# s-brain: mind-body connection: two broad networks in the cerebral cortex have access to the adrenal medulla

<< How  does  the  “mind”  (brain)  influence  the  “body”  (internal  organs)? >>

AA <<  identified  key  areas  in the  primate  cerebral  cortex  that  are  linked  through  multisynaptic  connections  to  the  adrenal medulla. >>

Richard  P. Dum, David  J. Levinthal, Peter  L.  Strick.  Motor,  cognitive,  and  affective  areas  of  the  cerebral  cortex  influence  the  adrenal medulla. PNAS  vol.  113,  no.  35,  9922–9927. doi:10.1073/pnas.1605044113

http://m.pnas.org/content/113/35/9922.abstract

Neuroscientists  identify  cortical  links  to  adrenal  medulla  (mind-body connection). August  19,  2016.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/neuroscientists-identify-cortical-links-to-adrenal-medulla-mind-body-connection

# 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