Monday, October 25, 2010

Monday 10-25-10

Bees' tiny brains beat computers, study finds
Bees can solve complex mathematical problems which keep computers busy for days, research has shown.

The insects learn to fly the shortest route between flowers discovered in random order, effectively solving the "travelling salesman problem" , said scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London.

The conundrum involves finding the shortest route that allows a travelling salesman to call at all the locations he has to visit. Computers solve the problem by comparing the length of all possible routes and choosing the one that is shortest.

Bees manage to reach the same solution using a brain the size of a grass seed.

Dr Nigel Raine, from Royal Holloway's school of biological sciences, said: "Foraging bees solve travelling salesman problems every day. They visit flowers at multiple locations and, because bees use lots of energy to fly, they find a route which keeps flying to a minimum."

Using computer-controlled artificial flowers to test bee behaviour, his wanted to know whether the insects would follow a simple route defined by the order in which they found the flowers, or look for the shortest route.

After exploring the location of the flowers, the bees quickly learned to fly the best route for saving time and energy.

The research, due to appear this week in the journal The American Naturalist, has implications for the human world. Modern living depends on networks such as traffic flows, internet information and business supply chains.

"Despite their tiny brains bees are capable of extraordinary feats of behaviour," said Raine. "We need to understand how they can solve the travelling salesman problem without a computer."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/24/bees-route-finding-problems

Cholera outbreak reaches Haitian capital
Fears that Haiti faces fresh disaster, less than a year after January’s earthquake, grew on Sunday as a cholera outbreak spread to the capital.

Five deaths have been reported in Port-au-Prince. The epidemic broke about a week ago in the Artibonite region, claiming more than 250 lives by Sunday. According to the government, more than 3,000 cases have been identified.

With panic and confusion spreading among Haiti’s population, aid agencies were bracing themselves for more cases, although the government attempted to allay concerns.

“We have registered a diminishing in numbers of deaths and of hospitalised people in the most critical areas . . . The tendency is that it is stabilising, without being able to say that we have reached a peak,” said Gabriel Thimothe, director-general of Haiti’s health department.

Haiti has been spared a direct hit during this year’s hurricane season. But even so, an outbreak of the disease has been feared since the January 12 earthquake.

Many of the 1.3m Haitians living in the 1,300 overcrowded camps in and around Port-au-Prince are vulnerable to the infection, and cannot afford the means to contain it.

The sudden outbreak of acute diarrhoea in the rural Artibonite region, north of Port au Prince, was identified last week. Although the area was not badly affected by the earthquake, many Haitians who lost their homes in the capital fled to camps or relatives’ homes in the countryside.

The outbreak comes just after a United Nations expert declared Haiti still to be in crisis. “Nine months after the earthquake, Haiti is still living through a profound humanitarian crisis that affects the human rights of those displaced by the disaster,” said Walter Kaelin, UN representative for internally displaced persons, last week.

Observers have been critical of the slow pace at which money, pledged at a UN-backed donor conference, has arrived.

The cholera outbreak could pose a logistical challenge for presidential elections due to be held on November 28, with some people recommending that rallies be suspended.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d910f0e0-dfab-11df-bed9-00144feabdc0.html

Body scanners unveiled at JFK Airport; Homeland Security Sect. Janet Napolitano doesn't volunteer
Airline passengers might want to consider a trip to the gym before heading to the airport now that high-tech body scanners have been unveiled at Kennedy Airport.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano yesterday hailed them as an important breakthrough for airport security and the fight against terrorism.

Yet when it came to testing the devices - which produce chalky, naked X-ray images of passengers - she turned the floor over to some brave volunteers.

"These machines represent an important way to stay ahead of the ever-evolving threat that faces the aviation industry," Napolitano said.

About 300 of the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machines are operational already at 62 airports across the country, and 450 will be in place by the end of the year, officials said.

JFK will have a "substantial" number, but officials would not reveal the exact figure.

Machines will be installed at Newark and LaGuardia airports within weeks.

The machines work by projecting low-level X-ray beams at the passenger's body to produce an image.

Any nonmetal objects hidden on the passenger's body that wouldn't be detected by the old-style scanners are easily spotted.

Going through one is optional for all travelers, but Napolitano hoped to ease any fears that airport staff would use them to leer at passengers.

"Those who read the images are not actually physically at the gate, so they cannot associate an image with an individual person at all," she said.

"And the machines are set so that no image is retained."

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/22/2010-10-22_body_scanners_unveiled_at_jfk_airport_homeland_security_sect_janet_napolitano_do.html

Man Fired for Wearing Bush Sweatshirt at Obama Rally
(USC) -- Don't try wearing a Bush hat or sweatshirt at an Obama rally.

Duane Hammond says it's what got him fired. Hammond is a union stagehand who was part of the crew that built the platform for the Obama event on campus.

He came to work early this morning wearing clothing that says "George H. W. Bush". Hammond's son is in the Navy, currently serving on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. George H. W. Bush.

Hammond says he was not trying to make a political statement. He says he got the sweatshirt and hat during a visit to the aircraft carrier on Family Day. The back of his sweatshirt has a large drawing of the ship.

He says he wore it to show how proud he is of his son.
That didn't go over well with his union supervisor. Hammond says he was told to take off the sweatshirt, or he would have to go home.

He refused. They told him he was fired from the job.

http://blogs.ktla.com/news_custom_eric/2010/10/man-fired-for-wearing-bush-sweatshirt-at-obama-rally.html

No comments:

Post a Comment