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POPSA New Picture of the Early Earth In a new analysis, published in the current issue of the journal Nature, the zircons, the only bits of earth older than 4 billion years definitively known to have survived, provide another tantalizing hint about the Hadean period. Dr. Harrison and two U.C.L.A. colleagues, Michelle Hopkins, a graduate student, and Craig Manning, a professor of geology and geochemistry, report that minerals trapped inside zircons offer evidence that the processes of plate tectonics — the forces that push around the planet’s outer crust, forming and shaping the continents and oceans — had already begun.
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POPSThe 'morning after' HIV drug cocktail To my surprise I found that most people I know are not aware to the existence of such a life saving option. The treatment has some severe side effects but also a very high (81%) success rate. Keep this option in mind and inform your friends.
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POPSHumanity May Hold Key For Next Earth Evolution If we recognize humanity is an integral part of the planet and begin working for a healthy Earth, then planetary evolution could move forward to some unknown future. On the other hand, Langmuir said, if we continue to view the Earth as something that is separate, that we merely use, then the resulting practices could damage the environment enough to stall planetary evolution, even causing it to fall back to a level where it supports just microscopic life. “The story of the Earth is our story. We are intimately connected in every fiber of our being, in every breath we take. We’re inseparable from the Earth,” Langmuir said.
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POPSGreen is the new red white and blue We in America talk like we’re already “the greenest generation,” But here’s the really inconvenient truth: We have not even begun to be serious about the costs, the effort and the scale of change that will be required to shift our country, and eventually the world, to a largely emissions-free energy infrastructure over the next 50 years. Thomas L. Friedman is a columnist for The New York Times specializing in foreign affairs. a bit long article but worth read.
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POPSThe new, free speech, gatekeepers "Given their clashing and sometimes self-contradictory missions — to obey local laws, repressive or not, and to ensure that information knows no bounds; to do no evil and to be everywhere in a sometimes evil world — Wong and her colleagues at Google seem to be working impressively to put the company’s long-term commitment to free expression above its short-term financial interests. But they won’t be at Google forever, and if history is any guide, they may eventually be replaced with lawyers who are more concerned about corporate profits than about free expression. “We’re at the dawn of a new technology,” Walker told me, referring not simply to Google but also to the many different ways we now interact online. “And when people try to come up with the best metaphors to describe it, all the metaphors run out. We’ve built this spaceship, but we really don’t know where it will take us.”
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POPSTaking A Shower Improves Moral Judgment The research was conducted through two experiments with university students. In the first, they were asked to complete a scrambled sentence task involving 40 sets of four words each. By underlining any three words, a sentence could be formed. For the neutral condition, the task contained 40 sets of neutral words, but for the cleanliness condition, half of the sets contained words such as ‘pure, washed, clean, immaculate, and pristine’. The participants were then asked to rate a series of moral dilemmas including keeping money found inside a wallet, putting false information on a resume and killing a terminally ill plane crash survivor in order to avoid starvation. The second experiment saw the students watch a ‘disgusting’ film clip before rating the same moral dilemmas. However, half the group were asked to first wash their hands.
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POPS10 Important Differences Between Brains and Computers "These differences may be crucial to understanding the mechanisms of neural information processing, and ultimately for the creation of artificial intelligence. Below, I review the most important of these differences (and the consequences to cognitive psychology of failing to recognize them)".
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POPSSolar-powered sea slug harnesses stolen plant genes In another surprising development, the researchers found the algal gene in E. chlorotica's sex cells, meaning the ability to maintain functional chloroplasts could be passed to the next generation. The researchers believe many more photosynthesis genes are acquired by E. chlorotica from their food, but still need to understand how the plant genes are activated inside sea-slug cells.
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POPSSecret Quest: The Path of the Christian Gnostics Discover the secret quest of the Christian Gnostics, who have emerged in different forms throughout history, walking the hidden path towards spiritual transformation. Part 1 examines the question, "What is a Gnostic?". Starting with the early years of Christianity, this video explores the Gnostic origins of Jesus and his disciples and the secret aspects of his teachings. Discover how the theology of Paul of Tarsus diverged from the Gnostic teachings of Jesus and came to compete with the Church of Jerusalem, which was led by Jesus' disciples. With the fall of the Church of Jerusalem, Pauline Christianity became dominant. Those who knew and practiced the secret heart of Jesus' teachings went underground — hidden from view but continuing their quest for spiritual enlightenment.
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POPSJust for the Love of It: Riches beyond Cash
It's about sharing your tools so you all can have access to all the tools under the sun without it costing the earth. It's about using any free space you have to either benefit positive, ethical and local projects, or to enable volunteers to keep doing their amazing work for free. It's about sharing the land you don't need in order to facilitate a local food community. It's about freeconnecting neighbours. It's about learning to help each other again. It's about getting ready for a post peak oil world. It's about making dinner for a friend who was yesterday a stranger. It's about keeping money out of the equation. It's about communicating face-to-face and phasing out technological communication. It's about putting the soul back into society. It's about helping each other not for profit, but just for the love-ofit. What is a Freeconomy? A Freeconomy is a moneyless society in which no money changes and there is no duality between giving and receiving; here they are seen as
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