# s-evol: to tolerate 'extreme dehydration'

<< LEEDS Research  at  the  University  of  Leeds  has  identified  a  key  gene  that  assisted  the  transition  of  plants  from water  to  the  land  around  500  million  years  ago. The  ANR gene  is  required  to  tolerate  'extreme  dehydration'  in  the  moss  Physcomitrella  patens >>

<< This  gene  hadn't  been  identified  so  far  because  most research  until  now  has  focused  on  modern  flowering  plants. Ancient  plants  such  as  mosses  and  green  algae  are  'time  machines'  that  help  us  to  reveal  evolutionary secrets  that  changed  the  world >> Dr  Andrew  Cuming.

How plants  conquered  the  land. Public  Release: 19-May-2016

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-05/uol-hpc051916.php

Sean  Ross  Stevenson, Yasuko  Kamisugi, et al. Genetic analysis of Physcomitrella patens identifies ABSCISIC ACID NON-RESPONSIVE (ANR), a regulator of ABA responses unique to basal land plants and required for desiccation tolerance. The  Plant  Cell May  18,  2016 May  18,  2016,  doi: tpc.00091.2016

http://m.plantcell.org/content/early/2016/05/18/tpc.16.00091

# n-art: immagine di Bob su una via di Genova

# e-art: technoshamanism and more ... the future in music, technology, and art

<< Pollinator Synthesizer. The Pollinator Synthesizer is a generative soundscape, reacting in real time to the bees inside the Burt's Bees Observation Hive. Microphones and optical sensors detect bees moving in and out. Capacitive sensors detect presence and movement of the bees. Temperature and humidity sensors track subtle variations in the hive near the queen. All that data is interpreted into a droning ambient beefinspired soundscape. Talent: Ranjit Bhatnagar >>

https://moogfest.sched.org/mobile/

<< By day, Moogfest unfolds in venues throughout downtown Durham in spaces that range from intimate galleries and experimental art installations to grand theaters as a platform for geeky exploration and experimentation in sessions and workshops, featuring more than 250 innovators in music, art, and technology, including avant-garde pioneers such as cyborg Neil Harbisson, technoshaman paleo-ecologist/multimedia performer Michael Garfield on “Technoshamanism: A Very Psychedelic Century,”  ... >>

Moogfest  2016:  the  synthesis  of  future  music,  technology,  and  art. Themes:  Afrofuturism,  Art  and  Artificial  Intelligence,  Hacking  Sound  (Systems),  Instrument Innovators,  Radio  &  the  Radiophonic,  Technoshamanism,  Transhumanism. May  13,  2016

http://www.kurzweilai.net/moogfest-2016-the-synthesis-of-future-music-technology-and-art

# n-bot: gracefully conversations ...

<< Google  wanted  their  bots  to  be  smarter  and  eventually  more  conversational  than  the  rest  of  the bots  out  there.  And  in  order  to  do  that  they  are  technically  feeding  their  AI  machines  with  2,865 romance  novels  so  they  could  respond  to  conversations  better >>

<< Google  believes  that  by  doing  so,  they  could  potentially  inject  some  'personality',  conversational skills  and  who  knows,  maybe  even  a  dash  of  'compassion'  into  their  artificial  intelligence technology >>

Jessica F. Google‘s Artificial Intelligence Robot is Reading 2,865 Romance Novels: Find Out Why.  May  13,  2016  07:54  AM  EDT

http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/22143/20160513/googles-artificial-intelligence-robot-is-reading-2-865-romance-novels-find-out-why.htm

# s-evol: short messages in speciation

<< changes  in  the  sequence  and  length  of  four  microRNAs [post-transcriptional  gene  regulators] may  be  specific to  humans.  Two  were  highly  expressed  in  brain  tissue  and  may  exert  effects  on  genes  with neural  functions, while  two  exhibit  restricted  expression  patterns  that  the  authors  posited  implied a  role  in  development.  The  authors  also  found  that  "age"  might  matter;  in  an  evolutionary  sense, "younger"  microRNAs  had  less  sequence  conservation,  expression  and  disease  association, and  were  more  isolated  than  "older"  microRNAs. >>

Specific  changes  to  non-coding  RNA  may  be  part of  what  makes  us  human. May  9,  2016

http://m.phys.org/news/2016-05-specific-non-coding-rna-human.html

<< microRNAs  are  crucial  post-transcriptional  regulators  of  gene  expression  involved  in  a  wide  range  of  biological  processes. Although  microRNAs  are  highly  conserved  among  species,  the  functional  implications  of  existing  lineage-specific  changes  and their  role  in  determining  differences  between  humans  and  other  great  apes  have  not  been  specifically  addressed.  We  analyzed  the recent  evolutionary  history  of  1,595  human  microRNAs  by  looking  at  their  intra-  and  inter-species  variation  in  great  apes  using high-coverage  sequenced  genomes  of  82  individuals  including  gorillas,  orangutans,  bonobos,  chimpanzees  and  humans. >>

Gallego  A,  Melé  M,  et al. (2016)  Functional Implications  of  Human-Specific  Changes  in  Great  Ape  microRNAs.  PLoS  ONE  11(4):  e0154194. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0154194

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154194

# s.esobio: modifying the Drake equation, the cosmic frequency of technological species

<< (..) as long as the probability that a habitable zone planet develops a technological species is larger than ∼10−24, humanity is not the only time technological intelligence has evolved >>

Frank A., Sullivan W.T. III. A New Empirical Constraint on the Prevalence of Technological Species in the Universe. Astrobiology. May 2016, 16(5): 359-362. doi:10.1089/ast.2015.1418.

http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2015.1418?journalCode=ast

<< (..) e noi potremmo essere al centro di una delle immense "enclavi galattiche dimenticate" >>

Apreda_Torquato. Commento. In: Federica Coppa. E se gli alieni si fossero estinti? 10 maggio 2016

http://www.galileonet.it/2016/05/e-se-gli-alieni-si-fossero-estinti/

FonT: intrigante il commento di Apreda_Torquato ...

# n-socsci: depicting harmonious relationship scenarios

<< These  scenarios  describe  [..]  predictions  in  what  will  be  an  algorithmic  and  smart  machine driven  world  where  people  and  machines  must  define  harmonious  relationships >>

Heather  Levy. Gartner  Predicts  Our  Digital  Future. Gartner’s  Top  10  Predictions  herald  what  it  means  to  be  human  in  a digital  world. October  6,  2015.

http://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/gartner-predicts-our-digital-future