[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/new-mexico-travel-ready-to-blast-off-with-spaceopolis"]New Mexico travel ready to blast off with ‘spaceopolis’[/URL]

[URL="http://www.livescience.com/42437-crazy-cold-weather-phenomena.html"]7 Crazy Things That Happen Only When It's Really Cold - See more at: http://www.livescience.com/42437-crazy-cold-weather-phenomena.html#sthash.YAWWjQ3w.dpuf[/URL]

[URL="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140108123534.htm"]Color-Coded Cells Reveal Patchwork Pattern of X Chromosome Silencing in Female Brains[/URL]

[URL="http://www.techi.com/2014/01/5-video-games-that-can-make-you-smarter/"]5 video games that can make you smarter[/URL]

[URL="http://www.futurity.org/adult-brains-may-stay-connected-inner-child/"]SOME BRAIN REGIONS STAY ‘CHILDLIKE’ AFTER WE GROW UP[/URL]

[URL="http://business.time.com/2014/01/08/nestle-will-test-health-foods-on-human-brain-cells/"]Nestlé Will Test Health Foods on Human Brain Cells[/URL]

[URL="http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/09/tech/innovation/self-driving-cars-ces/index.html?eref=edition"]Driverless car tech gets serious at CES[/URL]

[URL="http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2014/01/gifted-children-study/"]Are gifted children getting lost in the shuffle?[/URL]

[url=www.kurzweilai.net/discovery-of-quantum-vibrations-in-microtubules-inside-brain-neurons-corroborates-controversial-20-year-old-theory-of-consciousness]Discovery of quantum vibrations in microtubules inside brain neurons corroborates controversial 20-year-old theory of consciousness[/url]

"Corroborates" is unwarranted, "allows to remain viable" seems more apt. Just because these things are occurring at some level does not justify a leap to 'are the basis of consciousness". Still very interesting that these kinds of quantum-coherence processes appear to be occurring in the "wet and noisy" neuronal-biologic substrate.

The friend who sent me the link comments:
[quote]Agreed. But if Penrose is correct, Sir Roger gets a Nobel Prize (assuming that he lives long enough to collect it) and it is the most important scientific discovery of my lifetime. Even if it has nothing to do with consciousness, but has something to do with neural computation it is a BFD. I have no opinion on the odds.[/quote]

The real question is: Has the NSA built in a backdoor yet?

[QUOTE=ewmayer;364842]Still very interesting that these kinds of quantum-coherence processes appear to be occurring in the "wet and noisy" neuronal-biologic substrate.[/QUOTE]

Why is this surprising?

Penrose spent several hundred pages in "The Emperor's New Mind" to argue that a deterministic system could not achieve consciousness.

Freeman Dyson intuitively understood this years before. During this video interview he says something like "Well, yes, of course -- the animal will use this [quantum uncertainty] to its advantage.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ8jRF5icZQ[/url]

[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science_and_environment/"]Rosetta comet-chaser phones home[/URL]

Good news!

[QUOTE=ewmayer;364842][URL="http://www.kurzweilai.net/discovery-of-quantum-vibrations-in-microtubules-inside-brain-neurons-corroborates-controversial-20-year-old-theory-of-consciousness"]Discovery of quantum vibrations in microtubules inside brain neurons corroborates controversial 20-year-old theory of consciousness[/URL]
[/QUOTE]Implies that consciousness is not limited to our species!

How will this new finding affect [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Jaynes"]Julian Jaynes[/URL]'s great theory explained in his [URL="http://www.julianjaynes.org/bicameralmind.php"]wonderfully-titled[/URL] [URL="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-origin-of-consciousness-in-the-breakdown-of-the-bicameral-mind-julian-jaynes/1103665413?ean=9780618057078"]book[/URL]?

(The [URL="http://www.julianjaynes.org/julian-jaynes-origin-of-consciousness-book-reviews.php"]book[/URL] is still a [URL="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22478.The_Origin_of_Consciousness_in_the_Breakdown_of_the_Bicameral_Mind"]great read[/URL], I think, even if [url=http://www.julianjaynes.org/about-julian-jaynes-theory.php]Jaynes's theory[/url] is unsound.)

Not really (ground-breaking) science in this message, but I would file these findings under:[LIST][*]linguistics/social psychology:
"[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/20/opinion/the-how-are-you-culture-clash.html"]The ‘How Are You?’ Culture Clash[/URL]"[*]gerontology (thinly veiled Dunning-Kruger)
"[URL="http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/22/when-they-dont-know-they-are-ill"]Anosognosia: When They Don’t Know They Are Ill[/URL]"[/LIST]

Bright supernova in M82
 

This is the [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25860454"]nearest SN seen since 1987[/URL]. Found by undergraduates at University College London.

[QUOTE=xilman;365226]This is the [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25860454"]nearest SN seen since 1987[/URL]. Found by undergraduates at University College London.[/QUOTE]

Nice - any estimates of earth-frame visual magnitude at peak brightness? Has the SN type been determined?

Ah, [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_2014J]Wikipedia is your friend[/url] - it's a Ia (binary system white dwarf accretion to critical mass) standard-candle type. No peak-brightness estimate there, though.

This is the cloest Type Ia in 40 years, although SN1987A (a Type II massive-star core-collapse) was significantly closer.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;365253]Nice - any estimates of earth-frame visual magnitude at peak brightness?[/QUOTE]From the Sky & Telescope article at [URL]http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/241477661.html[/URL]
[quote]. . .

Supernova expert Robert Quimby has fitted a standard Type Ia supernova light curve to the observations up to January 24th, and from this he makes a [I]very[/I] tentative prediction that it will peak at V magnitude 10.1 in the first few days of February.[/quote]skyandtelescope.com is also your friend in things astronomical. :-)

Here's a plot of magnitude observations so far: [url]http://www.aavso.org/lcg/plot?auid=000-BLG-310&starname=PSN+J09554214%2B6940260&lastdays=20&start=2456678&stop=2456698&obscode=&obscode_symbol=2&obstotals=yes&calendar=calendar&forcetics=&grid=on&visual=on&r=on&fainterthan=on&bband=on&v=on&pointsize=1&width=800&height=450&mag1=&mag2=&mean=&vmean=[/url] (Note that it's brightest in the red.)

Thanks for the added sources and information, Richard!

Thanks. Just printed [url]http://www.aavso.org/tmp3/d19679.png[/url] and hope to be able to make some magnitude estimates in the coming weeks.


Paul