Cognitive Labs

A Thor Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

Perchlorate, the substance present in the recent soil sample analyzed on the surface of Mars, is not obstructive of life. However, it is a common ingredient in explosive arms and is in the same category as RDX and white phosphorous as an environmental hazard.

In fact, NASA's Tuesday press conference to clarify the perchlorate information released on Monday discloses that perchlorate can occur naturally and does on earth-for example, in Chile's atacama desert.

Researching a little further, as recently as 2006, a scientist showed in the lab how perchlorate can be precipitated in playas with chloride rich soils, such as found in California's Death Valley or Nevada's Black Rock Desert, through exposure of the soils to ultraviolet radiation. These salty, chloride-rich soils are usually the remnant of old lakes and oceans. In the case of Death Valley, this was the giant Lake Manly, Nevada was covered by the large Lake Lahontan, and Lake Bonneville covered Utah, which was more of an inland sea than a lake. This would suggest that liquid water on Mars was widespread at one time (which has been theorized for some time).

Perchlorate's main impact on human life is interference in the function of the thyroid gland in the case of overexposure, which is unlikely on Mars.

It is also true that perchlorate is a main ingredient in solid rocket fuels (although not of hydrazine, the type of fuel used by the Martian lander).

Perhaps more significantly, perchlorate is a key ingredient in diverse celebratory combustibles such as roman candles, firecrackers, launched fireworks, and flares, and also has extensive military uses: bullets, artillery shells, missiles, rockets, bombs, and blasting caps.

In fact, perchlorate is classified as a hazardous material in several government publications (here are two references: 1 | 2 ) and component of military munitions, defined as

"confined gaseous, liquid, and solid propellants, explosives,pyrotechnics, chemical and riot control agents, smokes, and incendiaries used by DOD components, including bulk explosives and chemical warfare agents,chemical munitions, rockets, guided and ballistic missiles, bombs, warheads, mortar rounds, artillery ammunition, small arms ammunition, grenades, mines, torpedoes, depth charges, cluster munitions and dispensers, demolition charges, and devices and components thereof"

If it is not naturally occurring, which is the likelier scenario, what else could explain it? if it turns out to be distributed across the surface, this would indicate either vast oceans sometime in the past or perhaps some kind of planetwide cataclysmic event involving the discharge of weaponry.

Either way, the finding is curious.

Labels: nasa, perchlorate, phosphorous, rdx, thor

That is: Be open source. And why not? Sun just illumined open source MySQL for a stratospheric $1 billion, more than 20x trailing revenues.

Was there a true connection or a functional acknowledgment? Or was his message subject to interplanetary packet loss and therefore lost in space?

Labels: mySQL, nabob, nasa, schmidt

Cognitive Labs connected with colleagues and also met some new experts at the 60th annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America (in S.F.), which is focused on all parts of healthy aging. Dr. Ashford presented a paper, and I was fortunate to attend a breakfast meeting on screening (or monitoring of) cognitive impairment held by Eric Hall, CEO of the Alzheimer's Foundation of America.

Among the proactively-minded, essentially, there are two schools of thought:
(a) People around age 65 should be checked for potential memory loss and
(b) People starting around age 30 should concern themselves with proactive monitoring

As you might guess, these two positions, while different are not in opposition. Scientists increasingly recognize that a number of causal factors are involved in cognitive decline and they tend to begin early - an analogy is the contributory vectors for heart disease. As you monitor your heart rate, so you should monitor your brain.

Building up cognitive reserve is the name of the game, so that as you age-slight changes in capability are counterbalanced by reinforcing cognitive reserve built up over a lifetime of education and training. Some new research involving pilots conducted by Dr. Taylor at Stanford in a forthcoming publication suggests that cognitive reserve can overcome some serious inherited challenges-such as having 2 copies of the APOEe4 gene, which is associated with increased propensity for Alzheimer's. In the genes vs. environmental stimuli debate, stimulus can overcome heritability.

Case in point, look at the website 23andme, which tells the story of a champion long-jumper who succeeded despite having genes diametrically opposed to that normally associated with star athletes, who may have 1 but more usually 2 functioning copies of the ACTN3 gene.

All agreed that there is a vast opportunity to pursue research based on access to large populations, something the Internet is extraordinarily good at, in order to begin to track, monitor, and enhance cognitive ability as a prong in the overall effort to live longer healthier lives. To that end, we look forward to working with a global collection of scientists and colleagues who can help us assess the data to find the meaningful patterns, which in turn can hone our efforts. The methodology may be cross-disciplinary - Dr. Shankle is working with a NASA planetary scientist in evaluating his information, and the irony is that the swarm of data points may hold some behavioral similarity to other patterns seen in nature, such as trace feedback from an interplanetary probe, ant colonies, or flight of geese, it was recognized during the breakfast. What algorithms are optimal for analysis? What is the best presentation? Our role is basically a technologist who is tasked to tie together these disparate links and advance the state of knowledge.

Labels: alzheimers, ashford, geron.org, nasa, shankle

U.S. scientists have gone underwater to develop psychological tools that can be used in space to assess stress, fatigue and cognitive fitness.

"On exploration missions, quick self tests could allow astronauts to assess how they are functioning," said David Dinges of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute's Neurobehavioral and Psychosocial Factors Team. "In this mission, we'll gather data to help refine the self tests and develop an interface component that provides immediate feedback to the user."

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Extreme Environment Mission Operations Project 13, or NEEMO 13, is based in Aquarius -- the world's only underwater research habitat -- in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, 63 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.

The NEEMO 13 environment is similar to lunar and other exploration missions in many respects, said Dinges. There is isolation, confinement to a small habitat and work area, the need to work together as a team, extravehicular activities, and no immediate rescue in the event of an emergency.

NASA astronaut and aquanaut Nicholas Patrick is leading the Aug. 6-15 NEEMO 13 project, with astronaut Richard Arnold, Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Christopher Gerty, a NASA engineer.

Labels: cognitive fitness, Cognitive Labs, nasa, sharpness, tools, waterloo

carrie-ann moss and val kilmer in 'red planet'


'Drunken Astronauts' became one of the top searches on Google today, leading us into perhaps, a Consumer Space Status Report. Who are the players? Who has an interesting take on the field, who has the bet hedged to lessen the risk? Who (if any) are the wildcard players?

- Branson: successful trial (despite today's accident)
- Musk: progress towards successful launch vehicle
- Bezos: launch vehicle with alternate design
- Diamandis: zero G corp, giving a feeling zerograv to the masses
- Bigelow: successful trial of 'hotel in space' model, hedged approach

red planet capital:
venture capital firm focused on low-budget space, funded partially by nasa, with a wild card strategy

in contrast, NASA itself has had 3 scandals this year, all relating to people:
- astronaut love triangle/attempted assault
- drunken astronaut story
- sabotage on the Shuttle?

Now, look at the budget for the aggregate 6 ventures/projects above (modest) compared to Nasa's annual manned spaceflight budget - the difference is an exponential multiple, with less achieved.

Labels: allen, bezos, branson, diamandis, drunken astronauts, musk, nasa, vallee, x prize

Another scientific first: NASA has just published a "map" of a planet outside our solar system. The images were captured by the Spitzer Space telescope.

The planet in question is like Jupiter, only much hotter - and the map shows the differences in termperature. How did they do it? Find Out

The planet, by the way, is in the constellation Vulpecula "the fox" - 63 light years away, where it orbits a star that is smaller than the sun. This late spring/early summer constellation also houses the well-known Dumbbell Nebula - the remnant of an exploding star.

Labels: exoplanet, nasa, roaster