Reference: NY Times Article (11/16/07)
My father once told me a very interesting story about the first time he was truly scared after reading a sci-fi novel. When he finished "Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton, he happened to have been in his father's library. It just so happened my father stumbled across some of the references Crichton had used among the scientific tomes my grandfather kept, demonstrating the chilling plausability of Crichton's work.
Here we are about fourty years later, and Crichton is still writing science fiction novels just as powerful (and plausible) as ever. I recently read "Prey", on the suggestion of a professor at UCLA I respect very much. The novel combines broad strokes of nanotechnology (as Crichton tends to do with nebulous concepts pregnant with potential in future applications) with more specific aspects of computer science. The programming ideology he discusses in detail used to be called "distributed artificial intelligence"; and while the book may make it seem like A.I., it is called intelligence because the systems are supposed to achieve complicated goals thought only achievable by an intelligent system.
Now referred to as "multi-agent systems", the concept describes large numbers of autonomous individuals programmed with very simplistic goals which, when assembled, are able to achieve much more complicated goals. The book takes this idea to the extreme: where the robots learn how to reproduce themselves, and eventually how to kill people to protect themselves. But the idea of distributed intelligence is no longer limited to programs in a computer...
Researchers in Belgium (VU Brussels) have just programmed autonomous robots doused in "cockroach perfume" to behave like real roaches. They tested them by giving them a choice between two shelters: normal roaches choose the darker shelter 75% of the time. The robots were programmed so that they chose it 85% of the time. When the programming was changed to prefer the lighter shelter, the mixed group (4 robots to 12 roaches) spent only 31% of the time at the darker shelter, contrary to their natural instinct.
This basic research has broad implications: if we can modify the behavior of insects, we might be able to replenish our diminished honeybee stocks, or better control pests without the use of harmful pesticides... and this doesn't even scratch the surface of targeted evolution (e.g., creating a type of insect which feeds on biomass and excretes a useful chemical or fuel, helping to solve our energy problems).
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Sunday, November 4, 2007
UCLA Research: Superhydrophilicity
... (a period of silence) ....
Now after that brief break, I decided I'd update the blog with what I've been so busy with the past several weeks. We are working on a method to generate superhydrophilic films using polystyrene nanoparticles and thin film SiO2. I designed a process which utilizes the atmospheric plasma for substrate pre-treatment, nanoparticle etching, and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of silicon dioxide. I'm off to present the results at the 2007 Annual Meeting of AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers) in Salt Lake City, UT this week. Wish me luck!
Now after that brief break, I decided I'd update the blog with what I've been so busy with the past several weeks. We are working on a method to generate superhydrophilic films using polystyrene nanoparticles and thin film SiO2. I designed a process which utilizes the atmospheric plasma for substrate pre-treatment, nanoparticle etching, and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of silicon dioxide. I'm off to present the results at the 2007 Annual Meeting of AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers) in Salt Lake City, UT this week. Wish me luck!
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Excuses, excuses... Mac-Style
Steve Jobs was issued a subpoena from the SEC to testify about his role in backdating his own stock options (as well as those of other Apple CEO's). It has come to light that Jobs had a personal hand in the illegal action, but "did not appreciate the significance" of the financial hand-waving. So far, he is facing no criminal charges...
Okay, putting aside the fact that if he didn't realize he'd be making more wealth for himself by doing this THERE WOULD BE NO POINT IN HIM ASKING THEM TO BACKDATE the stock purchases... since when did ignorance of the law become a legitimate excuse?!? Isn't this kind of like somebody driving a brand new Porsche out of a dealership, being caught with it a few days later, and then being set free because he claims he thought it was a "free sample" since it was just out there in the showroom with the keys laying around...
Is this special consideration for one of the greatest magnets of wealth to this country? Or just croney-ism??? Well, at least it doesn't set a precedent for this "ignorance" excuse in jurisprudential history, since without charges it never even enters the courts system...
Okay, putting aside the fact that if he didn't realize he'd be making more wealth for himself by doing this THERE WOULD BE NO POINT IN HIM ASKING THEM TO BACKDATE the stock purchases... since when did ignorance of the law become a legitimate excuse?!? Isn't this kind of like somebody driving a brand new Porsche out of a dealership, being caught with it a few days later, and then being set free because he claims he thought it was a "free sample" since it was just out there in the showroom with the keys laying around...
Is this special consideration for one of the greatest magnets of wealth to this country? Or just croney-ism??? Well, at least it doesn't set a precedent for this "ignorance" excuse in jurisprudential history, since without charges it never even enters the courts system...
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Chem Eng 100 -- BREES (2007)
Okay guys... here's the homework solutions for assignments 1-3. Please study from them for tomorrow's midterm examination!!!
http://www.jasonorsborn.com
Monday, August 27, 2007
Plasma - The Origin of Biota (Life)
Continuing in our series on plasmas, this entry focuses on the Miller-Urey experiment and subsequent related research.
So in 1953, Miller & Urey at the Univ. of Chicago decided to see what would happen if you put water in closed recirculating system modeled (roughly) after pre-biotic earth. The water was boiled in one section, condensed in another, and trickled down between two electrodes producing an electrical spark at regular intervals. Obviously the boiling/condensing was meant to simulate evaporation, cloud formation and rain; whereas the spark was meant to simulate lightning. Also present in the system (other than H2O) were methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3) and Hydrogen (H2).
It turns out that when they let their system run for several days, they found an amazing discovery: Several percent of the carbon molecules initially present as methane had been converted into AMINO ACIDS! And not just one type, but 13 of the presently 22 used to make proteins in contemporary biota... So had Miller & Urey found that "divine spark" which philosophers had sought for centuries?
Well, since then we've found that plasmas (a more controlled version of the electrical spark Miller-Urey used) can produce massive amounts of biotic material from abiotic precursors. And not just amino acids, but many of the components of DNA including guanine!
Exactly why this works is (and probably will remain) a mystery to modern scientists. In fact, all we know is what we get out when the conditions are just right, with no accounting for the mechanism in particular. This is not a surprise to any plasma chemists out there, who understand that this field is essentially a game of statistics rather than strict determinism (sorry Einstein, but the universe most definitely plays dice sometimes); but it is frustrating for the rest of us who would like to draw a useful conclusion from this work.
So here's my tack on it: Plasmas are a natural phenomenon in our universe. Their operation on certain chemical constituents tends to promote the generation of biological (living) material. Thus, it is only natural that we revere, respect, and even fear terrestrial plasmas (e.g., Aurora Borealis, Lightning, the Sun).
But please, save those prone-position supplications for natural plasmas and not your TV...
So in 1953, Miller & Urey at the Univ. of Chicago decided to see what would happen if you put water in closed recirculating system modeled (roughly) after pre-biotic earth. The water was boiled in one section, condensed in another, and trickled down between two electrodes producing an electrical spark at regular intervals. Obviously the boiling/condensing was meant to simulate evaporation, cloud formation and rain; whereas the spark was meant to simulate lightning. Also present in the system (other than H2O) were methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3) and Hydrogen (H2).
It turns out that when they let their system run for several days, they found an amazing discovery: Several percent of the carbon molecules initially present as methane had been converted into AMINO ACIDS! And not just one type, but 13 of the presently 22 used to make proteins in contemporary biota... So had Miller & Urey found that "divine spark" which philosophers had sought for centuries?
Well, since then we've found that plasmas (a more controlled version of the electrical spark Miller-Urey used) can produce massive amounts of biotic material from abiotic precursors. And not just amino acids, but many of the components of DNA including guanine!
Exactly why this works is (and probably will remain) a mystery to modern scientists. In fact, all we know is what we get out when the conditions are just right, with no accounting for the mechanism in particular. This is not a surprise to any plasma chemists out there, who understand that this field is essentially a game of statistics rather than strict determinism (sorry Einstein, but the universe most definitely plays dice sometimes); but it is frustrating for the rest of us who would like to draw a useful conclusion from this work.
So here's my tack on it: Plasmas are a natural phenomenon in our universe. Their operation on certain chemical constituents tends to promote the generation of biological (living) material. Thus, it is only natural that we revere, respect, and even fear terrestrial plasmas (e.g., Aurora Borealis, Lightning, the Sun).
But please, save those prone-position supplications for natural plasmas and not your TV...
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Plasma - The Origin of *In*organic Life?
Plasma, like we get at the hospital (or give at the blood bank)?
No, no, no, not that plasma... We're talking about plasma like the ones generated by lightning, in each pixel of your plasma TV, or on the surface of the sun. (As you may know, I work with such plasmas doing engineering research...)
Well apparently there is some recent evidence that inorganic materials may be 'coaxed into life', for lack of a better metaphor, by exposure to plasma, and culturing under the right conditions. Don't worry, nobody has made an insect out of silicon (or even a paramecium), yet...
But the work published by researchers from the Russian Academy of Science indicates that "space dust" which interacts with a plasma ("space lightning") can undergo self-reorganization to form helical structures which strongly resemble a little something called DNA... And not only do these structures form on their own, but they can COPY themselves. The paper goes on to suggest that the plasma is acting as an evolutionary catalyst ("evolyst"?), intimating that lightning or the aurora borealis (or some other terrestrial plasma) may have had quite a big hand in furthering evolution of organic life on Earth!
Plasma is so cool...
No, no, no, not that plasma... We're talking about plasma like the ones generated by lightning, in each pixel of your plasma TV, or on the surface of the sun. (As you may know, I work with such plasmas doing engineering research...)
Well apparently there is some recent evidence that inorganic materials may be 'coaxed into life', for lack of a better metaphor, by exposure to plasma, and culturing under the right conditions. Don't worry, nobody has made an insect out of silicon (or even a paramecium), yet...
But the work published by researchers from the Russian Academy of Science indicates that "space dust" which interacts with a plasma ("space lightning") can undergo self-reorganization to form helical structures which strongly resemble a little something called DNA... And not only do these structures form on their own, but they can COPY themselves. The paper goes on to suggest that the plasma is acting as an evolutionary catalyst ("evolyst"?), intimating that lightning or the aurora borealis (or some other terrestrial plasma) may have had quite a big hand in furthering evolution of organic life on Earth!
Plasma is so cool...
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Thinking makes you smarter...
[Originally posted on blog 1.0 on 4 August 2007. Updated here with more sources...]
Time Magazine - http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580438,00.html
NPR - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12487035&ft=1&f=5
and, Science Friday - http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2007/Aug/hour2_080307.html
Okay, so just about everyone knows about the placebo effect. In fact it's even quantitatively accounted for in many double-blind studies on new pharmaceuticals and treatments. But until recently nobody has really studied the effect itself.
So these guys from Columbia, headed by Tor Wager, investigated the effect in the context of heat-stimulus generated pain. They gave people two cold creams and said one of them had lidocaine in it (even though it didn't...). They found that not only did the pain centers in the people's brains register less pain when they thought they had lidocaine (placebo effect), the brain also produced MORE ENDOGENOUS OPIOIDS. (These are the chemicals made by your brain to reduce pain: like endorphins, etc... very similar to morphine in their effects).
Conclusion: When you believe you are being treated for a particular problem, your brain rises to the occasion and helps out. Truly mind over matter...
So Bea tells me that medical anthropologists have known this for years (at least known that beliefs can have a strong effect on healing properties); this recent 'direct' proof, with direct biochemical evidence is just the icing on the cake. But why, then, have pharmacologists, medical doctors, and psychiatrists all ignored the human factor of "belief" for so long??? I found this news particularly interesting because many of you may know that my aunt works in care for the elderly, where she has always taken these issues into account... And (I'm sure) many people have called her crazy for doing so... I hope this data will eventually put those assertions to rest!
Time Magazine - http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580438,00.html
NPR - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12487035&ft=1&f=5
and, Science Friday - http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2007/Aug/hour2_080307.html
Okay, so just about everyone knows about the placebo effect. In fact it's even quantitatively accounted for in many double-blind studies on new pharmaceuticals and treatments. But until recently nobody has really studied the effect itself.
So these guys from Columbia, headed by Tor Wager, investigated the effect in the context of heat-stimulus generated pain. They gave people two cold creams and said one of them had lidocaine in it (even though it didn't...). They found that not only did the pain centers in the people's brains register less pain when they thought they had lidocaine (placebo effect), the brain also produced MORE ENDOGENOUS OPIOIDS. (These are the chemicals made by your brain to reduce pain: like endorphins, etc... very similar to morphine in their effects).
Conclusion: When you believe you are being treated for a particular problem, your brain rises to the occasion and helps out. Truly mind over matter...
So Bea tells me that medical anthropologists have known this for years (at least known that beliefs can have a strong effect on healing properties); this recent 'direct' proof, with direct biochemical evidence is just the icing on the cake. But why, then, have pharmacologists, medical doctors, and psychiatrists all ignored the human factor of "belief" for so long??? I found this news particularly interesting because many of you may know that my aunt works in care for the elderly, where she has always taken these issues into account... And (I'm sure) many people have called her crazy for doing so... I hope this data will eventually put those assertions to rest!
Friday, August 10, 2007
Scarily Cool New Software...
[Originally posted in blog 1.0 on 20 June 2007]
Zenph Studios home page re-performance MIDI Sony Gould Tatum
[Summary: The software takes an audio file and analyzes every single note for at least 12 different attributes, including start/stop times, attack, volume, etc, etc, etc. All of this information is encoded into a digital (MIDI) file which is replayed by a computer-controlled piano.]
Okay, so Gould's recording of the Goldberg Variations sounds great... and yeah, it'll be awesome to "remaster" old recordings (presuming that the software operator in charge doesn't make any 'corrections' to the original... after all hi-fi still stands for high-FIDELITY!)
But what I fear is a generation of musicians growing up with this software as standard... Much like what MATLAB and MathCad have done for engineering students, this software could eliminate the transcription component of a musical education! (For those non-musicians out there, transcribing is the process of listening to music and writing it down into notes, accents, etc.). This is an INVALUABLE tool to a musician and should never be forgotten... Any musicians or music enthusiasts out there want to weigh in?
Zenph Studios home page re-performance MIDI Sony Gould Tatum
[Summary: The software takes an audio file and analyzes every single note for at least 12 different attributes, including start/stop times, attack, volume, etc, etc, etc. All of this information is encoded into a digital (MIDI) file which is replayed by a computer-controlled piano.]
Okay, so Gould's recording of the Goldberg Variations sounds great... and yeah, it'll be awesome to "remaster" old recordings (presuming that the software operator in charge doesn't make any 'corrections' to the original... after all hi-fi still stands for high-FIDELITY!)
But what I fear is a generation of musicians growing up with this software as standard... Much like what MATLAB and MathCad have done for engineering students, this software could eliminate the transcription component of a musical education! (For those non-musicians out there, transcribing is the process of listening to music and writing it down into notes, accents, etc.). This is an INVALUABLE tool to a musician and should never be forgotten... Any musicians or music enthusiasts out there want to weigh in?
(Inaugural) Pro-Google Tirade
[This post was originally made on my personal blog 1.0 on 2 March 2006, but I thought it important enough to reiterate in a more appropriate forum.]
I have spoken to many people about this, so scroll down if you've already heard it. I just wanted to take this time/space publicly espouse my support for Google above all other internet search engines, and most other American companies in general.
My interest in Google began after reading their user privacy statement when signing up for a (free) gmail account. For those of you who are not familiar with this document, it is a legally binding agreement into which you enter when you signup for any online service (and many offline programs) that requires their acquisition of private and/or personal information. In this, the age of Information, this should be of concern to everyone (especially American citizens, since the advent of the Patriot Act). Most people merely click "Yes I agree" blindly and almost ritualistically to avoid the hassle and 'wasted time' of reading the long and drawn-out statement. Still more people draw the false assumption that everyone's statement is essentially the same. THIS IS DANGEROUSLY WRONG!!!
Many of you may be familiar with the website "MySpace" which, similar to this blog service provided by Google, allows users to post information and pictures about themselves and/or their friends on public www space. While I applaud this company for their free offering of this service to internet users, and respect the massive amount of users they have acquired, I am deeply disappointed by the lack of protection afforded by their privacy statement. One section of their statement, dictating the conditions under which they will release your information, states that they will respond to "any warrants, legal or otherwise" by giving up your personal information. Google's statement, however, states they will respond to any "legal warrants, or where otherwise required by law". Subtle difference, perhaps; but I think my lawyer friends would agree (are you reading this Ann? Grant?) that it could make all the difference...
Google has further capitalized on my tendency to support them by their wholly unique response to the requests of the federal Justice Department. I have listed some links to reputable news articles about this issue below, but here is an amateur summary of how I understand what's going on:
The DOJ wants to revive interest in a bill to more stringently protect people from illegal content involving child pornography. While this is a noble effort, to do so they have requested random search query information from all the major internet search engines. While this information may not include personal user information (as described above), it may or may not include identifiable information (such as IP address). Most importantly from Google's perspective, it would send a message to internet users: Watch out for how you use our service, because any searches you make may become property of the US Government.
MSN, AOL, and Yahoo! submitted the information requested of them by the DOJ almost immediately and without question or reservation. Google has entered into a legal battle with the federal government (some sources are quoted as saying the DOJ is suing Google) over this issue, and has the support of the American Civil Liberties Union (the ACLU), a bastion of protectors of human and personal privacy rights in this country. As a result of these latest developments, I have personally opted to minimize my use of any products of MSN, AOL, and Yahoo!, and I strongly urge you to do the same. In such a large capitalist society as the United States, our voices as individuals may not always be heard, but our strength as consumers will always win out.
LINKS:
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-02-18T002325Z_01_N17192366_RTRUKOC_0_US-GOOGLE-PRIVACY.xml
http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/sns-ap-google-justice,1,6453910.story?coll=chi-business-hed
Blogs:
http://www.networkingpipeline.com/blog/archives/2006/02/feds_google_req.html
I have spoken to many people about this, so scroll down if you've already heard it. I just wanted to take this time/space publicly espouse my support for Google above all other internet search engines, and most other American companies in general.
My interest in Google began after reading their user privacy statement when signing up for a (free) gmail account. For those of you who are not familiar with this document, it is a legally binding agreement into which you enter when you signup for any online service (and many offline programs) that requires their acquisition of private and/or personal information. In this, the age of Information, this should be of concern to everyone (especially American citizens, since the advent of the Patriot Act). Most people merely click "Yes I agree" blindly and almost ritualistically to avoid the hassle and 'wasted time' of reading the long and drawn-out statement. Still more people draw the false assumption that everyone's statement is essentially the same. THIS IS DANGEROUSLY WRONG!!!
Many of you may be familiar with the website "MySpace" which, similar to this blog service provided by Google, allows users to post information and pictures about themselves and/or their friends on public www space. While I applaud this company for their free offering of this service to internet users, and respect the massive amount of users they have acquired, I am deeply disappointed by the lack of protection afforded by their privacy statement. One section of their statement, dictating the conditions under which they will release your information, states that they will respond to "any warrants, legal or otherwise" by giving up your personal information. Google's statement, however, states they will respond to any "legal warrants, or where otherwise required by law". Subtle difference, perhaps; but I think my lawyer friends would agree (are you reading this Ann? Grant?) that it could make all the difference...
Google has further capitalized on my tendency to support them by their wholly unique response to the requests of the federal Justice Department. I have listed some links to reputable news articles about this issue below, but here is an amateur summary of how I understand what's going on:
The DOJ wants to revive interest in a bill to more stringently protect people from illegal content involving child pornography. While this is a noble effort, to do so they have requested random search query information from all the major internet search engines. While this information may not include personal user information (as described above), it may or may not include identifiable information (such as IP address). Most importantly from Google's perspective, it would send a message to internet users: Watch out for how you use our service, because any searches you make may become property of the US Government.
MSN, AOL, and Yahoo! submitted the information requested of them by the DOJ almost immediately and without question or reservation. Google has entered into a legal battle with the federal government (some sources are quoted as saying the DOJ is suing Google) over this issue, and has the support of the American Civil Liberties Union (the ACLU), a bastion of protectors of human and personal privacy rights in this country. As a result of these latest developments, I have personally opted to minimize my use of any products of MSN, AOL, and Yahoo!, and I strongly urge you to do the same. In such a large capitalist society as the United States, our voices as individuals may not always be heard, but our strength as consumers will always win out.
LINKS:
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-02-18T002325Z_01_N17192366_RTRUKOC_0_US-GOOGLE-PRIVACY.xml
http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/sns-ap-google-justice,1,6453910.story?coll=chi-business-hed
Blogs:
http://www.networkingpipeline.com/blog/archives/2006/02/feds_google_req.html
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Inaugural Post
Many of you might have been directed here from my personal blog... I primarily created this one to serve as a forum for my less personal tirades of a more political and/or scientific nature. Those who know me understand that I am deeply passionate about political views and policy issues surrounding new technologies and scientific breakthroughs & discoveries. In recent years these issues are becoming more and more visible; correspondingly I have found the need to communicate my views increasingly more powerful.
But this is meant to be a forum with feedback, so please feel free to leave comments to any or all posts herein. I will not edit any comments for qualitative content, but will remove those with 'universally objectionable' content. In other words, no cursing or hate-speech... and definitely no advocating the violent overthrow of the government... (only legal ways to overturn the administration, please).
But this is meant to be a forum with feedback, so please feel free to leave comments to any or all posts herein. I will not edit any comments for qualitative content, but will remove those with 'universally objectionable' content. In other words, no cursing or hate-speech... and definitely no advocating the violent overthrow of the government... (only legal ways to overturn the administration, please).
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