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Medicine

Triggering a Mouse's Happy Memories With Lasers Gives It the Will To Struggle On 66

Posted by timothy from the how-do-they-know-it's-a-happy-memory? dept.
the_newsbeagle writes: With optogenetics, scientists can tag neurons with light-responsive proteins, and then trigger those neurons to "turn on" with the pulse of a light. In the latest application, MIT researchers used light to turn on certain neurons in male mice's hippocampi that were associated with a happy memory (coming into contact with female mice!), and then tested whether that artificially activated memory changed the mice's reactions to a stressful situation (being hung by their tails). Mice who got jolted with the happy memory struggled to get free for longer than the control mice. This tail-suspension test was developed to screen potential antidepressant drugs: If a rodent struggles longer before giving up, it's considered less depressed.

Comment Not even that... (Score 1) 419

by Grog6 (#49917117) Attached to: Philae's Lost Seven Months Were Completely Unnecessary

The real problem with Pu-238 is its source; the recovery of Pu-239 for weapons, from a Uranium fueled reactor.

You Can breed it in a high-neutron type reactor, but those are purpose built for research, and most research places won't let you breed something that has warhead-grade material as a side product. :)

I don't think there's anywhere in the EU that would admit to having those capabilities, let alone furnish material that proved it. :)

The US isn't making new material anymore, neither is Russia.

The Japanese was recycling Plutonium on some scale, before fukushima; maybe they could help.

There will have to be a Government Program to fund RTG generator research for Space; no-one else could do it.

Comment Re:To all you Obama supporters (Score 1) 165

I agree we had few choices there; but Obama's blackness wasn't why I voted for him. :)

Sarah Palin's votes were proportional to boob size, not intellect.

I have to admit: I Really thought he would be different.

WTF was I thinking, lol.

They're only in office because enough of us bought their BS.

Think we'll do better next time? :)

Comment Re:To all you Obama supporters (Score 5, Insightful) 165

It seems we already are; with no reach-around...

He ran on the proviso that all the illegal BS we were doing would be shut down. (as well as the billion-dollar-a-day wars we were fighting...)

Instead, it's way beyond what was left to him by Bush.

Now he's Asking a Secret Court to allow the Government to Break a Lawful Ruling that basically Affirmed that the Program was Unconstitutional.

WTF?
Government

White House Asks FISA Court To Ignore 2nd Circuit's Decision On Bulk Surveillance 165

Posted by Soulskill from the putting-wrong-what-once-went-right dept.
schwit1 sends news that the Obama Administration has made a legal request to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court to ignore a ruling from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals making bulk surveillance illegal. The government says it's doing so to create an "orderly transition" between now and the beginning of USA Freedom Act provisions in six months. Their legal argument is that the Circuit Court's rulings are only binding for lower courts — the FISA court is secretive and separated from the normal legal process, so it doesn't necessarily fit in the normal court hierarchy.

ACLU deputy legal director Jameel Jaffer said, "While the FISA court isn’t formally bound by the second circuit’s ruling, it will certainly have to grapple with the second circuit’s interpretation of the ‘relevance’ requirement. The [court] will also have to consider whether Congress effectively adopted the second circuit’s interpretation of the relevance requirement when it passed the USA Freedom Act." The issue is further complicated because the Circuit Court did not actually issue an injunction against bulk surveillance, deferring instead to the congressional debate already underway about the Patriot Act and USA Freedom Act.
Robotics

MIT Trains Robots To Jump 62

Posted by Soulskill from the just-don't-tell-them-how-important-necks-and-heads-are-to-humans dept.
Nerval's Lobster writes: MIT just announced that its researchers have programmed a robotic cheetah that can leap over obstacles without a prompt from a human controller. The machine's onboard sensors rely on reflected laser-light to judge obstacles' distance and height, and use that data to fuel the algorithm for a safe jump. The robot's controlling algorithm takes into account such factors as the speed needed to launch its mass over the obstacle, the best position for a jump, and the amount of energy required from the onboard electric motor. As of this writing, the robot can clear 90 percent of obstacles on an open track. "A running jump is a truly dynamic behavior," Sangbae Kim, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, is quoted as saying in a university press release. "You have to manage balance and energy, and be able to handle impact after landing. Our robot is specifically designed for those highly dynamic behaviors." For years, some tech pundits have worried that robots and software will gradually replace human workers in key industries such as manufacturing and IT administration. Now they have something else to fret over: Robots replacing the world's hurdlers.

Comment This was a 'Show Trial' at best... (Score 0) 82

by Grog6 (#49794485) Attached to: Murder Accusations Hang Over Silk Road Boss Ulbricht's Sentencing

This Trial was in no way fair; Secret evidence, discovery denied for obvious things...

Referring to a series of Uncharged crimes during trial and sentencing is nowhere near Constitutional.

Although, this actually IS one of the things the NSA did with all that Intel; one person will get prison time.

And they proved Tor is not secure; arguments to the contrary are just not convincing anymore.
Democrats

Obama Asks Congress To Renew 'Patriot Act' Snooping 389

Posted by Soulskill from the it-makes-you-safer-because-reasons dept.
mi writes: President Obama has asked the Senate to renew key Patriot Act provisions before their expiration on May 31. This includes surveillance powers that let the government collect Americans' phone records. Obama said, "It's necessary to keep the American people safe and secure." The call came despite recent revelations that the FBI is unable to name a single terror case in which the snooping provisions were of much help. "Obama noted that the controversial bulk phone collections program, which was exposed by National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, is reformed in the House bill, which does away with it over six months and instead gives phone companies the responsibility of maintaining phone records that the government can search." Obama criticized the Senate for not acting on that legislation, saying they have necessitated a renewal of the Patriot Act provisions.
Security

Chris Roberts Is the Least Important Part of the Airplane Hacking Story 200

Posted by samzenpus from the hacking-the-friendly-skies dept.
chicksdaddy writes: Now that the news media is in full freak-out mode about whether or not security researcher Chris Roberts did or did not hack into the engine of a plane, in flight and cause it to "fly sideways," security experts say its time to take a step back from the crazy and ask what is the real import of the plane hacking. The answer: definitely not Chris Roberts. The real story that media outlets should be chasing isn't what Roberts did or didn't do on board a United flight in April, but whether there is any truth to longtime assurances from airplane makers like Boeing and Airbus that critical avionics systems aboard their aircraft are unreachable from systems accessible to passengers, the Christian Science Monitor writes. And, on that issue, Roberts' statements and the FBI's actions raise as many questions as they answer. For one: why is the FBI suddenly focused on years-old research that has long been part of the public record.

"This has been a known issue for four or five years, where a bunch of us have been stood up and pounding our chest and saying, 'This has to be fixed,' " Roberts noted. "Is there a credible threat? Is something happening? If so, they're not going to tell us," he said. Roberts isn't the only one confused by the series of events surrounding his detention in April and the revelations about his interviews with federal agents. "I would like to see a transcript (of the interviews)," said one former federal computer crimes prosecutor, speaking on condition of anonymity. "If he did what he said he did, why is he not in jail? And if he didn't do it, why is the FBI saying he did?"

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