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takyon writes:

The brain has more computational capacity than previously thought, according to UCLA researchers:

Dendrites have been considered simple passive conduits of signals. But by working with animals that were moving around freely, the UCLA team showed that dendrites are in fact electrically active — generating nearly 10 times more spikes than the soma (neuron cell body). The finding, reported [DOI: 10.1126/science.aaj1497] [DX] in the March 9 issue of the journal Science, challenges the long-held belief that spikes in the soma are the primary way in which perception, learning and memory formation occur.

"Dendrites make up more than 90 percent of neural tissue," said UCLA neurophysicist Mayank Mehta, the study's senior author. "Knowing they are much more active than the soma fundamentally changes the nature of our understanding of how the brain computes information. This is a major departure from what neuroscientists have believed for about 60 years," said Mehta, a UCLA professor of physics and astronomy, of neurology and of neurobiology.

Because the dendrites are nearly 100 times larger in volume than the neuronal centers, Mehta said, the large number of dendritic spikes taking place could mean that the brain has more than 100 times the computational capacity than was previously thought.

Is that your final answer?

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CoolHand writes:

https://www.usnews.com/news/news/articles/2017-03-13/arctic-ice-loss-driven-by-natural-swings-not-just-mankind-study

OSLO (Reuters) - Natural swings in the Arctic climate have caused up to half the precipitous losses of sea ice around the North Pole in recent decades, with the rest driven by man-made global warming, scientists said on Monday.

The study indicates that an ice-free Arctic Ocean, often feared to be just years away, in one of the starkest signs of man-made global warming, could be delayed if nature swings back to a cooler mode.

Natural variations in the Arctic climate "may be responsible for about 30–50 percent of the overall decline in September sea ice since 1979," the U.S.-based team of scientists wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Sea ice has shrunk steadily and hit a record low in September 2012 -- late summer in the Arctic -- in satellite records dating back to 1979.

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takyon writes:

Reuters reports:

Japan plans to dispatch its largest warship on a three-month tour through the South China Sea beginning in May, three sources said, in its biggest show of naval force in the region since World War Two. China claims almost all the disputed waters and its growing military presence has fueled concern in Japan and the West, with the United States holding regular air and naval patrols to ensure freedom of navigation.

The Izumo helicopter carrier, commissioned only two years ago, will make stops in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka before joining the Malabar joint naval exercise with Indian and U.S. naval vessels in the Indian Ocean in July.

President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte said he may visit the warship. The Chinese navy plans to "shadow" foreign military vessels and aircraft. The U.S. is deploying an attack drone to South Korea to respond to recent North Korean missile launches.

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Fnord666 writes:

The weight of the automotive and tech industries is fully behind the move toward self-driving cars. Cars with "limited autonomy"—i.e., the ability to drive themselves under certain conditions (level 3) or within certain geofenced locations (level 4)—should be on our roads within the next five years.

But a completely autonomous vehicle—capable of driving anywhere, any time, with human input limited to telling it just a destination—remains a more distant goal. To make that happen, cars are going to need to know exactly where they are in the world with far greater precision than currently possible with technology like GPS. And that means new maps that are far more accurate than anything you could buy at the next gas station—not that a human would be able to read them anyway.

Fully aware of this need, car makers like BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Ford have been voting with their wallets. They're investing in companies like Here and Civil Maps that are building the platforms and gathering the data required. The end result will be a high-definition 3D map of our road networks—and everything within a few meters of them—that's constantly updated by vehicles as they drive along.

Here started work building HD maps back in 2013, according to Sanjay Sood, the company's VP for highly automated driving. "The notion of an HD map was created during a joint project with Here and Daimler for the 'Birth of Benz' drive, and we developed a core technology and HD map that was created as a research prototype in order to facilitate the functioning of that car driving through the German countryside," he told Ars. "When it comes to automated driving, the map becomes another sensor that helps the automated vehicle make decisions."

Source: ArsTechnica

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Phoenix666 writes:

Located at the Las Campanas Observatory high in the Andes mountains of northern Chile, GMT [Giant Magellan Telescope] will be the world's largest astronomical telescope. The project is being developed by an international consortium of universities and research institutions in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, and South Korea.

GMT was designed to be a segmented mirror telescope that employs seven of today's largest stiff monolith mirrors as segments. Its six off-axis 8.4-meter segments will surround a central on-axis segment, forming a single optical surface 24.5 meters in diameter with a total collecting area of 368 square meters.

GMT is expected to be operational for many decades, enabling breakthrough science ranging from studies of the first stars and galaxies in the universe to the exploration of extrasolar alien worlds. Shelton believes that GMT has the potential to even revolutionize our understanding of astronomy.

"The GMT is poised to answer some of humanity's biggest questions about the nature of exoplanets and whether we are alone in the universe, about the beginning of the universe to understand the formation and evolution of the galaxies, about the origin of the chemical elements, and how black holes grow. The biggest discoveries that will be made by the GMT, however, will be the unexpected results that revolutionize our understanding of astronomy," Shelton told Astrowatch.net.

They may or may not put Jodie Foster in charge.

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"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

"As an instrument for selecting at random, I have found nothing superior to dice," wrote statistician Francis Galton in an 1890 issue of Nature. "When they are shaken and tossed in a basket, they hurtle so variously against one another and against the ribs of the basket-work that they tumble wildly about, and their positions at the outset afford no perceptible clue to what they will be even after a single good shake and toss."

How can we generate a uniform sequence of random numbers? The randomness so beautifully and abundantly generated by nature has not always been easy to extract and quantify. The oldest known dice (4-sided) were discovered in a 24th century B.C. tomb in the Middle East. More recently, around 1100 B.C. in China, turtle shells were heated with a poker until they cracked at random, and a fortune teller would interpret the cracks. Centuries after that, I Ching hexagrams for fortunetelling were generated with 49 yarrow stalks laid out on a table and divided several times, with results similar to performing coin tosses.

But by the mid-1940s, the modern world demanded a lot more random numbers than dice or yarrow stalks could offer. RAND Corporation created a machine that would generate numbers using a random pulse generator. They ran it for a while and gathered the results into a book titled A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates. What now might seem like an absurd art project was, back then, a breakthrough. For the first time, a nice long sequence of high-quality random numbers was made available to the public. The book was reprinted by RAND in 2001 and is available on Amazon.

Phoenix666 writes:

Pickup line, circa 2030: "Do my pants think it's hot in here, or is it just you?"

Imagine a single-coloured piece of cloth that suddenly displays a colourful pattern when the ambient temperature changes. Upon further temperature change, a completely different pattern shows up.

[...] Marjan Kooroshnia began her research on already existing descriptions of leuco dye-based thermochromic inks; below their activation temperature they are coloured, and above their activation temperature they are clear or have a light hue. In addition, they are usually blended with static pigments, allowing them to change from one colour to another.

[...] After a lot of testing in the printing lab, she managed to mix the inks so that they looked similar when they were in a non-heated state and they change to different colours as result of increasing temperature.

Then, she explored thermochromic inks with different activation temperatures in order to create a wide spectrum of colours that would appear at different temperatures. She used thermochromic inks with activation temperatures of 27, 37 and 47°C to create a dynamic pattern that colour changing effects that appear in sequence due to increasing temperature; for example, the pattern has one colour at 27°C, another colour at 37°C and another colour at 47°C.

Or will it take off as a uniform that's white when it's cold, and camouflage pattern when it's hot?

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-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

The Diamondback student-run newspaper at the University of Maryland reports:

The Textbook Cost Savings Act of 2017, sponsored by Maryland state Sen. Jim Rosapepe, could help students save a lot of [...] money.

The bill would provide a $100,000 grant to the University System of Maryland's William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation to promote the use of open [knowledge] materials in place of traditional textbooks. The money would be used to foster the use of open education resources, or OERs, among the system's 12 institutions, said MJ Bishop, director of the Kirwan Center.

[...] If passed, the act would provide funding for the center to scale up the Maryland Open Source Textbook Initiative, a project that began in 2013 to promote OER use in classrooms. Between spring 2014 and fall 2016, the initiative has involved faculty teaching more than 60 courses at 14 public institutions in Maryland, saving students an estimated $1 million since the project's inception, according to the system website.

[...] Bishop said the grant will be used to create a central OER repository to share with all system institutions, as well as provide mini grants to universities to promote adoption of OERs in classrooms. The grant will also help to fund project management and instructional design staff, allowing faculty to create their own open source textbooks and design their courses around OERs.

[...] Some professors at this university have already made the switch to OERs. Lecturer Scott Roberts made an online textbook for PSYC100: Introduction to Psychology in 2010 after he became annoyed with new editions of the published textbook--which he said essentially contained the same content with different page numbers.

[...] Bishop admitted the $100,000 grant is not enough to accomplish all the center's goals at such a large scale; however, she said the act would be a sign of support from the Maryland legislature and be helpful when the initiative tries to get funding from national foundations, such as the Hewlett Foundation or the Gates Foundation.

Nonprofit MarylandReporter adds:

Open [Knowledge] Textbooks Could Save Students a Bundle

"The state is moving rapidly towards free textbooks online", said the bill's sponsor Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Prince George's) in an interview. "If the bill passes, it will be state policy that we want to move in that direction as much as possible."

The bill, SB424,[1] passed the Senate in an overwhelming 44-2 vote [March 9], with only two Republicans voting against it. The House version, HB967, cleared the Appropriations Committee, 23-2 [March 9], and heads to the full chamber for a vote.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2015 that textbooks prices had jumped over 1000% since 1977.

[1] Incorrect link in TFA corrected.

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takyon writes:

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is seeking another vote on Scottish independence, coming possibly as soon as late 2018:

In a bombshell announcement Monday, Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon told reporters in Edinburgh that she will seek the authority to hold a second independence referendum for Scotland. Citing a "brick wall of intransigence" from British Prime Minister Theresa May, Sturgeon asserted that the only way to preserve Scottish interests in the midst of the U.K. exit from the European Union is to put matters directly in the hands of Scottish voters.

"What Scotland deserves, in the light of the material change of circumstances brought about by the Brexit vote, is the chance to decide our future in a fair, free and democratic way — and at a time when we are equipped with the facts we need," the Scottish first minister and head of the Scottish National Party said in prepared remarks. "Whatever path we take, it should be one decided by us, not for us."

Next week, she will seek a section 30 order from the Scottish Parliament to begin the referendum process — which the U.K. Parliament in Westminster ultimately must approve. If all goes as planned, Sturgeon expects that a vote would be held in the fall of 2018 or spring of 2019, after terms of a Brexit deal worked out by the U.K. and the EU become clear.

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Phoenix666 writes:

Liquorice has a long history; the root of the plant Glycyrrhiza glabral has been used medicinally for over 4,000 years.

Liquorice has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiviral properties and has been used, notably in traditional Chinese medicine, for the treatment of gastric ulcers and liver disorders, such as hepatitis B.

Among its less beneficial effects on the body is raised blood pressure, caused by the glycyrrhizic acid it contains, if you eat too much. Through its interaction with the hormone aldosterone, it causes reabsorption of sodium and excretion of potassium, resulting in an increase in sodium levels and a decrease in potassium levels – one symptom of which is muscular weakness. And pregnant women have been advised to avoid it because it pushes up levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. A study just published upon which this advice is based, drew on several hundred children born in Finland in 1998. They found that mothers who ate more liquorice (salmiak, liquorice with added ammonium chloride) gave birth to children who were more likely to have lower IQs and to suffer from ADHD.

Liquorice is good for you, and also bad. Salmiakki is right out. Hmm, better go with Twizzlers instead.

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Phoenix666 writes:

This unique concept unlocks the potential for electricity generation in low volume waterways such as a stream or a brook. Opening up a whole range of unexplored sources of sustainable energy in many areas of the world. The rolling fluid turbine is a viable alternative to conventional hydroelectric generators, which have been providing power from water since they were developed in the 1880s. Typically hydroelectric power requires a huge head of water to function, relying on blades submerged in high-velocity water streams. The rolling fluid turbine relies on physics to convert water's natural flow into upward pressure to generate electricity, this promises to change how water current is transformed into electrical power.

This is achieved by exploiting a unique hydrodynamic principle, the rolling fluid principle vortex dynamic, which can create a large amount of energy. This is achieved by using the naturally occurring suction of water by driving it through a specially shaped turbine casing, Sedlacek and his team have managed to generate power with an output of up to 10 kWh per day at 60% efficiency from a small turbine. This is enough power to meet the requirements of 5 European families or an entire African village.

The invention is a tubular canister that floats like a buoy on the surface of a small body of water. Beneath the surface, the natural flow of water is directed through a tube driving the water pressure upwards with increased suction as a result of the vortex principle. Inside the turbine shaft, the vortex energy rotates a cup mounted on a generator shaft that converts the rotation into electrical energy.

When installed in a slow moving stream, the turbine can generate energy for a small house at levels of up to 400 watts. Ideally, the bladeless turbine operates more effectively at flow levels of 22 to 250 litres per second, but it can produce results in flow rates as low as 2 L/sec.

The mechanism is unclear, but other designs exist that convert low-head flow into electricity.

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Fnord666 writes:

The police chief in Wilmington, North Carolina, has publicly lambasted one of his officers. The officer recently pulled over a local attorney moonlighting as an Uber driver and told the driver that he could not film the traffic stop.

"Taking photographs and videos of people that are in plain sight, including the police, is your legal right," Chief Ralph Evangelous said in a Wednesday statement published on the department's Facebook page. "As a matter of fact, we invite citizens to do so when they believe it is necessary. We believe that public videos help to protect the police as well as our citizens and provide critical information during police and citizen interaction."

The statement concluded: "A copy of this statement will be disseminated to every officer within the Wilmington Police Department."

During the February 26 traffic stop, Jesse Bright began filming Sgt. Kenneth Becker when he and other law enforcement officers approached his car. Sgt. Becker, who appeared to be wearing a VieVu body-worn camera, told Bright that a "new law" forbids citizens from filming encounters with police.

"Turn it off or I'll take you to jail," Becker said.

"For recording you?" Bright retorted. "What is the law?"

The officers were unable to cite him the "new law," as it does not exist.

Source: ArsTechnica

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Fnord666 writes:

In 2013, a National Security Agency contractor named Edward Snowden revealed US surveillance programs that involved the massive and warrantless gathering of Americans' electronic communications. Two of the programs, called Upstream and Prism, are allowed under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. That section expires at year's end, and President Donald Trump's administration, like his predecessor's administration, wants the law renewed so those snooping programs can continue.

That said, even as the administration seeks renewal of the programs, Congress and the public have been left in the dark regarding questions surrounding how many Americans' electronic communications have been ensnared under the programs. Congress won't be told in a classified setting either, despite repeated requests.

Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan and member of the House Judiciary Committee, told a panel hearing last week that Congress needed the numbers to help it decide whether to reauthorize the programs.

"The members of this committee and the public at large require that estimate to engage in a meaningful debate," he said.

This isn't the first time lawmakers have been stonewalled on the issue. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had asked for the information in 2011, 2012, and 2014, and he's renewing the request again. Despite the lack of information, Congress has repeatedly renewed the programs even before Snowden revealed them.

"I and other members of Congress have been seeking an answer to this question since 2011. We posed the question again in the context of the reauthorization of Section 702. It is now central to the debate this year over the reauthorization of the program, which you have described as your 'top legislative priority,'" Wyden wrote in a letter to Daniel Coats, Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence.

Source: ArsTechnica

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-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

El Reg reports

The family of a repair technician killed in an auto parts factory accident is suing five robotics companies they say are responsible.

In a suit [PDF] filed to the Western Michigan US District Court this week, the family of Wanda Holbrook claims that the companies that built, installed, and maintained the robotics at a trailer hitch assembly plant should be held liable for her fatal accident at the plant in 2015.

According to the lawsuit, Holbrook, a journeyman technician, was performing routine maintenance on one of the robots on the trailer hitch assembly line when the unit unexpectedly activated and attempted to load a part into the unit being repaired, crushing Holbrook's head.

Now Holbrook's estate is suing the three companies that built the robots (Fanuc America, Nachi Robotic, and Lincoln Electric) for failing to design adequate safeguards and protections into the robots. They're also suing two other companies that installed and maintained the unit (Flex-N-Gate, Prodomax) for failing to prevent an accident they say would have been avoided had safety been a higher priority.

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Fnord666 writes:

It's no secret that ISPs can make more money from network upgrades in wealthy neighborhoods than low-income ones, and a new analysis of Cleveland, Ohio, by broadband advocacy groups appears to show that AT&T is following that strategy. The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) and a Cleveland-based group called Connect Your Community alleged in their report today that "AT&T has systematically discriminated against lower-income Cleveland neighborhoods in its deployment of home Internet and video technologies over the past decade."

Last year, the NDIA brought attention to AT&T's refusal to provide $5-per-month Internet service to poor people in areas where the company hasn't upgraded its network. When the Federal Communications Commission approved AT&T's purchase of DirecTV in 2015, the FCC required AT&T to provide discount broadband to poor people as condition of the merger. But the condition apparently allowed AT&T to charge full price in areas where maximum download speeds were less than 3Mbps. After the NDIA spoke out, AT&T announced it would stop exploiting the loophole and instead provide discount Internet to poor people in all parts of its network.

Today's followup report from the NDIA and Connect Your Community analyzes FCC data on AT&T Internet deployments in Cleveland, where many residents were initially declared ineligible for the discount broadband service.

"Specifically, AT&T has chosen not to extend its 'fiber-to-the-node' VDSL infrastructure—which is now the standard for most Cuyahoga County suburbs and other urban AT&T markets throughout the US—to the majority of Cleveland Census blocks, including the overwhelming majority of blocks with individual poverty rates above 35 percent," the report said.

In the Ohio suburbs, AT&T customers routinely get speeds of at least 18Mbps and sometimes up to 1Gbps, while high-poverty neighborhoods in Cleveland are stuck on speeds of 768kbps to 6mbps, the report said. The FCC defines broadband speeds as 25Mbps downstream and 3Mbps upstream.

"When lending institutions have engaged in similar policies and practices, our communities haven't hesitated to call it 'redlining,'" the advocacy groups wrote. "We see no reason to hesitate to call it 'digital redlining' in this case."

Source: ArsTechnica

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