Please don't waste your time with this nonsense.

1. It is not possible to simulate a system when you don't know the rules of the system. We don't know how neurons work. Sure, we know much about neurons and we can set up small networks that seem to give interesting results, but there is a vast amount about real neurons that is unknown. We don't even know what all the types of ion channels are, let alone the varied states of modulation (phosphorylation of proteins and binding of various neuromodulators). We know little about how the brain learns. We have some knowledge about how a neuron might maintain a mean firing rate over time or how certain connections may vary in fairly artificial stimulus regimes (pairs of spikes with varied timing) in slices of brain tissue (typically hippocampus) in vitro. We have only basic understanding of how the brain is wired up on a microscopic scale (e.g. cortical columns). At this point people are still making fundamental discoveries about how the retina works.

2. Throwing a supercomputer at the problem would be orders of magnitude too weak, even given huge simplifying assumptions, such as using "integrate and fire" neurons.

Anyone attempting to do whole brain simulations at this point is simply wasting their time and a lot of electricity. When they promote the idea they waste other people's time. A perfect example of this is the fool who claimed that he had simulated a cat visual cortex, which though only a presentation at a conference, not a published paper, got attention here on Slashdot. He included one equation and randomly connected his network and then simulated on a large compute cluster. His "chief scientific conclusion" was that he could replicate the propagation speed of data through the layers of the network - a feat that could have been accomplished with paper and pencil in less time.

If a site encrypts user's email addresses, they also have to store the key in order to decrypt the email addresses. Once the site has been cracked badly enough to retrieve the password hash file, the key needed to decrypt the emails would likely also be vulnerable, so encrypting user email addresses typically adds little security. The nice thing about hashing passwords is that there is no key to store or be discovered.

Client side execution means running whatever code a web site that you visit directly on your home computer. Server side execution means running code uploaded by the server's administrator. This is a very different situation.

The news report, contrary to the summary, states that part one terminal - not the whole airport - was shut down and that for only 40 minutes. The costs would be borne by the airline in terms of possible employee and fuel overtime since some planes must have been delayed.

No. Board passes all checks and later fails. Imagine a weak solder joint for instance.

I don't think that this is the kind of soldering job that an enthusiast could do, unless you happen to be up for reflow soldering.

I haven't ever replaced a socketed CPU, but I have added one. My work machine only had a single 4-core CPU, but had an empty socket, so now I'm running dual CPU! Its a nice way to future-proof a computer, especially since the second CPU might be purchased at a lower price or as budget allows. (Yes, I do use all 8 cores.)

You're assuming fixed demand for leather products and meat, independent of price. If there is additional supply leather from bio-reactor production, the price of leather is likely to decline until it reaches a point where all leather produced is purchased. Econ 101. You may indeed end up paying more for meat because some people buy bio-engineered leather rather than the traditional variety. This price increase is likely to decrease meat consumption, so the beef industry will kill fewer cows.

Creation of new nerve cells (neurons) in the adult human brain has only been only confirmed in a couple areas. (Granule cells of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, an area involved in forming new memories and cells which migrate to the olfactory bulb.) Much searching in other places including studies looking at uptake of radioactive particles from atmospheric nuclear bomb testing has shown that if new neurons are created in other areas, the rate must be extremely low. The plasticity of the adult nervous system comes from forming new connections between neurons, pruning existing connections, changing the strength of those connections and changing the sensitivity of a neuron to inputs. This forming of new connections and changing of connection strengths between neurons is lifelong and robust and is key to adult learning. Research that showed "critical periods" for certain kinds of brain development, such as binocular vision, led some to assume that this meant that new learning was more limited than it is and this idea sometimes got mixed in with the rarity of new neuron growth as a limit to plasticity. All that said, early intervention can be hugely helpful as the young brain is much more plastic than the adult brain.

The treatment regimen for the mice was to stop suppressing the gene that they had attached a chemically activated genetic switch to, so this particular treatment would not be applicable to humans who haven't been genetically engineered from birth to have this switch in the first place. If it were possible to insert a copy of this gene into humans with the proper regulation that might be a route for treatment, but the regulation bit is critical and difficult and I believe beyond what we can do with current technology. Perhaps someone who actually knows genetics might be able to comment on this question better than I.

They do suggest that there could be treatments for this genetic defect. They mention that drugs that block the (metabotropic) glutamate receptor "might hold promise for designing treatment strategies for non-syndromic autism," since the gene in question regulates this glutamate receptor.

The cool thing about the paper is that is showed that they could "rescue" the mice by turning on the gene switch and they were able to see that the mice recovered typical function at a cellular level and at a behavioral level, suggesting that if it were possible to re-enable this gene in humans that you might see some similar effects.

PS If you want to read the original paper, post here and I'll send you the pdf.

I'm not sure I'd want to give all robots rights ... until they earn them!

First, this is not an OnStar rental service. This is RelayRides adding a feature, allowing people with OnStar equipped vehicles to easily participate in their service without having to have the special module from RelayRides installed. The module provides the GPS, network connection and locking/unlocking capability which is all stuff that the OnStar system is capable of. RelayRides restricts its service to renters with at least two years of driving experience and a clean driving record. I don't know what they consider clean and I don't think this is configurable. You also have the option of being able to look at a renter's history and feedback on the site before choosing whether to rent to them.

Yes and the offender is charged for the damage. Also, in business you gotta take the good with the bad. You usually get good renters, and sometimes get bad renters, but you always get paid. Hopefully you're satisfied with your returns on your investment.

From the RelayRides Terms for Renters. (Answers this question and some related ones.)

"12. Fees. You are responsible for paying all fees when they come due in connection with your use of the service. You give permission to RelayRides to charge your credit card for all amounts due including but not limited to usage fees, fines/penalties, deductibles and damages. You will be responsible for payment of usage fees from the start of your rental period until the time you return the car. You will be responsible for all of the costs relating to any citations and fines (e.g. tolls, parking tickets, towing fines) incurred during the rental period (and after if the car has not been parked in an authorized and legal parking space). You are also responsible for any insurance deductibles that are related to damage or liability incurred during the rental period. "

From the RelayRides web site: "If you return the car more than 30 minutes after the scheduled return time then you will be charged $25 for every 1/2 hour past the expected return time." Since you're required to return the car to its home or within 1/4 mile (400 meters) of its home if the car doesn't have a dedicated spot, I'm guessing that leaving the car across town will incur fines, half of which go to the owner.

If you get a car that isn't what you expected, you can leave a bad review. Also, you can decide not to rent that car again. Owners have a strong incentive to take care of their vehicles to get new renters and to keep old renters coming back.

Insurance is covered by RelayRides and usually explicitly not covered by owners policies when renting out a car.

For non-obvious damage your choice on whether to rent your car depends on your appetite for risk. Compensation for that risk part of what you're getting from your rental fee. This might not be enough for you, especially if you have an expensive car or an emotional attachment to your vehicle.

Yeah, but at work you don't know who the scoundrel is. With RelayRides, there is accountability for obvious abuse, since owners can leave reviews of renters. Owners can simply refuse to rent to bad renters. Renters driving records are also checked, prior to being accepted.