Next IS Meeting: Systems Biology

The next IS Group meeting with take place at 7pm, Saturday, 26 April 2008, at the home of Philip Rubin in Fairfield, Connecticut. We will gather at 6:30 pm for a pre-meeting dinner. The theme is Systems Biology.

Main reading: Uri Alon, An Introduction to Systems Biology: Design Principles of Biological Circuits. Chapman & Hall, 2006

Possible supplemental reading: Martin A. Nowak, Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the equations of Life. Harvard University Press, 2006.

We may end up devoting a future meeting to the Nowak book, depending on how our next meeting goes. We will also spend a little time at the next meeting discussing a draft manuscript by Simon Levy on modeling recursion in cognitive neuroscience. Contact Simon for further information and to get a copy of the manuscript.

Video: Cabin Fever. Rubin says: "Do not bother watching if you do not have a strong stomach -- we are trying to drive you from the room, to leave more space, beer and food for ourselves." IMDB says: "An offbeat horror tale about a group of five college friends on vacation at a remote mountain cabin when one contracts a flesh-eating virus". See also the Cabin Fever Website.

Simon's review (of the website): "There's a killer in the woods. His brain is squirmin' like a ... somethin' that rhymes with woods. Anyway, they stole that rabbit costume idea from Donnie Darko. So I guess they should've called this one 'Donnie Dorko'! Get it? Shut up!"

Kluge

Keep an eye out for the new book by Gary Marcus. It is called Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind, and is scheduled to be released in April 2008. Gary is a professor of psychology at New York University and the Director of the NYU Infant Language Learning Center.

Gary has sent a URL for the upcoming book (http://klugethebook.com/) on which he says: "It's a reader's guide to the kluge that is the human mind: the frailties and foibles of the human brain -- and how they evolved." Check it out.