# p-usa: #POTUS race: Donald presidency scares him to death, by Stephen

<< Author Stephen King spoke to Ron Charles, editor of The Washington Post's Book World, during a Facebook Live interview Saturday >>

<< If there's one man who would seem immune to fear, it's Stephen King, the best-selling author and master of horror fiction. But after more than 50 novels, hundreds of short stories and numerous film adaptations of his voluminous work, the 69-year-old still gets spooked >>

<< "A Tump presidency scares me more than anything else," King told Ron Charles [..] "I'm terrified that he'll become president" >>

<<  "I would have laughed three or four months ago, but I think that Trump has a real shot" >>

Peter Holley. Stephen King: ‘A Trump presidency scares me to death’. POST, The Fix. Sept. 24, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/24/master-of-horror-fiction-stephen-king-says-trump-presidency-scares-me-to-death/

# s-bot: human brain waves to remotely control nanobots inside a cockroach

<< This is wild: a team of Israeli scientists developed a contraption that uses a person's brain waves to remotely control DNA-based nanorobots — while the nanobots were inside a living cockroach >>

http://singularityhub.com/2016/09/18/mind-controlled-nanobots-used-to-release-chemicals-in-living-cockroaches/

Arnon S, Dahan N, et al. Thought-Controlled Nanoscale Robots in a Living Host. PLoS ONE 2016 11(8):e0161227. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0161227

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0161227

also: imprinting and recalling inside a single network of brain cells with thin beam of light (as if switching on a TV )

http://flashontrack.blogspot.it/2016/08/s-brain-imprinting-and-recalling-inside.html

# s-behav: fertility, in a wide view of an open system

<< Male  peacock  spiders  know  how  to  work  their  angles  and  find  their  light. The  arachnids,  native  to  Australia,  raise  their  derriere  —  or,  more  accurately,  a  flap  on  their  hind end  — skyward  and  shake  it  to  attract  females. Hairlike  scales  cover  their  bodies  and produce  the vibrant  colorations that make peacock spiders so striking >>

Helen Thompson. Tiny structures give a peacock spider its radiant rump. Sept. 09, 2016

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tiny-structures-give-peacock-spider-its-radiant-rump

Doekele G. Stavenga, Jürgen C. Otto, Bodo D. Wilts. Splendid coloration of the peacock spider Maratus splendens. J. R. Soc. Interface 2016 13 20160437; DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2016.0437. Published 10 August 2016

http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/13/121/20160437

# n-socsci-ai: a Study Panel to assess the current state of Artificial Intelligence

<< The One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence, launched in the fall of  2014, is a longterm investigation of  the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its influences on people, their communities, and society. It considers the science, engineering, and deployment of  AI-enabled computing systems. As its core activity, the Standing Committee that oversees the One Hundred Year Study forms a Study Panel every five years to assess the current state of  AI. >>

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND LIFE IN 2030 ONE HUNDRED YEAR STUDY ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. REPORT OF THE 2015 STUDY PANEL. September 2016

download:
https://ai100.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/ai_100_report_0916fnl_single.pdf

Peter Stone, Rodney Brooks, et al. "Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030." One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence: Report of the 2015-2016 Study Panel, Stanford University, Stanford, CA,  September 2016. Doc: http://ai100.stanford.edu/2016-report. Accessed:  September 6, 2016. Report Authors
AI100 Standing Committee and Study Panel 

https://ai100.stanford.edu/2016-report

# n-socsci-ai: futurescape, by Gerd, Rohit et al.

<< [..] as humanity enters the Jurassic Park of Big Tech. Artificial intelligence. Cognitive computing. The Singularity. Digital obesity. Printed food. The Internet of Things. The death of privacy. The end of work-as-we-know-it, and radical longevity >>

Gerd Leonhard, Rohit Talwar et al. Technology vs. Humanity: The Coming Clash Between Man and Machine (Futurescapes). Sept. 15, 2016

http://www.kurzweilai.net/technology-vs-humanity-the-coming-clash-between-man-and-machine-futurescapes

FonT: dev'essere senz'altro spassosissima la lettura di questo libro ...

# s-evol: pinnacle of nastiness, an example of natural flexibility

<< [..] venom genes might not be consistent even within a single species of rattlesnake, perhaps because snakes in different areas specialize in different prey. One western diamondback rattlesnake that Carroll’s team [Sean B. Carroll] sampled had unexpected extra genes that the other western diamondbacks didn’t have. >>

<< As for the ancestral rattlesnake, it’s impossible to say exactly how powerful the now-extinct reptile’s venom was, Carroll says. But the wider variety of enzymes this rattlesnake could hypothetically produce would have given it more flexibility to adapt its poison to environmental curveballs — an ability that Castoe [Todd Castoe] describes as “the pinnacle of nastiness.” >>

Laurel Hamers. Rattlesnakes have reduced their repertoire of venoms. September 15, 2016

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rattlesnakes-have-reduced-their-repertoire-venoms

Noah L. Dowell, Matt W. Giorgianni, et al. The Deep Origin and Recent Loss of Venom Toxin Genes in Rattlesnakes. Current Biology. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.038
Published: Sept.15, 2016

http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)30789-8

# s-age: dietary restriction to extend lifespan

<< Dietary  restriction  is  known  to  extend  lifespan  in  many  species.  It  has  now  been  shown  to  reduce  DNA damage  and  extend  lifespan  in  mice  modelling  human  DNA-repair  disorders. >>

J.  Oshima,  G. M.  Martin. Ageing:  Dietary  protection  for  genes. Nature   537,   316–317  (15  September  2016)   doi:10.1038/nature19427 Published  online   24  August  2016.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v537/n7620/full/nature19427.html

W.  P.  Vermeij  M.  E.  T.  Dolle'. Restricted  diet  delays  accelerated  ageing  and genomic  stress  in  DNA-repair-deficient  mice. Nature Volume: 537, Pages: 427–431 Date published: 15 September 2016 DOI: doi:10.1038/nature19329

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v537/n7620/full/nature19329.html

FonT: nella costellazione di "ricette" anti- invecchiamento la restrizione alimentare, intesa non come "dieta" ma come "stile di vita", e' l'approccio che nel corso degli ultimi decenni ha avuto (e ha tuttora nella letteratura scientifica internazionale) conferme sperimentali significative; uno stile che sa  associare (giornalmente) controllo alimentare bilanciato e attivita' fisica "dolce" (secondo una generica pratica zen, ad es.) sembra  l'approccio meno rischioso e il piu' efficace tra quelli proposti.