///////////////////////Seeing Inside the Earth with Neutrinos
You know what it's like to get an X-ray done: you go to the doctor, get in a large machine, she puts on a lead vest, and X-rays shoot through your body, forming a picture of your skeletal structure. Well, using the IceCube neutrino detector – as well as other neutrino detectors to come – it might be possible to do something very similar to this, but to the Earth. (more…)
////////////////////////////Book Review: Endless Universe
A child wakes with boundless energy, runs and jumps through a day of fun and excitement. Then they fall, exhausted, to sleep, dreaming of another day. Authors Paul Steinhardt and Neil Turok in their book Endless Universe – Beyond the Big Bang see our universe as having similar cycles. And, just as with the child, energy plays a staring role for their universe as it goes through its motions. (more…)
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A child wakes with boundless energy, runs and jumps through a day of fun and excitement. Then they fall, exhausted, to sleep, dreaming of another day. Authors Paul Steinhardt and Neil Turok in their book Endless Universe – Beyond the Big Bang see our universe as having similar cycles. And, just as with the child, energy plays a staring role for their universe as it goes through its motions.Humans have an historical record on Earth of a few thousand years. Geologists posit Earth's history back for over 4 billion years, which many also consider the age of our solar system. Looking far away in the night sky, cosmologists age our universe to nearly 14 billion years. And, indications are the universe has been as active as a little child waking from a good nap. Yet, where we think we know the start and end conditions of human life and also of the solar system, we have no evidence of the start or end of the universe.
The book Endless Universe doesn't let a lack of evidence slow down its story. The authors' premise has our universe as a complete entity that cycles through states. In their book, they begin with a review of much of the grand cosmology we've already pinned together. Inflationary periods, mass appearing out of nothing and dominating dark energy all get an appearance. But the authors don't stay on the easy show-and-tell path. For, they include in the book tales of string theory and particle dynamics, recent ideas that are still making their meaning felt. The authors' intent is to show how they can bring all these ideas into one theory. They envisage a universe that does so and to emphasize their originality, they coin a new phrase, the ekpyrotic universe.
In the book, they describe why this vision of our universe is so special and so unique. They put bubbles on brane's surfaces to act as small spring like strings that increase and decrease their energy content as the universe, and its partner universe, approach and withdraw from each other. Also, the shape of these universes change through this motion, again to account for changing energy levels. Novel and imaginative as this is, the authors consider this the best representation for today's cosmological history and include many descriptions and antidotes to convince the reader.
As should be apparent, this book discusses our universe. But, it also describes the authors' lifetime journeys through science, their relationship and many conferences and meetings to which they attended. With this, the authors lose the reader's focus. Reading about the complexities of string theory and the pleasures of taking a train to chat about physics make this book disjointed. Further, the writing style and choice of words doesn't suite the complexity of the subject. For example, saying 'a brane world spring gets boosted by gravity' unsuccessfully blends common with very uncommon. The result is an image of an ekpyrotic universe but not an image that readily fits into common concepts.
Therefore, yes this book provides a description of an endless universe that encompasses more than the big bang inflationary model as the title says. But, no, this book includes enough extraneous and uncommon material as to make the reading stilted. For those wanting to know more about the authors personally as well as their ekpyrotic model, this book suffices. Otherwise, the reader may find they have to work hard for not so great a reward.
A child's boundless energy and ceaseless curiosity wonderfully prepares them for maturity as adults and scientists. Our universe has its own bounds of energy, together with many other characteristics. Paul Steinhardt and Neil Turok in their book Endless Universe – Beyond the Big Bang present their ideas on how these come together. With it, we again see the wonderful benefits from our species curiosity.
Read more reviews, or purchase a copy online from Amazon.com.
Filed under: Book Reviews
///////////////////////Today is Nov 22, 2007.The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.~C. S. Lewis~
//////////////////////Chapter VI: The Yoga of MeditationVI.15. YUNJANNEVAM SADAA'TMAANAM YOGEE NIYATAMAANASAH;SHAANTIM NIRVAANAPARAMAAM MATSAMSTHAAMADHIGACCHATI.(Krishna speaking to Arjuna)Thus, always keeping the mind balanced, the Yogi, with themind controlled, attains to the peace abiding in Me, whichculminates in liberation.VI.16. NAATYASHNATASTU YOGO'STI NACHAIKAANTAMANASHNATAH;NA CHAATISWAPNASHEELASYA JAAGRATO NAIVA CHAARJUNA.Verily Yoga is not possible for him who eats too much,nor for him who does not eat at all; nor for him who sleepstoo much, nor for him who is (always) awake, O Arjuna!
///////////////////////OVERPAID INFLATED EGOTIST PLAYERS
//////////////////ARSENAL HAVE NO ENGLISH PLAYER
///////////////////Newborns With Congenital Heart Disease Have Widespread Brain Abnormalities
Susan Jeffrey
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Information from Industry
Discover an effective agent with a proven safety profile for treating ADHD in children and adolescents even with comorbid ODD.
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Prescribing Information November 15, 2007 — A new imaging study shows that term infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) undergoing imaging studies prior to corrective surgery have widespread brain abnormalities similar to those seen in premature infants.
"The key finding is that brain development is delayed in these term babies with congenital heart disease; the babies looked on imaging like preterm infants," first author Steven P. Miller, MD, from BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, told Medscape Neurology & Neurosurgery. The hypothesis then, is that the abnormality may start in utero, he said.
Their report appears in the November 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
////////////////Low Interferon-Gamma Production in Infancy Predicts Wheeze in Childhood
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Discover an effective agent with a proven safety profile for treating ADHD in children and adolescents even with comorbid ODD.
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Prescribing Information
By Will Boggs, MD
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Nov 14 - Low interferon (IFN)-gamma production in the first year of life is associated with an increased likelihood of wheeze during childhood, according to a report in the October issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
"The first year of life has been identified as a critical period for the development of risk for allergic disease," Debra A. Stern noted in comments to Reuters Health.
/////////////////////Peanut Flour Immunotherapy May Protect Against Anaphylaxis At up to 30 months of follow-up, none of the patients with peanut allergy have experienced anaphylaxis, even after accidental peanut exposure, according to a small study.Medscape Medical News 2007
////////////////////any good paper can be summarised in one sentence;
/////////////////My siblings and I were voracious readers from early childhood. My girls don't read at all. Most of my nieces and nephews don't either. They have far too many distractions nowadays. I also used to spend a lot of time solving maths puzzles. My eldest does a sudoko occasionally. The kids nowadays are used to an instant culture. They don't want to have to think or spend time finding out. I see it with the teenagers I teach, they wait to be told what to do, rather than try and figure it out for themselves. It is not their fault. The education systems in the West are results oriented, so teachers will often teach to the test. It is bullying from the very top. The children lose out majorly. We have generations of kids who have been spoon fed the answers. The problems this will cause will not be visible for a while yet. When they are then God only knows....... A bit of a rant, I know Farah
//////////////////INSTANT GRATIFICN CULTURE
//////////////////SASIALIT=Failure of schools and colleges to develop a culture of daily reading habits? did anyone here develop a love of reading because of school? How about reading as part of homelife? Excellent point! As a toddler in our small village in Goa, India, I would see my parents reading by the light of a kerosene lamp at night, and my four siblings (between eight and sixteen years older than me) all seated round a table or curled up in chairs, busily reading books. Soon, I would be sprawled on my belly on the floor, pretending to read. The books to hand? Jane Austen, Walter Scott, Thackeray, Hardy --- all prizes our enlightened principal had awarded my brother and sisters for excelling in their studies.Now our children and five grandchildren all treasure their own personal libraries. As a matter of policy and wise spending, we would rather give books than toys. When we take the two littlest ones to Barnes and Noble, or any other bookstore, (this happens regularly on their birthdays, and whenever else we visit) their excitement seems to match that of a trip to Six Flags. When she was two, our oldest grandchild pulled a small blue book off the lowest shelf and cried, "Gampa, isn't it wonderful! ALL of us have books!"And here's an interesting side effect: All five avid readers have shown a talent for writing. Go figure?Regards to all,Victor
//////////////////While I wouldn't go so far as to say my school was responsible for my preference forreading, it certainly reinforced it. High school contests usually ended withbooks as awards for the winners. Winning at essay competitions carried agood deal of prestige. Teachers recommended extracurricular reading materialto students.This wasn't so much a conscious effort as a reflection of the high value attachedto 'book larnin' in India across most sections of society.ajit
////////////////////my school really did help me to develop the reading habit. 50% of the credit has to go to my father and the rest to the school. from year I, the annual prize giving always included books only. then from year VI the school library was open to students, and the Jesuit school in Galle St. Aloysius' College (Southern Sri Lanka) had one of the best school libraries in the country during our time.daya
SIMILAR EXPERIENCES,DURGAPUR ST XAVIERS -WEST BENGAL,INDIA
//////////////////////School would be most important in fostering reading in children from non-reading homes for sure. If the schools did it. In the article Denton pointed to the number of books in the home seemed to be the most crucial element because schools weren't doing it. The schools you all are describing sound wonderful in that regard.kristin
//////////////////// Maybe we are comparing apples and oranges-- rather cantaloupes versus watermelons!-- when we speak of those "wonderful schools." Almost all of us responding from the south Asian heritage are children of privilege-- caste, class or economics and "larning" as Ajit S. calls it, has been one of the few doors through which it was possible to make headway in that economically constrained, repressed society. I doubt any of us attended the "Inner city" versions of academic institutions even if we were educated in the so called "vernacular schools", where the book preparation provided was, by and large that of high quality and fairly inexpensive--many if these schools were started by individuals or educational organizations, including missionaries as well progressive community activists who often had a specific educational or socio-religious objective.- this does not hold true for more than 90% of the Indian population. Public educations as we know in America is of a very poor quality there, far, far worse and limited in every possible way. So middle class parents strive to send their children to what would be considered private or parochial schools in the US, often making great sacrifices.. Developing reading habits varies tremendously across the different levels-- again it was the lucky few of us who have had the encouragement, whether it be from family or special teachers. Belief in education is another of those social values that we like to pat ourselves on the back with, but in reality there are too many non-readers too--including the supposedly highly qualified groups- just talk to a few techies-- the members of the more economically lucrative professions-- I am certain a "love of reading" may be an unusual trait there! The Indian education bifurcates into arts and sciences much too early-- creating great gaps in the knowledge base of both the groups! Yes many of us had a "wonderful school experience" but I would not draw too many grand conclusions from this elite sample! "Maybe it is our karma!" Either we read or do math, there are a rare few who seem to draw from both and become the truly "nerdy pencilsharpners"-- Latika
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