Tag: video

Dr. John Medina Talks At Google About Brain Science

WATCH VIDEO on YouTube »

Dr. John Medina, developmental molecular biologist, gives an informative and humorous talk at Google about brain science and his book “Brain Rules”.

In this talk he talks about brain rule number one which is that aerobic exercise boosts cognitive performance especially executive function. He says “if you have an active lifestyle you have a 50% reduction in the risk of Alzheimer”. He answers the question of how much exercise if required to get these benefits: Two to three times a week for 20 minutes per session. Aerobic exercise increases blood flow to the dentate gyrus of brain and elevates BDNF which is like Miracle Grow for brains.

Then he talks about stress on the brain. Stressed brains does not learn the same way and hurts learning. He says “stress damages cognition in virtually every way cognition can be measured.”

And he ends with the most important brain rule of all: curiosity.

North Pacific Gyre Garbage Patch

The North Pacific Gyre is a section of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California that is accumulating trash due to the nature of its water currents. This garbage patch in the ocean consists of trash debris and non-biodegradable plastic that just breaks up into more tiny pieces.

WATCH VIDEO on YouTube »

It says that there is 7 million tons of floating waste spanning an area twice the size of Texas. Birds and wildlife die when they mistaken these plastic bits as food. A lot of these garbage get washed up on beaches.

The latimes.com also has some video pieces on the North Pacific Gyre here.

WATCH VIDEO on YouTube for more detailed explanation of trash in our oceans.

The reason why there is not a lot of good photos of the North Pacific Gyre is that most of the garbage is just underwater and is somewhat spread out as explained in theoystersgarter.com.

Frontline’s documentary on Global Warming

WATCH VIDEO on pbs.org »

Frontline documentary “Heat” investigates the great crises of global warming. You can watch the full program in the link provided.

CO2 emission have been rising and is at records level. China and India are in a growth spur adding to the energy demands. In order to stop global warming, we have to curb our addiction to fossil fuel which is economic engine of our lives. The documentary talks about technologies such as clean coal and carbon capture and sequestration.

The second largest contribution to CO2 emissions are vehicles. There is a need to increase fuel efficiency standards. But the car industry is against it. Big oil is also resisting change and the consequences are not good.

Corn-based ethanol as an alternative to middle-east oil is now hugh business. Some say there is a net benefit. And other says that it may even increase carbon emission depending on how the corn is processed. Corn simply may not be an efficient fuel crop and may not a solution to greenhouse gas.

In Europe and Japan, the government have gotten farther in its strides to increase renewable energies.

In its early days, nuclear power had to overcome obstacles of the fears of accidents such as Three-Mile Island and anti-nuclear activists.

Cap and trade is the concept where companies has a maximum quota on emissions. If it emits more than their quota, they will need to purchase from companies that emit less.

While politicians debate this concept. The earth has seen its explosion of wild fires, large hurricanes like Katrina, and unbelievable droughts throughout the world.

China has passed America as the largest emitter of CO2. India and some other countries are also emitting more.

Video of Maz Jobrani Iranian Comedian

WATCH Maz Jabrani on YouTube »

Maz Jobrani was born in Iran and emigrated to the United States when he was six.  He was part of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour whose DVD is out.  He also do solo touring and has been on the Tonight Show as well.

He has some middle eastern comedy acts in his skits, but they are all done in good taste.  In fact, he wants to dispel some of the Middle Eastern stereo-types.  He says, just once he wants to see an Middle Easterner on TV doing regular things (like baking a cookie).

On NPR interview with Terry Gross, Maz talked about his acting career and how he was on the hit TV show “24”.  Maz Jobrani attended University of California at Berkeley and even enrolled in the PhD program in UCLA.  His mother had wanted him to become a doctor, lawyer — okay, or say car mechanic (instead of acting).

Maz is well-known enough to be on Wikipedia.  More about Maz Jobrani and his tour schedule on his website.

Movie: “Slumdog Millionaire”

The acclaimed movie Slumdog Millionaire depicts life in India as two orphan brothers (Jamal and Salim) grows up in the slum of Mumbai. Through a series of adventures in search for his love Latika, the protagonist Jamal ends up working at a call center and then ended up on the India’s version of the show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” — which he wins since he happens to know all the answers to through his previous adventures.

The other brother Salim was not so lucky as he got involved with gangsters — a by-product of the crime-ridden neighbor in which they grew up.

WATCH Trailer »

Slumdog Millionaire was winner of the 2009 Oscars for Best Picture, best Directing, best Music Song, Film Editing, Sound Mixing, Cinematography, and Writing Adaptive Screenplay.

Director Danny Boyle talks about the film here.

Also hear interview of Danny Boyle on Fresh Air.

Hear another review of the movie here.

Video provides Humorous Way to Learn About Copyright Laws

The below video is a parody of Disney created by Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University. It explains the U.S. copyright laws and the types of work that it protects such as music, film, dance, etc. It says that ideas can not be copyrighted. Only the form in which that idea is express is copyrighted. It talks about the duration of copyright and when a work goes into public domain when copyright expires. And finally it explains the copyright fair use doctrine.