Chaitin, Gregory J, Algorithmic Information Theory, Cambridge UP 1987 Foreword: 'The crucial fact here is that there exist symbolic objects (i.e., texts) which are "algorithmically inexplicable", i.e., cannot be specified by any text shorter than themselves. Since texts of this sort have the properties associated with random sequences of classical probability theory, the theory of describability developed . . . in the present work yields a very interesting new view of the notion of randomness.' J T Schwartz 
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Dawkins, Richard, Climbing Mount Improbable, W. W. Norton & Company 1997 Amazon editorial review: 'How do species evolve? Richard Dawkins, one of the world's most eminent zoologists, likens the process to scaling a huge, Himalaya-size peak, the Mount Improbable of his title. An alpinist does not leap from sea level to the summit; neither does a species utterly change forms overnight, but instead follows a course of "slow, cumulative, one-step-at-a-time, non-random survival of random variants" -- a course that Charles Darwin, Dawkins's great hero, called natural selection. Illustrating his arguments with case studies from the natural world, such as the evolution of the eye and the lung, and the coevolution of certain kinds of figs and wasps, Dawkins provides a vigorous, entertaining defense of key Darwinian ideas.' 
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Drake, Stillman, Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography, Dover Publications 1995 Jacket: Based entirely on original sources, Professor Drake's scrupulously researched study includes translations of much correspondence and other material previously unpublished in English. The result is a volume of exceptional richness and immediacy that paints a vivid portrait of one of history's greatest minds, leaving the philosophical implications of his work aside and focussing on the enduring scientific achievements that represent Galileo's true legacy to mankind.' 
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Feynman (1988), Richard, QED: The Strange Story of Light and Matter, Princeton UP 1988 Jacket: 'Quantum electrodynamics - or QED for short - is the 'strange theory' that explains how light and electrons interact. Thanks to Richard Feynmann and his colleagues, it is also one of the rare parts of physics that is known for sure, a theory that has stood the test of time. . . . In this beautifully lucid set of lectures he provides a definitive introduction to QED.' 
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Galilei, Galileo, Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences (translated by Henry Crew and Alfonso de Salvio) , Dover 1954 Jacket: 'Despite the fact that this book encompasses thirty years of highly original experimentation and theorizing on the part of this singular man, it is eminently readable. Written as a discussion between a master and two students, it sets forth its hundreds of experiments and summarizes the conclusions Galileo drew from these experiments in a brisk direct style. Using helpful geometric demonstrations, Galileo discusses aspects of fracture of solid bodies, cohesion, leverage, the speed of light, sound, pendulums, falling bodies, projectiles, uniform motion, accelerated motion, and the strengths of wires, rods and beams under different loadings and placements. Not only does the book display the genius of one of the makers of our civilization, but it also presents, for the historian of science, considerable information about Renaissance misapprehensions which Galileo refuted.' 
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Greene, Graham, A Sort of Life, Bodley Head 1971 Amazon customer review: Greene is a master of understatment and restraint. This book is a lovely if self-effacing coming-of-literary-age memoir that is fun and reader friendly. It's invaluable for its precious glimpses into the vanished world of the 10's and 20's England. Full of curious detail too: I didn't know that Greene was related to R.L. Stevenson for example. The book ends just around the time of his first literary success. I don't know if there are any further memoirs but I wouldn't mind reading them.' Uncle Borges 
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Hofstadter, Douglas R, Goedel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Basic/Harvester 1979 An illustrated essay on the philosophy of mathematics. Formal systems, recursion, self reference and meaning explored with a dazzling array of examples in music, dialogue, text and graphics. 
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Hofstadter, Douglas R, Le Ton beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, Basic Books, HarperCollins Publishers Inc 1997 Amazon: 'In the fall of 1537, a child was confined to bed for some time. The French poet Clément Marot wrote her a get-well poem, 28 lines long, each line a scant three syllables. In the mid-1980s, the outrageously gifted Douglas R. Hofstadter- il miglior fabbro of Godel, Escher, Bach - first attempted to translate this "sweet, old, small elegant French poem into English." He was later to challenge friends, relations, and colleagues to do the same. The results were exceptional, and are now contained in Le Ton Beau De Marot, a sunny exploration of scholarly and linguistic play and love's infinity. Less sunny, however, is the tragedy that hangs over Hofstadter's book, the sudden death of his wife, Carol, from a brain tumor. (Her translation is among the book's finest.) 
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Stewart, Michael, Keynes and After, Penguin 1999 'Amazing how such a small book could give so much information about an economic theory that changed the world. In "Keynes and After," Michael Stewart does not waste any words in telling the reader how revolutions in thought occur when the prevailing theory can no longer be reconciled with the observable facts. That expression (in the "conclusion" in the book) could itself be an excellent thought for the current global politicians who seem to be clueless and not seeing the observable facts as to how to save the global economy. . . . ' Indrajith A Weeraratne 
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Streater, Raymond F, and Arthur S Wightman, PCT, Spin, Statistics and All That, Princeton University Press 2000 Amazon product description: 'PCT, Spin and Statistics, and All That is the classic summary of and introduction to the achievements of Axiomatic Quantum Field Theory. This theory gives precise mathematical responses to questions like: What is a quantized field? What are the physically indispensable attributes of a quantized field? Furthermore, Axiomatic Field Theory shows that a number of physically important predictions of quantum field theory are mathematical consequences of the axioms. Here Raymond Streater and Arthur Wightman treat only results that can be rigorously proved, and these are presented in an elegant style that makes them available to a broad range of physics and theoretical mathematics.' 
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Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre, The Future of Man (translated by Norman Denny) , Borgo Press 1994 Amazon product description: 'Pierre Teilhard De Chardin was one of the most distinguished thinkers and scientists of our time. He fits into no familiar category for he was at once a biologist and a paleontologist of world renown, and also a Jesuit priest. He applied his whole life, his tremendous intellect and his great spiritual faith to building a philosophy that would reconcile Christian theology with the scientific theory of evolution, to relate the facts of religious experience to those of natural science. The Phenomenon of Man, the first of his writings to appear in America, Pierre Teilhard's most important book and contains the quintessence of his thought. When published in France it was the best-selling nonfiction book of the year.' 
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Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre, The Phenomenon of Man, Collins 1965 Sir Julian Huxley, Introduction: 'We, mankind, contain the possibilities of the earth's immense future, and can realise more and more of them on condition that we increase our knowledge and our love. That, it seems to me, is the distillation of the Phenomenon of Man.'  
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Gaston, Kevin J, "Valuing Common Species", Science, 327, 5962, 8 January 2010, page 154-155. 'Aldo Leopold's dictum that "To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering" has been oft repeated in the context of environmental management. The argument is beguilingly simple. In the absence of a detailed understanding of what each species does in an ecosystem, it would be foolish to allow the loss of any one of them. It is the precautionary principle writ large and, given its enormous ramifications for the ways in which people interact with the natural world, ecologists have spent much intellectual energy, time, and resources in determining whether it has a strong empirical basis. Indeed, some of the best-known recent ecological experiments have examined the consequences of varying the numbers of species in a small area on ecosystem function. This focus assumes that the importance of retaining Leopold's cogs and wheels lies mostly in the differences between them. However, a growing body of work on common species underlines that having sufficient copies of some key pieces may be equally, and perhaps often more, important.. back

Hirose, Kei, "Deep Mantle Properties", Science, 327, 5962, 8 January 2010, page 151-152. 'The lower mantle extends from 660 to 2890 km below the surface of the Earth. The rocks and minerals of the deep mantle are not accessible in nature, except those occurring infrequently as inclusions in diamond. However, they can be synthesized and examined at the relevant high pressure and temperature conditions in the laboratory. Recent such experimental investigations, as well as theoretical calculations, have suggested that the properties of lower-mantle minerals vary with increasing depth much more than was previously thought. On page 193 of this issue, Irifune et al. (1) report that iron (Fe) partitioning between the two main lower-mantle constituents, iron–magnesium silicate perovskite (Pv) and iron–magnesium oxide (ferropericlase, Fp), indeed changes in a natural mantle composition for conditions corresponding to depths below 1100 km. The results have profound implications for predicting the properties and dynamics of the deep mantle.'. back

Horvath, Philippe Horvath, Rodolphe Barrangou, "CRISPR/Cas, the Immune System of Bacteria and Archaea", Science, 327, 5962, 8 January 2010, page 167-170. 'Microbes rely on diverse defense mechanisms that allow them to withstand viral predation and exposure to invading nucleic acid. In many Bacteria and most Archaea, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) form peculiar genetic loci, which provide acquired immunity against viruses and plasmids by targeting nucleic acid in a sequence-specific manner. These hypervariable loci take up genetic material from invasive elements and build up inheritable DNA-encoded immunity over time. Conversely, viruses have devised mutational escape strategies that allow them to circumvent the CRISPR/Cas system, albeit at a cost. CRISPR features may be exploited for typing purposes, epidemiological studies, host-virus ecological surveys, building specific immunity against undesirable genetic elements, and enhancing viral resistance in domesticated microbes'. back

Andrew Fortescue, Oil vs Water: Confessions of a Carbon Emitter, ' While net profit after tax continues to elude Tesla, it has a market value of over 800 billion US dollars. Its major climate innovation is a battery that runs on whatever fuel is in the national grid – instead of a fuel tank. I think the real climate change challenger, could be Fortescue. It has a market capitalisation of less than 60 billion US dollars – but it made a net profit, after tax, of over 940 million US dollars – just last month. Based on this position of strength, the Fortescue leadership recently decided to have a crack at becoming one of the world’s largest green energy and product businesses. To catalyse a global solution to climate change – by rapidly increasing the supply of green hydrogen back

Anselma dell'Olio, Fellini of the Spirits, ' Watch a special introduction of the documentary Fellini of the Spirits by the film's director Anselma dell'Olio as well as remarks by the Hollywood Foreign Press journalist Luca Celada. Organized on the 100th anniversary of Federico Fellini's birth by the Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles in collaboration with the San Diego Italian Film Festival and under the auspices of the Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles.' back

Aquinas 165, Summa I, 28, 1: Are there real relations in God?, 'Reply to Objection 4. Relations which result from the mental operation alone in the objects understood are logical relations only, inasmuch as reason observes them as existing between two objects perceived by the mind. Those relations, however, which follow the operation of the intellect, and which exist between the word intellectually proceeding and the source whence it proceeds, are not logical relations only, but are real relations; inasmuch as the intellect and the reason are real things, and are really related to that which proceeds from them intelligibly; as a corporeal thing is related to that which proceeds from it corporeally. Thus paternity and filiation are real relations in God.' back

Aquinas 1672, II II 152 4: Is virginity ore excellent than marriage?, 'I answer that, According to Jerome (Contra Jovin. i) the error of Jovinian consisted in holding virginity not to be preferable to marriage. This error is refuted above all by the example of Christ Who both chose a virgin for His mother, and remained Himself a virgin, and by the teaching of the Apostle who (1 Corinthians 7) counsels virginity as the greater good. It is also refuted by reason, both because a Divine good takes precedence of a human good, and because the good of the soul is preferable to the good of the body, and again because the good of the contemplative life is better than that of the active life.' back

Aquinas 961, I II 71 6: Is sin fittingly defined as a word, deed of desire contrary to eternal law, '. . . Augustine (Contra Faust. xxii, 27) includes two things in the definition of sin: one, pertaining to the substance of a human act, and which is the matter, so to speak, of sin, when he says "word," "deed," or "desire"; the other, pertaining to the nature of evil, and which is the form, as it were, of sin, when he says, "contrary to the eternal law." ' back

Aquinas, Summa: I, 14, 1, Is there knowledge in God?, ' I answer that, In God there exists the most perfect knowledge. . . . it is clear that the immateriality of a thing is the reason why it is cognitive; and according to the mode of immateriality is the mode of knowledge. Hence it is said in De Anima ii that plants do not know, because they are wholly material. But sense is cognitive because it can receive images free from matter, and the intellect is still further cognitive, because it is more separated from matter and unmixed, as said in De Anima iii. Since therefore God is in the highest degree of immateriality as stated above (Question 7, Article 1), it follows that He occupies the highest place in knowledge.' back

Arthur Barnes (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908), Evangelical Counsels, 'To sum up: it is possible to be rich, and married, and held in honour by all men, and yet keep the Commandments and to enter heaven. Christ's advice is, if we would make sure of everlasting life and desire to conform ourselves perfectly to the Divine will, that we should sell our possessions and give the proceeds to others who are in need, that we should live a life of chastity for the Gospel's sake, and, finally, should not seek honours or commands, but place ourselves under obedience. These are the Evangelical Counsels, and the things which are counselled are not set forward so much as good in themselves, as in the light of means to an end and as the surest and quickest way of obtaining everlasting life.' back

Ben Doherty, Australia's offshore detention damages asylum seekers becasue it is supposed to, 'But many of the medical professionals who work within this system have told Guardian Australia that they do not believe the damage to asylum seekers and refugees held is accidental or an unhappy, unintended side-effect of detention. They argue that the detention centres are “designed to damage” people, and that the illnesses, injuries, and deaths are the predictable, expected outcomes of the regime. Detention damages people because it is supposed to.' back

Born rule - Wikipedia, Born rule - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Born rule (also called the Born law, Born's rule, or Born's law) is a law of quantum mechanics which gives the probability that a measurement on a quantum system will yield a given result. It is named after its originator, the physicist Max Born. The Born rule is one of the key principles of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. There have been many attempts to derive the Born rule from the other assumptions of quantum mechanics, with inconclusive results. . . . The Born rule states that if an observable corresponding to a Hermitian operator A with discrete spectrum is measured in a system with normalized wave function (see bra-ket notation), then the measured result will be one of the eigenvalues λ of A, and the probability of measuring a given eigenvalue λ_i will equal <ψ|P_i|ψ> where P_i is the projection onto the eigenspace of A corresponding to λ_i'. back

Douglas Dalby, Catholic Church's Hold on Schools at Issue in Changing Ireland, 'DUBLIN — The Roman Catholic Church has lost the battles over divorce, contraception and gay marriage in Ireland. But it still wields what some parents call the “baptism barrier”: influencing admission to public schools. Almost all state-funded primary schools — nearly 97 percent — are under church control, and Irish law allows them to consider religion the main factor in admissions. As a practical matter, that means local schools, already oversubscribed, often choose to admit Catholics over non-Catholics.' back

E.J. Dionne Jr, Trump shows 'America First' is utterly incoherent, 'Any other president, Republican or Democrat, who gave a speech of the sort Trump delivered would have faced an avalanche of criticism. It just won’t do to smile indulgently and say, “Oh, that’s Trump being Trump,” or, “He’s just appealing to his base.” Trump’s invocations of “America first” will ultimately leave our country behind in the world. His rhetoric sounds tough but will only make us weaker.. back

Evangelical counsels - Wikipedia, Evangelical counsels - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The three evangelical counsels or counsels of perfection in Christianity are chastity, poverty (or perfect charity), and obedience. As Jesus of Nazareth stated in the Canonical gospels, they are counsels for those who desire to become "perfect" . . . . The Catholic Church interprets this to mean that they are not binding upon all and hence not necessary conditions to attain eternal life (heaven). Rather they are "acts of supererogation" that exceed the minimum stipulated in the Commandments in the Bible. Christians that have made a public profession to order their life by the evangelical counsels, and confirmed this by a public religious vow before their competent church authority (the act of religious commitment called "profession"), are recognised as members of the consecrated life.' back

Francis Keany, Scientific research underpins a quarter of Australia's economic output, study finds, 'Scientific advances over the past 20 to 30 years have underpinned an estimated $330 billion of Australia's economic growth, according to a new report by the Australian Academy of Science. Key points: Findings demonstrate importance of science, outgoing chief scientist says Biological advances contributing $65 billion to economy annually Medical advances valued at more than $83 billion The research, produced by the Centre for International Economies, found the areas of physical, mathematical and biological sciences contributed to 26 per cent of Australian economic activity.' back

Frankie Boye, Who doesn't want to see Jeremy Corbyn elected? It would be a glorious six-day reign, 'And yet, who doesn’t want to see Corbyn elected? Can you think of anything more ridiculous than a man of principle being inexplicably elected to high office? It’ll be like a Peter Sellers movie. Sure, he’ll be crushed under the heel of international finance, but I for one look forward to his glorious six-day premiership. His brief reign will be a high point for modern Britain, a time that we will commemorate every year by leaving ironic poppies balanced on the lip of the missile crater where his house used to be, a time we will reminisce about fondly during the five-minute socialisation breaks when they lower the dividing walls between our work cubes.' back

Nous - Wikipedia, Nous - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Nous . . . , sometimes equated to intellect or intelligence, is a philosophical term for the faculty of the human mind which is described in classical philosophy as necessary for understanding what is true or real. The three commonly used philosophical terms are from Greek, νοῦς or νόος, and Latin intellectus and intelligentia respectively. To describe the activity of this faculty, apart from verbs based on "understanding", the word "intellection" is sometimes used in philosophical contexts, and the Greek words noēsis and noein are sometimes also used. This activity is understood in a similar way, at least in some contexts, to the modern concept intuition.' back

Internet Protocol - Wikipedia, Internet Protocol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Internet Protocol (IP) is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams (packets) across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite. Responsible for routing packets across network boundaries, it is the primary protocol that establishes the Internet. IP is the primary protocol in the Internet Layer of the Internet Protocol Suite and has the task of delivering datagrams from the source host to the destination host solely based on their addresses. For this purpose, IP defines addressing methods and structures for datagram encapsulation.' back

Jesuit Communications Australia, Eureka Street, 'Eureka Street is a publication of the Australian Jesuits. It existed as a monthly, and briefly bi-monthly, print magazine for 16 years, commencing in March 1991. Today it exists as a vibrant online journal of analysis, commentary and reflection on current issues in the worlds of politics, religion and culture. It aims to participate in public discussion and influence public opinion regarding the Things That Matter in Australia and the world.' back

Jim Branson, Eigenvalue Equations, ' The time independent Schrödinger Equation is an example of an Eigenvalue equation.

H u(x) = E u(x)

The Hamiltonian operates on u(x) the eigenfunction, giving a constant E the eigenvalue, times the same function. (Eigen just means the same in German.)'

John 15:13, Greater love has no one, 'My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.' back

John Melody, Chastity (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908), 'Christianity and the practice of chastity Under Christianity chastity has been practised in a manner unknown under any other influence. Christian morality prescribes the right order of relations. It therefore must direct and control the manner of relationship sustained to each other by soul and body. Between these two there is an ineradicable opposition, the flesh with its concupiscences contending unceasingly against the spirit, blinding the latter and weaning it away from the pursuit of its true life. Harmony and due order between these two must prevail. But this means the pre-eminence and mastery of the spirit, which in turn can only mean the castigation of the body. The real as well as the etymological kinship between chastity and chastisement then is obvious. Necessarily, therefore, chastity is a thing stern and austere. The effect of the example as well as of the words of Our Saviour (Matthew 19:11-12) is seen in the lives of the many celibates and virgins who have graced the history of the Christian Church, while the idea of marriage as the sign and symbol of the ineffable union of Christ with His spotless spouse the Church — a union in which fidelity no less than love is mutual — has borne its fruit in beautifying the world with patterns of conjugal chastity.' back

John von Neumann, The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, ' Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics by John von Neumann translated from the German by Robert T. Beyer (New Edition) edited by Nicholas A. Wheeler. Princeton UP Princeton & Oxford. Preface: ' This book is the realization of my long-held intention to someday use the resources of TEX to produce a more easily read version of Robert T. Beyer’s authorized English translation (Princeton University Press, 1955) of John von Neumann’s classic Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik (Springer, 1932).'This content downloaded from 129.127.145.240 on Sat, 30 May 2020 22:38:31 UTC back

Kristina Kinneally, Here's fresh insight into Pell's response to child sex abuse crisis. Irs not encouraging, 'Viewed through modern eyes, it seems extraordinary that it took the Catholic church nearly two millennia to comprehensively condemn slavery. . . . The Catholic church is a slow-moving beast, especially when it comes to social and economic reforms. Fifty years after Vatican II, the Church announced just this week that it would slavery-proof its supply chains. Australian Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the Holy See Secretariat of the Economy, confirmed in a keynote speech at an international financial conference in Rome this week that the Vatican would join some 400 companies in eradicating the use of forced labor from suppliers.' back

Landauer, Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process, 'Abstract: 'It is argued that computing machines inevitably involve devices which perform logical functions that do not have a single-valued inverse. The logical irreversibility is associated with physical irreversibility, and requires a minimum heat generation, per machine cycle, typically of the order of kT for each irreversible function. The dissipation serves the purpose of standardizing signals and making them independent of their exact logical history. Two simple, but representative, models of bistable devices are subjected to a more detailed analysis of switching kinetics to yield the relationship between speed and energy dissipation, and to estimate the effects of errors induced by thermal fluctuations.' back

Lisp (programming Language) - Wikipedia, Lisp (programming Language) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Lisp (historically, LISP) is a family of computer programming languages with a long history and a distinctive, fully parenthesized Polish prefix notation.[1] Originally specified in 1958, Lisp is the second-oldest high-level programming language in widespread use today; only Fortran is older (by one year).[2][3] Like Fortran, Lisp has changed a great deal since its early days, and a number of dialects have existed over its history. Today, the most widely known general-purpose Lisp dialects are Common Lisp and Scheme. back

Lovin' Spoonful, Darling Be Home Soon, ' Come
And talk of all the things we did today Here
And laugh about our funny little ways
While we have a few minutes to breathe
Then I know that it's time you must leave

But, darling, be home soon
I couldn't bear to wait an extra minute if you dawdled
My darling, be home soon
It's not just these few hours, but I've been waiting since I toddled
For the great relief of having you to talk to

And now A quarter of my life is almost past
I think I've come to see myself at last
And I see that the time spent confused
Was the time that I spent without you
And I feel myself in bloom

So, darling, be home soon
I couldn't bear to wait an extra minute if you dawdled
My darling, be home soon
It's not just these few hours, but I've been waiting since I toddled
For the great relief of having you to talk to

So, darling
My darling, be home soon
I couldn't bear to wait an extra minute if you dawdled
My darling, be home soon
It's not just these few hours, but I've been waiting since I toddled
For the great relief of having you to talk to

Go
And beat your crazy head against the sky
Try
And see beyond the houses and your eyes
It's okay to shoot the moon

Darling be home soon
I couldn't bear to wait an extra minute if you dawdled
My darling, be home soon
It's not just these few hours, but I've been waiting since I toddled
For the great relief of having you to talk to
. back

Neuron - Wikipedia, Neuron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'A neuron . . . is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals. These signals between neurons occur via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons can connect to each other to form neural networks. Neurons are the core components of the brain and spinal cord of the central nervous system (CNS), and of the ganglia of the peripheral nervous system (PNS).' back

New Matilda, Independent news, analysis and satire, 'Launched in August 2004, newmatilda.com is an Australian website of news, analysis and satire. Believing that robust media is fundamental to a healthy democracy, newmatilda.com is fiercely independent — it has no affiliation with any political party, lobby group or other media organisation.' back

New York Times Editorial Board, The Fading Two-State Solution, 'Speaking at a security conference, Mr. Shapiro said, correctly, that Israel’s quick-moving expansion of settlements on Palestinian lands “raises honest questions about Israel’s long-term intentions” and commitment to a two-state solution. What really enraged his critics was an observation that during a time of increased violence in Israel and the West Bank, “Too many attacks on Palestinians lack a vigorous investigation or response by Israeli authorities, too much vigilantism goes unchecked, and at times there seem to be two standards of adherence to the rule of law: one for Israelis and another for Palestinians.” A statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office denounced the second comment as “unacceptable and incorrect.” . . . The criticism of Mr. Shapiro, a vigorous advocate for Israel, was unusually personal and unfair. He correctly identified a serious problem. Since 1967, there has been a dual legal system in the West Bank in which Palestinians are subject to military courts, where, experts say, they are almost always convicted. Israeli settlers fall under the Israeli civilian judicial system, with its greater rights and protections.' back

Oliver Milman, World's oceans warming as increasingly faster rate, new study finds, 'Ocean water, which has a much higher heat capacity than air, has absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat and nearly 30% of the carbon dioxide generated by human consumption of fossil fuels. The vast Southern Ocean sucked up 1.2bn tonnes of carbon in 2011 alone – which is roughly equivalent to the European Union’s annual carbon output.' back

Paul: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1 Corinthians, Chapter 7, '1Now in regard to the matters about which you wrote: “It is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman,”' back

Pauli exclusion principle - Wikipedia, Pauli exclusion principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Pauli exclusion principle is the quantum mechanical principle that no two identical fermions (particles with half-integer spin) may occupy the same quantum state simultaneously. A more rigorous statement is that the total wave function for two identical fermions is anti-symmetric with respect to exchange of the particles. The principle was formulated by Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli in 1925.' back

Portal: Mind and Brain - Wikipedia, Portal: Mind and Brain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Welcome to the Mind and Brain Portal. This is an interdisciplinary point of entry to such related fields as cognitive psychology, philosophy of mind, neuroscience, and linguistics.' back

Quantum chromodynamics - Wikipedia, Quantum chromodynamics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction between quarks and gluons, the fundamental particles that make up composite hadrons such as the proton, neutron and pion. QCD is a type of quantum field theory called a non-abelian gauge theory, with symmetry group SU(3). The QCD analog of electric charge is a property called color. Gluons are the force carrier of the theory, like photons are for the electromagnetic force in quantum electrodynamics.' back

R. P. Feynman, Space-Time Approach to Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics, ' Abstract Non-relativistic quantum mechanics is formulated here in a different way. It is, however, mathematically equivalent to the familiar formulation. In quantum mechanics the probability of an event which can happen in several different ways is the absolute square of a sum of complex contributions, one from each alternative way. The probability that a particle will be found to have a path x(t) lying somewhere within a region of space time is the square of a sum of contributions, one from each path in the region. The contribution from a single path is postulated to be an exponential whose (imaginary) phase is the classical action (in units of ℏ) for the path in question. The total contribution from all paths reaching x, t from the past is the wave function ψ(x, t). This is shown to satisfy Schroedinger's equation. The relation to matrix and operator algebra is discussed. Applications are indicated, in particular to eliminate the coordinates of the field oscillators from the equations of quantum electrodynamics. back

Richard MacKenzie, Path Integral Methods and Applications, ' AbstractThese lectures are intended as an introduction to the technique of path integrals and their applications in physics. The audience is mainly first-year graduate students, and it is assumed that the reader has a good foundation in quantum mechanics. No prior exposure to path integrals is assumed, however. The path integral is a formulation of quantum mechanics equivalent to the standard formulations, offering a new way of looking at the subject which is, arguably, more intuitive than the usual approaches. Applications of path integrals are as vast as those of quantum mechanics itself, including the quantum mechanics of a single particle,statistical mechanics, condensed matter physics and quantum field theory.' back

Rolf Landauer, Information is a Physical Entity, 'Abstract: This paper, associated with a broader conference talk on the fundamental physical limits of information handling, emphasizes the aspects still least appreciated. Information is not an abstract entity but exists only through a physical representation, thus tying it to all the restrictions and possibilities of our real physical universe. The mathematician's vision of an unlimited sequence of totally reliable operations is unlikely to be implementable in this real universe. Speculative remarks about the possible impact of that on the ultimate nature of the laws of physics are included.' back

S Matrix - Wikipedia, S Matrix - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In physics, the Scattering matrix (S-matrix) relates the initial state and the final state for an interaction of particles. It is used in quantum mechanics, scattering theory and quantum field theory.' back

Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Persona humana: Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics, December 29, 1975, 'At the audience granted on November 7, 1975, to the undersigned Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Sovereign Pontiff by Divine Providence Pope Paul VI approved this Declaration "On certain questions concerning sexual ethics," confirmed it and ordered its publication. Given in Rome, at the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on December 29th, 1975. Franjo Cardinal Seper Prefect Most Rev. Jerome Hamer, O.P. Titular Archbishop of Lorium Secretary' back

Sir Robert Owen, The Litvinenko Inquiry: Report into the death of Alexander Litvinenko, '2.6 It has always been my view that the question of possible Russian State responsibility for Mr Litvinenko’s death is one of the most important issues arising from his death. It was an issue that I had intended to investigate at the inquest, but it did not seem right to me to investigate this issue in the knowledge that government material that was of great relevance had been excluded – albeit that it had been excluded for a good reason. 2.7 I therefore asked the Home Secretary to establish a Public Inquiry to replace the inquest. The advantage of a Public Inquiry over the inquest was that the rules governing an inquiry allow for sensitive evidence to be heard in closed session.' back

Sonja Hammer, Film Review: Dawn Raid - Southside and the Polynesian Sound , ' This film joins recent trends of music documentaries from Aotearoa, like Poi E: The Story of Our Song and Herbs: Songs of Freedom (both by Tearepa Kahi). These stories are told by Polynesians about Polynesians and like Brotha D and Kightley, growing up through the activism of our ancestors and our own experiences of fighting racism, Dawn Raid documents a powerful shift in the Polynesian lands of Aotearoa/NZ, where music culture is identity.' back