The Telepresent Texan

Intelligence Explained - Actually, this particular article is about the use of MRI with a technique called diffusion tensor imaging to map out the circuits of the brain's white matter, and how that circuitry might correspond to intelligence.

Ars Technica-

Windows 7 is here

LHC reaches operational temps, collisions start in 5 weeks

Magic Mouse: Oh my God-it's full of capacitive sensors! - This relates to Apples new multi-touch mouse for the Mac.

30 years of failure: the username/password combination

DRAM study turns assumptions about errors upside down

Modeling a black hole with a 300 GigaWatt laser

Permanence in motion: electrons rock around the clock

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Science and Technology Links for the week of 10/05/09

Ars Technica

Microsoft Research demoes five multitouch mice

CCDs, fiber optics take home Physics Nobel Prize

Fusion 3.0 gains Snow Leopard, Windows 7 Aero support

97 percent of Intel testers recommend Windows 7

Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 hits RTM

Obama bans "texting while driving" for 4.5M govt workers

Technology Review

How Neutrinos Could Revolutionize Communications with Submarines

Flash Forward for Mobile

Startup That Builds Biological Parts

Light-Switched Drug Delivery

Behind the Big Apple's Data Dump

How Fruit Flies Execute In-Flight Turns

Time Lens Speeds Optical Data

Scientific American

Astronomers Discover Solar System's Largest Planetary Ring Yet around Saturn

Abruptly Forgotten: Working Memory Disappears in a Blink

Unraveling the Ribosome: Chemistry Nobel Awarded to Modelers of Cells' Protein-Maker [Updated]

New Vaccine May Immunize Addicts from Cocaine's Pleasurable Effects

Pirate Economics?: Captain Hook Meets Adam Smith

Climate change may mean slower winds

Flashy Fungi: Researchers Still in the Dark over Glowing Jungle Mushrooms

Popular Mechanics

10 Most Brilliant Innovators of 2009: Microsoft Natal - This looks very, very promising, and if it works anything like the demo, I might consider getting an X-Box 360 in the future just for its sake alone. But in the meantime, let me get in a plug for the Wiimote's new accessory, the WiiMotion Plus. I recently purchased it, and the control on this is extraordinary.

MythBusters Q&A: New Season Filled With Bullets, MPG Tests and Duct Tape

What Does a Beer Taste Like After the Singularity?

Earthquake Research Digs Deep to Find Timely Warning System

The Science Behind The Invention of Lying: Hollywood Fact vs. Fiction

Bonus website pointed to by an article at this site: Will It Blend? If you ever wondered what would happen if you put consumer electronics in the blender, this is the site for you.

Discover Magazine

Boosting a Brain Wave Makes People Move Slow-and Bad at Video Games

Would You Pay $39.99 for an Energy-Efficient Light Bulb?

Brain-Saving, Mind-Blowing, Hi-Tech Medical Imaging

Does Evolution Explain Human Nature?

I Didn't Sin-It Was My Brain

When Less Information Is More - Relates to Genomics and informing people of genetic abnormalities

The 9 Industries That Will Be Most Screwed by Global Warming - Pardon the French, the gallery's interesting.

Physicist Looks to Build a Kilometer-Long Cannon for Space Launches

Google Working on "Smart Charging" Software for Electric Cars

Electron Microscopes Powered by Quantum Mechanics Could See Through Living Cells

Breeding Super-Hygienic Bees to Take the Offensive in Colony Collapse Fight

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Science and Technology Links for this Week (9/28/09)

Popular Science-

How To Make Ferrofluid

Hands On: Fulifilm Real 3D W1 Digital Camera

The Power Loader Is Real - For those wanting to confront Alien Queens, there is no substitute.

Unexpectedly, Cosmic Ray Intensity in Space Reaches Highest Level in 50 Years

"Time Telescopes" Could Make Data Transfer 27 Times Faster

ISS Could Get its Own Electron-Beam Fabrication 3-D Printer

Plutonium Shortage Threatens Future Deep Space Missions

Video: MIT Scientist Explains How OLEDs Work, Using a Glowing Pickle

Popular Mechanics-

Robotic Surgeons Take Over at a Hospital Near You

Is Qualcomm's Mirasol the Future of Low-Power Displays?

Explosion Savages Massive Sugar Mill: What Went Wrong

How Halo ODST Creators Built a Blockbuster Game in 14 Months

Students Build the Solar Homes of the Future

Discover Magazine-

Major Earthquakes Can Weaken Faults Across the Globe

Electric Fish Powers Down To Save Energy

A Silver Lining: Economic Bust Is a Health Boom

South Pacific Tsunami Kills More Than 100 People

Space Probe Soon to Study Mercury's Comet-Like "Tail"

Study: Strange Planet Has Atmosphere of Gaseous Rock-and It Rains Pebbles

For Proteins, Evolution Is a One-Way Street

Did a Throat Infection Take Down Sue, the Famous T. Rex?

Scientific American-

What (Maybe) Didn't Kill the Dinosaurs: Comets

Gaming Tech Aids Scientists Building Virtual Synthetic Chromatophore

You Snooze, You Lose--Weight

The problem with psychopaths: a fearful face doesn't deter them

The Effect of Our Surroundings on Body Weight

Technology Review

A Material to Chill "Dirty" Fuel Cells

How Aviation Can Come Clean

Can the Wireless Internet Be Neutral?

Nanosensing Transistors Controlled by Stress

The Mystery of the Runaway Star

When Universes Collide, How Would We Know?

Lunar Self-Cleaning Material

Ars Technica-

NVIDIA's Fermi takes direct aim at supercomputing, Intel

Datacenter energy costs outpacing hardware prices

ICANN cuts cord to US government, gets broader oversight

Carbon nanotubes may power ultracapacitor car

Turning the tide: a hands-on look at Google's Wave

Editorial: "Network neutrality" or "network neutering"?

Virtual composer makes beautiful music-and stirs controversy

Holographic storage, phase-change memory coming soon

Monday, September 21, 2009

Science and Technology Links for 9/21/09

Scientists Create First Ever Magnetic Gas

Moon May Beat Pluto as Coldest Place in Solar System

Panasonic's Robotic Bed Transforms into a Mobile Chair, Makes Standing Up Obsolete

DARPA Wants A Few Good Space Debris Cleaners

New from Boeing: Flying Bot Swarms You Control With Body Language

New Material Brings IBM's Super-High-Density Memory Closer to Market

Popular Mechanics

The Guide to Home Geothermal Energy

5 Realistic Lessons in Radical Consumption From No Impact Man

Behind Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs' 3D Food FX (With Video!)

Weird Stories of Objects Falling From the Sky-Explained

The Flying Future for America's Missile Shield

Top 8 Next-Gen, Alt Fuel Cars at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show

Top 10 Most Dangerous Plants in the World

Discover Magazine

What does 3.6 million pounds of thrust look like?

Planck First Light

How Long Would It Take a Physics Lecture to Actually Kill You?

The Real Problem With a Human Trip to Mars: Radiation

How to Make Water Drops Bounce Off Each Other Like Beach Balls

Body Attacks Self; Body Protects Self

Scientific American

Algaeus lives! A modified Prius goes cross-country on fuel from algae

NASA's moon orbiter returns promising early data in the hunt for lunar water ice

Torture Interferes with Memory

Better Materials Could Build a Green Construction Industry

Conditional Consciousness: Patients in Vegetative States Can Learn, Predicting Recovery

Technology Review

Laser-Triggered Chemical Reactions

A Silver Lining for the Government's Cloud

Geoengineering May Be Necessary, Despite Its Perils

Games Company Declares War on Gold Farmers

Blueprint for a Quantum Electric Motor

Riding a Slingshot into Space

Ars Technica

If spectrum isn't scarce anymore, can you say $#!% on TV?

DOJ: Google book settlement needs major rewrite

FCC Chairman wants network neutrality, wired and wireless

A trip down memory lane and beyond at Vintage Computer Fest

IE program manager endorses HTML 5 multimedia tags

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Science and Technology Links for week of 9/14/09

Discover Magazine

Rock Solid Evidence of a Rocky, Earth-like Exoplanet

Jupiter Grabbed a Comet for 12 Years, Then Flung It Back Out

To Save the Planet From Global Warming, Turn the Sahara Green

Did Your Morning Shower Spray You With Bacteria?

How Does the Brain Use So Much Energy? Not in Electrical Signals.

Scientists Map Out Gravitational Space Highways

Man Ray Meets Mr. Wizard in Sugimoto's "Lightning Fields" Photos

Nanotubes Could Enable Self-Repairing Electronic Circuits

How Much Can You Really Learn With a Free Online Education?

PopSci U: Seven of the Country's Coolest SciTech Courses

Newly Refurbished Hubble Sends Back Stunning First Images

Scientific American

Six Russian Volcanoes Erupt

Detecting Digitally Altered Video

When an Electric Car Dies, What Will Happen to the Battery?

Drilling Project Pulls Up Evidence for Early Oxygen in the Oceans

Why Does Music Make Us Feel?

Gene therapy: An Interview with an Unfortunate Pioneer

Popular Mechanics

Launch System Skepticism Grows at Space 2009: Guest Analysis

Why NASA Should Bomb the Moon to Find Water: Analysis

Debunking 5 Prevalent Swine Flu Myths

9: The Making of a Stitchpunked World

Neill Blomkamp Explains the Origin of District 9's Aliens

Technology Review

Ultradense, 3-D Data Storage

Superefficient Solar from Nanotubes

A Device to Spot Autism Early

A Salt and Paper Battery

More Efficient, and Cheaper, Solar Cells

Ars Technica

Hands on: limitations of Google Fast Flip make it a novelty

Last.fm Scrobbles coming to a radio near you on October 5

Five essential things to know about evolution

WebKit adoption shows strong momentum for WebGL 3D graphics

AT&T to FCC: gaming is not "broadband," but an added service

Intel's new flash tech to bring back Turbo Memory, for real

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

I think the author is missing something.

"Depression's Evolutionary Roots"

My line of thought is this: Depression is an extreme example, a pathological inability to escape from what is a perfectly legitimate state of mind when temporary.

We have a brain that is sort of balanced between different impulses, different emotions, essentially different gears that it can shift into to deal with different problems from different perspectives. Temporary depression is a natural response to failures and tragedies. Like they say, it forces us into a more contemplative state of mind, where we examine things more closely. It's when this response is THE constant state of mind, the default operating condition of thought that we have a problem, for other states of mind have their value, too.