# s-brain: intuitions as a physical brain simulator

<< Recent  behavioral  and  computational  research  has suggested  that  our  physical  intuitions  may  be  supported  by  a  “physics  engine”  in  the  brain akin  to  the  physical  simulation  engines  built  into  video  games. >>

AA << identified  a  set  of  cortical  regions that  are  selectively  engaged  when  people  watch  and  predict  the  unfolding  of  physical  events— a  “physics  engine”  in  the  brain >>

Jason Fischer, John G. Mikhael, et al. Functional neuroanatomy of intuitive physical inference. PNAS vol.  113  no.  34  E5072–E5081

http://m.pnas.org/content/113/34/E5072.abstract

Shelly Fan.  Like Video Games, Your Brain Has a Physics Engine That Simulates the World. Sep 04, 2016.

http://singularityhub.com/2016/09/04/like-video-games-your-brain-has-a-physics-engine-that-simulates-the-world

# s-brain: only a fraction to keep alive ...

<< We're all living in a 'conceptual prison': our brains perceive a fraction of reality to keep us alive. To help us survive, our perception of truth is limited, says scientist Donald Hoffman >>

<< For millions of years the Australian jewel beetle's reproductive strategy proceeded very effectively. Then, Homo sapiens - and its habit of dumping used beer bottles - entered the picture. Unable to distinguish between these brown glass containers and the shell of a potential mate, the male beetles began attempting to copulate with discarded vessels. "They nearly went extinct" ... >>

Kathryn Nave. We're  all  living  in  a 'conceptual  prison'. 01 Sep 2016.

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/the-reality-of-survival

# s-gst: surface waves as a Turing machine

<< A droplet bouncing and wandering across a liquid surface can produce waves that store the history of its chaotic motion >>

Philip  Ball. Focus:  Surface  Waves  Store  Bouncing Droplet’s  History. Physics  9,  101. August  26,  2016.

http://physics.aps.org/articles/v9/101

S. Perrard, E. Fort, Y. Couder. Wave-Based Turing Machine: Time Reversal and Information Erasing. Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 094502 – DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.094502 Published 26 August 2016

http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.094502

# s-tech: a BZ skin for squishy bots

<< The potential to develop “materials that compute” has taken another leap (..) researchers for the first time have demonstrated that the material can be designed to recognize simple patterns. >>

<< This responsive, hybrid material, powered by its own chemical reactions, could one day be integrated into clothing and used to monitor the human body, or developed as a skin for “squishy” robots >>

<< The computations were modeled utilizing Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) gels, a substance that oscillates in the absence of external stimuli, with an overlaying piezoelectric cantilever. >>

<< This (..) is an example of this groundbreaking shift away from traditional silicon CMOS-based digital computing to a non-von Neumann machine in a polymer substrate, with remarkable low power consumption. >>

Research at Pitt into “materials that compute” advances as engineers demonstrate system performs pattern recognition. Sept 2, 2016.

https://engineering.pitt.edu/News/2016/Anna-Balazs-Materials-That-Compute-Pattern-Recognition/

Yan  Fang , Victor  V.  Yashin ,  et al. Pattern  recognition  with  “materials  that  compute”. Science  Advances   02  Sep 2016: Vol.  2,  no.  9,  e1601114 DOI:  10.1126/sciadv.1601114

http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601114

also:

1558-orologio chimico

http://inkpi.blogspot.it/2005/04/1558-orologio-chimico.html

# s-acad: scientists can contribute

<< Scientists can contribute to ensuring that the loss of privacy through technology does not result in loss of personal freedom. >>

Christoph Bock. Preserve personal freedom in networked societies. Broad anti-discrimination laws and practices could compensate for failing data protection and technology-linked loss of privacy. 31 August 2016. Nature 537, 9 (01 Sept 2016) doi:10.1038/537009a

http://www.nature.com/news/preserve-personal-freedom-in-networked-societies-1.20510

Also: self awareness, creativity and civil rights

http://flashontrack.blogspot.it/2016/05/s-brain-behav-n-socsci-abc-self.html

# s-evol: rapid self-assembly, in shades of orange and green ...

<< Scientists  have  found  what  they  think  is  the  oldest  fossil  on  Earth,  a  remnant  of  life  from  3.7 billion  years  ago  when  Earth's  skies  were  orange  and  its  oceans  green. >>

<< The  discovery  shows  life  may  have  formed  quicker  and  easier  than  once  thought,  about  half  a billion  years  after  Earth  formed.  And  that  may  also  give  hope  for  life  forming  elsewhere,  such as  Mars >>

Seth  Borenstein. Scientists  find  3.7  billion-year-old  fossil,  oldest  yet.  August  31,  2016.

http://m.phys.org/news/2016-08-scientists-billion-year-old-fossil-oldest.html

AA << report  evidence  for  ancient  life  from  a  newly  exposed  outcrop  of  3,700-Myr-old  metacarbonate  rocks  in  the ISB (Isua  supracrustal  belt, southwest  Greenland)  that  contain  1–4-cm-high  stromatolites— macroscopically  layered  structures  produced  by  microbial communities >>

Allen P. Nutman, Vickie C. Bennett, et al.  Rapid  emergence  of  life  shown  by  discovery  of 3,700-million-year-old  microbial  structures. Nature   (2016)   doi:10.1038/nature19355. Published  online  31  August  2016.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature19355.html

# e-tech: human- machine dialog: a step towards

<< Machines are taking over more and more tasks. Ideally, they should also be capable to support the human in case of poor performance. To intervene appropriately, the machine should understand what is going on with the human >>

<< Fraunhofer scientists have developed a diagnostic tool that recognizes user states in real time and communicates them to the machine.>>

<< A key aspect  (..) is that not only the user understands the machine, but that the machine also understands the state of the human. >>

In the model, AA << differentiates between six dimensions of user state that impact human performance: workload, motivation, situation awareness, attention, fatigue and the emotional state. >>

In addition, AA << combines these with external factors such as task, environmental factors, current level of automation and time of day, as well as individual factors—such as the user's experience. >>

Hey human, how are you doing?  Press Release. Man-machine interaction: comprehensive assessment of user states. Research News / 1.8.2016

https://www.fraunhofer.de/en/press/research-news/2016/august/hey-human-how-are-you-doing.htme

FonT: idealmente, si potrebbero  miniaturizzare i sensori e, attraverso  compressione algoritmica, adattare il software per far girare il sistema all'interno di un OS per smartwatch /  smartphone, giusto per comodita' d'uso ...