photo courtesy SpeakDolphin  

With some estimating Apple has sold over 2 million iPads, there is no disputing that the device is currently the hottest gadget on the planet. If researchers with SpeakDolphin are successful in their quest to build a language interface allowing cross species communication, Apple may have an entirely new user base. Currently the project is in its infancy, but the researchers hope that by using touch screen technology they will be able to build a system that will allow dolphins to communicate fully with humans. While they are still evaluating other touchscreen devices to use in their program, researchers have begun to introduce the iPad to the dolphins at their Puerto Aventuras facility. To acclimate the creatures to the touch pad, the SpeakDolphin team show a real object to the dolphin and then ask it to touch photos of the same object on the screen. According to dolphin researcher Jack Kassewitz, “This is an easy task for a dolphin, but it is a necessary building block towards our goal of a complete language interface between humans and dolphins.”

Dolphin Uses iPad To Communicate (PDF Link) [via BoingBoing]

A MiniREG used GCP network to monitor
for signs of a global consiousness.

This is exactly the question that scientists with Princeton’s Global Consciousness Project are trying to answer. Their research is an extension of a study done at the now defunct Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) lab that showed that through directed concentration, the human mind can have a small but noticeable effect on noise based random event generators (REGs). While the PEAR experiments focused on collecting data from a single generator, the Global Consciousness Project uses a network of 60-65 generators spread around the world to monitor for fluctuations in the random data that may indicate a global consciousness that reflects the emotions and attentions of every person on the planet.

Such fluctuations have already been seen during catastrophic events such as the September 11th attacks and worldwide celebrations like New Years Eve. Interestingly, the projects data shows that human generated events, such as a terror attack, generate stronger fluctuations than a natural disaster. This has led some researchers to speculate that the world as a whole accepts some disasters as a normal part of the natural order where others, like a bombing, disrupt that order causing a deeper psychological effect.

While the project is very much in it’s infancy and right now it is often very hard to separate fluctuations from the natural randomness in the data (something the project’s detractors are quick to point out), as the technology and research mature, we may be able to get a clearer picture of how the world feels and possibly how we are all connected to each other.

Global Consciousness Project