Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Schumann resonance

At any given moment about 2,000 thunderstorms roll over Earth, producing some 50 flashes of lightning every second. Each lightning burst creates electromagnetic waves that begin to circle around Earth captured between Earth's surface and a boundary about 60 miles up. Some of the waves - if they have just the right wavelength - combine, increasing in strength, to create a repeating atmospheric heartbeat known as Schumann resonance. This resonance provides a useful tool to analyze Earth's weather, its electric environment, and to even help determine what types of atoms and molecules exist in Earth's atmosphere.

The waves created by lightning do not look like the up and down waves of the ocean, but they still oscillate with regions of greater energy and lesser energy. These waves remain trapped inside an atmospheric ceiling created by the lower edge of the "ionosphere" - a part of the atmosphere filled with charged particles, which begins about 60 miles up into the sky. In this case, the sweet spot for resonance requires the wave to be as long (or twice, three times as long, etc) as the circumference of Earth. This is an extremely low frequency wave that can be as low as 8 Hertz (Hz) - some one hundred thousand times lower than the lowest frequency radio waves used to send signals to your AM/FM radio. As this wave flows around Earth, it hits itself again at the perfect spot such that the crests and troughs are aligned. Voila, waves acting in resonance with each other to pump up the original signal.

While they'd been predicted in 1952, Schumann resonances were first measured reliably in the early 1960s. Since then, scientists have discovered that variations in the resonances correspond to changes in the seasons, solar activity, activity in Earth's magnetic environment, in water aerosols in the atmosphere, and other Earth-bound phenomena. See: Schumann resonance animation








The Schumann resonances (SR) are a set of spectrum peaks in the extremely low frequency (ELF) portion of the Earth's electromagnetic field spectrum. Schumann resonances are global electromagnetic resonances, excited by lightning discharges in the cavity formed by the Earth's surface and the ionosphere.

 

Contents

 

Description


This global electromagnetic resonance phenomenon is named after physicist Winfried Otto Schumann who predicted it mathematically in 1952. Schumann resonances occur because the space between the surface of the Earth and the conductive ionosphere acts as a closed waveguide. The limited dimensions of the Earth cause this waveguide to act as a resonant cavity for electromagnetic waves in the ELF band. The cavity is naturally excited by electric currents in lightning. Schumann resonances are the principal background in the electromagnetic spectrum[1] beginning at 3  Hz and extend to 60 Hz,[2] and appear as distinct peaks at extremely low frequencies (ELF) around 7.86 (fundamental),[3] 14.3, 20.8, 27.3 and 33.8 Hz.[4][5]

In the normal mode descriptions of Schumann resonances, the fundamental mode is a standing wave in the Earth–ionosphere cavity with a wavelength equal to the circumference of the Earth. This lowest-frequency (and highest-intensity) mode of the Schumann resonance occurs at a frequency of approximately 7.86 Hz, but this frequency can vary slightly from a variety of factors, such as solar-induced perturbations to the ionosphere, which comprises the upper wall of the closed cavity[citation needed]. The higher resonance modes are spaced at approximately 6.5 Hz intervals[citation needed], a characteristic attributed to the atmosphere's spherical geometry. The peaks exhibit a spectral width of approximately 20% on account of the damping of the respective modes in the dissipative cavity. The eighth overtone lies at approximately 59.9 Hz.[citation needed]

Observations of Schumann resonances have been used to track global lightning activity. Owing to the connection between lightning activity and the Earth's climate it has been suggested that they may also be used to monitor global temperature variations and variations of water vapor in the upper troposphere. It has been speculated that extraterrestrial lightning (on other planets) may also be detected and studied by means of their Schumann resonance signatures. Schumann resonances have been used to study the lower ionosphere on Earth and it has been suggested as one way to explore the lower ionosphere on celestial bodies. Effects on Schumann resonances have been reported following geomagnetic and ionospheric disturbances. More recently, discrete Schumann resonance excitations have been linked to transient luminous events – sprites, elves, jets, and other upper-atmospheric lightning. A new field of interest using Schumann resonances is related to short-term earthquake prediction.

 

History


The first documented observations of global electromagnetic resonance were made by Nikola Tesla at his Colorado Springs laboratory in 1899. This observation led to certain peculiar conclusions about the electrical properties of the Earth, and which made the basis for his idea for wireless energy transmission.[6]

Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves and longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the Kennelly-Heaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. Making mathematical calculations based on his experiments, Tesla discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz).[citation needed] In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).

The first suggestion that an ionosphere existed, capable of trapping electromagnetic waves, was made by Heaviside and Kennelly in 1902.[7][8] It took another twenty years before Edward Appleton and Barnett in 1925,[9] were able to prove experimentally the existence of the ionosphere.

Although some of the most important mathematical tools for dealing with spherical waveguides were developed by G. N. Watson in 1918,[10] it was Winfried Otto Schumann who first studied the theoretical aspects of the global resonances of the earth–ionosphere waveguide system, known today as the Schumann resonances. In 1952–1954 Schumann, together with H. L. König, attempted to measure the resonant frequencies.[11][12][13][14] However, it was not until measurements made by Balser and Wagner in 1960–1963[15][16][17][18][19] that adequate analysis techniques were available to extract the resonance information from the background noise. Since then there has been an increasing interest in Schumann resonances in a wide variety of fields.

 

Basic theory


Lightning discharges are considered to be the primary natural source of Schumann resonance excitation; lightning channels behave like huge antennas that radiate electromagnetic energy at frequencies below about 100 kHz.[20] These signals are very weak at large distances from the lightning source, but the Earth–ionosphere waveguide behaves like a resonator at ELF frequencies and amplifies the spectral signals from lightning at the resonance frequencies.[20]

In an ideal cavity, the resonant frequency of the n-th mode f_{n} is determined by the Earth radius a and the speed of light c.[11]

f_{n} =\frac{c}{2 \pi a}\sqrt{n(n+1)}

The real Earth–ionosphere waveguide is not a perfect electromagnetic resonant cavity. Losses due to finite ionosphere electrical conductivity lower the propagation speed of electromagnetic signals in the cavity, resulting in a resonance frequency that is lower than would be expected in an ideal case, and the observed peaks are wide. In addition, there are a number of horizontal asymmetries – day-night difference in the height of the ionosphere, latitudinal changes in the Earth magnetic field, sudden ionospheric disturbances, polar cap absorption, etc. that produce other effects in the Schumann resonance power spectra.

 

Measurements


Today Schumann resonances are recorded at many separate research stations around the world. The sensors used to measure Schumann resonances typically consist of two horizontal magnetic inductive coils for measuring the north-south and east-west components of the magnetic field, and a vertical electric dipole antenna for measuring the vertical component of the electric field. A typical passband of the instruments is 3–100 Hz. The Schumann resonance electric field amplitude (~300 microvolts per meter) is much smaller than the static fair-weather electric field (~150 V/m) in the atmosphere. Similarly, the amplitude of the Schumann resonance magnetic field (~1 picotesla) is many orders of magnitude smaller than the Earth magnetic field (~30–50 microteslas).[21] Specialized receivers and antennas are needed to detect and record Schumann resonances. The electric component is commonly measured with a ball antenna, suggested by Ogawa et al., in 1966,[22] connected to a high-impedance amplifier. The magnetic induction coils typically consist of tens- to hundreds-of-thousands of turns of wire wound around a core of very high magnetic permeability.

 

Dependence on global lightning activity


From the very beginning of Schumann resonance studies, it was known that they could be used to monitor global lightning activity. At any given time there are about 2000 thunderstorms around the globe.[23] Producing ~50 lightning events per second,[24] these thunderstorms create the background Schumann resonance signal.

Determining the spatial lightning distribution from Schumann resonance records is a complex problem: in order to estimate the lightning intensity from Schumann resonance records it is necessary to account for both the distance to lightning sources as well as the wave propagation between the source and the observer. The common approach is to make a preliminary assumption on the spatial lightning distribution, based on the known properties of lightning climatology. An alternative approach is placing the receiver at the North or South Pole, which remain approximately equidistant from the main thunderstorm centers during the day.[25] One method not requiring preliminary assumptions on the lightning distribution[26] is based on the decomposition of the average background Schumann resonance spectra, utilizing ratios between the average electric and magnetic spectra and between their linear combination. This technique assumes the cavity is spherically symmetric and therefore does not include known cavity asymmetries that are believed to affect the resonance and propagation properties of electromagnetic waves in the system.

 

Diurnal variations


The best documented and the most debated features of the Schumann resonance phenomenon are the diurnal variations of the background Schumann resonance power spectrum.

A characteristic Schumann resonance diurnal record reflects the properties of both global lightning activity and the state of the Earth–ionosphere cavity between the source region and the observer. The vertical electric field is independent of the direction of the source relative to the observer, and is therefore a measure of global lightning. The diurnal behavior of the vertical electric field shows three distinct maxima, associated with the three "hot spots" of planetary lightning activity: 9 UT (Universal Time) peak, linked to the increased thunderstorm activity from south-east Asia; 14 UT peak associated with the peak in African lightning activity; and the 20 UT peak resulting for the increase in lightning activity in South America. The time and amplitude of the peaks vary throughout the year, reflecting the seasonal changes in lightning activity.
 
"Chimney" ranking

In general, the African peak is the strongest, reflecting the major contribution of the African "chimney" to the global lightning activity. The ranking of the two other peaks – Asian and American – is the subject of a vigorous dispute among Schumann resonance scientists. Schumann resonance observations made from Europe show a greater contribution from Asia than from South America. This contradicts optical satellite and climatological lightning data that show the South American thunderstorm center stronger than the Asian center.,[24] although observations made from North America indicate the dominant contribution comes from South America. The reason for such disparity remains unclear, but may have something to do with the 60 Hz cycling of electricity used in North America (60 Hz being a mode of Schumann Resonance). Williams and Sátori[27] suggest that in order to obtain "correct" Asia-America chimney ranking, it is necessary to remove the influence of the day/night variations in the ionospheric conductivity (day-night asymmetry influence) from the Schumann resonance records. On the other hand, such "corrected" records presented in the work by Sátori et al.[28] show that even after the removal of the day-night asymmetry influence from Schumann resonance records, the Asian contribution remains greater than American. Similar results were obtained by Pechony et al.[29] who calculated Schumann resonance fields from satellite lightning data. It was assumed that the distribution of lightning in the satellite maps was a good proxy for Schumann excitations sources, even though satellite observations predominantly measure in-cloud lightning rather than the cloud-to-ground lightning that are the primary exciters of the resonances. Both simulations – those neglecting the day-night asymmetry, and those taking this asymmetry into account, showed same Asia-America chimney ranking. As for today, the reason for the "invert" ranking of Asia and America chimneys in Schumann resonance records remains unclear and the subject requires further, targeted research.
 
Influence of the day-night asymmetry

In the early literature the observed diurnal variations of Schumann resonance power were explained by the variations in the source-receiver (lightning-observer) geometry.[15] It was concluded that no particular systematic variations of the ionosphere (which serves as the upper waveguide boundary) are needed to explain these variations.[30] Subsequent theoretical studies supported the early estimations of the small influence of the ionosphere day-night asymmetry (difference between day-side and night-side ionosphere conductivity) on the observed variations in Schumann resonance field intensities.[31]

The interest in the influence of the day-night asymmetry in the ionosphere conductivity on Schumann resonances gained new strength in the 1990s, after publication of a work by Sentman and Fraser.[32] Sentman and Fraser developed a technique to separate the global and the local contributions to the observed field power variations using records obtained simultaneously at two stations that were widely separated in longitude. They interpreted the diurnal variations observed at each station in terms of a combination of a diurnally varying global excitation modulated by the local ionosphere height. Their work, which combined both observations and energy conservation arguments, convinced many scientists of the importance of the ionospheric day-night asymmetry and inspired numerous experimental studies. However, recently it was shown that results obtained by Sentman and Fraser can be approximately simulated with a uniform model (without taking into account ionosphere day-night variation) and therefore cannot be uniquely interpreted solely in terms of ionosphere height variation.[33]

Schumann resonance amplitude records show significant diurnal and seasonal variations which in general coincide in time with the times of the day-night transition (the terminator). This time-matching seems to support the suggestion of a significant influence of the day-night ionosphere asymmetry on Schumann resonance amplitudes. There are records showing almost clock-like accuracy of the diurnal amplitude changes.[28] On the other hand there are numerous days when Schumann Resonance amplitudes do not increase at sunrise or do not decrease at sunset. There are studies showing that the general behavior of Schumann resonance amplitude records can be recreated from diurnal and seasonal thunderstorm migration, without invoking ionospheric variations.[29][31] Two recent independent theoretical studies have shown that the variations in Schumann resonance power related to the day-night transition are much smaller than those associated with the peaks of the global lightning activity, and therefore the global lightning activity plays a more important role in the variation of the Schumann resonance power.[29][34]

It is generally acknowledged that source-observer effects are the dominant source of the observed diurnal variations, but there remains considerable controversy about the degree to which day-night signatures are present in the data. Part of this controversy stems from the fact that the Schumann resonance parameters extractable from observations provide only a limited amount of information about the coupled lightning source-ionospheric system geometry. The problem of inverting observations to simultaneously infer both the lightning source function and ionospheric structure is therefore extremely underdetermined, leading to the possibility of nonunique interpretations.

 

The "inverse problem"


One of the interesting problems in Schumann resonances studies is determining the lightning source characteristics (the "inverse problem"). Temporally resolving each individual flash is impossible because the mean rate of excitation by lightning, ~50 lightning events per second globally, mixes up the individual contributions together. However, occasionally there occur extremely large lightning flashes which produce distinctive signatures that stand out from the background signals. Called "Q-bursts", they are produced by intense lightning strikes that transfer large amounts of charge from clouds to the ground, and often carry high peak current.[22] Q-bursts can exceed the amplitude of the background signal level by a factor of 10 or more, and appear with intervals of ~10 s,[26] which allows to consider them as isolated events and determine the source lightning location. The source location is determined with either multi-station or single-station techniques, and requires assuming a model for the Earth–ionosphere cavity. The multi-station techniques are more accurate, but require more complicated and expensive facilities.

 

Transient luminous events research


It is now believed that many of the Schumann resonances transients (Q bursts) are related to the transient luminous events (TLEs). In 1995 Boccippio et al.[35] showed that sprites, the most common TLE, are produced by positive cloud-to-ground lightning occurring in the stratiform region of a thunderstorm system, and are accompanied by Q-burst in the Schumann resonances band. Recent observations[35][36] reveal that occurrences of sprites and Q bursts are highly correlated and Schumann resonances data can possibly be used to estimate the global occurrence rate of sprites.[37]

 

Global temperature


Williams [1992][38] suggested that global temperature may be monitored with the Schumann resonances. The link between Schumann resonance and temperature is lightning flash rate, which increases nonlinearly with temperature.[38] The nonlinearity of the lightning-to-temperature relation provides a natural amplifier of the temperature changes and makes Schumann resonance a sensitive "thermometer". Moreover, the ice particles that are believed to participate in the electrification processes which result in a lightning discharge[39] have an important role in the radiative feedback effects that influence the atmosphere temperature. Schumann resonances may therefore help us to understand these feedback effects. A strong link between global lightning and global temperature has not been experimentally confirmed as of 2008.

 

Upper tropospheric water vapor


Tropospheric water vapor is a key element of the Earth’s climate, which has direct effects as a greenhouse gas, as well as indirect effect through interaction with clouds, aerosols and tropospheric chemistry. Upper tropospheric water vapor (UTWV) has a much greater impact on the greenhouse effect than water vapor in the lower atmosphere,[40] but whether this impact is a positive, or a negative feedback is still uncertain.[41] The main challenge in addressing this question is the difficulty in monitoring UTWV globally over long timescales. Continental deep-convective thunderstorms produce most of the lightning discharges on Earth. In addition, they transport large amount of water vapor into the upper troposphere, dominating the variations of global UTWV. Price [2000][42] suggested that changes in the UTWV can be derived from records of Schumann Resonances. According to the effective work made by the Upper Tropospheric Water Vapor (( UTWV )), we should highlight that the percentage of UTWV in normal condition of the Air mass can be meauserd as a minimal quantity, so that its influence can be considered very very low; in fact the higher percentage of it can be only found in the lower Tropspheric layers. But in the case of a high quantity of UTWV in the highest level of Troposphere, due to a warmer air mass of atlantic origins, for istance, the Water vapor, due to the low air temperature ((about minus 60 Degrees )) it turns into ice cristal, becoming clouds as Cirrus or Cirrus Stratus: no Water vapour exists as gas with so low temperature. So, we can say that the affirmation that Water vapor interacts with cloud, can be considered wrong as the clouds both those of low level of ((Atmosphere)) and those of higher levels of it are made of condensed or cristallised Water Vapor.

 

Schumann resonances on other planets


The existence of Schumann-like resonances is conditioned primarily by two factors: (1) a closed, planetary-sized spherical[dubious – discuss] cavity, consisting of conducting lower and upper boundaries separated by an insulating medium. For the earth the conducting lower boundary is its surface, and the upper boundary is the ionosphere. Other planets may have similar electrical conductivity geometry, so it is speculated that they should possess similar resonant behavior. (2) source of electrical excitation of electromagnetic waves in the ELF range. Within the Solar System there are five candidates for Schumann resonance detection besides the Earth: Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and its moon Titan.

Modeling Schumann resonances on the planets and moons of the Solar System is complicated by the lack of knowledge of the waveguide parameters. No in situ capability exists today to validate the results, but in the case of Mars there have been terrestrial observations of radio emission spectra that have been associated with Schumann resonances.[43] The reported radio emissions are not of the primary electromagnetic Schumann modes, but rather of secondary modulations of the nonthermal microwave emissions from the planet at approximately the expected Schumann frequencies, and have not been independently confirmed to be associated with lightning activity on Mars. There is the possibility that future lander missions could carry in situ instrumentation to perform the necessary measurements. Theoretical studies are primarily directed to parameterizing the problem for future planetary explorers.

The strongest evidence for lightning on Venus comes from the impulsive electromagnetic waves detected by Venera 11 and 12 landers. Theoretical calculations of the Schumann resonances at Venus were reported by Nickolaenko and Rabinowicz [1982][44] and Pechony and Price [2004].[45] Both studies yielded very close results, indicating that Schumann resonances should be easily detectable on that planet given a lightning source of excitation and a suitably located sensor.

On Mars detection of lightning activity has been reported by Ruf et al. [2009].[43] The evidence is indirect and in the form of modulations of the nonthermal microwave spectrum at approximately the expected Schumann resonance frequencies. It has not been independently confirmed that these are associated with electrical discharges on Mars. In the event confirmation is made by direct, in situ observations, it would verify the suggestion of the possibility of charge separation and lightning strokes in the Martian dust storms made by Eden and Vonnegut [1973][46] and Renno et al. [2003].[47] Martian global resonances were modeled by Sukhorukov [1991],[48] Pechony and Price [2004][45] and Molina-Cuberos et al. [2006].[49] The results of the three studies are somewhat different, but it seems that at least the first two Schumann resonance modes should be detectable. Evidence of the first three Schumann resonance modes is present in the spectra of radio emission from the lightning detected in Martian dust storms.[43]

It was long ago suggested that lightning discharges may occur on Titan,[50] but recent data from Cassini–Huygens seems to indicate that there is no lightning activity on this largest satellite of Saturn. Due to the recent interest in Titan, associated with the Cassini–Huygens mission, its ionosphere is perhaps the most thoroughly modeled today. Schumann resonances on Titan have received more attention than on any other celestial body, in works by Besser et al. [2002],[51] Morente et al. [2003],[52] Molina-Cuberos et al. [2004],[53] Nickolaenko et al. [2003][54] and Pechony and Price [2004].[45] It appears that only the first Schumann resonance mode might be detectable on Titan.

Jupiter is the only planet where lightning activity has been optically detected. Existence of lightning activity on that planet was predicted by Bar-Nun [1975][55] and it is now supported by data from Galileo, Voyagers 1 and 2, Pioneers 10 and 11 and Cassini. Saturn is also expected to have intensive lightning activity, but the three visiting spacecrafts – Pioneer 11 in 1979, Voyager 1 in 1980 and Voyager 2 in 1981, failed to provide any convincing evidence from optical observations. The strong storm monitored on Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft produced no visible lightning flashes, although electromagnetic sensors aboard the spacecraft detected signatures that are characteristic of lightning. Little is known about the electrical parameters of Jupiter and Saturn interior. Even the question of what should serve as the lower waveguide boundary is a non-trivial one in case of the gaseous planets. There seem to be no works dedicated to Schumann resonances on Saturn. To date there has been only one attempt to model Schumann resonances on Jupiter.[56] Here, the electrical conductivity profile within the gaseous atmosphere of Jupiter was calculated using methods similar to those used to model stellar interiors, and it was pointed out that the same methods could be easily extended to the other gas giants Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Given the intense lightning activity at Jupiter, the Schumann resonances should be easily detectable with a sensor suitably positioned within the planetary-ionospheric cavity.

Speculation about Schumann resonance effects in non-geophysics domains

Interest in Schumann resonances extends beyond the domain of geophysics where it initially began, to the fields of bioenergetics[57] and acupuncture.[57] Critics[who?] claim that the studies that support these applications are inconclusive and that further studies are needed.

A small study in Japan found that blood pressure was lowered by the Schumann resonance, with the effects on human health needing to be investigated further.[58]

See also

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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Mirror Neurons

Neuroscientific evidence suggests that one basic entry point into understanding others' goals and feelings is the process of actively simulating in our own brain the actions we observe in others. This involves the firing of neurons that would be activated were we actually performing an action, although we are only observing it in someone else. Neurons performing mirroring functions have been directly observed in primates and other species, including birds. In humans, brain activity consistent with "mirroring" has been found in the premotor cortex, the supplementary motor area, the primary somatosensory cortex and the inferior parietal cortex.
The data revealed that even the most complex, abstract emotions—those that require maturity, reflection, and world knowledge to appreciate—do involve our most advanced brain networks. However, they seem to get their punch—their motivational push—from activating basic biological regulatory structures in the most primitive parts of the brain, those responsible for monitoring functions like heart rate and breathing. In turn, the basic bodily changes induced during even the most complex emotions—e.g., our racing heart or clenched gut—are "felt" by sensory brain networks. When we talk of having a gut feeling that some action is right or wrong, we are not just speaking metaphorically.


So, I'm saying the mirror neuron system underlies the interface allowing you to rethink about issues like consciousness,representation of self,what separates you from other human beings,what allows you to empathize with other human beings,and also even things like the emergence of culture and civilization,which is unique to human beings. See: VS Ramachandran: The neurons that shaped civilization 



  How important is the environment in that we might see the development of the conditions of "specific types of neurons" when the color can dictate the type of neuron developed? Can we say that the color(emotion) is an emotive state that we might indeed create in the type of consciousness with which we meet the world. A consciousness that that sets the trains of thought given the reality of our own perceptions. Or,  perpetuated thought processes unravelled in a world of our own illusions?


In a nutshell, what Karim showed was that each time a memory is used, it has to be restored as a new memory in order to be accessible later. The old memory is either not there or is inaccessible. In short, your memory about something is only as good as your last memory about it. Joseph LeDoux

Psychology professor Karim Nader is helping sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder lessen debilitating symptoms—and in some cases, regain a normal life.Owen Egan See also: The Trauma Tamer See Also: Brain Storming

IC: Why is this research so important?

Karim Nader: There are a lot of implications. All psychopathological disorders, such as PTSD, epilepsy, obsessive compulsive disorders, or addiction—all these things have to do with your brain getting rewired in a way that is malfunctioning. Theoretically, we may be able to treat a lot of these psychopathologies. If you could block the re-storage of the circuit that causes the obsessive compulsion, then you might be able to reset a person to a level where they aren’t so obsessive. Or perhaps you can reset the circuit that has undergone epilepsy repeatedly so that you can increase the threshold for seizures. And there is some killer data showing that it’s possible to block the reconsolidation of drug cravings.

The other reason why I think it is so striking is that it is so contrary to what has been the accepted view of memory for so long in the mainstream. My research caused everybody in the field to stop, turn around and go, “Whoa, where’d that come from?” Nobody’s really working on this issue, and the only reason I came up with this is because I wasn’t trained in memory. [Nader was originally researching fear.] It really caused a fundamental reconceptualization of a very basic and dogmatic field in neuroscience, which is very exciting. It is the first time in 100 years that people are starting to come up with new models of memory at the physiological level.

Part of the understanding for me is that in creating this environment for neural development the retention of memory has to have some emotive basis which arises from the ancient part of our brain in that it is associated with the heart response.



 Savas Dimopoulos

Here’s an analogy to understand this: imagine that our universe is a two-dimensional pool table, which you look down on from the third spatial dimension. When the billiard balls collide on the table, they scatter into new trajectories across the surface. But we also hear the click of sound as they impact: that’s collision energy being radiated into a third dimension above and beyond the surface. In this picture, the billiard balls are like protons and neutrons, and the sound wave behaves like the graviton. See: The Sound Of Billiard Balls
While these physiological processes are going on in our bodies the chemical responses of emotion trigger manifestations in the world outside of our bodies. Let us say consciousness exists "at the periphery of our bodies." What measure then to assess the realization that such manifestations internally are in the control of our manipulations of living experience? Are we then not caught in the throes of and are we not  machine like to think such associations could have ever been produced in a robot like being manufactured?

Of course this is a fictional representation above of what may resound within and according to the experiences we may have? The question is then how are memories retained? How do memories transmit through out our endocrinology system the nature of our experiences so that we see consciousness as a form of the expression through which we color our world?
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Monday, May 28, 2012

Embodied Cognition and iCub

An iCub robot mounted on a supporting frame. The robot is 104 cm high and weighs around 22 kg
An iCub is a 1 metre high humanoid robot testbed for research into human cognition and artificial intelligence.

Systems that perceive, understand and act


It was designed by the RobotCub Consortium, of several European universities and is now supported by other projects such as ITALK.[1] The robot is open-source, with the hardware design, software and documentation all released under the GPL license. The name is a partial acronym, cub standing for Cognitive Universal Body.[2] Initial funding for the project was €8.5 million from Unit E5 – Cognitive Systems and Robotics – of the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme, and this ran for six years from 1 September 2004 until 1 September 2010.[2]

The motivation behind the strongly humanoid design is the embodied cognition hypothesis, that human-like manipulation plays a vital role in the development of human cognition. A baby learns many cognitive skills by interacting with its environment and other humans using its limbs and senses, and consequently its internal model of the world is largely determined by the form of the human body. The robot was designed to test this hypothesis by allowing cognitive learning scenarios to be acted out by an accurate reproduction of the perceptual system and articulation of a small child so that it could interact with the world in the same way that such a child does.[3]


 See Also: RoboCub




In philosophy, the embodied mind thesis holds that the nature of the human mind is largely determined by the form of the human body. Philosophers, psychologists, cognitive scientists and artificial intelligence researchers who study embodied cognition and the embodied mind argue that all aspects of cognition are shaped by aspects of the body. The aspects of cognition include high level mental constructs (such as concepts and categories) and human performance on various cognitive tasks (such as reasoning or judgement). The aspects of the body include the motor system, the perceptual system, the body's interactions with the environment (situatedness) and the ontological assumptions about the world that are built into the body and the brain.

The embodied mind thesis is opposed to other theories of cognition such as cognitivism, computationalism and Cartesian dualism.[1] The idea has roots in Kant and 20th century continental philosophy (such as Merleau-Ponty). The modern version depends on insights drawn from recent research in psychology, linguistics, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, robotics and neurobiology.

Embodied cognition is a topic of research in social and cognitive psychology, covering issues such as social interaction and decision-making.[2] Embodied cognition reflects the argument that the motor system influences our cognition, just as the mind influences bodily actions. For example, when participants hold a pencil in their teeth engaging the muscles of a smile, they comprehend pleasant sentences faster than unpleasant ones.[3] And it works in reverse: holding a pencil in their teeth to engage the muscles of a frown increases the time it takes to comprehend pleasant sentences.[3]

George Lakoff (a cognitive scientist and linguist) and his collaborators (including Mark Johnson, Mark Turner, and Rafael E. Núñez) have written a series of books promoting and expanding the thesis based on discoveries in cognitive science, such as conceptual metaphor and image schema.[4]
Robotics researchers such as Rodney Brooks, Hans Moravec and Rolf Pfeifer have argued that true artificial intelligence can only be achieved by machines that have sensory and motor skills and are connected to the world through a body.[5] The insights of these robotics researchers have in turn inspired philosophers like Andy Clark and Horst Hendriks-Jansen.[6]

Neuroscientists Gerald Edelman, António Damásio and others have outlined the connection between the body, individual structures in the brain and aspects of the mind such as consciousness, emotion, self-awareness and will.[7] Biology has also inspired Gregory Bateson, Humberto Maturana, Francisco Varela, Eleanor Rosch and Evan Thompson to develop a closely related version of the idea, which they call enactivism.[8] The motor theory of speech perception proposed by Alvin Liberman and colleagues at the Haskins Laboratories argues that the identification of words is embodied in perception of the bodily movements by which spoken words are made.[9][10][11][12][13]



The mind-body problem is a philosophical problem arising in the fields of metaphysics and philosophy of mind.[2] The problem arises because mental phenomena arguably differ, qualitatively or substantially, from the physical body on which they apparently depend. There are a few major theories on the resolution of the problem. Dualism is the theory that the mind and body are two distinct substances,[2] and monism is the theory that they are, in reality, just one substance. Monist materialists (also called physicalists) take the view that they are both matter, and monist idealists take the view that they are both in the mind. Neutral monists take the view that both are reducible to a third, neutral substance.

The problem was identified by René Descartes in the sense known by the modern Western world, although the issue was also addressed by pre-Aristotelian philosophers,[3] in Avicennian philosophy,[4] and in earlier Asian traditions.

A dualist view of reality may lead one to consider the corporeal as little valued[3] and trivial. The rejection of the mind–body dichotomy is found in French Structuralism, and is a position that generally characterized post-war French philosophy.[5] The absence of an empirically identifiable meeting point between the non-physical mind and its physical extension has proven problematic to dualism and many modern philosophers of mind maintain that the mind is not something separate from the body.[6] These approaches have been particularly influential in the sciences, particularly in the fields of sociobiology, computer science, evolutionary psychology and the various neurosciences.[7][8][9][10]
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Thursday, May 24, 2012

The Incandescent Sun



 This video takes SDO images and applies additional processing to enhance the structures visible. While there is no scientific value to this processing, it does result in a beautiful, new way of looking at the sun. The original frames are in the 171 Angstrom wavelength of extreme ultraviolet. This wavelength shows plasma in the solar atmosphere, called the corona, that is around 600,000 Kelvin. The loops represent plasma held in place by magnetic fields. They are concentrated in "active regions" where the magnetic fields are the strongest. These active regions usually appear in visible light as sunspots. The events in this video represent 24 hours of activity on September 25, 2011.

This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010990/index.html
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BroadBand Technology


Broadband research is a McGill area of expertise. Meet researchers such as David Plant, Tho Le-Ngoc, and Mark Coates who are on the cutting edge of machine to machine communication, high-speed internet technologies, and wireless communications.
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