My friend Ben posted this on his LiveJournal, and it just made my day. I hope you like it too. Despite the fact that this guy’s done several of these, this new one feels just as novel.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Fetal Heart

Originally uploaded by offhegoes

This is not our baby, but we had some ultrasounds like this taken. Someone else posted theirs. Happy Friday and happy Independence day!

Take that, limeys!

Since I’m not going to be able to check my work snail-mail box very often, I signed up for a P.O. Box here. I also am no longer able to receive faxes. All of my contact information has been updated accordingly on the contact page.

A groundbreaking study has just come out that used various MRI techniques to map the structure and function of human brains. We are working with MRI experts to do similar things with the heart. Here’s a figure from the paper illustrating the process:

The study was done by an international team of scientists, with first author Patric Hagmann. Because it was published in the open-access PLoS Biology, you can get the whole article, online or in PDF form, here, regardless of your university affiliation or lack thereof.

This is really cool. It’s the first step in a new era of reverse-engineering the brain, and the body in general.

I finally got back to climbing today after a 6-week hiatus. I went and signed up for a membership at a local climbing gym and bought all of the necessary equipment. I climbed for about an hour, and actually it didn’t go too badly. One neat thing about the place is that they have auto-belay devices, eliminating the need for a climbing partner to belay you. There aren’t many, and it’s not as good as having an actual belayer, but it’s good enough for doing drills and in a pinch.

Now I just need to find a regular climbing partner.