Neurophilosophy and Nanospheres

By nthmost | Published: October 21, 2009

On Monday, October 19 2009, DJ Prefect dropped some science on the Brood of the Mau Mau, starting with 10 minutes of glibly reported science news followed by the expert commentary of Mo Costandi, noted writer of the Neurophilosophy blog on Scienceblogs.com.

Pick up the neatly edited podcast here. (1 hour, 50MB)

On the Subversive Science show about Muralizer this past Friday, we briefly reported on the recent research demonstrating a method of encoding a bad memory in fly brains.

Mo Costandi, “neuroscientist by training, writer by inclination”, was generous enough to give us an hour of his evening over in London to chat with us. First we talked more on the subject of the fly brain experiment [link to Mo's blog post on the topic], explaining the use of tiny light-sensitive molecular cages (we refer to them as “nanospheres”) containing ATP burst open by lasers at the right time to encode a “avoid” notion attached to whatever sensory event the scientists felt like making the flies have a bad memory of.

(Ok, so how soon before we can laser-encode bad memories of human smells “in the field”? Peaceful coexistence with mosquitoes and bedbugs through implantation of human smell aversions? Come on, science, make yourself useful!)

After a quick music break (highly abbreviated in the above non-Pirate Cat podcast — you can pick up the original 2-hour PCR version of this show here), conversation flowed over synthaesthesia, neuroplasticity, voluntary amputation, post-traumatic neuroplastic events, and lots of recent research on how circumstances affect perception in individuals in fascinating ways.

We also heard Mo might have a book in the works! Given his precise, well-considered, and engaging writing style, a voice desperately needed in communicating neuroscience, we’ll definitely be rooting for that one. (Keep us updated, Mo!)

You can and should follow Mo Costandi on Twitter (@mocost) and check out his ever-fascinating Neurophilosophy blog on Scienceblogs.com.

The Science News from Science Daily
(with background music by Stereolab)

Exercise Prevents Decline in Memory after Whole-Brain Radiation Therapy
Implanting Bad Memories in Bugs
Chili Peppers (capsaicin) May Reduce Pain
How the Moon’s Surface Generates Water

Special thanks to new Pirate Cat intern, Heidi. Go say hello to her on Twitter (I made her sign up): @LadyAmalthia

Super extra thanks to DJ VoodooIdol for letting Subversive Science do some time-slot-sitting for Brood of the Mau Mau! We kept Monday at 2-4pm warm and cozy and played some Babyland. Mmm, LA junk punk.

Posted in dj prefect, dj voodooidol, mo costandi, mocost, Naomi Most, nthmost, science | 1 Comment

I’ll Muralize Ya!

By nthmost | Published: October 18, 2009

On Friday, October 16 2009, 10pm to midnight, DJ Prefect entertained a radio audience of self-professed geeknerds by having Josh Myer in the studio to talk about his wonderful Muralizer project, newly revitalized due to recent sloughing off of cumbersome day job.

Listen to it as a Pirate Cat Radio podcast. (2 hours, ~90 MB)

Muralizer is “a robot that prints on walls”.

Currently in a phase of highly functional prototyping, Josh is looking for community funding to drive further development of this promising Open Source, free-as-in-speech nexus of art, mathematics, and science.

Josh plans to use Kickstarter.com to drive this community funding, much like our September guest on Common Threads, Jerry Paffendorf (inch-vest! $1 per inch in Detroit!) Donation levels may result in rewards such as being the first to receive a kit; getting the poster of your choice printed out by the first public release of Muralizer; and forcing Josh to get a tattoo of a nine-gon (or nonagon) on his forearm, forever branding him as the Euclidian math nerd he truly is.

He intends to produce kits for DIYers everywhere and possibly a few higher-priced neatly-assembled versions for the well-to-do artist-on-the-go.

We talk about all this and more in the podcast!

But first, as always, a bit of science news (with background music by Stereolab):

Scientists Give Flies False Memories [ScienceDaily] (see also the following Monday’s show with neuroscientist Mo Costandi where we explore this experiment in much greater detail)

Human Epigenome Mapped [ScienceAlert] (see also “Definition of Epigenetics Clarified”… which may help elucidate the confusion we had in our discussion in this podcast)

Time-Travelling Higgs-Boson Particle Sabotages the LHC (No, really) [New Scientist]

Posted in epigenetics, josh myer, kickstarter, lhc, mathematics, mo costandi, muralizer, neuroscience, noisebridge, robots, science | Leave a comment

Email Apnea and Technical Hilarities

By nthmost | Published: October 13, 2009

Yesterday afternoon, DJ Prefect (yours truly) took on the Brood of the Mau Mau time slot from 2pm to 4pm and battled multifarious Pirate Cat Radio Cafe demons to bring you an interview with Linda Stone embedded in 2 hours of truly eclectic radio.

Download the Interview with Linda Stone from Podomatic.

Linda Stone, technologist at Apple through the 80s and 90s, first got online in 1993, and began writing about kinds of attention we pay to these technological devices clearly paving the way ahead. Her ideas stood askew of the popular notion that we were “multitasking”. She instead termed it “continuous partial attention” and cautioned us to be aware that time divided not only didn’t all add up to equivalent productivity among multiple tasks; it may also have mental and physical health effects.

Check out Linda Stone’s keynote speech on “Continuous Partial Attention” at IdeaConference 2006 (and thanks to Dorian Taylor for pointing this out to me originally).

Her more recent research into what she calls Email Apnea — manifested in her Huffington Post article — reveals that time spent obsessing at screens, hunched over in poor posture and states of non-relaxation for long periods of time, results in a sustained fight-or-flight reaction which causes some very real physiological changes in our bodies, such as preventing us from reaching a state of satiety. The consequences could be many: irrational overeating, information addiction, and so on.

This interview is packed full of interesting information about the enculturated ways we spend our time physically and the surprising “commutative” effects of breathing on our mental state: our mental state can produce physiological effects, but effecting these physiological states like quick shallow breathing can also instate the mental condition we would normally cite as the “cause”.

[Side note: I announced Linda's domain name wrong after the interview -- she's on LindaStone.net rather than dot-com.]

The normal running length of this program would be 2 hours, but technical difficulties (preventable power outages and strange mixing board settings, mainly) caused the official Pirate Cat Radio podcast for Monday, Oct 12, 2009 2-4pm to cut off at 21 minutes in due to the mp3 stream dying at about 20 minutes in. But it’s worth a listen for a bit of science news and to find out what I’ve been up to for the past 2.5 weeks.

Fortunately, 10 minutes of music bought me time to hack a quick fix by setting up a new Pirate Cat streaming mp3 relay and recruiting excellent friend Chris in Toronto to stream-rip the show in progress.

Conclusion: Having a network of truly awesome friends is teh awesome.

And: EXHALE.

Related: this show’s music playlist.

Posted in breathing, dj prefect, linda stone, Naomi Most, nthmost, physiology, pirate cat radio | Leave a comment

Pirates Take This Week in Science

By nthmost | Published: September 17, 2009

On Sept 16, 2009, DJ Prefect (that’s me!) co-hosted This Week in Science while regular host Dr Kiki was on vacation.

Go download this episode off their website!

This Week in Science, hosted by Kirsten Sanford PhD and Justin Jackson, is a weekly 1-hour science broadcast based out of Davis (via KDVS) and podcasted around the world. Listenership is regularly in the tens of thousands, and that’s just what they know from podcast downloads — to say nothing of radio and direct stream tune-ins.

I had an excellent time, regretting only how slow my brain was at 8am after an hour of driving out from Oakland to Davis. And Kiki’s commute is longer than that, and she does it every week, and comes out sounding wicked smart. FEAR THIS WOMAN.

[will flesh this part out with the articles I brought in... later]

I’ve been working like mad on several time-and-mind-consuming projects. Exciting and fun! But OMG tired!

Another piratical takeover attempt is scheduled for this Friday at 11:59pm, for a 2-hour hijacking of Psionic Dehiscence. I’ll be bringing eager radio greenhorn Enki on to talk some science, some apocalypse, and some seasteading… Tune in then!

Posted in dj prefect, drkiki, justin jackson, kirsten sanford, Naomi Most, nthmost, this week in science, twis | 1 Comment

Synchronicity with 1967

By nthmost | Published: August 17, 2009

A bit of Sychronicity with Friday’s interview with Douglas Rushkoff and our conversation on Common Threads about setting up alternate economies and community-based organization “off the grid”:

Lorenzo Hagarty just released through his Psychedelic Salon podcast a recorded conversation called “The Houseboat Summit” between Alan Watts, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, and others, all about the interpretation of Leary’s famous “Tune In, Turn On, and Drop Out” motto.

The media and government interpretation of this phrase was frequently heard as a “lack of communicating community”, as one speaker put it, which is quite the opposite of the point. Alan Watts characterizes this problem as essentially spiritual: the Western tradition revolves around the universe having a boss, whereas other cultures (he refers to the Chinese) have a sense that order arises from mutual agreements between the constituent parts. Given that human beings are essentially creatures of social coordination — incontrovertible support given by prehistorical research and evolutionary biology — the idea of falling to total bedlam without the cosmic boss (God, president, CEO, whatever) should be seen as fundamentally absurd.

The conversation revolves around practical movement to alternative community. What do people need to give up? What are the realities of turning away from modern technologies, which is often necessary when turning away from the popular mega-economy? Why have some communities succeeded and many more failed?

The year that this conversation took place — 1967 — and the sense of urgency with which this topic is discussed among these great thinkers, “elders of the hippies” as Hagarty puts it, puts our current sense of urgency for answers to problems created by over-reliance on distant industry and over-abstraction of human values into economic and political values here in 2009, in eerie recapitulating perspective.

“Every healthy culture provides for there being non-joiners.” –Alan Watts

Posted in alan watts, alternate economy, common threads, douglas rushkoff, lorenzo hagarty, Naomi Most, nthmost, psychedelic salon, timothy leary | Leave a comment

Odyssey

By nthmost | Published: August 17, 2009

Fischerspooner’s ODYSSEY was the phenomenological focus of my episode of LONGPLAYA on Pirate Cat Radio.

Here’s the MP3: DJ Prefect on Odyssey (2 hours)

The LONGPLAYA challenge: make listeners feel even a SHRED of what you feel when you listen to an album in its entirety.

I broke it up song by song, playing one at a time and preceding each and/or following it up with commentary, using the Fischerspooner “emerge” remixes (and a few Drew Neumann cuts from Aeon Flux soundtracks) for background music.

As I stated a few times, I really don’t care much about the Author. I focused on my own readings of each song as “image”. However, at the end of the album there’s an interview with Fischerspooner I quoted off RemixMag.com:

“We tracked ‘All We Are,’ and he was obsessed with the first line of the song: ‘The breaking light,’” Spooner says. “Literally, he made me sing that line for probably about three days. He kicked everyone out of the studio, turned all the lights off, and I was in a tiny little booth just like a glass box. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent in a tiny glass box by myself — a hot, tiny, weird, little glass box. It was just like I was caged. It was literally like, ‘The breaking light.’ ‘No, the ‘breeeak’ needs to turn on the beat.’ ‘Okay, the breaking light.’ ‘No, that’s not it; it needs to be a little bit more crackly.’ ‘The bre-ee-eeaking light.’ ‘No, too shaky.’ ‘The breeeeaking light.’ ‘Too long!’ ‘Thebreakinglight.’ ‘Too fast.’ ‘The breaking light.’ ‘Too — no, a little pitchy.’ ‘The breaking —’ I mean, on and on and looping and looping and looping. Finally, he just gave up. He was like, ‘Well, I guess that’s the best you can do.’ And then, I went out to get some stuff for a Christmas party, and I came back, and he had muted all of my takes, and he was changing the entire song. And I was just like, ‘What am I doing here? This sucks.’”

The first 10 minutes contain some science news from Science Daily.

HEADLINES

The Peopling Of The Americas: Genetic Ancestry Influences Health, Anthropologist Says

‘Cash For Clunkers’ Program Is Expensive Way To Cut Carbon Emissions, Expert Argues

Facial Expressions Show Cultural Limitations, Too

Cultural Evolution Continues Throughout Life, Mathematical Models Show

PLAYLIST

Flock of Seagulls / I Ran
Carl Douglas / Kung Fu Fighting
Fischerspooner / Emerge (Moguai Mix) / Emerge Remixes
Fischerspooner / Just Let Go / Odyssey
Fischerspooner / Emerge (Dave Clarke remix) / Emerge Remixes
Fischerspooner / Cloud / Odyssey
Drew Neumann / Dictator’s Office / Eye Spy
Fischerspooner / Never Win / Odyssey
Fischerspooner / Emerge (Moguai Mix) / Emerge Remixes
Fischerspooner / A Kick in the Teeth / Odyssey
Drew Neumann / Time Pretzel Paradox / Eye Spy
Fischerspooner / Everything to Gain / Odyssey
Fischerspooner / Emerge (Radio Slave Edit) / Emerge Remixes
Fischerspooner / We Need a War / Odyssey
Drew Neumann / Demigods / Eye Spy
Fischerspooner / Get Confused / Odyssey
Fischerspooner / Emerge (Naughty’s Chiefrocker remix) / Emerge Remixes
Fischerspooner / Wednesday / Odyssey
Fischerspooner / Emerge (Radio Slave Edit) / Emerge Remixes
Fischerspooner / Happy / Odyssey
Drew Neumann / Demigods / Eye Spy
Fischerspooner / Ritz 107 / Odyssey
Fischerspooner / Emerge (Moguai Mix) / Emerge Remixes
Fischerspooner / All We Are / Odyssey
Fischerspooner / [Circle] / Odyssey
Fischerspooner / Just Let Go (Tommie Sunshine mix) / Just Let Go Remixes

And now, a 3-panel Dilbert cartoon performs an argument for memetics.

Posted in dj prefect, fischerspooner, longplaya, Naomi Most, nthmost, odyssey, phenomemology, pirate cat radio, podcast | 1 Comment

Douglas Rushkoff on Common Threads

By nthmost | Published: August 15, 2009

On August 14, 2009, author Douglas Rushkoff called in to our Common Threads show with Diamond Dave Whitaker. We talked about the sad state of affairs between society and economy; the fact that humans were not destined to be this way; and the idea of alternate economies and currencies and how to set these up in actuality.

The full podcast for 8/14/2009 (2 hours) – Douglas calls in around the 1 hour mark. (shorter edit coming soon)

An 8-minute “trailer” for his book, Life, Inc:

Life Inc. The Movie from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

You can grab more movie clips by and about Rushkoff and regarding his book from his own website on this page.

Rushkoff has expressed his desire for people to get out of the rut of talking about solving problems and get into actually DOING — creating the scenarios in which people can get to the levels of community self-sufficiency that will begin to resolve the dangerous corporate dependencies in which American culture (and beyond) has become entangled.

We brought local organizers into this show involved with NoBAWC.org and Just Alternative Economics to discuss their strategies and talk about the successes they’ve had in growing community-based micro economies.

Posted in author, common threads, culture, diamond dave, dj prefect, douglas rushkoff, economics, interview | 7 Comments

Confessions of an Alien Imposter

By nthmost | Published: August 11, 2009

On behalf of the Pirate Cat Radio calendar being produced for 2010 (HOLY SHIT IT’S THE FUTURE, YOU GUYS), Miss Deena and her amazing crew of cosmetic artisans transformed me into the incredible sight you see here. We were going for “mad science frankengirl”. Three gorgeous ladies painted my skin with sponges. My life rules.

In cosmic alignment of some sort, Kishore (pictured left) had arranged for Senior Astronomer Seth Shostak from Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence for this evening’s Down to a Science cafe.

This all went down within a few blocks of Pirate Cat Radio. So, I walked into Atlas painted green and wearing welding goggles. A greybeard at a table with his laptop looked up at me and said, “Oh! You’re here!”

Yep! I’m here! Take me to your chai!

Brian Malow, Earth’s foremost Science Comedian[.com], came out for conversation about Seth’s new book, Confessions of an Alien Hunter.

I took a recording of this event using my spiff new Zoom H4 recorder (courtesy of a very special donation received last week! you know who you are–thank you.) Cafe operator Kishore new has the audio from me, so a podcast is most
likely in the works. Live tweeting happened under the hashtag #dtas and (irregularly) #seti.

At one point, Seth asked the audience, “how many of you believe there definitely are aliens? How about… on this planet?” I replied, “I abstain!” His response, “yeah, well, you’re one of ‘em.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Check out Seth Shostok on Steven Colbert.

Some future this is. Where are the flying cars, robots doing my laundry, and universal translators. Come on.

Posted in anecdote, atlas cafe, computer science, deena davenport, dtas cafe, glamarama, green, kishore, pirate cat radio, seth shostok | 2 Comments

Grand Theft Audio Jacked

By nthmost | Published: August 11, 2009

DJ Prefect filled in for DJ David Downs on August 10, 2009.

HERE IS THE PODCAST (2 hours, mp3, 82.5 MB)

Evolution and Biology:

Physics and Computing:

Food/Health:

At PCR: tonight’s No Reservation viewing in honor of Anthony Bourdain’s visit to PCR (bacon fest!)

Playlist

BT / The Last Moment Of Clarity / Emotional Technology
Imogen Heap / Headlock / Speak for Yourself
Sloan / All I Am Is All You’re Not / Parallel Play
Drew Neumann / Monican Jam / Eye Spy
Bis / Starbright Boy / The New Transistor Heroes
Frank Black / I Switched You / Pistolero
Drew Neumann / Time Pretzel Paradox / Eye Spy
Nine Inch Nails / God Given / Year Zero
Beck / Milk and Honey / Midnite Vultures
Depeche Mode / Blasphemous Rumours / Catching up with Depeche Mode
Flock of Seagulls / I Ran
And One / My Warrior / Nordhausen
Ladytron / International Dateline / Witching Hour
Yoko Kanno / Cats on Mars (DMX Krew rmx) / Music for Freelance
Sloan / Living with the Masses / Never Hear the End of It
The Damned / Diamonds / So, Who’s Paranoid?
And One / Creatures / Nordhausen

LATER THAT DAY, THIS HAPPENED:

DJ Prefect quote of the day: HOLY SHIT IT’S 2009

Posted in Bacon, computer science, david downs, dj prefect, fish, health, hepatitis C, herbalism, hijack, longevity, news, nthmost, pirate cat radio, quantum, science | Leave a comment

The Periodic Apocalypse: Extermination of the Human Host???

By nthmost | Published: August 6, 2009

On July 31st, 2009, The Periodic Apocalypse brought Daniel Coffeen, PhD, to perform an rhetorical diagnosis of the ways in which Parasitic Capitalism Consumes, Confines, and Controls.

DJ Prefect (that’s yours truly) came prepared with sources, dropping doses of science on the discussion to widen the frame. Find links to the books and articles referenced below.

A PODCAST of this event can be downloaded here. (1hr 45mins)

The Pirate Cat Radio Cafe was packed! Representatives from Berkeley, Noisebridge, Pirate Cat Radio, and many independents made their appearance.

Many thanks to all who gave donations, which go to support having more shows like this in future.

REFERENCES:

The End of Overeating Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David Kessler (from whence the Cinnabon example in this discussion).

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely – watch the author’s talk at TED 2009 about “our buggy moral code”.

Culture Code by Clotaire Rapaille, expert marketing consultant to Fortune 500 companies.

Coffee versus Naps:

Food and/or Drug:

Posted in capitalism, daniel coffeen, friday apocalypse, Naomi Most, nthmost, overeating, periodic, rhetoric, science | 1 Comment