My studies took me in a completely unexpected direction. The epiphany (pun intended) was rather shocking. The evidence indicates that the personal god is a manifestation of the ego, which explains a plethora of theistic tendencies, including their typical dislike of atheists, who theists subconsciously perceive to be rejecting a part of themselves.
God is Tyler Durden; and the first rule of Jesus Club is you have to talk about Jesus Club. The second rule of Jesus Club is you have to talk about Jesus Club.
"At the heart of this technology is a new generation of high-brightness light-emitting diodes," says Harald Haas from the University of Edinburgh, UK. "Very simply, if the LED is on, you transmit a digital 1, if it's off you transmit a 0," Haas says. "They can be switched on and off very quickly, which gives nice opportunities for transmitting data."
It is possible to encode data in the light by varying the rate at which the LEDs flicker on and off to give different strings of 1s and 0s. The LED intensity is modulated so rapidly that human eyes cannot notice, so the output appears constant.
More sophisticated techniques could dramatically increase VLC data rates. Teams at the University of Oxford and the University of Edinburgh are focusing on parallel data transmission using arrays of LEDs, where each LED transmits a different data stream. Other groups are using mixtures of red, green and blue LEDs to alter the light's frequency, with each frequency encoding a different data channel.
Li-Fi, as it has been dubbed, has already achieved blisteringly high speeds in the lab. Researchers at the Heinrich Hertz Institute in Berlin, Germany, have reached data rates of over 500 megabytes per second using a standard white-light LED. Haas has set up a spin-off firm to sell a consumer VLC transmitter that is due for launch next year. It is capable of transmitting data at 100 MB/s - faster than most UK broadband connections.
Once established, VLC could solve some major communication problems. In 2009, the US Federal Communications Commission warned of a looming spectrum crisis: because our mobile devices are so data-hungry we will soon run out of radio-frequency bandwidth. Li-Fi could free up bandwidth, especially as much of the infrastructure is already in place.
"There are around 14 billion light bulbs worldwide, they just need to be replaced with LED ones that transmit data," says Haas. "We reckon VLC is a factor of ten cheaper than Wi-Fi." Because it uses light rather than radio-frequency signals, VLC could be used safely in aircraft, integrated into medical devices and hospitals where Wi-Fi is banned, or even underwater, where Wi-Fi doesn't work at all.
"The time is right for VLC, I strongly believe that," says Haas, who presented his work at TED Global in Edinburgh last week.
But some sound a cautious note about VLC's prospects. It only works in direct line of sight, for example, although this also makes it harder to intercept than Wi-Fi. "There has been a lot of early hype, and there are some very good applications," says Mark Leeson from the University of Warwick, UK. "But I'm doubtful it's a panacea. This isn't technology without a point, but I don't think it sweeps all before it, either."
Primitivi, ma con gusto: gli uomini di Cro Magnon che hanno abitato l'Europa nell'alto paleolitico, indossavano gioielli, si pettinavano "alla moda" e seguivano un preciso codice di abbigliamento. Con loro nasce l'arte come risposta a istanze di ordine estetico, magico e religioso, espressione di una eccezionale e di cui le pitture rupestri di Lascaux sono un esempio spettacolare.
Tra storia e leggenda. Č il 1940 quando quattro ragazzi si imbattono in un misterioso tunnel sulle colline vicino alla città di Montignac, Francia. Pensando di aver trovato il passaggio segreto che, secondo le leggende locali, conduce all’antico feudo di Lascaux, armati di picche e vanghe aprono una breccia tra le rocce ed entrano nel tunnel; ma invece di trovare una leggenda, questo viaggio li catapulta molto più lontano, agli albori della nostra specie.
Pericolo funghi. Da allora le grotte di Lascaux hanno attirato centinaia di migliaia di visitatori, provocando la contaminazione di ambienti fino a quel momento sigillati e protetti. L’umidità e i funghi aggrediscono i colori e causano un rapido deterioramento delle immagini: per questo motivo il sito venne chiuso al pubblico nel 1963. Ora è possibile visitare unicamente una copia della grotta, “Lascaux II”, perfettamente ricostruita poco lontano da quella originale, che tutt’oggi accoglie più di 280 mila visitatori all’anno.
Nel 2001 un nuovo sistema di condizionamento dell’aria causò apparentemente la veloce diffusione di un fungo filamentoso (Fusarium fusani). Un comitato internazionale sta studiano il metodo migliore per salvare i dipinti.
Desi comportamentul sinucigas este influentat de multi factori, cercetatorii de la Centrul pentru Studiul Toxicomaniei si al Sanatatii Mentale (CAMH), din Canada, au descoperit o modificare genetica specifica asociata acestui comportament, largind astfel aria cunostintelor legate de cauzele complexe ale sinuciderii.
Studii anterioare aratasera ca exista o legatura între comportamentul suicidar si gena raspunzatoare de sinteza factorului neurotrofic cerebral (sau BDNF - brain-derived neurotrophic factor), o proteina implicata în dezvoltarea sistemului nervos.
Analizând rezultatele a 11 studii si adaugând datele rezultate din propriile lor cercetari asupra persoanelor cu schizofrenie, cercetatorii de la CAMH au confirmat ca, printre pacientii diagnosticati cu boli psihice, cei care prezinta o anumita variatie a genei (variatia met - de la numele aminoacidului methionina) au un risc mai mare de sinucidere comparativ cu cei care prezinta variatia corespunzatoare aminoacidului valina.
Analiza a inclus date referitoare la 3.352 persoane, dintre care 1.202 aveau un istoric de comportament suicidar.
Autorii studiului au constatat ca 90% dintre persoanele care se sinucid sufera de cel putin o boala psihica, de pilda schizofrenie, depresie, tulburare bipolara.
Cercetatorii spera ca, în viitor, testele genetice sa poata depista persoanele cu un risc ridicat de sinucidere, iar progresele în domeniul geneticii si biochimiei sa duca la descoperirea unor tratamente care sa previna sinuciderea, de pilda prin activarea sintezei BDNF.
În evaluarea riscului de sinucidere trebuie, totodata, luati în calcul si alti factori - traumele (din copilarie sau recente), dependenta de droguri sau medicamente etc.
Jacque Fresco (born March 13, 1916), is a self-educated structural designer, philosopher of science, concept artist, educator, and futurist. His interests span a wide range of disciplines including several in philosophy, science, and engineering.
Fresco writes and lectures extensively on his view of subjects ranging from the holistic design of sustainable cities, energy efficiency, natural resource management, cybernated technology, advanced automation, and the role of science in society, focusing on the benefits he claims this will bring. With his colleague, Roxanne Meadows, he is the founder and director of an organization known as The Venus Project, located in Venus, Florida.
In contemporary culture he has been popularized by three documentaries, Future By Design, Zeitgeist Addendum, and Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, His Venus Project has been inspirational worldwide, especially to activists.
Just tell your landlord that you paid him with supermoney, which is better than money, but he just can't see it right now.
The paradox and the supernatural are symbiotic. "Beyond" space and time, omniscience, omnibenevolence, omnipotence, omnipresence, freewill, a grand plan, divine intervention, heaven, hell, souls, miracles, and life after death are completely invented concepts that have severe logical problems that are explained away by the word "supernatural", which is also completely made up.
Lightning and rainbows were once obviously supernatural. Those claims failed when they became testable, as will any claim attributed to the supernatural - no matter how obvious they seem to you.
The researchers found the huge mass of water feeding a black hole, called a quasar, more than 12 billion light-years away. The mass of water vapor is at least 140 trillion times that of all the water in the world's oceans combined and 100,000 times more massive than the sun.
Quasars are among the most luminous, powerful, and energetic objects known in the universe. They are powered by an enormous black hole that steadily consumes a surrounding disk of gas and dust, spewing out huge amounts of energy as it eats. The particular quasar under investigation, which bears the catchy name of APM 08279+5255, harbors a black hole 20 billion times more massive than the sun and produces as much energy as a thousand trillion suns.
Although astronomers had expected water vapor to be present even in the early, distant universe, they had not detected it this far away before. They point out that there is water vapor in the Milky Way, but because most of the Milky Way's water is frozen in ice, the total amount of water vapor is 4,000 times less than in the quasar.
The astronomers say that water vapor is an important trace gas that reveals the nature of a quasar. In this case, the water vapor is distributed around the black hole in a gaseous region spanning hundreds of light-years in size. Its presence indicates that the quasar is bathing the gas in X-rays and infrared radiation, and that the gas is unusually warm and dense by astronomical standards. Although the gas is at a chilly minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 53 degrees Celsius) and is 300 trillion times less dense than Earth's atmosphere, it's still five times hotter and 10 to 100 times denser than what's typical in galaxies like the Milky Way.
Measurements of the water vapor and of other molecules, such as carbon monoxide, suggest there is enough gas to feed the black hole until it grows to about six times its size. However, it's unclear whether this will happen or not as some of the gas may end up condensing into stars or might be ejected from the quasar.
The discovery was made by two international teams of astronomers, each led by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), that have each described their quasar findings in separate papers that have been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"It's another demonstration that water is pervasive throughout the universe, even at the very earliest times," said Matt Bradford, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and a visiting associate at Caltech, who led one of the teams.
Bradford's team started making their observations in 2008 using an instrument called "Z-Spec" at Caltech's Submillimeter Observatory, a 33-foot (10-meter) telescope near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Follow-up observations were made with the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA), an array of radio dishes in the Inyo Mountains of Southern California.
The second team was led by Dariusz Lis, senior research associate in physics at Caltech and deputy director of the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory. This group used the Plateau de Bure Interferometer in the French Alps to find water.
In 2010, Lis's team serendipitously detected water in APM 8279+5255, observing one spectral signature. Bradford's team was able to get more information about the water, including its enormous mass, because they detected several spectral signatures of the water.
Il Pil, Prodotto Interno Lordo, è l’insieme di tutti i beni e i servizi prodotti da un paese in un determinato periodo: dai prodotti agricoli alle automobili, dalle navi ai servizi erogati da banche, assicurazioni e aziende pubbliche. “Si tratta insomma di una gigantesca somma”, ci spiega Alessandra Agostinelli della Direzione della Contabilità Nazionale dell’ Istat.
Nel nostro Paese il calcolo del Pil è affidato all’Istat: è un processo complesso, che coinvolge oltre 100 persone. Per giungere al risultato finale gli statistici producono infatti circa 88.000 numeri intermedi.
Speciale Crisi
La guida per capire lacrisi economicacon cause (e rimedi), consigli e domande e risposte.
Nella somma rientra tutto quello che viene prodotto nel Paese per oltre 100 diverse attività economiche in cui sono classificate le unità produttrici e per oltre 100 tipi diversi di beni e servizi. I dati di partenza sono i bilanci di tutte le imprese industriali e dei sevizi italiane, depositati alle Camere di Commercio o comunicati all’Istat nelle rilevazioni statistiche, i dati Istat sul settore agricolo, quelli della Banca d’Italia sulle banche e le altre istituzioni finanziarie, i bilanci delle Imprese di assicurazione raccolti dall’ISVAP, i bilanci delle Amministrazioni Pubbliche, oltre a una serie di informazioni dettagliate che vengono da alcune grandi imprese o da associazioni di categoria. A tutto questo va poi aggiunto il valore dei beni e dei servizi importati dall’estero e una stima di tutte le attività che, a causa dell’elusione o dell’evasione, non vengono dichiarate.
Si ha così il totale dei beni e dei servizi offerti. Questo valore deve essere uguale alla domanda, cioè a tutto ciò che viene utilizzato o consumato all’interno del paese o esportato: sono i costi delle imprese (per esempio per le materie prime), i consumi delle famiglie, gli investimenti, la spesa delle Amministrazioni pubbliche. Questi valori vengono stimati a partire dai bilanci delle imprese e delle Amministrazioni, dalle indagini Istat sulle famiglie, da quelli sulle immatricolazioni dei veicoli o sulle attività di costruzione. Il Pil è quindi il risultato dell’equilibrio tra l’offerta e la domanda di beni e servizi.
Ecco come si è evoluto negli anni (in dollari Usa al cambio odierno. Dati non adeguati per tenere conto dell'inflazione)
O echipa de cercetatori americani a descoperit ca o perioada de odihna prea scurta în timpul adolescentei poate preveni dezvoltarea echilibrata a sinapselor.
Cercetarea efectuata de oameni de stiinta de la Universitatea din Wisconsin-Madison a fost publicat în jurnalul Nature Neuroscience.
Conducatorul studiului, dr. Chiara Cirelli, a explicat ca "o posibila implicatie a studiului nostru este aceea ca, daca un adolescent doarme prea putin în mod repetat, exista riscul de a suferi consecinte pe termen lung în ceea ce priveste dezvoltarea creierului. Adolescenta este o perioada cheie a dezvoltarii cerebrale, numeroase circuite nervoase fiind remodelate".
"Studiul nostru arata ca manipularea duratei de odihna în timpul adolescentei afecteaza numarul de sinapse formate", a adaugat dr. Cirelli.
Cercetatorii au observat diferente în structura creierului soarecilor studiati dupa doar 10 ore de alterare a ritmului de somn.
Comentând rezultatele studiului, Dr. Cirelli a spus ca "rezultatele noastre arata ca modificari ale ritmului de somn de doar 8-10 ore produc modificari în ceea ce priveste numarul de sinapse formate în creierul adolescent. Întrebarea cheie este aceasta: daca o perioada scurta de restrictionare a somnului produce schimbari observabile în creier, care este efectul produs de restrictionarea cronica a perioadei de odihna, situatie în care se afla multi adolescenti în ziua de azi?".
Studiul continua, cercetatorii dorind sa afle efectul pe termen lung al schimbarilor observate. "Este posibil ca aceste schimbari sa fie benigne, temporare si reversibile, dar totodata exista si posibilitatea ca functionarea si dezvoltarea creierului sa fie permanent afectate", a explicat dr. Cirelli.
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