Author: jlolds

Native Angeleno, professor of Neuroscience and Public Policy at George Mason University

Andrew Sullivan became a better writer….

through blogging according to his own blogpost, here. He mentions the use of blogging in the classroom and actually we are seeing a great deal more of that, even here in the neuroscience program at George Mason. Beyond the classroom, our students also tend to blog on their own: The Cellular Scale, is authored by one of our own Mason neuroscience doctoral students.

I’ve blogged these past eight years because I enjoy communicating the unexpected links between diverse fields–something I get to see quite a bit of in my day job.

Latest on the White House BRAIN initiative…

From ScienceInsider here. Money quote paraphrasing Janelia Farm Director Gerald Rubin:

That something-for-everyone approach, however, means that the $40 million that NIH has pledged to the project will run out long before it meets its goals

There are two central issues here I think: first, without a real “new money” appropriation of some sort, the program is always going to have just a hint of vaporware. Second, in the current sequestration environment, BRAIN funding will be part of a zero-sum game with other life sciences federal R&D investments. The two issues are related of course.

Big bang trouble…

The theory that is. From Nature on our parent 4-D “bulk universe” and the 4-D star that underwent gravitational collapse, formed a 4-D black hole, with a 3-D, brane, event horizon that is actually our universe. Nature story here. Orignal arXiv paper here.

There’s a discrepancy though: the microwave background data from telescopes matches the classical Big Bang theory. Still, the new theory is only off by 4%. And it’s intuitively attractive.

First thoughts on "Average is Over"…

I’ll have more complete thoughts later, but at least initially:

–Cowen’s premise is The Great Stagnation wont subsequently be followed by a future technical revolution (like the Cognitive Society [pdf] that I have recently pushed in my work with the National Science Foundation). I don’t necessarily buy that. The fact that so many billionaires are putting their money (and big money) on space exploration may be a hint to a future less austere than the one Tyler puts forward in the book.

–I learned a huge amount about chess and computer programs that play chess. The notion of human-computer teaming (freestyle chess competitions) is definitely part of the Cognitive Society idea and I think Cowen is spot on.

–I think Tyler is wrong about science–at least the life sciences which I know something about: we are becoming ever less stove-piped. The big discoveries are being made across disciplines. Further, with regards to a payoff for lowering health-care costs, a cure for Alzheimer’s disease alone, would put a significant dent into that piece of the budget pie. Because of my own involvement with what’s going on in molecular neuroscience, I see that day coming–I don’t assume the status quo for years to come.

That said, Average is Over is Tyler’s best book that I’ve read to date. It’s an excellent read.