Download - Guru03 Spreads

8/3/2019 Guru03 Spreads

1/30

FESTIVEFATIGUE?

GURUGUIDESYOU THROUGH THEHOLIDAY SEASON!

MOLECULAR

GASTRONOMY:

COCKTAILS ANDCHOCOLATE

2011 LOOKBACK:

REVOLUTION,RIOTS & REACTORS

HAVE YOURSELF AHI-TECH HOLIDAY

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW:THE REALITY CHECK

THEIG NOBEL AWARDS

I MUST HAVE IT!GURU

GOES CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

AND MUCH MORE...

I S S U E 3 D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1

#SCIENC

E

#TECHNOLO

GY

#FO

O

D#

M

IND#STUFF

#ART

ISSN

2048-2590


2/30

ARRIVALS LOUNGE

GURUMAIL

#TECHNOLOGY

ROCKIN ROUNDA GLOWINGCHRISTMAS TREE!

The Technology Guru wonders whatwell be getting or The Christmas O

The Future.#SCIENCE

A BRIEF HISTORY OFTHE IG NOBEL AWARDS

Flatulent fsh, buttery carpets andwhy sword swallowers get sore

throats. Its the Ig Nobel Awards!

#FESTIVE

I MUST HAVE IT!

Our newest Guru Charlie Harveywonders how shops get us to spendso much. 13.99, last one, buy now!

#ART

THOSE DARING YOUNGMEN AND THEIR PAINTINGMACHINES

Meet the artists whose creationsarent just on canvas.

#ASIDES

OH MY HEAVENS!Astronomical treats this December.

#MIND

FACE THE TRUTH!

Are you giving away more than you

think? The Mind Guru fnds out howyour ace reveals your eelings.

#ASIDES

THE GURU GIFT GUIDE

#CULTURE

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT INSAN FRANCISCO

Guest writer Alex Gough scours the

shelves or specialities in the USA.

#ASIDES

MEET THE GURUS

#FOOD

DIY MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY

PART THREE:MOLECULAR MIXOLOGY

Cocktails and chocolate Christmas ayre doesntget much better than this!

#ASIDES

THE GURU FRIDGE

#ASIDES

POLES APART

Special bumper edition we look back over 2011.

#OPINION

LOOKING BACK,LOOKING FORWARD

Guest contributor James Preston

ponders some o the events o 2011.

#SCEPTICISM

BEHOLD,A DANGEROUS GIFT!

Ooh, a git rom the Sceptic Guru,

yay! What could it be...?

#INTERVIEW

IS THIS FOR REAL?

Gurus exclusive interview with theteam behind North Americas hit

science podcast, The Reality Check.

#STUFF

PINBALL FOR CHRISTMAS?

Guest writer Jon Abrams is a manwith a passion. And he sure plays amean pinball.

#STUFF

GUREVIEWS

#ASIDES

THE RANDOM IMAGE

DEPARTURE LOUNGE

CONTENTS

I you see a link or web address anywhere

in Guru, its probably clickable!

Where you see the at the end o an article,

use it to click back to this contents page.

Guru is intended to be used or educationaland entertainment purposes only.

Please consult a qualifed medical proessionali you have any personal health concerns.

The opinions expressedherein are o the individualauthors and do not representthe views o Guru MagazineLtd.

2011 Guru Magazine Ltd.gurumagazine.org

This work is licenced under theCreativeCommons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a

copy o this licence, click the link a bove or senda letter to Creati ve Commons, 171 SecondStreet, Suite 300, San Francisco, Caliornia94105, USA.

Guru TeamEditor Stuart Farrimondrealdoctorstu.comSub-editor Nicola Guttridge

nguttridge.wordpress.comMarketing & PR Ben Vealbenvealpr.comGraphic design Random Pandawww.randompanda.co.cc

ContributorsJon AbramsNatasha AgabalyanMichele BanksShane BurgessJonathon CroweStuart FarrimondBen GoodAlex GoughDave GrayNicola GuttridgeCharlie HarveyDaryl IlburySarah JoyKim LaceyJames LloydJames PrestonJackie RatnerBen Veal

Advertising & letters

[email protected] & marketing [email protected]

Text and picture materialis sent at the owners risk.

Cover image:Flickr Simon Keepingwww.simonkeeping.co.uk

This image:Flickr KIUKO

2011/12
http://gurumagazine.org/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/http://realdoctorstu.com/http://nguttridge.wordpress.com/http://benvealpr.com/http://www.randompanda.co.cc/mailto:info%40gurumagazine.org?subject=mailto:press%40gurumagazine.org?subject=http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelp1966http://www.simonkeeping.co.uk/http://www.facebook.com/GuruMaghttps://twitter.com/#!/GuruMaghttp://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=GuruEmailNewsletter&loc=en_UShttp://www.simonkeeping.co.uk/http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelp1966mailto:press%40gurumagazine.org?subject=mailto:info%40gurumagazine.org?subject=http://www.randompanda.co.cc/http://benvealpr.com/http://nguttridge.wordpress.com/http://realdoctorstu.com/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/http://gurumagazine.org/


3/30

Image:FlickrBigD2112

RRIVALS LOUNGEGURUMAIL

SEASONS GREETINGS!

Would you believe that Guruis six months old? This issuehas more content than ever,and even Christmas-haters willfnd something in Issue Threeto sink their teeth into.

I youve ever wondered howshops trick you into partingwith cash, then our newEvolution Guru Charlie Harveyexplains the tricks o the trade.Ben Good, Technology Guru,considers the Christmas othe uture and Food GuruNatasha Agabalyan concludesher three-part DIY MolecularGastronomy series with somecockle-warming recipes.

So kick back, put your eet upand get stuck into Guru...

Write to us at [email protected], marking your subject linewith GURUMAIL. Congratulations to our competition winner, who getsa sweet prize 15 worth of vouchers to spend at FunkyGadgets.co.uk!

Guru reserves the right to edit letters

A gadget store run by gadgetlovers. Weve a selection ogreatgifts, toys, gadgets and gizmos:some useul, some just un, andsome both!

THE GURU TEAM

Thanks to everyone whoparticipated in the GuruHalloween costumecompetition on theGuru Facebook pagelast month!

The Design Guru wasmildly terrifed whilstlaying this page out theres a lot more gorethan youd usually fndin GuruMail.

Congratulations toAshley Farley , then,who scoops the prize asa home-made Predator.And yes, that is a lasercannon. FTW!

AbbeyChapman

AnthonyWalden

AshleyFarley

LorraineGaw

JulieRoberts

JohnKnight(granddaughterIsla)

KyleJohns

MaryEmmaWilde

VickyFinch

NaomiDalton
mailto:info%40gurumagazine.org?subject=GURUMAIL%20http://www.funkygadgets.co.uk/http://www.facebook.com/GuruMaghttp://www.facebook.com/GuruMaghttp://www.facebook.com/GuruMaghttps://twitter.com/#!/GuruMaghttp://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=GuruEmailNewsletter&loc=en_UShttp://www.funkygadgets.co.uk/http://www.funkygadgets.co.uk/mailto:info%40gurumagazine.org?subject=GURUMAIL%20http://gurumagazine.org/


4/30

PAGE 7 DECEMB ER 2011 I S S U E 3 GU RU

#TECHNOLOGY

HOW TECHNOLOGY WILL SHAPE TOMORROWS HOLIDAY SEASON

BEN GOOD TECHNOLOGY GURU

Rockin rounda glowingChristmas tree!

Image:FlickrKevinDooley

Are you a Christmas Scrooge? Theres a subset o society whohave a guilty secret - they hate Christmas and all its traditions,or so says Technology Guru Ben Good. But thanks to modernscience, you can techno-pimp your Christmas with gadgets anddevelopments shiny enough to turn the harshest bah, humbug!into the warmest merry Christmas!

Chestnuts roastinground a digital freClassic crooner NatKing Cole regales uswith tales o chestnutsroasting on an openfre. Its the traditionalimage o a amilygathered around acrackling freplace,

warming themselves.Even down to thechimney access or jollyold St. Nick, freplacesare oten one o themost notable eaturesabout Christmas.However, i that imagebores you and yourelucky enough orFather Christmas tobring you some money you can spice upthis old tradition bygetting yoursel a nityholographic freplace!

A typical holographicfreplace can set youback about GBP500(USD800), but despitethis hety price tagthey are becoming

increasingly common.These gadgets consisto an electric unitwith a representationo a fre projected onthe ront, to give theroom an authenticwarm glow. O coursemarshmallow-melting andchestnut-roastingis out o thequestion (unless you

want your high techequipment smearedwith ood remnants).However, they do allowopportunities or un,with some modelscoming equipped witha DVD o dierentsorts o fre. The typicaloptions range rom

crackling and spittinglogs to glowing coals.However, i you reallyhate the traditionalChristmas and have abit o flm or animationknowhow, you couldmake your own DVDwhich would projectwhatever you want:Father Christmasalling into the fre andbeing burnt alive, aphoenix rising rom theames... the only limitis your imagination!

The energy-savingChristmas treeWhilst a fre may beimportant or some,its by no meansessential or yuletide

celebrations. Probablythe most recognisableo all Christmas

symbols is that o theChristmas tree. OGerman origin, theconcept o illuminatedtrees was broughtinto popular appealby Prince Albert. By1841, it had becomea popular Christmastradition. Many amilies

now opt or a aketree in order to avoidthe inevitable messo needles. However,scientists may soonbe able to end thereal versus ake treedebate by bringing anew option to the table genetically enhancedtrees.

Science has beengenetically alteringorganisms orcenturies; initially byselective breeding andnow by a range o morehigh-tech methods. Oneo these methods is theability to modiy plantcells by programmingthem to expressdierent colours by

adding

Image:sxcvierdrie/JeanScheijen


5/30


Tomorrows Santa?Technology is certainly likely to be an importantpart o Christmas or many amilies, most likelyin the orm o presents like tablet computers andgames consoles. However, dont think it will endthere. Expect big changes in tomorrowsChristmas whether thats good or not,Ill let you decide...

ROCKIN ROUND A GLOWING CHRISTMAS TREE!ROCKIN ROUND A GLOWING CHRISTMAS TREE!

the small uorescentmolecule greenuorescent protein(GFP) to the treesproteins (see above).There have been severalplants and organismsthat have been giventhe GFP treatment,including marmosets,cats and sweet potatoes.

While altering treeshasnt yet beenachieved, there is noreason to say thatscientists could notproduce naturallyuorescing Christmastrees that give o alovely green glow. Thistree would also easeyour eco-conscienceby doing away with

the need or Christmaslights.

Scientifcally-supercharged oodWith the holographicfreplace roaring andthe tree glowing nicelyin the corner o yourscientifcally endowedliving room, its timeto turn our attentionto the most importantpart o Christmas: theood. Cooking is inmany ways a scientifcdiscipline, as Food GuruNatasha knows onlytoo well (see this issuesguide to molecular

gastronomy).Scientists have begunto experiment with

nanoparticles in theculinary feld omolecular gastronomy.Engineers who workon an atomic levelare creating avour-determining moleculesto be strategicallyencased within recipesto taste exactly likeother oods. Thepossibilities are endless:you could make yourpotatoes taste liketurkey, your turkeytaste like stufng, yourstufng taste like pigsin blankets or, i youdont mind making aew enemies make

everything taste oBrussels sprouts!

Links Future vision o a holographic replace

and some information on them

A kaleidoscope o coloursOsamu Shimomura, Martin Chale and Roger Y. Tsienwere awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry ortheir work on the bright green glowing proteins (calledgreen uorescent proteins, or GFP) frst observed in

jellyfsh. Because GFP glows, it allows scientist to trackthe microscopic movements o chemicals and moleculesdeep inside living cells (using high-powered microscopes).GFP isnt big by protein standards (at 238 amino-acidslong, its below average); but the key to its glowing is ashort segment that orms a chemical structure known asa chromophore. When light hits it, chromophore reactsto produce green light. However, it is equally possible to

program cells to radiate many dierent colours, meaningthat even entire organs (such as the brain o a mouse)can be seen in a spectacular array o dierent colours.More estively, this development opens the door or yellow,

green, blue and multicoloured trees to raise your spirit a tChristmas.

Images courtesy o Ar-gonne National Laboratorywww.anl.gov

Could this collection omicroscopic doodadssuper-charge your ood?They are nanoparticles7.5 nanometers across about 10,000 timesthinner than a strandwo human hair!

Have your say at gurumagazine.org

Ben Good wants tounderstand how we interactwith the latest technolo gy.Having completed an MScin Science Communication,Ben writes about whateverspontaneous science storiestake his interest at theBGood Science Blog. Followhim on Twitter@bengood.

ADVERTISE WITH GURU30,000 READERS AND COUNTING!
http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/15290409http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/11/genetically-modified-glowing-catshttp://www.jstor.org/pss/4293528http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoparticlehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbv0J6VKM5ohttp://www.fireplace-advisor.com/hologram-fireplaces.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromophorehttp://www.anl.gov/http://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://bgoodscience.co.uk/http://bgoodscience.co.uk/https://twitter.com/#!/bengoodmailto:info%40gurumagazine.org?subject=ADVERTISING%20mailto:info%40gurumagazine.org?subject=ADVERTISING%20mailto:info%40gurumagazine.org?subject=ADVERTISING%20mailto:info%40gurumagazine.org?subject=ADVERTISING%20mailto:info%40gurumagazine.org?subject=ADVERTISING%20http://www.qidiq.com/?utm_source=guru&utm_medium=magazine%2Bad&utm_term=revolutionize%2Bfeedback&utm_content=issue%2B3&utm_campaign=Guru%2Bissue%2B3https://twitter.com/#!/bengoodhttp://bgoodscience.co.uk/http://bgoodscience.co.uk/http://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://www.anl.gov/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromophorehttp://www.fireplace-advisor.com/hologram-fireplaces.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbv0J6VKM5ohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoparticlehttp://www.jstor.org/pss/4293528http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/11/genetically-modified-glowing-catshttp://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/15290409


6/30


ABRIEFHIST

ORYOFTHEIG

NOBELAWARDS

JamesLloydphysicsgu

ru

The alarm clockthat runs away

(2005 Economics prize)

Its 7am on a chilly Monday morningand your alarm clock springs intolie. Groaning, you hit the snoozebutton and snuggle deeper intoyour duvet, promising yoursel justfteen minutes more dozing time.But beore you know it, your clock ischiming 11 a.m., youve got a hungrycat pawing at your ace, and your

boss is leaving irate messages onyour voicemail.

Its a common situation, but onethat could be a thing o the past iGauri Nanda gets her way. She is thedesigner oClocky, an alarm clockthat runs away, hides, and carries onringing until you get out o bed toshut it up.

The Ig Nobel judges believe thatmany wasted work hours would besaved i everyone owned one o theseingenious (inuriating? Ed) devices.

Ostriches get randywith humans

(2002 Biology prize)

During the 1990s, some worriedBritish poultry armers couldntunderstand why their ostriches werereusing to breed.

A team o biologists came to therescue by showing that the maleostriches were actually directingtheir amorous courtship displaystowards emale humans rather thanto their lonely ostrich partners!

This bizarre behaviour was thoughtto be due to British armingprocedures: the ostrich eggs werehatched in incubators, meaningthat the baby ostriches spent moretime getting to know the emaletechnicians than their own species.

10

9

Imagesonpreviouspage:(rame)sxcIanSparks;(toast)sxcba1969/BillyAlexander

Imagesonthispage(lettoright):Flickrrhaamo;FlickrLollie-Pop

Inaworldwhe

rehigh-speed

neutrinosand

meltingice

capshogtheli

melight,itsso

metimesnice

topaytribute

tothesilliersideos

cience.AsPhy

sicsGuruJam

esLloyd

explains,orev

eryEinsteintheresaphy

sicisttryingto

understandw

hytoastalway

slandsbutter-sidedown;o

r

everyDarwin,

abiologistwho

studiesfsha

rts...

Onceayear,s

cientistscome

togethertoho

nourtheunsun

gheroeso

science,award

ingIgNobelpr

izestoachieve

mentsthatf

rstmake

peoplelaugh,

andthenma

kethemthink

.Aparodyoth

eNobel

Prizes,thesea

wardscelebrat

esciencethat

iseccentric,b

izarre,or

justdownrigh

tridiculouss

tudiesthatca

nnot,orshoul

dnot,be

reproduced.

So,inthejoyu

lspiritothis

estiveGuru

,heresatopt

encountdow

n

oJamesall-ti

meavouriteIg

Nobelwinners.

..


7/30

GU RU I S S U E 3 DECEMB ER 2011 PAGE 12 PAGE 13 DECEMB ER 2011 I S S U E 3 GU RU

ABRIEFHIST

ORYOFTHEIG

NOBELAWARDS

ABRIEFHIST

ORYOFTHEIG

NOBELAWARDS

Why does toastland butter-side down?

(1996 Physics prize)

Ater one too many

ruined breakasts,Robert MatthewsoAston Universitydecided to apply hisscientifc mind to theperennial problem: whydoes a dropped slice otoast always seem toland buttered side frst?

His conclusion? Toasthas a tendency toland butter-side downbecause it rotates as italls o the edge o thetable. I the table washigher (three metreshigh, or example),the problem woulddisappear because thetoast would be able tomake a ull rotationbeore hitting the oor.

Although we humans

arent made orsuch gigantic tables,Matthews oers a ewnovel solutions to theproblem. These includeeating tiny squareso toast, puttingthe butter on theunderside, and tyingthe toast to a cat, whicho course knows how toget right-side up duringa all.

The bra thatdoubles as a

ace mask(2009 Public Health prize)

The irreutablehighlight o the 2009Ig Nobel awardsceremony was the sighto three distinguishedscientists standingonstage with brasstrapped to their aces.

These poor souls weredemonstrating theEmergency Bra, thebrainchild oElenaBodnar. In the event oa public health crisis,the bra can be removedand converted intotwo ace masks oneor the wearer, andone or their chosencompanion.

Elena claims that herrevolutionary bra reesa survivors hands tokeep balance whilerunning, as well asreducing the chanceo panic attacks byproviding the wearerwith a sense o securityand protection. Sheorgets to mention thatthe wearer also lookslike a bit o a tit.

The slowestexperimentin history

(2005 Physics prize)In 1927, ThomasParnell began anexperiment atthe University oQueensland which stillruns today, makingit the worlds longestcontinuously runninglaboratory experiment.

The set-up is simple:an extremely gloopysubstance called pitchslowly ows through aunnel. The frst dropell in December 1938,eight years ater theunnel was opened.Since then, there havebeen seven more drops,the latest being inNovember 2000.

Scientists use thepitch drop experimentto show that someapparently solidmaterials can ow,albeit very slowly (thethickness, or viscosity,o pitch is around 230billion times that owater).

Meanwhile, the worldwaits with bated breathor drop number nine.

The perilso sword

swallowing(2007 Medicine prize)

Brian Witcombe andDan Meyer won an IgNobel prize or theirextensive medicalsurvey o swordswallowing injuries.

Nearly hal o theinterviewed swordswallowers complainedo sore throats

(surely the least otheir worries!), butmore serious injuriesincluded peroration othe gullet and intestinalbleeding. Lovely.

The researchersconcluded that majorcomplications are morelikely when the swordswallower is distractedor swallows multiple orunusual swords.

Country musicmakes peoplekill themselves

(2004 Medicine prize)

Many o us wouldagree that too muchbad country musiccan lead to eelings odespair. However, onestudy has taken this astep urther by showingthat the amount oradio airtime devotedto country music islinked to suicide rate inAmerican cities.

Sociologists Steven

Stack andJimGundlach believe thatthe depressive themeso many countrysongs marital strie,alcoholism and workproblems, or example can trigger suicidalthoughts: conclusiveproo, i ever youneeded any, that toomuch o the DixieChicks is a bad thing.

Herringscommunicateby arting

(2004 Biology prize)

Parp! It might not winyou many riends inpolite society, but orherrings, arting is anessential means ocommunication.

In 2003, marinebiologists in Canadaand Swedenindependently oundthat herrings makehigh-requency soundsby releasing air throughtheir anuses. Theresearchers noticedthat herrings artedwhen shrouded indarkness or when

surrounded by lots oother fsh, thus helpingthem to communicateand orm protectiveshoals.

Whether this behaviourwill ever transer tohumans remains tobe seen, but you couldalways try it out thenext time you go downyour local swimmingpool

7

6

5

4

3

8

Images(lettoright):FlickrTeep&Rach;CourtesyoSpecialCollections,University

oHoustonLibraries.UHDigitalLibrary;FlickrZemlinki!

Images(lettoright):sxcaschaeer;Flickrjereyw

;Flickrgagstreet/GagneetParmar


8/30

GU RU I S S U E 3 DECEMB ER 2011 PAG E 14 PAG E 1 5 DECEMB ER 2011 I S S U E 3 GU RU

London cabbies havesuper-developed brains

(2003 Medicine prize)

Its true London taxi drivers have a moredeveloped brain than the average person.

But although this may sound like another sillystudy, Ive put this one at #1 because i ts also

a genuinely important development in ourunderstanding o the human brain. In other words,its a perect Ig Nobel prize winner a study thatmanages to be both unny and innovative at thesame time.

So why are neuroscientists interested in studyingLondon cabbies? Its all because oThe Knowledge(in cabbie speak) the gruelling trial that everywannabe taxi driver must pass beore being ableto drive one o the legendary black cabs. Thisconsists o memorising 320 routes along Londons25,000 streets, as well as all nearby landmarks andplaces o interest.

Drivers train or up to our years beore taking thetest, racing around the capital on a scooter untilevery last route has been committed to memory.This wouldnt be such a difcult task in a placelike New York City, where the roads are numberedand gridded, but on Londons gloriously haphazardstreets its an undertaking o epic proportions.

When Eleanor Maguire and colleagues atUniversity College London carried out brain scans

o taxi drivers, they discovered that part o thehippocampus, a structure in the brain associatedwith memory and navigation, is larger in cabbies and that this region even grows with taxi drivingexperience. Their conclusion: the inormationacquired during The Knowledge physically changesa cabbies brain!

This is all very exciting or neuroscientists becauseit means that the brain can exhibit plasticbehaviour, changing its structure in response tostimulation. This discovery could lead to new wayso rehabilitating patients with brain injuries ordiseases such as Parkinsons.

1

The great bellybutton u

survey(2002 InterdisciplinaryResearch prize)

In late 2000, KarlKruszelnicki (Dr.Karl) o the Universityo Sydney ran anationwide surveyto address a crucialquestion: what causesbelly button u?

The survey, answeredby nearly 5,000 people,showed that youremore likely to havebelly button u iyoure male, older, hairy,and have an innie.

It is thought that menare more likely thanwomen to get ulodged in their navel

because loose clothingfbres are channelledby the snail trail thatruns rom the bellybutton to the malepubic region. Indeed,men accounted or 73%o all people with bellybutton u.

But one key questionremains unanswered:why does the ualways seem to be blue?

2

It just goes to show that sillyscience can also beveryuseul science you just haveto fght your way past swordswallowers,arting fshand amorous ostrichesin order to fnd it.

Links Ig Nobelprize history

Meet Clocky and Tocky at Nanda Products website

The Emergency Bra website and shop

All about thepitch drop experiment at Wikipedia

Dr Karls belly-button uff surveyABRIEFHIST

ORYOFTHEIG

NOBELAWARDS

ABRIEFHIST

ORYOFTHEIG

NOBELAWARDS

Images(lettoright):Flickrannacarol;FlickrFimb

ImagebykindpermissionoImprobableResearch

James Lloyd studied physics at university and recently fnisheda climate science PhD. Hes now swapped semiconductors or semicolons,writing about science and blogging at The Soft Anonymous. When notdoing sciencey things, James enjoys music making, hill walking andtrying to fnd the perect apjack. Find him on Twitter @jbb_lloyd.

http://www.improbable.com/ig/winnershttp://www.clocky.net/http://www.ebbra.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_drop_experimenthttp://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/linthttp://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://thesoftanonymous.com/https://twitter.com/#!/jbb_lloydhttp://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://www.nottobeworn.com/https://twitter.com/#!/jbb_lloydhttp://thesoftanonymous.com/http://www.improbable.com/http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/linthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_drop_experimenthttp://www.ebbra.com/http://www.clocky.net/http://www.improbable.com/ig/winners


9/30


Its pricey, so it must beworth it: Veblen goods

Humans are bizarrecreatures. You fnd out they do one

particular behaviour, and then fveminutes later theyre doing the exactopposite. Contrary to trick numberone, people not only appreciate goodvalue, they also love it when goodsare stupidly overpriced. The term orthese types o gits is Veblen goods.

The only reason such products sell isthat they are overpriced. Or, in otherwords, they are an exclusive clubthat not everyone can aord to join.

Just cast your eye at the smug looko the nearest Apple user or the sneero contempt on the ace o a Bentleyowner. While most goods would selllike hot cakes i you reduced theirprice, Veblen goodsbecome repellentto those who would buy them.

A bargain:only 29.99!

Its one o the oldest tricks inthe book: removing a penny (or fve).

Its designed to ool you into thinkingthe git is much cheaper than itreally is.

The theory is that we can onlykeep track o a ew digits at a time.The frst digit is normally the mostimportant, so thats what we keephold o. So the git that in reality cost29.99, we remember as costing 20.

A similar ploy gives items randomprices: ending in threes or sevens.Supposedly, people think the priceso these items have been rigorouslycalculated and so dont round up tothe nearest whole number. Thereore,they must be good value! Right?

The season o goodwill is well and truly here. Have you begunthe tortuous task o buying gits yet? I not, then you are verysel-controlled, says Charlie Harvey. But why are most o us soweak-willed when it comes to shopping? Charlie uncovers someo the devious psychological tricks o the trade...

Every year, our minds are assaulted. Shops, advertisers and corporationsbombard us with a variety o psychological techniques with the sole purposeo getting us to part with our hard earned cash. Having investigated theingenious ways we are duped, heres a fve-point insiders guide to the waysretailers manipulate us. Not that knowing any o this will help you save anymoney youre still going to have to shell out or all your loved ones.Ater all, you dont want to look like a Scrooge...

CHARLIE HARVEY EVOLUTION GURU

#FESTIVE

HOW THE SHOPS TRICK US INTO BUYING

I musthave it!

1 2

Photographs byKaren Roe
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karen_roe/http://www.flickr.com/photos/karen_roe/


10/30


I MUST HAVE IT! I MUST HAVE IT!

The estive season is supposedto bring the best in us, but as Ivedemonstrated, Christmas showsus or what we humans really are:lazy, snobbish, fckle and easilymanipulated. To top it o, anypleasure we do get rom materialpossessions on the twenty-fth oDecember is unlikely to last.

But dont let my cheery outlook onlie get you down too much. Instead,orget about the shops and the hypeand remember that the holidays area time to reect, recharge, and spendsome quality time with people youcare about...

Have a very MerryChristmas!

Easy to enter tricky to leave!

Walking into your localshopping mall, you may think all theproducts are placed in no particularorder. In act, huge amounts opreparation go into placing productsin a way that persuades you to buy.Many shops and malls deliberatelyorganise themselves like a maze: onceyoure in, its almost impossible to fndyour way out! Its the same techniquecasinos use to keep the gamblersinside and spending.

Many shops only have an up-escalator.I you want to be so troublesome asto leave their establishment, youre

going to have to pay the price andtake the stairs. Ease o access is ahuge driver o sales no-one wantsto put eort into buying things. Thatswhy the expensive goods (ones withthe highest proft margins) are at eyelevel not too high up and not too lowdown.

Mixing nice and nasty:aective conditioning

Not only are we lazy andsnobbish when it comes tobuying, were also very weak-

minded. Place an object that youwant to sell amongst other thingsthat people think o as nice, andtheyll think that product is nice too!This trick works with pretty muchanything: handsome movie stars sellwatches; owers and rainbows sellwashing powder; cute puppies selltoilet paper. This is known as aective

conditioning.In a clever experiment, scientistssubliminally showed two groups opeople either nice, ancy words likeTianys orJaguar, or cheap wordslikepound store. When oered apair o socks to buy aterwards, thepeople who saw the desirable wordswere more likely to shell out on theexpensive socks.

Beware:shopping addictionObviously, the clever techniqueso marketing departments aect

some o us more than others. A lot oour dierent shopping habits can beput down to how we all perceive andevaluate reward.

A ew interesting studies haveemerged in recent years, drawinga curious parallel between thebehaviour o shoppers and thebehaviour o drug addicts. Within thebrain, a chemical called dopamine(a neurotransmitter) helps transmitthe eeling o reward in our brain.When we get a hit o dopamine, iteels great its responsible or thepleasure a starving person gets atereating, or a lonely person gets atersome aection rom a loved one. Italso gets released when taking drugs,and when you do a satisactory pieceo retail therapy!

Unfortunately just like drugs shopping can become addictive.

People who are more impulsive andhave lower levels o sel-esteem arethe ones most likely to become ashopaholic incidentally the verysame traits associated with drugabusers. And just like a drug addiction,the pleasure ater each shopping tripgets less as your body acclimatises tothis increasingly boring experience. Toget the same rush, you have to do itharder and aster.

Although our collective relative wealthhas increased hugely over the decades,our collective happiness, however, hasat-lined. Money does not, it seems,buy happiness. It has even beendiscovered that recent lottery winnersand recent amputees reported thesame level o happiness three yearsater their lie changing event!Humans are very adaptable we easily get used to anexperience that oncebrought pleasure (orindeed pain).

Some links Brickman, P.; Coates, D.; Jano-

Bulman, R. (1978) Lottery winnersand accident victims: Is happinessrelative?Journal o Personality andSocial Psychology, vol. 36(8), Aug1978, pp. 917-927.

Chartrand T. L.; Huber, J.; Shiv, B.;Tanner, R. J. (2008) NonconsciousGoals and Consumer Choice.

Journal o Consumer Research, vol.35, no. 2, August 2008, pp. 189-201

Voon, V.; Pessiglione, M.; Brezing,C.; Gallea, C.; Fernandez, H.H.; Dolan, R. J.; Hallett, M.(2009) Mechanisms UnderlyingDopamine-Mediated Reward Biasin Compulsive Behaviors.Neuronvol. 65, issue 1, 14 January 2010,pp. 135-142

Gendall, P.; Holdershaw, J.;Garland, R. (1997) The effect ofodd pricing on demand.European

Journal o Marketing, vol. 31, issue11/12, pp. 799-813


4

53

Charlie Harvey is a writer andblogger withan unhealthy appetite or science. He was oncedescribed as one o the most talented sciencewriters o the last decade by his mother. Youcan ollow him on Twitter at @charlesharvey.

Image:sxcjaylopez
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/36/8/917/http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/36/8/917/http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/36/8/917/http://www.jstor.org/pss/10.1086/588685http://www.jstor.org/pss/10.1086/588685http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627309010459http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627309010459http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627309010459http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=853521&show=abstracthttp://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=853521&show=abstracthttp://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=853521&show=abstracthttp://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://charles-harvey.co.uk/https://twitter.com/#!/charlesharveyhttps://twitter.com/#!/charlesharveyhttp://charles-harvey.co.uk/http://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=853521&show=abstracthttp://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=853521&show=abstracthttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627309010459http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627309010459http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627309010459http://www.jstor.org/pss/10.1086/588685http://www.jstor.org/pss/10.1086/588685http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/36/8/917/http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/36/8/917/http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/36/8/917/


11/30


MICHELE BANKS ART GURU

Alberto Gaitns Remembrancer a machine or painting andunderstandingAlberto Gaitn is a scientist turnedartist. Originally training in biologyand computing, he is now involvedin the rapidly developing feld ocomputer-designed artwork. Hiscomputer-driven art machinescombine technology and techniqueto explore essential aspects othe human condition learning,remembering, orgetting in uniqueand beautiul ways. Combining hispassions or art and technologyhas also allowed him to continuecreating despite increasing physicaldisability.

One o Gaitns major works,Remembrancer (2007), is a machine-based multimedia installation thatcreates paintings and sound outo data. But the gee-whiz! aspecto a machine creating paintingsis overshadowed by the concepto the piece which manages toencapsulate how human beingsremember and orget events.

Can a machine help us understand how humans communicate?In doing so, could a machine also create art?

For multimedia artist Alberto Gaitn, the answer isyes.

Our Art Guru, Michele Banks, sets out to investigate how he andother artists are using technology to push the boundaries o art,

and discovers how computers reveal deep truths about all o us

#ART

Those daringyoung menand their painting

machines

I was thinking about how eventsresonate in cultures, explainsGaitn. Drawing upon his years oexperience working in music, he sayshe frst thought in terms o howdierent sound events reverberate,and what the visual analogue mightbe or that.

The device he developed is calledthe Remembrancer. It was describedby gallery owner Andrea Pollan asFrankensteins lab meets WalterReed hospital room. GarethBranwyn, writer or BoingBoing,enthused about the peristalticpumps that look like they werelited rom an OR, and paint-ladencarboys suspended rom the ceiling,

that look like they might be rom therecovery room.

Despite its potentially geekytrappings, at its core the work mayactually be closer to a scribbled noteon the back o an envelope than to aheart monitor reading:

Remembrancer consists o threeinterlinked machines which run ocomplex and intricate computer

THOSE DARING YOUNG MEN AND THEIR PAINTING MACHINES

ImagecourtesyoCuratorsOfce,Washington,DC

ImagecourtesyoCuratorsOfce,Washington,DC


12/30

GU RU I S S U E 3 DECEMB ER 2011 PAGE 22

THOSE DARING YOUNG MEN AND THEIR PAINTING MACHINESTHOSE DARING YOUNG MEN AND THEIR PAINTING MACHINES

Computers that canrestore Personal LossLoss o a more personal kind isanother theme o Gaitns art, and onewhich prompted him to begin usingcomputers in his art over thirty yearsago, when it was much less commonthan today. Gaitn has had arthriti ssince he was around three years old,and the progressive worsening o hissymptoms over the years has let himwith signifcant joint damage. Theresbeen a gradual reduction in the thingsI can do [physically], he says. As hisdisability grew, his use o computersincreased. A serious guitarist in hisyouth, he began creating music oncomputers in the late 1970s, when thefrst generation o personal computerswas being developed. Computers nowprovide Gaitns livelihood he has

been sel-employed as a computerprogrammer, composer / sound artistand systems consultant or twenty-fve years. They now serve him, hesays, as a prosthetic not just ashands, but as eyes, as an extra lobeo my brain.

You can learn more about AlbertoGaitn at his website and ollow himonTwitter.

S D F P

algorithms. In Gaitns own words,his creation took over our weeksto create three canvases using key-word data collected rom onlinesources, each with a dierent rameo reerence. The red panel lookedat local/regional keywords, the bluepanel at national keywords, and thegreen panel at global keywords. Overtime, the sum o those keywordsmentioned with the greatest requencycaused more paint to deposit at agiven point. The Remembrancersabilityto reect the cultural resonance o agiven event was proved when, daysater its 2007 opening,a gunman killedthirty-two people at nearby Virginia TechUniversity. The local device recordedthe tragedy, prompted by keywordssuch as death and tech, as huge,triangular swaths o red paint.

Gaitn maintains that one o themost important aspects o his workis not what it conveys, but what itleaves out: he specifcally designedthe Remembrancer to be a very lossyand tenaciously low-fdelity ormo recording inormation. It createsdocuments that are basically illegible,making them human and poignant.Like us, the Remembrancer, is animperect receptor that inevitablyloses or alters inormation.

Many artists use a combination orandom and controlled machineinputs to produce drawings andpaintings. These creations were otendisplayed alongside the machinesthemselves in exhibits. Many artistsin this feld gave their paintingpartners surprisingly human-likenames (such as PAM or AARON);urther blurring the distinctionbetween human and machine.

Jean TinguelyJean Tinguely (1925-1991) was aSwiss painter and sculptor bestknown or his sculptural machinesor kinetic art, which he called

metamechanics. These pieces,mostly produced in the 1950sand 60s, satirized the mindlessoverproduction o material goodsin 20th century industrial societies.His machines - anciul, elaborate,motorized metal structures produced scribbly drawings whichwere then exhibited as part o theart.

Adam Shreckhise and PAMAt the other end o the spectrum isAmerican artist Adam Shreckhise,whose painting machine PAM(Portrait o the Artist as a Machine,pictured below) was recentlyexhibited at the 2011 PittsburghBiennial. PAM is operated by a serieso switches and relays, which aremechanically activated by motorsand electro-magnetic current.

PAM, which is not a computerand contains no programming orsotware, produces uzzy abstractpaintings. Shreckhise explains that,despite the lack o sotware. Pamspaintings are unpredictable: Thereare about twenty mechanisms thatthrow switches, and each switchruns between several dierent lineso electricity. There are ten lines odierent voltages. The lines that gothrough switches control motors.Each line and switch increases thepossible outcomes. The number oactors aecting the outcome makesthe fnal image beyond the predictive

capacity o the human mind.Harold Cohen and AARONMany artists who build machinesare careul to distinguish theirwork rom computer-based art.Pioneering English artist HaroldCohen straddles the line. Cohenwas already a well-known painterwhen he began developingAARON, acomputer-driven painting machine,in 1973. Cohen programmed AARONto have Artifcial Intelligencecapability, so the computer decideson its own what to draw or paint. Idont tell it what to do. I tell it whatit knows, and IT decides what to do.Cohen and AARON have exhibited atLondons Tate Gallery, the BrooklynMuseum, the San Francisco Museumo Modern Art, and AmsterdamsStedelijk Museum as well as manyscience centres.

Image courtesy o Curators Ofce, Washington, DC

Below left:Detail oAdamShreckhises PAM,a mechanicalpainting machinecontaining nosotware orprogramming.

Below right:Detail o a paintingby PAM.

Images by kindpermission oAdam Shreckhise.adamshreckhise.com
http://selforganizingsystem.org/https://twitter.com/#!/nootropehttps://twitter.com/#!/nootropehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacrehttp://aqua-velvet.com/2011/05/photo-essay-jean-tinguely-art-machines-1959/http://adamshreckhise.wordpress.com/sculptural-installations/pam-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-machinehttp://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/services/visualcohen.shtmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AARONhttp://adamshreckhise.com/http://adamshreckhise.com/http://adamshreckhise.com/http://adamshreckhise.com/http://adamshreckhise.com/http://adamshreckhise.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AARONhttp://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/services/visualcohen.shtmlhttp://adamshreckhise.wordpress.com/sculptural-installations/pam-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-machinehttp://aqua-velvet.com/2011/05/photo-essay-jean-tinguely-art-machines-1959/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacrehttps://twitter.com/#!/nootropehttp://selforganizingsystem.org/


13/30


Olaur EliassonDanish-Icelandic artist OlaurEliasson, renowned or his use oelemental materials such as light,water, and air, has also made artworkincorporating drawing machines. Oneo his recent projects, Spatial Vibration,undertaken with a team o artistsand technicians, is a study o a stringbased instrument that gives visualorm to sound waves and harmonics.

When Spatial Vibration was shown in aNew York gallery in 2008, visitors wereinvited to play the single-stringedinstrument, which produced soundthrough a series o resonator devices.The vibrations o the sound wavestriggered a laser projector and drawingmachine, which created images in realtime based on the sound inormation.

Damien HirstEnglish artist Damien Hirst may bemore amous or suspending sharks intanks o ormaldehyde and coveringa platinum skull with diamonds, buthe has also dabbled successully inmachine art. Since the mid-1990s,Hirst has produced large numberso spin paintings, made by drippingwet paint onto a canvas or paperon a rapidly rotating platorm. Thecentriugal orce o the rotation drawsthe wet paint outward into interesting

shapes. Hirst, who admits that hegot the idea rom childrens TVshow Blue Peter, has sold spinpaintings or over EUR100,000.

THOSE DARING YOUNG MEN AND THEIR PAINTING MACHINES

M, M S

The use o computers in technologically-produced art perhaps lends itsel bestto a dierent type o media sculpture. The artists detailed below were or are key players in this feld, using methods such as musical interpretation, spinplatorms and centriugal orces to create their work.

Roxy PaineRoxy Paine, an American artistworking in a variety o media, hasproduced a number o art-makingmachines designed to replicatecreative processes, including theSCUMAK (Auto Sculpture Maker, 1998)and the PMU (Painting ManuacturingUnit, 1999-2000). SCUMAK meltsplastic with pigments and periodicallyextrudes them onto a conveyor belt,

creating bulbous, uniquely variedsculptures. PMU uses a metal armthat is programmed to squirt whitepaint onto a canvas according toinstructions programmed into themachine. The machine, which wasexhibited at the National Galleryo Canada in 2011, produces richlytextured paintings reminiscent olandscapes or geological phenomena.


The night the moon turns black!December is going to be a veryexciting month or stargazers.On 10 December, there will be aull lunar eclipse the moon turnscompletely black as it passes throughthe Earths shadow. The partialeclipse will last about 3.5 hoursand the moon will be in completedarkness or a little under one hour.Unortunately the ull eclipse wontbe visible or anyone living in SouthAmerica, West Arica, the Caribbean,or the extreme eastern parts oCanada but everyone else, youllbe able to catch at least part o theshow!

The lucky ducks in Asia, Australia,and anywhere north o 60N (i.e.Greenland, Alaska) will get to seethe whole thing rom start to fnish!The partial eclipse is set to begin at12:45 GMT, with the total eclipsehappening rom 14:06 GMT to 14:57GMT, and ending at 16:17 GMT.

But or everyone else, heres when tolook skyward:

S P E(look out or a darkening o the moons edge)

I you live in Europe, India orthe Middle East then this will bein early evening as the moon isrising.

For those who live in easternUnited States, Mexico, CentralAmerica or eastern Canada thenyou will be able to catch thepartial eclipse at dawn (as themoon sets).

T E(a ull colour change)

Central Europe, eastern Aricaand the United Kingdom earlyevening as the moon is rising.

USA and central Canada around dawn as the moon

is setting.P E E(watch the darkened edge o the Moon

as the eclipse passes)

Western Europe, Iceland,and west-central Arica as themoon is rising in early evening.

Western United States andwestern Canada can catch thetail end o the eclipse at dawnas the moon is setting.

Meteors above!One o the most excitingastronomical events o the year,happening rom 6-19 Decemberthis year (and peaking rom 13-15December) is the Geminid MeteorShower. Consistently one o the skysmost spectacular shows, this showerproduces around 50 to 60 meteorsper hour in multi-colour!

This year will have some intererence

rom moonlight, but only thedimmest meteors ought to be shutout. I you want to catch it then getcomortable in a very dark location(like a beach or l arge park awayrom light pollution) around 10pmand look to the east. Expect MotherNatures frework display to be atits best around midnight. Not bador ree!

OH MY HEAVENS!

#ASIDES

MOONS AND METEORS: DECEMBERS ASTRONOMICAL TREATS

Image:FlickrLoganBrummPhotographyandDesign

Michele Banks is a painter and collage artist based in Washington DC.Her science-themed work is in the permanent collection o ChildrensNational Medical Center and DC City Hall.She sells her work online atartologica.etsy.comand tweets @artologica.

Roxy Paines Scumak No. 2, 2001 at theMuseum o Contemporary Art, Detroit, USA.

Jackie Ratner is a native New Yorker with a penchant or pretty shoes andGoogling into the wee hours o the morning. Shes also reading or a DPhil in

volcanic hazards at Oxord, aiming to turn scientifc research into real disastercontingency plans. Shes not on Twitter, but say hi i you see her in the street!
http://spatialvibration.blogspot.com/http://www.casasugar.com/Love-Hate-Damien-Hirsts-Spin-Art-2032112http://www.portlandart.net/archives/2006/05/roxy_paines_pmu.htmlhttp://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://artologica.etsy.com/http://www.twitter.com/artologicahttp://www.twitter.com/artologicahttp://artologica.etsy.com/http://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://www.portlandart.net/archives/2006/05/roxy_paines_pmu.htmlhttp://www.casasugar.com/Love-Hate-Damien-Hirsts-Spin-Art-2032112http://spatialvibration.blogspot.com/


14/30


Is the truth really written all over our aces? Inspired by herexperiences dealing with difcult customers whilst hiding hertrue eelings, Mind Guru Kim Lacey takes a close look at Dr. PaulEkman the world expert in spotting a liar. Kim wonders whetherher expressions are giving away her real inner eelings

#MIND

THE ART OF SEEING SOMEONES TRUE FEELINGS

KIM LACEY MIND GURU

Face the truth!

Some time back,I would wait on tablesto pay the rent and getme through school.To earn respectable tipsI had to shamelesslypour on the happinessto customers; oten thiswith ake happiness.I covered complaintsabout customer waitingtimes and over-cookedsteak with a cheerysmile and respectulresponses mostlythrough gritted teeth:

Oh, your steak isovercooked? Ill behappy to bring you

anotherI understand youordered your foodan hour ago, howfrustrating! Imsure it will be out

momentarily.Masking my grumpyinner monologue withdisingenuous politeness was I actually gettingaway with it?

Meet theHuman Lie DetectorHad I ever served Dr.Paul Ekman, then hewould have spottedmy true eelings romthe other side o thedining room. Ekman isa ace-reading expertand manager o thePaul Ekman Group a company thatproduces trainingdevices relevant toemotional skillsand which heads up

research relevant tonational security andlaw enorcement.Ekman believes ourbodies hold the keys toour true eelings - ourexpressions alwaysbetray our innerthoughts.

Ekman believes wehave hard-wired

expressions likeanimals but he isntthe frst to come upwith this idea: CharlesDarwin had the sameidea in The Expressiono Emotions in Man andAnimals noting thesimilarities o bodylanguage between manand various animals.(Darwin even used hischildren and pet dogsto collect data!)

Dr Ekmans resultsare stunning anddramatic showingacial expressionsor specifc emotionsand moods are not

just closely related,but are consistentacross dierent animal

species!Think o it this way: theexpressions displayedby amiliar animals andbeloved pets can beeasily recognised. Rightnow, my dog Barkleyis staring at me witheyes that seem to say,Cmon stop writingand lets play! I youcheck yoursel out inthe mirror next time

you are anticipatingsomething, its likelythat the muscles inyour pets ace are thesame ones contractingin yours.

Micro-expressions:The key to ourthoughtsEkman says that small,automatic muscularresponses (known asmicroexpressions) arecommon to everyonesace and alwaysbetray our true eelings.I this is so, then whydo we miss them sooten? How is it we areso easily deceived byan unscrupulous salesperson? According to

Ekman, the reason isbecause most o thetime people do notwatch each othersaces.

Staring at someone isconsidered to be rudeor intrusive in manycultures, and mayexplain why many ous avoid eye contact;so we dont notice thesmall acial expressions

Image: Flickr josemanuelerre / Jos Manuel Ros Valiente

Image:Flickrsmerikal/SiniMerikallio
http://www.paulekman.com/http://www.paulekman.com/


15/30


FACE THE TRUTH!

Photographs bykind permission othe Paul EkmanGroup, LLC.www.paulekman.com

that occur duringconversation. Werenot attuned to thesegestures that last onlya raction o a second.

How to read acesEkmans bigbreakthrough hasbeen training peopleon how to recognisethese commonexpressions correctly.His techniques arepretty eective, andhigh-level departmentssuch as AmericasTransportation SecurityAdministration use

his techniques to spotsuspicious behaviour.He oers severalexamples o acialexpressions in his bookUnmasking the Face. Hisexperiments are prettytelling (see sidebox).

Ekman says that itis easier to alsiywords than acialexpressions. Ourupbringing has

explicitly taught [us]to speak... [teachingus] vocabulary andgrammar. We haveneglected to learn thedictionary o acialexpressions. Ekmanexplains that we aredefcient in this abilitybecause you werenever taught how tospeak with your ace.

Some o us readaces better thanothers. Ekmanhas painstakinglycatalogued every acialtwitch and nuance

correlating them toeelings. He claims hecan train others how tospot the truth behindthe grimaces.

Had I known what heknows, Im sure Id berich by now just romtips by waitingtables...

Reerences Darwin, C. (2009). The Expression of emotion in man and animals.

Oxord, UK: Oxord University Press. Ekman, P. and Friesen, W. V. (2003). Unmasking the face.

Cambridge, MA, USA: Malor Books

Ekman, P. (2011).About Ekman.Retrieved rom www.paulekman.com/about-ekman/

Ekmanartifciallyblends twoexpressionstogether toshow notonly theimpossibilityo expressingboth emotionssimultaneously,but also howunnatural (and

unny!) ouraces would

look i wecould.

Have your say atgurumagazine.org

With a PhD rom Detroits Wayne State University,Kim Laceyrom Detroit, USA knows a thing or two about memory studies,digital media and digital humanities. She also has a seriousaddiction to combo plates at restaurants. You can read about Kim atkimberlylacey.com or ollow her on Twitter at @kimlacey.

Mixed emotions

#ASIDES

2011 Random Panda
http://www.paulekman.com/http://www.paulekman.com/http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unmasking-Face-Recognizing-Emotions-Expressions/dp/1883536367/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320783818&sr=8-1http://www.paulekman.com/about-ekman/http://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://kimberlylacey.com/http://twitter.com/kimlaceyhttp://www.randompanda.co.cc/http://www.randompanda.co.cc/http://www.cafepress.co.uk/gurumagazinehttp://www.cafepress.co.uk/gurumagazinehttp://twitter.com/kimlaceyhttp://kimberlylacey.com/http://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://www.paulekman.com/about-ekman/http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unmasking-Face-Recognizing-Emotions-Expressions/dp/1883536367/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320783818&sr=8-1http://www.paulekman.com/http://www.paulekman.com/


16/30

PAGE 31 O CTO B ER 2011 I S S U E 2 GU RU

A BRITISH GIRL GOES FOOD SHOPPING STATE-SIDE

ALEX GOUGH GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

#CULTURE

From our correspondent inSan Francisco

Guest writer Alex Gough hasan unwavering eye or detail.Working in advertising, herpassion or travelling hastaken her to ar ung cornerso the globe. Loving newexperiences, she now aceswhat could be her greatestchallenge yet trying to liveas a Brit in the USA...

Four years ago whilst travelling inThailand, I met a certain Americanman. We travelled, and had a stintliving together in London. Now it is

role-reversal time, and weve set oto live in his home tur San Francisco.

I love experiencing new cultures,however large or small thedierences may be; but whencomparing lie in San Franciscoto London, Im spoilt or choice.However, I cant resist ocusing on apersonal avourite o mine ood.

I have a conession: I lovesupermarkets in other countries. Soas you read the rest o this article,you can picture my child-like gleeas I describe the peculiarities obuying ood State-side...

San Francisco = Shopping FunI cant get enough o it: thedierent product ranges, thepackaging and the way things arelaid out. Whenever I travel, mycompanions always know to set

aside a good hour to let me wanderaround the local store. Yes, it is aslightly bizarre obsession, but Imconvinced you can learn a lot abouta country by looking what it eats.And as someone who works inadvertising, Im also intrigued bythe dierent brands and varietieswhich line the shelves.

In the UK, supermarket chainsTesco and Sainsburys reign

supreme. In SF, its all aboutthe independent store: gloriousshops are packed to the raterswith wholesome, local, organicproduce. Aisles o beautiul stacksproudly display glistening ruitand vegetables; I saw nine typeso sweet potato and fve types omango in one. For me, it has it all.Dispenser bins measure exactlyhow many chocolate coveredpretzels I want a ar cry rom pre-packaged goods in England.The very act that there arechocolate covered pretzels isabulous! Each trip is a delight,

and always takes at least threetimes longer than necessary.

San Francisco you are pure joyor my supermarket-loving sel!

Less glamorous shoppingThere is o course a chain storehere named Saeway. What it lacksin an array o organic produce, itmakes up or by delighting me withglorious E-number-flled (artifcialadditives Ed) and brightly colouredtreats; all in wonderul Technicolorpackaging!

Saeway also has another sensualtreat up its sleeve: rerigerator unitshouse certain vegetables, such asloose-lea spinach, that are mistedwith water every twenty minutes.In itsel not exciting, but to preventan unortunate customer gettingsprayed, thunder and lightningspecial eects periodically alert

the customer just beore theautomated misting. How cool isthat? Ive tried to capture this onflm several occasions, and ailedevery time (all the while getting oddstares rom other shoppers)! So,Tesco take note install this backin the UK and watch the delight oyoung children (and one twenty-something woman) as you mistyour vegetables.

Images:AlexGough


17/30


FROM OUR CORRESPONDANT IN SAN FRANCISCO

American ood avouritesMy supermarket exploration hasyielded some absolute corkers inascinating fnds.

First up, Clam Juice:I dont believe itsor swigging back,but it sure lookslike it is. Imtempted to buyone and leavein the ridge oran unsuspectingvictim!

Yesterdays top discovery,Blackened Garlic:

Thepackagingpromised ittasted justlike creamychocolate andlet no garlicatertaste.I wasntentirely convinced.

Into the marketBut its not just the supermarketswhich give me joy It wouldnt beright or me not to mention theFarmers Markets. They truly aresomething else and blow LondonsBorough Market out o the water.Near countless aisles o stalls sellingorganic home grown goodies andbest o all, theyre everywhere! Theypop up all over town on a weeklybasis and I cant resist a look andsampling their delicious wares.Plus, I get to wander around in theCaliornia sunshine!

Top tip: always make sure to eat alight breakast beore venturing out

to the armers market spree.

But o course supermarketsarent the only place or ood joy restaurants are a whole newexperience... but Ill save thator another time.

MEET THE GURUS

#ASIDES

With a PhD rom Wayne StateUniversity,Kim LaceyromDetroit, USA knows a thing ortwo about memory studies anddigital humanities. She also hasa serious addiction to restaurantcombo plates. Follow her onTwitter@kimlacey or go to

kimberlylacey.com.

MINDGURU

Charlie Harvey is a writerand bloggerwith an unhealthyappetite or science. He was oncedescribed as one o the mosttalented science writers o thelast decade by his mother.You can ollow him on Twitter@charlesharvey.

EVOLUTIONG

URU

James Lloyd studied physics at

university and recently fnisheda climate science PhD. Hesnow swapped semiconductorsor semicolons, writing aboutscience and blogging at TheSoft Anonymous. James enjoysmusic making, hill walking andtrying to fnd the perect apjack.Find him on Twitter @jbb_lloyd.

PHYSICSGUR

U

Michele Banks is a painterand collage artist based inWashington DC. Her science-themed work is in the permanentcollection o Childrens NationalMedical Center and DC CityHall.She sells her work online atartologica.etsy.comand tweets@artologica.

ARTGURU

Ben Veal is a PR and digitalmarketing proessional basedin Wiltshire, UK. Ben studiedFilm at university, and spendsmost o his ree time with hishead buried in a book, listeningto obscure (and oten terrible)bands. Follow him on Twitter@BenVealPR and fnd out aboutBens work at benvealpr.com .

MEDIAGURU

Dr Stu originally trained as amedical doctor beore decidingto branch out into lecturing. Hedrinks too much coee, eats icecream and has a bizarre love okeeping ft. You can check outhis blog at realdoctorstu.comand ollow him on [email protected]

CIENCEGURU

SCIENCEGUR

U Sarah Joy is Gurus graphicdesigner. Shes usually to beound rummaging or oldcameras in charity shops,scouring eBay or Franco-Belgiancomics or tweaking the kerningbetween letters. You can read herblog at randompanda.co.ccandtweets @RanPanda.

S

CEPTIC

GURU Daryl Ilbury is an award-winningSouth Arican broadcaster and

columnist. Currently completing aMasters in Science Journalism atLondons City University, he enjoysbeing the pointy stick that jabsat the uncomortable area wherescience and society collide. See hiswork at www.darylilbury.com ,

his blog and Twitter feed.

TECHNOLOGY

GURU Ben Good is interested in the

way we interact with the latesttechnological developments.With an MSc in ScienceCommunication, Ben worksin advertising and writes aboutscience stories that grab hisinterest at the B Good ScienceBlog. You can ollow him onTwitter @bengood.

FOODGURU Natasha Agabalyan is on her

way to becoming a Doctor oCell Biology in Brighton, UK. Inbetween drinking ar too muchcoee and blogging at TheScience Informant, she has alove o fnding out interestingtit-bits rom all aspects o lie.

NEW!

GURU

ISSUE

3

DECEM

BER

2011

PAGE32

Alex Gough worked in London or 4 years in social media. Sheloves to travel you can fnd a photo blog o her latest trip atAdventures of a Gougher or read her more serious thoughts onSocial Marketing at Thoughts of a Gougher. You can a lso catchher on Twitter @gougher tweeting about digital marketing.

http://twitter.com/kimlaceyhttp://kimberlylacey.com/http://charles-harvey.co.uk/https://twitter.com/#!/charlesharveyhttp://thesoftanonymous.com/http://thesoftanonymous.com/https://twitter.com/#!/jbb_lloydhttp://artologica.etsy.com/http://www.twitter.com/artologicahttps://twitter.com/#!/BenVealPRhttp://benvealpr.com/http://realdoctorstu.com/https://twitter.com/#!/RealDoctorStuhttp://www.randompanda.co.cc/https://twitter.com/#!/RanPandahttp://www.darylilbury.com/http://darylilbury.wordpress.com/http://www.twitter.com/darylilburyhttp://bgoodscience.co.uk/http://bgoodscience.co.uk/https://twitter.com/#!/bengoodhttp://scienceanythingandeverything.blogspot.com/http://scienceanythingandeverything.blogspot.com/http://gougheradventures.tumblr.com/http://gougher.tumblr.com/https://twitter.com/#!/gougherhttp://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/https://twitter.com/#!/gougherhttp://gougher.tumblr.com/http://gougheradventures.tumblr.com/http://scienceanythingandeverything.blogspot.com/http://scienceanythingandeverything.blogspot.com/https://twitter.com/#!/bengoodhttp://bgoodscience.co.uk/http://bgoodscience.co.uk/http://www.twitter.com/darylilburyhttp://darylilbury.wordpress.com/http://www.darylilbury.com/https://twitter.com/#!/RanPandahttp://www.randompanda.co.cc/https://twitter.com/#!/RealDoctorStuhttp://realdoctorstu.com/http://benvealpr.com/https://twitter.com/#!/BenVealPRhttp://www.twitter.com/artologicahttp://artologica.etsy.com/https://twitter.com/#!/jbb_lloydhttp://thesoftanonymous.com/http://thesoftanonymous.com/https://twitter.com/#!/charlesharveyhttp://charles-harvey.co.uk/http://kimberlylacey.com/http://twitter.com/kimlacey


18/30


NATASHA AGABALYAN FOOD GURU

PART THREE:

Molecular

Mixology

#FOOD

DO IT YOURSELF: MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY

Images:(Bottom)Flickrsyvwlch;(middle)Flickr

jamiebdrusedwithkindpermission;(top)FlickrGlobalJet

Ches around the world areconstantly fnding new waysto exhilarate our senses bychanging the texture, colourand shape o our day-to-day ood. In the third inher series on do-it-at-homemolecular gastronomy, Gurusscientist-turned-cook NatashaAgabalyan lets her hair downwith some cheeky Christmascocktails...

Molecular Gastronomy is all aboutcreating eye-popping, mouth-watering and surprising ways to cookand present ood. Making the kitchen

more and more like a lab, some othe proessionals techniques requirespecialised equipment. Fortunately,others are well within the reach omost o us.

One brand o Molecular Gastronomyis called Molecular Mixology: i youlike cocktails then youll love this!It is a whole new level o intricatecocktail design turning your

party drinks into amazing art! Itis thought to have grown rom thelong-established practice o layeringingredients in cocktails. Bartendershave been polishing those glassesand honing their skills to createbeautiul and exciting creationsor years. Its about changing thetexture, density or vi scosity, themolecular structure o a liquid,says Charlotte Voisey, award winningMolecular Mixologist rom the UK.

One trick you may have seen isspherifcation the art o jelliyinga liquid and making small littletextured spheres. Its not too trickyand you can buy the lab ingredientsonline (see links at the end o the

article or more ino) but thisissues recipe uses gelatine or aslightly dierent eect.

So, with the holiday season uponus, its time to put on your apron(or lab coat) and get jelliying! Theseun and abulous recipes are certainto wow your guests and make arereshing break rom tradition!

The classic G&T takes ona new spin: in gelatinous orm!Smart and sophisticated, thisrecipe brings a whole newdesign to the sharpesto drinks.

Ingredients

1 rozen lime

2oz simple syrup

1 tsp citric acid

tsp bicarbonate osoda

tsp conectionerssugar

1 sheets osheetgelatine

30ml gin

60ml tonic water

Method

Freeze the lime andcut into chips using aknie or a slicer

Coat slices in syrupand 1tsp o citric acid

Cook at 150C / 300F/

Gas Mark 2 in apreheated oven untilcrisp

Mix the bicarbonateo soda, sugar andremaining citric acid

Soten the gelatinesheet in cold water

Warm gin and add tothe gelatine mix

Add tonic water

Pour into a bakingtray lined with plasticwrap or, or addedun, into ice cubetrays (preerably withunky shapes!) andrerigerate or two

hours Remove rom ice trays

or cut into hal-inchcubes

Place gin jelly ontolime chip and sprinklewith sugar-soda-acidmix or added zing onthe tongue

Serve and delight yourguests!

Jellied Gin & Tonic

Jellied Gin & Tonic

vessel 75

chocolate chantilly
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39435556@N00/http://www.flickr.com/photos/39435556@N00/http://www.flickr.com/photos/39435556@N00/http://www.flickr.com/photos/39435556@N00/http://www.flickr.com/photos/39435556@N00/http://www.flickr.com/photos/39435556@N00/http://www.flickr.com/photos/39435556@N00/http://www.flickr.com/photos/39435556@N00/http://www.polishedpalate.com/bio/CharlotteVoisey.htmlhttp://www.polishedpalate.com/bio/CharlotteVoisey.htmlhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/39435556@N00/


19/30
https://twitter.com/#!/GuruMaghttp://www.facebook.com/GuruMaghttp://www.creativeboom.co.uk/news/national-science-awards-recognition-for-two-guru-magazine-writers/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gurumagazineltd/galleries/72157627876072100/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gurumagazineltd/galleries/72157627760426119/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gurumagazineltd/galleries/72157627876040440/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gurumagazineltd/http://www.cafepress.co.uk/gurumagazinehttp://www.cafepress.co.uk/gurumagazinehttp://www.cafepress.co.uk/gurumagazinehttp://www.cafepress.co.uk/gurumagazinehttp://www.cafepress.co.uk/gurumagazinehttp://www.cafepress.co.uk/gurumagazinehttp://www.cafepress.co.uk/gurumagazinehttp://www.cafepress.co.uk/gurumagazinehttp://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://scienceanythingandeverything.blogspot.com/http://www.viddler.com/explore/winecouch/videos/21/http://www.molecularrecipes.com/spherification/http://spiritsandcocktails.wordpress.com/http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Public-engagement/Science-writing-prize/index.htmhttp://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Public-engagement/Science-writing-prize/index.htmhttp://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Public-engagement/Science-writing-prize/index.htmhttp://gurumagazine.org/http://gurumagazine.org/http://gurumagazine.org/http://gurumagazine.org/in-the-press/http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Valrhona+Guanajahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heston_Blumenthalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herv%C3%A9_Thishttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804503/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804503/


20/30


POLES APART: REVIEW OF THE YEAR

POLES APART

#ASIDES

Its time to get reective and consider the year just passed.We asked both you and our Gurus, what was the most important

signicant event of 2011? Heres what everyone had to say...

Seven scientistsare on trial in Italyor 309 counts omanslaughter or giving inexact,

incomplete andcontradictoryinormation aboutthe possibility o anearthquake in 2009.

Its a pivotal issue orscience, and raises thecritical question oaccountability whenit comes to naturaldisasters. Its not theirscience that was awed,but the communication.How could it have beendone better? I ItalysGreat Risks Commissionis convicted, will allhazards scientistsbe at risk?

Jackie Ratner

What did the deathso Osama Bin Laden,

Amy Whitehouse, andMuammar Gaddafhave in common? Theyall prompted a surgeo activity on socialnetworks a kind obehaviour thats reallycome to the ore in2011. Nowadays, itsthe social networks likeTwitter not rollingnews channels thatare frst with the lateststories.

2011 was the year inwhich social media wasrevealed as somethingo a double-headedbeast, reportedly

being used to organiseviolence during theUK riots that eruptedover the summer. Yetit was also used in theclean-up operation thatollowed. The best andworst o human naturewere all played outthrough a medium that

just a ew years agodidnt even exist.

Jonathon Crowe

For me, 2011s mostmemorable event isthe News Internationalphone-hacking scandal .As a UK resident,Im getting a bit sicko the incessantcoverage, but overall itrepresents something

incredibly important:that maintaininga high, honest andethical standardwithin journalism isparamount, regardlesso the discipline,audience, or outlet.Hopeully this willmake a great dierencein the uture.

Nicola GuttridgeGuru sub-editor

I think the most notableevent so ar has beenthe rise o the patent-based lawsuits in thetelecoms industry.

Its not just mobilephone makers, but alsooperating system (OS)owners Google andApple have spent HUGEamounts. So ar the billor Apples purchaseo the Nortel patentsis around USD2.6bn(excluding court cases)and Googles purchaseo Motorola Mobilityis said to be aroundUSD12.5bn. Whoin 2010 would havethought that Googlewould buy MotorolaMobility? It seemed tocontradict their plansor an open-source OS.Yet it was a deal borneout o necessity, soGoogle could help itsstrategic partners fght

o Apples attacks.Can you imaginean iPhone cloner inShenzhensuingAppleor

copying the look o oneoits phones?

That would be veryamusing. Everyonesbeen getting in on thelawsuit action: HTCagainst Apple, Appleagainst Samsung,Samsung against Appleand Nokia against...everyone.

The real winners arethe lawyers! Do weneed changes in patentlaw or to call a truce?That would see moneygoing to the right place namely, developing

more cool toys or all usGurus.

Shane Burgess

This year saw agreat increase in thenumbers oLIFESAVERwater bottles incirculation.They looklike sports drinksbottles but oer asolution that couldsave millions o lives.These bottles, whichcome in a variety osizes, flter water andrid it o practically allbacteria, viruses andtoxic substances in

an instant. Using nano-flters, the bottles arenot only cheap but alsolast several years.

For me, LIFESAVERbottles could well besciences fnest hour oering 2.5bn peopleaccess to clean wateror the frst time. So,come New Year, Illdefnitely be drinking tothat!

Dr StuScience Guru

It has to be the deatho Steve Jobs. No-one

this year has had sucha massive aect on theway that we live withtechnology. Im not awriter, so Ill say nomore...

James Green

A look back on 2011simply cannot go bywithout a mention othe Royal Wedding.Yes, the wedding oWills and Kate in Aprilshowed that, when itcomes to pomp andcircumstance, no onecan do a royal eventquite like us Brits.Over 2bn viewersaround the worldwatched and enjoyedthe sight o ull-growntrees in WestminsterAbbey, some trulybizarre hats... and thatbridesmaids dress.For one day, all eyesaround the world werefxed frmly on theUnited Kingdom, andor the right reasons.Sadly, with the phone-hacking nonsense andrioting that ollowed inthe summer, it wasntthe last time that the

UK was the centre oattention!

Ben VealMedia Guru

Im not hugelyobservant. I noticed aew changes in 2011;but chiey that ourlocal postman now hasa van and a pram or hisletters instead o a bike.

Overall, 2011 or mewas about ordinarylie. World eventsoccasionally bargedin on the everyday: inMarch, visiting riends

in Hong Kong, wewondered i it was stillsae to eat Japaneseood. In August, riendsliving in London bracedthemselves or theworst o the riots.

This year brought birth,death, marriage, travel,highs and lows. Whenthe stu hit the an,I tried to rememberthat its all part olie: just as valid andimportant as the timeswhen things are goinggreat. And on thatvague and uzzy note,bring on 2012...!

Sarah JoyDesign Guru

Would you liketo have your say in nextissues Poles Apart?

Stay tuned to Guruthrough the website,Facebook or on Twitter.

Image:FlickrDmitrySandalov


ImagebykindpermissionoLIFESAVE

RSystemsLtd.
http://www.sify.com/topics/Great-Risks-commission.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandalhttp://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://gurumagazine.org/http://www.facebook.com/GuruMaghttps://twitter.com/#!/GuruMaghttp://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://www.facebook.com/GuruMaghttps://twitter.com/#!/GuruMaghttp://www.lifesaversystems.com/https://twitter.com/#!/GuruMaghttp://www.facebook.com/GuruMaghttp://gurumagazine.org/http://www.lifesaversystems.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandalhttp://www.sify.com/topics/Great-Risks-commission.html


21/30


#OPINION

CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT

JAMES PRESTON GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Looking back,looking forward

As New Year celebrations loom, Guru takes a contemplativedetour by looking back at some key events o the year past.Guest writer James Preston highlights his key events o the lastyear and explains what he thinks the dramatic events o 2011might mean or tomorrows society, environment and politics...

The year is 500BC. A Greek namedHeraclitus sits and ponders theuniverse. It is a particularly good dayor thought and he concludes:

The only constantis change.

Without doubt this was to becomehis most amous conclusion andor good reason...

The world is changingEverything we know is constantlychanging even our avouritecomputer programs. I dont knowabout you, but Im still getting

used to the new-look Facebookater Septembers airly radicaltransormation.

As we near the end o another year,billions o people around the worldtake time to step back and evaluatetheir lives. Stop Smoking helplineswill hit their busiest season, andOprah Winreys book ...A Better Lieis about to peak in annual sales.Its not just the world that changes;

people want to change too.What can we learn rom the changesweve seen in 2011? And perhapsmore importantly, what does thismean or 2012 and beyond?

J : A

For me, the Arabuprisings are themost signifcantstory o 2011. Whilstnot diminishing thesignifcance o otherevents this year, Ibelieve what happenedin the Arab World holdsmore importance tohumanity than we cancomprehend.

Think about it weeach go about ourdaily lives with theeeling there is atleast one thing worthcomplaining about;be it slow internet,biased tabloids or thegovernments stanceon taxes. However, iwe are honest, we arelargely helpless on suchissues. The uprisingsin the Middle-East are

proo that we peoplestill do have the powerto change the societieswe live in.

One would thinkthat our modernculture has bred anemasculated societyo conormists. TheMiddle East revolutionsprove that, whenorced into a corner,

people eventuallymake a stand. Theserevolutions are nowserving as a warningto governmentseverywhere to be moresympathetic to theirpopulous when drawingup laws and policies.

Just stop and considerthe signifcance o thator the uture.

Image: Flickr S a l e e m - H o m s iImage:Flickrrachaelvoorhees


22/30


LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARDLOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD

Reerences on the web TheArab Spring unrest (Wikipedia)

A timeline of events surrounding the Fukushima disaster (Wikipedia)

Journalist Marc Gunther discusses nuclear power after Fukushima

The English riots of 2011 (Wikipedia)

USDebtClock.org

M : J

This year in the EasternHemisphere, the Earthstectonic plates worked.First Canterbury in NewZealand was struckby a 6.3 magnitudeearthquake, and amonth later Japan wasbrought to her knees bya 9.0 magnitude mega-quake.

The big story o thiscatastrophe becamethe ongoing nucleardisaster in Fukushima.The resulting tsunamio the mega-quakebroke retaining wallso the Fukushima INuclear Power Plant

and destroyed itscooling generators.The overheating o thenuclear reactors andeventual explosionsreleased plumes oradiation into theenvironment.

Not only are wereminded o the powero Nature, but we areorced to question ourphilosophy o reducingcarbon emissions atall costs. Suddenlynuclear power comesinto question: whatrisks are we preparedto take? Germanyhas announced thatthey will stop nuclear-generated power by2022 and Japan hasalready reduced itsreliance on nuclear-reactors rom fty-our power plants tonineteen.

But is this a knee-jerkreaction? Surely betterpreventative measures

can be implementedrather than a wholesaleabandoning o atomicenergy? While theseismic threats in thatpart o the world areby no means trivial,the most eco-efcientenergy known to manat the moment isnuclear. This dramaticnuclear U-turn mayprove to be a badmove or the longevityo uture energygeneration.

One positive side tosuch drastic policychange is thathumankind alwaysseems to work bestunder pressure. With animminent energy crisis,German or Japaneseengineers could welldiscover even greatereco-riendly energy.I certainly hope so,as a uture in thedark sounds less thanappealing...

A :V E

The scenes romLondon in Augustwere harrowing.Youthul yobs wereseen disregarding otherpeoples possessionsand rights. It wasanarchy. However, theroot rom where thisanarchist attitudederived was quitepossibly a legitimateone.

Is it not too ar-etchedan idea to believe that

the Western Capitalistsociety is coming toan end? Capitalism,at worst, is a systemwhereby everythingthat possibly can bedone to gain wealthis done no matterhow immoral orillegal. The anarchistswe saw in Londonseemed to make astatement, albeit aviolent one, against theinconsiderate and

immoral way in whichWestern banks operate.They could have apoint.

In its most evil orm,Capitalism is nodierent rom thehunger or power andworld dominationdisplayed by theImperial monarchies.What Europeanexplorers did to theNative AmericanIndians is a reection

o those evils. As thefnancial crisis tightensits grip, the number opeople disenchantedwith the currentWestern system isincreasing. Whilstmany o these peopletake to the streets inprotest, like those othe Occupy Wall StreetCampaign in New York,very ew solutionsseem viable. Thereare simply very ewrealistic alternativesto Capitalism in a reesociety.

Surely true reedomrelies on our ability

to dream big and livewith the possibility oulflling those dreams?Maybe the bestalternative is stricterregulations and highertaxes who knows?

I am no let-wingsocialist... yet. But theseare serious issues thatthe West will have toace in the not-too-distant uture. Thebottom line? Greedmust be controlledor regulated. Nowthat sounds Socialistin every sense, but

seriously how muchis enough?

Image:WikimediaCommonsVoiceoAmerica

Looking ForwardOur world aces many challenges, but none have ever stopped mankindsucceeding in the past. So, as the sun rises on yet another calendar year, Ithink it is the right time or all o us to take stock. Dare we assess our ownlives, we might wish to consider where we can make or positive change inthe uture. It could be in the research o alternative energy. Perhaps it may be

joining a peaceul march to stand up or injustice. Or it could just bebeing a tad more wary o a deal that looks too good to be true...

Whatever our hope is or 2012, we must believe it is possible.

Have your say atgurumagazine.org

James Preston is a journalist and lecturer with a passion orthe positive side o lie. Born in Guildord, Surrey and raised inSouth Arica, he has run a radio show in his home city o Durban,South Arica or over ten years. Ater fve years o marriage he likesto tell everyone he has a young Preston on the way.

Image:Flickrd.billy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Springhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidentshttp://www.marcgunther.com/2011/06/27/webinar-nuclear-power-after-fukushima/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_England_riotshttp://www.usdebtclock.org/http://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://gurumagazine.org/forum/issue-three/http://www.usdebtclock.org/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_England_riotshttp://www.marcgunther.com/2011/06/27/webinar-nuclear-power-after-fukushima/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring


23/30

#SCEPTICISM

THE SCEPTIC GURUS GUIDE TO MIND READING

DARYL ILBURY SCEPTIC GURU

Behold!A Dangerous Gift

Do you believe in astrologers, tarot readers and ortune-tellers?How would you like to become one? In this issue, Sceptic GuruDaryl Ilbury oers you a unique Christmas git you wont fndanywhere else but be warned, use it wisely and careully,because in the wrong hands it could bevery, very dangerous...

Many years ago, inmy fnal year as astudent o clinicalpsychology, I oolishlyallowed mysel to beexperimented upon.The class was studyingpersonality disorders,and I agreed to be oneo sixteen volunteers tocomplete an EysenckPersonality Inventory(or EPI). It would, ourlecturer claimed,provide an insight intoour personality profles.It comprised a series oquestions to which wecould answeryes or no.

On the due date,we each presentedour completedquestionnaire. Theollowing day, weeach were given ourpersonality assessmentand told to read it

privately to evaluate itsaccuracy on a scale oone to ten and then tellthe rest o the class ourconclusion.

I was amazed: thelecturer had managedto describe mypersonality to a T!

It seemed the othersagreed, and the averagescore or all o us was8.5 out o 10. It wasonly then that thelecturer dropped thebombshell we hadall been given exactlythe same personalitydescription!

Reading the StarsSo how was thispossible? The secretlies in a combinationo generalisation andknowing a little abouthuman psychology

specifcally, how we seeourselves, how we likeothers to see us, andhow we like to think webehave. Unortunately,its also what ortune-tellers, psychics andastrologers also use toool you.

Heres an example how accurate is thisstatement about you?

Your friends see youas honourable and

unselsh, but there isalso a competitive side

to you that emergeswhen necessary.

Its true or most people everyone likes tothink theyre nice andno-one likes to thinko themselves as apushover (whether trueor not)!

How socially desirable are you? Are you extroverted?Would you consider yourselneurotic? Try this personality

test yoursel:the Eysenck Personality Inventory.

Image:Flickrseanmcgrath/SeanMcGrath

Image:Flickralbertogp123/AlbertoG.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21799155/Eysenck-Personality-Inventory-Interpretation-of-Scoreshttp://www.scribd.com/doc/21799155/Eysenck-Personality-Inventory-Interpretation-of-Scores


24/30


BEHOLD! A DANGEROUS GIFT

A Guide to Mind-ReadingSo heres my Christmas git or you:an expos o the tools o the trade oortune-tellers, psychics and astrologersand my tutorial on how to use them:

Use attery

Everyone responds to attery, but it needs to besubtle. Saying youre handsome doesnt work aswell as:

You often nd yourself looking in the mirror,thinking yeah, Ive got a certain something.

Apply balance

This is achieved through the use o opposingcharacteristics in the same sentence, thereby

ensuring a hit. The above statemen