செழியனின் உலகசினிமா

நான் எனது பதினைந்தாவது வயதில் முதன் முதலில் ஆங்கிலப்படம் பார்த்தேன்.படத்தின் பெயர் ஐ விட்னஸ்.அது ஏ சர்டிபிகேட் படம்.சென்னைக்கு கோடைவிடுமுறைக்காக வந்தபோது தேவி தியேட்டரில் ரீலிஸ் செய்திருந்தார்கள்.டிக்கெட் வாங்கிக்கொண்டு போனால் டிக்கெட் கிழிப்பவர் என்னை உள்ளேவிடவில்லை.கெஞ்சினேன்....தியேட்டரே காலியாக இருந்தாலும் என்னை உள்ளே அனுமதிக்காமல் விடாப்பிடியாக இருந்தார் அந்த நேர்மையாளர்.
அப்புறம் அந்தப்படத்தை என் கிராமத்துக்கு பக்கத்து ஊரான உடன்குடி சண்முகனந்தா தியேட்டரில் ஞாயிறு காலைக்காட்சியாகப்பார்த்தேன்.நான் தாத்தா பாட்டியிடம் வளர்ந்த பிள்ளை.பள்ளிப்பாட ஆங்கிலப்புத்தகத்தில் வந்த கதை படமாக வந்துள்ளது என கதைவிட்டு அனுமதி வாங்கிசென்று பார்த்த பிள்ளையார்சுழி.... இன்று மூவாயிரம் படமாக வளர்ந்து விட்டது.

ஹாலிவுட் படங்களாக மட்டும் பார்த்து தள்ளிய என்னை புரட்டிப்போட்டது ஆனந்தவிகடனில் வந்த உலகசினிமா என்ற தொடர்.முதல் படம் சில்ட்ரன் ஆப் ஹெவன்.படமும்... எழுதிய செழியனின் தமிழும்... என்னை மிகவும் வசீகரித்தது.அன்று உலகசினிமா உலகத்தினுள் நுழைந்தவன் இன்றும் தீராத தாகத்தோடு சுற்றிக்கொண்டு இருக்கிறேன்.

செழியன் உலகசினிமாவை தமிழ்மக்களிடம் ஆனந்தவிகடன் மூலமாக கொண்டு சேர்த்தார்.என்னைப்போலவே செழியனின் உலகசினிமா தொடர் மூலமாக பயன்பெற்றோர் லட்சக்கணக்கான தமிழர்கள்.இன்று உலகசினிமா தொடர், மூன்று பாகங்களாக.... விகடன் பிரசுரத்தில் மூன்று புத்தககங்களாக வெளிவந்திருக்கிறது.
அந்த புத்தகத்தை வாங்கிப்படித்து அதிலுள்ள படங்களை பார்த்தாலே நீங்கள் உலகசினிமாவில் பிளஸ் டூ பாஸானதுக்கு சமம்.
டிகிரி வாங்க நீங்கள் பார்த்த படங்களின் இயக்குனர்களது அனைத்து படங்களையும் பார்க்கவேண்டும்.

செழியனது பாதங்களில் உலகத்திலுள்ள அனைத்து பூக்களையும் சமர்ப்பித்து என் நன்றி என்ற மலரையும் வைத்து வணங்குகிறேன்.

அவரது தமிழில் மணக்கும் உலகசினிமாக்களின் பட்டியல் இதோ....
 

உலகசினிமா-செழியன்[விகடன் வெளியீடு]
Book/Film=No	Name of the Film / Year	Director / Country	Color/B&W=Time
##Che=1=01	Children of Heaven=1997	Majid Majidi=Iran	Color=089 Min
##Che=1=02	Life Is Beautiful=1997	Roberto Benigni=Italy	Color=116 Min
##Che=1=03	Way Home, The=2002	Lee Jeong Hyang=South Korea	Color=080 Min
##Che=1=04	Road Home, The=1999	Zhang Yimou=China	Color=089 Min
##Che=1=05	Cinema Paradiso=1988	Guiseppe Tornatore=Italy	Color=155 Min
##Che=1=06	Run Lola Run=1998	Tom Tykwer=Germany	Color=081 Min
##Che=1=07	Maria Full of Grace=2004	Joswa Martson=Colombia	Color=101 Min
##Che=1=08	Together =2002	Chen Kaige=China	Color=116 Min
##Che=1=09	Central Station=1998	Walter Salles=Brazil	Color=113 Min
##Che=1=10	Pickpocket=1959	Robert Bresson=France	B&W=075 Min
##Che=1=11	Pianist, The=2002	Roman Polanski=Poland	Color=150 Min
##Che=1=12	Hotel Rwanda=2004	Terry George=UK	Color=121 Min
##Che=1=13	Cyclist, The=1987	Mohsen Makhmalbaf=Iran	Color=095 Min
##Che=1=14	City Lights=1931=Silent	Charlie Chaplin=USA	B&W=087 Min
##Che=1=15	Return, The=2003	Andrei Zvyagintsev=Russia	Color=105 Min
##Che=1=16	Meghe Dhake Tara=1960	Ritwik Katak=India	B&W=126 Min
##Che=1=17	A Short Film About Love=1988	Krzysztof Kieslowski=Poland	Color=080 Min
##Che=1=18	Rabbit Proof Fence=2002	Philip Noyce=Australia	Color=094 Min
##Che=1=19	Battle of Algiers, The=1966	Gillo Pontecorvo=Algeria	B&W=121 Min
##Che=1=20	Carandiru=2003	Hector Babenco=Argentina	Color=148 Min
##Che=1=21	Citizen Kane=1941	Orson Welles=USA	B&W=119 Min
##Che=1=22	Goodbye Lenin=2003	Wolfgang Becker=Germany	Color=121 Min
##Che=1=23	Rashomon=1950	Akira Kurasowa=Japan	B&W=088 Min
##Che=1=24	Postman In The Mountains=1999	Jianqi Huo=China	Color=093 Min
##Che=1=25	La Strada=1954	Federico Fellini=Italy	B&W=108 Min
##Che=1=26	Day I Became A Woman, The =2001	Marzieh Meshkini=Iran	Color=078 Min
##Che=1=27	E.T=1982	Steven Spielberg=USA	Color=115 Min
##Che=1=28	400 Blows, The =1959	Francoiss Truffaut=France	B&W=099 Min
##Che=1=29	Khamosh Pani=2003	Sabiha Sumar=Pakistan	Color=099 Min
##Che=2=30	Last Emperor,The=1987=	Bernardo Bertolucci=UK	Color=219 Min
##Che=2=31	Kikujiro=1999	Takeshi Kitano=Japan	Color=121 Min
##Che=2=32	Death On A Full Moon Day=1997	Prasanna Vithanage=Sri Lanka	Color=074 Min
##Che=2=33	Talk To Her=2002	Pedro Almodovar=Spain	Color=112 Min
##Che=2=34	At Five In The Afternoon=2003	Samira Makhmalbaf=Iran	Color=105 Min
##Che=2=35	City Of God=2002	Fernando Meirelles=Brazil	Color=130 Min
##Che=2=36	In The Mood Of Love=2000	Wong Kar Wai=Hong Kong	Color=098 Min
##Che=2=37	Moolade=2004	Ousmame Sembene=Senegal	Color=120 Min
##Che=2=38	Pather Panchali=1955	Satyajit Ray=India	B&W=115 Min
##Che=2=39	No Man's Land=2001	Danis Tanovic=Bosnia-Herzegovina	Color=098 Min
##Che=2=40	Gandhi=1982	Richard Attenbourough=UK	Color=188 Min
##Che=2=41	Battleship Potemkin=1925=Silent	Sergei Eisenstein=Soviet Union	B&W=115 Min
##Che=2=42	Salaam Bombay=1988	Mira Nair=UK:India	Color=113 Min
##Che=2=43	Osama=2003	Siddidq Barmak=Afghanistan	Color=083 Min
##Che=2=44	Raging Bull=1980	Martin Scorsese=USA	Color=129 Min
##Che=2=45	Where Is My Friends's Home=1987	Abbas Kiarostami=Iran	Color=083 Min
##Che=2=46	Ballad Of A Soldier=1959	Grigori Chukhrai=Soviet Union	B&W=089 Min
##Che=2=47	Landscape In The Mist=1988	Theo Angelopoulos=Greece	Color=127 Min
##Che=2=48	Be With Me=2005	Eric Khoo=Singapore	Color=093 Min
##Che=2=49	Postman=The=Il Postino=1994	Michael Radford=Italy	Color=108 Min
##Che=2=50	Dancer In The Dark=2000	Lars Von Trier=Denmark	Color=140 Min
##Che=2=51	Cries And Whispers=1972	Ingmar Bergman=Sweden	Color=091 Min
##Che=2=52	Runner=The=1985	Amir Naderi=Iran	Color=094 Min
##Che=2=53	Tokyo Story=1953	Yasujiro Ozu=Japan	B&W=136 Min
##Che=2=54	Blow Up=1966	Michelangelo Antononi=UK	Color=111 Min
##Che=2=55	Spring,Summer,Fall,Winter and Spring=2003	Kim-Ki-Duk=South Korea	Color=103 Min
##Che=2=56	Alizaoua=2000	Nabil Ayouch=Morroco	Color=099 Min
##Che=2=57	Hiroshima Mon Amour=1959	Alain Resnais=France	B&W=090 Min
##Che=2=58	Color Of Pomegranates,The=1968	Sergei Paradjanov=Soviet Union	Color=079 Min
##Che=2=59	Paradise Now=2005	Hany Abu-Assad=Palestine	Color=090 Min
##Che=2=60	MalcolmX=1992	Spike Lee = USA	Color=202 min
##Che=2=61	White Nights=1957	Luchino Visconti	B/W=97 min
##Che=2=61	Distant=2002	Nuri bilge ceylan=Turkey	Color= 110min
##Che=2=62	The White balloon=1995	Jafar panahi=Iran	Color=85min
##Che=2=63	My uncle=1958	Jacques Tati=France	Color=117 min
##Che=2=64	Lawrence of Arabia=1962	David lean=USA	Color=216 min
##Che=2=65	Beautiful Boxer=2003	Ekachai Uekrongtham=Thailand	Color=117min
##Che=2=66	Intolerance=1916	D.W.Griffith=USA	B/w=163 min
##Che=2=67	In this world=2002	Michael winterbottom=UK	Color=88 min
##Che=2=68	The Birds=1963	Alfred hitcock=USA	B/w=119 min
##Che=2=69	Amores Perros=2000	Alejandro González Iñárritu=Spanish	Color=153 min
##Che=2=70	M=1931	Fritz lang =Germany	B/w =117 min
##Che=2=71	Paris, texas=1984	Wim wenders=Europe	Color=147 min
##Che=2=72	Mother and son=1997	Aleksander Soukurov=Russia	Color=73 min
##Che=2=73	Travellers and magician=2003	Khyentse norbu=Australia, bhutan	Color=108 min
##Che=2=74	What time is it there?=2001	Miang liag tsai=taiwan	Color=116 min
##Che=2=75	Cyrano de barberae=1990	Jean Paul Rappeneau=france	Color=137min
##Che=2=76	Painted Fire=2002	Kwon taek im=south korea	Color=120 min
##Che=2=77	The grand illusion=1937	Jean Renoir =France	B/w=114 min
##Che=2=78	The Piano=1993	Jane Campion=Australia	Color=121 min
##Che=2=79	Boy striped pyjamas=2008	Mark Herman=UK	Color=94 min
##Che=2=80	The Passion of joan of arc=1928	Carl Theodor Dreyer=France	B/w=112 min
##Che=2=81	Pulp fiction=1994	Quentin tarantino=USA	Color=154 min
##Che=2=82	Ugetsu=1953	Kenji mizogutchi=Japan	B/w=94 min
##Che=2=83	Breathless=1960	Jean Luc godard=France	B/w=87 min
##Che=2=84	The Piano Teacher=2001	Michael Hanake=France	Color=131 min
##Che=2=85	Viridiana=1961	Luis Bunuel=Spain	B/w=90 min
##Che=2=86	The God father=1972	Francis Ford coppola=USA	Color=175 min
##Che=2=87	Bicycle thieves=1948	Vittorio De sica=Italy	B/w=93 min

Come Septemper-[1961-U.S.A] ஹாலிவுட் அன்பே வா

Come Septemper-[1961-U.S.A] ஹாலிவுட் அன்பே வா

கம் செப்டம்பர் படம் உலகசினிமா அல்ல.ஆனால் நம்மை குஷிப்படுத்துவதையே தலையாய கடமை கொண்டதில் முதன்மையான படம்.புயலாக நம்மை ஆக்ரமித்து நம் மனதின் வெற்றுவெளி பிரதேசத்தில் மகிழ்ச்சி என்ற நதியை வெள்ளமாக பாய்ச்சி மிதக்க வைத்து விடும்.நகைச்சுவை என்ற ஆயுதத்தை சரமாரியாகப்பிரயோகித்து நம்மை வீழ்த்தி விடுகிறார் இயக்குனர் ராபர்ட் முல்லிகன்.

இப்படத்தின் டைட்டில் மியூசிக், படத்தின் தீம் மியூசிக்காக வளர்ந்து இன்று வரை பல திரையரங்குகளில் ஒலித்துக்கொண்டிருக்கிறது.சென்னை தேவி,காசினோ,சபையர்,பைலட் போன்ற திரையரங்குகளில் கேட்டு...கேட்டு வளர்ந்தவன் நான்.தியேட்டரில் டிக்கெட் கிடைக்காவிட்டால் கூட என் காதுகள் திருட்டுத்தனமாக உள்ளே நுழைந்து இந்த இனிய இசையை கேட்பதில் வெற்றி பெற்று விடும்.[இந்த வார ஆ.விகடனில் சுகா தனது கட்டுரையில் இப்படத்தின் இசையை குறிப்பிட்டு இருக்கிறார்]

இப்படத்தில் கதையை மட்டும் தேடாதீர்கள்.அந்த கத்தரிக்காயை கடைசி வரை உங்களால் கண்டு பிடிக்க முடியாது. ஏ.வி.எம் இப்படத்தை அப்படியே தமிழில் மொழி பெயர்த்து அன்பே வா எனப்பெயரிட்டு காசு பார்த்தார்கள்...பார்க்கிறார்கள்...பார்ப்பார்கள் .எம்ஜியார்,சரோஜாதேவி,நாகேஷ் கூட்டணி நம்மை வசியப்படுத்தியதில் மிக நியாயமான காரணங்கள் இருக்கிறது.ஒரிஜினலும்,காப்பியும் சம அந்தஸ்தில் நம்மை கவர்கிறது.நாகேஷ் மட்டும் ஒரிஜினலையும் தாண்டி எவரஸ்ட் சிகரமாக நிற்கிறார் தனது தனித்துவத்தால்.

கம் செப்டம்பர் கதாநாயகன் ராக் ஹட்சன்.ஆள் சும்மா தகத்தகன்னு மின்னுராரு எம்ஜியார் மாதிரி.பின்னால் எய்ட்ஸ் நோயால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டு மரணமடைந்த உலகின் மிகப்பிரபலம்.படத்தில் இவரது காமடி ராவடியை எழுத்தில் சொல்லமுடியாது.

கதாநாயகி ஜினா லோலாபிரிகிடா அறுபதுகளில் சகட்டுமேனிக்கு எல்லா இளைஞர்களையும் வெட்டி சாய்த்த கவர்ச்சி அருவா. “ஏய்” படத்து நமீதாவையும், “ரெண்டு”படத்து அனுஷ்காவையும் திரட்டி செய்த பால்கோவா. இவரது கிஸ் இன்றும் எனக்கு கிக்.இதுக்கு மேல ஒண்ணும் சொல்றதுக்கு இல்ல.

மரியாதையா படத்தைப்பாருங்க.

வாலிப வயோதிக அன்பர்களே!
கம் செப்டம்பர் பாருங்கள்.இது 100%  காயகல்பம்.
பக்க விளைவுகள் கட்டாயம் உண்டு.
போலிகளிடம் ஏமாறாதீர்கள்!

In A Better World-2010[Denmark] Film அன்பே ஆயுதம்

In A Better World-2010[Denmark] அன்பே ஆயுதம்

பின்லேடனை ஒழித்து கட்டி விட்டதாக மார் தட்டுகிறது அமெரிக்கா.பிணத்தைக்கூட கடலில் வீசி விட்டோம் என்று கொக்கரிக்கிறார் ஜனநாயகச்சக்ரவர்த்தி ஒபாமா.இரட்டை கோபுரத்தை தகர்த்தது தீவிரவாதம் என்றால் வியட்நாமில்....ஆப்கானிஸ்தானில்....ஈராக்கில்....இப்போது லிபியாவில்....

 நீ செய்வதற்க்கு பெயர் ஜனநாயகமா?

உலகத்தின் மொத்த தீவீரவாதத்துக்கு குத்தகை அமெரிக்கா.

இந்த அமெரிக்கா திருந்தி அணு ஆயுதங்களையெல்லாம் அழித்து விட்டு அன்பை ஆயுதமாக தரித்தால்....என்னவாகும்?

இதைத்தான் In A Better World என்கிற திரைப்படம் பாடமாக போதிக்கிறது.தனது இயக்கத்தால் இப்படத்திற்க்கு ஆஸ்கார் மற்றும் கோல்டன் குளோப் இரண்டு அவார்டுகளையும் ஒருசேர வாங்கி தந்திருக்கிறார் இயக்குனர் Sussanne Bier.[நம்மூர் சுகாசினி,ரேவதி எங்கே?]

இப்படத்தின் கதை இரண்டு டிராக்கில் பயணித்து அன்பென்கிற ஜங்சனில் இணைந்து மனிதநேயம் என்கிற ஒரே டிராக்கில் பயணிக்கிறது.

அண்டன் சூடானில் பணி புரியும் டாக்டர்.இவர் பணி புரிவது அப்பல்லோ மாதிரி பைவ் ஸ்டார் மருத்துவமனை அல்ல.புழுதி பறக்கும் வெட்ட வெளி டெண்ட் கொட்டகைதான் மருத்துவமனை.அண்டன் இதயத்தில் இருப்பது மனித நேயம் மட்டுமே.கள்ளமில்லாத அந்த கருப்பின மக்களின் புன்னகைதான் பீஸ்.

அண்டனின் குடும்பம் டென்மார்க்கில்.

மனைவியும் டாக்டரே.

இவர்களது பந்தம் விவாகரத்து என்கிற புள்ளியை நோக்கி நகருகின்றது.இவர்களது மூத்த மகன்தான் எலியாஸ்.இவனுக்கு துணையாக பள்ளியில் வந்து சேருகிறான் கிரிஸ்டன்.

கிரிஸ்டன் லண்டனில் தாயை கேன்சருக்கு பறி கொடுத்து விட்டு தந்தையோடு தாயகம் திரும்பியவன்.

தன் தாயை சரியாக பராமரிக்காமல் சாவில் தள்ளியது தந்தையே என்று உறுதியாக நம்புகிறான் கிறிஸ்டன்.

இந்த மன அழுத்தத்தில் வன்முறையை வழிமுறையாகக்கொள்கிறான்.

தனது நண்பன் எலியாசை அடித்ததற்க்காக  ஒரு போக்கிரி மாணவனை சாவடி அடிக்கிறான்.

எலியாசின் தந்தையை அடித்த ஒரு ரவுடியின் காரை பாம் வைத்து தகர்க்கிறான்.ஆனால் எலியாஸ் இந்த விபத்தில் சிக்கி மருத்துவமனையில் உயிருக்கு போராடுகிறான்.

எலியாஸ் உயிர் பிழைத்தானா?

கிறிஸ்டன் திருந்தினானா?

விடை தருகிறது கிளைமாக்ஸ்.

இப்படத்தில் வரும் இயற்கையழகு காட்சிகள் பல அர்த்தத்தை பொதிந்து வருகின்றது.இதற்க்காகவே படத்தை பல முறை பார்க்கலாம்.இந்தப்படத்தை குடும்பத்தோடு பார்க்கலாம்

A book by a Cambridge University scholar suggests that a lack of empathy is at the root of all cruelty. People are not intrinsically evil, argues Simon Baron-Cohen, but some lack the ability to identify with what others are feeling: "People who lack empathy see others as mere objects."

Although I doubt Susanne Bier knew of this book when she made "In a Better World," it plays like a demonstration of the same insight. In parallel stories set in Denmark and Africa, it considers characters who act with cruelty and those who deliberately seek to act with empathy, and poses some moral choices for those who fall somewhere on the middle of the spectrum.

"In a Better World," which won this year's Academy Award for best foreign film, centers on two boys and their fathers. Elias (Markus Rygaard) and Christian (William Johnk Nielsen) meet at the school where Christian has just transferred. Elias is a cute kid with braces, and when he's picked on by the school bully, Christian defends him in a sudden and bloody way. "Nobody will pick on me again," he explains.

Now pull back a step to their fathers. Elias' dad is Anton (Mikael Persbrandt), who commutes between Denmark and an unnamed African country where he operates a free medical clinic. To his care come victims of all sorts, including women savagely sliced by the powerful local Big Man (Evans Muthini). Christian's dad is Claus (Ulrich Thomsen), whose wife has died of cancer and left Christian resenting his father.

Anton is often in Africa, and Claus is often in London. The two boys bond. One day when Anton is home, he and Elias see a foul-tempered local man named Lars (Kim Bodnia) pushing around people who innocently offended him. Anton steps in, and Lars slaps him. Thinking this over, Anton decides to set an example to his son, and takes him to Lars' auto shop for what is intended as a nonviolent confrontation. Lars is incapable of such a thing.

Christian, very inward, very intense, earlier defended Elias against the schoolyard bully and now devises a plan for them to gain revenge against Lars. Meanwhile, back in Africa, Anton's clinic receives an emergency patient: Big Man, with an ugly, festering leg wound.

No more about the plot. What Susanne Bier does is cut between all of these stories to contrast the kinds of people who are instinctively cruel and those who are instinctively kind. The outcomes of the parallel stories are unpredictable although they follow a certain logic.

I admired Bier's "Things We Lost in the Fire" and her Danish and American versions of "Brothers," but here her method is too foregrounded. The African events in particular don't fit organically into the rest of the film, playing more like a contrived contrast. The story of the boys works well (they're both good actors), and their fathers are well-drawn and seen with sympathy. There's also an estranged mother who is drawn into the unhappiness.

There are two strong stories here, in Africa and Denmark. Either could have made a film. Intercut in this way, they seem too much like self-conscious parables. No doubt the film's noble intentions appealed to the academy voters, but this seems to me the weakest of this year's five nominees. What does the title suggest? That in a better world there would not be such cruelty? True, no doubt.

Scientists Trace Violent Death of Iron Age Man

ScienceDaily — An Iron Age man whose skull and brain was unearthed during excavations at the University of York was the victim of a gruesome ritual killing, according to new research.

Scientists have examined samples of the skull of an Iron Age man using a range of sophisticated equipment including a CT scanner. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of York)

Scientists say that fractures and marks on the bones suggest the man, who was aged between 26 and 45, died most probably from hanging, after which he was carefully decapitated and his head was then buried on its own.
Archaeologists discovered the remains in 2008 in one of a series of Iron Age pits on the site of the University's £750 million campus expansion at Heslington East. Brain material was still in the skull which dates back around 2500 years, making it one the oldest surviving brains in Europe.
A multi-disciplinary team of scientists, including archaeologists, chemists, bio-archaeologists and neurologists, was assembled to attempt to establish how the man's brain, could have survived when all the other soft tissue had decayed leaving only the bone.
The team is also investigating details of the man's death and burial that may have contributed to the survival of what is normally highly vulnerable soft tissue. The research, which was funded by the University of York and English Heritage, is published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
Archaeologists from York Archaeological Trust, commissioned by the University to carry out the exploratory dig before building work on the campus expansion started, discovered the solitary skull face-down in the pit in dark brown organic rich, soft sandy clay.
Since the discovery, the brain and skull have been kept in strictly controlled conditions, but scientists have examined samples using a range of sophisticated equipment including a CT scanner at York Hospital and mass spectrometers at the University of York.
Samples of brain material had a DNA sequence that matched sequences found only in a few individuals from Tuscany and the Near East. Carbon dating suggests the remains date from between 673-482BC.
Peri-mortem fractures on the second neck vertebrae are consistent with a traumatic spondylolisthesis and a cluster of about nine horizontal fine cut-marks made by a thin-bladed instrument, such as a knife, are visible on the frontal aspect of the centrum.
Histological studies found remnants of brain tissue structures and highly sensitive neuroimmunological techniques, together with analyses, demonstrated the presence of a range of lipids and brain specific proteins in the remains.
The scientific team is now investigating how these lipids and proteins may have combined to form the persistent material of the surviving brain and what insight this may give on the circumstances between death, the burial environment and preservation of the Heslington brain.
The team is headed by Dr Sonia O'Connor, a Research Fellow in Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford and an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of York. It included scientists from the Departments of Archaeology, Biology and Chemistry at York, Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford, the Biocentre and the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Manchester University and the UCL Institute of Neurology in London.
Dr O'Connor said: "It is rare to be able to suggest the cause of death for skeletonised human remains of archaeological origin. The preservation of the brain in otherwise skeletonised remains is even more astonishing but not unique."
"This is the most thorough investigation ever undertaken of a brain found in a buried skeleton and has allowed us to begin to really understand why brain can survive thousands of years after all the other soft tissues have decayed.."
Despite the place that 'trophy heads' appear to have played in Iron Age societies and evidence for the preservation of human remains in the Bronze Age, the researchers say there is no evidence for that in this case. Analyses found no biomarkers indicating deliberate preservation by embalming or smoking.
Dr O'Connor added: "The hydrated state of the brain and the lack of evidence for putrefaction suggests that burial, in the fine-grained, anoxic sediments of the pit, occurred very rapidly after death. This is a distinctive and unusual sequence of events, and could be taken as an explanation for the exceptional brain preservation."

Evolution of Human 'Super-Brain' Tied to Development of Bipedalism, Tool-Making

CU-Boulder researcher John Hoffecker, shown here working at a site in Russia dating back 45,000 years, believes there is mounting archaeological evidence for the evolution of a human "super-brain" no later than 75,000 years ago that spurred a modern capacity for novelty and invention. (Credit: Vance T. Holliday, University of Arizona)

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CU-Boulder Research Associate John Hoffecker said there is abundant fossil and archaeological evidence for the evolution of the human mind, including its unique power to create a potentially infinite variety of thoughts expressed in the form of sentences, art and technologies. He attributes the evolving power of the mind to the formation of what he calls the "super-brain," or collective mind, an event that took place in Africa no later than 75,000 years ago.
An internationally known archaeologist who has worked at sites in Europe and the Arctic, Hoffecker said the formation of the super-brain was a consequence of a rare ability to share complex thoughts among individual brains. Among other creatures on Earth, the honeybee may be the best example of an organism that has mastered the trick of communicating complex information -- including maps of food locations and information on potential nest sites from one brain to another -- using their intricate "waggle dance."
"Humans obviously evolved a much wider range of communication tools to express their thoughts, the most important being language," said Hoffecker, a fellow at CU's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. "Individual human brains within social groups became integrated into a neurologic Internet of sorts, giving birth to the mind."
While anatomical fossil evidence for the capability of speech is controversial, the archaeological discoveries of symbols coincides with a creative explosion in the making of many kinds of artifacts. Abstract designs scratched on mineral pigment show up in Africa about 75,000 years ago and are widely accepted by archaeologists as evidence for symbolism and language. "From this point onward there is a growing variety of new types of artifacts that indicates a thoroughly modern capacity for novelty and invention."
The roots of the mind and the super-brain lie deep in our past and are likely tied to fundamental aspects of our evolution like bipedalism and making stone tools, he said. It was from the making of tools that early humans first developed their ability to project complex thoughts or mental representations outside the individual brain -- our own version of the honeybee waggle dance, Hoffecker said.
While crude stone tools crafted by human ancestors beginning about 2.5 million years ago likely were an indirect consequence of bipedalism -- which freed up the hands for new functions -- the first inklings of a developing super-brain likely began about 1.6 million years ago when early humans began crafting stone hand axes, thought by Hoffecker and others to be one of the first external representations of internal thought.
Ancient hand axes achieved "exalted status" as mental representations since they bear little resemblance to the natural objects they were made from -- generally cobbles or rock fragments. "They reflect a design or mental template stored in the nerve cells of the brain and imposed on the rock, and they seemed to have emerged from a strong feedback relationship among the hands, eyes, brains and the tools themselves," he said.
The emerging modern mind in Africa was marked by a three-fold increase in brain size over 3-million-year-old human ancestors like Lucy, thought by some to be the matriarch of modern humans. Humans were producing perforated shell ornaments, polished bone awls and simple geometric designs incised into lumps of red ochre by 75,000 years ago. "With the appearance of symbols and language -- and the consequent integration of brains into a super-brain -- the human mind seems to have taken off as a potentially unlimited creative force," he said.
The dispersal of modern humans from Africa to Europe some 50,000 to 60,000 years ago provides a "minimum date" for the development of language, Hoffecker speculated. "Since all languages have basically the same structure, it is inconceivable to me that they could have evolved independently at different times and places."
A 2007 study led by Hoffecker and colleagues at the Russian Academy of Sciences pinpointed the earliest evidence of modern humans in Europe dating back 45,000 years ago. Located on the Don River 250 miles south of Moscow, the multiple sites, collectively known as Kostenki, also yielded ancient bone and ivory needles complete with eyelets, showing the inhabitants tailored furs to survive the harsh winters.
The team also discovered a carved piece of mammoth ivory that appears to be the head of a small figurine dating to more than 40,000 years ago. "If that turns out to be the case, it would be the oldest piece of figurative art ever discovered," said Hoffecker, whose research at Kostenki is funded in part by the National Science Foundation.
The finds from Kostenki illustrate the impact of the creative mind of modern humans as they spread out of Africa into places that were sometimes cold and lean in resources, Hoffecker said. "Fresh from the tropics, they adapted to ice age environments in the central plain of Russia through creative innovations in technology."
Ancient musical instruments and figurative art discovered in caves in France and Germany date to before 30,000 years ago, he said. "Humans have the ability to imagine something in the brain that doesn't exist and then create it," he said. "Whether it's a hand axe, a flute or a Chevrolet, humans are continually recombining bits of information into novel forms, and the variations are potentially infinite."
While the concept of a human super-brain is analogous to social insects like bees and ants that collectively behave as a super-organism by gathering, processing and sharing information about their environment, there is one important difference, Hoffecker said. "Human societies are not super-organisms -- they are composed of people who are for the most part unrelated, and societies filled with competing individuals and families."
Since the emergence of the modern industrial world beginning roughly 500 years ago, creativity driven by the human super-brain has grown by leaps and bounds, from the invention of mechanical clocks to space shuttles. Powerful artificial intelligence could blur the differences between humans and computers in the coming centuries, he said.
Hoffecker is the author of an upcoming book, titled "Landscape of the Mind: Human Evolution and the Archaeology of Thought," to be published by Columbia University Press in May. For more information on Hoffecker's book visit http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14704-0/landscape-of-the-mind.

Using Data to Design Government Services

Making plans: This illustration by Anthony Townsend, research director of the Institute for the Future, is meant to represent various strategies for using technology in city services. 

Credit: Institute for the Future

Using Data to Design Government Services

Cities are trying to tap into information generated by mobile phones, but that approach threatens to leave poor people behind.

Citizens are becoming the source of a lot of information that helps cities improve how they provide public services. For example, Boston just unveiled an iPhone app that uses the device's accelerometer to detect possible potholes in city roads. Housing officials in South Africa use information from mobile phones to track conditions in temporary settlements. But although these technologies can help direct officials' attention to problems they need to address, designing government initiatives around them could fail to account for the people who lack the latest devices.

"It's clear to me that we're not including the poor in our visions of future cities," says Anthony Townsend, research director of the nonprofit Institute for the Future, who recently completed a study on how cities can take the needs of the poor into account when they make use of the data unlocked by new technologies. "There's a danger of further empowering those who are already empowered and excluding those who are already disempowered."

Recommendations

Recommendation 1: Public-sector organizations should offer synthetic datasets, which they can share with others so that requests for data adhere to the right data standards in each organization.

Recommendation 2: Within the Government’s Framework for Data Processing, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport should create a Data Quality Assurance Toolkit and ensure that public-sector bodies submit data to be tested.

Recommendation 3: The Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport should create a seal of approval, similar to the O’Neil Risk Consulting & Algorithmic Auditing (ORCAA), which indicates that data quality is satisfactory and that biases within datasets have been accounted for.

Recommendation 4: Technology vendors selling to public-sector bodies should ensure that their products are compatible with relevant Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), allowing this technology to overcome interoperability issues and the government to change providers with ease.

Recommendation 5: Moving forward, it should be mandatory for any system procured within the public sector to adopt open standards, encouraging competition and improving interoperability by avoiding vendor lock-in situations.

Recommendation 6: Government departments should identify and support initiatives like Understanding Patient Data in all policy areas, supporting organizations if they need to properly engage citizens and understand how they want their data to be used across public services.

Recommendation 7: All government departments should prepare to develop audit trails that track how data is used to ensure every interaction with personal data is auditable, transparent, and secure.

Recommendation 8: Government should, in partnership with the Information Commissioner’s Office, investigate and publicize the optimum training needed to familiarise public servants with the handling of personal data, to reduce the fear of using and sharing personal data.

Recommendation 9: The Information Commissioner’s Office should continue to partner with specialist organizations, like the former Centre of Excellence for Information Sharing, who help demystify legislation, with resources and case studies specifically catered to public-sector bodies.

Recommendation 10: The new Data Advisory Board should focus its attention on tackling the difficult challenges of stopping effective multi-agency data sharing. The Advisory Board should include a representative from each department to ensure collective responsibility.

Recommendation 11: Data-sharing policy should be included in the remit of the Chief Data Officer, so there is a specific individual championing best practices towards data sharing across siloed departments.

Recommendation 12: Leadership on the sharing of individuals’ personal data should come from the Cabinet Office rather than the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport to help to ensure that the Government’s data-sharing strategy has an influence that reaches across departments.

Recommendation 13: Local government should play an important role in the establishment of data standards and infrastructure. By giving local areas space to try and test data-sharing arrangements, it will help to demonstrate which projects are successful and could be scaled-up regionally and nationally.

https://reform.uk/

Road Repair via Crowdsourcing

Road Repair via Crowdsourcing

A contest could help make Boston's pothole-spotting smartphone app more accurate.

Bumpy Ride: This screenshot from the Android Street Bump app shows circles representing suspected potholes.

Credit: New Urban Mechanics

In February, the city of Boston developed an app called Street Bump, which collects data from drivers with Android smartphones. After identifying some problems, the city plans to have volunteers refine the app's accuracy.

Traditionally, Boston has relied on public works inspectors to locate potholes. Since 2009, residents have been able to report potholes, graffiti, and other nuisances using the Citizens Connect app for iPhone and Android devices. Users snap a photo and submit the image, which is routed directly to city repair teams. Some other cities already have similar citizen-reporting programs. For example, Minneapolis provides a website where citizens can file pothole complaints.

Street Bump, released by the city in February, requires no direct user involvement. The app, for Android devices only at the moment, uses GPS data to track a device, and detects potholes by using the phone's built-in accelerometer to sense sudden jolts. When multiple phones report the same jolt, the app identifies a pothole that needs to be repaired.

Road tested: An area of Boston that was tested for potholes. Credit: New Urban Mechanics

Nigel Jacob, co-chair of the mayor's office of New Urban Mechanics, an organisation set up to explore new approaches to civic engagement—which created both Citizens Connect and Street Bump—says his team was unhappy with the number of false positives that Street Bump produced. "We need someone to do deeper data analysis," he says. "The app works well, but it can't tell the difference between a real pothole and a train track."

To improve the app, the city has now posted a bounty of $25,000 on Innocentive.com, a marketplace for crowdsourcing innovation, for a developer to create algorithms that report potholes accurately.

Thilo Koslowski, a Gartner analyst who studies automotive technology, says the success of the app will depend greatly on the accuracy of the data.

"These types of applications are the first examples of self-aware devices and applications that will become an integral part of future smart infrastructures and smart cities," he says.

Jacob says he could see Boston collecting data from drivers in real-time, leading to faster response times and better roads. The city plans to roll out the app to other platforms as well, including the iPhone, in the future.