Category: Science & Technology

In The Beginning, We Were Ordinary Street Rats…

"We can no longer live as rats. We know too much."

– Nicodemus, The Secret of NIHM

Wild stuff.  Tuesday's China Post reported that scientists have spliced one (among many) human speech genes into mice:

Intriguingly enough, the genetically altered mice also have "qualitative differences in ultra-sonic vocalizations" they use when placed outside the comfort of their mother's nests.  In other words, they squeak differently from other baby mice.

Meanwhile, New Scientist reports the new mice are the rodent equivalent of baritones.  There are some brain changes, too.

Mrs. Brisby and Nicodemus from The Secret Of NIHM. Mrs. Brisby is a meek-looking mouse in a red cloak, while Nicodemus is a wizened, scary-looking old rat with long white hair and mustache.

(Mrs. Brisby & Nicodemus image from Babs Sweet World blog)

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Chinese Dyslexia

For the past few months I’ve been re-watching episodes of Heroes, and the dyslexic, mind-reading policeman character got me to wondering:  Do Chinese people suffer from dyslexia while reading Chinese ideograms?  Tuesday’s Taiwan News featured a story which reminded me of my question, and answered it for me.  Yes, it appears that they do.

Chinese- and English-speaking dyslexics have different neurological deficits, according to a study released yesterday which suggests that dyslexia may be different brain disorders in the two cultures.

English speakers with the reading disability typically have functional abnormalities in posterior parts of the brain associated with reading and possibly less gray matter in these areas also.

In Chinese dyslexics, on the other hand, the functional and structural brain abnormalities related to reading correspond with the left middle frontal region of the brain, according to new research.

(Embarrassed to say I didn’t Google the question – if I had, I would have come across this interesting 2005 column on the subject.)

Estonia To Host NATO Cyber-Defence Center

From Yahoo News:

Almost a year after falling victim to a "cyber-war" blamed on Russian hackers, the Baltic state of Estonia is now piloting NATO’s efforts to ward off future online attacks on alliance members.

After this week’s NATO summit in Romania, Estonia and seven other alliance partners will set up the "Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence" in Tallinn next month.

The United States, Germany, Italy, Spain and Estonia’s fellow ex-communist NATO member states Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia will spearhead the project.

Be nice if Taiwan could establish some kind of unofficial channel to the new center.  Leaving aside the political problems, it’d still be a tall order – must be tough finding Taiwanese IT personnel who speak Estonian.

Robot Warriors

The Danger Room has a story on American armed robots being sent to Iraq (Hat tip to The Drudge Report).  Which reminded me of this similar story from last year, about machine gun wielding South Korean ‘droids on sentry duty.

Anyways, it sounds like they’re not given a very long leash:

In the past, weak signals would keep the robots from getting orders for as much as eight seconds — a significant lag during combat.  Now, the SWORDS won’t act on a command, unless it’s received right away.  A three-part arming process — with both physical and electronic safeties — is required before firing.   Most importantly, the machines now come with kill switches, in case there’s any odd behavior.  "So now we can kill the unit if it goes crazy," Zecca says.  [emphasis added]

Kill switches.  Now, why didn’t the geniuses in the Twelve Colonies ever figure THAT one out?

UPDATE (Aug 5/07):  A blog post on how the laws of war may be used in the future to deal with this issue.  Hat tip to Instapundit.

A Few Links

1)  Never realized naval mines were so effective

(The story focuses on Chinese vulnerability to naval mines, though I suspect Taiwan isn’t much better off.)

2)  China arming Islamofascists in Iraq & Afghanistan via Iran

The weapons were described as "late-model" arms that have not been seen in the field before and were not left over from Saddam Hussein‘s rule in Iraq

[…]

The arms shipments show that the idea that China is helping the United States in the war on terrorism is "utter nonsense," [a defense department] official said.

3)  America preparing for possible cyber-war with China

(Favorite quote:  "The Chinese foreign ministry rejected [last month’s Pentagon] report as ‘brutal interference’ in internal affairs and insisted that Beijing’s military preparations were purely defensive.")

A hat tip to the Drudge Report for items 2 & 3

UPDATE (Jun 17/07):  The ten worst jobs in science, according to Popular Science Magazine.  Lowlights include:

#10: Whale Feces Researcher

[Whale feces pioneer Rosalind Rolland] began taking along sniffer dogs that can detect whale droppings from as far as a mile away. When they bark, she points her research vessel in the direction of the brown gold, and as the boat approaches the feces—the excrement usually stays afloat for an hour after the deed is done and can be bright orange and oily depending on the type of plankton the whale feeds on—Rolland and her crew begin scooping up as much matter as they can using custom-designed nets.

#5:  Coursework Carcass Preparer

Remember that first whiff of formaldehyde when the teacher brought out the frogs in ninth-grade biology? Now imagine inhaling those fumes eight hours a day, five days a week. That’s the plight of biological- supply preparers, the folks who poison, preserve, and bag the worms, frogs, cats, pigeons, sharks and even cockroaches that end up in high-school and college biology classrooms.

#3:  Elephant Vasectomist

What’s one foot across and sits behind two inches of skin, four inches of fat and 10 inches of muscle? That’s right: an elephant’s testicle. Which means veterinarian Mark Stetter’s newest invention—a four-foot-long fiber-optic laparoscope attached to a video monitor—has to be a heavy-duty piece of equipment to sterilize a randy bull pachyderm.

Hat tip to Instapundit.

UPDATE #2:  Rock / Pop group Fountains of Wayne with a wry description of life on the road.  A sample:

Anyway, about a week ago, we started our first tour in several years in typically grand fashion, playing at a computer store in New York City. We had to cut down on the pyro effects for this show, due to the low ceilings. But I think it was a nice way for people to get to see us up close and check their e-mail at the same time. We played a short set which was billed as "acoustic" because at least one of us played an acoustic instrument. The after-show debauchery included intense discussions with the sales staff about the upcoming release of the Apple phone.

[…]

And then we have a short break from "the road" before heading off for a few shows in Europe, which has become overrun with Europeans in recent years.

Hat tip to The Corner.

UPDATE #3:  Never knew that Jude Law had a Rorschach tattoo.  And that he really covets the role of  Ozymandias.

Rorschach from Alan Moore's Watchmen. He wears a Rorschach ink blot mask, an ascot tie, a brown fedora, and a matching raincoat with a large blood stain.Ozymandias from Alan Moore's Watchmen. He wears a gold collar and leggings along with purple tunic and shoes. Behind him sits his genetically-engineered cat Bubastis, which is larger than a tiger, is orange with black stripes, and has freakishly long and narrow ears.

(Rorschach and Ozymandias images from Weird Space.)

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