Link Banana

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had a stroke. And though I’m sure some will dismiss her conclusion about the experience as “new-agey claptrap,” it’s a story worth listening to.

(via kottke)

E. O. Wilson’s dream, as announced at TED a few years ago, is similar to a Wikipedia of animals. Though I don’t know or care much about zoology, it’s neat to see this thing go online — even if they seem rather unprepared for the volume of traffic they’re getting. As it explains itself:

EOL is an unprecedented global effort and we want you to be a part of it. Natural history museums, botanical gardens, other research institutions, and dedicated individuals are working to create the most complete biodiversity database on the Web, but without your help it cannot be done.

Larry Brilliant, the director of Google.org, makes an interesting case for informed optimism. Rather than arguing that optimism comes straight from ignorance — a silly but too common notion — he argues that looking at all that we’ve done gives a good guide to all that we’ll eventually do.