/.ed – Brain Scans to Identify Liars?

“After a bunch of sci-fi stories and rumors, now it looks like the future has become a reality — a reliable, unbiased test using functional MRI brain scan to detect lying. The article author details a first-person account of undergoing the MRI ‘deception task’. And the test is available now – use it to prove your innocence.” From the article: “Laken said he’s aiming to offer the fMRI service for use in situations like libel, slander and fraud where it’s one person’s word against another, and perhaps in employee screening by government agencies. Attorneys suggest it would be more useful in civil than most criminal cases, he said.”

Follow the interesting discussion on Slashdot here

Got my driving license

Thanks to Siva, I got my driving license finally.

NASA team reviews Indian moon mission

A team of scientists from the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration came to the country (India) to review the preliminary design of India’s maiden moon mission – Chandrayan 1, which will also carry an American payload, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Saturday. (more)

Unbelievable!! The Indian Chandrayan project has a budget of just $89 million. Whats stopping NASA from exploring MOON as such. It has a bloating budget of $1.62 billions and no current Moon Missions. May be, they have concluded that its not worthwhile. We can certainly have a base station on Moon for further exploration and support.

Is it too much to dream about affordable space tourism in our generation? Atleast a casual visit to Moon. Though late, US Congress has recently passed a space tourism bill. In the best interests of humanity, shouldn’t we search for other earth-like planets and expand our presence. May be, we can allot a planet or two for the wildlife alone. The imagination runs wild from here on.

American History Videos Online

PBS has screened the first two lecture videos on “A Biography of America”. Though there’s no captivating dramitization like in the history channel, you can treat yourself to a crash course on American History. Watch the videos online at Learner.org

Its also National Youth Day in India on Swami Vivekananda Jayanthi.