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Brain, bodily awareness, and the emergence of a conscious self: these entities and their relations are explored by Germanphilosopher and cognitive scientist Metzinger. Extensively working with neuroscientists he has come to the conclusion that, in fact, there is no such thing as a "self" -- that a "self" is simply the content of a model created by our brain - part of a virtual reality we create for ourselves. But if the self is not "real," he asks, why and how did it evolve? How does the brain construct the self? In a series of fascinating virtual reality experiments, Metzinger and his colleagues have attempted to create so-called "out-of-body experiences" in the lab, in order to explore these questions. As a philosopher, he offers a discussion of many of the latest results in robotics, neuroscience, dream and meditation research, and argues that the brain is much more powerful than we have ever imagined. He shows us, for example, that we now have the first machines that have developed an inner image of their own body -- and actually use this model to create intelligent behavior. In addition, studies exploring the connections between phantom limbs and the brain have shown us that even people born without arms or legs sometimes experience a sensation that they do in fact have limbs that are not there. Experiments like the "rubber-hand illusion" demonstrate how we can experience a fake hand as part of our self and even feel a sensation of touch on the phantom hand form the basis and testing ground for the idea that what we have called the "self" in the past is just the content of a transparent self-model in our brains. Now, as new ways of manipulating the conscious mind-brain appear on the scene, it will soon become possible to alter our subjective reality in an unprecedented manner. The cultural consequences of this, Metzinger claims, may be immense: we will need a new approach to ethics, and we will be forced to think about ourselves in a fundamentally new way. At

In our Universe, a black hole is bounded by a spherical surface called an event horizon. Whereas in ordinary three-dimensional space it takes a two-dimensional object (a surface) to create a boundary inside a black hole, in the bulk universe the event horizon of a 4D black hole would be a 3D object - a shape called a hypersphere. When Afshordi's team modelled the death of a 4D star, they found that the ejected material would form a 3D brane surrounding that 3D event horizon, and slowly expand. The authors postulate that the 3D Universe we live in might be just such a brane - and that we detect the brane's growth as cosmic expansion. "Astronomers measured that expansion and extrapolated back that the Universe must have begun with a Big Bang - but that is just a mirage," says Afshordi.

A new study by MIT shows that babies can perform sophisticated analyses of how the physical world should behave. The scientists developed a computational model of infant cognition that accurately predicts infants' surprise at events that violate their conception of the physical world. The model, which simulates a type of intelligence known as pure reasoning, calculates the probability of a particular event, given what it knows about how objects behave. The close correlation between the model's predictions and the infants' actual responses to such events suggests that infants reason in a similar way, says Josh Tenenbaum, associate professor of cognitive science and computation at MIT.

The event horizon telescope will only photograph the proximity to the event horizon, not the black hole itself which by definition remains invisible. If it succeeds it will be the first actual proof that black holes exist.

"Medical Museion is hosting an open biology (or "biohacking") laboratory and a series of hands-on public events from January-March 2013. The events are part of the European network, Studiolab, that provides a platform for creative projects that bridge divides between science, art and design"

A definitive geological timeline shows that a series of massive volcanic explosions 66 million years ago spewed enormous amounts of climate-altering gases into the atmosphere immediately before and during the extinction event that claimed Earth's non-avian dinosaurs, according to new research from Princeton University. A primeval volcanic range in western India known as the Deccan Traps, which were once three times larger than France, began its main phase of eruptions roughly 250,000 years before the Cretaceous-Paleogene, or K-Pg, extinction event, the researchers report in the journal Science. For the next 750,000 years, the volcanoes unleashed more than 1.1 million cubic kilometers (264,000 cubic miles) of lava. The main phase of eruptions comprised about 80-90 percent of the total volume of the Deccan Traps' lava flow and followed a substantially weaker first phase that began about 1 million years earlier.

The best of the bunch (so far) for the 2010 American Physical Society's Gallery of Fluid Motion Each year, the Fluid Dynamics division of the American Physical Society holds a conference. This year, the meeting is in Long Beach, California, in November. One of the highlights is the impressive set of videos of fluid motion that the delegates put together. These videos have already begun to appear on the arViv in impressive numbers. Videos are an effective and increasingly popular way of publishing research. Expect to see more like this. But there are clearly better ways to make them available other than as downloads from the arXiv or as videos in a room in Long Beach. One obvious option is to make them available on streaming websites such as YouTube andVimeo. As far as I can tell, they are not available like this. Another is to create a website that showcases them in advance, to make it a global, web-based event. Many of the videos are superb. Not only could they command a bigger audience, they deserve it. If plans are afoot to make the Gallery of Fluid Motion a bigger event, then great. If not, shame! Here is my selection of the highlights this year.

Top mobility solutios provider company CDN Solutions Group is exhibiting in Mobile World Congress Americas 2017 event to showcase its experties in latest technologies at stand S 2256 and S 2258.

"Here we show that four days of immersion in nature, and the corresponding disconnection from multi-media and technology, increases performance on a creativity, problem-solving task by a full 50% in a group of naive hikers. Our results demonstrate that there is a cognitive advantage to be realized if we spend time immersed in a natural setting. We anticipate that this advantage comes from an increase in exposure to natural stimuli that are both emotionally positive and low-arousing and a corresponding decrease in exposure to attention demanding technology, which regularly requires that we attend to sudden events, switch amongst tasks, maintain task goals, and inhibit irrelevant actions or cognitions. A limitation of the current research is the inability to determine if the effects are due to an increased exposure to nature, a decreased exposure to technology, or to other factors associated with spending three days immersed in nature."

In the event that you might want to recuperate your money related misfortune or evacuate the obligations quackery, then same day loans would be reasonable one. You would get the cash around the same time you would apply. Trustful financial services would help you to get advance sum at sensible rate.

"The Knowledge Web today is an activity rather than a web site-an expedition in time, space, and technology to map the interior landscape of human thought and experience. Thanks to the work of a team of dedicated volunteers, it will soon be an interactive space on the web where students, teachers, and other knowledge seekers can explore information in a highly interconnected, holistic way that allows for an almost infinite number of paths of exploration among people, places, things, and events."

A major extinction event is under way - but predicting which species will survive could be harder than we thought. That's the conclusion of one of the most accurate analyses ever of diversity in the marine animal fossil record.

A team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology, Princeton, Drexel University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have formed the first professional scientific organization based entirely in virtual worlds. Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA) conducts professional seminars and popular lectures, among other events, for its growing membership.

The great oxygenation event and its role in bif formation and formation of atmospheric oxygen

It's that time of the month again. Yes: it's time for Life-form of the Month. In case you've forgotten, this coming Saturday is International Day for Biological Diversity, a day of celebrations and parties to appreciate the other occupants of the planet. So if you do nothing else this weekend, drink a toast to "Other Life-forms!" In honor of this event, my nomination for Life-form of the Month: May is a group of abundant and fascinating beings that are undeservedly obscure: the archaea.

Chiu now suspects that ALS is initiated by some still unknown agent or event. Then, as nerve cells begin to sicken and die, the nervous system tries to right itself by making microglia behave like wound-healers, secreting IGF-1 and other factors in an attempt to preserve motor neurons. "If the immune system has evolved in a way to help heal motor neurons," Chiu says.

Explore & Share at 9th World Congress on Biopolymers & Bioplastics, London, UK (A solution for Current & Future Global Predicament) August 26-27, 2019 London, UK: Since 2016, Biopolymer Congress has been contributing successfully to the global scientific research field. 8th World Congress on Biopolymers & Bioplastics was held during June 28-29, 2018 at Berlin, Germany with the theme "Biopolymer- A Drug to heal the nature". Active participation of Scientists, Engineers, Researchers, Students and Leaders from the fields of Polymer Science, plastics, Green technology, medical, and Biomaterials is highly appreciated and made this event a blast. Thanks to all of our Organizing Committee members, honourable guests, wonderful speakers, conference attendees and Media partners. With the success of Biopolymer Congress 2018 at Berlin, we are feeling proud to announce Biopolymer Congress 2019 conference with the theme "A solution for current & future Global predicament", is going to held in London, UK, during August 26-27, 2019. Importance and Scope: Over the past few years, global economic activities have increased a lot. This tremendous growth has raised serious problems about current important patterns of production and consumption. As the current society has increased its attention in understanding of the environmental aspects and its industrial practices, greater attention has been given to the concept of sustainable economic systems that rely on energy from undepletable source and materials. The use of biologically derived Polymers become as an important component of this global world. The history of Biopolymer is not a long one. Various reasons are associated with the research and development of Biopolymers. Use of Bioplastics will make a tremendous change and will help rid of the conventional plastics, which is a welcome change. Why to attend?: To take preventive steps for Global Predicament, Biopolymer Congress 2019 offers a fantastic opportunity to meet and

The Exploratorium isn't just a museum, it's an ongoing exploration of science, art, and human perception-a vast collection of online interactives, web features, activities, programs and events that feed your curiosity.

A new new brain imaging system that can identify a subject's simple thoughts may lead to clearer diagnoses for Alzheimer's disease or schizophrenia - as well as possibly paving the way for reading people's minds. Michael Greicius at Stanford University in California and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify patterns of brain activity associated with different mental states. He asked 14 volunteers to do one of four tasks: sing songs silently to themselves; recall the events of the day; count backwards in threes; or simply relax. Participants were given a 10-minute period during which they had to do this. For the rest of that time they were free to think about whatever they liked. The participants' brains were scanned for the entire 10 minutes, and the patterns of connectivity associated with each task were teased out by computer algorithms that compared scans from several volunteers doing the same task. This differs from previous experiments, in which the subjects were required to perform mental activities at specific times and the scans were then compared with brain activity when they were at rest. Greicius reasons his method encourages "natural" brain activity more like that which occurs in normal thought.