# brain: about high creative abilities ...

<< Creative tasks range from what researchers call “little-c” creativity – making a website, crafting a birthday present or coming up with a funny joke – to “Big-C” creativity: writing a speech, composing a poem or designing a scientific experiment. >>

<< Recent evidence suggests that creativity involves a complex interplay between spontaneous and controlled thinking – the ability to both spontaneously brainstorm ideas and deliberately evaluate them to determine whether they’ll actually work. >>

AA << examined whether a person’s creative thinking ability can be explained, in part, by a connection between three brain networks. >>

Roger Beaty. New study reveals why some people are more creative than others. Harvard University. Jan 15, 2018.

https://theconversation.com/new-study-reveals-why-some-people-are-more-creative-than-others-90065

<< The findings thus reveal a whole-brain network associated with high-creative ability comprised of cortical hubs within default, salience, and executive systems-intrinsic functional networks that tend to work in opposition-suggesting that highly creative people are characterized by the ability to simultaneously engage these large-scale brain networks. >>

Roger E. Beaty, Yoed N. Kenett, et al. Robust prediction of individual creative ability from brain functional connectivity. PNAS Jan 30, 2018 115 (5) 1087-1092;  doi: 10.1073/pnas.1713532115.

http://www.pnas.org/content/115/5/1087

# gst: chaos from a double pendulum

<< Three double pendulums, all starting with near identical initial conditions, all rapidly diverging. >>

Ari Rubinsztejn. Chaos and the Double Pendulum. Nov 19, 2018.

https://gereshes.com/2018/11/19/chaos-and-the-double-pendulum

# ai-cpu: USB Neural Compute Stick 2 (99usd) by Intel

<< Intel has unveiled the Intel Neural Compute Stick 2. It looks like a standard USB thumb drive, and it runs on a USB 3.0 port, but is oh-more-special. CNET said the new AI "brain" sticks into the side of your PC. >>

<< Availability? And at what price? The new Intel NCS 2 is shipping worldwide from Nov 14. Kyle Wiggers, VentureBeat, had some details. It will be available through JD.com in China; RS Components in Europe, the Middle East and Asia; Switch Sciences in Japan; and Mouser worldwide, for $99. >>

Nancy Owano. USB form neural compute stick makes debut at developer event. Nov 15, 2018.

https://m.techxplore.com/news/2018-11-usb-neural-debut-event.html

https://software.intel.com/en-us/neural-compute-stick

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181114005183/en/Intel-Unveils-Intel-Neural-Compute-Stick-2

Also

1746 - competitive professionalità. Dec 22, 2004.

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/2004/12/1746-competitive-professionalit.html

1965 - metaMeccano neoProtele. Feb 26, 2006.

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/2006/02/1965-metameccano-neoprotele.html

# astro: a "zombie" star as a homing beacon to detect classes of black holes

<< The research explored whether a dormant white dwarf star-sometimes referred to as a "zombie" star-could reignite if it had a close encounter with an intermediate-mass black hole. >>

<< If the stars align, so to speak, a zombie star could serve as a homing beacon for a never-before-detected class of black holes. >>

<< The stretching phenomena can be very complicated (..) Imagine a spherical star approaching a black hole. As it approaches the black hole, tidal forces begin to compress the star in a direction perpendicular to the orbital plane, reigniting it. But within the orbital plane, these gravitational forces stretch the star and tear it apart. It's a competing effect. >> Rob Hoffman

<< It was exciting to see that the zombie star reignited in each of the close encounter scenarios we looked at, >> Peter Anninos

Nolan O'brien. 'Zombie' stars return from the dead. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Oct 31, 2018.

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-10-zombie-stars-dead.html

Peter Anninos, P. Chris Fragile, et al. Relativistic Tidal Disruption and Nuclear Ignition of White Dwarf Stars by Intermediate-mass Black Holes. The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 865, Number 1. Sep 17, 2018. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/aadad9.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aadad9/meta  

# zen: effects of meditation and music on cellular aging and Alzheimer's disease

<< Telomere length (TL), telomerase activity (TA), and plasma amyloid-β (Aβ) levels have emerged as possible predictors of cognitive decline and dementia. >>

<< Practice of simple mind-body therapies may alter plasma Aβ levels, TL, and TA. Biomarker increases were associated with improvements in cognitive function, sleep, mood, and QOL (quality of life), suggesting potential functional relationships. >>

Innes Kim, Selfe Terry Kita, et al. Effects of Meditation and Music-Listening on Blood Biomarkers of Cellular Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease in Adults with Subjective Cognitive Decline: An Exploratory Randomized Clinical Trial. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Oct 11, 2018. doi: 10.3233/JAD-180164.

https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad180164

Meditation and music may alter blood markers of cellular aging and Alzheimer's disease. IOS Press. Nov 13, 2018.

https://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2018-11-meditation-music-blood-markers-cellular.html

# behav: brain; neural cells tuned to posture

AA << identified neurons in the posterior parietal cortex and the frontal motor cortex that were associated with changes in posture. So close were the associations that the researchers could actually predict which posture a rat was assuming by simply watching neural activity in these two brain regions. >>

In a Perspective piece, Guifen Chen << wonders if neurons associated with posture become active only when a posture is achieved, or if they continue firing as that posture is held in place. >>

Bob Yirka. Researchers find neural cells in rat brain that are tuned to posture. Medical Xpress. Nov 2, 2018.

https://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2018-11-neural-cells-rat-brain-tuned.html

Bartul Mimica, Benjamin A. Dunn, et al.  Efficient cortical coding of 3D posture in freely behaving rats. Science  02 Nov 2018: Vol. 362, Issue 6414, pp. 584-589
DOI: 10.1126/science.aau2013.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/362/6414/584 

Guifen Chen. Identifying posture cells in the brain. Science  02 Nov 2018:
Vol. 362, Issue 6414, pp. 520-521
DOI: 10.1126/science.aav3819.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/362/6414/520 

# climate: AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) slowdown debate.

<< A few weeks ago, [AA] argued [..] that the Atlantic overturning circulation (sometimes popularly dubbed the Gulf Stream System) has weakened significantly since the late 19th Century, with most of the decline happening since the mid-20th Century >>

<< But there were also some questions and criticisms in the media, so [they would like] to present a forum for discussing these questions >>

If you doubt that the AMOC [Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation] has weakened, read this. stefan @ 28 May 2018.

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2018/05/if-you-doubt-that-the-amoc-has-weakened-read-this/

L. Caesar, S. Rahmstorf, et al. Observed fingerprint of a weakening Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation. Nature. 556 191–196 (2018).

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0006-5