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Training a horse’s behavior

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For decades, scientific models of our universe have included the possibility that it exists as a long-lived, but not completely stable, sector of space, which could potentially at some time be destroyed upon 'toppling' into a more stable vacuum state.

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"What kind of physical therapy/medical needs do you need from the recovery process for your bodies once you return to Earth, and how long does it take to return to ‘Earth normal’?”

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Trash Cat

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Simply put, Levin and Lobo's computer attempted to mimic real-life studies over and over again in an excruciatingly-detailed simulation. The machine would randomly guess how the worm's genes formed a regulatory network that allowed for this amazing regeneration, then let that genetic network take control in a simulation, and finally measure how close the results were to real experimental data. If its guesses were good (meaning the gene network made the simulated worm regenerate similarly to real-life experiments), then the machine slightly modified the random genetic network it had created, and tried again until its model was even better.

This may sound simplistic, but after three days of constant guessing, simulating, evaluating its guesses, and tweaking its tactics, the computer had invented a core genetic network that faithfully matched every one of the hundreds of experiments in its database. Essentially, it had explained what scientists had failed to—how the genes connect.

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Disney strategy chart from 1957

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Lowest flyby ever, Argentinian FMA IA 63

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Blue Angels jet blows umbrellas off of the beach during a low pass

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Kenneth Murphy, who directs FEMA’s Region X, the division responsible for Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska, says, “Our operating assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast.”

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The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

Chinese Proverb

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Alcoholic vervet monkeys

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When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do this will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket.

Nikola Tesla, 1926

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Some estimates are a bit off (as to be expected), but overall the trends Kurzweil lays out are very interesting and insightful.

TED Talk – Ray Kurzweil: The accelerating power of technology

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Increasing sizes of firework shells

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“Jonathan Haidt and Sara Algoe demonstrated that exposure to stories about moral beauty (the opposite of moral disgust) cause a common set of responses, including warm, loving feelings, calmness, and a desire to become a better person. Haidt called the emotion "moral elevation," as a tribute to Thomas Jefferson, who had described the emotion in detail in a letter discussing the benefits of reading great literature. Feelings of moral elevation cause lactation in breast-feeding mothers, suggesting the involvement of the hormone oxytocin. There is now a large body of research on elevation and related emotions.”

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Augmented reality via oculus + stereo camera rig