Ever wonder how those scrawny protohumans without claws, sharp teeth or thick skin survived the likes of Sabertooth? Me too, so I researched it and ended up with a dashing tale, full of suspense, drama, and the appealing characters that we moderns can relate to. What didn’t kill them made them stronger, and isn’t that what Darwin predicted when he labeled evolution ‘survival of the fittest’?
Early man, especially by 1.6 million years ago when Homo erectus first arrived on the planet, learned that they couldn’t survive without weapons to balance the odds. Prior to H. erectus, it was a simple primitive rock, sharpened at one end for cutting and chopping. By the time of Erect Man, he used stone tools to break, crush, split and cut up difficult vegetable and animal foods. His tools replaced his flimsy fingernails, his small dull teeth, and allowed him to cut through thick animal skins. They took the place of the Sabertooth’s powerful jaws and enabled Man to crush long bones and extract the nutritious marrow.
We know something more about Homo erectus from the stone tools–the handaxes, picks, scrapers, awls and cleavers–he left behind: He was highly intelligent. Not only did it require good eye-hand coordination and a precision grip to strike core with hammer stone and create these tools, but their three-dimensional symmetry reflects a Euclidean sense of space and an ability to follow a plan over a prolonged period of time to create the beautiful, well-knapped handaxes they created by the thousands. Continue reading ‘How Homo Erectus Made His Tools’
This one’s hard to believe. A judge orders MS to stop selling MS Word because of patent infringements. I’ll be following this one:
Judge orders Microsoft to stop selling Word
A judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word, one of its premier products, in its current form due to patent infringement.
Judge Leonard Davis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction that “prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML,” according to a statement released by attorneys for the plantiff, i4i.
Microsoft said it was disappointed in the ruling and that it would appeal the verdict. (more)
Here’s another exciting article–this from BBC–about the potential of DNA computers. What surprises me is they aren’t further along than what is outlined below. The molecule DNA programs our entire genome, including our brain. That’s pretty versatile, not to mention quick and adaptive. We can see it’s power by looking in the mirror.
From the get-go, DNA uses a more powerful language–six-digits compared to binary’s two-digit language (binary being the popular language of today’s silicon computers). I’m guessing the roadblock to unlocking DNA’s computing potential is our problem-solving skills and our ability to understand what it is DNA does.
A computer with DNA as its information carrier can solve classic logic conundrums, researchers say.
DNA has been used to do simple number crunching before, but a system developed by Israeli scientists can effectively answer yes or no questions. (more)
That’s right. There’s now a website–funded with your tax dollars–that allows you to explore your look tweaked.
Face of the Future is an EPSRC funded public engagement project aimed at exploring the latest advances in facial computer vision and graphics, and what they mean for society.
The project has developed a number of standalone interactive exhibits, online demos and a lecture presentation aimed at engaging the public with the technology and the social implications of the technology
You can
Transform yourself Change the age, sex or ethinicity of a photo, or have fun with art and animal transforms.
Averager Make an average from the supplied images or add your own.
Morphing Morph between two images (Requires OpenGL support)
Discover the sizzle in science. It's not that stuff that's always for the smart kids. It's the need to know. The passion for understanding. The absolute belief that for every problem, there is a solution. The creative mind seeking truth in a world of mystery. The quest for the Holy Grail.
author: Christopher Wills name: Jacqui average rating: 4.08 book published: 1993 rating: 5 read at: date added: 2011/07/24 shelves: science, early-man review: In my lifelong effort to understand what makes us human, I long ago arrived at the lynchpin to that discussion: our brain. Even though bipedalism preceded big brains, and we couldn't be who we are […]
author: Richard E. Leakey name: Jacqui average rating: 3.86 book published: 1994 rating: 5 read at: date added: 2011/07/24 shelves: early-man, history review: If you're interested in man's roots, there are several authors you must read: Birute Galdikas Dian Fosse Donald Johanson GHR Von Koenigsman Glen Isaacs Jared Diamond Ian Tattersell Lev Vygots […]
author: Donald C. Johanson name: Jacqui average rating: 4.07 book published: 1983 rating: 5 read at: date added: 2011/07/24 shelves: early-man, science review: I read this book when I was writing a paleo-historic drama of the life of earliest man. My characters were Homo habilines, but they cohabited Africa with Australopithecines, so to understand the co-st […]
author: Jane Goodall name: Jacqui average rating: 4.24 book published: 1990 rating: 5 read at: date added: 2011/07/24 shelves: early-man, science review: I have read every book that Jane Goodall wrote. She has an easy-going writing style that shares scientific principals easily with the layman. Probably because when she started, she was little more than a no […]
author: Jane Goodall name: Jacqui average rating: 4.33 book published: 1971 rating: 5 read at: date added: 2011/07/23 shelves: early-man, science review: I read Jane Goodall's In the Shadow of Man (Houghton Mifflin 1971) years ago as research for a paleo-historic novel I was writing. I needed background on the great apes so I could show them acting appr […]
author: Clive Gamble name: Jacqui average rating: 3.71 book published: 1994 rating: 4 read at: 2010/02/07 date added: 2011/01/28 shelves: early-man review: It's a difficult question. Why did earliest man leave Africa and migrate to new areas. Mostly, animals evolve suited to their environment and they don't stray far. They may have several areas th […]
author: Steven Mithen name: Jacqui average rating: 3.80 book published: 2005 rating: 4 read at: 2009/07/28 date added: 2011/01/25 shelves: early-man, reference, research, science review: I have avoided this book in the past because my personal interest extends to an earlier time than Neanderthals, but I shouldn't have. The title is misleading in that he […]
author: G. Philip Rightmire name: Jacqui average rating: 4.00 book published: 1990 rating: 4 read at: date added: 2011/01/18 shelves: early-man review: Evolution of Homo erectus by G. Philip Rightmire is a scholarly discussion of Homo Erectus' evolution through time, across the planet, through his diverse global locations--China, Africa, Indonesia, Spai […]
author: John Beattie name: Jacqui average rating: 3.20 book published: 1960 rating: 4 read at: date added: 2010/10/29 shelves: africa, early-man, science review: Man's path from paleo-history is a fascinating study. Since our records of that era is confined to rocks and natural artifacts, those like me who want to understand what man was like in that ti […]
Ever wonder how those scrawny protohumans without claws, sharp teeth or thick skin survived the likes of Sabertooth? Me too, so I researched it and ended up with a dashing tale, full of suspense, drama, and the appealing characters that we moderns can relate to. What didn’t kill them made them stronger, and isn’t that what Darwin predicted when he labeled 
evolution ‘survival of the fittest’?
Here’s another exciting article–this from BBC–about the potential of DNA computers. What surprises me is they aren’t further along than what is outlined below. The molecule DNA programs our entire genome, including our brain. That’s pretty versatile, not to mention quick and adaptive. We can see it’s power by looking in the mirror.
animal transforms.
