Re-evolution

Dramatic reverse evolution found among fish species

Washington: Scientists have discovered a process of “reverse evolution” among tiny fish species living in Lake Washington, a finding that is being linked to a pollutioncontrol effort in the United States.
The study showed that evolutionary process was taking place in relative warpspeed reverse in the case of the threespine stickleback fish, which live in Lake Washington. Thanks to a $140 million cleanup effort in the mid-1960s today the lake’s transparency has reached a depth of 10 feet.
Lacking the cover of darkness they once enjoyed, about half of the lake sticklebacks have evolved to become fully armoured, with bony plates protecting their bodies from head to tail. Experts at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre found that while in the late 1960s, only 6% of sticklebacks were completely plated, today 49% are fully plated and 35% are partially plated.

Get Real!

A ‘Second Life’ avatar gets a mind of his own

Troy (New York): Edd Hifeng barely merits a second glance in “Second Life”. A steel-gray robot with lanky limbs and linebacker shoulders, he looks like a typical avatar in the popular virtual world.
But Edd is different.
His actions are animated not by a person at a keyboard but by a computer. Edd is a creation of artificial intelligence, or AI, by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who endowed him with a limited ability to converse and reason. It turns out “Second Life” is more than a place where pixelated avatars chat, interact and fly about. It’s also a frontier in AI research because it’s a controllable environment where testing intelligent creations is easier.
“It’s a very inexpensive way to test out our technologies right now,” said Selmer Bringsjord, director of the Rensselaer Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning Laboratory. Bringsjord sees Edd as a forerunner to more sophisticated creations that could interact with people inside three-dimensional projections of settings like subway stops or city streets. He said the holographic illusions could be used to train emergency workers or solve mysteries.
But first, a virtual reality check. Edd is not running rampant through the cyber streets of “Second Life”. He goes only where Bringsjord and his graduate students place him for tests. He can answer questions like “Where are you from?” but understands only English that has previously been translated into mathematical logic.
“Second Life” is attractive to researchers in part because virtual reality is less messy than plain-old reality. Researchers don’t have to worry about wind, rain or coffee spills.
And virtual worlds can push along AI research without forcing scientists to solve the most difficult problems — like, say, creating a virtual human — right away, said Michael Mateas, a computer science professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Researching in virtual realities has become increasingly popular the past couple years, said Mateas, leader of the school’s Expressive Intelligence Studio for AI and gaming. Operators of “Second Life” don’t seem concerned about synthetic agents lurking in their world. John Lester, Boston operations manager for Linden Lab, said the San Francisco-based company sees a “fascinating” opportunity for AI to evolve. AP

www.posornot.com

An online game that debunks HIV myths

Brian Stelter

Hot or Not, a website where people submit photographs of themselves so that strangers can rate how attractive they are on a scale of 1 to 10, has spawned many imitators (plus a fair number of critics who view it as a sign of the end of civilization as we know it).
One new spinoff, Pos or Not, has a serious purpose (tasteful or not). The site, www.posornot.com, introduced in late April, is an HIV education effort disguised as a game.
It shows photographs and brief biographies of men and women ages 21 to 30, and asks visitors to decide whether each is HIV positive or negative. The message is that you can’t judge someone’s virus status by looks, occupation or taste in music.
The site is sponsored by MTV’s college network and the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit group that focuses on health policy. “We feel it’s another kind of activist tool to get out the word about HIV protection,” said Stephen Friedman, the general manager of mtvU, the college and university offshoot of Viacom’s MTV network.
The first trial by mtvU of what Friedman calls “games for change” was Darfur Is Dying, an online simulation of a refugee camp that has logged more than 1.5 million plays since 2006. Other companies have sponsored games about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the immigration debate and the world’s water resources.
The network wants the word about its HIV site and its message to be spread like a video on a popular videosharing website. It enlisted celebrities like Wyclef Jean, a musician, and Rosario Dawson, an actress, to make promotions for the game, which are playing across MTV’s networks.
The game — if it can really be called that — was played about 5.1 million times by 400,000 people in its first three weeks, according to mtvU. Entertainment Weekly’s website suggested it might be the “most depressing use” of an internet trend ever, but suggested that any HIV outreach effort could be beneficial.
Friedman said that in a media-saturated climate, maybe young people have to be shocked into paying attention. “Looking at the statistics that one in four people who are HIV positive in the US don’t know it, it’s pretty staggering,” he said. “We hope that something like this will get under their skin.” “If it makes some people uncomfortable,” he added, “that’s not necessarily a bad thing.” NYT NEWS SERVICE

Been readin n watchin a lot!

I recently saw Al Gore's movie The Inconvenient Truth [should have watched it 2 yrs ago] ...neways, the movie really rings a bell and takes a good look at human behavior over ages revealing the laid back attitude. Al Gore makes a point when he says we need to be proactive and not reactive. The Earth is at a tipping point and we can't go on with our lives, without make the right changes and decisions. We at The Magic Tree fight against the same kind off situation, although not in the field of environment; we work towards improving education on the whole. I don't know whether we will bring a revolution or not...but we intend to do so.


We are into the second month now, after creating The Magic Tree. We completed three summer programs in Mumbai with around 40 kids. The experience was great, specially with kids at Thane. Didn't make much profit, but i guess that's okay as long as we are growing in the right direction and constantly improving and upgrading our products and services.

Since december 07, i have started reading a lot about technology, inventions and discoveries, unknown physical phenomena and unexplained but true theories. Science has never been so interesting. one of the books that i liked is Bill Bryson's The short history of nearly evertyhing - must read.

rest later!

PIQUANT SITUATION IN SCHOOLS IN MUMBAI

Only science teachers qualified to teach environment studies

Anahita Mukherji I TNN

Mumbai: Here’s a contradiction of sorts. According to a recent circular from the state education department, while a junior college teacher in any subject can teach environmental education part time, only a qualified science teacher with an MSc and BEd degree can be appointed to teach the subject full-time.
Sharwaree Gokhale, principal secretary, school education, refused to speak to this reporter or respond to SMSes on the issue.

“This is bizarre,’’ says Arundhati Chavan, principal of Aishabai College of Education, Byculla. “Environmental education is an integrated subject that affects every aspect of life. Several junior colleges have appointed geography teachers for environmental education. How can the department say that only science graduates are qualified to teach the subject fulltime?’’ she asks.
While environmental science is a compulsory 100-mark subject in Std XII, a junior college with under 12 divisions cannot appoint a full-time teacher for the subject, and has to make do with the existing staff. Currently, the subject is taught by a crosssection of teachers from various fields, including Hindi and mathematics. Teachers who take less than 26 periods a week are asked to teach environmental education.

“I have taught mathematics all my life. While bouncing math problems off students is my forte, I am clueless when asked to teach environmental education,’’ a college lecturer told TOI. A Hindi teacher who could barely string together a few sentences in English, said she found it rather hard to teach environmental education.

A college principal said the state had made a mockery of environmental studies. He said most colleges were shortstaffed and it was tough on the existing staff to juggle environmental education alongside their regular curriculum. What’s more, he felt the recent circular was discriminatory, as only science teachers were allowed a full-time appointment for environmental studies.

A changing syllabus for changing times

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: Not so long ago, ICSE and ISC schools were among the city’s most elite of the elite, with the who’s who of Mumbai opting for them. But with international boards making in-roads into the education market, ICSE schools are now reinventing themselves as affordable options for an English-speaking middle-class that wants quality education.

English happens to be the ICSE board’s forte. Not only is the level of English high at ICSE schools, but ICSE is the only national board that certifies only English-medium schools.

The ICSE board insists that it in no way feels threatened by international boards. “How can a regular Indian family afford a school that charges Rs 1 lakh a year?’’ asked Gerry Arathoon, additional chief secretary and officiating chief executive of the ICSE board, when talking of fees at international schools.

Arathoon pointed out that of the 52 ICSE schools in and around Mumbai, only seven have opted for the IGCSE (Cambridge examination) and three for the International Baccalaureate (IB) alongside the ICSE course.

The ICSE board regularly revamps its curriculum. Four months ago it announced plans to revamp the ISC syllabus. The new syllabus will be tested in the 2010 board examination. Most of the changes are in physics, chemistry and mathematics.

While the old syllabus gave students a choice between JAVA and C++, the revised syllabus will only offer JAVA. In ISC chemistry, the board has reduced the portion that deals with rote learning. The board has also done away with business maths as it overlaps with a section of the regular math. In economics, there will be more focus on the international arena.

The changes are aimed at preparing students for competitive exams to courses like medicine and engineering. “Several students from our board have topped the list in a number of competitive exams, including the IIT-JEE,’’ said Arathoon.

While principals say that a number of students from elite ICSE schools are opting for international boards, the ICSE board has not run out of takers.

ICSE GETS JUNIOR COLLEGE BOOST

With Results Being Announced Today, A Look At How A Growing Number Of Schools Are Offering The ISC Curriculum

Anahita Mukherji | TNN

Mumbai: While the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) exam is widely known across the country for Class X, the Indian School Certificate (ISC) for Class XII, which is conducted by the same board, is not so well known but rapidly gaining steam. In the last six months alone, 50 schools have introduced the ISC.
Of the 1,600-odd ICSE schools in India, Dubai, Sharjah, Singapore and Indonesia, 800 now offer the ISC for students in classes XI and XII. While 97,303 students appeared for the ICSE in 2007, there were 45,293 who took the ISCs. The board is
expected to announce the number of
2008 candidates on Tuesday when it
releases the ICSE and ISC results.
In Mumbai, though, the number of ISC schools is minuscule. Only seven out of the 52 ICSE schools in and around the city offer the ISC. “We hope that, eventually, all ICSE schools offer the ISC as well,’’ said Gerry Arathoon, additional chief secretary and officiating chief executive of the ICSE board.
And here’s some good news for students from other boards. A student who has cleared Class X from any board—including the SSC, CBSE or IGCSE—is eligible for the ISC and can switch boards. This means that an SSC student from Mumbai need not simply apply to a junior college that offers the HSC, but can also give the ISC a shot as well.
“We have had a few SSC and CBSE students joining our ISC course for classes XI and XII,’’ said Meera Isaacs, principal of Cathedral and John Connon School, Fort. “Though they were very bright, some found it tough to cope with the curriculum, especially in science and English literature,’’ she added.
Another ISC school, Lilavati Podar School at Santa Cruz, also takes in students from other boards for its ISC course.
“ISC is the natural progression from the ICSE board. But for those who switch over from other boards, we provide counselling to help them choose their stream,’’ said Norina Fernandes, principal of Lilavati Podar.
The admissions procedure for the ISC is decided by the schools and not the board. While there are five ISC schools in Mumbai city, there’s one in Thane and one in Navi Mumbai.
The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, which conducts the ICSE and ISC exams, is the only national board that has only English-medium schools as affilites.
anahita.mukherji@timesgroup.com

KNOW YOUR SCORE The ICSE and ISC results are expected to be out by 3pm today. They can be accessed via the internet as well as through SMS.