Download news-summary-31

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/10/humans-aren-t-only-great-apes-can-read-minds
Video of Chimps read minds, just like us
Science
Humans aren’t the only great apes that can
‘read minds’
By Virginia MorellOct. 6, 2016 , 2:00 PM
All great mind reading begins with chocolate. That’s the basis for a classic experiment
that tests whether children have something called theory of mind—the ability to
attribute desires, intentions, and knowledge to others. When they see someone hide a
chocolate bar in a box, then leave the room while a second person sneaks in and hides
it elsewhere, they have to guess where the first person will look for the bar. If they
guess “in the original box,” they pass the test, and show they understand what’s going
on in the first person’s mind—even when it doesn’t match reality.
For years, only humans were thought to have this key cognitive skill of attributing “false
belief,” which is believed to underlie deception, empathy, teaching, and perhaps even
language. But three species of great apes—chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans—
also know when someone holds a false belief, according to a new study published
today in Science. The groundbreaking study suggests that this skill likely can be traced
back to the last common ancestor of great apes and humans, and may be found in
other species.
“Testing the idea that nonhuman [animals] can have minds has been the Rubicon that
skeptics have again and again said no nonhuman has ever, or will ever, cross,” says
Brian Hare, an evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University in Durham, North
Carolina, who was not involved in the study. “Well, back to the drawing board!”
For nearly 40 years, animal cognition researchers have had mixed results in showing
that our close ape relatives—and animals such as monkeys, jays, and crows—
understood that their fellows had minds, a talent thought to come in handy in
complex societies, where figuring out another’s plans can help animals thrive. Some
tests have shown that chimpanzees had some building blocks of theory of mind: They
can deceive, recognize others’ motives, and remember who is a good partner on
collaborative tasks. They can also tell what another chimp can and cannot see, and
they can reason about the movement of objects they themselves can’t directly see. But
they—and other primates—had not been shown to hold false belief.
…
From our colleague Teresa H.:
Subject: VISUAL CORTEX PLAYS ROLE IN PLASTICITY OF EYE MOVEMENT REFLEX
To: [email protected]
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News
National Eye Institute (NEI) <http://www.nei.nih.gov/>
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, October 12, 2016
CONTACT: Kathryn DeMott, 301-496-5258, <e-mail:[email protected]>
VISUAL CORTEX PLAYS ROLE IN PLASTICITY OF EYE MOVEMENT REFLEX
NIH-funded mouse study may illuminate underpinnings of brain's ability to adapt and function
By peering into the eyes of mice and tracking their ocular movements, researchers made an
unexpected discovery: the visual cortex -- a region of the brain known to process sensory
information -- plays a key role in promoting the plasticity of innate, spontaneous eye movements.
The study, published in Nature, was led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego
(UCSD) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and funded by the National Eye
Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health.
"This study elegantly shows how analysis of eye movement sheds more light on brain
plasticity -- an ability that is at the core of the brain's capacity to adapt and function. More
specifically, it shows how the visual cortex continues to surprise and to awe," said Houmam
Araj, Ph.D., a program director at NEI.
Without our being aware of it, our eyes are in constant motion. As we rotate our heads and as the
world around us moves, two ocular reflexes kick in to offset this movement and stabilize images
projected onto our retinas, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of our eyes. The optokinetic
reflex causes eyes to drift horizontally from side-to-side -- for example, as we watch the scenery
through a window of a moving train. The vestibulo-ocular reflex adjusts our eye position to
offset head movements. Both reflexes are crucial to survival. These mechanisms allow us to
see traffic while driving down a bumpy road, or a hawk in flight to see a mouse scurrying
for cover.
The two reflexes occur automatically as a result of signals from the brainstem, an
evolutionarily older part of the brain. These reflexes also are precisely coordinated in
relation to each other. When one of the two reflexes is impaired by age or alcohol, for
example, the other compensates. This orchestration requires adaptive plasticity, said the
study's lead investigator, Massimo Scanziani, Ph.D., who at the time of the study was professor
of neurobiology at UCSD before moving to UCSF. Scanziani collaborated with the study's first
author, Bao-hua Liu, Ph.D., a post-doc at UCSD and Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., now associate
professor at Stanford University.
Scanziani and his colleagues sought to understand the origins of this adaptive plasticity by
studying the eye movements in mice before and after disabling their vestibular ocular reflex. In
their mouse model, disabling the vestibulo-ocular reflex increases the optokinetic reflex. They
measure the increase by holding the mouse's head still and then presenting the mouse with visual
stimuli in the form of black and white horizontal stripes that rotate around the mouse. A camera
records the animal's eye movements. More forceful eye movements indicate an increase in
optokinetic reflex activity.
To test the visual cortex's role in the plasticity of these reflexes, the researchers applied a
technique called optogenetics, which uses light to turn target cells on or off. The researchers
targeted inhibitory neurons in the visual cortex to turn them "on," thus silencing that region of
the brain. Silencing the visual cortex led to a significant reduction in the activity of the
optokinetic reflex, suggesting that it is the visual cortex that is involved in mediating the
plasticity between the optokinetic and the vestibulo-ocular reflexes.
Next, the researchers sought to learn more about how the visual cortex modulates the reflexes. It
has long been observed that a collection of neural projections from the visual cortex extends to
cells of the brainstem that regulate innate motor behaviors. The scientists lesioned these
projections and again observed a decrease in the optokinetic reflex. Such findings suggest that
the neural projections are the anatomical structures by which the visual cortex adjusts the
plasticity of the optokinetic reflex, Scanziani said.
The findings shed new light on the role of the mammalian cortex in orchestrating eye movement,
according to Scanziani. "Most of our reflexes are encoded in the brainstem, but from an
evolutionary standpoint, the ability for one's cortex to modify these reflexes expands one's
behavioral repertoire as the circumstances require," he said. "If you've ever noticed how people
in an audience tend to cough after a solo musical performance ends, you've seen this ability to
modify reflexes in action. It's an ability that appears to have been an attribute important for
survival. After all when you're hiding from a tiger, it would be the very worst moment to cough."
The study was supported in part by NEI grant R01 EY025668.
NEI leads the federal government's research on the visual system and eye diseases. NEI supports
basic and clinical science programs that result in the development of sight-saving treatments. For
more information, visit www.nei.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency,
includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical,
and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit
<www.nih.gov>.
NIH...Turning Discovery into Health -- Registered, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
-------The online version of this news release an image of a neuron projecting from the visual cortex
Illustration of neural activity in the retina <https://www.nih.gov/sites/default/files/20161012projection-neuron-mouse-visual-cortex.jpg>
CAPTION: Neuron projections from the visual cortex have been known to extend to cells of the
brainstem that regulate innate motor behaviors. This image shows a neuron projection from the
visual cortex.Photo courtesy of Dr. Massimo Scanziani.
###
This NIH News Release is available online at:
<https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/visual-cortex-plays-role-plasticity-eyemovement-reflex>.
…
From our colleague Sean M:
I thought this article was an interesting read and thought I would share. I'd love to see more of the
detailed results from these scans along with an analysis/comparison to other activities and
corresponding brain functions. I have long wondered what might be learned from monitoring the
activities of the brain during a good remote viewing session where the viewer has good site contact
(getting accurate information regarding their target). I'd have to imagine that the brain processes would
be similar to the automatic writing sessions that were discussed in this article. Anyway, enjoy.
http://www.livescience.com/25055-medium-brain-trance-writing.html
and
http://neurohacker.com/
MailChimp and the
Un-Silicon Valley Way
to Make It as a Start-Up
No venture capital, no Bay Area presence, no crazy burn
rate: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by
anticipating customers’ needs and following their instincts.
Farhad Manjoo
STATE OF THE ART OCT. 5, 2016
ATLANTA — The typical start-up fairy tale goes something like this: You begin with young
entrepreneurs from Stanford or Harvard who have come up with some novel idea for disrupting
restaurants or dog walking or whatever else.
After creating a prototype, the guys (they are almost always men) enter start-up boot camps like
Y Combinator, recruit a group of early investors, and perhaps launch a Kickstarter with a slick
video. If the initial plan succeeds, the founders go into heedless expansion mode, which usually
means selling off huge chunks of their company in exchange for gobs of money from venture
capitalists. Then, after a few years, if all goes according to plan, they hit the big time — an initial
public offering and a chance to be the next face of the future.
Well, sometimes. What’s often left out of the start-up dream story is any mention that there’s
another way.
In fact, it’s possible to create a huge tech company without taking venture capital, and without
spending far beyond your means. It’s possible, in other words, to start a tech company that runs
more like a normal business than a debt-fueled rocket ship careening out of control. Believe it or
not, start-ups don’t even have to be headquartered in San Francisco or Silicon Valley.
There is perhaps no better example of this other way than MailChimp, a 16-year-old Atlantabased company that makes marketing software for small businesses. If you’ve heard of
MailChimp, it’s either because you are one of its 12 million customers or because you were
hooked on “Serial,” the blockbuster true-crime podcast that MailChimp sponsored.
Under the radar, slowly and steadily, and without ever taking a dime in outside funding or
spending more than it earned, MailChimp has been building a behemoth. According to Ben
Chestnut, MailChimp’s co-founder and chief executive, the company recorded $280 million in
revenue in 2015 and is on track to top $400 million in 2016. MailChimp has always been
profitable, Mr. Chestnut said, though he declined to divulge exact margins. The company —
which has repeatedly turned down overtures from venture capitalists and is wholly owned by Mr.
Chestnut and his co-founder, Dan Kurzius — now employs about 550 people, and by next year it
will be close to 700.
…
Mark Zuckerberg reveals Virtual Reality
Facebook: Billionaire CEO chats to his
wife, checks on his dog and takes a
family snap with a virtual selfie stick in
blockbuster demo


The VR headset was launched in the US in March 2016

New social software allows people to take virtual meetings and trips
Oculus also developing avatar software and its own VR browser
Controversial founder Palmer Luckey stayed away after it was revealed he funded a
pro-Trump organisation


The device was crowdfunded on Kickstarter then bought out by Facebook
By Mark Prigg For Dailymail.com
Published: 12:41 EST, 6 October 2016 | Updated: 18:10 EST, 6 October 2016
Facebook has unveiled the first virtual reality version of its
software.
Mark Zuckerberg showed off the firm's first attempt at social
software for the Oculus Rift headset at the Oculus Connect
conference in San Francisco.
He also revealed the firm was developing a new midrange VR
headset, and said its eventual aim was a pair of VR and AR
sunglasses.
Scroll down for video
+12
The first virtual family portrait: Mark Zuckerberg showed off the firm's software for the Oculus
Rift headset at the Oculus Connect conference in San Francisco.
The new software allows people to join the same virtual space,
and do everything from watch a video to be transported to the
surface of Mars.
Zuckerberg was able to transport participants to live video feeds
of his office and home, and even call his wife - all in a virtual
world.
He then took out a virtual selfie stick to snap a picture - and sent
it to his Facebook page with a single click.
He also used Oculus Touch, the firm's soon to be released 3D
controller, to change his avatar's emotion - and Facebook said in
future versions facial tracking could do this
automatically, letting you look surprised, happy or confused in
VR.
…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-06/islamic-state-positions-tracked-by-u-s-satellitesas-a-bonus-ity445lk
Islamic State Positions Tracked by U.S.
Satellites as a Bonus
Added use found for satellites made to detect nuclear launches
U.S. early warning satellites and sensors designed primarily to detect the launch of missiles carrying
nuclear warheads are providing daily streams of intelligence on Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria,
according to defense officials.
The system, using a satellite built by Lockheed Martin Corp. and equipped with sensors from Northrop
Grumman Corp., detects heat, or infrared signatures. Combined with electronic and signals intelligence
and video gathered by reconnaissance drones and aircraft, the satellites are helping to compile a running
portrait of Islamic State ground positions.
“Overhead persistent infrared information from” the Space-Based Infrared System, or SBIRS, “is
used daily as one of multiple streams of intelligence information in theater,” Air Force Colonel
John Dorrian, the Pentagon’s top spokesman in Iraq, said in an e-mail. The capability “enables us to
ascertain where kinetic events like explosions are happening because the technology can track heat
signatures with great fidelity,” he said.
The satellites and sensors “would be capable of detecting any sufficiently intense explosions in ISIL-held
territory,” Jeff Richelson, author of “The U.S. Intelligence Community,” said in an e-mail, using an
acronym for the terrorist group.
Intelligence-Gathering Push
Disclosure of the satellites’ use illustrates the full-court press that the Pentagon, Air Force and
intelligence agencies are exerting to gain information on Islamic State operations. U.S. and coalition
intelligence drones and reconnaissance aircraft have flown about 18,000 sorties against Islamic State
since August 2014. That’s in addition to new, highly classified offensive cyber operations.
It’s a vindication for what was until recently considered one of the Pentagon’s most troubled
programs. The first of two satellites now in orbit was launched in May 2011 after years of delays and cost
overruns. That was almost nine years after it was originally planned.
The program, which started in 1995, has more than quadrupled in cost to a projected $17 billion for
as many as six satellites from an early estimate of $4.1 billion, according to Defense Department
figures.
“The program was hampered by poor government oversight of the contractor, unanticipated technical
complexities and rework,” Cristina Chaplain, a director with the U.S. Government Accountability Office
who follows military space programs, said in an e-mail. “Some problems were rooted in the
ambitious nature of the program and the fact that it was attempting to satisfy the needs of many
users.”
She said it’s “not a surprise that the satellites are now being used for a variety of missions beyond missile
warning” because Defense Department “satellites often exceed expectations once in orbit. But it’s a
challenge to build highly capable” ones.
‘Unblinking Eye’
One year before taking command of the Air Force’s 460th Space Wing, which oversees SBIRS
operations, Colonel David Miller was a special U.S. adviser in Iraq assigned to the prime minister’s
office. But he was well aware of the satellite system’s capability.
“Our unique attribute is persistent global surveillance, so I was never in doubt that the unblinking eye
of SBIRS was there to provide me surveillance and warning of threats to the U.S. embassy and U.S.
forces in Iraq,” Miller said in an interview. Miller took over the wing based at Buckley Air Force Base in
Colorado in August.
…
…