At a microscopic level, any surface, including those we perceive to be smooth, looks like a mountain range.

So now picture two mountain ranges, one upside down, one rightside up, rubbing against each other.

And we wonder how that sandpaper gets so hot.

Imagery credited to Professor James Kakalios, author of The Physics of Superheroes. Book review to follow.

She is a neuro-scientist who experienced a stroke at the age of 37. During the stroke, she could identify the areas of her brain that went offline. These consisted mostly of the highly logical and linear areas of her left brain. She was left with a sense of nirvana that she believes was her right brain.

A great read.

Check out this delightful article about brain reading electrodes that you put under the skull.

The Cassini spacecraft has discovered evidence that liquid salt-water has erupted from Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

Popsci hooked me first with this article.  Prior to doing a little homework on the subject, I thought Jupiter’s moon Europa was the only moon in our solar system with liquid water.  After about an hour’s worth of scanning I found that there are no less than three solar system bodies that contain liquid water (perhaps some of my more educated readers could elaborate on that).  Liquid water could be a good environment for life.

This is NASA’s press release on the topic, dated 24 Jun, 2009.  The data is from 2005, which shows just how long it must take to process.

The Cassini spacecraft was launched Oct. 15th, 1997

National Geographic published a similar video several months ago.  When searching for it, I stumbled across this (I love the utopian advertising).

As a child who used to play computer games, I use to fantasize about controlling the game with just my brain (I don’t have the best hand eye coordination, even when it comes to keyboards and controllers).

And whenever people ask me why I want to study brain science, I always tell them its because I want to invent the “Think-on, Think-off” light.

The helmet (looks like it has big pores, and big pores scare me) has EEG and NIPR sensors which measure electric potential and blood flow (respectively) in the brain.  Honda’s original concept was to use an MRI, but apparently they couldn’t get a precise enough function.

Basically the user just has to think about the action.  This thought has a unique electric and blood-flow signature.  The machine is programmed to produce a reaction for specific signatures.

Using the same concept that very helmet could be used to turn on a light, produce a sound, or even type a letter.

The potential to use this technology to do something more complex, like control a real time video game is there.  The limitations are how long it takes to read the signature, how many signatures you can program, and the accuracy of reading those signatures (which Honda claims to have at 90%).

This article by Gizmag goes more into the function and potential of this.  Here is the Honda news release.

Now wish me luck in developing a long range EEG and NIPR sensor, or at least one that will fit unnoticed into a baseball hat.

I am now headed to the University of San Francisco, where I will pursue a bachelor’s degree in Physics with a minor in Neuroscience.  I then plan to go to grad school and study Neuroscience.

My attraction to this subject is hard to explain.  I am not a religious person.  I used to consider myself a spiritual person.  But as I learned (in High School) more about the laws of science, I became fascinated with the science of consciousness.

This pursuit of study has numerous applications; from the average consumer (imagine inventing a “Think-on, Think-off” light), to the disabled (imagine installing a functional video camera to a blind man’s brain); from the artistic (imagine a psycho-reactive paint that changed colors at will), to the lethal (imagine a soldier with a compass, altimeter, thermal camera, ect. installed in his brain).

I don’t necessarily plan to invent such things, but the study itself would be rewarding to me.  If I find no creative applications, perhaps I’ll settle into teaching the field.

Of course I realize that there is much work ahead of me.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been to school.  But in order to leave the army with a clear conscious, I needed a plan that I could be excited about and not afraid of (my wife’s logic mostly).  And so I realize that I might fail, or change my mind, or spend the rest of my life working at McDonalds, but I will pursue this to the best of my ability.

I started this blog today because I want to document my journey from the beginning.  I want a place to organize stray thoughts, I want to share my interests, and I want to try my hand at explaining complex ideas at a very simple level (as you might be able to tell I don’t know too many big words, or complicated grammar, and I also misuse punctuation).

Based on my second hand experience with blogs from my wife’s blog, I know I can attain these goals with wordpress.

Welcome to the show and thanks for reading.