Throughout history, scientists, philosophers, mathematicians and PhD students lacking funding for actual research have turned to the thought experiment in hopes of discovering something publishable, thereby retaining tenure and/or attracting the admiration of comely undergraduates. The best thought experiments throw light into dark corners of the universe and also provide other scientists, philosophers, mathematicians and destitute Phd students a way to kill time while waiting for the bus. Below is a classic thought experiment, pillaged from my book The Geeks' Guide to World Domination (Be Afraid, Beautiful People). I'll post a new thought experiment each day this week.

The Chinese Room

SHENZHEN, China, February 5 /PRNewswire/ --

- The Only Chinese Company to Achieve Such Prestigious Recognition

ZTE Corporation (ZTE), a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions has been shortlisted for the Best Network Technology Advance Award at the 2009 Global Mobile Awards, the most prestigious mobile honours in the mobile communications field, for its cutting-edge SDR (Software Defined Radio) solution. ZTE is the only Chinese company nominated for this global award.

ZUG, Switzerland and NEW YORK, February 5 /PRNewswire/ --

- Company is First-Ever to Provide Integrated Web-Plus-Mobile View of Financial Markets

- Black Castle Asset Management is First to Implement Solution

LONDON, February 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Opsera Limited, a leading provider of Open Source software and services, today announced the release of Opsview version 3.0.

This release represents a major milestone in Opsview's development and provides the foundations for significant new functionality currently under development. Opsview is a mature, stable and scalable application suite used for monitoring business critical IT systems in a wide number of organisations such as Allianz, Brittany Ferries, Irish Revenue, Plusnet, Winterflood Securities and The University of Surrey. Opsview is Open Source and made available under the GNU General Public Licence.

SAN FRANCISCO, February 5 /PRNewswire/ --

- Video Search Leader Enhances Site with New Tools to Allow You to Explore and Discover Online TV and Video Using Speech, Facial and Concept Recognition

blinkx, the world's largest video search engine, today unveiled new functionality that puts all of its powerful technologies at the fingertips of users, unlocking new ways for users to search, explore and discover video on the Internet.

CARSON CITY, Nevada, February 5 /PRNewswire/ --

- Private-public initiative debuts March 10-12 at Las Vegas Global Expo

Sun. Wind. Steam. Nevada has plenty of each and it's taking a major step to become a leader in developing renewable energy by attracting businesses large and small, while supporting new and proven technology.

Team Nevada debuts at the Renewable Energy World Conference Expo-North America March 10-12 in Las Vegas.

Led by the Nevada Commission on Economic Development (NCED) and NV Energy -- the energy expo's host utility sponsor -- Team Nevada includes many county and regional development agencies in Nevada. Team Nevada will be in NV Energy's Expo Booth #906.

LONDON and DUBLIN, February 5 /PRNewswire/ --

- Demand for videoconferencing surges as businesses implement cost containment strategies -

Business travelers are trading in their suitcases and boarding passes for a trip to a videoconferencing studio. The Regus Group, operator of the world's largest network of public access studios with 1,000 locations in 75 countries, reported a 40% spike in videoconferencing bookings as cutbacks in business travel forced companies to change the way they do business.

An unusual spiral galaxy in the Coma galaxy cluster has been imaged using data obtained by the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. It reveals fine details of the galaxy, NGC 4921, and an extraordinary rich background of more remote galaxies stretching back to the early Universe.
 
The Coma galaxy cluster, in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices, the hair of Queen Berenice, is one of the closest, very rich collections of galaxies in the nearby Universe. The cluster, also known as Abell 1656, is about 320 million light-years from Earth and contains more than 1000 members. The brightest galaxies, including NGC 4921 shown here, were discovered back in the late 18th century by William Herschel. 

One testament to the pervasive nature of evolution is that so many varied groups, even ones in opposition to each other, found an endorsement in his work.    Proponents of eugenics, slavery and even Hitler could rationalize their views saying it was just evoluti0n while abolitionists saw just the opposite.

The simple recipe scientists earlier discovered for making adult stem cells behave like embryonic-like stem cells just got even simpler. A new report in the February 6th issue of the journal Cell shows for the first time that neural stem cells taken from adult mice can take on the characteristics of embryonic stem cells with the addition of a single transcription factor. Transcription factors are genes that control the activity of other genes.