In much of the world, buying and selling organs is a crime. So what does someone in need of an organ do? The demand for transplants can’t be met by altruistic organ banks, so Internet brokers are stepping in the breach. Its not a pretty picture. Richard C. Morais at Forbes makes an interesting point.
Category: Science
A summary of interesting collection of thoughts by two authors who co-relate economics with general things in life. “He determined that in spite of the cottage industry of parenting and the millions of how-to books on the subject sold every year, who you are matters much more than what you do.” – Hmm, not sure if I fully buy that! Thanks to Gaurav for the recommendation.
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Summary
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Mysterious number 6174
The most beautiful piece of Mathematics is Euler’s identity, the equation e^(pi i) + 1 = 0 or its variant e^(pi i) = -1, where i is iota or sqrt(-1). 6174 is another beauty of Mathematics. I randomly selected 4644 as the test case, and reached 6174 in 4 steps. Via reddit. Duggmirror.
The Solar system is neither Earth-centered nor Sun-centered because it is both Earth-centered and Sun-centered and more, i.e. a matter of perspective. A six part article at Caltech site that aims for a simple explanation of ‘relativity’.
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Termites: Green fuel factory?
Nobel laureate Steven Chu has suggested that understanding the digestive system of termites can solve world’s energy problems. The termites turn cellulose into ethanol, releasing no more carbon than it took to produce. No more global warming due to carbon emissions.
No prizes for guessing the top entry, it’s proof for Poincaré Conjecture. The runners-up are thus more interesting. Original link via BBC.
Researchers at University of Pennsylvania have developed a backpack which makes one feel ‘86% reduction’ in the weight being carried. A bungee system keeps the weight suspended at the same height above the ground while the carrier is walking or running, [resulting in a constant potential energy for the suspended weight] hence reducing the strain on the body. Innovative!
A new analytical technique for the generation of electricity through plastic solar cells, developed by a team led by Penn State University, was published as the cover story in this week’s issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry B.
Finally, things are getting exciting with the possibility of wireless electricity in near future, thanks to folks at the MIT. “Wireless energy transfer has been thought about for centuries”
I came across this interesting article on Sanskrit and its application in Artificial Intelligence. I managed to understand some aspects of author’s arguments, in part due to my basic understanding of the Sanskrit language. However, significant part of the paper requires academic investigation. Some of the figures have clearly been added to the original text and are out-of-place, for example, the figure that illustrates application of XSL transformations to XML data to generate C header and source files!
Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence