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Submission + - Vegetative patients 'still learn' (scienceblog.com)

Submitted by
enigma48
enigma48 writes: "Scientists have found that some individuals in the vegetative and minimally conscious states, despite lacking the means of reporting awareness themselves, can learn and thereby demonstrate at least a partial consciousness. Their findings are reported in today's (20 September) online edition of Nature Neuroscience.

It is the first time that scientists have tested whether patients in vegetative and minimally conscious states can learn. By establishing that they can, it is believed that this simple test will enable practitioners to assess the patient's consciousness without the need of imaging.

The abstract is available in the advance issue of nature here: http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nn.2391.html"

Comment Re:well duh (Score 2) 174

by enigma48 (#28742409) Attached to: The Hidden Costs of Microsoft's Free Office Online

I'm no expert, but I have to call bullshit on this.

We've deployed an internet-facing Sharepoint (not MOSS, v3) server that can be used on any random PC. You do need domain credentials for access though, if you've restricted access. It does take more work to set it up this way.

And the search feature in v3 is currently the quickest search we have. With a few hundred documents, we get search results in around a second - it takes longer to render the page - Google / Windows Desktop Search are a bit slower on searches.

I'm not a Sharepoint pro, but I support a few v2 sites and use a couple v3 ones.

Comment Re:How Much? (Score 1) 135

by enigma48 (#27165473) Attached to: Hitachi Fined $31 Million For LCD Price Fixing

This seemed a bit high to me, and I think the $585M is the total amount charged to all conspiring companies to date:

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/41689/118/

$31M seems a little low but a) they plead guilty and b) they assisted in building the case against the other companies. Still, for a $70B (2006) market, even if they were a small player they seemed to have gotten off a bit easier than I'd expect.

Comment Re:It's a bit like (Score 1) 288

by enigma48 (#26395545) Attached to: Roland Piquepaille Dies

I haven't posted to Slashdot in ages... but wow. This is one of the best analogies I've seen on here (despite the lack of cars). It moved me.

Roland engaged with the world and you're exactly right, he added colour to it. People who tore him down (IMHO rightfully when he lifted large amounts of text, less so when he cleaned up his act) never contributed in that way. The Roland-haters actually bothered me far more than he did and made slashdot less enjoyable to read.

RIP Roland.

Comment Some people already do live without sleep (Score 3, Interesting) 236

by enigma48 (#21846906) Attached to: Snortable Drug 'Replaces' Sleep For Monkeys In Trials
A few years back, I did some reading from a semi-reliable source (maybe Reader's Digest) about two people in the world who can't sleep for more than a few minutes.

One was a guy in his twenties who lived in Israel. An explosion left some shrapnel in his brain and could no longer sleep. When I read the story, he was just finishing a Law degree.

Another story was about an older man in Germany who hadn't been able to sleep at least since his teens. He was 50ish and could sleep for up to 5 minutes at best. He lived a relatively normal life.

Obviously in some cases, the body can adjust to getting by without sleep - I wonder if their bodies learned how to overproduce this chemical?
Christmas Cheer

Submission + - Alcohol craving blocker developed

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A team from Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute discovered blocking the action of the brain's orexin system can also prevent someone relapsing of alcohol cravings. This chemical is involved in the "high" felt after drinking alcohol or taking illicit drugs. Orexin-producing cells are also thought to play a part in regulating feeding, so the researchers believe they could also help treat eating disorders. Alcohol-related deaths rose to 8,386 in 2005 compared to 4,144 in 2001 in the UK, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. Hospital admissions for alcoholic liver disease have more than doubled in a decade, reaching 35,400 in 2004/5. In rat studies, a team led by Dr Andrew Lawrence created a compound which was seen to block the "euphoric" effects of orexin. In one experiment, rats that had alcohol freely available to them stopped drinking it after receiving the orexin blocker.
Google

Google Search Convicts Hacker 116

Posted by Zonk from the scroooooood dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Google search terms have helped convict a wireless hacker. The queries the hacker performed were introduced into evidence at court, where Matthew Schuster was charged with disrupting his former employer's wireless network and imitating other users' MAC addresses to obtain access. From the article: 'Court documents are ambiguous and don't reveal how the FBI discovered his search terms. That could have happened in one of three ways: an analysis of his browser's history and cache; an Alpha employee monitoring the company's wireless connection; or a subpoena to Google from the police for search terms tied to his Internet address or cookie. Google has confirmed that it can provide search terms if given an Internet address or Web cookie, but has steadfastly refused to say how often such requests arrive.'
It's funny. Laugh.

David X. Cohen Interviewed on New Futurama 240

Posted by Zonk from the everybody-loves-hypnotoad dept.
eldavojohn writes "Toyfare has a short but exclusive interview with co-creator of Futurama David X. Cohen. There's a lot of information about how they plan to continue the series. He also reveals they're halfway through writing the new season and just starting animation. When asked about his favorite minor character of the show, Cohen responded 'Hypnotoad. By the way, we are looking into producing a full 22-minute episode of Everybody Loves Hypnotoad for the DVD release. I am serious.'"
User Journal

Journal Journal: How do you say goodbye? (Nope, not a cheesy love story) 1

Journal by enigma48

Has it really been two years?

I've been in Australia for nearly two years now - one studying, one working for an Aussie hosting company. One of the best experiences in my life... I couldn't write long enough to do the story justice so I won't.
User Journal

Journal Journal: Best ID discussion I've seen so far

Journal by enigma48

Just thought I'd leave myself a note about a very well articulated discussion about ID. Samjam and "|/|/|||" had one of the most rational arguments I've ever seen on Slashdot. Wish I had mod points.

Samjam: I'm sorry your words are wasted on a lot of people here, solely because you appear to be pro-ID and that'll get you ignored at best.

"|/|/|||": You're in the majority here, no sympathy for you! :) But thanks for your posts.
User Journal

Journal Journal: It's been 10 years... I guess a deer collision was due 4

Journal by enigma48

Nothing too fantastic - I've been driving for a while and have been exceptionally lucky for the amount of driving I've done. Only have run over one small animal, avoided several others.

But I managed to nail a deer tonight, head on.

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