Quasi-Control

I find that most people I talk to do not understand the impending energy crisis. When talking about energy and global climate change I will often digress on a tangent and mention the fact that we are quickly overwhelming our ability to produce energy, and that scaling up our current energy production is not feasible. This is where the anybody who hasn’t been scared off by my hyper-aggressive conversation style usually scoffs and walks away.

Below is a video by an MIT prof. who is making a lot of sense. Its about 20 minutes long so watch it during your lunch break or when your should be working. He begins by directly addressing what the global energy crisis is, why we are not currently capable of solving it. He then talks about the economics required to solve this problem and why we need a paradigm shift from big power plants to micro plants in peoples homes. He concludes by talking about a piece of technology that he has created that will enable the world to meet the energy needs of the next century.

Here is a wired article if you want to read more.

Here is a nice slow motion video of a lightning strike, very cool.

Today’s post is going to be short, but two major events transpired that will change the world for the better.

1. Bill and Melinda gates have devoted $10 billion for the development and deployment of vaccines world wide.
2. The doctor, Andrew Wakefield,  who intentionally started spreading lies that the MMR vaccine caused Autism has had his medical license revoked. There was overwhelming evidence of misconduct, data falsification, lying, and improper treatment of patients (all of which related to his claims that  autism was caused by the MMR vaccine)

THIS IS FANTASTIC NEWS!!!!!!!

I applaud Bill and Melinda for using their wealth to help the world.  Think about it, instead of the wealthy getting their names on buildings they’ll get their names on diseases.  Instead of people saying “Thats the Bill & Melinda Gates Auditorium” they’ll be able to say things like “Bill and Melinda Gates payed to eradicate (insert disease name here)“.  Ask anybody over the age of 40 who Jonas Salk is and they’ll tell you he is the man who invented the first polio vaccine (I’ve talked about Dr Salk and vaccines before in case you missed it). Bill and Melinda Gates have once again secured their place in history in a very good and laudable way.

Secondly now that Ex-Dr. Wakefield has officially been censured for starting a myth that has lead to the deaths of hundreds of children, hopefully people will begin to disbelieve the terrible lie he started, and we can devote precious resources to trying to uncover the true cause of autism.

UPDATE Feb 3, 2010: The Lancet has officially retracted the article by Ex-Dr. Wakefield, with the statement that the paper never should have been published in the first place, its a wonderful move but they should have done this years ago.

Brains, all zombies crave them.  Why do zombies desire brains and what do zombies do with them once they’ve got their zombified fingers on them?  I don’t know if we will ever be able to answer this question, well at least not until the impending zombie apocalypse comes.  There are two main theories as to why zombies want brains (although most people assume it is some combination of the two):

1. to eat them
2. to infect them

If you are an unfortunate soul and your brains fall into the hands of zombies there are two commonly accepted fates for you

1. you become zombie food
2. you become a zombie

Again most people assume that in reality it is probably a combination of the two.  I’ve decided that its time I do something useful with my extensive neuroscientific education. Hence the title Zombies, a Neurobiological Perspecive.

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