Related article: a macroscopic Cheap Anti-Wrinkle Cream scale -- a scale orders of magnitude larger than the range of fundamental interactions -- in the form of spatial patterns or temporal rhythms. 3) States of matter capable of evolving (states for which order, complexity, regulation, information and other Buy Anti-Wrinkle Cream concepts usually absent from the vocabulary of the physicist become the natural mode of description) are, all of a sudden, emerging in the laboratory. These states suggest that the gap between "simple" and "complex", and between "disorder" and "order", is much narrower than previously thought. They also provide the natural archetypes for understanding a large body of phenomena in branches which traditionally were outside the realm of physics, such as turbulence, the circulation of the atmosphere and the oceans, plate tectonics, glaciations, and other forces that shape our natural environment: or, even, the emergence of replicating systems capable of storing and generating information, embryonic development, the electrical activity of brain, or the behavior of populations in an ecosystem or in an economic environment. Adapted from: Gregoire Nicolis: in: Paul Davies (ed.): The New Physics. Cambridge University Press 1989, p.316 From checker at panix.com Wed Aug 24 23:00:12 2005 From: checker at panix.com (Premise Checker) Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 19:00:12 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Paleopsych] Cape Times: Scientists show way to non-addictive drugs Message-ID: Scientists show way to non-addictive drugs http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id="1&click_id=79&art_id=vn20050816070856987C214316&newslett=1&em=17706a1a20050816ah" 5.8.16 [Recall Mr. Mencken's definition of a puritan as you read this.] It is the news that clubbers have been waiting for. Scientists are working on a range of recreational drugs that can produce similar effects to alcohol but with fewer of the side-effects. Experts looked 20 years into the future to discover what kind of drugs we would be taking, and came up with a surprising range of findings, that open up the prospect of Sunday mornings without a thumping hangover or the "parrot's cage" mouth. They have also been able to separate the effect of one psychoactive substance from its addictive properties, leading an expert panel to advise British government ministers that "this could pave the way to non-addictive recreational drugs". One of the new substances has even been found to reduce the side effects of recreational drugs. "Such compounds might allow users to shape their drug experience," said the panel headed by Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser. His report to the Trade and Industry secretary, Alan Johnson, raises the possibility that, in a generation, Britain's dinner parties could become more like Woody Allen's "orb" scene in the futuristic film Sleeper, where guests get high by rubbing the orb instead of inhaling a joint. The report said: "There are a number of new and developing technologies that could be used to deliver drugs in new ways. Examples include patches, vaporisers, depot injection and direct neural stimulation... this may encourage the development of technology for the slower release of recreational psychoactive substances, which could reduce the risk of addiction." Some drugs developed to tackle health problems are capable of being used for improving the performance of the brain. Madafinil, which was introduced to treat narcolepsy, can keep normal people awake for three days, says the report. Other drugs could be used to stop alcohol triggering a need for a cigarette. "Drinking with friends might no longer create a trigger for an individual to smoke tobacco," the panel said.