All posts by Paul Raven

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Farewell, third molars – five vestigial organs that humans no longer need

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Four Wisdom TeethNew Scientist has a top-five run-down of vestigial organs that humans (arguably) no longer need.

(I imagine a number of readers will share in my vehement agreement that wisdom teeth (more properly known as third molars) are on the list … my unreasoning dislike of dentistry has been mentioned here before, and the consequences of an overcrowded jaw were a major contributing factor to that reaction.) [image by Lone Primate]

So, now we know which stuff we don’t need, how do we go about removing it from the human system? Permanently?

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Bionic vision based on cat’s brain

Black cat with yellow eyesOne of the hardest things about this eye-on-the-future blogging gig is finding a story like this, where the headline – “Cat brain could provide bionic eye firmware” – says everything you can say about it without going into the technical detail. [image by fazen]

So I guess I’ll just use a pull-quote:

“To try and develop a more sophisticated model [of the way brains respond to visual input], the team recorded the responses of 49 individual neurons in a part of a cat’s brain called the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). The LGN receives and processes visual information from the retina, via the optic nerve, before sending it on to the cerebral cortex.

Using a mixture of simple stimuli, like dots and bars, and building up to more complex moving artificial scenes, the team tried to work out the basics of the LGN’s response to visual features.”

The end-goal here is to provide prosthetic vision for persons whose ocular nerve has degenerated from lack of use, but I’m thinking that model will have a lot of other applications as well.

Blog

Keep Bluetooth close to your heart

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ECG monitor graphResearch is being carried out in my home town to see whether Bluetooth wireless technology is actually good for something more practical than spamming strangers at the pub with crude LOLcat pictures. [image by kalshassan]

In fact, the UK communications watchdog organisation Ofcom predicts Bluetooth and similar wireless technologies could save lives. For example, heart attack patients could be fitted with in-body sensors which would remind them when to take their medications (if it noticed they hadn’t already), or put in a call to a doctor or the ambulance service if it detected the patient had collapsed.

Hardly an unfamiliar idea to science fiction habitués – but it’s interesting to note how real-world experience with these sorts of technologies has shown us the potential flaws that the fiction missed. I mean, if I was relying on wireless technology to keep me alive, I’d want a much more reliable uptime rate from my ISP’s DNS servers.

[Hat tip to Ed Ashby]

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A few good bloggers – Futurismic is hiring!

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So, you may have noticed Justin joining the ranks here at Futurismic this week – and a fine addition I’m sure he’ll be. But we need more – there’s too much interesting stuff for us to cover!

So, are you interested in blogging for Futurismic? See if you fit our criteria:

  • enthusiastic consumer of science fiction literature and cutting edge news
  • some blogging experience (preferably WordPress-based; personal sites and LJs count, MySpace and Facebook don’t)
  • some very basic HTML skills
  • good language skills
  • an eye for a news story with a science fictional angle
  • the time and resources to post approximately once per weekday (though if you can only post at weekends, we’re still interested)

Does that sound like you? Does the idea of blogging for Futurismic appeal?

I’ll be totally upfront – there’s no money involved. The only people who get paid at Futurismic are our fiction contributors. But it’s a lot of fun, and there’s kudos and glory to be gained! Plus the thrill of writing for an audience of 2,000 people every day.

Still keen? Great! Head on over to the Futurismic Contact page and follow these instructions precisely:

In the subject field type “Blogging Application”.

Then in the message field provide:

  • your full name (and nom de blog, if relevant)
  • links to sites where you’ve blogged/are blogging
  • a few sentences explaining why you think you’d make a great blogger for Futurismic
  • any specialist subjects and focused interests that you think make you stand out from the pack

Then attach and upload a file IN RICH TEXT (.RTF) FORMAT ONLY that contains two sample posts that you’d consider appropriate to Futurismic‘s house style. It’s the content we’re looking for, but do show what links you’d use and where you’d put them. Extra points for posts fully coded in HTML.

Pretty easy, right? Please follow those instructions carefully, though – the wrong subject field might mean your application gets eaten by the spam-trap, and the form won’t let you upload the wrong sort of file.

The rest is down to you – the deadline for applications is this Sunday, 25th May. Enquiries from previous applicants welcome. Get to it!

Blog

Software spies to watch for rogue traders

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Wall Street subway sign

Your employer is highly unlikely to be very impressed at finding there’s spyware on the computer you use for work … unless you work in investment banking or the stock market, that is. Because then they may have put it there themselves. [image by epicharmus]

Increasingly worried about the risk of rogue traders and insider deals causing all sorts of economic nastiness, banks and financial institutions are turning to sophisticated spying software to keep an eye on their employees. A number of other industries use similar precautions, too – we can expect our employee contracts to expand in sympathy as we become obliged to consent to being watched while we work.

As a side note, while it’s good to see the banks taking precautions and adopting the latest technological advances to make the economy more secure, I just don’t see how – in a business where $6 billion can be lost off the value of a company in less than an hour – it still takes five working days for a cheque to clear to my account. Is this what they mean by the “trickle-down economy”?