablet, and later of the palm pilot, the consumer versions had to wait for flat color displays, low - power cpus, better batteries, and wireless networks. " the technology didn ' t exist 20 years ago that was necessary for successful consumer tablets, " he says. still, kay says, tablet computers haven ' t yet reached his vision of the dynabook. " what end users can make, and what it takes to make something, are both woefully inadequate on today ' s machines, " he says. with a different approach, he adds, tablets such as the ipad could be " one of the greatest educational amplifiers for children ever made. " compress me a song a german researcher took us from albums to algorithms when my children are my age, they will surely look back with bemusement at the crude means by which their elders entertained themselves. they ' ll laugh at the thought of vinyl platters spinning like carousels, cartridges containing spools of magnetic tape, and even laser - etched metal sheets embedded in plastic discs. they ' ll take for granted that you can carry every bit of music you own in your pocket. and it ' s no sweat now, because nand flash memory sells for about a dollar per gigabyte. but back in 1989, when a german researcher introduced the idea behind the mp3 compression algorithm, flash memory cost several hundred dollars per megabyte. several things happened at the close of the last decade that together marked the dividing line between b. c. ( before compression ) and a. d. ( apple domination ). in 1997, the first mp3 player was introduced, with enough storage capacity for about six songs ( paltry, it ' s true, even by 8 - track standards ). two years later, shawn fanning rolled out napster, providing an easy way for people with mp3 files to share the songs in their collections. around that same time, the first usb flash memory key drives arrived, further stoking demand for nonvolatile memory. in 2001, when apple introduced the first ipod, consumers ' expectations were irrevocably changed. ( pay for music online? perhaps.


the first usb flash memory key drives arrived, further stoking demand for nonvolatile memory. in 2001, when apple introduced the first ipod, consumers ' expectations were irrevocably changed. ( pay for music online? perhaps. buy a whole lp? fuhgeddaboutit. ) by 2006, digital music had unseated its predecessors : five billion digital music files were swapped on peer - to - peer networks that year, and the ubiquitous ipod, aided by apple ' s itunes online music store, was fast approaching 100 million units a year in sales. think : when was the last time you even saw someone carrying a portable cd or cassette player or found yourself browsing the shelves in a record store? — willie d. jones time to eject the rise and fall of the optical disc this year star wars fans will have the chance to buy yet another version of the films, this time on high - definition blu - ray. although the new disc may shoulder aside the dvd, it cannot equal it as a game changer. take for example netflix, the movie rental company. it owes its existence to the dvd, because this disc, unlike the vhs tape, was not too expensive to ship. now, netflix typically mails 2 million dvds a day, says steve swasey, vice president of corporate communications. when cofounder reed hastings first imagined movies by mail in the 1990s, dvds were so new that he didn ' t own any. he tested the system by mailing cds to himself. blu - ray required lasers capable of creating and reading smaller marks — stamped pits, dye discolorations, or quenched metal coatings — on the surface of a disc. a dvd uses the red beam of a 650 - nanometer laser ; a blu - ray uses a blue 405 - nm beam. shuji nakamura developed the laser diode required for blu - ray while working at nichia corp., in tokushima, japan. he says he chose to study the " poor " semiconductor gallium nitride to make laser diodes in the 1980s because he wanted opportunities to publish. " the major companies were using zinc selenide. there were too many papers, " nakamura says. making more marks in even more layers might lead to future generations of optical discs, says barry schechtman, executive director emeritus at the information storage industry consortium. but he wonders whether the disc is already coming to the end of its momentous life, given external hard drives, flash drives, and streaming. "


optical discs, says barry schechtman, executive director emeritus at the information storage industry consortium. but he wonders whether the disc is already coming to the end of its momentous life, given external hard drives, flash drives, and streaming. " when we will need another generation beyond blu - ray — and even if we would need it — is still a big question, " he says. the end of analog am and fm go hd in 2002, hd radio promised americans fm - quality sound on am channels and cd - quality sound on fm channels — with no subscription charge. in 2006, retailers sold 28 000 hd radio receivers for nightstands and dashboards, reports ibiquity digital corp., the columbia, md., company that developed the system. in the first three quarters of 2010, sales hit 1. 2 million. radio was finally going digital. well, almost digital. called iboc for in - band on - channel, today ' s " hybrid " setup requires broadcasters to continue transmitting the old analog signal. upgrading to the ibiquity system allows them also to transmit a digital signal, centered on the analog channel and in the frequencies slightly above and below. for fm channels, that ' s about 101 to 200 kilohertz from the analog center. to avoid interference, broadcasters transmit these digital signals at a lower power than their analog neighbors. the iboc system appeals to many broadcasters because it keeps intact their established territories and frequencies, says dave wilson of the consumer electronics association, which cosponsors the national radio systems committee, one of the organizations that tested the system. it also takes up no more of the radio spectrum than did the old analog system. the original point of going digital was to get improved sound quality, but ambitions grew along with the technology. because today ' s compression programs can stuff far more information into a given bandwidth than had been dreamed possible, new things are being found to stuff : captioning for the deaf, itunes song " tagging, " album art, and even " multicasting " — different broadcasts layered into one station, found by tuning a bit above and below the center fm channel. the system is also more efficient than streaming internet or satellite services, says robert j. struble, president and ceo of ibiquity. it takes only one tower on the top of the empire state building, he notes, to dole out hd radio to all of new york city. to upgrade, broadcasters must buy new transmitting equipment and pay a fee to ibiquity, but


. it takes only one tower on the top of the empire state building, he notes, to dole out hd radio to all of new york city. to upgrade, broadcasters must buy new transmitting equipment and pay a fee to ibiquity, but the company reports that over 2000 u. s. stations have made the switch. " they feel this is a question of survival, " says ann gallagher at the federal communications commission, audio division, regarding a 2010 broadcasters ' panel discussion. " radio doesn ' t want to be the last analog medium. " lcd by tko underdog lcd went from desktop to wall mount engineers have known for decades that getting the cathode ray tube out of the picture would allow tv sets to have bigger screens while making them as wispy as runway models. but plasma displays were too expensive and power hungry to break out of the high end of the tv market, while lcds, despite their success in desktop computing, were even further out in the cold. lcds suffered from blurred images, ghosting, low contrast ratios, and colors that varied dramatically at different viewing angles. the game changed with several key innovations, notably nec corp. ' s overdrive technique, which doubled the standard voltage supplied to a pixel while using half the pulse width ( speeding up response times from around 20 milliseconds to about 2 ms today ). meanwhile, the success of lcds in the desktop market created economies of scale, lowering the cost per unit. together these developments induced electronics manufacturers to invest heavily in large - screen lcd technology for television. energy efficiency and contrast ratio were dramatically improved when led backlights began to replace fluorescent tubes. by the 2007 holiday season, cheap, svelte lcd tvs had elbowed aside plasma and crt. now children under 15 will give bulky crts the same quizzical look they give manual typewriters and pay phones. — willie d. jones better, bit by bit with digital cinematography, 3 - d finally makes sense thirty years ago, buzz hays started his 3 - d career with a lesson from alfred hitchcock, by helping to restore the master ' s 1954 dial m for murder to its original paper - glasses glory. now he ' s the chief instructor at the sony 3d technology center, in culver city, calif., where he teaches other filmmakers newly learned subtleties of stereoscopic storytelling. stereoscopic systems — which present a different perspective to each eye — failed in the ' 50s. but to critics who say, " been there, done that, "


., where he teaches other filmmakers newly learned subtleties of stereoscopic storytelling. stereoscopic systems — which present a different perspective to each eye — failed in the ' 50s. but to critics who say, " been there, done that, " hays responds that stereoscopy is in a " constant state of refinement, " incorporating new projection technologies, brighter images, and better ways to capture footage. digitization was the key, says bruno sargeant, who manages television work at autodesk, a computer graphics company. he says that a completely digital " pipeline " from camera to presentation has finally made 3 - d filmmaking financially viable. joshua greer, president and cofounder of reald, in beverly hills, calif., agrees. theaters equipped with his company ' s digital projection equipment account for about 80 percent of the market share, measured in terms of 3 - d films ' box office receipts. his company ' s 3 - d cinema system uses a liquid crystal filter to circularly polarize light. when combined with today ' s polarized shades, that means different images for the left and right eyes. such high - quality systems, greer says, were " just not possible before digital came along. " now business is booming : in june of 2009, reald ' s light shows jumped out of 2600 theater screens ; this past summer, 7500. there were 6 such films in 2008 ; this year, the company expects there to be 35. although some now point to glasses - free systems and even " holography " ( which requires projecting images on mist or smoke ), hays says the next big thing will be when " mere mortals " can record and then watch their own films — including those of baby ' s first step — in 3 - d. for all of ieee spectrum ' s top 11 technologies of the decade, visit the special report.


the runners - up : more earthshaking chips these 13 great little chips didn ' t make our list - - mainly because we ran out of space in print. and, well, one isn ' t even a chip this is part of ieee spectrum ' s special report : 25 microchips that shook the world. cray research cray - 1 cpu ( 1976 ) seymour cray liked to build powerful computers. he also liked to build beautiful computers. the cray - 1, with its stylized chassis arranged in the shape of a c ( as in cray — get it? ), came out in 1976. it might as well have come from the future. wired by hand, freon - cooled, a padded seat circling the chassis. in its guts resided tight piles of circuit boards, each crammed with up to 144 chips — memory chips and high - speed logic chips. so the cray - 1 had no microprocessors ; instead, the whole machine acted as one 5 - metric - ton processor. with 64 - bit registers, it ran at 80 megahertz and crunched numbers using a technique called vector processing. basically, the logic chips fetched long strings of numbers ( vectors ) from memory and computed them all at once. the c shape actually helped keep wires short and was thus a critical aspect of the high - speed design. the first cray - 1 — 80 megaflops, 8 megabytes of main memory — went to los alamos national laboratory. it cost us $ 8. 8 million, at a time when a million bucks was real money. cray pioneered the field of supercomputing, but as a business the company enjoyed mixed results. in the 1980s, the high - performance computing market was dominated by massively parallel machines, which were less expensive and more flexible than cray ’ s. they just didn ’ t look as good as a cray. intel 1702 2048 - bit eprom chip ( 1971 ) ultraviolet radiation is known as an effective killer of bacteria. but for a time in the 1970s and 1980s it was also used to kill data. erasable programmable read - only memory, or eprom, chips had little quartz windows through which you ’ d shine a uv beam to wipe out the data and thus be able to reprogram the device. the idea of using ultraviolet to erase a memory chip sounds preposterous today. but at the 1971 ieee international solid - state circuits conference ( isscc ), when an intel engineer named dov


thus be able to reprogram the device. the idea of using ultraviolet to erase a memory chip sounds preposterous today. but at the 1971 ieee international solid - state circuits conference ( isscc ), when an intel engineer named dov frohman - bentchkowsky introduced the concept, it became all the rage. back then, memory chips were reprogrammable but volatile ( losing their data when power was removed ) or simply not reprogrammable at all ( rom chips received data at the time of fabrication and that ’ s that ). in his isscc paper, ” a fully - decoded 2048 - bit electrically - programmable mos rom, ” frohman - bentchkowsky showed how to construct a special transistor that worked as a nonvolatile memory element. the trick was to trap electrons in the transistor ’ s floating gate by applying a voltage. the electrons would remain trapped even when the voltage was removed, and the only way to free them was by shining some uv light ( or x - ray ) through them. intel ’ s first eprom chip was the 1702, and it could store 2 kilobits. others soon followed. engineers, tantalized by the possibility of reprogramming a memory, rushed to get hold of eprom chips — and some uv lamps as well. image : dirk oppelt ibm / sony / toshiba cell processor ( 2004 ) take a flake of silicon. etch in a powerpc processor. add eight very fast number - crunching coprocessors. connect everything through a 300 - gigabit - per - second data bus. the result is one of the most radical microprocessors in semiconductor history — the cell, developed by ibm, sony, and toshiba. it took them us $ 400 million, 400 people, and four years to get the chip out the door. designed to feed on a high - flop diet of mpeg streams, three - dimensional game polygons, and fourier transforms, the cell is used in the sony playstation 3 and high - powered servers and supercomputers. with an asymmetric architecture — two different kinds of processors — the cell served notice that programming would never be the same. computer scientists and programmers scrambled to find ways of exploiting its full potential. five years later, they ’ re still at it. philips semiconductors tda93xx tv processor ( 1999 ) the philips marketing people called it the


be the same. computer scientists and programmers scrambled to find ways of exploiting its full potential. five years later, they ’ re still at it. philips semiconductors tda93xx tv processor ( 1999 ) the philips marketing people called it the ” ultimate one - chip tv processor. ” the philips engineers called it the tda93xx. it was a single chip integrating a tv signal processor, a closed - caption decoder, and a microcontroller core. the company pulled it off by combining conventional complementary - metal - oxide semiconductor ( cmos ) circuitry with analog bimos, a combination of bipolar and cmos technology. the chip supported all three major international tv standards ( pal, ntsc, and secam ), and by adding a microcontroller, philips eliminated the need for several other components. tv manufacturers loved the chip, which worked well even in markets like africa and china, known for quirks in their broadcast environments. philips ’ s semiconductor division — now known as nxp — estimates that it has shipped over 850 million chips. it plans to ship millions more until analog tv is finally retired worldwide. lucent wavelan ieee wi - fi chip set ( 1998 ) to surf the web wirelessly while sipping a latte is a great thing — few would dispute that. but it turns out that creating the wireless technology that made this staple of modernity possible involved heated debates among the world ’ s most powerful tech companies. before wi - fi came along, a zoo of wireless standards roamed the spectrum ; each company had its own technology. it took a dutch engineer named vic hayes — equipped with un - level diplomatic skills — to get all the companies on the same page ( and even in the same room ). as the chair of the ieee 802. 11 working group, hayes articulated the wireless network standard that would become pervasive in homes, offices, schools, airports, and, of course, coffee shops. in 1996, the group released the first version of the 802. 11 standard. hayes then took it to the engineering department of his employer, lucent technologies, and his counterparts in the working group did the same. of course, drafting a standard was one thing ; implementing it in silicon in a profitable product was another. lucent was among the first to create an 802. 11 chip set, which it introduced in 1998 as wavelan ieee, sold as part of wireless routers and modems. the chip set was soon updated to support the 802. 11b revision,


kill - two - chips - with - one - chip move. several years ago, stmicroelectronics did it with gps receivers. the european chip giant smashed together a gps radio front end ( which usually made up one chip ) with a signal correlator, microprocessor, and memory ( usually on the other chip ). although handheld gps systems had already been marketed, the sta2056 set a new standard for size and power consumption. and at us $ 8, the chip was cheap, driving the cost of gps devices down and helping open up a mass market for them. fiat has used the chip in several alfa romeo models, and gps vendor becker put it in its handsets. and of course the two - chips - into - one trick remains a favorite of chipmakers everywhere. advanced micro devices opteron processor ( 2003 ) since its founding in 1969, advanced micro devices has delivered its share of innovative integrated circuits. there were the logic chips that got the company started, then the amd 9080 microprocessor ( a clone of intel ’ s 8 - bit 8080 ), and let ’ s not forget amd ’ s am2900 bit - slice family — 4 - bit chips that could be grouped to create 8 - or 16 - bit controllers, a method known as bit slicing. but most recently, the amd chip that really stands out — one of many painful pebbles amd has planted in intel ’ s shoes — is the 64 - bit opteron processor. this cpu extended the 32 - bit x 86 instruction set to a 64 - bit architecture. what ’ s more, it incorporated an embedded memory controller and a high - speed chip - to - chip interconnect. the opteron was aimed at servers, but amd soon transplanted its innovations to the athlon 64, targeted at consumer pcs. the two powerful amd processors allowed users to take on computing tasks previously reserved for expensive risc systems. the chips also forced intel to add similar capabilities to its own x 86 products. image : united states patent and trademark office philips tda7000 fm receiver ( 1983 ) engineers rarely forget their first encounter with a superheterodyne receiver. ah, the satisfaction of building a neat fm radio from scratch! when it works, that is. no surprise, then, that some hobbyists received with enthusiasm the tda7000, a remarkable - for - its - day complete fm radio on a chip, crammed with an rf input stage, a


! when it works, that is. no surprise, then, that some hobbyists received with enthusiasm the tda7000, a remarkable - for - its - day complete fm radio on a chip, crammed with an rf input stage, a mixer, a local oscillator, an intermediate frequency amplifier, and a demodulator. it let do - it - yourselfers build decent fm receivers without having to deal with hard - to - adjust components like intermediate - frequency transformers. designed as a compact, cheap chip for mono portable radios — which themselves need to be compact and cheap — the tda7000 offered incredible performance. surprisingly, though, it was never used in a major commercial product. sold by tandy, it remained a huge hit with kit builders and hobbyists for two decades, until philips ’ s semiconductors division, now nxp, stopped making the part in december 2003. but variants of the chip are still around. texas instruments sn7400 logic chips ( 1966 ) in the prehistoric days of digital computers — they were called minis and mainframes back then — engineers sought to replace discrete transistors with integrated circuits that could perform basic logic operations. in these premicroprocessor days, engineers were working with simpler fare — chips like the texas instruments sn7400, an ic with four two - input nand logic gates. this chip was just one in a very big family — known as the 7400 series — that did very well for ti. unlike earlier logic chips, which used diodes and transistors ( called diode - transistor logic, or dtl ), the 7400 chips were based on all - transistor logic circuits ( transistor - transistor logic, or ttl ). texas instruments ’ ttl data book for design engineers became, as ” the silicon engine ” exhibit at the computer history museum puts it, ” the indispensable data manual of the late 1970s. ” today the 7400 family is still in production, sold by ti and many others. among the hundreds of 7400 siblings are simple chips like the sn7404, which contains a bunch of hexadecimal inverters, and more complex ones like the sn74alvc162334, a 16 - bit universal bus driver with three - state outputs. surely more than a few engineers still keep the ttl data book within arm ’ s reach. ibm power processor ( 1990 ) you ’ ve heard


the chip to samsung, the world ’ s no. 2 handset maker. communications services corp. rfid ( 1973 ) mario cardullo invented the first radio - frequency identification ( rfid ) device in 1969. it wasn ’ t a chip. * it was a circuit the size of a cigarette pack, with a receiver, a transmitter, and 16 bits of nonvolatile memory, which he built using ferrite cores. and it wasn ’ t called an rfid. his patent — filed in 1970 and issued in 1973 — called the contraption a ” transponder apparatus and system. ” cardullo founded communications services corp. to market the system. he thought it could be used for electronic toll collection, among other things. in 1971, he gave a demonstration to the port authority of new york & new jersey, which snubbed him. ” they said people would never carry these things in their cars, ” says cardullo, now a technology consultant in alexandria, va. he eventually moved onto other things, and communications services never sold the system. in 1990 the patent expired. but cardullo wasn ’ t the only person to think of identification devices that could be read at a distance. engineers working on that very idea — at los alamos national laboratory, raytheon, and other places — took rfid technology to the market. today rfid is used in smart cards, entry cards, merchandise tags, and passports. the technology is used to track pets, cattle, inventory, and, well, people — there are rfid chips encased in tiny glass capsules that can be implanted in the human body. and of course, rfid is used for electronic toll collection in new york and elsewhere. ” the other day my ez pass wasn ’ t working, ” cardullo says of his toll pass, ” and, sure enough, they sent me a ticket. ” * if it ’ s not a chip, why did we include it here? er … you got us. we just thought we needed rfid on the list — it ’ s a multibillion - dollar industry, and these chips are everywhere these days. also, mario is a cool guy. for more articles, go to special report : 25 microchips that shook the world.


squamish is located in prime cougar habitat. cougars are active throughout the year and are elusive animals that prefer to avoid contact with humans. while conflict encounters are uncommon, it is important to be alert and aware. stay safe and keep cougars wild by following these simple guidelines : - do not attract or feed wildlife. deer, raccoons, mice and rabbits are natural prey and may attract cougars. - do not leave pet food outside as this can attract wildlife. - ensure birdseed is not attracting wildlife. - ensure garbage is locked to prevent attracting rodents, raccoons or coyotes. - roaming pets are easy prey : bring pets in at night. if they must stay outside at night, ensure they are in a kennel with a secure roof. - cut back brush to reduce cover for cougars to rest and to increase sight lines for better visibility. - install motion sensor lights. on the trails - be alert and aware at all times. - avoid surprise encounters by making noise - - i. e. use your voice - hike or bike in groups of two or more and keep children close at hand. - keep dogs leashed. - look for signs of fresh cougar activity - - i. e. claw marks on trees or logs, scat or paw prints. - avoid food caches : cougars will cover unconsumed portions of their kill with twigs, leaf litter or soil. if you come across a cache, leave the area immediately. be alert to circling ravens or turkey vultures. - riding or running fast and quietly puts you at risk for surprise encounters. slow down going around blind corners and make noise. - cougar kittens are usually well - hidden. however, if you do encounter cougar kittens, do not approach or attempt to pick them up. leave the area immediately, as a female will defend her young. - carry a study walking stick to be used as a weapon if necessary. cougars seem to be attracted to children, possibly because of their high - pitched voices, small size, and erratic movements which make it difficult for cougars to identify them as human and not prey. - teach children what to do if they encounter a cougar. - encourage children to play outdoors in groups, and supervise children playing outdoors. - consider getting a dog for your children as an early - warning system. a dog can see, smell, and hear a cougar sooner then we can. although dogs offer little value as a deterrent to cougars, they may distract a couga


consider getting a dog for your children as an early - warning system. a dog can see, smell, and hear a cougar sooner then we can. although dogs offer little value as a deterrent to cougars, they may distract a cougar from attacking a human. - consider erecting a fence around play areas. - keep a radio playing. - dusk and dawn are typically times when cougars are most active. - if there have been cougar sightings, escort children to the bus stop in the early morning. clear shrubs away around the bus stop, making an area with a nine - metre ( 30 foot ) radius. have a light installed as a general safety precaution. - never approach a cougar. although cougars will normally avoid a confrontation, all cougars are unpredictable. cougars feeding on a kill may be dangerous. - always give a cougar an avenue of escape. - stay calm. talk to the cougar in a confident voice. - pick all children up off the ground immediately. children frighten easily and their rapid movements may provoke an attack. - do not run. try to back away from the cougar slowly. sudden movement or flight may trigger an instinctive attack. - do not turn your back on the cougar. face the cougar and remain upright. - do all you can to enlarge your image. don ' t crouch down or try to hide. pick up sticks or branches and wave them about. if a cougar behaves aggressively - arm yourself with a large stick, throw rocks, speak loudly and firmly. convince the cougar that you are a threat not prey. - if a cougar attacks, fight back! many people have survived cougar attacks by fighting back with anything, including rocks, sticks, bare fists, and fishing poles. ( for more information about cougars, please visit the province of bc ministry of environment site : the information below is taken from the taken from the environmental stewardship division of the ministry of environment )


the importance of reliability in design engineering has significantly grown since the early sixties. competition has been a primary driver in this growth. the three realities of competition today are : world class quality and reliability, cost - effectiveness, and fast time - to - market. formerly, companies could effectively compete if they could achieve at least two of these features in their products and product development processes, often at the expense of the third. however, customers today, whether military, aerospace, or commercial, have been sensitized to a higher level of expectation and demand products that are highly reliable, yet affordable. product development practices are shifting in response to this higher level of expectation. today, there is seldom time, or necessary resources to extensively test, analyze, and fix to achieve high quality and reliability. it is also true that the rapid growth in technology prevents the accumulation of historical data on the field performance of their products. unfortunately, some reliability methods have depended upon the availability of historical data, other experiential information, or learning through extensive and time consuming tests. unfortunately, some reliability methods have depended upon the availability of historical data, other experiential information, or learning through extensive and time consuming tests. to enable this transition, reliability efforts must be directed toward anticipating problems and designing - in features that assure the achievement of quality and reliability, concurrent with the development process, instead of trying to assess quality and reliability downstream. the gains in time - to - market and cost savings from such an approach can be significant. more recent reliability programs tend not to prescribe reliability tasks or methods to be performed by suppliers. rather, suppliers are considered equal partners in the effort to produce a reliable product and work with the companies in deciding which reliability methods provide most value in achieving objectives. nevertheless, developing reliable products and achieving reliability goals often requires different approaches for various product sectors. for example, in the defense / aerospace sector, the number of customers is relatively small. the product development cycle may span several years, while the product life cycle may last from mere minutes to as long as decades. furthermore, it is not unusual for several design iterations of technologically different hardware and software to be developed before the final version is incorporated into the production product. production volumes may range from rates of less than ten to hundreds per year. also, the reliability discipline in this sector is generally a separate activity from the design discipline. the commercial sector, in contrast to the defense / aerospace sector, usually has a higher number of different customers. development cycles could range from months to a few years


a theology for synthetic biology fazale ( fuz ) rana january 16th, 2012 this question has become more poignant in the last few years as biochemists, molecular biologists, and origin - of - life researchers make significant strides in their quest to create life in the lab. attempts to produce artificial life fall under the purview of a new discipline called synthetic biology, a fusion of engineering and the life sciences. one of synthetic biology ’ s goals is the design and manufacture of nonnatural life - forms — man - made constructs — unlike anything found in nature. typically, those interested in creating these artificial organisms focus on engineering novel microbes ( bacteria, yeast, etc. ) or producing protocells, chemical supersystems that assume many, if not all, of the properties of life. among other benefits, these man - made life - forms could potentially provide huge technological advantages. researchers envision synthetic microbes and protocells as bioreactors that could use inexpensive raw materials and solar energy to generate extremely valuable materials, like biomedicines, vaccines, biofuels, bioplastics, etc. these novel life - forms could also be used to clean up contaminants from the environment and find use in agricultural applications. despite such exciting possibilities, the creation of artificial life raises questions, some of a practical nature and others of a more philosophical and theological orientation. - will the creation of synthetic life - forms eliminate the need for a creator? will synthetic biology make it all the more reasonable to think that life emerged via chemical evolution? - is this type of work safe? if artificial cells “ leak ” from the lab will they cause a disaster of “ biblical ” proportions? - is it ethical to create artificial life? - are researchers “ playing god ”? i find that many christians summarily condemn this type of research without thoughtful deliberation. others simply ignore it, as if by not paying attention to the work, it will “ go away. ” they bank on the notion that scientists won ’ t really be able to accomplish their goals. but, as i discuss in my book creating life in the lab, it is just a matter of time before scientists achieve success. in fact, i anticipate that in the next decade researchers will succeed in creating a variety of forms of artificial life, using a number of different approaches. whether we like it or not, scientists will create life in the lab. christians need to wrestle with the questions posed by this endeavor and be a part of the


succeed in creating a variety of forms of artificial life, using a number of different approaches. whether we like it or not, scientists will create life in the lab. christians need to wrestle with the questions posed by this endeavor and be a part of the process. most importantly, we need to develop a framework to help us think through these issues — we need a theology for synthetic biology. before i propose such a theology, i would like to address several questions that people typically ask about synthetic biology. my responses serve as an introduction to this new discipline and provide a status report of progress to date. can scientists really create life in the lab? this question comes up whenever i talk about advances in synthetic biology. many christians and non - christians, alike, are skeptical about scientists ’ ability to create even the simplest life. in part, this skepticism is fueled by the increasing recognition that even in its most minimal form, life displays astounding complexity. 1 many wonder how scientists could ever replicate such intricacy and elegance? this is not an unreasonable question. but the fact remains that scientists understand enough about how life ’ s structure and basic level functions to parlay that insight into genuine advances in synthetic biology. what have synthetic biologists actually accomplished? when scientists try to create life in the lab, they employ one of two approaches : the top - down or bottom - up. the top - down strategy involves re - engineering existing microbes ( sometimes in radical ways ) to generate artificial life. the bottom - up approach focuses on combining relatively simple chemicals into increasingly complex super - chemical systems that assume the properties common to life on earth. to date, the greatest progress toward creating artificial life is due to the top - down approach. however, researchers working with the bottom - up method have also made significant advances. 2 in the next decade, i believe researchers employing both approaches will have success in making artificial cells and life - like protocells, respectively. does the creation of life in the lab eliminate the need for a creator? many christians view the attempt to create life in the lab as a thoroughly atheistic endeavor. this is because many synthetic biologists and origin - of - life researchers assert that if we can make life in the lab, it will mean life is not special. according to this view, life is merely a physicochemical system. therefore, we can, in principle, replicate this chemistry and physics in the lab. if this is the case, then a creator is not needed to explain life ’ s genesis. without the need for a


is merely a physicochemical system. therefore, we can, in principle, replicate this chemistry and physics in the lab. if this is the case, then a creator is not needed to explain life ’ s genesis. without the need for a creator, it makes it all the more likely that life emerged on early earth ( or elsewhere ) via chemical evolutionary processes. however, as i demonstrate in creating life in the lab, work in synthetic biology, whether from the bottom - up or top - down, actually leads to the opposite conclusion. whether it ’ s on early earth or in the lab, life cannot come from non - life or be significantly transformed from one form into another without the direct involvement of intelligent agency. the generation of artificial cells and protocells requires the work of highly trained scientists who rely on several hundred years of scientific advance. in the process, these researchers develop sophisticated strategies and elaborate protocols. these steps are executed carefully in the laboratory, in many instances, with highly sophisticated laboratory instrumentation. in other words, artificial life is intelligently designed. 3 the christian faith has nothing to fear from advances in synthetic biology. god is more necessary than ever before in order to explain the origin of life. but should human beings engage in the creation of artificial life at all? is it safe? if it is safe, is this an activity that christians should support? should we play god? the scriptural basis for a theology of synthetic biology i maintain that genesis 1 : 26 – 31 is the most relevant biblical text for a theology of synthetic biology. this familiar passage teaches, first and foremost, that human beings were made in god ’ s image. the bible never defines what the image of god entails, but it is clear from genesis 1 ( as well as genesis 2 : 19 – 20 and psalm 8 ) that this quality distinguishes humans from the animals. because we are image - bearers, god granted us authority ( dominion ) over the earth. this gift comes with responsibility. god commanded humans to multiply and fill the earth so his image covers the entire surface of the planet. he also instructs us to subdue the earth and tame the wild creation ( at the same time, we receive provision from the creation under our control ). finally, god commands us to care for the planet so that all life may benefit. all of these tasks bring glory to the creator. because god endowed us with his image, we are able to serve as his viceroys among creation. exerting dominion over creation — in the lab in


the planet so that all life may benefit. all of these tasks bring glory to the creator. because god endowed us with his image, we are able to serve as his viceroys among creation. exerting dominion over creation — in the lab in my view, the attempts to create artificial life can be seen as human beings exerting legitimate dominion over the creation. conceptually, creating artificial cells and protocells is no different than domesticating plants and animals. throughout history, humans have used selective breeding practices to create new plant and animal species — nonnatural, “ artificial ” organisms with desirable properties that we have exploited for our benefit. evidently, the creator has no problem with farming and animal husbandry. instead of condemning cain and abel for cultivating “ fruit from the soil ” and raising flocks, the lord implicitly endorsed their activities and even expected a first - fruits offerings from both brothers ( genesis 4 : 2 – 5 ). with synthetic biology, sophisticated methods of genetic and biochemical engineering replace the cumbersome and crude practices associated with domestication. still, the outcome ( or potential outcome ) is the same : human - engineered life - forms with benefit for humanity. synthetic biology ’ s benefits the creation of artificial life will be a boon for humanity in many ways. in the life sciences, it will help shed light onto life ’ s fundamental structures and processes and will also provide insight into the very nature of life itself. synthetic biology will even help scientists define what life is. with this insight, life ’ s elegant design will become increasingly evident and highlight the creator ’ s majesty and glory. the ability to create novel, nonnatural life - forms from scratch and redesign and re - engineer existing microbes could also represent a revolution in technology. artificial life - forms will have industrial applications and uses in agriculture and biomedicine that, at this juncture, seem limitless. from a christian perspective, there is every reason to desire these types of technological advances. it is possible that artificial microbes could produce renewable sources of clean energy. such advancements would help us to carry out the mandate to care for creation. furthermore, the possibility of biomedical advances via artificial life provides the means to “ love our neighbors as ourselves ” by continuing to strive for better treatments for disease and injuries. artificial microbes will play a role in finding new treatments and possible cures for sicknesses that, as of now, can ’ t be effectively treated. in other words, there are many good reasons for christians to be excited about the