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How to hold a scientific conference in Azeroth
John Bohannon has been writing for Science magazine as "The Gonzo Scientist," and his most recent writeup, on a real scientific conference held in the World of Warcraft, is a great read. We reported that the event was happening back in May, and now Bohannon's put together a really honest report (from how the conference was funded to the reasons why it was chosen to be Horde-only) on what its like for these scientists researching virtual worlds to put their money where their mouth is, so to speak, and actually hold a conference ingame.They had to deal with everything from conversation direction (they appointed one person to get whispers on any questions for speakers, though, as anyone who's ever been to a mass ingame event will tell you, you can't really keep people from yelling and screaming) to mobs in the Barrens. And it sounds like they did get something done -- besides the panels, which were only slightly frustrated by griefers, they took expeditions throughout the world, and did do a little thinking about how different meeting in RL and meeting in a virtual existence is.Very good read. The end of the article has a link to a PDF book about the conference, but it's hidden behind Science's membership wall. Still, Bohannon writes clearly and fairly about the game, and it's fun to think of a bunch of scientists actually trying to navigate a virtual world while doing their own research.
Scientists, we need your swords!
This past weekend, scientists gathered on World of Warcraft's Earthen Ring server to discuss how WoW changes and is changed by its ten million, hugely international player base. They might have held their "Convergence of the Real and Virtual" conference in a conference room near some airport somewhere, but that would have been dull. Airport hotels don't provide photo opportunities with Thrall -- and Thrall doesn't DO hotels. Any session notes that advise attendees to get the flight point AHEAD of time are sure to end up someplace fun.Sessions included the use of online games as laboratories to study human behavior; the interrelationship of virtual and real-world economies; the future of virtual worlds; and why Professor Abercrombie won't let elemental shamans on her Karazhan runs. Well, maybe not the last one. We have some questions of our own. If you could do your real world job in an MMO such as WoW -- would you? And if you did work in WoW, and your boss was dressed in blues and greens he picked up from the Murlocs in Southshore while you were fitted in epics from Black Temple, would you still respect him?[Via Virtual World News]
TU Darmstadt develops hopeful Aibo successor
It's no secret that robotic pets can bark right alongside the real deals, but unfortunately for those hoping to adopt an Aibo, the pickin's are indeed slim. While details on this one are admittedly scant, a photograph of a robotic dog prototype reportedly displays the brainchild of scientists at TU Darmstadt in Germany. The team had been working on said creation for six months prior to now, and is finally ready to present the pup to a "special audience" in a robot competition in Atlanta next week. Unfortunately, we've received no word on whether or not this canine is actually being bred for the mainstream, but we'll be sure to let you know if any litters crop up.[Via TheRawFeed]
Chinese scientists control live pigeon flights via brain electrodes
Scientists in eastern China have successfully experimented with brain-motor skill manipulation in pigeons to "force the bird to comply with their commands." Micro electrodes have been planted into the brains of these pigeons to control their movement left, right, up, and down during flight. While chief scientist Su Xuecheng boasts, "It's the first such successful experiment on a pigeon in the world," they were fruitless in the search for any type of practical use, which was, ironically, the group's initiative when moving forward from similar experiments in mice in 2005. Although it's doubtful these pigeons will be transformed into aviary cyborg fighting machines, perhaps the scientists can have a little fun with practical droppings jokes and the like.
Scientists to launch underwater autonomous robot fleets
You might want to watch where you wade while at Montego Bay, California this month, as a fleet of sea-searching robots will be on the prowl collecting all sorts of data. The Adaptive Sampling and Prediction (ASAP) team, led by Naomi Ehrich Leonard of Princeton University and Steven Ramp of the Naval Postgraduate School, is using two types of water-repelling robots that rely on algorithms to make maneuvering decisions without human input (which is a common theme of late) so as to collect information that will hopefully explain the cold water upwelling that occurs at Point Año Nuevo this time of year. The bots, known as gliders, look strangely like homing missiles, but they have some fairly important non-destructive duties ahead of them: collecting temperature, salinity, and other aspects of the currents are all in the job description. This field experiment is hopefully just the beginning of sending these independent machines out to quench our thirst for exploration; the team envisions these self-motivated creatures combing the floors of deserts, rain forests, and even other planets where humans aren't exactly primed to visit. Presumably all systems are go on this deep-sea endeavor, but we still wonder if there's an override command should these aquatic dwellers get smart and decide they'd rather just swim with the fishes than work all day.
Mobile batteries linked to autism
With cellphones being connected (or not) to things like cancer, ear tumors, and other sorts of disturbing illnesses, it's not surprising to find yet another issue linked to the seemingly debilitating devices. Dr. Richard Lathe, a molecular biologist in the UK, has proposed that the increasing autism rate in Europe is probably linked to old cell phone batteries not being properly disposed of. Studies he participated in point to an environmental factor causing the spike in autism, which he correlates to heavy metals that seep from old batteries. Autistic children have shown a difficulty in "ridding their bodies of toxic heavy metals" and over half of the autistic subjects he tested had substantially high amounts in their bodies. A similar study in Texas found a link between heightened mercury in the environment and autism, which Lathe feels further substantiates his findings. So are we all doomed to malfunction if we continue to use our mobile? It's unlikely (we hope), and Dr. Lathe even points out some good news by stating that "Chelation therapy, which removes the metals, can significantly improve behavior in autistic children." So before you flip your panic switch, there's probably not too much to worry over here, and if history continues to repeat itself you'll probably find a more soothing report in the near future.
