The online exhibition, The Living Room Candidate, at The Museum of the Moving Image, presents more than 300 presidential campaign commercials from 1952 - 2008. According to the site, it was Madison Avenue advertising executive Rosser Reeves who convinced Dwight Eisenhower that short ads played during such popular TV programs as “I Love Lucy,” would reach more voters than any other form of advertising.
“In a media-saturated environment in which news, opinions, and entertainment surround us all day on our television sets, computers, and cell phones, the television commercial remains the one area where presidential candidates have complete control over their images.”
To check the Curator’s Picks from culturally historic strategies, messages and slogans, visit Living Room Candidate.
The challenge in the nano world is how to provide power to nanoscale sensors, which need power to operate, for example, implantable medical devices and serve as tiny sensors and detectors. Zhong Lin Wang, a materials scientist at Georgia Tech, thinks he can bring power to the nano world with minuscule generators that take advantage of piezoelectricity, in which crystalline materials under mechanical stress produce an electrical potential. If he succeeds, biological and chemical nano sensors will be able to power themselves.
While the piezoelectric effect has been known of for more than a century, in 2005, Wang was the first to demonstrate it at the nanoscale by bending zinc oxide nanowires with the probe of an atomic-force microscope. As the wires flex and return to their original shape, the potential produced by the zinc and oxide ions drives an electrical current. The current that Wang coaxed from the wires in his initial experiments was tiny; the electrical potential peaked at a few millivolts. But Wang rightly suspected that with enough engineering, he could design a practical nanoscale power source by harnessing the tiny vibrations all around us – sound waves, the wind, even the turbulence of blood flow over an implanted device. These subtle movements would bend nanowires, generating electricity.
Wang embedded zinc oxide nanowires in a layer of polymer; the resulting sheets put out 50 millivolts when flexed. This is a major step forward in powering tiny sensors.
And Wang hopes that these generators could eventually be woven into fabric; the rustling of a shirt could generate enough power to charge the batteries of devices like iPods. For now, the nanogenerator’s output is too low for that. “We need to get to 200 millivolts or more,” says Wang. He’ll get there by layering the wires, he says, though it might take five to ten more years of careful engineering.
Meanwhile, Wang has demonstrated the first components for a new class of nanoscale sensors. Nanopiezotronics, as he calls this technology, exploit the fact that zinc oxide nanowires not only exhibit the piezoelectric effect but are semiconductors. The first property lets them act as mechanical sensors, because they produce an electrical response to mechanical stress. The second means that they can be used to make the basic components of integrated circuits, including transistors and diodes. Unlike traditional electronic components, nanopiezotronics don’t need an external source of electricity. They generate their own when exposed to the same kinds of mechanical stresses that power nanogenerators.
Freeing nanoelectronics from outside power sources opens up all sorts of possibilities. A nano piezotronic hearing aid integrated with a nanogenerator might use an array of nanowires, each tuned to vibrate at a different frequency over a large range of sounds. The nanowires would convert sounds into electrical signals and process them so that they could be conveyed directly to neurons in the brain. Not only would such implanted neural prosthetics be more compact and more sensitive than traditional hearing aids, but they wouldn’t need to be removed so their batteries could be changed. Nanopiezotronic sensors might also be used to detect mechanical stresses in an airplane engine; just a few nanowire components could monitor stress, process the information, and then communicate the relevant data to an airplane’s computer. Whether in the body or in the air, nano devices would at last be set loose in the world all around us.
Could our universe be located within a wormhole, which itself is part of a black hole that lies within a much larger universe?
Indiana University theoretical physicist Nikodem Poplawski suggests such a scenario in his published paper in Physics Letters B, where he theorizes that our universe is born from inside a wormhole (also called an Einstein-Rosen Bridge.)
Poplawski made use of the Euclidean-based coordinate system called ‘isotropic coordinates’ to describe the gravitational field of a black hole and to model the radial geodesic motion of a massive particle into a black hole.
In studying the radial motion through the event horizon (a black hole’s boundary) of two different types of black holes—Schwarzschild and Einstein-Rosen, both of which are mathematically legitimate solutions of general relativity— Poplawski admits that only experiment or observation can reveal the motion of a particle falling into an actual black hole. But he also notes that since observers can only see the outside of the black hole, the interior cannot be observed unless an observer enters or resides within.
“This condition would be satisfied if our universe were the interior of a black hole existing in a bigger universe,” he said. “Because Einstein’s general theory of relativity does not choose a time orientation, if a black hole can form from the gravitational collapse of matter through an event horizon in the future then the reverse process is also possible. Such a process would describe an exploding white hole: matter emerging from an event horizon in the past, like the expanding universe.”
A white hole is connected to a black hole by an Einstein-Rosen bridge (wormhole) and is hypothetically the time reversal of a black hole. Poplawski’s paper suggests that all astrophysical black holes, not just Schwarzschild and Einstein-Rosen black holes, may have Einstein-Rosen bridges, each with a new universe inside that formed simultaneously with the black hole.
“From that it follows that our universe could have itself formed from inside a black hole existing inside another universe,” he said.
By continuing to study the gravitational collapse of a sphere of dust in isotropic coordinates, and by applying the current research to other types of black holes, views where the universe is born from the interior of an Einstein-Rosen black hole could avoid problems seen by scientists with the Big Bang theory and the black hole information loss problem which claims all information about matter is lost as it goes over the event horizon (in turn defying the laws of quantum physics).
This model in isotropic coordinates of the universe as a black hole could explain the origin of cosmic inflation, Poplawski theorizes.
In a 2002 interview with Sputnik Observatory, Kagoshima architect Takasaki Masaharu, author of “An Architecture of Cosmology,” discussed his exploration of the relationship of energy, man, Earth and the elements, and why the symbol of life is shaped like Zero.
0:01:11:03
SPTNK: How do you define architecture?
MASAHARU: Well, architecture is made up of opposition from nature. It means that god created nature, and human creates architecture – so architecture itself is an artificial object on the Earth. What I suggest is to regard that architecture as the second nature, and what I work on is to recreate it and make it close to our Mother Nature. I call it “environmental animism.” For instance, this building was made of concrete which is solid, inorganic material. What I do is to put animate element, which is like humanistic energy, historic or symbolic thing into this concrete material, so that it ends up working for human.
0:17:19:03
SPTNK: Please describe the meaning and details behind your work, Zero Cosmology?
MASAHARU: I call the cube “Zero Cosmology.” Among Japanese conceptual history, Indian Civilization was one of the major influential periods to Japan. We still use ideas, which are like “Mu” (zero) or “Ku” (space, emptiness) today. “Zero Cosmology” is a form that creates energy of “zero” inside of its space.
I call the antenna “Lotus” and this is about relationship of “Ten-Chi-Jin” (sky-ground-human). Normally when people seed in the ground, it grows up toward sky. I created this “Lotus” as a receiver of energy from the sky and also it is an object which connects between sky and ground. It is a lightning rod too. It is like a hand tries to hold the sky. I designed the shape as a symbol of life-producing unlimited energy. That’s why it shapes like Zero. It is “Micro Cosmo.” Zero is immeasurable. Immeasurable means that it doesn’t belong to Ten (sky) nor Chi (ground), it’s in-between. That’s why it has to be floating as if there’s no gravity (weight). Zero should be released from gravity.
0:14:03:08
SPTNK: Why is geometry so important to you?
MASAHARU: I always investigate between space and shape by using geometry. And then I try to find another new geometric pattern within the investigation. Each geometric shape works differently on people’s feeling, just like how a circle and a square give us a feel. I always think how it works upon them. I rather focus on how it works psychologically than physically. For example, soft and round shapes communicate for children and elders because they feel as if they are from those shapes.
0:02:54:08
SPTNK: What is the significance of the statue of man reaching up to the skies in your work?
MASAHARU: The consciousness which is parted from land is very important. I don’t think that people who live on high floor of a skyscraper have same perspective as people who live on ground level. Because they (referring to people who live on high floor) are totally parted from ground, so their consciousness is as well. They are rather familiar to the sky.
In a new twist from the liquid invisibility cloaks Sptnk reported here, researchers have designed a material that not only makes an object invisible, but also generates one or more virtual images in its place. Because it doesn’t simply display the background environment to a viewer, this kind of optical device could have applications that go beyond a normal invisibility cloak. Plus, unlike previously proposed illusion devices, the design proposed here could be realized with artificial metamaterials.
The team of engineers, Wei Xiang Jiang, Hui Feng Ma, Qiang Cheng, and Tie Jun Cui from Southeast University in Nanjing, China, describes the recently developed class of optical transformation media as “illusion media.” As they explain in a new study, any object enclosed by such an illusion medium layer appears to be one or more other objects. The researchers’ proposed device is designed to operate at microwave frequencies.
“The illusion media make an enclosed object appear like another object or multiple virtual objects,” Cui told PhysOrg.com. “Hence it can be applied to confuse the detectors or the viewers, and the detectors or the viewers can’t perceive the real object. As a result, the enclosed object will be protected.”
But as the researchers explain, illusion media is similar to an invisibility cloak, except for one main difference. In a perfect invisibility cloak, there are almost no scattering electric fields, so that the illusion space is only free space. In illusion media, on the other hand, the material creates scattered electric field patterns that generate virtual images. Any detector located outside the illusion medium layer will perceive the electromagnetic waves as if they were scattered from a virtual object.
“Generally speaking, different objects will generate different scattering patterns under the illumination of electromagnetic/optical waves,” Ciu explained. “Hence a detector can perceive an object according to its scattering pattern. Our illusion media will change the scattering patterns of the enclosed object to make it appear like another object or multiple virtual objects.”
MIT neuroscientists have shown they can can sway people’s views of moral situation by disrupting brain activity in a particular region.
Previous studies have shown that a brain region known as the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) is highly active when we think about other people’s intentions, thoughts and beliefs. In this new study, researchers disrupted activity in the right TPJ by inducing a current in the brain using a magnetic field applied to the scalp. They found that the subjects’ ability to make moral judgments that require an understanding of other people’s intentions — for example, a failed murder attempt — was impaired.
The researchers, led by Rebecca Saxe, MIT assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences, report their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Funding for the research came from The National Center for Research Resources, the MIND Institute, the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, the Simons Foundation and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.
The study offers “striking evidence” that the right TPJ, located at the brain’s surface above and behind the right ear, is critical for making moral judgments, says Liane Young, lead author of the paper.
“You think of morality as being a really high-level behavior,” she says. “To be able to apply (a magnetic field) to a specific brain region and change people’s moral judgments is really astonishing.”
In one experiment, volunteers were exposed to TMS for 25 minutes before taking a test in which they read a series of scenarios and made moral judgments of characters’ actions on a scale of one (absolutely forbidden) to seven (absolutely permissible).
In a second experiment, TMS was applied in 500-milisecond bursts at the moment when the subject was asked to make a moral judgment. For example, subjects were asked to judge how permissible it is for a man to let his girlfriend walk across a bridge he knows to be unsafe, even if she ends up making it across safely. In such cases, a judgment based solely on the outcome would hold the perpetrator morally blameless, even though it appears he intended to do harm.
In both experiments, the researchers found that when the right TPJ was disrupted, subjects were more likely to judge failed attempts to harm as morally permissible. Therefore, the researchers believe that TMS interfered with subjects’ ability to interpret others’ intentions, forcing them to rely more on outcome information to make their judgments.
The scientists propose that, in just two centuries, humans have wrought such vast and unprecedented changes to our world that we actually might be ushering in a new geological time interval, and alter the planet for millions of years.
Zalasiewicz, Williams, Steffen and Crutzen contend that recent human activity, including stunning population growth, sprawling megacities and increased use of fossil fuels, have changed the planet to such an extent that we are entering what they call the Anthropocene (New Man) Epoch.
First proposed by Crutzen more than a decade ago, the term Anthropocene has provoked controversy. However, as more potential consequences of human activity—such as global climate change and sharp increases in plant and animal extinctions —have emerged, Crutzen’s term has gained support. Currently, the worldwide geological community is formally considering whether the Anthropocene should join the Jurassic, Cambrian and other more familiar units on the Geological Time Scale.
The scientists note that getting that formal designation will likely be contentious. But they conclude, “However these debates will unfold, the Anthropocene represents a new phase in the history of both humankind and of the Earth, when natural forces and human forces became intertwined, so that the fate of one determines the fate of the other. Geologically, this is a remarkable episode in the history of this planet.”
In an interview with Sputnik Observatory, experimental geographer Trevor Paglen explains how humans, as geologic agents, have re-sculpted the Earth:
Another idea that I am interested in is thinking about humans as agents of geology, as geologic agents. That sounds a little bit weird, and I’ll explain what I mean by that. If we look at geology, historically, we look at the shape of the surface of the Earth; the sediments, layers, mountains, lakes, glaciers, you name it, the contours of the surface of the Earth. Historically, the main things that shape that are plate tectonics, the movement of plates on the surface of the Earth creating mountains, earthquakes, volcanoes, that sort of thing. It’s also shaped by rainfall, water erosion is an enormous contributor to the way the surface of the Earth is sculpted. It brings mountains down, creates lakes, rivers, all kinds of things like that. Other agents might be glaciers, you have an Ice Age, the ice is coming across the land and receding from the land and it really carves out the surface of the Earth in important ways. Now, for at least the past 100 years none of these have been the main factors shaping the surface of the Earth, sculpting the globe. Human activity has been the main thing that sculpted the surface of the globe. For example, mining. When we look at something like the Gold Rush or mining in Alaska, we literally are moving mountains in the span of very short periods of time. Unbelievable. We’re doing things in a few years that would take nature thousands of years to do. Human activity has become the main agent in sculpting the surface of the Earth. Not only in creating cities and these sorts of things, but creating mountains, tearing them down, creating new waterways and that sort of thing. It’s interesting to me. So in that project I’m thinking about what does that mean? Let’s think of ourselves as geologic agents. Let’s think about what we do in terms of geology and long, long time scales. Geologists work in what they call deep time, which is time that happens at a very different pace than human time, usually happens over thousands or millions of years.
Sputnik Observatory has been nominated for ‘Best Navigation/Structure’ in the 14th Annual Webby Awards, and selected as an Official Honoree for the Cultural Institutions Category. Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. Unlike other awards shows, The Webby Awards give the public an opportunity to decide who will take home a Webby. From now until April 29th, the public can cast votes in The Webby People’s Voice Awards (http://webby.aol.com/media_types/web). The Winner is based on number of votes, so PLEASE vote, and pass the word along!
Perhaps we remember more episodes than we realize. Computer programs have been able to predict which of three short films a person is thinking about, just by looking at their brain activity. The research, conducted by scientists at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL (University College London), provides further insight into how our memories are recorded.
An extension of work which showed how spatial memories are recorded in the hippocampus, this Wellcome Trust-funded study led by Professor Eleanor Maguire looked at episodic’ memories —the complex, everyday memories that include much more information on where we are, what we are doing and how we feel.
To explore how episodic memories are recorded, the researchers showed ten volunteers three short films and asked them to memorize what they saw. The films were very simple, sharing a number of similar features, which included a woman carrying out an everyday task in a typical urban street. For example, one film showed a woman drinking coffee from a paper cup in the street before discarding the cup in a litterbin; another film showed a (different) woman posting a letter.
The volunteers were then asked to recall each of the films in turn while inside an fMRI scanner, which records brain activity by measuring related changes in blood flow. A computer algorithm then studied the patterns and had to identify which film the volunteer was recalling purely by looking at the pattern of their brain activity.
“The algorithm was able to predict correctly which of the three films the volunteer was recalling significantly above what would be expected by chance,” explains Martin Chadwick, lead author of the study. “This suggests that our memories are recorded in a regular pattern.”
Although a whole network of brain areas support memory, the researchers focused their study on the medial temporal lobe, an area deep within the brain believed to be most heavily involved in episodic memory. It includes the hippocampus and its immediate neighbors. However, the computer algorithm performed best when analyzing activity in the hippocampus itself, suggesting that this is the most important region for recording episodic memories. In particular, three areas of the hippocampus —the rear right and the front left and front right areas—seemed to be involved consistently across all participants.
“Now that we are developing a clearer picture of how our memories are stored, we hope to examine how they are affected by time, the aging process and by brain injury,” says Professor Maguire. The results are published in the journal “Current Biology”.
Scientists are finding that the blueprint for life is not all about genes. Recent research has revealed how much differences in non-coding DNA – stretches of the molecule that don’t produce proteins and used to be considered “junk” – shape who we are.
This ‘junk’ non-coding DNA, which makes up about 98 percent of the human genome, has been recognized in recent years to play a critical role in determining whether genes are active or not, and how much of a particular protein gets churned out.
Two teams have revealed dramatic differences between the non-coding ‘junk’ DNA of people whose genes are 99 percent the same. “We largely have the same sets of genes. It’s just how they’re regulated that makes them different,” says Michael Snyder, a geneticist at Stanford University in California who led a team of researchers with Jan Korbel, a geneticist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany.
Their study revealed dramatic differences between the non-coding ‘junk’ DNA of people whose genes are 99 per cent the same: five people of European descent, two others whose family origins lay in East Asia and three of west African origin. They found that transcription factors – proteins that attach to stretches of non-coding ‘junk’ DNA and affect how nearby genes make proteins – act at very different locations on the genomes of different people.
Humans have hundreds of different transcription factors, but Synder’s team focused on two that are known to be particularly promiscuous about where they attach to the genome: a protein involved in immune response, NF-kappa-B, and another that helps convert DNA to RNA, called Pol-II.
Snyder’s team didn’t study what effect these differences have, but he notes that points on the genome where transcription factor binding differed between people tended to be near genes implicated in schizophrenia, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and other ailments. He suggests, therefore, that these differences in transcription factor binding may affect disease risk.
To find out what causes transcription factors to work differently in different people, a team led by Ewan Birney, a geneticist at the European Bioinformatics Institute in Cambridge, UK, performed a similar analysis to Korbel’s team, except they compared cells from two families, each with a mother, father and two children.
This detail led them to conclude that inherited non-coding DNA sequences – not mutations in genes – may drive the lion’s share of differences in where transcription factors attach.
Kelly Frazer, a genomicist at the University of California, San Diego, says the new studies help explain why many common mutations linked to diseases are located so far from any gene. For instance, a certain mutation that increases the risk of heart attack by 60 per cent is not close to a gene.
She also suggests that by homing in on non-coding ‘junk’ DNA, researchers could begin to unravel what truly makes people different. “I think these two papers are the beginning of a field that’s going to be growing rapidly in the next few years,” she says.
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