Being in awe can expand time and enhance well-being

Lucy Hyde – It doesn’t matter what we’ve experienced – whether it’s the breathtaking scope of the Grand Canyon, the ethereal beauty of the Aurora Borealis, or the exhilarating view from the top of the Eiffel Tower – at some point in our lives we’ve all had the feeling of being in a complete and overwhelming sense of awe.

Awe seems to be a universal emotion, but it has been largely neglected by scientists—until now.

Psychological scientists Melanie Rudd and Jennifer Aaker of Stanford University Graduate School of Business and Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management devised a way to study this feeling of awe in the laboratory. Across three different experiments, they found that jaw-dropping moments made participants feel like they had more time available and made them more patient, less materialistic, and more willing to volunteer time to help others.

The researchers found that the effects that awe has on decision-making and well-being can be explained by awe’s ability to actually change our subjective experience of time by slowing it down. Experiences of awe help to brings us into the present moment which, in turn, adjusts our perception of time, influences our decisions, and makes life feel more satisfying than it would otherwise.

via Being in awe can expand time and enhance well-being.

Russian research project offers ‘immortality’ to billionaires – by transplanting their brains into robot bodies

A Russian entrepreneur who heads a hi-tech research project called ‘Avatar’ has contacted billionaires to offer them immortality.

Itskov claims he will personally oversee their immortality process, in exchange for an undisclosed fee.

Itskov, a media entrepreneur, claims to have hired 30 scientists to reach this goal – and aims to transplant a human brain into a robot body within 10 years.

‘You have the ability to finance the extension of your own life up to immortality. Our civilization has come very close to the creation of such technologies: it’s not a science fiction fantasy. It is in your power to make sure that this goal will be achieved in your lifetime,’ says Itskov in a letter delivered to billionaires listed in Forbes magazine.

He has contacted a list of billionaires with a proposal for funding his quest for immortality – which Itskov refers to as ‘cybernetic immortality’ and the ‘artificial body’.

The initiative is opening its San Francisco office this summer, and will be launching a social media project connecting scientists around the world.

‘The 2045 team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality,’ says Itskov’s official site.

‘Such research has the potential to free you, as well as the majority of all people on our planet, from disease, old age and even death.’

‘For anyone interested, but skeptical, I am ready to prove the viability of the concept of cybernetic immortality by arranging an expert discussion with a team of the world’s leading scientist working in this field.

‘I will also be willing to coordinate your personal immortality project entirely free of charge for the sake of speeding up the development of these technologies,’

via Russian research project offers ‘immortality’ to billionaires – by transplanting their brains into robot bodies | Mail Online.

Neanderthals in northern Spain had knowledge of plants’ healing qualities, study reveals

An international team of researchers, led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the University of York, has provided the first molecular evidence that Neanderthals not only ate a range of cooked plant foods, but also understood its nutritional and medicinal qualities.

Until recently Neanderthals, who disappeared between 30,000 and 24,000 years ago, were thought to be predominantly meat-eaters. However, evidence of dietary breadth is growing as more sophisticated analyses are undertaken.

Researchers from Spain, the UK and Australia combined pyrolysis gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry with morphological analysis of plant microfossils to identify material trapped in dental calculus (calcified dental plaque) from five Neanderthals from the north Spanish site of El Sidrón.

Their results, published in Naturwissenschaften – The Science of Nature this week, provide another twist to the story — the first molecular evidence for medicinal plants being used by a Neanderthal individual.

The researchers say the starch granules and carbohydrate markers in the samples, plus evidence for plant compounds such as azulenes and coumarins, as well as possible evidence for nuts, grasses and even green vegetables, argue for a broader use of ingested plants than is often suggested by stable isotope analysis.

Lead author Karen Hardy, a Catalan Institute of Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) Research Professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and an Honorary Research Associate at the University of York, UK, said: “The varied use of plants we identified suggests that the Neanderthal occupants of El Sidrón had a sophisticated knowledge of their natural surroundings which included the ability to select and use certain plants for their nutritional value and for self-medication. While meat was clearly important, our research points to an even more complex diet than has previously been supposed.”

Earlier research by members of this team had shown that the Neanderthals in El Sidrón had the bitter taste perception gene. Now trapped within dental calculus researchers found molecular evidence that one individual had eaten bitter tasting plants.

Dr Stephen Buckley, a Research Fellow at the University of York’s BioArCh research facility, said: “The evidence indicating this individual was eating bitter-tasting plants such as yarrow and camomile with little nutritional value is surprising. We know that Neanderthals would find these plants bitter, so it is likely these plants must have been selected for reasons other than taste.”

Ten samples of dental calculus from five Neanderthals were selected for this study. The researchers used thermal desorption and pyrolysis gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify both free/unbound and bound/polymeric organic components in the dental calculus. By using this method in conjunction with the extraction and analysis of plant microfossils, they found chemical evidence consistent with wood-fire smoke, a range of cooked starchy foods, two plants known today for their medicinal qualities, and bitumen or oil shale trapped in the dental calculus. …

via Neanderthals in northern Spain had knowledge of plants’ healing qualities, study reveals.

Man dies after playing Diablo III for 40 hours

A man known only as Chuang has reportedly died after playing Diablo III for 40 hours without taking a single break. According to reports, he booked himself into a private room in an internet cafe at lunchtime on Friday and settled himself in for nearly two days of non-stop gaming with no food or sleep.

Chuang was left alone in that time, with an employee of the cafe only coming in on the Sunday morning to check on him, where she found him resting on the table. Chuang then woke up, took a few steps and collapsed. He was taken to hospital, but died shortly after his arrival.

Blizzard released a statement following Chuang’s death:

“We’re saddened to hear this news, and our thoughts are with his family and friends during this difficult time. We don’t feel it would be appropriate for us to comment further without knowing all of the circumstances involved.

“While we recognise that it’s ultimately up to each individual or their parent or guardian to determine playing habits, we feel that moderation is clearly important, and that a person’s day-to-day life should take precedence over any form of entertainment.”

The cause of death has yet to be determined, but authorities suspect that, after spending such a long time seated, Chuang suffered cardiovascular problems or a fatal blood clot.

Earlier this year, another Taiwanese person was found dead in an internet cafe after reportedly playing League of Legends for 23 hours straight.

via PC News: Man dies after playing Diablo III for 40 hours – ComputerAndVideoGames.com.

Diablo, Spanish for “devil.”

‘Suspicious Powder’ Scare Blamed On Crows In Washington State

A fire spokeswoman says blame the crows for a “suspicious powder” scare at Washington state intersection that detoured traffic for more than an hour.

A witness finally told the crew that a couple of crows were to blame. Hynes says a woman was going jogging when she noticed the birds dragging a bag of white flour.

Hynes says the woman took the bag away from the birds, put it in a garbage can and kept running. It took firefighters about an hour to clear the scene.

Says Hynes: “Two crows and a two-alarm hazmat incident.”

via ‘Suspicious Powder’ Scare Blamed On Crows In Washington State.

Universe could end with ‘Big Rip’

The expansion will eventually force our neighbouring galaxy – Andromeda Spiral – to merge with our Milky Way in about 3 billion years, Professor Schmidt said.

While it sounds messy, the space between our stars means it will be less like a train wreck and more like two swarms of bees coming together, he said.Nevertheless, it will irrecoverably alter our view from Earth.

“We will see stars but we will look out into an empty universe,” he said. Professor Schmidt said only 4½ per cent of the universe is made up of things we can see – atoms, while the rest is invisible. Dark matter makes up 24 per cent and dark energy the remaining 72 per cent.

Once this dark energy takes over, it will cause more space to expand, creating more dark energy, “which can then push harder against gravity, creating even more space”.

“The creation of space eventually can happen even more quickly than light can travel.”

This could lead to one of the “craziest theoretical ideas” and one of Professor Schmidt’s favourites – the Big Rip.

“You will see the stars in the sky start disappearing as they accelerate beyond the speed of light.

“Then one day the sun will go out.

“Then, not too long after, you and the Earth will be ripped into pieces.

“Or it could end in a less dramatic fashion. Either way, Professor Schmidt said, unless dark energy suddenly disappears very quickly the universe it seems is fated to expand and fade away.

via Universe could end with ‘Big Rip’.

US geoengineers to spray sun-reflecting chemicals from balloon

Field experiment in solar geoengineering aims to ultimately create a technology to replicate the observed effects of volcanoes that spew sulphates into the stratosphere.

Experiment in New Mexico will try to establish the possibility of cooling the planet by dispersing sulphate aerosols

Two Harvard engineers are to spray sun-reflecting chemical particles into the atmosphere to artificially cool the planet, using a balloon flying 80,000 feet over Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

The field experiment in solar geoengineering aims to ultimately create a technology to replicate the observed effects of volcanoes that spew sulphates into the stratosphere, using sulphate aerosols to bounce sunlight back to space and decrease the temperature of the Earth.

David Keith, one of the investigators, has argued that solar geoengineering could be an inexpensive method to slow down global warming, but other scientists warn that it could have unpredictable, disastrous consequences for the Earth’s weather systems and food supplies. Environmental groups fear that the push to make geoengineering a “plan B” for climate change will undermine efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

Keith, who manages a multimillion dollar geoengineering research fund provided by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, previously commissioned a study by a US aerospace company that made the case for the feasibility of large-scale deployment of solar geoengineering technologies.

His US experiment, conducted with American James Anderson, will take place within a year and involve the release of tens or hundreds of kilograms of particles to measure the impacts on ozone chemistry, and to test ways to make sulphate aerosols the appropriate size. Since it is impossible to simulate the complexity of the stratosphere in a laboratory, Keith says the experiment will provide an opportunity to improve models of how the ozone layer could be altered by much larger-scale sulphate spraying.

“The objective is not to alter the climate, but simply to probe the processes at a micro scale,” said Keith. “The direct risk is very small.”

While the experiment may not harm the climate, environmental groups say that the global environmental risks of solar geoengineering have been amply identified through modelling and the study of the impacts of sulphuric dust emitted by volcanoes.

“Impacts include the potential for further damage to the ozone layer, and disruption of rainfall, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions – potentially threatening the food supplies of billions of people,” said Pat Mooney, executive director of the Canadian-based technology watchdog ETC Group. “It will do nothing to decrease levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere or halt ocean acidification. And solar geoengineering is likely to increase the risk of climate-related international conflict – given that the modelling to date shows it poses greater risks to the global south.”

A scientific study published last month concluded that solar radiation management could decrease rainfall by 15% in areas of North America and northern Eurasia and by more than 20% in central South America.

Last autumn, a British field test of a balloon-and-hosepipe device that would have pumped water into the sky generated controversy. The government-funded project – Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering (Spice) – was cancelled after a row over patents and a public outcry by global NGOs, some of whom argued the project was a “Trojan horse” that would open the door to full-scale deployment of the technology.

Keith said he opposed Spice from the outset because it would not have improved knowledge of the risks or effectiveness of solar geoengineering, unlike his own experiment.

“I salute the British government for getting out and trying something,” he said. “But I wish they’d had a better process, because those opposed to any such experiments will see it as a victory and try to stop other experiments as well.” …

via US geoengineers to spray sun-reflecting chemicals from balloon | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

500 American FBI agents to operate in UK for Olympic Games

Of course they will need full access to that lovely British security camera network.

“Other countries do make varied use of CCTV, but nowhere to the same degree as the UK. The UK has the most surveillance cameras per head in the world and is the global leader in its use of CCTV technology.” – noCCTV

Iceberg breaks off from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier

The Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland has calved an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan, scientists say.

Images from a Nasa satellite show the island breaking off a tongue of ice that extends at the end of the glacier.

In 2010 an ice island measuring 250 square km (100 square miles) broke off the same glacier.

Glaciers do calve icebergs naturally, but the extent of the changes to the Petermann Glacier in recent years has taken many experts by surprise.

“It is not a collapse but it is certainly a significant event,” Eric Rignot from Nasa said in a statement.

Some other observers have gone further. “It’s dramatic. It’s disturbing,” University of Delaware’s Andreas Muenchow told the Associated Press.

“We have data for 150 years and we see changes that we have not seen before,” Mr Muenchow added.

However, the calving is not expected have an impact on sea levels as the ice was already floating.

Icebergs from the Petermann Glacier sometimes reach the coast off Newfoundland in Canada, posing a danger to shipping and navigation, according to the Canadian Ice Service.

Scientists have also raised concerns in recent years about the Greenland ice shelf, saying that it is thinning extensively amid warm temperatures. …

via BBC News – Iceberg breaks off from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier.

Windows 8 will be available on…

October 26th, 2012! That’s right! Just a few minutes ago, Steven Sinofsky announced at Microsoft’s annual sales meeting that customers will be able to get Windows 8 – whether in upgrade fashion or on a new PC – starting on October 26th. Earlier this month at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, Tami Reller told attendees Windows 8 would be available in October. But now everyone has a specific date to mark on their calendars.

via Windows 8 will be available on….

The touch screen features might be nice, but I don’t really like the way the desktop looks with the flat mosaic of different sized squares of different colors. Green, orange, blue, purple … yuck. It looks messy. Sorry.