Links for 08-08-2007
William Gibson interview, electrical cell stimulation, the living cosmos, 4th-gen pig clones …
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1 – Q&A: William Gibson, science fiction novelist
“All of the big changes that emergent technologies bring us are, for the most part, completely unanticipated by the people that introduce those technologies.”
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2 – Embedded: A Benign Way to Nanowire Living Cells
“One day it may be possible for physicians to use electrical stimulation to guide the development of embryonic stem cells into neurons, heart cells, lung cells, breast cells, muscles, and other specific cell types.”
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3 – Musings on a Living Cosmos
“Having no experience whatsoever with alien intelligences, we can’t know whether they would want to meet any cultures they observed or simply catalog and study them.”
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4 – Fourth-generation pig clones born
“Since creating a pair of pig clones in April 2004, professor Hiroshi Nagashima, the research team leader, has been recloning the clones using cells from their salivary glands.”
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“Not only do life cycle analyses offer genuine opportunities for environmentally efficient food production, but they also address several problems inherent in the eat-local philosophy.”
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“This was, from very early on, a conscious effort to obfuscate, undermine and delay (pun intended) any and all official efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Scientific accuracy didn’t matter, only resistance to any government activity.”
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7 – The Fermi Paradox: Possible solutions and next steps
“In this article I will offer two broad solutions to the FP: 1) unavoidable self-destruction and 2) localized non-migratory existence.”
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8 – 62 ways to improve your press releases
Does what it says on the tin.
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9 – Young Keep It Simple In High – Tech World
“Talking to them about the role of technology in their lifestyle would be like talking to kids in the 1980s about the role the park swing or the telephone played in their social lives — it’s invisible.”
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10 – Album review: Knight Area – Under A New Sign
A modern take on Ye Olde Chivalrous Dragon-slaying Prog Rock – skilful, but very cheesy.
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11 – Album review: Father – Inspirita
Début math-metal album from Croatia
August 8th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
My nine year old was outside playing with her skipping rope the other day. Every time the jump rope got tangled in her feet, she would squawk, “REFRESH!” and start again.
I use a rotary dial phone in my bedroom just to hold on to a little bit of the low-tech past…