Friday, March 16, 2007

Making memories that last a lifetime. Neurobiologists have discovered a mechanism by which the constantly changing brain retains memories. They have found that the brain co-opts DNA methylation, the same machinery by which cells stably alter their genes to specialize during embryonic... [KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News] 10:09:54 PM      Google It!.

Artificial lymph node transplanted into mice. An artificial lymph node has been transplanted into mice, where it successfully produced immune cells. The new form of bioengineered tissue marks a significant step towards transplanting an entire immune system into patients dying of AIDS, cancer... [KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News] 10:08:05 PM      Google It!.

Catalyst could help turn CO2 into fuel. A new catalyst that can split carbon dioxide gas could allow us to use carbon from the atmosphere as a fuel source in a similar way to plants.... [KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News] 10:06:42 PM      Google It!.

Military System Offers Worldwide Cell Access. coondoggie writes to mention a technology in use by the U.S. military in remote regions of the world, which allows high-quality cell reception to reach troops. A portable box, called the Tactical Base Station Router, can serve as a gateway for cellular communications and VoIP network calls. Developed by Alcatel-Lucent, it allows deployment of reliable services in disasters, search and rescue operations, and (as has seen use in recent years) military encounters. "The TacBSR is available for U.S. government customers only ... Customers include the U.S. Army Reserve Command, which is using the TacBSR as a portable cellular system for forward-deployed operations and disaster recovery. The system allows U.S. Army Reserve Commands to take GSM-capable cellular systems anywhere they need to go ... Smaller than a laptop, the TacBSR can be used in a stand-alone configuration to enable communications for a small team or as part of a multibox mesh that supports a large geographical area." [Slashdot] 9:57:55 PM      Google It!.

Cisco to Buy an Online Conferencing Company. The $3.2 billion deal to acquire the online meeting company WebEx furthers Cisco[base ']s push into the business communications market. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. [NYT > Technology] 9:54:02 PM      Google It!.

My life in Second Life. Based on a conversation on the CIO list, a group of us got involved in Second Life (SL) just after the new year. The discussion started out asking how it was being supported, if at all, but it quickly turned to SL as a teaching and learning tool. The AcademicCIO group was formed and has met three times. I've also heavily invested my time in creating The Center for Learning in a Virtual Environment, which we refer to simpy as The Center. I'm also doing research for a number of things I'm working on that are related to SL, a couple of them can be cross posted to items here. One of the things I've noticed is that there are a lot of people blogging about this - and I read many of their blog entries. So at a meeting last night in SL, somone asked me why I wasn't blogging about my experience in SL. I didn't have an answer. So here it is. I hope to use this blog as a sounding board, as a scratch pad, as a journal, and as a way of listening to and reaching out to, others. Feel free to comment - not only do I encourage it, I'm counting on it. [EDUCAUSE CONNECT blogs] 9:51:38 PM      Google It!.

SecondLife: More than just a new way of teaching. I said to someone last night, half-jokingly but half not, reallyâo[oe]that I think Massively-Multiuser Virtual Worlds (MMVWâo[dot accent]s for short, but to be honest, I wish weâo[dot accent]d pick one and stick with it, there are too many acronyms out there for this.), are going to have the most profound impact on education since the book. I donâo[dot accent]t know what I could have been thinking when I said that. That is simply ridiculous, clearly I should have said the chalkboard. But seriously, folksâo[oe]is this thing on? [thump thump] I am completely convinced that SL will have an immense impact on teaching, learning, and research. I know every thing that comes out is going to âo[ogonek]replaceâo� the in-class experience âo[base "] TV, VCR, videoconferencing, LMSâo[dot accent]sâo[oe]everything has been the next big thing. But MMVWâo[dot accent]s have the potential to do just that. Well, per se. See, the thing about what happens in class in SL is that there IS a teacher, and there IS a class, and there IS a classroom (or can be). The surroundings can be anything we want âo[base "] a glacier melting or a tsunami, like on the NOAA site, or a Center for Learning in a Virtual Environment, like on my little corner of the digital world. We can âo[ogonek]beâo� anyplace we want, doing many things that are not possible in a non-virtual space, and we are experiencing it also in our real lives, which is where the learning is going on anyway. What we have to learn to deal with now, though, is a new way of teaching. Note I didnâo[dot accent]t say, new material to teach. We can begin to think about exceptional ways to deliver the content, ways in which the student is excited about being involved. [EDUCAUSE CONNECT blogs] 9:00:06 AM      Google It!.