THOUGHTBOX

US Navy closer to developing a functional railgun  - so we're just that little bit closer to Star Wars. NASA is trying to deal with Mars mission budget cuts  - I'm a huge space exploration nerd and everytime I read about funds being cut for missions to new frontiers I lose a little bit of faith in humanity. Indy's Fridge Nuking experience totally implausible  - seriously, who didn't know that already? And for our really really important piece of news - at least for me: The first lab created human egg  - this could potentially be a huge breakthrough in genetics. US Scientists in Massachusetts have shown that it's possible to generate egg cells from harvested ovary cells.

A fossilized, 300 million-year old forest has been discovered underneath a coal mine in Wuda, northern China. The forest was preserved by volcanic ash, similar to the preservation of the roman village of Pompeii, giving scientists a unique snapshot at plant life from a very remote era. The discoveries include six different groups of plants, from ferns to 25-meter tall trees, along with extinct groups of spore-bearing trees called Noeggerathiales, which were not commonly found until now in Asia. The really interesting thing to note is that coniferous and flowering plants are not found among the fossils because they had not evolved yet during the Paleozoic era. These images are artist's depictions of the forest as it may have looked 300 million years ago.

The controversial ACTA trade agreement has been put on hold by the European Commission, as the body intends to pursue the aid of the European Court of Justice to decide whether the treaty violates any fundamental rights. This represents a fundamental step forward for us EU citizens, as one of the most dangerous accords that could have severely compromised our privacy is now being delayed, with several countries now refusing to ratify ACTA on those grounds. Which I think is a big plus given that it takes all 27 member countries of the EU to agree on ACTA for it to ever become the standard. Meanwhile, EU Commissioner Karel De Gucht considers that ACTA does not violate  the EU’s rights of freedom of expression and freedom of information, as " ACTA will not censor websites or shut them down; ACTA will not hinder freedom of the Internet or freedom of speech." So far so good - at least things are moving in a good direction with ACTA. We'll have to wait and see what the Europea...

New studies indicate that humans are not naturally nasty as ancient greek philosophers suggested, but in fact there is biological basis for cooperative behavior. That's really great because up to this point, the common view was that we (Homo Sapiens Sapiens) developed morality in order to function as a society. In essence, we were the only creatures being high and moral because it gave us some sort of competitive edge, and thus morals were a strictly human feature. Researcher Frans de Waal countered that, along with most mammalian juveniles, human children have a natural tendency towards cooperation, in order to reproduce and pass on their genes. She bases her conclusions on experiments done on rats and monkeys, where individuals were given the choice of treats or helping others (rats had to help others escape a trap versus eat some chocolate). His research is said to prove that  "reciprocity, fairness, empathy and consolation," occur naturally, in the wild. On a m...

A lot of people have been talking about Lana del Ray and whether or not she is an authentic musician or a product designed to enthrall and a fake that has crossed indie fans. Normally I don’t pursue these kinds of things. You can enjoy music regardless of the people behind it. One of my favorite bands, Tool, once said in an interview that you don’t need to know where the artist sleeps, who he sleeps with, what he eats to enjoy his music. That’s something I heartily agree with. Yet there’s a lot of buzz around about this Lana Del Rey. Who is she? Lana Del Rey made her debut under her real name of Lizzie Grant: a bleached blonde, post-americana Nancy Sinatra-esque indie singer with a raspy voice. Yet things didn’t kick off for her until she used her made-up name that she’s much more famous for. Lizzie has admitted that “Lana del Rey” is the creation of the team behind her music identity, and is a combination of the movie star Lana Turner and the Ford Del Rey. When these marketing po...

It should probably be a general rule that if you're going to ad against something, don't make that something relatable so we feel bad about it being blown up.

Sorry, got a little carried away there by the veil of the dark side cast by the Dark Lord itself, ACTA with my last post. The world has gotten a little copyright/piracy/freedom of speech crazy lately, what with all the SOPAs and PIPAs and ACTAs. But let’s get serious for a moment, and talk a little about ACTA.   What is ACTA? Some call it the European SOPA – only it’s not SOPA. It’s not a law , it’s a trade agreement between a number of countries. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA - although counterfeiting is completely different in definition than what the bill aims to avoid) is a multilateral agreement which proposes international standards for enforcement of intellectual property rights . The reason this agreement is so controversial was that it was robbed of democratic credibility and clarity since it was negotiated behind closed doors, without public (aka voter) knowledge. It hasn’t been ratified yet, and final negotiations will take place during the summer of t...

Am depus si contestatia la Judecatorie si m-am prezentat si la Politie (conform citatiei), ambele cu ajutorul avocatei. Nu e foarte mult de spus. Depunerea contestatiei a fost o chestie de rutina: a durat mai mult coada la xerox-ul din beciul Judecatoriei Sectorului I decat depunerea actelor in sine. Chestiunea se pare ca va fi rezolvata undeva in 6 luni, dat fiind ca Judecatoria Sectorului I este si cea mai aglomerata din Bucuresti. O nota amuzanta: femeia de la xerox era un fel de Radio Sant. Stia la fel de bine ca orice politist abuzurile care se comit in genul asta de circumstante, si in mod amuzant a oferit sfaturi gratuite vis-a-vis de rezolvarea situatiei dar si compatimiri cu timbru matern. Afacerea cu citatia a fost mult mai de rutina decat m-am temut. Cu avocata de fata, am dat o declaratie in legatura cu circumstantele in care am fost ridicat de catre Jandarmi si ceea ce s-a intamplat la Sectie. Ofiterul care mi-a luat declaratia era, in mod deloc suprinzator, foarte la cure...