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Philip K. Dick theorizes The Matrix in 1977, says that we live in “a computer-programmed reality”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXeVgEs4sOo[/youtube]

The Hugo Award was given to Philip K. Dick in 1963 for his novel The Man in the High Castle. He beat out such sci-fi luminaries as Marion Zimmer Bradley and Arthur C. Clarke. The Guardian writes about this novel, “Nothing in the book is as it seems. Most characters are not what they say they are, most objects are fake.” The plot—an alternate history in which the Axis Powers have won World War II—turns on a popular but contraband novel called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. Written by the titular character, the book describes the world of an Allied victory, and—in the vein of his worlds-within-worlds thematic—Dick’s novel suggests that this book-within-a-book may in fact describe the “real” world of the novel, or one glimpsed through the novel’s reality as at least highly possible.

 

 

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Scientists reading habits may be leveling off

scientist reading

Scholarly articles in digital forms overtook printed ones, but survey suggests increase in reading may have reached a peak.

A 35-year trend of researchers reading ever more scholarly papers seems to be leveling off. In 2012, US scientists and social scientists estimated that they read, on average, 22 scholarly articles per month (or 264 per year). That is, statistically, not different from what they reported in an identical survey last conducted in 2005. It is the first time since the reading-habit questionnaire began in 1977 that manuscript consumption has not increased.

 

 

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How a breast milk antibody plays an important role in infant gut development

breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is an important strategy to ensure a healthy balance of good bacteria in an infant’s gut.

 Babies have legions of microbes that set up shop in their guts, skin, and more right from birth. These microbes are vital. They help the growing human to digest its food, and to keep harmful microbes away. They are so important that newborns temporarily suppress their own immune system to give their microbial partners a chance to establish themselves.

 

 

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The most promising medical technology on the horizon today

telomerebiology

Discoveries in the field of telomere biology will have an impact on how we can stay young naturally and look younger than our chronological age.

Research in telomere biology has the potential to extend human life span, to dramatically lower rates of the great remaining killer diseases: heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s.  All three diseases increase exponentially with age, and their toll will be slashed as we we learn how to address the body’s aging clocks.

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U.S. Department of Transportation wants our cars to ‘talk’ to each other

connected-vehicles

Vehicle-to-vehicle communications would report where every car, bus, and truck is, where it’s going, and how fast it’s moving.

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced plans to move forward with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication systems. After years of experimentation and a real-world trial in Ann Arbor, MI the government is almost ready to make peer-to-peer networking a required safety feature on all new cars.

 

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Why the days are numbered for traditional utility companies

solar power

Utilities are under fire from technologies such as rooftop solar.

Duke Energy is the biggest utility in the U.S.  The recently retired head of the utility company, Jim Rogers, has had some interesting things to say about the fate of the traditional utility, particularly with the proliferation of rooftop solar.

 

 

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Google Glass available to students and faculty at Yale University

google glass

Google Glass

The Yale University Library, in cooperation with the Instructional Technology Group (ITG) and the Student Technology Collaborative (STC), has added the futuristic eyewear, Google Glass to its collection of media devices at the Bass Library. The eyewear has unofficially been dubbed “Yale Bass Glass.”  The device will be loaned to faculty and student groups during the spring semester who can use it to explore the potential of Google Glass in enhancing classroom instruction and the research experience.

 

 

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Indiana Amish farm leads the way to local food security

Amish farm

Greenhouse at Sunrise Hydroponics.

There is an Amish farm in Topeka, Indiana that supplies all-natural, sustainable produce, using 90% less water and 90% less land, and that utilizes the most advanced vertical aeroponic technology on earth. You cannot get produce that is more local, fresh, healthy, and sustainable — even in the middle of an Indiana blizzard — like you can get at Sunrise Hydroponics, an Amish farm.

 

 

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Virtual teams can create human connections despite distance

virtual teams

A Unify survey of knowledge workers recently found  that 79% of the respondents reported working always or frequently in virtual teams, but only 44% found virtual communication as productive as face-to-face communication.  The vast majority connected via email, phone, or conference calls even though 72% said video would make teamwork easier.  Only 34% of people use video to collaborate with coworkers. And 43% feel confused and overwhelmed by the mishmash of collaboration technology at their disposal.

 

 

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