Science roundup: Ocean fertilization, uplift, and indoor tropics

Science & Tech - glimmers of hope?

We'll start with one of my own special interests. At last, quietly, we are starting to see real science devoted to the possibility of using ocean fertilization to remove atmospheric carbon. 

I never claimed this to be a panacea.  But to ignore even the possibility of a win-win? Turning some of the vast desert areas of the sea, where almost nothing lives, into “irrigated” fisheries that would both feed the world and reduce greenhouse gases?  Is that not worth at least a little probing? 

(I portray tide-driven systems stirring bottom mud to create vast fisheries, in EARTH. Mimicking precisely what nature herself does, off Chile and the Grand Banks.)

Despite reflexive and ill-thought-out political resistance, some research in this area has proceeded. This recent paper suggests that we might do well to invest a little attention to the possibility.  Says one cautious scientist: “I still expect that increases in the iron supply to areas like the Southern Ocean will increase the biological pump and removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere.”

It would, of course, be no substitute for the real solution of ever-increasing energy efficiency.  

Speaking of which… wow.  Solar panels reach 40% efficiency. But it shows that there are plenty of options and opportunities for win-win progress, if only the entrenched and reflexive political "sides" would grow up and accept a little something called negotiation.

Now to the ultimate recycling… of a building. SciFi author Charles Stross shows us an indoor tropical resort that has been built within a former dirigible hanger, east of Berlin. Again, wow.   

== Can humans be replaced on Earth? ==

On the show “Life After People” I pondered not only how and why Homo sapiens might vanish from the planet, but also who might replace us.  I’ve also pondered animal intelligence in a few novels. 

Now, see the possibility demonstrated in this video: Bonobo builds a fire and toasts marshmallows! Indeed, it seems we can be replaced.  Okay... if Jane Goodall had seen this among the wild troops, I'd be  more impressed! In fact? 

Well... I am still impressed! And - if you ever read Boule's Planet of the Apes, 

or Poul Anderson's Brainwave - just a bit disturbed.  Ah, but as I recall, other authors have been more optimistic about the potential for  chimps to... well... do our stuff. It’s a brief must-watch.

Addendum: see how chimps in the wild are apparently calm and knowing about fire... they even dance! (Shoulda included this in The Uplift War!)

And now….  another experiment proved several things. “Mice have been created whose brains are half human. As a result, the animals are smarter than their siblings.” The altered mice still have mouse neurons – the "thinking" cells that make up around half of all their brain cells. But practically all the glial cells in their brains, the ones that support the neurons, are human.”

Beyond the “uplift” related implications… (contain these buggers carefully!)… it also proves something I have long contended, but which singularity hyper-optimists like Ray Kurzweil denied… that there is clearly more to the computational power of our brains than the mere flashing of neurons. Stuff is going on elsewhere!  Perhaps “intracellular computing” in which a myriad non-linear “calculations” take place within those aqueous bags, for every sparkle where axon meets dendrite. And now possible “calculations” from surrounding glial cells? If this is true, then we are even more marvelous than we thought…

…but his also means it will take many more Moore’s Law doublings than Ray figured, before a box can begin to emulate a human brain.

From the paper: “Human astrocytes are 10 to 20 times the size of mouse astrocytes and carry 100 times as many tendrils. This means they can coordinate all the neural signals in an area far more adeptly than mouse astrocytes can.”  This also provides a mouse analogue in which detailed studies of human cells can take place.  One researcher asks: "If you make animals more human-like, where do you stop?"  Um…. Indeed. I think let’s discuss this.

Again, re Uplift… Lassie Text Home: Dogs get wired for technology in the FIDO project (Facilitating Interactions for Dogs with Occupations).

See this video of dolphins apparently entranced by human dance!   Cool!  Whenever I despair about humanity, I remind myself... dolphins seem to genuinely like us! That mean we can't be too bad.  Overall.

== From the Kurzweil Files ==

An EEG-based BCI (brain-controlled interface) would detect the patient’s related brainwave patterns, which would be used to trigger a gene switch that would modulate the creation of certain chemical agents (such a drugs): Mind-controlled transgeneexpression by a wireless-powered optogenetic designer cell implant. 

Researchers have identified a molecule that improves brain function and memory recall is improved. “Limitless” anyone? 

Ah, but given how deeply our fellow citizens have bought into the lobotoimizing so-called “left-right axis,” and other self-crippling "duh" metaphors, it seems clear that we desperately could use an IQ-boosting pill! 

Oh but this is cool. Researchers have developed a method for using ultrasound to generate a 3D haptic shape that can be added to 3D displays so that invisible images can be felt in mid-air. “In the future, people could feel holograms of objects that would not otherwise be touchable.” Kind of like Vernor Vinge portrays in RAINBOW’S END… but suddenly I recall the “holistank” used by my characters to feel data with their hands, in “The Crystal Spheres!” 

And… answering a question about whether technology will advantage elites, Ray K turns on his optimistic interpreting genius. “Technology starts out affordable only by the rich at a point where it does not work very well. (e.g. early/expensive cell phones or home computers.) By the time a technology is perfected it is almost free. Even physical devices will become almost free with the advent of 3D printing.” Huzzah for optimism!

Yes, but elites have seen this happen and might make other plans.  I portray both imperatives at work… in Existence.