In the News
Is the Web awake?
 A vast underground network exists in the American North West. The network is composed of the usual hubs of major activity with numerous interconnections, a complex packet-based communication system, and peer-to-peer sharing. But, this is not the familiar kind of network of BitTorrents, search engines, and wikis. This is a living organism, perhaps the biggest living organism. A fungus known as Armillaria ostoyae. we know almost instinctively that A. ostoyaeis alive. It is an ordered entity, it assimilates nutrients and excretes waste products, it grows, it reproduces. Its metabolic pathways carry packets of chemical information along its network of tendrils. It exists beneath a 9 square kilometre area east of Prairie City in a remote corner of Oregon’s Blue Mountains at about 2000 metres.
So, asks Philip Tetlow in his latest book The Web’s Awake, can we
similarly
define the
World Wide Web
as being
somehowalivecan we similarly define the World Wide Web as being somehow alive, and more philosophically, aware? Seemingly not. Tetlow draws together a network of evidence but comes to no more solid a conclusion than we cannot yet know whether or not the Web is awake, aware, or simply awash with random clusters of information and interlinks. His title would imply that he had evolved an answer to one of computing’s quintessential questions, can a true Turing machine exist? If the Web were awake, then it would be as parasitic as any fungal sprawl. But, it not only feeds on us, it offers us a symbiotic relationship in which we feed on its digital gifts. The Armillaria ostoyaenetwork would not exist if it were not for the roots of its forest host, but we still feelit to be alive. In the same way, the Web would not exist without the information and power we feed it. Nevertheless, we do not feelthat the Web is alive. Of course, we do not yet know what future structure and organisation may emerge within the Web, maybe its offspring will be autonomous, a parasite or symbiote, maybe it will feed on us just as A. ostoyaefeeds on the forest above and will ultimately destroy it. There are no straight answers to Tetlow’s questions. Maybe we should JFGI. Just Flipping Google It! Researchers Make Interlocked Molecules -- Prelude to Building Artifici
An enormous challenge to science is the generation of two individual molecules that are not chemically bound to each other but are mechanically wedged together to form a tight link. A team of British and American researchers has now developed an entire new family of such mutually interlocked molecules and has generated a first example. Arctic Ocean Could Be Ice-free In Summer Within 100 Years, Scientists
If present trends continue, the current melting will accelerate, driving the Arctic to a new seasonally ice-free state unlike any the Arctic has experienced in the last million years, according to a report in the Aug. 23 issue of Eos. The research team could not identify any natural systems that would act as a brake on the increased warming and melting. Nano Mechanism To Control Protein May Lead To New Protein Engineering
UCLA scientists have created a mechanism at the nanoscale to externally control the function and action of a protein. "We can switch a protein on and off, and while we have controlled a specific protein, we believe our approach will work with virtually any protein,"said Giovanni Zocchi, assistant professor of physics at UCLA, member of the California NanoSystems Institute and leader of the research effort. The Most Dangerous Woman in America
Companion to a Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBS) NOVA program about "Typhoid Mary"(Mary Mallon), "a cook who was quarantined for life against her will in the early 1900s"because she was a carrier of typhoid fever. The site features a historical analysis, a letter from Mary asking for her release, and a chronology of quarantine. Also includes an interactive epidemiology feature, program transcript, teacher's guide, bibliography, and links to related sites. NNSA/LLNL Supercomputer Breaks Computing Record: Exceeds 100 Teraflop
A supercomputer developed through the Advanced Simulation and Computing program for National Nuclear Security Administration's Stockpile Stewardship efforts has performed 135.3 trillion floating point operations per second (teraflops) on the industry standard LINPACK benchmark, making it the fastest supercomputer in the world. Holier Than Thou? Employees Who Believe They Are 'Ethical'Or 'Moral'Mi
A moral identity motivates behavior but accurate, ethical judgments are needed to set that behavior in the right direction, according to researchers who study business ethics. AOL Goes for the Gold
Frustrated in its attempts to collect court-awarded damages from a renegade spammer, AOL intends to dig up land belonging to the man's parents, searching for gold and platinum bars the company believes is buried there. Keep Your Eyes On The Puck: Hockey Goalies With The Quiet Eye Have A B
Researchers at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Kinesiology may have found the secret to dazzling goaltending, after they discovered the exact spot a goalie needs to watch to be successful. Annual Report to Congress: The Military Power of the People's Republic
"This report outlines what we know of China's national and military strategies, progress and trends in its military modernization, and their implications for regional security and stability. But, secrecy envelops most aspects of Chinese security affairs. ... Hence, the findings and conclusions are based on incomplete data. These gaps are, of necessity, bridged by informed judgment."From the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense. Opens directly into a PDF document.
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