Richard Glen Boire, the Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics, discussed freedom of thought which may face challenges from new developments in technology and pharmacology. "We need to have in place protections," he commented, as there is the possibility that these new tools could infringe on people's mental freedoms.

"Brain Fingerprinting," which works by measuring brain wave reactions to certain images or words, is one such technology that could be considered an invasion of mental privacy, said Boire. "Hypersonic Sound" which can narrow cast sound signals directly into someone's eardrums may have useful applications, but also has the potential for misuse, he added.

"Memory management" drugs coming onto the market may allow a person to diminish or improve their recall of events within certain time periods, and this could create some complications for the field of medicine, he said. Perhaps more insidious is the use of "neurocops," pharmaceuticals designed to attach to receptor sites that illegal drugs plug into, Boire noted. A drug such as this could, for example, prevent a marijuana user from being able to get high on that substance.

Toutatis Inbound

An asteroid known as Toutatis, the size of a small city, is due to make its closest pass to Earth on Sept. 29, 2004. The giant pockmarked rock has a very odd shape and rotation pattern and has been described as one of the stranger objects in space. Read more about it in this article(1) from Space.com.
Computer model of Toutatis based on radar data

1. http://space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_040503.html

Bumper Music

Bumper music from Tuesday May 04, 2004