Sayan’s BlogWorld

This is a spectacular talk… one of the best yet on TED so far.

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.

Elizabeth Hausler explains to Global X that she was finishing her Ph.D. in engineering at Berkeley when an earthquake hit India and killed 20,000 people. That’s when she realized that “it’s not the earthquake that kills people, it’s the building collapsing.”

She looked for a solution and launched Build Change to build earthquake-resistant houses in developing countries and change construction practices permanently so that homeowners in seismically active developing countries can sleep at night.

What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Buddhist monk, photographer and author Matthieu Ricard has devoted his life to these questions, and his answer is influenced by his faith as well as by his scientific turn of mind: We can train our minds in habits of happiness. Interwoven with his talk are stunning photographs of the Himalayas and of his spiritual community.

Another thoughtful (and humorous) TED talk was the one given by Bob Thurman sometime ago. It is one of my favorite TED talks and I have blogged about it previously. But it is probably appropriate to include it once more:

TED has hosted a number of excellent speakers on the topic of climate change. However, I found 2 interesting almost opposite approaches to solving the issue.

In this talk, energy guru Amory Lovins lays out his plan for weaning the US off oil and revitalizing the economy in the process. It’s the subject of his book Winning the Oil Endgame, and he makes it sound fairly simple: On one hand, the deadly risks of continued dependency, and on the other, some win-win solutions.

Environmental scientist David Keith talks about a cheap, effective, shocking solution to climate change: What if we injected a huge cloud of ash into the atmosphere, to deflect sunlight and heat? As an emergency measure to slow a melting ice cap, it could work. Keith discusses why it’s a good idea, why it’s a terrible one — and who, despite the cost, might be tempted to use it.

The cyclone Sidr narrowly missed hitting India directly and instead hit Bangladesh causing widespread devastation. I encourage you all to donate to help alleviate the suffering of one of the poorest countries of the world. Coastal Bangladesh is bearing the brunt of environmental disasters - rising sea levels will make it worse. I support Direct Relief International since 100% of the contribution goes into disaster relief especially medical aid. Why should you donate? Sheril explains lucidly:

All the major petro-companies are pushing for the hydrogen economy as a replacement for fossil fuels….some argue that this would allow them to keep their existing monopoly on transportation fuel.

My gut feeling is this an over-simplification. I came across the concept of ‘deep hydrogen reserves’ sometime ago. Apparently the Kola Superdeep Borehole, the deepest hole drilled by man at 12+ kms (~7.5miles) has been found to be bubbling with hydrogen. So do you think, the petroleum companies will simply shift from petroleum drilling to hydrogen drilling? Or maybe even methane drilling? I would be interested in your thoughts / opinions.

Sir David Attenborough explains in this video how scientists can be so sure that humans contribute to Global Warming.

The article here and its accompanying video describe this invention as, “…a taut membrane fitted with a pair of magnets that oscillate between metal coils. Prototypes have generated 40 milliwatts in 10-mph slivers of wind, making his device 10 to 30 times as efficient as the best microturbines…”

It seems that global warming maybe hitting the positive feedback loop. Are the skeptics listening??
The article here points out that, “…a source of methane - which likely originated during the last ice age - has surfaced in the Arctic, a likely result of global warming’s thawing effect on the permafrost.” The methane bubbles from thermokarst lakes in the Artic.

This is the breathtaking story of Daniel Tammet. A twenty-something with extraordinary mental abilities, Daniel is one of the world’s few … all » savants. He can do calculations to 100 decimal places in his head, and learn a language in a week. This documentary follows Daniel as he travels to America to meet the scientists who are convinced he may hold the key to unlocking similar abilities in everyone. He also meets the world’s most famous savant, the man who inspired Dustin Hoffman’s character in the Oscar winning film ‘Rain Man’. (2005)




The Sustainability Institute’s Donna Meadow’s Voice of a Global Citizen Archive has an article about the well-known (but not practiced) Seven Blunders’ talisman by Mahatma Gandhi :

A few weeks before he was assassinated, Gandhi the Mahatma had a conversation with his grandson Arun. He handed Arun a talisman upon which were engraved “Seven Blunders,” out of which, said Gandhi, grows the violence that plagues the world. The blunders were:

Wealth without work.

Pleasure without conscience.

Knowledge without character.

Commerce without morality.

Science without humanity.

Worship without sacrifice.

Politics without principles.

Gandhi called these disbalances “passive violence,” which fuels the active violence of crime, rebellion, and war. He said, “We could work ’til doomsday to achieve peace and would get nowhere as long as we ignore passive violence in our world.”

To his grandfather’s list of seven blunders Arun later added an eighth: Rights without responsibilities.

This is an unbelievably eye-opening story on the ancients doing terraforming-type activities on a massive scale. Maybe I am going a little over the top. But read this to find out more about this ‘carbon-negative’ agricultural practice … I think this has a tremendous potential for addressing some really critical global issues.

Here is a small extract from the post at WorldChanging:

Amazonian Dark Earth, or terra preta do indio, has mystified science for the last hundred years. Three times richer in nitrogen and phosphorous, and twenty times the carbon of normal soils, terra preta is the legacy of ancient Amazonians who predate Western civilization. Scientists who long debated the capacity of ’savages’ to transform the virgin rainforest now agree that indigenous people transformed large regions of the Amazon into amazingly fertile black earth.

I spent some time watching the talk Dr. Bussard gave at Google sometime ago- it was very interesting both from a scientific point of view and a political point of view. It seems all that is required to solve most of the world’s problems is political will and stepping away from narrow egotistical views.

Here is what Slashdot says in a post: Dr Bussard, the man behind the Bussard Collector and inventor of the Polywell fusion device, passed away last Sunday in the morning. He leaves behind him a legacy of EM fusion devices, and a team determined to continue his efforts. The news of funding extension for the construction of his WB-7 fusion devices made it to slashdot months ago (as well as his talk at google). They may be a serious candidate in the run to bring commercial fusion, and may work at lower scales than other projects. Let’s hope the project continues in good shape despite his departure.

Here is a short animation of the basic working of a Polywell design IEC (Inertial Electrostatic Confinement) fusion device studied by Dr. Bussard’s team:

This is a video of the the Pale Blue Dot.
As the Youtube psot says having Carl Sagan read to you from the book with the same title is something else. Enough said. Take a listen and leave comments please.

Treehugger reports that the Northwest Passage has become ice-free for the first time in recorded history. Is it now too late to act? The melting poles has renewed interest in their mineral wealth. The article also says

While it had long been expected that the Northwest Passage would gradually open up as a result of rising global temperatures, scientists were taken aback at the speed with which it happened.