I've just begun reading the recently released review book, "Connectome," from Sebastian Seung of MIT. The basic notion of the book is that you are the emergent result from the interconnections of some 100 billion neurons in your brain.

It's difficult to know what you are thinking -- or what is happening in your own brain -- as you loose consciousness. There are many instances where this loss might happen, including getting whacked up side the head, inhaling a large volume of non-medically-inspired drugs, or, to the preference of many, falling into a deep sleep during anesthesia before an invasive operation.

Discovery Communications' Science Channel recently launched a new iPhone application to engage citizen scientists as mobile field observers right from their own back yard.

With the "sci.spy" app, users can venture into their little domain of the world, and take images of all of the biodiversity that can be find. By selecting a "mission" to categorize the pictures, from general wildlife and bugs in your backyard to natural invasions and pets, anyone can contribute detailed information about their native biological environment from where ever they live.

Last weekend, Dynamic Patterns Research attended a virtual presentation in Second Life. It wasn't an imaginary talk, but actually a very real discussion that included George Djorgovski, a top astrophysics from Caltech and the popular science writer from MSNBC, Alan Boyle.