# gst: it would use chaos to compute efficiently

<< When you’re really harried, you probably feel like your head is brimful of chaos. You’re pretty close. Neuroscientists say your brain operates in a regime termed the “edge of chaos,” and it’s actually a good thing. It’s a state that allows for fast, efficient analog computation of the kind that can solve problems that grow vastly more difficult as they become bigger in size >>

<< A micrograph shows the construction of a Mott memristor composed of an 8-nanometer-thick layer of niobium dioxide between two layers of titanium nitride >>

Samuel K. Moore. Memristor-Driven Analog Compute Engine Would Use Chaos to Compute Efficiently. Oct  9, 2017

https://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/devices/memristordriven-analog-compute-engine-would-use-chaos-to-compute-efficiently

FonT

"When you’re really harried" ... only?

# ai: artificial intelligence AlphaGo becomes its own teacher

AA << introduce an algorithm based solely on reinforcement learning, without human data, guidance or domain knowledge beyond game rules. AlphaGo becomes its own teacher >>

David Silver, Julian Schrittwieser et al. Mastering the game of Go without human knowledge. Nature. 2017; 550: 354–9 doi: 10.1038/nature24270 Oct 18, 2017

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v550/n7676/full/nature24270.html

also

# s-ai: handling imperfect information (from scratch), by Libratus. Feb 4, 2017.

http://flashontrack.blogspot.it/2017/02/s-ai-handling-imperfect-information.html

# gst: adhesive performances (sticky approaches): a single type of toe pad (with lots of friction) vs multi functional "drunken stumbles"

AA << shows how different groups of lizards – geckos and anoles – took two completely different evolutionary paths to developing the beneficial trait of sticky toe pads >>

<< anoles seemed to commit to a single type of toe pad, one that generates lots of friction. As a group, they were able to develop sticky toe pads early. Geckos, meanwhile, opted for an evolutionary “drunken stumble,” and seemingly didn’t commit to a single approach, instead evolving toe pads that generate plenty of friction in some species and others that excel at sticking directly to a surface >>

Layne Cameron, Travis Hagey. An evolving sticky situation. Oct 12, 2017

http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2017/an-evolving-sticky-situation/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171012123031.htm

Travis J. Hagey, Josef C. Uyeda, et al. Tempo and mode of performance evolution across multiple independent origins of adhesive toe pads in lizards. Evolution.  2017; 71 (10): 2344–58 doi: 10.1111/evo.13318 Sep 13, 2017

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evo.13318/abstract

# gst: cooperating vs self-serving bacteria in transitional (noise) scenarios

AA << study a well-mixed, finite population consisting of two strains competing for the limited resources provided by an environment that randomly switches between states of abundance and scarcity >>

AA << consider two scenarios—one of pure resource competition, and one in which one strain provides a public good—and investigate how environmental randomness (external noise) coupled to demographic (internal) noise determines the population’s fixation properties and size distribution >>

Karl Wienand, Erwin Frey, Mauro Mobilia. Evolution of a Fluctuating Population in a Randomly Switching Environment. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 158301 Oct 11, 2017

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.158301

AA << showed that a randomly changing environment can create a level playing field between self-serving bacteria and bacteria that work together >>

<< Cooperating bacterial populations are more likely to survive in changing habitats >>

Fluctuating environments can help cooperating bacteria. Oct 12, 2017

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-10-fluctuating-environments-cooperating-bacteria.html

# pharma: waiting for new 'magic strings': psilocybin to treat depression

AA << data fill an important knowledge gap regarding the post-treatment brain effects of psilocybin, and are the first in depressed patients [..] A ‘reset’ therapeutic mechanism is proposed >>

Robin L Carhart-Harris, Leor Roseman, et al. Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms. Sci Rep  2017; 7 (13187) doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-13282-7

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-13282-7

<< Patients taking psilocybin to treat depression show reduced symptoms weeks after treatment following a 'reset' of their brain activity >>

Ryan O'Hare. Magic mushrooms may 'reset' the brains of depressed patients. Oct 13, 2017.

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_12-10-2017-16-22-36

'Magic mushrooms' may 'reset' the brains of depressed patients, study suggests. Oct 13, 2017

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171013091018.htm

to update:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=psilocybin

# gst: more on the three-body problem (695 families of collisionless orbits)

<< The famous three-body problem can be traced back to Isaac Newton in the 1680s >>

In a recent paper AA << numerically obtain 695 families of Newtonian periodic planar collisionless orbits of three-body system >>

Li, X. & Liao, S. More than six hundred new families of Newtonian periodic planar collisionless three-body orbits. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. (2017) 60: 129511. doi: 10.1007/s11433-017-9078-5

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11433-017-9078-5

the movies:

http://numericaltank.sjtu.edu.cn/three-body/three-body-unequal-mass-movies.htm

http://numericaltank.sjtu.edu.cn/three-body/three-body-unequal-mass.htm

http://numericaltank.sjtu.edu.cn/three-body/three-body.htm

Scientists discover more than 600 new periodic orbits of the famous three-body problem. Oct 12, 2017

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-10-scientists-periodic-orbits-famous-three-body.html

# soc-tech: unexpected obsolescence (from the user) for stochastic self-destruct

<< “There are products which we have our doubts about,” said Hiroya Kawasaki, chief executive of Kobe Steel >>

<< Making his first public appearance since the company admitted falsifying inspection data on aluminium and copper parts at the weekend, Mr Kawasaki acknowledged the reputational damage caused by the scandal >>

Emiko Terazono. Kobe Steel chief says trust in company has ‘fallen to zero’. ft.com Oct 12, 2017

https://www.ft.com/content/ac18403c-af08-11e7-aab9-abaa44b1e130

<< Kobe Steel President Hiroya Kawasaki said on Thursday there may be other cases in which data has been fabricated by Japan’s third-biggest steelmaker, which is reeling from a cheating scandal that has reverberated along global supply chains >>

Kobe Steel president says there may be other cases of data fabrication. reuters.com Oct 12, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/article/kobe-steel-scandal-kawasaki/kobe-steel-president-says-there-may-be-other-cases-of-data-fabrication-idUSL4N1MN1BB