When do those birds expire?

A new US government website, PlainLanguage.gov, provides examples of re-writing to eliminate ambiguities, including this one:

Before

This rule proposes the Spring/Summer subsistence harvest regulations in Alaska for migratory birds that expire on August 31, 2003.

After

This rule proposes the Spring/Summer subsistence harvest regulations for migratory birds in Alaska. The regulations will expire on August 31, 2003.

"Mechanisms of functional connectivity"

Having written here before about imaging resting-state functional connectivity, and its relation to the principle of integration of brain function, we are, today, grateful to a google scholar email alert for bringing to our attention what appears to be a breakthrough paper on mechanisms of functional connectivity.

"m" is for "memory"

"Analgesia" is the reduction or elimination of pain; "amnalgesia" (which we admit is pretty much an obsolete word) is the reduction or elimination of pain and the memory of pain.

what kind of threat?

Recently, we were talking about the situation in Iraq, and how the Iraqi politicians still haven't formed a government, five months after their elections.

I said that in the US system, we think that people who lose elections can just wait till the next election to try again. However, in Iraq, things are quite different, in that people who lose elections might have to go into exile to protect their lives. The phrase I used for this was "existential threat", as in, those politicians are afraid to compromise because they, perhaps correctly, perceive a loss as an existential threat. And when I said that, she let out a little inappropriate laugh.

So, later, I asked about that little laugh. I asked whether, in response to the phrase "existential threat", she had visualized a little man in a beret threatening to hit someone over the head with a baguette.

And, at that, she laughed so hard that she had to stop to catch her breath.

[Note: Yes, it's not funny if you have to explain it, but the point is that the word "existential" can refer to, um, existence, or to the philosophical school of existentialism, which might be best known for its proponents who are, yes, French.]

"Homotopic".

The word "homotopic" has two very different meanings.

In mathematics, homotopic refers to two objects that are topologically equivalent. For example, there are two routes you can take between Washington and Baltimore: I-95 & the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Because these two paths can be smoothly transformed into one another, they are topologically equivalent, or homotopic. Just like a donut and a coffee cup:

[Animation from here.]

On the other hand, in anatomy & medicine, "homotopic" refers to regions in "corresponding" parts of the body, like your left knee & your right knee. Or your left eye & your right eye.

While this is inconvenient, we suspect that the chances for confusion are small, because, just as the word "must" can refer both to (roughly) "shall" and (precisely) a randy elephant, it should be clear from context which sense is intended.

warping space-time & brain-space

"Warp fields" are important in both fiction (where they let people go fast) and fact (where they let people come together).

mmm.... organic!

Organic chemistry is chemistry about hydrocarbons.

Organic food is good; organic brain syndrome is not.