Gizmorama
March 9, 2011
------------------------------------------------------------
The Shirt Safe lets you hide your valuables in plain sight
http://pd.gophercentral.com/u/1102/c/186/a/474
------------------------------------------------------------
Good Morning,
In a new study, British researchers relocate the possible
origins of the modern human. Read up on this groundbreaking
research in the second article.
Until Next Time,
Erin
Questions? Comments? Email me at: mailto:gizmo@gophercentral.com
Email your comments
P.S. You can discuss this issue or any other topic in the new
Gizmorama forum. Check it out here...
http://gizmorama.gophercentral.com
------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. 'space plane' in orbit
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The U.S. X-37B space plane was in
orbit Sunday after a successful launch from Cape Canaveral,
Fla., Boeing said. The Boeing-built orbital test vehicle
lifted off from the cape Saturday evening and was installed
in a low orbit for a mission that has been largely classified.
The launch came a day after Friday's scheduled launch was
scrubbed by bad weather. Boeing Vice President Craig Cooning
said in a written statement that the so-called space plane
was being monitored by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities
Office. "We took another important step with the successful
launch of the second (orbital test vehicle), enabling the RCO
to further experiment with the vehicle and its ability to
operate in low-Earth orbit," Cooning said. The X-37B is
designed to operate as an unmanned test platform for space
research that can land itself at Edwards Air Force Base in
California.
Southern Africa may be home of modern man
STANFORD, Calif. - Modern humans may have originated in
southern Africa, where hunter-gatherer populations had the
greatest genetic diversity, British researchers said Tuesday.
Extensive studies indicate the region was the best location
for the origins of modern man, challenging the school of
thought that modern humans migrated from eastern Africa,
researchers told the BBC. Genetic diversity is an indicator
of longevity, the scientists said. "Africa is inferred to be
the continent of origin for all modern human populations,"
the international team said in its paper published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "But the
details of human prehistory and evolution in Africa remain
largely obscure owing to the complex histories of hundreds
of distinct populations." Co-author Brenna Henn, from Stan-
ford University in California said the study reached two main
conclusions. "One is that there is an enormous amount of
diversity in African hunter-gatherer populations, even more
diversity than there is in agriculturalist populations," she
told BBC News. "The other main conclusion was that we looked
at patterns of genetic diversity among 27 (modern) African
populations, and we saw a decline of diversity that really
starts in southern Africa and progresses as you move to
northern Africa." Henn said the study included more extensive
data on "hunter-gatherer groups than we have ever had before,
but I am cautious about localizing origins from it." She said
populations in southern Africa have the highest genetic
diversity of any population, suggesting "this might be the
best location for (the origins) of modern humans."
Study: Robots can understand humans
ATLANTA - A preliminary study found a robot can be program-
med to understand when it gets a human's attention and when
it doesn't, U.S. researchers said. The researchers at the
Georgia Institute of Technology used a socially expressive
robot named Simon to see whether they could determine when
the robot successfully attracted the attention of a human
who was engaged elsewhere and when he didn't, the Atlanta
institution said Tuesday in a release. "The primary focus
was trying to give Simon, our robot, the ability to under-
stand when a human being seems to be reacting appropriately,
or in some sense is interested now in a response with respect
to Simon and to be able to do it using a visual medium, a
camera," said Aaron Bobick, professor and chair of the School
of Interactive Computing in Georgia Tech's College of Compu-
ting. With nearly 80 percent accuracy, Simon could tell
whether someone was paying attention to him or ignoring him,
researchers said. "Simon would make some form of a gesture,
or some form of an action when the user was present, and the
computer vision task was to try to determine whether or not
you had captured the attention of the human being," Bobick
said. To integrate robots in a human world means robots must
engage with human beings, "and human beings have an expecta-
tion of being engaged in a way similar to the way other human
beings would engage with them," Bobick said. Researchers said
they plan to investigate how Simon can read communication
cues by studying whether he can tell by a person's gaze or
other human cues whether that person is paying attention.
U.N. expert makes case for eco-farming
BRUSSELS - Small-scale farmers could double food production
in 10 years by using simple ecological methods, a U.N. study
released in Brussels Tuesday reported. Scientific evidence
shows that agroecological methods outperform the use of chem-
ical fertilizers in increasing food production, Olivier De -
Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food
and author of "Agroecology and the Right to Food," said in a
release. "To feed 9 billion people in 2050, we urgently need
to adopt the most efficient farming techniques available,"
De Schutter said. Agroecology applies ecological science to
agricultural system design that can ease food crises and
address climate change and poverty, the report said, by en-
hancing soils productivity and protecting crops against pests
by relying on the natural environment. "To date, agroecolog-
ical projects have shown an average crop yield increase of
80 percent in 57 developing countries, with an average in-
crease of 116 percent for all African projects," De Schutter
said. "Recent projects conducted in 20 African countries
demonstrated a doubling of crop yields over a period of three
to 10 years." Conventional farming relies on costly equip-
ment, stimulates climate change and has difficulty bouncing
back form climatic shocks, the study said. "It simply is not
the best choice anymore today," De Schutter said. "A large
segment of the scientific community now acknowledges the
positive impacts of agroecology on food production, poverty
alleviation and climate change mitigation ... ."
------------------------------------------------------------
Check out Viral Videos on the Net at EVTV1.com
http://www.evtv1.com/
EVTV1.com