Described as a “knowledge collider,” and now with a pledge of one billion euros from the European Union, the Living Earth Simulator is a new big data and supercomputing project that will attempt to uncover the underlying sociological and psychological laws that underpin human civilization. In the same way that CERN’s Large Hadron Collider smashes together protons to see what happens, the Living Earth Simulator (LES) will gather knowledge from a Planetary Nervous System (PNS — yes, really) to try to predict societal fluctuations such as political unrest, economic bubbles, disease epidemics, and so on.

Orchestrated by ICT, which is basically a consortium of preeminent scientists, computer science centers around the world, and high-power computing (HPC) installations, the Living Earth Simulator hopes to correlate huge amounts of data — including real-time sources such as Twitter and web news — and extant, but separate approaches currently being used by other institutions, into a big melting pot of information. To put it into scientific terms, the LES will analyze techno-socio-economic-environmental (!) systems. From this, FuturICT hopes to reveal the tacit agreements and hidden laws that actually govern society, rather than the explicit, far-removed-from-reality bills and acts that lawmakers inexorably enact.

The scale of the LES, when it’s complete, will be huge. It is hoped that supercomputing centers all over the world will chip in with CPU time, and data will be corralled from existing projects and a new Global Participatory Platform, which is basically open data on a worldwide scale. The project also has commercial backing from Microsoft Research, IBM, Yahoo Research, and others. All told, the system will create useful knowledge in the fields of energy, networks and communication, economics, crime and corruption, migration, health, and crisis management.

The timing of EU’s billion-euro grant is telling, too. As you probably know, the European Union is struggling to keep the plates spinning, and the LES, rather handily, will probably be the most accurate predictor of economic stability in the world. Beyond money, though, it is hoped that the LES and PNS can finally tell us why humans do things, like watch a specific TV show, buy a useless gadget, or start a revolution.

Looking at the larger picture, the Living Earth Simulator is really an admission that we know more about the physical universe than the social. We can predict with startling accuracy whether an asteroid will hit Earth, but we know scant little about how society might actually react to an extinction-level event. We plough billions of dollars into studying the effects and extent of climate change, but what if understood enough of the psychology and sociology behind human nature to actually change our behavior?

Source: FutureICT Homepage & FutureICT Documentary on Vimeo - via ExtremeTech

Tra il coma e la morte cerebrale si estende una zona d’ombra dove la medicina va a tentoni. Un paziente che ha aperto gli occhi, respira, sembra sveglio, ma non risponde agli stimoli, è cosciente oppure no? Può sentire quello che gli viene detto? Comprende ciò che gli succede intorno o è solo un’illusione indotta dal battito delle ciglia? Sono interrogativi angoscianti che possono affliggere parenti e amici, per anni, ponendo talvolta di fronte a scelte estreme. Ora, una nuova ricerca accende un faro nella nebbia che avvolge gli stati vegetativi più difficili, nei casi in cui mancano le reazioni motorie, come stringere una mano, girare gli occhi, alzare un piede, in segno d’interazione.

La tecnica, sperimentata dal gruppo guidato da Marcello Massimini, del Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche Luigi Sacco dell’università degli Studi di Milano assieme ai colleghi del Coma Science Group dell’Université de Liège, in Belgio, ha permesso ai ricercatori di distinguere su 17 pazienti con gravi lesioni cerebrali, chi aveva recuperato un livello minimo di coscienza, pur non riuscendo a comunicare con il mondo circostante. “ Paradossalmente, la coscienza è uno stato cerebrale che non dipende tanto dal dialogo verso l’esterno, quanto più dal dialogo interno, tra i neuroni della corteccia”, spiega Massimini: “ Si può essere coscienti, anche se all’apparenza si direbbe il contrario. Succede, per esempio, durante la fase Rem, quando si sogna. Ecco perché abbiamo deciso di sondare la comunicazione interna”.

Č una delle primissime applicazioni cliniche del cosiddetto coscienziometro di cui vi avevamo parlato, una macchina che combina la stimolazione magnetica transcranica e l’elettroencefalogramma, consentendo di misurare in maniera non invasiva le interazioni tra i neuroni, presupposto della coscienza, secondo la teoria dell’informazione integrata. “ In una persona sveglia, lo stimolo di un’area cerebrale, non importa quale, si propaga in un tempo brevissimo ad altre aree neuronali. Č evidente: in pochi millisecondi tutta la corteccia si accende”, chiarisce Massimini: “ Al contrario, quando si ripete l’esperimento in un soggetto non cosciente, per esempio sotto anestesia o durante il sonno non Rem, l’impulso magnetico genera solo una risposta nell’area stimolata: il cervello sembra disconnesso. Come se fosse fatto di isole separate tra loro, senza ponti di connessione”.

Ecco quindi che il metodo, dopo anni di analisi in condizioni reversibili e controllabili, è stato applicato a pazienti usciti dal coma e rimasti intrappolati in quel limbo in cui la diagnosi è un terno al lotto. L’errore diagnostico è stimato intorno al 40 per cento dei casi. I risultati, descritti sulla rivista Brain, indicano chiaramente che “ i pazienti in stato vegetativo mostrano l’assenza di comunicazione tra le aree corticali, nonostante appaiano svegli. Al contrario, nei pazienti con un minimo livello di coscienza, questa comunicazione c’è”, continua lo scienziato.

Č un passo importante. Ma è solo il primo. “ Ora gli studi proseguiranno su larga scala, coinvolgendo tre strutture come l' Ospedale Niguarda di Milano, che riceve pazienti in coma, in fase acuta, la clinica Don Gnocchi, per la lungodegenza di pazienti in stato vegetativo, e il Centro europeo per il coma di Liegi”, racconta Massimini. La speranza degli scienziati non è, meramente, poter distinguere i casi in cui sussiste coscienza da quelli in cui la coscienza non è riemersa. Sarebbe un traguardo affascinante, emotivamente forte, ma tutto sommato fine a se stesso. La vera sfida infatti è un’altra: “ Vogliamo capire i meccanismi cerebrali che scattano nel recupero della coscienza, cosa innesca la connessione tra i neuroni e cosa, invece, la stacca. Perché così potremmo forse stimolare gli stessi meccanismi e promuovere il recupero cognitivo”. Il risveglio dal baratro dello stato vegetativo: è questo il sogno, lontano, forse irraggiungibile, che s’insegue. Il coscienziometro potrebbe essere la chiave. 

Fonte: wired.it

Angkor, un oras stravechi situat în Cambodgia care a fost centrul imperiului Khmer, a cunoscut prosperitatea între secolele al IX-lea si al XV-lea. Astazi, turistii din întreaga lume continua sa aprecieze arhitectura khmera care a dainuit peste secole si realizarile ingineresti unice, precum sistemul de irigatii format din canale, santuri protectoare si rezervoare gigant, denumite baray.

Acum, cercetatorii au identificat motivele pentru care acest grandios imperiu s-a prabusit. Studiind sedimentele aflate într-unul din rezervoare, oamenii de stiinta au ajuns la concluzia ca secetele prelungite si suprautilizarea solului au afectat sistemul de gospodarire a apelor si a condus la declinul imperiului.

"Atunci când Angkor s-a prabusit, s-a înregistrat o scadere a nivelului apelor", explica Mary Beth Day, geolog la Universitatea Cambridge din Anglia. "Astfel, în baray au ajuns mult mai putine sedimente decât în mod normal", a adaugat cercetatoarea.

Populatia Angkorului era în crestere, iar solul a fost suprasolicitat din cauza cultivarii intensive, afirma omul de stiinta.

"Sedimentul care ajungea în rezervor în timpul de glorie a Angkorului era mult mai erodat în comparatie cu sedimentul descoperit în baray ce dateaza din perioada de dupa colaps. Pamântul era folosit în mod intensiv pentru agricultura, spre deosebire de perioada ulterioara, când oamenii au parasit orasul", a adaugat Mary Beth Day.

Pentru acest studiu, publicat în jurnalul stiintific The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, cercetatoarea a prelevat o mostra de 2 metri din sedimentele din Angkor, analizând proprietatile fizice ale acestora.

Sursa: New York Times - via descopera.ro

Fifty years after the pioneering discovery that a protein's three-dimensional structure is determined solely by the sequence of its amino acids, an international team of researchers has taken a major step toward fulfilling the tantalizing promise: predicting the structure of a protein from its DNA alone.

The team at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Politecnico di Torino / Human Genetics Foundation Torino (HuGeF) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York (MSKCC) has reported substantial progress toward solving a classical problem of molecular biology: the computational protein folding problem.

The results was published on Dec. 7, 2011 in the journal PLoS ONE.

In molecular biology and biomedical engineering, knowing the shape of protein molecules is key to understanding how they perform the work of life, the mechanisms of disease and drug design. Normally the shape of protein molecules is determined by expensive and complicated experiments, and for most proteins these experiments have not yet been done. Computing the shape from genetic information alone is possible in principle. But despite limited success for some smaller proteins, this challenge has remained essentially unsolved. The difficulty lies in the enormous complexity of the search space, an astronomically large number of possible shapes. Without any shortcuts, it would take a supercomputer many years to explore all possible shapes of even a small protein.

Studying related proteins, researchers identified pairs of amino acid residues (left) that seemed to change in lockstep in the evolutionary record. These co-varying pairs indicated points on protein (middle) likely to be in contact after folding, giving researchers enough clues to create a computational model of the protein's three-dimensional structure (right). Credit: Terry Helms/Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

"Experimental structure determination has a hard time keeping up with the explosion in genetic sequence information," said Debora Marks, a mathematical biologist in the Department of Systems Biology at HMS, who worked closely with Lucy Colwell, a mathematician, who recently moved from Harvard to Cambridge University. They collaborated with physicists Riccardo Zecchina and Andrea Pagnani in Torino in a team effort initiated by Marks and computational biologist Chris Sander of the Computational Biology Program at MSKCC, who had earlier attempted a similar solution to the problem, when substantially fewer sequences were available.

"Collaboration was key," Sander said. "As with many important discoveries in science, no one could provide the answer in isolation."

The international team tested a bold premise: That evolution can provide a roadmap to how the protein folds. Their approach combined three key elements: evolutionary information accumulated for many millions of years; data from high-throughput genetic sequencing; and a key method from statistical physics, co-developed in the Torino group with Martin Weigt, who recently moved to the University of Paris.

Using the accumulated evolutionary information in the form of the sequences of thousands of proteins, grouped in protein families that are likely to have similar shapes, the team found a way to solve the problem: an algorithm to infer which parts of a protein interact to determine its shape. They used a principle from statistical physics called "maximum entropy" in a method that extracts information about microscopic interactions from measurement of system properties.

"The protein folding problem has been a huge combinatorial challenge for decades," said Zecchina, "but our statistical methods turned out to be surprisingly effective in extracting essential information from the evolutionary record."

With these internal protein interactions in hand, widely used molecular simulation software developed by Axel Brunger at Stanford University generated the atomic details of the protein shape. The team was for the first time able to compute remarkably accurate shapes from sequence information alone for a test set of 15 diverse proteins, with no protein size limit in sight, with unprecedented accuracy.

"Alone, none of the individual pieces are completely novel, but apparently nobody had put all of them together to predict 3D protein structure," Colwell said.

To test their method, the researchers initially focused on the Ras family of signaling proteins, which has been extensively studied because of its known link to cancer. The structure of several Ras-type proteins has already been solved experimentally, but the proteins in the family are larger--with about 160 amino acid residues--than any proteins modeled computationally from sequence alone.

"When we saw the first computationally folded Ras protein, we nearly went through the roof," Marks said. To the researchers' amazement, their model folded within about 3.5 angstroms of the known structure with all the structural elements in the right place. And there is no reason, the authors say, that the method couldn't work with even larger proteins.

The researchers caution that there are other limits, however: Experimental structures, when available, generally are more accurate in atomic detail. And, the method works only when researchers have genetic data for large protein families. But advances in DNA sequencing have yielded a torrent of such data that is forecast to continue growing exponentially in the foreseeable future.

The next step, the researchers say, is to predict the structures of unsolved proteins currently being investigated by structural biologists, before exploring the large uncharted territory of currently unknown protein structures.

"Synergy between computational prediction and experimental determination of structures is likely to yield increasingly valuable insight into the large universe of protein shapes that crucially determine their function and evolutionary dynamics," Sander said.

More information: "Protein 3D structure computed from evolutionary sequence variation," Marks et al. PLoS ONE, December 6, 2011

Source: Harvard Medical School

There have been some successes with simple 3-D shapes such as cubes, but the list of possible starting points that could yield the ideal self-assembly for more complex geometric configurations gets long fast. For example, while there are 11 2-D arrangements for a cube, there are 43,380 for a dodecahedron (12 equal pentagonal faces). Creating a truncated octahedron (14 total faces – six squares and eight hexagons) has 2.3 million possibilities.

"The issue is that one runs into a combinatorial explosion," said Govind Menon, associate professor of applied mathematics at Brown University. "How do we search efficiently for the best solution within such a large dataset? This is where math can contribute to the problem."

In a paper published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Brown and Johns Hopkins University determined the best 2-D arrangements, called planar nets, to create self-folding polyhedra with dimensions of a few hundred microns, the size of a small dust particle. The strength of the analysis lies in the combination of theory and experiment. The team at Brown devised algorithms to cut through the myriad possibilities and identify the best planar nets to yield the self-folding 3-D structures. Researchers at Johns Hopkins then confirmed the nets' design principles with experiments.

This showas a few of the 2.3 million possible 2-D designs -- planar nets -- for a truncated octahedron (right column). The question is: Which net is best to make a self-assembling shape at the nanoscale? Credit: Credit: Shivendra Pandey/Gracias Lab, Johns Hopkins University.

"Using a combination of theory and experiments, we uncovered design principles for optimum nets which self-assemble with high yields," said David Gracias, associate professor in of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Johns Hopkins and a co-corresponding author on the paper. "In doing so, we uncovered striking geometric analogies between natural assembly of proteins and viruses and these polyhedra, which could provide insight into naturally occurring self-assembling processes and is a step toward the development of self-assembly as a viable manufacturing paradigm."

"This is about creating basic tools in nanotechnology," said Menon, co-corresponding author on the paper. "It's important to explore what shapes you can build. The bigger your toolbox, the better off you are."

While the approach has been used elsewhere to create smaller particles at the nanoscale, the researchers at Brown and Johns Hopkins used larger sizes to better understand the principles that govern self-folding polyhedra.

The researchers sought to figure out how to self-assemble structures that resemble the protein shells viruses use to protect their genetic material. As it turns out, the shells used by many viruses are shaped like dodecahedra (a simplified version of a geodesic dome like the Epcot Center at Disney World). But even a dodecahedron can be cut into 43,380 planar nets. The trick is to find the nets that yield the best self-assembly. Menon, with the help of Brown undergraduate students Margaret Ewing and Andrew "Drew" Kunas, sought to winnow the possibilities. The group built models and developed a computer code to seek out the optimal nets, finding just six that seemed to fit the algorithmic bill.

The students got acquainted with their assignment by playing with a set of children's toys in various geometric shapes. They progressed quickly into more serious analysis. "We started randomly generating nets, trying to get all of them. It was like going fishing in a lake and trying to count all the species of fish," said Kunas, whose concentration is in applied mathematics. After tabulating the nets and establishing metrics for the most successful folding maneuvers, "we got lists of nets with the best radius of gyration and vertex connections, discovering which nets would be the best for production for the icosahedron, dodecahedron, and truncated octahedron for the first time."

Gracias and colleagues at Johns Hopkins, who have been working with self-assembling structures for years, tested the configurations from the Brown researchers. The nets are nickel plates with hinges that have been soldered together in various 2-D arrangements. Using the options presented by the Brown researchers, the Johns Hopkins's group heated the nets to around 360 degrees Fahrenheit, the point at which surface tension between the solder and the nickel plate causes the hinges to fold upward, rotate and eventually form a polyhedron. "Quite remarkably, just on heating, these planar nets fold up and seal themselves into these complex 3-D geometries with specific fold angles," Gracias said.

"What's amazing is we have no control over the sequence of folds, but it still works," Menon added.

Source: Brown University

Un evento diventato, specie dall’Ottocento, un simbolo dell’Inquisizione.

Contro la «leggenda nera»

Da allora non sono mancate e non mancano difese della condanna di Bruno e della stessa macchina inquisitoriale. Secondo alcuni tradizionalisti cattolici come Rino Cammilleri (ma non è il solo) le accuse dei “laicisti” contro la «mite» Inquisizione sono una «leggenda nera». Essi sostengono che quella «santa» istituzione fu «necessaria», in alternativa ai tribunali laici, dato che «solo esperti ecclesiastici potevano asserire […] chi fosse davvero eretico, garantirgli un giusto e formale processo e persuaderlo, ove possibile» a pentirsi, avendo salva la vita. Per Cammilleri è ovviamente scontata la legittimità di processare gli eretici, perché in una società cristiana l’attacco alla Chiesa è un reato contro l’ordine sociale. «Il Santissimo Tribunale», anzi, «trattò con caritatevole pazienza e severa clemenza Giordano Bruno il quale [...] era pieno di sé, pertinace e impenitente» e profferiva «le bestemmie più orribili [...] Fu questo il motivo per cui lo condussero al rogo con la bocca serrata». Ci sono poi altri cattolici tradizionalisti più prudenti (si fa per dire), come il vescovo ciellino di San Marino-Montefeltro, Luigi Negri: essi giudicano sì l’omicidio una grave offesa alla persona, pur se insistono sul carattere garantista del processo a Bruno, ma ritengono che la sua condanna vada storicizzata («contestualizzata», direbbe Fisichella). Essa costituirebbe, come tutta l’attività dell’Inquisizione, una «riduzione della creatività e della libertà umana». Ma, tenuto conto che quella libertà era usata da Bruno in modo indebito, e che avrebbe portato alle ideologie totalitarie del Novecento, negatrici dell’uomo, «dobbiamo legare il 1600 al 1900» e pensare che, «forse», limitando «la libertà di ricerca in un punto», la Chiesa ha «creato quello che Giovanni Paolo II chiama “un grande movimento per la liberazione della persona umana”» (da False accuse alla Chiesa, Piemme). Da un male un bene, dunque: «una redenzione per mezzo del fuoco», come dice con sarcasmo Mark Twain a proposito dell’inferno.

La Chiesa e l’Inquisizione

Queste valutazioni sono ancora presenti fra i cattolici e non proprio marginali. Ma non è questa la posizione ufficiale della Chiesa, enunciata dal cardinale Paul Poupard, presidente del Pontificio consiglio per la cultura, il 3 febbraio 2000, nel quarto centenario del rogo. «Constatata l’incompatibilità della filosofia bruniana col pensiero cristiano, bisogna ribadire il
rispetto per la persona», dice Poupard. E fin qui è come Negri. Ma poi, anziché contestualizzare, aggiunge: «Il rogo di Campo dei Fiori è, certo, uno di quei momenti storici, di quelle azioni di cui oggi non ci si può non rammaricare, deplorandole chiaramente. L’ uso della coercizione e di metodi violenti non è assolutamente compatibile [...] con l’ affermazione della verità evangelica».

Ciò si ricollega alla condanna di Giovanni Paolo II contro le violenze dell’Inquisizione, per le quali il papa chiese perdono giudicandole «controtestimonianze di cui la Chiesa si pente», “deviazioni” – anche se commesse da «uomini di Chiesa» – dalla sua dottrina.

Tutto a posto, dunque? Non proprio.

Non “deviazioni” ma dottrina

Le persecuzioni per ragioni di fede iniziano già nel 325 col Concilio di Nicea, continuando tutto il Medioevo e sfociando nell’Inquisizione, che va dal XII al XVIII secolo e finisce non per iniziativa della Chiesa ma per decisione dei principi illuminati e di Napoleone. Ancora più tardi, qualche anno fa, arriva la richiesta di perdono. Ora, come si può considerare “deviazione dalla via maestra” una pratica che la Chiesa ha seguito per quasi tutta la sua storia, senza mai seguirne un’altra?

Ciò costringe a pensare che non di “deviazioni” si tratti ma di comportamenti derivanti dalla stessa dottrina o da essa giustificati. E se ne ha conferma appena si osserva che le «violenze» deprecate da Giovanni Paolo II sono ordinate e predicate dagli «uomini di Chiesa» fondandosi sulla Bibbia (dove Dio invita gli israeliti a distruggere gli altari dei falsi dei e a uccidere chi li adora) o sugli argomenti dei massimi teologi – da Tommaso d’Aquino, per cui «è giusto uccidere gli eretici», a Bernardo di Chiaravalle, per cui ammazzare un infedele è «malicidio». Né manca la legittimazione solenne del magistero, di papi e di concili, come l’enciclica Quanta cura (1864) con cui Pio IX ricorda ai fedeli il «dovere di reprimere con pene stabilite i violatori della Religione cattolica».

La contraddizione, in una parola, non è fra i precetti della Chiesa e i comportamenti occasionali di alcuni suoi figli, ma fra la presunta mitezza del messaggio evangelico che la Chiesa millanta per offrire una immagine cattivante di sé e la durezza dei precetti costantemente predicati e applicati, sempre in nome del Vangelo – variandoli o scusandosene, quando la situazione lo consiglia, salvo tornare a “peccare” appena possibile.

Fonte: CronacheLaiche.it - via cattolicesimo-reale.it - Autore: Walter Peruzzi -

Broken promises are nothing new in Washington, DC. Yet even by the Beltway’s jaded standards, President Obama’s role reversal from one time medicinal cannabis sympathizer to White House weed-whacker is remarkable.

Indeed, the man who once pledged on the campaign trail that he was “not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue,” has – since taking the Presidential oaths of office – done virtually everything in his administration’s power to do precisely that. Yet he's taken these steps at the very time that a record number of Americans, including 57 percent of democrats and a whopping 69 percent of self-described liberals, endorse doing just the opposite. Nonetheless, in recent months, the Obama administration – via a virtual alphabet soup of federal agencies – has launched an unprecedented series of attacks against medical cannabis patients, providers, and in some cases even their advocates.

 To review:

-- Deputy Attorney General James Cole, along with the four US Attorneys from California, has ramped up federal efforts to close or displace several hundreds of medical cannabis providers in California. Their tactics have included: raiding specific dispensaries and prosecuting their owners; filing civil forfeiture proceedings against landlords who rent their property to medical marijuana providers; threatening to federally prosecute newspapers and radio stations who accept ad revenue from medical cannabis operations; and, most recently, intimidating local lawmakers who have either enacted or are publicly supportive of cannabis oversight regulations. Speaking with radio station KQED San Francisco last month, Tommy LaNier – Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's National Marijuana Initiative – boasted about the administration’s efforts to strong-arm local officials, stating "[We] have ... advised those places where they're trying to regulate marijuana -- which is illegal under the Control Substances Act -- (that) they cannot do that.”

-- In Colorado, United States Attorney John Walsh has sent letters to owners of dozens of the Centennial State’s medical cannabis facilities stating, "Action will be taken to seize and forfeit their property" if they do not cease their operations. Unlike similarly targeted dispensaries in California, the operations on Walsh’s hit list are explicitly licensed by the state and thus fully compliant with state law – a fact that Walsh’s letters readily acknowledge but appear content to ignore. "This ... constitutes formal notice that action will be taken to seize and forfeit (your) property if you do not cause the sale and/or distribution of marijuana and marijuana-infused substances at (this) location to be discontinued,” they state. “[T]he Department of Justice has the authority to enforce federal law even when such activities may be permitted under state law.” Ironically, the Justice Department’s letters arrived just weeks after US Attorney General Eric Holder publicly told (read: lied to) Colorado Congressman Jared Polis, an ardent supporter of the medicinal cannabis industry, that that the federal government would only target medical cannabis operators that "use marijuana in a way that's not consistent with the state statute."

-- But the Obama Justice Department isn’t only sending letters to cannabis dispensaries owners and their landlords. Last year, the DOJ also mailed letters to numerous state lawmakers, including the Governors of Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, as they were debating legislation to allow for the licensed distribution of medical cannabis. The letters threatened federal prosecution for those involved with said efforts – including, in some cases, state civil servants – if the measures went forward. As a result, most didn’t.

The Justice Department isn’t the only agency directly involved in the administration’s medical pot crackdown. Also over the past six months:

-- The IRS has assessed crippling penalties on tax-paying medical cannabis facilities in California by denying these operations from filing standard expense deductions;

-- The Department of Treasury has strong-armed local banks and other financial institutions into closing their accounts with medicinal marijuana operators. In Colorado, where the state’s estimated 700 licensed cannabis dispensaries are routinely subjected to state audits, there no longer remains even a single bank willing to openly do business with med-pot operators.

-- The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has sternly warned firearms dealers not to sell guns to medical cannabis consumers, and stated that patients who otherwise legally possess firearms are in violation of federal law and may face criminal prosecution;

-- In July, the Drug Enforcement Administration rejected a nine-year-old administrative petition that called for hearings regarding the federal rescheduling of marijuana for medical use, ignoring extensive scientific evidence of its medical efficacy. “[T]here are no adequate and well-controlled studies proving (marijuana's) efficacy; the drug is not accepted by qualified experts,” the agency alleged. “At this time, the known risks of marijuana use have not been shown to be outweighed by specific benefits in well-controlled clinical trials that scientifically evaluate safety and efficacy.”

-- This fall, the National Institute on Drug Abuse rejected an FDA-approved protocol to allow for clinical research assessing the use of cannabis to treat post-traumatic stress disorder; a spokesperson for the agency conceded, “We generally do not fund research focused on the potential beneficial medical effects of marijuana.”

-- The DEA has reduced the total number of federally qualified investigators licensed to study plant marijuana in humans to 14 nationwide.

Most recently, and perhaps most egregiously, the DEA acknowledged that it was investigating a Montana state lawmaker for potentially conspiring to violate federal anti-marijuana laws. The lawmaker, Rep. Diane Sands – a Democrat from Missoula, Montana – served as the chairwoman of a 2011 interim legislative committee that sought to enact statewide regulations governing the production and distribution of medical pot, which has been legal in the state since 2004. "Can you say McCarthy?” she told The Missoulian newspaper.  “This sounds like stuff from the House Un-American Activities Committee and Joe McCarthy. So once you talk about medical marijuana in reasonable terms, you're on some sort of list of possible conspirators. … It's ridiculous, of course, but it's also threatening to think that the federal government is willing to use its influence and try to chill discussion about this subject."

* * *

So has the Obama administration collectively lost its mind when it comes to the subject of medical cannabis? That certainly seems to be the case. But the bigger question still remains: Why now?

Speculation among reformers and the general public is widespread. Many activists contend that the administration's about face is due to pressure from the pharmaceutical industry, which they surmise may be hoping to eliminate competition in the marketplace for their own forthcoming, soon-to-be FDA-approved cannabis-based drug. Others believe that Obama’s crackdown is a Machiavellian attempt on the part of the President and his advisors to appeal to independent, conservative-leaning swing voters during an election year. Still others argue that the recent attacks have little to do with President Obama at all. Instead, they believe the efforts of the DEA, DOJ, and other federal agencies are being coordinated primarily by drug war hawks within the administration, many of which are holdovers from the George W. Bush regime, such as DEA administrator Michele Leonhart. Adding weight to this claim are recent statements from US Attorney Andre Birotte, who acknowledged that the DOJ’s recent activities were led by the federal prosecutors themselves and were not instigated by either President Obama or Attorney General Eric Holder – both of which are engaged in their own personal battles for political survival and, as a result, are unlikely to expend even a shred of political capital to halt the efforts of the administration’s more ardent drug warriors.

There may be a grain of truth in all of the above theories. But perhaps the greatest underlying motivator for the administration’s sudden and severe crackdown on medical marijuana providers and patients is its desire to preserve America’s longstanding criminalization of cannabis for everyone else. There is little doubt that the rapid rise of the medical marijuana industry and the legal commerce inherent to it is arguably the single biggest threat to federal cannabis prohibition. Just look at the poll numbers. According to Gallup, in 1996 – when California became the first state to allow for the legally sanctioned use of cannabis therapy – only 25 percent of Americans backed legalizing marijuana for all adults. (Seventy-three percent of respondents at that time said they opposed the idea.) Fast forward to 2011. Today, a record high 50 percent of Americans support legalizing the plant outright and only 46 percent of respondents oppose doing so. It’s this rapid rise in the public’s support for overall legalization that no doubt has the Obama administration, and the majority of America’s elected officials, running scared.

While the passage and enactment of statewide medical marijuana laws – 16 states and the District of Columbia now have laws recognizing marijuana’s therapeutic use on the books – is not solely driving the public’s shift in support for broader legalization, it is arguably a major factor. Why? The answer is simple. Tens of millions of Americans residing in these states are learning, first hand, that they can coexist with marijuana being legal! And that is the lesson the federal government fears most.

In states like California and Colorado, voters have largely become accustomed to the reality that there can be safe, secure, well-run businesses that deliver consistent, reliable, tested cannabis products. They have come to understand that well-regulated cannabis dispensaries can revitalize sagging economies, provide jobs, and contribute taxes to budget-starved localities. Most importantly, the public in these states and others are finally realizing that all the years of scaremongering by the government about what would happen if marijuana were legal, even for sick people, was nothing but hysterical propaganda. As a result, a majority of American voters are now for the first time asking their federal officials: ‘Why we don’t just legalize marijuana for everyone in a similarly responsible manner?’

That is a question the President remains unable and unwilling to answer. And the administration appears willing to go to any lengths to avoid it.

Source: alternet.org - Editor's Note: This article incorrectly said Rep. Diane Sands is from Billings, Montana. She represents Missoula, Montana.

Paul Armentano is the deputy director of NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), and is the co-author of the book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink (2009, Chelsea Green).

Eventi fantasma, friend list inesistenti e notifiche fuori posto: il campionario di bug di Facebook è così esteso che vale la pena mettere insieme un album di (imbarazzanti) ricordi. A quanto pare, il social network di Palo Alto ha fatto cilecca più di una volta: a dimostrarlo è Evan Priestley - http://pinterest.com/epriestley/facebook-production-bugs/ , ex ingegnere al soldo di Mark Zuckerberg, che ha deciso di mettere online una bacheca Pinterest con tutti i peggiori strafalcioni apparsi sulle pagine di Fb.

Come segnala TechCrunch, Priestley ha anche cercato di spiegare il perché di tutti questi bug. In una nota postata su Quora, l'ex ingegnere azzarda un'ipotesi che – a pensarci bene – suona davvero molto credibile: “Facebook è il software più buggato che mi capita di usare. Nonostante produca un software così pieno di problemi, ha un successo clamoroso. Ecco spiegato il motivo per cui il social network può fare a meno di ricercare alti standard di qualità”.

In pratica, siamo tanto abituati a fare login sul nostro profilo e a leggere le notifiche provenienti dai nostri contatti da accettare pacificamente il fatto che Facebook sia pieno di errori. Errori che, di fatto, non perdoneremmo a nessun altro. Ecco perché, secondo Priestly, quando il suo Facebook mobile è andato in tilt per 36 ore, l'ex ingegnere l'ha presa con molta filosofia e ci si è fatto quattro risate.

Fonte: wired.it

Protistele sunt un grup eterogen de organisme eucariote – cu materialul genetic concentrat în nucleu – cu o organizare celulara simpla. Videoclipul realizat de Centrul National de Cercetare Stiintifica din Franta, cu ajutorul unor spectaculoase filmari la microscop, dezvaluie un crâmpei din uriasa diversitate a protistelor, ce alcatuiesc o mare parte a planctonului – organismele marunte care plutesc în masa apei.

Considerate initial ca un regn distinct - Protista - aceste forme de viata sunt azi privite ca apartinând mai multor încrengaturi (unii oameni de stiinta recunosc 30 sau chiar 40 de asemenea categorii), diferind între ele prin modul de nutritie, de deplasare, prin structura învelisului celular si prin desfasurarea ciclulor de viata ale organismelor respective. Mai nou, acestor criterii "clasice" de clasificare li se adauga cele legate de ultrastructura celulara, de biochimie si genetica. Din acest motiv, taxonomia (modul de clasificare) a protistelor se schimba mereu, mai ales ca se descopera întruna specii noi.

Organizarea lor celulara simpla le distinge de alte eucariote, precum plantele, animalele sau fungii.

Protistele se înfatiseaza fie sub forma de organisme unicelulare, fie ca organisme coloniale, alcatuite din mai multe celule de acelasi tip, agregate între ele, dar fara sa prezinte o diferentiere tisulara (specializare în tesuturi de diferite tipuri).

Putine dintre specii sunt îndeajuns de mari încât sa poata fi vazute cu ochiul liber; majoritatea nu pot fi vizualizate decât cu ajutorul microscopului. De o diversitate uimitoare, aceste forme de viata au, oriunde s-ar gasi, o mare însemnatate: unele stau la baza lanturilor trofice, hranind alte organisme mai mari si sustinând astfel viata în mediul acvatic; altele sunt patogene, fiind implicate în maladii cu impact mare asupra omenirii, direct (precum malaria) sau indirect (mana cartofului si a altor solanacee, care distruge recoltele pe mari întinderi).

Cea mai mare bogatie de protiste se întâlneste în apele oceanice, unde sute de mii de specii, cu înfatisari dintre cele mai diverse, îsi împart lumea apelor.

Sursa: Plankton Chronicles - via descopera.ro

The Vienna University of Technology is the only research facility in the world, where single atoms can be controllably coupled to the light in ultra-thin fiber glass. Specially prepared light waves interact with very small numbers of atoms, which makes it possible to build detectors that are extremely sensitive to tiny trace amounts of a substance.

Professor Arno Rauschenbeutel’s team, one of six research groups at the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, has presented this new method in the journal Physical Review Letters. The research project was carried out in collaboration with the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany.

The light wave in the glass fiber sticks out and touches the atoms trapped above and below the glass fiber.

Ultra-Thin Glass Fibers

The glass fibers used for the experiment are only five hundred millionths of a millimeter thick (500 nm). In fact, they are even thinner than the wavelength of visible light. “Actually, the light wave does not really fit into the glass fiber, it sticks out a little”, Arno Rauschenbeutel explains. And this is precisely the big advantage of the new method: the light wave touches atoms which are located outside of, but very close to, the glass fiber. “First, we trap the atoms, so that they are aligned above and below the glass fiber, like pearls on a string”, says Rauschenbeutel. The light wave sent through the glass fiber is then modified by each individual atom it passes. By measuring changes in the light waves very accurately, the number of atoms trapped near the fiber can be determined.

Atoms Change the Speed of Light

When scientists study the interaction of atoms and light, they usually look at rather disruptive effects – at least on a microscopic scale: Atoms can, for example, absorb photons and emit them later in a different direction. This way, atoms can be accelerated and hurled away from their original position. In the glass fiber experiments at Vienna UT however, a very soft interaction between light and atoms is sufficient: “The atoms close to the glass fiber decelerate the light very slightly”, Arno Rauschenbeutel explains. When the light wave oscillates precisely upwards and downwards in the direction of the atoms, the wave is shifted by a tiny amount. Another light wave oscillating in a different direction does not hit any atoms and is therefore hardly decelerated at all. Light waves of different polarization directions are sent through the glass fiber – and their relative shift due to their different speed is measured. This shift tells the scientists how many atoms have delayed the light wave.

Detecting Single Atoms

Hundreds or thousands of atoms can be trapped, less than a thousandth of a millimeter away from the glass fiber. Their number can be determined with an accuracy of several atoms. “In principle, our method is so precise that it can detect as few as ten or twenty atoms”, says Arno Rauschenbeutel. “We are working on a few more technical tricks – such as the reduction of the distance between the atoms and the glass fiber. If we can do this, we should even be able to reliably detect single atoms.”

Non-Destructive Quantum Measurements

The new glass fiber measuring method is not only important for new detectors, but also for basic quantum physical research. “Usually the quantum physical state of a system is destroyed when we measure it”, Rauschenbeutel explains. “Our glass fibers make it possible to control quantum states without destroying them.” The atoms close to the glass fiber can also be used to tune the plane in which the light wave oscillates. Nobody can tell yet, which new technological possibilities may be opened up by that. “Quantum optics is an incredibly innovative research area today – and the Vienna research groups in this field are competing among the best in the world”, says Arno Rauschenbeutel.

Source: Vienna University of Technology