SML Pro Blog: science

Showing posts with label science. Show all posts

Saturday, September 29, 2007

More sex is safer sex / Steven Landsburg

Source: Possible Side Effects / 2007-07-08 / New York Times

Steven E. Landsburg (Google), a professor at the University of Rochester recently published a book called More Sex is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics, where he applied economics theory in everyday life. The book is largely based on his column called Everyday Economics on Slate Magazine.

I haven't read the book yet, but it looks quite interesting based on the book review on New York Times, where he suggests that the AIDS epidemic is "the price of our permissive attitudes toward monogamy, chastity, and other forms of extreme sexual conservatism."

You can also read the first chapter of the book on New York Times' Web site.

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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Programming is Translation

Programming = Translation;

Translation = English -> Logic -> Français;
Translation = العربية -> Logic -> 中文;
Translation = C# -> Logic -> JavaScript;
Translation = Java -> Logic -> ActionScript;
Translation = Español -> Logic -> XML;
Translation = Български -> Logic -> Python;
Translation = Processing -> Logic -> Dance;

Speech = HHI = Human-Human Interface;
Protocol = CCI = Computer-Computer Interface;
Programming Language = HCI = Human-Computer Interface;

Tags = HSEI = Human-Search-Engine Interface;

Artificial Intelligence = AI = Human-Computer Interpreter;

Related SML

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Friday, September 7, 2007

Sexual Relationship Database = World Health Optimization Management

In the his book titled Linked: how everything is connected to everything else and what it means for business, science, and everyday life, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi suggested that:

[AIDS] must have followed the route already spotted in the spread of innovation and computer viruses: Hubs are among the first infected thanks to their numerous sexual contacts.

...The scale-free topology at AIDS’s disposal allowed the virus to spread and persist.

...Whereas the early spread of AIDS was attributed primarily to homosexual sex, today heterosexual sex is the leading means of transmission. As we’ve established, hubs play a key role in these processes. Their unique role suggests a bold but cruel solution: As long as resources are finite we should treat only the hubs. That is, when a treatment exists but there is not enough money to offer it to everybody who needs it, we should primarily gives it to the hubs.

...The problem is that we do not know for sure who the hubs are.

SML Reference: Barabasi. Linked: how everything is connected to everything else and what it means for business, science and everyday life. pp 138-139 (Google Books)

Analyzing the sex web is a huge undertaking.

Whereas most will be happy to disclose their personal or professional relationships using sites like Facebook, Friendster or LinkedIn, few would be readily compelled to disclose personal information about their sex life.

Finding out the topology of sex is important in the ever-changing web of human existence, however. So it is not at all surprising that a scientific research tool called Sexual Relationship Database was created.

According to the Website, the World Health Optimization Management created the project “in an effort to better understand society’s interconnected nature.” For this project, a sexual partner is defined “as a human with whom a person has had oral, anal or vaginal sexual contact.”

Like the Wikipedia, anyone may edit the sexual histories. To ensure accuracy of the study, the organization requires that users log in with a valid email address. They also reserve the right to ban users who knowingly provide false information.

Here is a map of the sex web of a few celebrities to get you started:

Brad Pitt

Britney Spears

Paris Hilton

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Thursday, July 5, 2007

Artificial Life / J. Craig Venter

J. Craig Venter, the first scientist who figured out the complete human DNA sequence is at his final phase of creating the first free-living artificial organism by collecting deep-sea organisms last year. It is a bacteria with a few hundred genes. His firm, Synthetic Genomics, Inc will be creating synthetic bugs which produce Ethanol and Hydrogen. The potential benefits of biocomputers are huge, and can be used to create medication, fuels, cleans pollution and detect explosives. (Business Week 2007-06-25 / On The Brink Of Artificial Life / Craig Venter says success is near, but critics blast efforts to patent synthetic organisms)

This verifies The Economist's claim: "What physics was to the 20th century, biology will be to the 21st -- and RNA will be a vital part of it." (The Economist 2007-06-24 / The RNA revolution: Biology's Big Bang)

Related articles on the Web

Forbes: BP's Biotech Bet

New Scientist: Countdown to a synthetic lifeform

New York Times: Scientists Transplant Genome of Bacteria

Washington Post: J. Craig Venter's Next Little Thing: The man who mapped the human genome has a new focus: using microbes to create alternative fuels.

Washington Post: Scientists Report DNA Transplant / Organisms Adopt Donor Traits

Friday, June 30, 2006

Education before college

I grew up in Hong Kong, and the education system allows for two focus-paths: arts or science.

The science track is formed by subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Advanced Mathematics. Most everything else is grouped into arts: History, Geography, Literature, etc.

The arts category seem odd at first, so I formulize the categorization in my way: by the kind of tests given to the students. Subjects that allow you to score an A by answering the only possible answer is Science. Subjects that have a larger range of flexibity in the form of essays, and usually graded subjectively is categorized as Arts.

High school is the stepping stone to getting into a great university. In order to achieve the goal, I have decided to go with the path that will allow me to get good grades given equal study efforts. My early education, before I entered college, was thus constructed by a science-biased view.

I never really dream to be a scientist, however. Almost everything that I did in my spare time had nothing to do with science. My life was surrounded by music, and I spent most of my time as a pianist for choirs, choruses, ballet schools, etc. Although I was never really good at it, I also tried to draw, sketch and paint. I find the experience very relaxing.