Polybius: Mysterious Video Game
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| Polybius arcade cabinet built by Robb Sherwin Image courtesy of Wikipedia(Khtexg98537) |
The game proved to be incredibly popular, to the point of addiction, and lines formed around the machines, often resulting in fighting over who played next. Then this was followed by clusters of visits from men in black. Rather than the usual marketing data collected by company visitors to arcade machines, they collected some unknown data, allegedly testing responses to the psychoactive machines. The players themselves suffered from a series of unpleasant side effects, including amnesia, insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, and even suicide in some versions of the legend. Some players stopped playing video games, while reportedly one became an antigaming activist.
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| Title frame of the alleged game Image courtesy of Wikipedia(Khtexg98537) |
Polybius gets its name from the Greek historian born about 200 years BCE. In a Polybius square, the letters of the alphabet are arranged in a grid, numbered five across and five high (the Greek alphabet had only 24 letters, so it fit). His idea was that this would make it easier to send messages by flag or drum or fire, having only five characters to worry about instead of a whole alphabet. But rearrange the letters within the grid, and you have a simple ciphering system.
If these game consoles were ever actually in Oregon, they must have gone somewhere. Many owners of rare and classic arcade games are members of the Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, which lists exactly one person as the owner of an original Polybius: Robb Sherwin, who lives in Colorado, and owns a dozen or so classic video games.
References: [Wikipedia] [Skeptoid]
Blue Eyes, A Genetic Mutation?
What is Genetic Mutation?
“Originally, we all had brown eyes”, said Professor Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. “But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a “switch”, which literally “turned off” the ability to produce brown eyes”. The OCA2 gene codes for the so-called P protein, which is involved in the production of melanin, the pigment that gives colour to our hair, eyes and skin. The “switch”, which is located in the gene adjacent to OCA2 does not, however, turn off the gene entirely, but rather limits its action to reducing the production of melanin in the iris – effectively “diluting” brown eyes to blue. The switch’s effect on OCA2 is very specific therefore. If the OCA2 gene had been completely destroyed or turned off, human beings would be without melanin in their hair, eyes or skin colour – a condition known as albinism.
Limited Genetic Variation
Variation in the colour of the eyes from brown to green can all be explained by the amount of melanin in the iris, but blue-eyed individuals only have a small degree of variation in the amount of melanin in their eyes. “From this we can conclude that all blue-eyed individuals are linked to the same ancestor,” says Professor Eiberg. “They have all inherited the same switch at exactly the same spot in their DNA.” Brown-eyed individuals, by contrast, have considerable individual variation in the area of their DNA that controls melanin production.
Professor Eiberg and his team examined mitochondrial DNA and compared the eye colour of blue-eyed individuals in countries as diverse as Jordan, Denmark and Turkey. His findings are the latest in a decade of genetic research, which began in 1996, when Professor Eiberg first implicated the OCA2 gene as being responsible for eye colour.
Nature Shuffles Our Genes
The mutation of brown eyes to blue represents neither a positive nor a negative mutation. It is one of several mutations such as hair colour, baldness, freckles and beauty spots, which neither increases nor reduces a human’s chance of survival. As Professor Eiberg says, “it simply shows that nature is constantly shuffling the human genome, creating a genetic cocktail of human chromosomes and trying out different changes as it does so.”
Astronomers detect mysterious radio signals from 11 billion light years away
According to the astronomers, these radio waves do not come from Earthly sources. In fact, astronomers posit that their brightness and distance promote the idea that they originate from space distances when the Universe was only half its current age.
Furthermore, astronomers posit that the burst energetics signify that they come from an intense astrophysical event associated with relativistic objects like neutron stars or black holes.
Lead author Dan Thornton, a PhD student at University of Manchester and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, notes that the study’s results suggested some intense events involving big amounts of mass or energy as the starting point of the radio bursts.
According to Thornton, a single burst of radio emission of unidentified origin was picked up outside our own Milky Way galaxy approximately six years ago but no one had any idea what it was or if it was genuine in existence. For the last four years, astronomers have looked for more of these strange radio bursts.
In the study, astronomers discuss four more radio bursts, ending any discussion of whether or not these radio bursts are real. According to the authors, the radio bursts last for only a few milliseconds and the most distant one that they identified was approximately 11 billion light years away from Earth.
Interestingly, the discoveries also provide evidence for the theory that there should be one of these radio bursts being released every 10 seconds. According to Michael Kramer, a professor at the University of Manchester and the Max-Planck Institute Director, the radio bursts lost for only a few milliseconds, meaning that with the available technology astronomers have to be observing the right location at the right time to detect them. However, the ability to view the entire sky, all of the time, would lead to the discovery of radio bursts on a much more frequent basis.
To make their discoveries, the international research team utilized the CSIRO Parkes 64-meter radio telescope in Australia.
According to co-author Matthew Bailes, a professor at the Swinburne University of Technology, the radio bursts may originate from “magnetars.” Magnetars have the ability to give off more energy in a millisecond than our Sun gives off in 300,000 years and are the principal suspect for the mysterious radio signals.
According to the astronomers, the findings will help scientists learn more about characteristics of space between the Earth and where the bursts originated.
Ben Strappers, a professor at the University of Manchester’s School of Physics and Astronomy, posits that astronomers are still uncertain about what space is like between galaxies, but these radio signals will offer key data in their quest to learn more about the Universe.
References: [The Space Reporter]
Mankind Has 1,000 Years To Escape Earth
Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking warns human beings won’t survive “without escaping” from the “fragile” planet. His gloomy forecast is people will become extinct on Earth within current the millennium.
Speaking at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles the 71-year-old scientist called for further exploration of space to guarantee the future of mankind, the Belfast Telegraph reports.
"We must continue to go into space for humanity. If you understand how the universe operates, you control it in a way," Professor Hawking said, adding that "we won't survive another 1,000 years without escaping our fragile planet."
Space exploration has however been struggling with the global financial crisis and has too proven subject to spending cuts. In particular NASA's planetary science budget, which is seen as crucial to finding habitable planets, was slashed by $300 million this year.
At the same time, the Mars race has not been abandoned.
On Monday NASA concluded from Curiosity Rover’s findings that the red planet is gradually turning cold after losing a large part of its original atmosphere.
Russia, in its turn, has signed a deal with the European Space Agency to become a full-fledged partner in the ExoMars project, a new attempt to discover if there is life on Mars and eventually send a manned mission there. In 2010 and 2011, the Mars-500 experiment was carried out in Moscow: a group of six volunteers were locked inside a simulated spacecraft for 520 days – the time it would take to make a round trip to the planet.
Back at the LA Medical Center, Hawking was touring a stem cell lab, which is focused on trying to slow the progression of Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He’s been suffering the incurable ailment, which attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control the muscles, for 50 years.
Director of Cedars-Sinai's ALS program, Dr. Robert Baloh, has admitted that he is unable to explain Hawking’s longevity, because people rarely live more than a dozen years with this diagnosis.
“But 50 years is unusual, to say the least," Baloh said.
Hawking was diagnosed with the neurological disorder while a student at Cambridge University at the age of 21. He is confined to a wheelchair and needs permanent assistance. The only movement he is able to do on his own is to twitch the cheek. He communicates with the rest of the world by means of the built-in wheelchair computer, which conveys the owner’s thoughts by a monotonous robot’s voice.
"However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at," Hawking added speaking of dealing with his health condition.
Despite his grave diagnosis, Professor Hawking has remained active. In 2007, he floated like an astronaut on an aircraft that creates zero-gravity by making parabolic dives.
Hawking spent his career on decoding the Universe, working on black holes and the origin of matter. The Professor brought his esoteric physics concepts to the masses through his books, including “A Brief History of Time” published in 1988, which was sold 10 million copies worldwide.
References: [RT]
Hidden Subway Station in NYC
Opened in 1904, this crowning glory of the New York subway system lies deep in the city. A beautiful untouched station resides that has been forgotten for years with only a limited few knowing of its existence. Stunning decoration with tall tiled arches, brass fixtures and skylights run across the entire curve of the station, which also can be thought of as a miniature imitation of Grand Central Station. It is an elegant architecture and a place for commemorative plaques to honour the work that had resulted in such a successful underground mass transit system. It was to be the original southern terminus of the first ‘Manhattan Main Line’; however the station was closed and boarded up in 1945. The gem of the underground began gathering dust, forgotten by the general public, as passengers were forced off at the Brooklyn Bridge Stop before the train continued on to the terminus to make its turnaround.
The reason for its closure was that newer longer cars were required to match the demand of passengers that passed through the system. But as the stations tracks were severely curved, a dangerous gap between the train doors and the platform was formed making it an unsafe area. This combined with the fact that only about 600 people used it, resulted in its closure with only mythical plans of turning it into a transit museum. But this was never followed through.
However, now you don’t have to take my word that the secret City Hall Station exists, as the 6 Train will now allow the passengers who have been enlightened with the knowledge of its whereabouts to stay on the train during its turnaround and see the Station. You won’t be able to get off, but you’ll be taken for a slow tour of the platform and see what a beauty it was in its heyday!
References: [Travelettes]