By activating multiple fluorescent proteins in neurons, neuroscientists at Harvard University are imaging the brain and nervous system as never before, rendering these cells in a riotous spray of colors dubbed a “Brainbow.”

This is from a few months ago but apparently it hasn't been cited here. The Nature article, Transgenic strategies for combinatorial expression of fluorescent proteins in the nervous system, is available in the Google cache. The editor wrote:

The 'Brainbow' technique can paint hundreds of individual neurons with distinctive hues, producing a detailed map of neuronal circuitry. This technology should not only boost mapping efforts in normal or diseased brains, but could also be applied to other complex cell populations, such as the immune system.

Scientists image vivid ‘brainbows'

Consider this a follow-up to What's in a Font?

A revolution in typeface design has led to everything from more-legible newspapers and cell-phone displays to extra-tacky wedding invitations.

This URL will self-destruct in three days. See also this video interview with Michael Beirut.

Playing to Type

Andrew Odlyzko has a new paper.

Network neutrality as such may fade from public interest discussions, but historical precedents going back for centuries argue that the underlying issues will continue to be debated. Those issues revolve around the basic tension between efficiency and fairness in markets, a tension that has never been completely resolved. Further, this tension is unlikely to ever be resolved, since our well-documented inability to predict the development of technology and its impact on society mean that no fixed set of rules can work indefinitely.

Should net neutrality or some similar set of rules come to dominate (either because of market forces, or through regulation), attention would likely turn to other parts of the economy that might be perceived as choke points for social, economic, and political activities. If Net search becomes as important as Google stock price seems to imply, for example, it might be the focal point for such concerns.

Future controversies are of course matters of speculation. On the other hand, net neutrality and its close relatives, such as common carriage for the Internet, are current issues that have to be decided soon. What appears to be missing in the current debate is a discussion supported by reliable data of the basic fundamental economic question, namely whether a net neutral communication infrastructure can be viable. And if it is not, just how far from net neutrality is it necessary to move? Should pricing for Internet access be dependent on the income of the user, for example?

There are arguments that a net neutral communication infrastructure should be viable. But to get there would require a major restructuring of the industry. The prospects of that are tied up not just with politics, but also with some of the great paradoxes of the current financial markets.

It is possible to argue that the best outcome might be to have Google defeat AT&T in the battle over net neutrality, but then (and likely in any case) society might have to get ready to regulate Google!

Network neutrality, search neutrality, and the never-ending conflict between effciency and fairness in markets

shimmer is a pair of small programs (a client and a server) that provide an alternative to port knocking programs such as tumbler and are used to hide a valuable port (such as a hidden web server or SSH) on a public IP address.

shimmer works by cryptographically changing a set of 16 ports (one of which forwards to the real service, and 15 others that lead to a trap to blacklist attackers). The 16 ports change every minute frustrating an attacker, but a legitimate user with access to a secret shared between the client and server can determine the real port, avoid blacklisting, and get a connection.

Since both client and server must be time synchronized to the nearest minute shimmer actual holds 48 ports open at a time (16 for the previous minute, 16 for the current minute and 16 for the next minute) to avoid problems due to small amounts of clock drift.

shimmer

A sort of follow-up on Professors Could Take Performance-Enhancing Drugs for the Mind.

When imagining the possible influences of efficient cognitive enhancers on society as a whole, there can be many positive effects. Such drugs may enable individuals to perform better and enjoy more achievements and success. However, cognitive enhancers may have a darker side. Fears have been raised of an overworked 24/7 society pushed to the limits of human endurance, or of direct and indirect coercion into taking such drugs. If other children at school or colleagues at work are taking cognitive-enhancing drugs, will you feel pressure to give them to your children or take them yourself? What if a perfectly safe and reliable cognitive enhancer existed, could society deny it to healthy individuals who may benefit from it?

Professor's little helper | Nature

Hallucinogenic drugs, which blew minds in the 1960s, soon may be used to treat mental ailments.

Psychedelic Healing? | Scientific American

What was on the edge has now become the core.

John Hagel and John Seely Brown on Android and the upcoming spectrum auction.

Phoning from the Edge

Dear John McCain:

You were right on Iraq when others were panicking or saying nothing. Your national-security experience, aversion to pork-barrel spending, recognition of global warming as a problem, and refusal to get too close to the religious right, are all major points in your favor. Yes, you have some big-government tendencies I dislike, and your campaign-finance “reforms” were wrongheaded. Overall, you are the most attractive candidate. I will vote for you on Super Tuesday, and hope to do so also in the general election. But if you do something crazy—like select Huckabee as your running mate—all bets are off.

Open letters to the Republican candidates

Prosecutors in the US attorney's office in Los Angeles are exploring the possibility of charging Lori Drew with defrauding the MySpace social networking website by allegedly creating a false account, according to the sources, who insisted on anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

It would be more ironic if the reporter assigned a pseudonym to the sources, instead of simply leaving them unnamed.

Maybe the MySpace registration form needs a check box where you can "insist" on your anonymity instead of entering false information.

L.A. grand jury issues subpoenas in Web suicide case

We feel terrifically betrayed, not only by Ron Paul, but by older libertarians like yourself for not publicly warning us about him. If you knew he was such bad news and that he was becoming one of the biggest mainstream representatives of libertarian thought, why didn't you warn us?

As Virginia notes:

When you give your political heart to a guy who spends so much time worrying about international bankers, you're not going to get a tolerant cosmopolitan.

The Libertarian Turnip Truck