# life: smart cities

<< Even something as simple as a garbage bin can now be connected to the internet, meaning that it forms part of what is called the internet of things (IoT) >>

<< Through sensors embedded into our cities, and the smartphones in our pockets, smart cities will have the power to constantly identify where people are, who they are meeting and even perhaps what they are doing >>

Sara Degli-Esposti, Siraj Ahmed Shaikh. With smart cities, your every step will be recorded. Apr 17, 2018.

https://theconversation.com/with-smart-cities-your-every-step-will-be-recorded-94527  

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-04-smart-cities.html   

FonT

"and even perhaps what they are doing" . Non solo. Una ipotetica AI, oltre a collezionare dati, potrebbe verosimilmente generare (su media digitali audio- video ad es.) situazioni assolutamente inventate, di fantasia, percio' mai avvenute nel reale tuttavia difficili se non impossibili da discriminare/ confutare anche in sedi tecniche/  legali/ penali (l'ipotetico Mr. John dormiva inconsapevole nel suo letto e contemporaneamente 500 cam della sua citta' lo riprendevano in strada a passeggio ...). In tali scenari, le attuali violazioni della privacy e i supposti condizionamenti di Facebook etc sull'individuo si  potrebbero riconsiderare attivita' da  fantolini ...

# life: Sea Nomads freediving skills (they free dive up to 70 meters deep)

<< Understanding the physiology and genetics of human hypoxia tolerance  has important medical implications, but this phenomenon has thus far only been investigated in high-altitude human populations. Another system, yet to be explored, is humans who engage in breath-hold diving. The indigenous Bajau people (“Sea Nomads”) of Southeast Asia live a subsistence lifestyle based on breath-hold diving and are renowned for their extraordinary breath-holding abilities >>

<< the Bajau, and possibly other diving populations, provide a new opportunity to study human adaptation to hypoxia tolerance >>

Melissa A. Ilardo, Ida Moltke, et al. Physiological and Genetic Adaptations to Diving in Sea Nomads.
Cell. 2018; 173 (3): 569 - 80.e15. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.03.054. Apr 19, 2018.

http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(18)30386-6

<< Members of the Bajau can dive up to 70 meters with nothing more than a set of weights and a pair of wooden goggles >>

<< As they never dive competitively it is uncertain exactly how long the Bajau can remain underwater, but one of them told researcher Melissa Ilardo that he had once dived for 13 minutes consecutively >>

University of Cambridge. Genetic adaptations to diving discovered in humans for the first time. Apr 19, 2018.

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-04-genetic-humans.html

# gst: true randomness exists

<< On a good day, the machine produces 1,024 bits of data every 10 minutes, equivalent to typing 13 letters per minute. But it promises what even monkeys on typewriters can’t: completely random text >>

<< It's exciting to be able to say that randomness exists in the universe >> Peter Bierhorst.

Sophia Chen. Quantum Mechanics Could Solve Cryptography’s Random Number Problem. Apr 11, 2018.

https://www.wired.com/story/quantum-mechanics-could-solve-cryptographys-random-number-problem/

Peter Bierhorst, Emanuel Knill, et al. Experimentally generated randomness certified by the impossibility of superluminal signals. Nature. 2018; 556: 223–6. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0019-0. Apr 11, 2018.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0019-0

# gst: rotating particles self-organise (also in a form of active soft matter)

<< Biological organisms and artificial active particles self-organize into swarms and patterns >>

AA << study a mixture of minimalistic clockwise and counter-clockwise rotating robots, called rotors >>

<< experiments show that rotors move collectively and exhibit super-diffusive interfacial motion and phase separate via spinodal decomposition. On long time scales, confinement favors symmetric demixing patterns >>

This << macroscopic system is a form of active soft matter >>

Christian Scholz, Michael Engel,  Thorsten Poschel. Rotating robots move collectively and self-organize.
Nature Communications. 2018; 9 (931). doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03154-7. Apr 11, 2018.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03154-7

University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Physicists demonstrate demixing behavior of rotating particles. Apr 4, 2018.

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-04-physicists-demixing-behavior-rotating-particles.html

# psych: sometimes chickens remain optimistic despite exposure to stress

<< Chickens that grow up in an environment that they perceive as more diverse and manageable, retain an optimistic view of life and cope with stress better than individuals that grow up in more sterile surroundings >>

Linkoping University. Chickens remain optimistic in enriched environments despite exposure to stress. Apr 6, 2018.

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-04-chickens-optimistic-enriched-environments-exposure.html

Josefina Zidar, Irene Campderrich, et al.  Environmental complexity buffers against stress-induced negative judgement bias in female chickens.  Scientific Reports. 2018; 8 (5404). doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-23545-6
Mar 29, 2018.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-23545-6

# brain: a new learning theory; the role of weak synapses

AA << demonstrate a new type of abundant cooperative nonlinear dynamics where learning is attributed solely to the nodes, instead of the network links which their number is significantly larger >>

<< The network dynamics is now counterintuitively governed by the weak links, which previously were assumed to be insignificant >>

Shira Sardi, Roni Vardi, et al. Adaptive nodes enrich nonlinear cooperative learning beyond traditional adaptation by links. Scientific Reports. 2018; 8 (5100). doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-23471-7. March 23, 2018.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-23471-7

The brain learns completely differently than we’ve assumed, new learning theory says. New post-Hebb brain-learning model may lead to new brain treatments and breakthroughs in faster deep learning.  Mar 28, 2018.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-brain-learns-completely-differently-than-weve-assumed-new-learning-theory-says

# web: facebook (etc) data, a big correlated lump, harder to delete (then disappear)

<< Information on users' personalities or 'psychographics' was just a modest part of how the model targeted citizens. It was not a personality model strictly speaking, but rather one that boiled down demographics, social influences, personality and everything else into a big correlated lump >>. Matthew Hindman.

<< If Facebook is that hard to leave, just think about what will happen as virtual reality becomes more popular. The powerful algorithms that manipulate Facebook users are not nearly as effective as VR will be, with its full immersion >>

Jeff Inglis. Understanding Facebook's data crisis - 5 essential reads. The Conversation. Apr 5, 2018.

https://theconversation.com/understanding-facebooks-data-crisis-5-essential-reads-94066

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-04-facebook-crisis5-essential.html

also:

https://flashontrack.blogspot.it/search?q=facebook