# life: tre cappotti

<< L’ho portato a casa che aveva due mesi. Non sapeva abbaiare. L’ho nutrito, l’ho pulito, l’ho addormentato. L’ho portato in passeggiata, faceva freddo, gli ho comprato i cappottini. L’ho spazzolato, l’ho coccolato, mi sono dovuta sorbire le proteste di Alberto che si sentiva messo da parte. L’ho portato dal veterinario, duecento euro tra: visita, vaccino pentavalente, inoculazione del microchip, iscrizione all’anagrafe canina e, tanto per non sbagliare, puntura anti-filaria (solo quella ventotto euro). L’ho sgridato quando faceva la pipì in casa. Ho smesso di uscire con le amiche perché, i primi tempi, non stava mai fermo per la voglia di giocare e ci aveva reso impossibile andare al ristorante.
Vorrei proprio sapere quali delle suddette attività mi differenzia da una mamma. >>

Erica Tabacco. Tre cappotti per un bassotto. Tragopano Ed. 8 Feb 2018.

http://www.tragopano.it/tre-cappotti-per-un-bassotto-di-erika-tabacco-in-e-book/  

# qubit: three-qubit operation with the Toffoli gate for scalable semiconductor quantum processors

<< The Toffoli gate is a three-qubit operation that changed the state of a target qubit conditioned on the state of two control qubits. It can be used for universal reversible classical computation, (..) >>

<< As a result, a single-step Toffoli gate can reduce the number of quantum operations dramatically, which can break the limit of coherence time and improve the efficiency of quantum computing >>

University of Science and Technology of China. Experimentally demonstrated a Toffoli gate in a semiconductor three-qubit system. March 1, 2018

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-03-experimentally-toffoli-gate-semiconductor-three-qubit.html

Hai-Ou Li, Gang Cao, et al. Controlled Quantum Operations of a Semiconductor Three-Qubit System. Phys. Rev. Applied 2018; 9.024015. doi: 10.1103/ PhysRevApplied.9.024015. Feb 15, 2018.

https://journals.aps.org/prapplied/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.024015

# esobio: Aliens & OoL, a review

AA << explores the collaborative nature and interdisciplinarity of the origin(s) of life (OoL) research community. Although OoL research is one of the oldest topics in philosophy, religion, and science; to date there has been no review of the field utilizing bibliometric measures. A dataset of 5647 publications that are tagged as OoL, (..) >>

Arsev Umur Aydinoglu, Zehra Taskın. Origins of Life Research: a Bibliometric Approach. Orig Life Evol Biosph. 2018; 48 (1): 55. doi: 10.1007/s11084-017-9543-4.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11084-017-9543-4

Also

Nick Pope (@nickpopemod)

https://twitter.com/nickpopemod

# gst: the role of turbulence in the formation of self-organizing patterns

<< What part of the 'self' is responsible for the 'organization?' That role is performed by the unstable modes ('control modes') which alter the position and stability of the local equilibria that drive the time-evolution of the system >> Jacob Halatek

<< These turbulences (..) do not result in the complete loss of order (..) precisely the opposite occurs. When we destabilize the system, we observe that turbulence develops relatively rapidly. But upon further perturbation, the system undergoes a transition in which it is far from equilibrium, but nevertheless clearly ordered and non-turbulent >> Erwin Frey

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Pattern formation - the paradoxical role of turbulence.
Feb 19, 2018.

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-02-pattern-formationthe-paradoxical-role-turbulence.html  

Jacob Halatek, Erwin Frey. Rethinking pattern formation in reaction- diffusion systems. Nature Physics. doi: 10.1038/s41567-017-0040-5. Feb 19, 2018.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-017-0040-5

# behav: cockroaches, more about

AA have found << that not only do cockroaches have unique individual personalities, but their differences can also have an impact on group dynamics >>

AA << suggests that varying degrees of personality differences in individuals is likely part of what allows cockroaches to adapt to new surroundings so easily. Brave individuals may forge a new path, while those that are shy remain behind, safe, should a nasty fate await those who venture out >>

Bob Yirka. Study shows cockroaches have individual personalities that impact group dynamics. Feb 4, 2015.

https://m.phys.org/news/2015-02-roaches-individual-personalities-impact-group.html

<< Many studies on collective behaviour underestimate the role of individual personality and, as a result, personality is rarely analysed in the context of collective dynamics. Here, [AA] show evidence of sheltering behaviour personality in a gregarious insect (Periplaneta americana), which is characterized by a collective personality at the group level >>

Isaac Planas-Sitja, Jean-Louis Deneubourg, et al.  Group personality during collective decision-making: a multi-level approach. Proc. R. Soc. B 2015; 282 20142515. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.2515. Feb 4, 2015.

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1802/20142515

Also

# s-behav: the beetle Carabaeus lamarcki, dancer and sky analyzer. May 14, 2016.

http://flashontrack.blogspot.it/2016/05/s-behav-beetle-carabaeus-lamarcki.html

Also

http://flashontrack.blogspot.it/search?q=cockroach

# brain: cockroaches, a spatial representation of the olfactory space

AA were able << to show - for the first time - the existence of a spatial representation of the olfactory space in the brain of a cockroach >>

University of Konstanz. Spatial perception of odorants in cockroaches. Feb 19, 2018.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180219103904.htm

AA << identified 12 types of pheromone-responsive projection neurons (..), each with spatially tuned receptive field >>

Hiroshi Nishino, Masazumi Iwasaki, et al. Spatial Receptive Fields for Odor Localization. Current Biology 2018; 28 (4): 600 - 608.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.055.  Feb 8, 2018.

http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)31688-3

# evol: cockroaches, the most detailed information about their evolutionary history

<< As a widespread group of insects with a fossil record dating back 300 My, cockroaches provide an ideal model for testing hypotheses of vicariance through plate tectonics versus transoceanic dispersal >>

AA << analyses provide evidence that both vicariance and dispersal have played important roles in shaping the distribution and diversity of these insects >>

Thomas Bourguignon, Qian Tang, et al.  Transoceanic Dispersal and Plate Tectonics Shaped Global Cockroach Distributions: Evidence from Mitochondrial Phylogenomics. Molecular Biology and Evolution. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msy013. Feb 06,  2018.

https://academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/molbev/msy013/4827068

Oxford University Press. Cockroach ancient geographic and genomic history traced back to last supercontinent. Feb 6, 2018

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-02-cockroach-ancient-geographic-genomic-history.html