Thursday, February 14, 2008

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!"

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

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.