Complexity Digest 2007.48

14-Dec-2007

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Content

  1. Selection Spurred Recent Evolution, Researchers Say, NY Times
    1. Are Humans Evolving Faster? Findings Suggest We Are Becoming More Different, Not Alike, PhysOrg.com
    2. Why Leaders Must Evolve, CIO Leader
  2. The Economic Fundamentals of Global Warming, SFI Working Papers
    1. Dynamics of Technological Development in the Energy Sector, SFI Working Papers
  3. Humans Appear Hardwired To Learn By 'Over-Imitation', ScienceDaily
    1. Brain Sensor for Market Research, Technology Review
  4. Subliminal Smells Bias Perception About A Person's Likeability, ScienceDaily
    1. Smell Experience During Critical Period Alters Brain, ScienceDaily
  5. Picture-Sorting Dogs Show Human-Like Thought, New Scientist
  6. The Robots Among Us, S.F. Chronicle
    1. Toyota Tunes Up Robo-Violinist: Robotics To Be A 'Core Business' By 2020, vnunet.com
    2. Warning Sounded Over 'Flirting Robots', CNET News.Com
    3. Micro-Robot Olympics Reveal Champion Swimmer, NewScientist.com
    4. Virtual 3D Nanorobots Could Lead To Real Cancer-Fighting Technology, PhysOrg.com
  7. Do Our Brains Work Like Google?, New Scientist
    1. Neuroscience: Gene Variant May Influence How People Learn From Their Mistakes, Science
  8. Cancer: Immune Pact With The Enemy, Nature
    1. Adaptive Immunity Maintains Occult Cancer In An Equilibrium State, Nature
    2. Breast Cancer Spread by Blocking Tumor-Killing Gene, Study Says, Bloomberg.com
    3. Keeping At-Risk Cells From Developing Cancer, PhysOrg.com
    4. Why the Switch Stays On: Scientists Discover Reasons Behind Cancerous Cellular Interactions, PhysOrg.com
  9. New Computational Technique Can Predict Drug Side Effects, Science Daily
    1. Remotely Controlled Drugs - Nanoparticles Can Be Activated By Radio Frequencies., Technology Review
  10. Glow-In-The-Dark Cat Could Help Cut Disease, Telegraph.co.uk
  11. Microbiology: Bilingual Bacteria, Nature
    1. Host - Parasite 'Red Queen' Dynamics Archived In Pond Sediment, Nature
  12. Plant Science: The Power Of The Pyramid, Science
    1. Ecology: How Do Roots Interact?, Science
  13. Ancient Flood Brought Gulf Stream To A Halt, New Scientist
  14. A Hierarchy Of Timescales In Protein Dynamics Is Linked To Enzyme Catalysis, Nature
    1. Lightning Bolts Within Cells - A New Nanoscale Tool Reveals Strong Electric Fields Inside Cells., Technology Review
  15. Researchers Develop Better Membranes For Water Treatment, Drug Delivery, PhysOrg.com
  16. Role Models for Complex Networks, SFI Working Papers
    1. Synchrony In Silicon: The Gamma Rhythm, Neural Networks
  17. Optical Quantum Computing, Science
    1. Optical Supercontinua Finally Explained, EE Times
    2. Turning Optical-Fibre Messages Into Sound Could Help Store The Information., Nature
  18. Astronomy: A Texture in the Sky?, Science
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. Bioterrorism: Panel Provides Peer Review of Intelligence Research, Science
    2. Waterboarding Recounted - Ex-CIA Officer Says It 'Probably Saved Lives' but Is Torture, Washington Post
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. Selection Spurred Recent Evolution, Researchers Say, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: By dating the time that each of the genes came under selection, they have found that the rate of human evolution was fairly steady until about 50,000 years ago and then accelerated up until 10,000 years ago, they report in the current issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The high rate of selection has probably continued to the present day, Dr. Moyzis said, but current data are not adequate to pick up recent selection.

    1. Are Humans Evolving Faster? Findings Suggest We Are Becoming More Different, Not Alike, PhysOrg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Researchers discovered genetic evidence that human evolution is speeding up - and has not halted or proceeded at a constant rate, as had been thought - indicating that humans on different continents are becoming increasingly different.

      ˇ§We used a new genomic technology to show that humans are evolving rapidly, and that the pace of change has accelerated a lot in the last 40,000 years, especially since the end of the Ice Age roughly 10,000 years ago,ˇ¨ says research team leader Henry Harpending, a distinguished professor of anthropology at the University of Utah.

    2. Why Leaders Must Evolve, CIO Leader Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Leaders who can adapt themselves to change have a competitive edge in a world where the traditional model of management is in danger of becoming obsolete. The management model is being challenged. The weakening economy, an escalating credit crisis and the rising price of oil have led to market jitters and the departures of CEOs of major financial institutions like CitiCorp and Merrill Lynch. With those events as the backdrop, New York Times reporter Nelson D. Schwartz wondered in an article last month if we would see the rise of the CEO 3.0.

  2. The Economic Fundamentals of Global Warming, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: If unpriced emission of greenhouse gases imposes real costs on future generations, both present and future generations can enjoy a higher consumption of economic goods and services through the correction of this unpriced externality, so there is no real economic opportunity cost to mitigation of global warming. The misperception that control of global warming is costly rests on the mistaken assumption that the investment allocation of the world economy without mitigation measures is efficient, but in the presence of an externality the world economy is not on its efficiency frontier. (...)

    1. Dynamics of Technological Development in the Energy Sector, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: This paper reviews the literature on trends of technological improvement, focusing on the energy sector. We discuss the extent to which past trends can be used to predict the future improvement paths of technologies. The historical trends for certain technologies, such as wind and photovoltaics, have been much more regular than those of other technologies, such as nuclear fission or natural gas. (...)

  3. Humans Appear Hardwired To Learn By 'Over-Imitation', ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Children learn by imitating adults--so much so that they will rethink how an object works if they observe an adult taking unnecessary steps when using that object, (...). "Even when you add time pressure, or warn the children not to do the unnecessary actions, they seem unable to avoid reproducing the adult's irrelevant actions," said Derek Lyons, (...). "They have already incorporated the actions into their idea of how the object works." Learning by imitation occurs from the simplest preverbal communication to the most complex adult expertise. It is the basis for much of our success as a species, (...).

    1. Brain Sensor for Market Research, Technology Review Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Mind the marketing: Emsense has developed a sensor-laden headset (above) that testers in market-research studies wear. It tracks brain activity using a single electroencephalography sensor (EEG) at the forehead, as well as other sensors that monitor breathing rate, head motion, heart rate, blink rate, and skin temperature. Credit: Emsense
      (...) collecting data on how viewers reacted to specific events in commercials and games, such as an intense battle scene, or a joke or a sales pitch in an ad. The company used this data to build mathematical models describing how physiological signals change in response to specific events. The technology, he claims, can let a game maker know the point at which people get sucked into a game and the point at which they lose interest. An advertiser can learn if its sales pitch comes at a time when commercial watchers have a positive or a negative feeling about the ad, Lee says.

  4. Subliminal Smells Bias Perception About A Person's Likeability, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Anyone who has bonded with a puppy madly sniffing with affection gets an idea of how scents, most not apparent to humans, are critical to a dog's appreciation of her two-legged friends. Now new research from Northwestern University suggests that humans also pick up infinitesimal scents that affect whether or not we like somebody. "We evaluate people every day and make judgments about who we like or don't like," said Wen Li, (...). "We may think our judgments are based only on various conscious bits of information, but our senses also may provide subliminal perceptual information that affects our behavior." (...)

    1. Smell Experience During Critical Period Alters Brain, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Unlike the circuitry of the visual system, that of the olfactory system was thought to be hardwired: Once the neurons had formed, no amount of sensory input could change their arrangement. Now researchers (...) have upturned this scientific dogma by showing that there is a sensitive period during which the external environment can alter a circuit in the fly brain that detects carbon dioxide, a gas that alerts flies to food and mates. This research may suggest that this brain plasticity isn't limited to the carbon dioxide detection circuit. Rather, it may be a general feature of the olfactory system itself. (...)

  5. Picture-Sorting Dogs Show Human-Like Thought, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Four dogs were simultaneously shown photographs of a landscape and of a dog, and were rewarded if they selected the latter using a paw-operated computer (Image: Huber et al / Springer)
    It seems dogs can place photographs into categories the same way humans do, an ability previously identified only in birds and primates.

    (...) trained dogs to distinguish photographs that depicted dogs from those that did not. "We know they can categorise 'food' or 'enemies' from experience," says Range, "but this is the first time we've taught them an abstract concept - 'a dog' - and shown they can transfer this knowledge to a new situation."

  6. The Robots Among Us, S.F. Chronicle Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In fact, today's 'bots are so primitive some may wonder, why take them seriously? Perhaps because high-tech and biotech pioneers are among their cheerleaders. Watching the DARPA race in November Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak likens robotics today to computing in the mid-1970s. Genentech chief executive Art Levinson was also in the stands, rooting for his 24-year-old son Jesse Levinson, a graduate student who helped write the Stanford robo-car's software. "He says what I do is too easy," says the biotech exec.

    1. Toyota Tunes Up Robo-Violinist: Robotics To Be A 'Core Business' By 2020, vnunet.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Toyota has announced a major push into robotics, showing off its latest creations including human-sized robot that can play the violin. The company demonstrated a 5ft robot with 17 joints in each hand and arm performing a full rendition of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance. The rendition was note perfect, but was described by some as "stilted". A video of the robot is available on YouTube. "Over the next two to three years, we will put the robots to the test through trial applications and see what kind of business possibilities they present," Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe told The Guardian. (...)

    2. Warning Sounded Over 'Flirting Robots', CNET News.Com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A program that can mimic online flirtation and then extract personal information from its unsuspecting conversation partners is making the rounds in Russian chat forums, (...).

      "As a tool that can be used by hackers to conduct identity fraud, CyberLover demonstrates an unprecedented level of social engineering," PC Tools senior malware analyst Sergei Shevchenko said in a statement.

      Among CyberLover's creepy features is its ability to offer a range of different profiles from "romantic lover" to "sexual predator." It can also lead victims to a "personal" Web site, which could be used to deliver malware, PC Tools said.

    3. Micro-Robot Olympics Reveal Champion Swimmer, NewScientist.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      3D models of micro-swimming robots could help researchers find the best designs (Image: Dennis Rapaport)
      All the simulations carried out so far have been in two dimensions. The designs tested were all rod shaped and about 26 nanometres in length but with many different forms of propulsion, including jets, paddles, and snaking tails.

      In the efficiency stakes, a design dubbed "tracks" was found to be the winner. This design has a surface that moves from its front to its back, like a caterpillar's tracks, "or the longitudinal surface waves of cilia," says Rapaport.

    4. Virtual 3D Nanorobots Could Lead To Real Cancer-Fighting Technology, PhysOrg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Nanorobots search for organ-inlets demanding protein injection. Image credit: Adriano Cavalcanti, et al.
      From eliminating the side effects of chemotherapy to treating Alzheimer's disease, the potential medical applications of nanorobots are vast and ambitious. In the past decade, researchers have made many improvements on the different systems required for developing practical nanorobots, such as sensors, energy supply, and data transmission.

      (...) a group of researchers has recently developed an innovative approach to help in the research and development of nanorobots - virtual reality.

      (...) the NCD [Nanorobot Control Design, Ed.] simulations show how to interact and control a nanorobot inside the body.ˇ¨

  7. Do Our Brains Work Like Google?, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Google's patented and powerful search algorithm, PageRank, may mimic the way the human brain retrieves information.

    Our memory for words can be modelled as a network in which each point represents a different word, with each linked to words that relate to it. Psychologist Tom Griffiths and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, wondered whether the ease with which the brain retrieves words is similar to the way that websites are ranked by PageRank: by the number of sites that link to them.

    1. Neuroscience: Gene Variant May Influence How People Learn From Their Mistakes, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: "Once burned, twice shy" works for most people. But some people are slow to learn from bad experiences. Now, a team of neuroscientists in Germany reports on page 1642 that people with a particular gene variant have more difficulty learning via negative reinforcement.

      The research, which combined brain imaging with a task in which participants chose between symbols on a computer screen, centers on the A1 variant, or allele, of the gene encoding the D2 receptor, a protein on the surface of brain cells activated by the neurotransmitter dopamine.

  8. Cancer: Immune Pact With The Enemy, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Progress comes from the latest investigations into a long-standing question in immunology - the role of the immune system in maintaining small, potentially cancerous lesions in a state of dormancy. (...)

    A downside of such treatment [immunosuppressive chemotherapy or irradiation, Ed.] could be the escape of dormant tumour cells from immune control. Dormant cells themselves are likely to be less susceptible to these treatments, which primarily target rapidly dividing cells.
    Editor's Note: See also Dean LeBaron's webcast of Oct, 10, 2007: Cancer Cures Suggest Terror Cures

    1. Adaptive Immunity Maintains Occult Cancer In An Equilibrium State, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Herein we use a mouse model of primary chemical carcinogenesis and demonstrate that equilibrium occurs, is mechanistically distinguishable from elimination and escape, and that neoplastic cells in equilibrium are transformed but proliferate poorly in vivo. We also show that tumour cells in equilibrium are unedited but become edited when they spontaneously escape immune control and grow into clinically apparent tumours. These results reveal that, in addition to destroying tumour cells and sculpting tumour immunogenicity, the immune system of a naive mouse can also restrain cancer growth for extended time periods.

    2. Breast Cancer Spread by Blocking Tumor-Killing Gene, Study Says, Bloomberg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: One of the most drug-resistant forms of breast cancer is caused by a cellular mutation that destroys a tumor-fighting gene, researchers said.

      Women carrying a defective copy of the BRCA1 gene have up to an 80 percent lifetime risk of developing the disease, doctors have found. Scientists now say they've uncovered the process that makes this form of breast cancer so hard to stop.

    3. Keeping At-Risk Cells From Developing Cancer, PhysOrg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that cancers arising from epigenetic changes - in this case the inappropriate activation of a normally silent gene - develop by becoming addicted to certain growth factors. Reporting online in next week's Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, the team shows that blocking this "addiction" can greatly prevent cancer growth.

      "If this is translatable to people, it could be really exciting," (..). "It means we might be able to do something about at-risk cells before cancer develops, and treat these cells biochemically and specifically, rather than using current drugs that are nonspecific and kill everything in their path."

    4. Why the Switch Stays On: Scientists Discover Reasons Behind Cancerous Cellular Interactions, PhysOrg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Cellular processes, such as when to multiply, are often regulated by switches that control the frequency and timing of interactions between proteins. North Carolina State University scientists have discovered the way in which a specific protein-protein interaction prevents the cell from turning one of its switches off, leading to uncontrolled cell proliferation - one of the hallmarks of cancer.

  9. New Computational Technique Can Predict Drug Side Effects, Science Daily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Early identification of adverse effects of drugs before they are tested in humans is crucial in developing new therapeutics, as unexpected effects account for a third of all drug failures during the development process. (...)

    Drug molecules are designed to bind to targeted proteins in order to achieve a therapeutic affect, but if the small drug molecule that functions as a "key" attaches to an off-target protein that has a similar binding site, or "lock," side effects can result.


    1. Remotely Controlled Drugs - Nanoparticles Can Be Activated By Radio Frequencies., Technology Review Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Remote-controlled drugs: Nanoparticles implanted in model tumors in mice release a drug (dyed green) into surrounding tissues when the mouse is exposed to radio-frequency waves. Credit: Sangeeta Bhatia, MIT
      The only way for doctors to verify that cancer drugs are reaching a patient's tumor is to scan patients after weeks of treatments to see if the tumor has shrunk. In the hopes of shortening this process, improving outcomes for cancer patients, and reducing the side effects of chemotherapy, MIT engineers are developing remote-controlled, multipurpose nanoparticles. These compounds act as both precise drug-delivery vehicles and contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). (...)

      The nanoparticles, made by Sangeeta Bhatia of MIT's Division of Health Sciences and Technology, are iron-oxide spheres bound to tumor-targeting peptides and strands of DNA.

  10. Glow-In-The-Dark Cat Could Help Cut Disease, Telegraph.co.uk Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    One of the modified kittens
    Scientists have genetically modified three kittens so they appear fluorescent under ultra-violet light in a procedure which could help develop treatments for human genetic diseases. (...)

    To clone the cats the team used skin cells of the mother cat and modified its genes to make them fluorescent by using a virus, which was transplanted into the ova. The ova were then implanted into the womb of the donor cat.(...)


  11. Microbiology: Bilingual Bacteria, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Many bacteria use chemical signals to coordinate group behaviour. A signal that suppresses virulence has been identified in the bacterium that causes cholera, and could be a new therapeutic target.

    Like people, many bacteria do things in groups that they don't do on their own. These communal activities can be spectacular; the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri, for example, produces bioluminescence in the light organs of deep-sea fish.

    1. Host - Parasite 'Red Queen' Dynamics Archived In Pond Sediment, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Dormant stages of both the water flea Daphnia and its microparasites are conserved in lake sediments, providing an archive of past gene pools. Here we use this fact to reconstruct rapid coevolutionary dynamics in a natural setting and show that the parasite rapidly adapts to its host over a period of only a few years. A coevolutionary model based on negative frequency-dependent selection, and designed to mimic essential aspects of our host-parasite system, corroborated these experimental results. In line with the idea of continuing host-parasite coevolution, temporal variation in parasite infectivity changed little over time.

  12. Plant Science: The Power Of The Pyramid, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The use of crops that are genetically engineered to produce Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins has risen rapidly to more than 32 million hectares in 2006, resulting in substantially reduced use of insecticides and increased grower profit. However, with the increased use of Bt crops, such as corn and cotton (see the figure), comes the threat that target pests may develop resistance to these toxins. To date, there have been no reports of Bt resistance occurring in field populations of insects during the 11 years that Bt crops have been commercialized.

    1. Ecology: How Do Roots Interact?, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Several studies have shown that roots respond to neighboring roots in a very specific manner that depends on the identity of the neighbor (4-6). Root extension tends to be greater when roots grow into substrate containing "nonself " roots of a genetically different individual or a detached plant with the same genotype than when "self " roots of the same (physiological and genetic) individual are encountered. Dudley and File have recently shown that plants of the Great Lakes Sea Rocket (Cakile edentula) invested more biomass in fine roots when they competed with unrelated individuals than when they competed with siblings (7).

  13. Ancient Flood Brought Gulf Stream To A Halt, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: It was the biggest climate event of the last 10,000 years and caused the most dramatic change in the weather since humans began farming. And it may yet hold important lessons about climate change in the 21st century.

    Just over 8000 years ago, a huge glacial lake in Canada burst, and an estimated 100,000 cubic kilometres of fresh water rushed into the North Atlantic. Researchers now say they know for sure that this catastrophic event shut down the Gulf Stream and cooled parts of the northern hemisphere by several degrees for more than a hundred years.


  14. A Hierarchy Of Timescales In Protein Dynamics Is Linked To Enzyme Catalysis, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The synergy between structure and dynamics is essential to the function of biological macromolecules. Thermally driven dynamics on different timescales have been experimentally observed or simulated, and a direct link between micro- to milli-second domain motions and enzymatic function has been established. However, very little is understood about the connection of these functionally relevant, collective movements with local atomic fluctuations, which are much faster. Here we show that pico- to nano-second timescale atomic fluctuations in hinge regions of adenylate kinase facilitate the large-scale, slower lid motions that produce a catalytically competent state.

    1. Lightning Bolts Within Cells - A New Nanoscale Tool Reveals Strong Electric Fields Inside Cells., Technology Review Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      The cell electric: Encapsulated in a polymer shell just 30 nanometers across, voltage-sensitive dyes (red) emit red and green light when illuminated with blue light. These encapsulated dyes make it possible to measure electric fields inside cells. Credit: Raoul Kopelman, University of Michigan
      Jerry S.H. Lee, a nanotechnology project manager also at the National Cancer Institute, says that Kopelman's research bolsters the set of nanoscale tools that scientists are developing to probe cells' physical properties, such as special microscopic probes for measuring cell stiffness. (See "The Feel of Cancer Cells.") In the past decade, researchers have improved cancer diagnosis by examining protein markers and genetic signatures. Now they're "thinking of how nanotechnology can make tools to look at additional signatures" like electric fields, says Lee.


  15. Researchers Develop Better Membranes For Water Treatment, Drug Delivery, PhysOrg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new generation of biomimetic membranes for water treatment and drug delivery. The highly permeable and selective membranes are based on the incorporation of the functional water channel protein Aquaporin Z into a novel A-B-A triblock copolymer.

    The experimental membranes, currently in the form of vesicles, show significantly higher water transport than existing reverse-osmosis membranes used in water purification and desalination. (...)

    . "We took a close look at how kidneys so efficiently transport water through a membrane with aquaporins, and then we found a way to duplicate that in a synthetic system," (...).

  16. Role Models for Complex Networks, SFI Working Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: We present a framework for automatically decomposing ("block-modeling'') the functional classes of agents within a complex network. These classes are represented by the nodes of an image graph ("block model'') depicting the main patterns of connectivity and thus functional roles in the network. Using a first principles approach, we derive a measure for the fit of a network to any given image graph allowing objective hypothesis testing. (...)

    1. Synchrony In Silicon: The Gamma Rhythm, Neural Networks Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: In this paper, we present a network of silicon interneurons that synchronize in the gamma frequency range (20-80 Hz). The gamma rhythm strongly influences neuronal spike timing within many brain regions, potentially playing a crucial role in computation. Yet it has largely been ignored in neuromorphic systems, which use mixed analog and digital circuits to model neurobiology in silicon. Our neurons synchronize by using shunting inhibition (conductance based) with a synaptic rise time. Synaptic rise time promotes synchrony by delaying the effect of inhibition, providing an opportune period for interneurons to spike together. (...)
      • Source: Synchrony In Silicon: The Gamma Rhythm, Arthur, J. V., Boahen, K. A., DOI: 10.1109/TNN.2007.900238, Neural Networks, IEEE Transactions, Nov. 2007, online 2007/11/05
      • Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01ayahoo.com

  17. Optical Quantum Computing, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In 2001, all-optical quantum computing became feasible with the discovery that scalable quantum computing is possible using only single-photon sources, linear optical elements, and single-photon detectors. Although it was in principle scalable, the massive resource overhead made the scheme practically daunting. However, several simplifications were followed by proof-of-principle demonstrations, and recent approaches based on cluster states or error encoding have dramatically reduced this worrying resource overhead, making an all-optical architecture a serious contender for the ultimate goal of a large-scale quantum computer.
    • Source: Optical Quantum Computing, Jeremy L. O'Brien, DOI: 10.1126/science.1142892, Science: Vol. 318. no. 5856, pp. 1567 - 1570, 07/12/07

    1. Optical Supercontinua Finally Explained, EE Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: When short pulses of light are sent down the photonic crystal fibers that create supercontinua, the broadening of their wavelengths across the entire visible and infrared spectrum is caused by solitons that block the light pulses behind them, forcing them to shorten in wavelength and become progressively bluer, while the solitons themselves lengthen, becoming redder. This dual effect broadens the spectrum at both ends simultaneously, resulting in ultrabroad-bandwidth light the fibers emit that is characteristic of supercontinua.

    2. Turning Optical-Fibre Messages Into Sound Could Help Store The Information., Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Light fantastic: sometimes you need to slow down information.Corbis
      They first send optical data as a stream of light pulses into a short piece of standard optical fibre. Into the other end of the fibre they send a different short pulse: the 'write' pulse. When the two sets of pulses collide, they interfere, and an interference pattern is set up in the fibre with areas of high and low intensity. This interference pattern in turn affects the physical properties of the fibre, setting up an acoustic wave because of a phenomenon called electrostriction. (...)

      (...) a 2-nanosecond pulse could be held in the fibre for up to 12 nanoseconds.

  18. Astronomy: A Texture in the Sky?, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: If confirmed, the identification of a cosmic texture in the sky will have provided us with good evidence that a phase transition in matter occurred at an energy of roughly 1016 GeV, many orders of magnitude higher than energy scales that can be reached in terrestrial experiments. The energy scale involved in the candidate texture is close to the elusive Planck scale, an energy where quantum gravity becomes important. A lesson to be learned from this work is that Planck-scale physics may well be testable in the very near future in cosmological observations.

  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Bioterrorism: Panel Provides Peer Review of Intelligence Research, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A panel of life scientists from universities, companies, and nongovernmental organizations has begun to assess the merit of projects proposed and conducted by researchers at the 16 agencies under the aegis of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), as well as grant applications submitted to the agencies. The Biological Sciences Expert Group (BSEG), with 24 core members and an extended network of 40 others, has already met five times this year at DNI's National Counterproliferation Center in McLean, Virginia. In addition to helping screen and design projects to combat bioterrorism, the group will analyze research findings, review the scientific validity of intelligence assessments, and occasionally conduct its own studies.

    2. Waterboarding Recounted - Ex-CIA Officer Says It 'Probably Saved Lives' but Is Torture, Washington Post Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Zayn Abidin Muhammed Hussein abu Zubaida, the first high-ranking al-Qaeda member captured after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, broke in less than a minute after he was subjected to the technique and began providing interrogators with information that led to the disruption of several planned attacks, said John Kiriakou, who served as a CIA interrogator in Pakistan.

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Power-Law Distributions in Empirical Data, Aaron Clauset, Cosma Rohilla Shalizi, and M. E. J. Newman, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 07-12-049
      2. Coupled Contagion Dynamics of Fear and Disease: Mathematical and Computational Explorations, Joshua M. Epstein, Jon Parker, Derek Cummings, and Ross A. Hammond, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 07-12-048
      3. Damage Spreading and Criticality in Finite Random Dynamical Networks, Thimo Rohlf, Natali Gulbahce, and Christof Teuscher, SFI Working Papers, DOI: SFI-WP 07-12-043
      4. A Cosmic Microwave Background Feature Consistent with a Cosmic Texture, M. Cruz, N. Turok, P. Vielva, E. Mart?nez-Gonz?lez, M. Hobson, 07/10/25, Science : 1612-1614. An unusual cold spot in the cosmic microwave background has properties expected of a cosmic texture, a predicted relic of the decoupling of photons and atoms just after the Big Bang., DOI: 10.1126/science.1148694
      5. My Genome, Myself: Seeking Clues in DNA, Amy Harmon, 07/11/17, NYTimes
      6. Economics of Overexploitation Revisited, R. Q. Grafton, T. Kompas, R. W. Hilborn, 07/12/07, Science : 1601. Profits from fisheries are maximized at population sizes larger than those that produce a sustainable yield, suggesting a way to counter industry opposition to lower harvests.
      7. Genetically Determined Differences in Learning from Errors, Tilmann A. Klein, Jane Neumann, Martin Reuter, J?rgen Hennig, D. Yves von Cramon, Markus Ullsperger, 07/12/07, Science: 1642-1645. A gene variant that leads to fewer dopamine receptors also prevents people from learning from their mistakes and inhibits feedback to a brain area that registers bad outcomes.
      8. Strategies To Improve Teaching, Janet Raloff, 07/12/08, ScienecNews.The National Research Council recommends that schools present fundamental concepts gradually over several years (...).
      9. Earliest Galaxies Had Building Blocks Of Life, 07/12/08, NewScientist, The universe might have been hospitable for life 500 million years earlier than we thought, (...).
      10. Invention: Green Power Special, Justin Mullins, 07/12/10, NewScientist.com
      11. Ten Technology Letdowns of 2007, 07/12/10, CIO Leader, We had much to hail this year, including rising IT salaries and better virtualization tools. But plenty of other IT trends and products fell short. Read on about what's got us feeling cheated this year.
      12. Ten Simple Rules for Graduate Students, Jenny Gu, Philip E. Bourne, 2007/11/30, PLoS Comput Biol 3(11): e229, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030229
      13. African Elephants Have Expectations About The Locations Of Out-Of-Sight Family Members, L. A. Bates, K. N. Sayialel, N. W. Njiraini, J. H. Poole, C. J. Moss, R. W. Byrne, 2007/12/04, Biological Letters, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0529
      14. Population Synchrony In Small-World Networks, E. Ranta, M. S. Fowler, V. Kaitala, 2007/12/04, Proceedings B: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.1546
      15. The Effect Of Network Mixing Patterns On Epidemic Dynamics And The Efficacy Of Disease Contact Tracing, I. Z. Kiss, D. M. Green, R. R. Kao, 2007/12/04, Interface, DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2007.1272
      16. Computational Chemotaxis in Ants and Bacteria over Dynamic Environments, Vitorino Ramos, C. M. Fernandes, A. C. Rosa, A. Abraham, 2007/12/05, arXiv, DOI: 0712.0744
      17. Gene Implicated In Human Language Affects Song Learning In Songbirds, 2007/12/05, ScienceDaily
      18. Nanorings: Variable Nanocomposites: Small, Rigid DNA Rings With A Gap For The Incorporation Of Functional Molecules, 2007/12/06, Innovations-report
      19. Online Library Gives Readers Access To 1.5 Million Books, 2007/12/06, ScienceDaily
      20. New Direction For Chance Discovery?, 2007/12/07, Innovations-report
      21. Cold Seeps Are Hot Spots For Life: New Deep-Sea Images Disprove Doctrine, 2007/12/07, Innovations-report
      22. Out Of Time?. The End Of Oil, R. Heinberg, Sep.-Nov. 2007 online 2007/11/06, Public Policy Research, DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-540X.2007.00489.x
      23. Postcard From America. Why Poverty Is Back In The Spotlight, J. Podesta, Sep.-Nov. 2007 online 2007/11/06, Public Policy Research, DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-540X.2007.00489.x
      24. What's So Special About China's Exports? A Comment, M. Kumakura - kumakuraacantab.net, Sep.-Oct. 2007, online 2007/11/02, China & World Economy, DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-124X.2007.00081.x

    2. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. 7th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 07/10/28-11/02
      2. Reseau Nationale des Systemes Complexes , (in French), 2007
      3. World Economic Forum , Davos, Switzerland, 07/01/24-28
      4. TED Talks, TED Conferences LLC , since 2006
      5. Talking Robots: The PodCast on Robotics and AI, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland, 06/11/03
      6. Potentials of Complexity Science for Business, Governments, and the Media 2006, Budapest, Hungary, 06/08/03-05
      7. 6th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 06/06/25-30
      8. Artificial Life X, 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, Bloomington, IN, USA. 2006/06/03-07
      9. 6th Understanding Complex Systems Symposium, Urbana-Champaign, Il, 06/05/15-18
      10. Ralph Abraham on Complexity Digest, , Calcutta, India, 05/12/27
      11. An Afternoon with Michael Crichton, Washington, 05/11/06
      12. Illuminating the Shadow of the Future, Ann Arbor, Mi 05/09/23-25
      13. Open Network of Centres of Excellence in Complex Systems - Brainstorming Meeting, Paris, France 05/09/19-23
      14. Complexity, Science & Society Conference 2005, U. Liverpool, UK 2005/09/11-14
      15. ECAL 2005 - VIIIth European Conference on Artificial Life, Canterbury, Kent, UK 2005/09/5-9
      16. T. Irene Sanders, Executive Director and Founder, The Washington Center for Complexity & Public Policy, 05/08/27, QuickTime video (10:38 min), Podcast
      17. North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity 2005 Conference, Virtual Conference Network, St. Pete's Beach, Florida, 05/06/09-11
      18. Understanding Complex Systems - Computational Complexity and Bioinformatics, Virtual Conference Network, Urbana-Champaign, Il, UIUC, 05/05/16-19
      19. Nonlinearity, Fluctuations, and Complexity, with a celebration of the 65th birthday of Gregoire Nicolis. , Complexity Session, Universite' Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, 05/03/16
      20. 1st European Conference on Complex Systems, Torino, Italy, 04/12/5-7
      21. From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela (1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20
      22. Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium, 04/05/26-28
      23. International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21
      24. Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: Lab Demonstrations, Strogatz, Steven H., Internet-First University Press, 1994
      25. CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
      26. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
      27. Edge Videos

    3. Conference Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. The 3rd Indian Intl Conf on Artificial Intelligence (IICAI-07), Pune, INDIA, 07/12/17-19
      2. Winter School 2008: Chemical Discrimination and Localization using Biologically Based Olfactory Processing, San Diego, CA, 08/01/10-12
      3. Evolution and Physics Concepts, Models and Applications, Bad Honnef, Germany, 08/01/21-23
      4. The 1st Conf on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI-08), Memphis, Tennessee, USA, 08/03/01-03
      5. The 3rd Intl Nonlinear Sciences Conference (INSC), Tokyo, Japan, 08/03/13-15
      6. 19th European Meeting On Cybernetics And Systems Research, (EMCSR 2008), Vienna, Austria, 08/03/25-28
      7. 2nd KES Intl Symp on Agent and Multi-Agent Systems : Technologies and Applications, Incheon, Korea, 08/03/26-28
      8. Fumee 1 - 1St Futures Meeting - Understanding Anticipatory Systems, Rovereto (Italy), 08/04/10-12
      9. 1st Intl Conf on Social Entrepreneurship & Complexity, Garden City, NY, USA, 08/04/10-12
      10. CHAOS2008 Chaotic Modeling and Simulation International Conference, Chania, Crete, Greece, 08/06/03-06
      11. Cambridge Healthtech Institute's Tenth Annual... Applying Systems Biology, San Francisco, CA, 08/06/09-11
      12. The 14th Intl Conf on Auditory Display (ICAD), Paris, France, 08/06/24-27
      13. The 12th World Multi-Conf on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics: WMSCI 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA, 08/06/29-07/02
      14. From Animals To Animats 10 - The 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation Of Adaptive Behavior (SAB'08), Osaka, Japan, 08/07/07-12
      15. Stochastic Resonance 2008, Perugia, Italy, 08/08/17-21

    4. Other Announcements Bookmark and Share

      1. " Wolfram Research is Now the Official Math Brain Trust for the Hit CBS Series NUMB3RS. 07/10/05
      2. A short notice from Dean LeBaron

        Dear ComDig Readers,

        Our editor, Dr. Gottfried Mayer, is affectionately esteemed by many of you -- as readers, you know he devotes himself unselfishly to widening our knowledge of complexity science. He was recently diagnosed with advanced colon cancer and given a timetable of a very few years. Knowing Gottfried, you can imagine that, in addition to the customary processes of chemotherapy, he would explore other frontier therapies, especially those arising out of interdisciplinary applications of complexity. These are expensive ... if he can find them.

        Many of you have sent your good wishes and indicated your desire to assist. With Gottfried's permission, I am posting this note with information, below, about how to send contributions to him. Please indicate the source since Gottfried will want to express his warm gratitude.

        I know that Gottfried, the good scientist that he is, will explain from time to time what he is doing and what the results are ... and we will follow his progress with great interest and hope.

        Dean LeBaron
        Publisher, Complexity Digest

        Bank Information:

        If your contribution is made by check:
        Please mail the check, payable to "Gottfried Mayer", to:
        Manufacturers & Traders Trust
        2080 Western Avenue
        20 Mall
        Guilderland, NY 12084 USA
        (on the back of the check, please write: "For Deposit Only: Account # 983 338 3814")

        If your contribution is made by wire:
        Manufacturers & Traders Trust
        2080 Western Avenue
        20 Mall

        Guilderland, NY 12084 USA
        SWIFT Code# MANTUS33
        UID: 209 791
        ABA routing # 022 00 00 46 [for US wire transfers]
        Account # 983 338 3814
        Ref. Gottfried Mayer

      3. Intl Master of Science in Methods For Management Of Complex Systems - Academic Year 2007-2008, Institute for Advanced Study, Pavia, Italy, 08/01/01
      4. News notes on Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE) for July 2007 are now available on-line, 07/08/04
      5. National Humanities Center Launches Humanities/Sciences Website, 07/04, As part of its ongoing "Autonomy, Singularity, Creativity: The Human & The Humanities" project (ASC), the National Humanities Center makes public a new website for the initiative which significantly expands the potential pool of humanists and scientists engaged in the exploration and examination of topics surrounding the question of human being.

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