Immanuel Kant, who coined the term genius in the 1700s, defined it as the rare capacity to independently understand concepts that would normally have to be taught by another person. Since then, the spectrum of abilities that we call genius has widened, but pivotal questions remain: What exactly is genius? Where do the remarkable abilities of genius come from? Is genius something that lives within all of us, or is it a categorically different way of seeing the world that is bestowed upon only a few?
With the emergence of new imaging technologies and a fundamental shift in the understanding of how information is spread through our brains, we’re beginning to find some answers. We joined neuroscientists, psychologists, renowned thinkers, and special performers as they untangled the complicated nature of genius, creativity, and exceptionality.
"Trekking through dense, remote forests in search of rare and wondrous species seems like a Victorian pursuit. But not to Dan Hinkley, a horticulturist who travels the globe today on a quest for exotic plants. As with the great plant explorers of previous centuries, what Hinkley brings back from his expeditions may not only enrich our gardens, it may even shed light on the evolutionary relationships among plants. For NOVA's "First Flower," producer Doug Hamilton journeyed with Hinkley and Chinese botanist Yin Kaipu through the Hengduan Mountains of southwestern China. This interview took place at a site where, two decades ago, Yin's mentor discovered a remarkable "hanging lily."
A short clip of the hour long Nova program 'First Flower. For anyone interested in the flora of our planet, an excellent program which was first broadcast in 2007.
"What a charred ancient tree can teach us about impermanence, deep time, and our place in the universe.
The tree had been on fire for over a week before anyone noticed. The Senator, one of the oldest Cypress trees in the world, was killed when a smoldering ignition from an errant lightning strike slowly transformed it into a towering chimney and fuel source in one. Or maybe it didn’t happen like that at all. Perhaps it was an errant cigarette, or a sinister match strategically placed in its hollow berth. The mystery endures, but the fact remains: on January 16, 2012 The Senator collapsed and died, engulfed in flames. It was 3,500 years old. . . . ."
A series of unusual and mysterious loud sounds are being heard in various locations around the world – and people are quick to blame them on everything from HAARP and earthquakes to 2012 and trumpets sounding a coming Apocalypse, and of course Aliens are also blamed.
All around the globe, from the U.S. and Canada to Central America, Europe, Russia,and around Asia people are recording unusual and mysterious sounds. Although the phenomenon is not entirely new, the recent outbreak seems to indicate an increase in these eerie, almost other-worldly sounds, causing both concern and speculation.
"People around the world have reported hearing strange sounds from the skies over the past month. Sometimes they describe it as a hum or low rumble; other times it’s a whine, thump, or even a melody. Often the sounds have been recorded and posted online, fueling rumors and conspiracy theories.
One blogger wrote, "either the world is ending, aliens are landing or everyone is getting hoaxed. Or, possibly, there’s an actual scientific explanation for the mass amount of YouTube videos capturing bizarre sounds that are being heard around the globe. Are we witnessing the beginning of a full-scale alien invasion?"
So, what are people hearing (and recording)?
The explanations are almost as varied as the sounds themselves. There's not a single blanket explanation for all the mysterious sounds . . . . . "
There are literally hundreds of Youtube videos posted from all over the globe with these strange stounds that seem to come from the sky. It is an eerie sound that no one has heard before and yet within the past 12 to 16 months hundreds of thousands of peole world-wide are scratching their heads in wonder and disbelief. The scientific community has not offered any explination. and the MSM has remained surpingly quiet.
I have been an admirer, and student of, nature all my life - well for at least as long as I can remember. And my finest teacher was 'baba', my grandmother. We had long walks in her large garden, around the neighor's pond, in the woods near our house and down by the river during my childhood in Slovakia. Nature was our classroom and the plants, animals, anphibians and insects were our subjects. But she never told me about a bug, the lesser water boatman, that was singing with his weenie. A little known fact that she obviously was not aware of.
"If you walk by a European river on a summer’s day, you might get to hear the animal kingdom’s champion vocalist. His song sounds like a train of chirps, and from a metre away, it’s as loud as whirring power tools. The din is all the more incredible because it is produced by an insect just two millimetres in length – the lesser water boatman, Micronecta scholtzi
Micronecta means “small swimmer” and it is aptly named. It’s among the smallest of the several hundred species of water boatmen that row across the bottom of ponds and streams with paddle-shaped legs. The males are the ones that sing, and they often do so in large choruses to attract the silent females. These songs are famously loud. Even though the insect lives underwater, you can hear its call from the riverbank, several metres away.
Now, Jérôme Sueur from the Natural History Museum in Paris has measured Micronecta’s song using underwater microphones. He found that it the small swimmer is a record-breaker. On average, it reaches 79 decibels, about the level of a ringing phone or a cocktail party. But at its peak, it reaches 105 decibels – more like a car horn, a power tool or a passing subway train.
There are animals that make far louder calls. The record goes to the sperm whale, which can create clicks of around 236 decibels underwater (equivalent to 170 decibels on land). Other animals, including elephants, hippos and dolphins can produce louder calls than Micronecta.
But pound for pound, there is no competition. All of these animals are very big, and it stands to reason that large objects can produce louder sounds – think about the difference between a concert amp and a set of headphones. The sperm whale, for example, grows up to 16 metres in length and weighs up to 14 tonnes. Micronecta, on the other hand, produces its phenomenal song with a body that’s no bigger than one of these letters. Sueur compared the ratio of call intensity to body size for 227 different animals, from whales to insects, and found that the water boatmen out-sang them all.
How does such a tiny insect make such a loud noise? It’s not clear. It seems to do so by rubbing its ribbed penis against ridges on its belly, playing its genitals like a miniature fiddler. But the “bow” here is just 50 micrometres long, and there are no obvious body parts to amplify the noise. . . . . . "
Since encountering my first fractal image nearly 15 years ago I have been obsessed with this means of examing a previously unknown world. And have utilized a number of fractial software programs over the years. No more than a week ago I encountered a new program that renders fractal images in 3 D.
Mysteriously beautiful fractals are shaking up the world of mathematics and deepening our understanding of nature.
You may not know it, but fractals, like the air you breathe, are all around you. Their irregular, repeating shapes are found in cloud formations and tree limbs, in stalks of broccoli and craggy mountain ranges, even in the rhythm of the human heart. In this film, NOVA takes viewers on a fascinating quest with a group of maverick mathematicians determined to decipher the rules that govern fractal geometry.
For centuries, fractal-like irregular shapes were considered beyond the boundaries of mathematical understanding. Now, mathematicians have finally begun mapping this uncharted territory. Their remarkable findings are deepening our understanding of nature and stimulating a new wave of scientific, medical, and artistic innovation stretching from the ecology of the rain forest to fashion design. The Nova documentary highlights a host of filmmakers, fashion designers, physicians, and researchers who are using fractal geometry to innovate and inspire.
Common cranes have been hand-reared to fly alongside a microlight to capture these images.
Earthflight uses many different filming techniques to create the experience of flying with birds as they reveal some of the greatest natural and man-made monuments of the planet.
Recently watched the documentary 'The Linguists' on the BBC channel about David Harrison's linguistic work around the world.
"Informative conversation with K. David Harrison, assistant professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College near Philadelphia and the author of the new book "When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge". He is the Director of Research at the Living Tongues Institute and was recently featured in the documentary called "The Linguists" which followed hands-on linguistic field work in countries around the world. In this fascinating interview, Harrison discusses the critical importance of the world's many threatened languages and the vital knowledge that each language uniquely packages and holds for all of us. Harrison also discusses the need for more trained linguistic personnel to go out into some of the remotest parts of the world to document these nearly extinct languages before they are lost to humanity forever."
"British energy giant BP has accused Halliburton of intentionally destroying evidence to conceal its role in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster, CNN reported on Tuesday.
In documents filed at a federal court in New Orleans, BP said Halliburton had destroyed evidence on cement slurry testing and refused to provide "inexplicably missing" computer modeling results, according to CNN.
"Halliburton's refusal has been unwavering, despite repeated BP discovery requests and a specific order from this Court," CNN said, quoting from the documents.
"BP has now learned the reason for Halliburton's intransigence -- Halliburton destroyed the results of physical slurry testing, and it has, at best, lost the computer modeling outputs that showed no channeling.
"More egregious still, Halliburton intentionally destroyed the evidence related to its nonprivileged cement testing, in part because it wanted to eliminate any risk that this evidence would be used against it at trial."
"It was for his joyous curiosity about the natural world that British television viewers took David Attenborough to their hearts in the 1970s and kept him there. Whether sitting alongside a gorilla in the most famous sequence in the original Life on Earth series, or peering at the multicoloured chameleons that are his favourite creatures in a BBC special earlier this year, Attenborough's life's work has been to show people what is most beautiful and interesting about our planet.
Frozen Planet, the BBC natural history unit's latest production, is mostly more of the same and British audiences are lapping it up, with 7m viewers tuning in to the penguin-heavy third episode last week. But as Attenborough explained when I interviewed him last month, it isn't possible to spend four years filming in the Arctic and Antarctic without worrying about what is going on. Glaciers are retreating, Arctic ice cover has shrunk by 30% in 30 years and polar bears are finding it harder to survive. So the final programme in the series On Thin Ice (a working title of Meltdown was junked – presumably for sounding too alarmist), due to be aired on 7 December, explains in some detail how we know this and what it might mean, while studiously (some will say wrongly) avoiding any discussion of the causes.
Reports in British newspapers yesterday that Discovery, the US broadcaster that co-produced the series, along with unnamed other foreign broadcasters, will not show this final episode will rightly dismay everyone who accepts that Earth is warming. That audiences invited to sit through five hours of groundbreaking natural history – including the first footage of killer whales tipping seals off ice floes (as Captain Scott said they could 100 years ago), and a hibernating polar bear nursing her cubs while half-asleep – could be sent away none the wiser as to the existential threat facing many of these species, seems ludicrous. .....
..... If those in the US or anywhere else see all the action, the hunts and fights and chases, the polar bear cubs slipping and sliding on the ice, but miss out on the analysis underpinning it because the commentary, in whatever language, is not adjusted to incorporate some of these crucial facts, their broadcasters will have failed them. For what is the point of education, if not the truth?" .
"For what is the point of education, if not the truth?"
Try and explain that concept to a member of the GOP or a Tea Bagger where facts and the truth take a backseat to political opinion.
UPDATE from CHANGE.ORG
Big news! For weeks, the Discovery Channel refused to show the stunning conclusions of its own Frozen Planet documentary series that showed the devastating effects that climate change has had on the North and South Poles -- and the danger it portends for the rest of the planet.
But just hours after Claudia Abbott-Barish's Change.org petition hit 75,000 signatures, Discovery backed down, and agreed to air the final episode (all about climate change) in its entirety!
It's another sign that something different is happening all over the world. Every day, people are taking a stand on local, state and national issues that matter to them, and they're winning.
