Cooking == Intelligence?

For those of you interested in the Raw Food movement you may find these articles of interest.
Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

Metabolic changes in schizophrenia and human brain evolution

The Raw Food Diet: A Raw Deal

The first two (the Second is a paper I'll read properly late and likely comment on a bit more then) suggest that there may have been a link between the discovery of Cooking and the development of Human intelligence as it made more energy available for use by the brain.
The Second has a quick look at the Raw food diet and points out a couple of problems with it. When considered together it makes for an interesting look at human cognition and the possible effects that changes in diet can have.

'Virophage' suggests viruses are alive

Most of you who have ever studied Biology at any level are probably somewhat aware of the debate on with regards to whether viruses are living or not. In a tangentially related bit of news that provides some slight support for the "they are alive" argument scientists have recently discovered a virus which effectively infects another virus :-). For more details have a look at the link.

Virophage

Quote: You do not exist!

A Quote from the God Delusion

Steve Grand points out that you and
I are more like waves than permanent 'things'. He invites his reader
to think . . .

. . . of an experience from your childhood. Something you
remember clearly, something you can see, feel, maybe even
smell, as if you were really there. After all, you really were
there at the time, weren't you? How else would you
remember it? But here is the bombshell: you weren't there.
Not a single atom that is in your body today was there
when that event took place . . . Matter flows from place
to place and momentarily comes together to be you.
Whatever you are, therefore, you are not the stuff of
which you are made. If that doesn't make the hair stand
up on the back of your neck, read it again until it does,
because it is important.

I've read some SF where stuff like this has been mentioned a little in passing but never as clearly put! A really fun idea to consider that to a certain degree is correct. While some parts of the body are still there many are no longer and have been swapped out to the environment. This means that to a certain degree your simply a traveling informational lifeform that has conveniently managed to piggy back it's self on to a clump of matter that it then rearranges according to a set of rules. :-) Like software in a certain manner you do not physically exist!

Mara Triangle Wildlife Park Africa Blog/Photos

Mara Triangle
A blog run by a Ranger in one of the African wildlife parks, some lovely photos and an interesting insight into the sorts of things that go own in the wildlife parks, and the animals that inhabit them.

The flickr photostream associated with the blog can be found here.
Kimojuno's Photostream A nice collection of animal photos.

An example of some of the photos!

Cheetah AND Hyaena face off
Originally uploaded by Kimojino

Neurotech

A brief look at the growing Neurotechnology industry, more focused on the economic side than the science but still of interest. Worth reading if your interesting in drugs targeting the brain as both cures and boosters.

Analysis of Neurotech Industry - National Business News - Portfolio.com

The neurotech industry is engaged in a $2 trillion race to fix your brain. Many players will fail, but the payoff will be huge for those who succeed.

For those using Valerian...

This may be of interest it's the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) fact sheet for the herb. Probably well worth a look if you are or are considering using it.
Valerian Fact Sheet (NIH)

Snow Crash

If you've not read it you should, It's a cyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. It plays around with a lot of interesting ideas related to linguistics, informational and biological viruses, Sumerian mythology, the rise of civilization and Christianity or Religion. While it's a work of fiction the ideas utilised and the real world implications of some of the ideas are a fascinating alternate view of Civilisation and Religion.

Any way Snow Crash is well worth reading and I'd highly recommend it to those who find such ideas interesting!

Aging: Lifestyle or Genes?

An interesting article looking at the recent aging research, well worth a read if your interesting in Science, Biology, Aging etc.

Lifestyle or Genes? The Health Secrets of a 114-Year Old Man

Interesting Research

This looks like and interesting research project, and one I'll look forward to seeing results for!

Blue Brain Project It's an attempt to model/simulate the brain, producing a computing model that corresponds to what is observed experimentally that can then be used to gain a greater understanding of how the brain works.
They plainly state that it isn't an Artificial Intelligence/Sentience though I personally suspect that to generate a AI/AS that is human recognisable/derived may require a similar project, one that would likely have to model the brain from the Atomic/Quantum mechanics level upwards.