Not Your Usual Computer Bug

Last winter our house was infested with ants. More specifically, by "sweet-eating ants", little red buggers that love nothing more than to get into any remnant of sweet foods left in your kitchen, like un-rinsed pop cans, sugar bowls, glasses that had held juice, and sugary cereal boxes. Trust me, when you have two small children with two working parents and precious little time to clean anything thoroughly, there is PLENTY for these f*ckin' ants to eat, anywhere in the house. Trust me, we fought them long and hard.

And then one evening my lovely wife told me she had found a "highway" of ants traveling down our bedroom wall and into a pile of clean laundry I had not put away for, oh, two weeks or so (did I mention that we have precious little time to clean anything thoroughly?) on the night stand next to my side of the bed. Shaking my head and wondering why, in the name of E.O. Wilson, these little insects could possibly be attracted to my horribly unfashionable garments, I marched into our bedroom, found the line of ants, and proceeded to dig through the pile of clothes looking for some half-eaten Pot-Tart my kids may have sequestered there. In my rummaging, I accidentally knocked my digital alarm clock off the night stand.

When the clock hit the floor, it positively exploded with ants.

Aghast, I grabbed the clock and, ignoring the army of ants running up my arms, put the clock outside so the little monsters would freeze in the winter air. After shaking them off of my body, I went back to the bedroom and proceeded to slap and stomp to death about a zillion of them next to my bed (I'm exaggerating. It was only half a zillion).

Then I took a big Ziplock, placed the alarm clock in it, and put the sealed alarm clock into my freezer overnight. By the next morning, this little nest of ants was dead. I shook out the dead ants as best as I could, then tentatively plugged the clock back in, half expecting a fiery short circuit, but the clock has worked fine ever since. No doubt there a hordes of dead ants still inside. I can still see one inside the faceplate. Eventually we got an exterminator to control the infestation.

HERE is a rather entertaining video where some ants made a nest in some poor sucker's computer mouse!

This is nothing new. Having once been an entomologist, I've noted news stories off and on over the years of ants forming nests in breaker boxes and various appliances, even computers. No one is sure why ants can be attracted to electricity.

Lately a news story has been going around about an invasion of "Crazy Ants" in the Houston area:

http://www.physorg.com/news130001024.html

News videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyLfSemVM3Y

These species of ant (scientifically named Paratrenicha species near pubens) are only about the size of a flea and race around in a seemingly random manner, thus the name, and are native to the Caribbean and the southeast of the U.S. This invading population, however, seems more rampant than the others, having apparently arrived in Texas by way of a cargo ship. A fellow by the name of Tom Rasberry, an exterminator, has been leading the charge in popularizing this invasion (and, apparently, generating much more business for himself. He was recently hired by NASA to guard the Johnson Space Center against the ants) and has even gotten his name attached to them, as many media outlets are reporting the species common name as "Crazy Rasberry Ants". Not only are the ant colonies spreading, but they have been shorting out electrical devices in the area, including fuse boxes and computers (see picture).

They are resistant to ant sprays, have multiple queens per nest, and spread quickly.

The good news is that they eat fire ants. If you've ever been stung by fire ants, as I have, you'll be happy to hear this. Texas is overrun with fire ants (another introduced ant species that shorts out electrical boxes, I might add).

So the next time you have an ant infestation in your home, and you can't find the nest, check your electrical box, appliances, laptop, and your frickin' alarm clock, especially if you're in the Houston area. There may be a different sort of computer bug living in there!


Image taken from HERE.

Mind-Meld With Your Wii

I'm mid-way through my vacation with my in-laws and thought I'd pop onto the computer for a bit to send some digitized brainwaves your way.

One of the highlights of this vacation is my wife's birthday. This year I got her a Nintendo Wii. You know, the game system that everyone is raving about, with remote controllers that you use to play with that have little gyroscopes in them so that your arm movements are captured and transmitted to your video characters. You can do all sorts of amazing things, like play tennis, bowling, sword fighting, and so forth by simply moving your arms and controllers. You can also accidentally throw your controllers through your TV. And if you're like me, you might be tempted to throw them across the room when you can't get the console hooked up correctly. And why is it named "Wii"? Probably because of the high-pitched noise you make as you shell out $300 bucks for the console and an additional $30-50 for each game.

I haven't yet gotten the chance to play this marvel of technology, but I'm looking forward to it. It took me an entire month to get the damned thing, since they are sold out everywhere. In order to get it, I basically had to stake out the department and video stores where they are sold, like some sort of noir detective, waiting for the latest shipment to arrive and then madly rushing in within an hour or two to grab one before hordes of teenagers got theirs. Well, something like that, anyhow. You practically have to bribe the store workers to hold it for you as you drive frantically through traffic to get to the store to pick it up.

This physical interface with the computer is a relatively new thing for the gaming industry. But now a number of companies are rushing in to one-up Nintendo by introducing not a physical interface, but a mental one. One, called Emotiv Systems, is nearing release, probably this year. That's right, control your video character with the power of your mind, using the Emotiv Epoc Neuroheadset:

http://www.physorg.com/news124723221.html

Do you remember Mindball, which I blogged on over a year ago? That was a system where two players sat across from each other controlling a ball using only their mental power of relaxation, using a helmet that read their theta waves. The more mentally relaxed or meditative you were, the more you were able to move the ball and beat your opponent.

This new system from Evotiv goes further, incorporating biofeedback readings such as EEGs and alpha waves (your state of relaxation), EMGs (muscle movement), ECGs and GSR (measuring heart rate and sweating), and possibly near infrared spectroscopy for blood oxygenation, all in a really kick-ass, futuristic mind-reading helmet (see picture). Excellent.

And what can you do with this nifty little device straight out of Neuromancer? So far Emotiv has developed an adapted version of a Harry Potter video game where players use their biofeedback to lift boulders and throw lightning bolts.

Other company's working on this include EmSense, NeuroSky, and Hitachi.

So for my lovely wife's next birthday, I may find myself staking out the department stores again, this time trying to find a way to snag a mind-reading device for the Wii and make more high-pitched pained sounds at the cash register.

Oh, my dear Nintendo, let us mind-meld! My mind to your mind. My thoughts to your thoughts…..


Image taken from HERE.

A Nuclear Reactor In Your Garage

Are you tired of living on "The Grid"? Do those pesky electric bills get you down? Is solar energy just too "'80's"? Well now Toshiba has the answer to your energy woes! Introducing the Micro Nuclear Reactor:

http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news-toshiba-micro-nuclear-12.17b.html

Yes, that's right! At only 20 feet by 6 feet, this 200kW nuclear fission reactor can fit in your own garage. Now that's handy! Handling dangerous nuclear material is as easy as flipping a switch. Nifty. And it can power an entire city block or apartment complex. Why, you'll be the envy of your entire neighborhood. How's that for empowerment? What's more, you won't even have to be on the electrical grid. Sell it back to the city. Snap!

But wait, there's more! Using reservoirs of radioactive lithium-6 instead of those snarky uranium rods and cooling towers we're used to seeing, the entire process in the Micro Reactor is self-contained and can produce energy for 40 years. When it's finished, just ring up Toshiba on the iPhone and they'll come and pick it up. Why, that's disposable energy to you and me! Who cares where they take it after that! At half the cost of standard electricity, you'll be singing all the way to the bank.

Power your own little island or impenetrable fortress like a James Bond villain if you like. We'll help! You'll be seeing this radioactive dream in Japan in 2008 and in Europe and America in 2009. But don't wait! Order yours now!

Brought Back To Consciousness

Six years ago a man was assaulted and brain-injured to the point of being put into a minimally-conscious state, unable to eat, and only able to intermittently communicate using slight movements of his eyes or thumbs. Recently, scientists put electrodes in his brain and, through the miracle of mild electrocution, have given him a partial recovery:

Article: http://www.physorg.com/news105194778.html

Scientific abstract from the journal Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7153/abs/nature06041.html

The 38-year old patient, whose name was not given, now has the ability to speak a few breathy words at a time when asked for a reply, and has recited the first half of the Pledge of Allegiance. He can chew now, so they took out his feeding tube and can feed him the normal way. And he can make more complex movements with his hands and arms, though his tendons and muscles have atrophied from lack of use over the years. To do this, the scientists inserted electrodes and gave electrical stimulation in short sessions. Now he is stimulated constantly.

I would love to know what his first words were, but I could hazard a guess. Here's a top-ten list of things I might want to say if I were in his shoes:

1. "What the hell are you doing to my f*ckin' head?"

2. "Scratch my back, quick! Ahhh!! That's been itching for years!

3. "Get me a bacon cheeseburger, and make it snappy! I don't know how long this will last!"

4. "I've been staring at a blank ceiling for six years. Hang some posters of pin-up models, already."

5. "We're at war in Iraq? I thought the idea was to fight Osama bin Laden?"

6. "So how does Harry Potter end?"

7. "Damn, I'm horny! Let's electrically stimulating something else.…"

8. "Would it kill you to put a TV in here? I've been SOOOO bored!"

9. "How about lowering the voltage a little? My fillings are sparking."

10. "George W. Bush is still president?? Quick, put me back under!"

No More Power Cords Or Batteries?

I hate wires. Hooking up stereo systems is a bother for me, but I eventually get it right. I recently wired my ceiling fan wrong and had to take it apart again to fix it – not an easy thing given that my ceiling is high (as they tend to be) and I am short. Ever tried to twist together three wires while supporting the weight of a ceiling fan and balancing on a ladder? I cursed like a sailor. Even after I finished, the damned ceiling fan still mysteriously turns on or off on its own, lights included. Some mornings I come into my family room to find the light on and the fan going full speed. I choose to live with it. I prefer to think it’s haunted rather than blame my poor electrical skills.

I include power cords in my hatred. Power cords often aren’t long enough, which offends my sense of freedom. Or if they are long enough, they get in the way, get tangled, or serve as forbidden entertainment for my toddlers. And often you have to have plug adaptors or surge protectors. My house is pretty old, and half of the sockets won’t take the three-pronged (grounded) appliance plugs, which leaves me aggravated when I can’t use the appliance I want. Our bedroom dehumidifier is on a long extension cord that runs out of our bedroom and around the corner to reach a three-prong outlet. It’s a tripping hazard. I hate it. And I can’t afford to have an electrician come and re-wire the house. Given my experience with the ceiling fan, I can say with some confidence that I shouldn’t do it myself. I prefer my house non-flaming.

I also hate batteries. All batteries, from the little button batteries through “coppertops” and rechargeables up to laptop batteries. They’re expensive. Some are heavy. They don’t hold much energy. They don’t last long enough. They contain heavy metals, and thus are pollutants when thrown away. I hate how my old electric razor battery no longer holds a decent charge, forcing me to plug it in to get a somewhat decent shave. Thus I hate both the battery and the power cord. I hate them almost enough to want to go back to the painful, bleeding manual razor and shaving lotion.

So every time I try to envision a bright and beautiful technologically-driven future, I see a house without wires or batteries. Instead, I imagine some central power source which “magically” sends energy through the ether to all the light bulbs, cell phones, can openers, kids toys, and any other electrical device within the house. You never see power cords on Star Trek, do you? Or Star Wars? Or any other sci fi show? Spock never had to plug in his tricorder. Luke didn’t have to recharge his light saber. It’s taken for granted that the power sources are either small and extremely powerful within the devices, or the central power system runs without cords.

Now some researchers have finally started making my dream a reality:
http://www.physorg.com/news100445957.html

A team of physicists from MIT are able to use their device to send energy across a gap of at least seven feet to light a 60W light bulb. You can even obstruct the direct line of sight between the coils at either end of the gap (as you can see in the photo, taken from the above link). They call it "WiTricity" (for wireless electricity). Another name for this is “evanescent wave coupling.” It’s the same technology that powers your sonic toothbrush. To make WiTricity, they used a theory of coupled magnetic resonance, which is explained in that article. Basically, it’s a magnetic wave that interacts very weakly with most objects, including humans, but because the wave emitter and the device resonate at the same magnetic frequency, they interact strongly, allowing energy transfer. The article compares this to an opera singer singing at a note at just the right frequency of a wine glass, causing the glass to shatter: her vocal cords and the glass resonate at the same frequency, causing a power transfer strong enough to vibrate the glass beyond its limits. The authors imagine the technique to be broadly applicable to nearly any small electrical device, including laptops and cell phones, powering all such devices within the confines of a room.

Their work will be reported in the June 7 issue of Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science. (HERE is a previous article about their work). Of course, Tesla worked on this very thing, almost a century ago, but apparently this team has made new progress.

And God only knows how the magnetic field will interact with our biology. Are migrating birds passing over your house going to suddenly fly off in random directions? Are the scientists in that picture going to suffer somehow? Heck, that guy in the back is already losing his hair. Will the people in WiTricity homes develop green skin and grow to twice their height, strength, and rage level, a la the Incredible Hulk? I hope not, but then again, it would be a much more exciting world, wouldn't it?

But migrating birds and the Incredible Hulk aside, given this marvelous bit of electrical genius and the current rate of miniaturization, your laptop will soon be as light and slim as a clipboard, your cell phone will be built into your eyeglasses or earrings, and every light in your house will be able to be taken down and carried with you, still shining.

And maybe I won’t have to trip over my damned dehumidifier cord anymore.

See The World Through Rose-Tinted Lenses, Or Any Other Color You Wish!

The other day I was talking with a couple co-workers in the hall as they were preparing to leave work. They put on their Transitions sunglasses and complained about how they weren't changing back and forth very well anymore from clear to dark. "Yeah," said one, "when they get about a year old they slow down in their change rate and it takes too long. They slow down when it gets cold, too."

At this point I remembered watching a sci-fi movie called The Man Who Fell To Earth, staring David Bowie. I wouldn't call the movie excellent, but it has a cult following. It's from Bowie's glam days, after all, back in 1976. Bowie plays an alien (no stretch there!) who has come to Earth in an effort to save his dying family, who waits for rescue back on his home planet. He fits into human society using a facial mask (decades before the Mission Impossible movies) and cosmetic contact lenses, and quickly becomes a wealthy entrepreneur by patenting inventions based on the technology of his home world. There were some interesting inventions in the story which have since come true: self-developing film, cosmetic contact lenses, music spheres (which play like CDs), and UV light-sensitive ("photochromic") sunglasses, like Transitions lenses. Bowie's character possesses a pair of these sunglasses. They protect his alien eyes against the harsh Earthly light, they allow him to see in other wavelengths, and, in the presence of sunlight OR at the press of a button, they turn from clear to dark or back again. I remember thinking how cool it would be to change at the touch of a button, and that we couldn't be technologically far from making it.

Now, once again, science fiction has become reality. In fact, it's even cooler:

http://www.physorg.com/news94216721.html

A chemist named Chunye Xu and colleagues at the University of Washington in Seattle's Center for Intelligent Materials and Systems have invented photoelectric glass coatings that, at the touch of a button, can go from clear to any color you wish in just a second. Need your glasses to match your teal pumps? No problem. Just dial in the appropriate electrical signal to get the right color and darkness. The coatings are made of special polymers, and come in red, blue, and green. Combinations of these polymers can make just about any color. The color change happens with the application of a very small electrical charge from a small battery and a gold/silicone actuator, or can be stimulated by pH, temperature, or light changes depending on the formulation. They have a number of patents. Go HERE for a short PowerPoint presentation of the physical details. This technology will also be developed for goggle lenses, face shields, aircraft windshields, and office windows.

Eyeglasses should be available within a couple years. I'll be waiting for my pair. Ooh, wouldn't it be wicked to have the color and darkness change rapidly, on purpose, shifting color every few seconds? Or have each lens a different color? I wonder if you could have the lenses vary in color and intensity across their face? Could you apply this technology to home windows, or church windows, or Christmas ornaments, or my friggin' aquarium? You could do all sorts of gimmicky things, I imagine.

Sweet Technology

Despite my admittedly bad eating habits, my wife and I do a really good job of making our kids eat healthily. We feed them mainly organic food, with as much vegetables and fruit we can get them to consume. We keep them away from processed food, and never give them fast food. We also limit the amount of sugar they consume – no colas or candy, and almost no desserts or even fruit juices. Of course, if you've read any of my blog, you know I'm a gluttonous freak when it comes to just about any food that's bad for me. Sooner or later the kids will catch on to my hypocrisy, but so far I'm in the clear. I've been known to munch cookies behind pantry doors, just out of my kids' sight. "What are you eating, Dada?" one may say. "Oh, nothing, son!" I reply, crumbs flying.

Tonight I and my family attended a little party to honor a friend of ours. There was no hiding, as folks all around us were shoving chocolate cake slathered with icing down their throats, and washing it down with punch. We finally gave in and fed a piece of cake to each of our adorably healthy children, but with the best of intentions we made them wash it down with water. Moments later, though, a friend innocently gave them some of that bright red punch to drink. We couldn't very well deny them what they had already started drinking. They wanted more. We were cruel and said no. Nonetheless, the amount of sugar they had consumed kick-started them into Nitro mode, and they spent the next hour running around the meeting room. Luckily, it was a beautiful day, and the same friend who gave them the punch paid penance by baby-sitting them on the lawn and running back and forth with them. After yet another half hour at a neighboring playground, the kids were about ready to crash land.

I thought to myself, "If only we could harness sugar in our technology the same way my kids do." Every living thing converts glucose into energy, after all.

Well imagine my surprise when I got back to my computer and read that my wish had come true:

http://www.physorg.com/news94043039.html

Researchers at Saint Louis University in Missouri have developed a fuel cell battery that runs on virtually any sugar source. Their findings were described today at the 233rd national meeting of the American Chemical Society. That's right, sugar-holics like myself can now extend our addiction to our technology. The battery contains natural enzymes used to convert sugar into electricity, leaving only water as a byproduct. And it's all biodegradable, unlike metal batteries which contain heavy metals. Right now the researchers are testing a sugar-powered calculator battery, but intend to extend the technology to cell phones and even laptops and other portable electronics.

Oops, is your cell phone running out of "juice"? No problem, just inject a little flat soda into it (which I have on-hand at just about any moment, just as long as it isn't carbonated, which harms the charge). Out in the woods and can't power your iPod? Just find some tree sap. Camcorder battery low and you're at a party? Don't give the punch to your kids, put it in the camcorder instead. Any sugar source will work – really! Plain ol' sugar water is best, though.

Imagine the potential for economically-depressed areas, emergency situations, or military uses.

So some day you may be walking through the mall when your battery starts dying. Just walk up to your local vendor and say, "I'll take a Pepsi. Make it a medium size, please, and add a little extra for my cell phone." Just don't give any to my kids, or you'll be the one babysitting them for the next couple hours.

Robo-Ethics

Isaac Asimov is one of my favorite authors. If you're not familiar with him, he's one of the "big three" science fiction writers (along with Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein). Asimov is the Jewish-Russian-American with the massive sideburns, who died back in the '90s. He's a fascinating guy, and one of my heroes. He wrote or edited over 500 books in every category of the Dewey Decimal System except for philosophy, was a vice president of the MENSA organization, and was an accomplished biochemistry professor.

One of the things he is best known for in the sci-fi community is his Robot series of stories, almost all of which seem to revolve around the same basic concept: his Three Laws of Robotics. Every robot in his fictional, futuristic universe was programmed with these laws, the purpose of which was to keep robots from running amok and harming humans. Here are his Three Laws:

1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2) A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Most of Asimov's Robot short stories seemed to revolve around the gray areas not quite clearly defined by these laws (such as, What if harming one human would save the rest of humanity?). For decades, as robots have become more advanced, I've heard again and again how roboticists have planned on implementing these laws.

In yet another example of fiction becoming reality, now some Roboticists in South Korea, and soon in Europe, will use Asimov's three laws as a basis for real-life "robot ethics":

http://www.physorg.com/news92459770.html

Asimov would be proud.

Last September, South Korea designed a gun-wielding robot to help guard the de-militarized zone. At the same time, that country's robot designers are preparing for a boom in senior citizens who need round-the-clock care – by robots. As these robots become "smarter" and able to blast you away in the tiny fraction of a second of computing time, or inadvertently squeeze the life out of your all-important feeding tube, it's time to think about robotic "morals."

Fine. Go ahead and ruin my hopes for a world as chaotic and interesting as in Robocop II or 2001: A Space Odyssey. Given the problems I've faced lately with my sh*tty work computers, I'm getting used to computers running amok. Simply freezing while I'm analyzing my data is too boring. I want it to threaten my frickin' life! Hey, you wanna piece of me, Mr. fussy Intel computer? Well bring it on! You haven't got the Three Laws! I've got a magnet with your name on it!

Now if only we could apply Asimov's Three Laws to humans….

You Are What You Hear

iPod users, do those pesky earpad cords get tangled when you dance? Tired of the incessant banging and tickling of the cords against your sensitive skin as you air-guitar? Do your wireless Bluetooth earphones keep getting interference? Well never fear! Now through the miracle of low-level electrocution, you can send the music right through your body from your mpeg player to your ears!

Story: http://www.newscientisttech.com/channel/tech/dn10663

Patent: HERE

Throw away those cords! Now Sony has developed a system where audio signals are sent through a conductive cloth pad directly into your skin. At a few millionths of an amp, the signal travels through the capacitor – your body – to come out at specially-designed earpads. The 500 kHz -3 MHz signal can carry 48 kilobytes per second. Frankenstein's monster only received life from the electricity sent through him. You can have the Rolling Stones! You won't feel a thing except rockin' rhythms as you dance to your body-conducted tunes. Look, Ma, no wires!

Order now!

Critical Thinking And LEGO Robots

It's amazing what can happen if people think.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching some local school kids demonstrate their LEGO robots. They were part of a team from an area middle school. These bright, culturally-diverse 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade boys (and a girl) competed on a state level and won awards for their ability to build a robot of their own design to perform specific tasks that the competition demanded (such as traveling a short distance to trigger devices or drop an object into a specific location), all out of parts from LEGO robotics kits. Though the obstacles the robot had to overcome were pre-defined, their robot design and programming was formulated on their own, with minimal assistance from the team coach and high-school kids who acted as mentors. Maybe they could have learned something by being told exactly how to build and program the robot from a specific blueprint, but I guarantee they learned more about robotics and, generally, critical thinking, by coming up with their own design and testing it.

Beats the hell out of the "spaceships" I built with LEGOs at their age!

Education is a marvelous thing, as it gives you a toolbox of knowledge from which consider the world (like a box of LEGO blocks), but that knowledge is useless if you can't learn to apply it creatively (like making a friggin' robot out of them). I think back to my organic chemistry classes as an undergrad, for instance, where I was forced to memorize very complex chemical reactions and structures, only to regurgitate them on the next test before cramming my brain with more information. Within a year or two of taking the class I doubt I could have remembered even 10% of what I learned. A decade later I might have recalled only a few bits and pieces. As a scientist, I have been taught to think critically, not just about science questions, but about all things. It's in my nature to question things (even if it makes me look cynical in the process), but as my Organic Chem class illustrates, even science has obstacles to overcome.

Recently, a professor at Ohio State University tested the role of critical thinking on his introductory-level biology students:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070221093213.htm

The 300 or so students were taking a lab class on the role of enzymes in biology, and fell into two groups. The first group of students was given prepared enzymes and step-by-step instructions on how to test them. The second group was given a raw turnip from which they had to extract the enzymes themselves and then come up with a plan of their own to test them, exercising their critical and creative thinking. In the end, they were asked a simple question, "Where do enzymes occur in nature?" The correct (and simplistic) answer: "In living tissue." Only 23% of the "step-by-step" group got it correct, compared to 83% of the "critical thinking" group.

Said the professor, "The students in the first group were just as intelligent as those in the second group. They just lacked confidence. No teacher had ever asked them something as simple as how do they want to display what they saw in the experiment. They had always been told how to do that. Educators thought they were doing students a wonderful favor by giving them step-by-step instructions."

And that was at the college level! How often do you think the average grade school student in America is asked to think critically about the information they are taught? How much is rote memorization? In this day of standardized testing, I'm doubtful critical thinking raises its shy head, even in science classes.

And we wonder why people adhere to horoscopes, latch onto the latest fad diets, or believe anything presented on the evening news as undeniable fact. Come on, folks! Critical thinking and creativity drive innovation and reveal the truth behind the veils of ignorance. Think back to your favorite class in school. I'd bet my left thumb that it was one where you got to be creative and didn't have to cram your brain with memorized details, yet learned a lot.

When I saw those kids and their robots, hope sprang eternal. Will they now apply the abstract lesson they learned and raise their hands more in class, questioning why the teacher said what she did?

The 8^th-grader in me is dying to get one of those LEGO robot kits.

Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Fire!

When I was a boy I would spend a couple weeks each summer with my paternal grandmother, who lived in another state. By "another state", I mean she lived in another state of the union (Louisiana), but she also lived in another "state of being." She had some very strange perceptions of reality which were sometimes funny, in an insane way (she believed she once had a bug fly in one ear, buzz around in her head for a few days, then fly out the other ear) and sometimes not so funny (though she was in her late 70's and horribly anorexic, she was deathly afraid of being raped if she went out in public).

One of her fears was that she would be electrocuted by lightning storms. Most people would reasonably fear being outdoors in a lightning storm and getting struck by lightning. She feared talking on the phone during lightning (also reasonable, perhaps), but also taking baths, being near a window, or standing too close to her metal bedframe. Why those last three? Two words: ball lightning. That is, exceedingly rare, brilliantly-lit balls of energy with a life of several seconds, usually about the size of grapefruit, which are formed during intense lightning storms. They hover and fly through the air and have even been seen to bounce along the ground. Any time there was a lightning storm my grandmother would relate the same story to me about how, when she was young, a boy in a neighboring town had been killed when ball lightning came through his window and struck a metal bedframe that he was touching, killing him instantly. I never learned if the story was true, but even though I already figured my grandmother wasn't "all there" I figured I'd give her the benefit of the doubt and stayed near the center of her little house during storms.

Ball lightning has been witnessed and even documented, but it isn't fully understood. Recently some researchers in Brazil managed to recreate it in the lab, as reported in a soon-to-be-released article. If you want the nitty-gritty science details, HERE is another hypothesis for ball lightning.

But what I find more interesting is those amateur science enthusiasts who enjoy playing with high voltage and trying to create ball lightning in their home, shop, or even their microwave oven (and they have step-by-step instructions on the web, though I wouldn't combine the effort with cooking your frozen burritos). I've been known to experiment with high voltage in my own shop (leaving a burn mark or two). Maybe I'll try it some time!

Click HERE for one of those enthusiasts' pages, well worth reading about, which includes some pretty cool video of creating ball lightning and watching it bounce along the ground, leaving burn marks. HERE is another site with similar links.

So my crazy grandma wasn't completely out of her gourd. Maybe I shouldn't be as alarmed that the older I get, the more I seem to be like her. Heaven help me (and my wife), though, if I manage to live to my 70's!

Is that a bug in my ear?

Mindball

Do you envy people who can bend spoons with the power of their mind? Ever wanted to be a Jedi? Do you wish you were a poltergeist? Well now you, too, can control inanimate objects through telekinesis:

http://www.i-p.se/index.aspx?page=mindball&mId=1

Introducing Mindball, the new interactive game of mind control. Sit at the special Mindball table, put on the brain-scanning headband, and show off your mental prowess against as many as three opponents by moving a ball up and down the table using only your brainwaves. By controlling your Zen-like ability to relax, your alpha- and theta-waves are measured by an EEG and transferred to the ball's kinetic motion. The more relaxed you are, the further the ball moves. Look Ma, no hands! But watch out! Your opponent can move the ball too. Who will be more relaxed? How could you possibly pass up such an exciting and interactive game?

But wait, there's more! Call in the next 10 minutes and you'll receive the Mindball Trainer. This sophisticated device is an excellent way to hone your theta waves before the big game and get an edge over your opponents.

Order now. What could be more fun? Relaxation and telekinesis are just a brainwave away!

I Can't Remember The Title Of This Post

I’m not the sharpest knife in the block, especially when it comes to my memory. I’m constantly going to the store and buying everything but the one thing I had gone to buy, or forgetting some important detail my wife tells me, or (sadly) forgetting my age and having to do the math when someone asks. And then there are the dozens of passwords and IDs I can never remember for the various websites and work applications and have to write down in an excel spreadsheet, completely breaking down the security that these passwords and IDs are supposed to afford me.

Take yesterday as an example of my poor memory: My ever-responsible wife came in to wake me, as I had tried to sleep late for the remainder of my vacation, and said, “You need to get up. We’re leaving in an hour.” I scratched my head and quickly tried to think of the things I had been planning (eat, sleep, play with the kids, eat some more, and maybe bathe) when she reminded me that we had planned for days to take the kids to an interactive museum. “Is that today?” I muttered. “I thought we were planning to do that tomorrow.” “No,” she said, rolling her eyes, as if to say she wondered why she married me instead of someone more dependable, like the spider plant in the corner.

Short of getting tested for early-onset Alzheimer’s, paying for one of those infomercial products that are supposed to boost my memory “in just two weeks!”, or simply going into a vegetative state that would justify my condition, I instead live with the problem and rack it up to the usual male cluelessness. Maybe it’s all the solvents I’ve sniffed from years of lab work.

Well now Science may be able to help, as reported in Scientific American:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=BEC346B2-E7F2-99DF-350CC33BA6757700&sc=I100322

In yet another attempt to better humanity through curious and “shocking” applications of electricity, a study of 13 hapless German college students at the University of Lübeck has shown that application of mild jolts of electricity directly to one’s brain during non-REM sleep can improve memory recall of word pairs the next morning by about 2%. The theory is that these pulses of electricity “exert a synchronizing effect on individual neurons and produce beneficial effects” with no apparent negative side effects or disruption of sleep. Guten nacht!

So what does this mean for me? Hmm. Let’s see. Send jolts of electricity through my brain or continue to appear like a dolt every time my wife sighs and says, “Don’t you remember?” Hard choice. Even a 2% increase in memory could mean the difference between my complete cluelessness and the appearance of mild retardation (a step up for me). Maybe it’s worth it.

I’ll book my tickets to Germany just as soon as I remember where I saved that spreadsheet with my Travelocity ID and password….