# s-phys: if you take a large collection of chaotic balls ...

<< If  you  take  a  large  collection  of  balls  in  contact  and  force  some  of  them  to  spin,  they  can  behave  like a  set  of  gears,  with  each  ball  rotating  without  slipping.  Experiments  and  theory  show  that  this synchronized  motion  can  be predicted  even  when the initial  motion  involves  seemingly  random slipping  between  the  spheres  (like  the  skipping  of  gears).  The  researchers  say  that  the  ability  to predict  this  collective  motion  could  lead  to  three-dimensional  gear  systems  in  which  manipulations of  one or two spheres allows complete control  of  the  rotational  motion  of  the  others >>

Michael  Schirber. Focus:  Balls  as  3D  Gears. June 24,  2016.

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v9/71

D. V. Stager, N. A. M. Araujo, and H. J. Herrmann. Prediction and Control of Slip-Free Rotation States in Sphere Assemblies. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 254301. Publ. 24 June 2016

http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.254301

# s-behav: the intriguing behavior of the elderly Barbary macaques.

<< With  increasing  age,  the  monkeys [Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus)] became  more  selective  in  their  social  interactions,"  Almeling  says. "They  had  fewer  'friends'  and  invested  less  in  social  interactions.  Interestingly,  however,  they  were  still interested  in  what  was  going  on  in  their  social  world." >>

Monkeys get more selective with age. 23-Jun-2016

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/cp-mgm061616.php

Laura Almeling,  Kurt Hammerschmidt, et al. Motivational Shifts in Aging Monkeys and the Origins of Social Selectivity. Current Biology, 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.066

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.066

# n-socsci: power seekers vs the awareness of discrimination

<< People  who  are  interested  in  gaining  power  for  themselves  are  less  aware  than others  of  discrimination  and  injustice  in  the  workplace >>

Elisabeth  Enoksen. Power  seekers  do  not  see  discrimination. Doctoral thesis. Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Stavanger, 2016. Published  09.06.2016

http://www.uis.no/research-phd-education/research-news/power-seekers-do-not-see-discrimination-article105975-10738.html

Power seekers do not see discrimination. ScienceDaily. 17 June 2016.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160617083931.htm

# s-brain: the question is: Humans vs Woodstock, who is the smarter?

Are  you  smarter than a  macaw? Ounce  for  ounce,  bird brains  have  significantly  more  neurons  than  mammal  or  primate  brains. June  13,  2016

http://kurzweilai.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=aad1a7eea269839c7d10845e8&id=315d9eb294&e=47d5831a91

Seweryn  Olkowicz, Martin  Kocourek, et al. Birds  have  primate-like  numbers  of  neurons  in  the  forebrain. PNAS (Proceedings  of  the  National Academy  of  Sciences)  June  13, 2016.

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/06/07/1517131113

# s-bot: JARexit: the ironic probabilistic upshot of the itinerant, escaping IR77, Promobot

Ben  Guarino. After escaping its  creators a  second  time,  Russian robot’s  final  destination may be scrap heap. June 23, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/06/23/after-escaping-its-creators-a-second-time-russian-robots-final-destination-may-be-scrap-heap/

Melissa Etehad. Russian  robot  gets  a  few hours  of  freedom  after escaping  a  lab. June 16, 2016.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/16/russian-robot-gets-a-few-hours-of-freedom-after-escaping-a-lab/

FonT: "JARexit": a final  destination may be a Russian scrap heap ...

# s-gst: unexpected silent zones in interseismic period, a long-standing enigma ...

<< Why  many  major  strike-slip  faults  known  to  have  had  large  earthquakes  are  silent  in  the interseismic  period  is  a  long-standing  enigma.  One  would  expect  small  earthquakes  to  occur  at least  at  the  bottom  of  the  seismogenic  zone,  where  deeper  aseismic  deformation  concentrates loading.  [AA]  suggest  that  the  absence  of  such  concentrated  microseismicity  indicates  deep rupture  past  the  seismogenic  zone  in  previous  large  earthquakes >>

Bob Yirka. New  theory  to  explain  why  some  fault  segments remain  quiet  between  quakes.  June 10, 2016.

http://m.phys.org/news/2016-06-theory-fault-segments-quiet-quakes.html

Junle Jiang , Nadia Lapusta. Deeper  penetration  of  large  earthquakes  on  seismically  quiescent  faults. Science    10  Jun  2016: Vol.  352,  Issue  6291,  pp.  1293-1297 DOI:10.1126/science.aaf1496.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf1496

FonT: quando una decina di giorni fa ho letto questa news, chissa' perche', ho pensato a BRexit ...

BRexit:   http://www.bbc.com/news/politics/eu_referendum/results

# s-acad: the gnosis of David (inside the walking around)

<< but I'll always be a chemist at heart >>

David J. Hill, Singularity University

http://singularityhub.com/2016/06/11/this-weeks-awesome-stories-from-around-the-web-through-june-11th-2/