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FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN & MACHINE COGNITION volume 10 issue 1 New Research
New cyber threats, Computers developing IHMC-NASA partnership Cmap conference lands new security tools understanding of language on Earth and in space 2013 IHMC

As science and technology push the boundaries of what people and machines can do, IHMC's researchers continue to meet the challenges found at the cutting edge where human and machine meet. That was evidenced by the strong pace of research grants coming our way as 2012 drew to a close.
In this issue we shed light on several of those significant research projects at our facilities in Pensacola and Ocala. One team of IHMC researchers, led by Senior Research Scientist Jeff Bradshaw, is helping to shape the new world of cybersecurity by creating novel ways for software agents and human analysts, working together, to identify, analyze and respond to cyber threats. The work is deeply informed by our past Florida Institute for research on cyber sensemaking and the governance of software Another research team, led by Research Scientist Peter Neuhaus, is moving ahead in partnership with NASA on development of a robotic exoskeleton designed A University Affiliated for use both here on Earth and in space. Whether used to help paraplegics walk or astronauts stay healthy Research Institute in weightlessness, it is exciting technology.
In Ocala, Senior Research Scientist Yorick Wilks heads a third IHMC team using a DARPA grant to equip computers to truly understand human language, in all its complex meanings and intuited understandings.
And IHMC's international reach was enhanced by our co-sponsorship of the Fifth International Conference on Concept Mapping in Malta. The strong IHMC presence was led by IHMC Associate Director Alberto Cañas, who founded the series of conferences in 2004 with the first meeting in Pamplona.
Meanwhile, the Evening Lecture Series in Pensacola and Ocala continues to inform our community friends on cutting-edge research in areas as diverse as using the ocean for energy, understanding the latest science on food and nutrition, the exploration of Mars, and more.
Sometimes the growing complexity of the world causes people to wonder how they, or we as a society, can keep up. At IHMC, we are working hard to show the way.
Kenneth M. Ford, Director iHmC BoARD oF DiReCToRs Mr. Hector "Tico" Perez Mr. Gordon Sprague Residential development Edge Public Affairs, LLC Mr. Eugene Franklin Ms. Carol H. Carlan Florida Black Chamber of University of Florida Nelson Mullins Riley Carlan Consulting, LLC & Scarborough LLC Mr. Charles C. "Chris" Hart Dr. Alain Rappaport Workforce Florida, Inc.
Nudgit, Inc.
Mr. Ray Russenberger Hudsco, Inc.
Marina Management Co.
Mr. Eric Nickelsen Dr. Martha Sanders Moffitt Cancer Center John S. Carr & Co University of West Florida

New tools counter new cyber threats iHmC senior Research scientist Robert Hoffman, an expert in how cognition adapts to complexity, said, "Cyberwork as a form of critical thinking and vigilant action is difficult, for many reasons. But we can enumerate these reasons, making this domain perfect for the practical application of formal models of decision making." understanding how network analysts work, and what they really need, was a key problem.
"There is nothing worse than a ‘smart' device that cannot tell you what it is doing or when it will finish." "Today, most analysts use a piecemeal set of software tools," said Dr. Bradshaw. "like a wrench or a hammer, each tool is used to perform a separate task, but no tool really ‘understands' what the analyst is trying to do. in an effort to help, IHMC's cyber team members pose on the Pensacola waterfront with a statue of Don Tristan de various ‘smart' tools have been proposed Luna, who landed in Pensacola in 1559 and is the namesake of the Luna software agent framework. to take over some of the analyst's tasks. From left: Adam Dalton, Paul Feltovich, Tom Eskridge, Jeff Bradshaw, Marco Carvalho, Larry Bunch, James Lott and Andrzej Uszok unfortunately, automation of a task sometimes makes the problem worse. As A team led by iHmC Research scien- anyone who has wrestled with automa- tists Jeff Bradshaw, marco Carvalho and tion can tell you, there is nothing worse Despite a rapidly growing focus on cybersecurity threats, the ability to Andrzej uszok is applying the concepts than a ‘smart' device that cannot tell you secure computer systems against the surg- of human-agent teamwork to develop what it is doing or when it will finish, and ing volume and sophistication of network tools that combine the taskwork of hu- is incapable of taking human direction attacks is seriously lagging. merely throw- man intelligence analysts with that of when something goes wrong." ing more computing horsepower at the automated software agents. The resulting Because of iHmC's reputation in devel- problem is not the answer. What's needed "sensemaking" strategy will help analysts oping sophisticated technologies that play is a radically new design of cybersecurity understand, anticipate and act against well with people and leverage human tools and the methods of cyberwork.
complex cyber threats. continued »

Because software agents provide powerful autonomous computational capabilities, IHMC uses strong policy management and enforcement frame-works to govern their actions. IHMC's KAoS Policy Services frame- work relies on "ontologies"—formal models of concepts and relationships based on the OWL 2 standard. This ap-proach received a high level of endorse-ment when the NSA-sponsored Digital Policy Management Architecture Group adopted the KAoS core ontology as the basis for future standards efforts. Andrzej Uszok leads the technical effort for KAoS with the cyber team, with additional col-laborators Maggie Breedy, Matt Johnson, James Lott and Micael Vignati.
KAoS policies direct the "taskwork" of Luna agents and ensure secure opera-tions. In addition, policies are the primary An annotated screen shot of the Flow Capacitor visualization bringing areas of concern to the means to maintain good teamwork attention of human analysts practices by software agents. Each agent is governed by policies designed to assure strengths, the u.s. Department of De- lysts, the kinds of software agents devel- its observability (through progress and fense approached iHmC for help. The oped at iHmC contain unique, built-in status reporting), directability (through dy- institute's team investigating the problem capabilities that allow them to collaborate namic changes to policy), interpredictabil- learned that the dream of analysts was not effectively with humans and other agents ity (assuring that required behavior will be for a toolset, but for a new way to work. without any additional programming executed within a specified time period), They wanted technological teammates required. (See sidebar: Order from KAoS.) adaptation (policies governing the range that could actively assist them in making of adaptations permitted and propagation sense of a problem and deciding what to other agents), support for multiplicity to do—but without completely taking Software agents are (synchronization of multiple perspectives) over for them. This sounded like a job for characterized by their and trustworthiness (policies assuring the software agents.
observability of parameters indicating the active and adaptive nature. software agents are computer programs reliability of agent operations). designed to assist with complex tasks such Luna also relies on KAoS for capabilities as cyber defense, disaster response or mili- such as registration, service discovery, iHmC helped pioneer software agent tary operations. They are characterized by self-description of actions and capabilities, technologies, and its innovations stretch their active and adaptive nature—pursu- communications transport and messaging.
back more than fifteen years. To address ing goals intelligently, potentially over IHMC researcher Paul Feltovich said, the demanding security, performance long periods of time, and learning as they "Anytime people and machines work and human-compatibility requirements go rather than requiring constant human together there is a need for predictability of cyber defense, iHmC researcher larry direction. of crucial importance for their and coordination. KAoS helps support Bunch led the effort to create a new application as assistants to human ana- continued »

software agent framework, named luna within countless millions of network oped at iHmC have enabled the design of (for Don Tristan de luna, the span- events. Together, they learn, anticipate advanced command and control frame- ish explorer who founded Pensacola's and act to counter the effects of cyber works capable of supporting the practical short-lived first settlement in 1559). threats. meanwhile, new understandings deployment and coordinated control of "luna makes agents better team players developed through human-agent team- moving target and dynamic defense capa- by ensuring human and software team- work can be ingested by the agents and bilities," Dr. Carvalho said.
mates can continually observe, direct and passed on immediately to other analysts, A key problem in cyber operations is constrain the agents' actions," said Bunch.
so they don't have to re-invent the wheel visualization—presenting the findings of Human-agent collaboration creates a when dealing with similar threats.
the agents about emerging threats in such superior analytical team. in a process of a way that a human can quickly grasp and mutual interdependence, humans and Human-agent agents "coach" each other—simultaneous- iHmC's past work on the oZ cockpit ly leveraging the ability of agents to pro- collaboration creates a display, which revolutionized how flight cess and summarize complex high-tempo superior analytical team. data are presented to a pilot, is inform- events, while taking advantage of human ing development of graphic displays that creativity, ingenuity and flexibility. show real-time system performance in a Together, humans and agents develop "The advanced visualizations and an understanding of significant patterns human-agent teamwork approach devel- continued »
A screenshot from the Flow Capacitor shows the unfolding of a denial-of-service attack in graphic clarity

The IHMC team's approach to real-time cyber sensemaking displays is informed by the previous design of the highly successful OZ flight display. Its simplicity is by design, based on a sophisticated understanding of the latest research results in human perception and cognition. IHMC cyber team member and OZ-researcher Tom Eskridge said experimentation has shown that OZ minimizes error, reduces disorientation and helps pilots maintain situational awareness.
Researcher Larry Bunch, who came up with the basic idea for the "flow capacitor" visualization (also known as "Aurora"; see graphics on pages 4 and 5), wanted a way to show large numbers of "flows" moving across networks in near real-time. He drew on principles from OZ, but added ideas of his own. "The spark of inspiration Cyber Defense Command and Control Visualization was that we needed the simplest possible representation for a single network event Rather than asking a pilot or analyst to of these diverse technologies with our in order to visualize millions of them mentally piece together separate inputs understanding of how people work. simultaneously," Bunch said. to create the needed understanding, the Behind the scenes, software agents "tag" "iHmC has the unique technologies technology provides a holistic view of data of interest to the analyst so they can and experience needed to bring together performance; by manipulating graphi- be easily noticed in the visual display. The agents, visualization and policies to cal elements and noticing their mutual display can be adapted to show other address cyber requirements in a human- dependencies, the human quickly learns types of events (financial transactions, centered fashion." how the model components interrelate. travel, spread of diseases, disaster-related (See sidebar: OZ-inspired visualization.) Note: This research project is in-part information), and then projected onto any sponsored by the U.S. Department of number or kind of source and destination in addition to the iHmC team, key Defense. Any opinions, findings and plane that would be helpful in answering collaborators include David Woods (ohio conclusions or recommendations in this questions about complex, high-tempo state university), Chris Forsythe (sandia material are those of IHMC and do National labs), and suresh Damodaran not necessarily reflect the views of the and Tamara Yu (miT lincoln lab).
Department of Defense. "many people have worked on agents, visualization and policies as separate technologies, but i don't know anyone "Many people have worked on agents, visualization who can bring them together like we and policies as separate technologies, but I don't know can," Dr. Bradshaw said. "it's the perspec-tive iHmC brings. it is the integration anyone who can bring them together like IHMC can."

FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN & MACHINE COGNITION NEW RESEARCH
n n n RESEARCH NEWS OF IHMC Do computers understand us? They will senior Research scientist Yorick Wilks and his team at iHmC ocala are working to equip computers with the ability to understand human language as we do, with an emphasis on improv-ing national security. The project, called CuBism (Conversation understand-ing through Belief interpretation and sociolinguistic modeling), is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Translated, it is aimed at empowering cybersecurity by using computers to pull information vital to national security from often-obscure blogs, where it is hid-den amidst the blizzard of information on the internet.
"The hardest part," says Dr. Wilks, "is trying to extract clear meaning from the loose ways in which people actually express themselves, particularly when they take no care for proper grammar, spelling or anything else!" The volume of this activity is far too large for human analysts to mine for the relevant information buried within. Dr. Wilks' team intends to show that a com-puter can read, understand and filter such blogs to identify those with the greatest interest to human analysts.
The essential problem is "understand- ing." until now, machines have not been able to comprehend language as humans do. While it is true that computers do well with translation, that requires a much lower level of understanding. continued »
Dr. Yorick Wilks at IHMC Ocala

FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN & MACHINE COGNITION NEW RESEARCH
n n n RESEARCH NEWS OF IHMC The central goal of this project is far Wilks is based on a "belief engine" he de- more complex: to empower computers to veloped years ago to attempt to construct understand the motives, desires, beliefs the beliefs people have about each other and plans of bloggers as revealed in what from a set of "base" beliefs. For instance, we tend to believe what people tell us un- interest in capturing the beliefs of less we have a sound reason not to, such humans with computer models dates as when dealing with a known liar or an back to the 1970s. initially, pure artificial obvious non-expert.
intelligence (Ai) was based on idealized Dr. Wilks has also worked on technol- reasoning and only slowly began to ad- ogy for information extraction, quickly IHMC Director/CEO Ken Ford dress more cognitive questions about the getting facts out of text on a large scale. beliefs of real individuals. A belief may For example, when companies declare Ken Ford named a Charter be fallible, false, weak or quantitative, as their annual reports, computers using Fellow of the National opposed to a logic engine, which does not information extraction can now dig out set out to model any individual person's the relevant facts, automatically doing a Academy of Inventors beliefs, but only to replicate logical think- job that used to take people many days. iHmC co-founder and Ceo/ ing or perform correct deduction. This project advances the field by Director Ken Ford has been named a Dr. Wilks' interest in this field also dates combining a belief engine with meth- 2012 Charter Fellow of the National to the 1970s, and was set out in a book ods for large-scale text-extraction, using Academy of inventors. he coauthored in 1991, "Artificial Believ- recent advances in natural language The members of the select group in this ers." During that time, James Allen (now NAi Charter class, totaling 98 inductees, also at iHmC) created in his doctoral Text extraction is used to process end- represent 54 top research universities and thesis one of the very first belief model- less volumes of blogs and provide the research institutes. Together, they hold ing engines. more recently, "sentiment engine with its beliefs, giving scalability. more than 3,200 u.s. patents.
analysis"—trying to determine with a These methods will enable the iHmC The prestigious group includes eight computer the emotional "flavor" of a pas- team to construct models of what people Nobel laureates, two Fellows of the Royal sage, i.e., is it positive or negative, angry believe and what they want, as well as society, 12 presidents of research univer- or happy—has become an active part of what they believe about each other, all sities and non-profit research institutes, Ai and natural language processing. from the words they write. The underly- 50 members of the National Academies The specific approach taken by Dr. ing hypothesis is that by merging the two (National Academy of sciences, National approaches, text extraction can provide Academy of engineering, institute of data for the belief engine. medicine), 11 inductees of the National These methods will Also participating are iHmC research- inventors Hall of Fame, three recipients enable the IHMC team ers Dr. micah Clark and Adam Dalton, of the National medal of Technology to construct models of along with Dr. Daisy Zhe Wang from the and innovation, four recipients of the university of Florida, and Dr. Tomek str- National medal of science, and 29 AAAs what people believe and zalkowski from the university of Albany.
Fellows, among other major awards and what they want . all from There are potentially many uses for this work, but DARPA's focus is on national The NAi cited Ford for demonstrating the words they write. security, and wants to see it applied to "a highly prolific spirit of innovation blogs in several languages. continued »
FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN & MACHINE COGNITION n n n NEWS OF IHMC in creating or facilitating outstanding lewis Bear Co., a major Anheuser Busch Bear joins IHMC board inventions that have made a tangible wholesale distributor headquartered Pensacola businessman lewis Bear Jr. impact on quality of life, economic in Pensacola. in addition to the uWF has joined the iHmC Board of Directors. development, and the welfare of society." Board of Trustees, he currently serves on Bear, recently named as chair of the u.s. Commissioner for Patents marga- a variety of local, regional and statewide university of West Florida Board of ret A. Focarino, from the united states boards, including the Greater Pensacola Trustees, assumes the Patent and Trademark office, will induct Chamber (vice chair for economic devel- board seat assigned to the new members during the 2nd Annual opment), Pensacola economic Develop- the chair. He replaces Conference of the National Academy ment Commission (chair), Florida's Great retired Air Force Gen. of inventors on Feb. 22 in Tampa. The Northwest, the Pensacola museum of Art, Charles A. "Chuck" conference is hosted by the university of Gulf Coast Community Bank and the Horner, whom Bear south Florida chapter of the NAi.
Florida Beer Wholesalers Association.
succeeds as chair of the The Tampa-based NAi was founded Lewis Bear Jr.
He is a gubernatorial appointee to the in 2010 "to recognize investigators at uWF Board of Trustees.
"lewis Bear seems to be involved in universities and non-profit research insti- Past board service includes the Florida everything important that goes on in our tutes who translate their research findings Arts Council, the Florida statewide community, from economic development into inventions that may benefit society," Health Planning Council, the Ringling to health care, higher education and the according to the group's website. "To museum, the uWF Foundation, Baptist arts," said iHmC Ceo/Director Ken join, an inventor must be affiliated with Healthcare and Compass Bank. Ford. "And his voice is as respected in a member institution and be a named Horner, who is also ending his tenure Tallahassee as it is locally. He will be an inventor on one or more patents issued on the uWF Board of Trustees, spent important asset for iHmC." by the united states Patent and Trade- more than 30 years with the Air Force, Bear is a civic leader and philanthropist commanding two air wings, two air divi- The NAi Fellows selection Committee with an active role in regional economic sions, the Air Defense Weapons Center was chosen from a wide professional field, development, health care and the arts.
at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama including recipients of National med- "over the past 22 years, iHmC has City, Fla., the 9th Air als, a National inventors Hall of Fame transformed from a uWF beginning into Force and the u.s. inductee, 14 members from the Na- a world-class research institute," Bear space Command. He tional Academies, senior officials from the said. "As a Pensacola native, i've been is best known publicly united states Patent office, the American fascinated with that growth. most great for commanding the Association for the Advancement of sci- communities became great because they air war against iraq in ence (AAAs), the Association of univer- had a university and/or a focused research 1991 during operation sity Technology managers (AuTm), the institute that was the driver for economic Desert storm.
united inventors Association and leaders prosperity. it takes dedicated leadership "Gen. Horner brought a unique per- from several research universities.
at the helm of both organizations, and spective to iHmC based on an outstand- The NAi (www.academyofinventors.
that is what we have with each of these ing level of achievement at the highest org) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organiza- institutions. i am honored to be able to rungs of the Air Force," Ford said. "His tion and edits the journal Technology and participate, and hope to bring some value advice and insights have been a major innovation—Proceedings of the National Academy of inventors.
Bear is chairman and president of the FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN & MACHINE COGNITION n n n NEWS OF IHMC iHmC, NAsA step into the future Capitalizing on past technological collaboration with NAsA and iHmC's own research into robotics, the institute and the space agency announced development of a robotic exoskeleton—the X1—for use in space and on earth. oceaneering space systems of Houston also participated.
"We have a tight relationship with the robotics group at Johnson space Center," project leader Peter Neuhaus, a research scientist at iHmC, told the Pensacola News Journal. "They were following our exoskeleton work and got in touch with us and said, ‘How can we do this in a collaborative way?' " Announcement of the X1 drew wide media attention, from outlets as diverse as The Washington Post, slashgear.com, technewsworld.com and Wired magazine.
The technology is a spinoff from NAsA's Robonaut 2 project, which iHmC also contributed to. The uses of the exoskeleton extend from helping paraplegics walk again to assisting astronauts with exercise in outer space. Robonaut 2, the first humanoid robot in space, is currently a "crewmember" aboard the international space station.
Volunteer subject Mark Daniel stands in the exoskeleton in the IHMC Robotics Lab The X1 weighs 57 pounds and is a robotic device that a human can wear, health and physical strength of humans tion of deep space," said michael Gazarik, over the lower body, to assist or inhibit director of NAsA's space Technology leg movement.
on earth, the reverse mode would help Program, in a news release from NAsA. in space, astronauts would use it in the paralyzed people walk again.
"What's extraordinary about space tech- inhibit mode as an exercise machine to "Robotics is playing a key role aboard nology and our work with projects like supply resistance against leg movement. the international space station and will Robonaut are the unexpected possibilities exercise is critical to maintaining the be critical in our future human explora- continued »
FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN & MACHINE COGNITION n n n NEWS OF IHMC NEW ARRIVALS
Gail Dorsey
IHMC's exoskeleton team from left to right, back row: Nick Payton, John Carff, Peter Neuhaus, Gail R. Dorsey, a licensed CPA, has joined Jerryl Noorden, Travis Craig. Front: John Taylor, Mark Daniel, Doug Stephen and Jeremy Gines IHMC in Pensacola as a research financial compliance analyst.
space tech spinoffs may have right here The X1 came from technology devel- The Panama City, Fla., native is a 1983 on earth. it's exciting to see a NAsA- oped for Robonaut 2 and iHmC's mina graduate of the University of West Florida with developed technology might one day exoskeleton, an example of the institute's a degree in accounting. help people with serious ambulatory expansive research in robotics. NAsA's "I really enjoy working with the scientists here at IHMC," she said. "I like using my accounting skills needs to begin to walk again, or even work in robotic exoskeleton systems to support them from a financial aspect." walk for the first time. That's the sort of complements work done by other govern- She was hired out of UWF by the Coopers & return on investment NAsA is proud to ment agencies, such as DARPA.
Lybrand accounting firm in Miami, which was give back to America and the world." locally, iHmC uses expert volunteers then one of the "Top Eight" accounting firms in The project is one of many between to help safeguard the volunteer test the country. She eventually moved to Pensacola NAsA and iHmC over the years. in subjects and improve exoskeleton perfor- to get married.
In recent years she has been a consultant, this case, NAsA provided the hardware mance. Dr. Neuhaus cited two individu- most notably doing work for the Pensacola Blue and iHmC developed the walking als for their contributions.
Wahoos baseball organization. The Double-A algorithms. The X1 has the potential to Dr. elise T. Gordon worked as a medi- Major League affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds allow for assisted walking over var- cal monitor, helping to ensure that volun- played its first season in 2012 in a new waterfront ied terrain, including stair climbing. teer test subjects were safe while using the baseball stadium in downtown Pensacola.
Preliminary studies using X1 for this device. For example, test volunteers who "My accounting background is my strength," Gail said, and credits her wide range of work purpose are underway at iHmC.
lack feeling in their lower bodies might experience as a major positive. "When you deal "We greatly value our collaboration not know if they are being injured during with a variety of people and industries, it makes with NAsA," said Ken Ford, iHmC's a test with the exoskeleton.
you flexible in dealing with people." director and Ceo. "The X1's high- Daniel eddins volunteered his services Outside the office, Gail spends time with her performance capabilities will enable as an orthotist, providing information on husband, Tom, and they are devoted to watching iHmC to continue performing cutting- human anatomy and issues dealing with the sporting activities of their four children. That often involves travel, as two of them, a son and a edge research in mobility assistance and alignment, comfort and balance for the daughter, are collegiate golfers, and another son expand into rehabilitation." volunteer test subjects. is a college baseball player.
FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN & MACHINE COGNITION n n n NEWS OF IHMC malta hosts Cmap conference more than 120 people from 30 "it is a very different conference than iHmC provides it as a free download for countries gathered in malta in most," Dr. Cañas said. most conferences anybody to use.
september for the Fifth international are dominated by scientists and research- Also attending the conference from Conference on Concept mapping ers in a particular field, he said, but "the iHmC were Research Associate Roger (CmC2012), an event started by Alberto majority of the attendees (at the CmC Carff, a member of the CmapTools Cañas, a senior research scientist and co- conference) are people who use concept development team, and senior Research founder and associate director of iHmC.
maps, but for whom concept mapping is scientist Robert Hoffman, who was a The event was co-sponsored by iHmC not their main field featured guest speaker. Dr. Hoffman uses and the university of malta, in valletta. of interest, and so Cmaps extensively in his research on iHmC is the recognized world leader on expertise, in particular on how to capture concept mapping. very diverse fields." and preserve an expert's knowledge in any Dr. Cañas, the leading developer He said users of particular field.
of CmapTools, served as chair of the Former iHmC researchers at the program committee this year and Dr. Alberto Cañas cover a wide variety conference included Alejandro valerio, delivered the closing session plenary of professions and disciplines, including now with Google; moffitt Research talk together with Joseph Novak, a school teachers, scientists, businesses and Center scientist Rodrigo Carvajal; and senior research scientist at iHmC and Thomas Reichherzer, now with the the developer of concept mapping The client base includes microsoft, the university of West Florida.
with his research group at Cornell u.s. Navy and Cirque de soleil, among The previous conferences were held in university. Novak is the conference's many others. Dr. Cañas has collaborated spain, Costa Rica, estonia and Finland, honorary chairman, and participated via with schools, universities and govern- and Chile. The next conference, sched- videoconference. Jacqueline vanhear of ments of many countries on using con- uled for 2014, will be held in Brazil. the university of malta served as local cept mapping to improve education.
organization chair.
CmapTools has been downloaded mil- The conference, put on every two lions of times by users round the world, years, alternates between europe and the and continues to be accessed about Americas. it was organized to share re- 40,000 times a month, Dr. Cañas said. search and experiences and foster a sense of community among Cmap researchers and users.
What is concept mapping? Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge. They are used by people of all ages and domains of knowledge to express graphically their understanding about a topic. For example, through concept maps a teacher can determine how much a student understands—or does not understand—about a subject, and develop a plan to help the student learn. An expert can use Cmaps to express expertise in a way that others can comprehend, and groups of people can brainstorm about a topic to develop a common perspective. The CmapTools software can be downloaded at http://cmap.ihmc.us FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN & MACHINE COGNITION n n n NEWS OF IHMC devices from shoe boxes, foamie and skewers. The paper airplane session fea-tured Ken Blackburn, an engineer from nearby eglin Air Force Base who holds the world record for time aloft for a paper airplane. Participants got templates of his record-setting plane.
iHmC also takes science into the musical sphere each year by participat-ing, along with other community groups, in the Pensacola symphony orchestra's annual music for Families event at the Dr. Manal Fakhoury, center, a clinical pharmacologist, led a Science Saturdays session in Ocala on historic saenger Theatre in the heart of paper chromatography. With her are local high school students who volunteered to assist. From left: Jacob Howe; Ilene Boetger; Dr. Fakhoury; Daniel Gal; Lucas Weakley downtown. During the January event kids learned about music and musical instruments before attending a concert. Outreach, education like so many elementary school iHmC sponsored a table delving into the iHmC staff in both ocala and Pensac- teachers, they are generalists who haven't science of music. ola continue to reach out the community had extensive, science-specific training to foster education and equip students for in the past. iHmC will welcome three a technological future.
afternoon groups of 20 teachers each for in ocala, the 2012-13 academic year sessions that will include information marks the expansion of the high school about iHmC and science saturdays. volunteers program that exposes students The teachers will be able to attend a to accomplished scientists and research- science saturdays event, and hopefully ers. Four students from vanguard High become part of the network spreading Science Saturdays is a science and 13 from Forest High volunteered to the word about iHmC's educational enrichment program for kids in assist with iHmC's science saturdays outreach programs.
grades 3, 4 and 5 and takes place program. All volunteers received commu- ocala's fall science saturdays focused at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. nity service credit. on using paper airplanes to explore flight, A team of six volunteers for each session building Jello lenses for lasers, secret assists iHmC's science saturdays present- codes and paper chromatography.
February 23- Engineering: ers. They help the attending students in Pensacola, science saturdays events Exploring Structures with hands-on activities.
continue to attract an average of 40 stu- March 16- The Power of Air in march, iHmC will support the dents a month for activities that recently April 20- Computational Thinking marion County school District by included exploring basic electrical cir- hosting a training session for elemen- cuitry, building efficient paper airplanes, tary school teachers. sixty teachers from working with American Chemical society March 2- Fun with Fossils grades 3-5 were selected by the district members to analyze how the characteris- April 6- Exploring Florida's Springs for their potential to make a difference in tics of fire change based on the chemicals May 4- Rockets and Robots science education.
involved, and building crank-powered FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN & MACHINE COGNITION n n n IHMC'S EVENING LECTURE SERIES JOEL SALATIN Joel Salatin, proprietor of Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, is one of the most-cited voices in the growing locavore food movement. He had a prominent part in the Oscar-nominated documentary "Food, Inc.," and was featured in the best-selling book "Omnivore's Dilemma." Salatin talked to the Pensacola IHMC audience about his "beyond organic" food philosophy, focusing on the importance of buying locally grown food produced in an environmentally sound way, even if it isn't certified organic. And he stressed the importance of locally produced, high-quality food as a part of healthy, sustainable lifestyle that is as good for the economy and human health as it is for the environment.
Salatin's talk was based on the theme of his latest book, "Folks, This Ain't Normal," that as a culture we have lost touch with the fundamentals of healthy living. He believes that we need to go back in order to go forward, using technology to re-establish historical normalcy that restores the primacy of good, healthy food to a central place in our lives. In the process he believes we will regain what we have lost, a visceral relationship with life's fundamentals: food, energy, water, air, soil, fabric, shelter.
GARY TAUBES It isn't how many calories you eat that makes you fat, it's what kind. That's the message author and science writer Gary Taubes brought a Pensacola audience in his talk, "Why We Get Fat."Eat less, exercise more? No, he said, cut out the bread and sugar and don't worry about the bacon and butter. Taubes said his seminal book, "Good Calories, Bad Calories," can be a hard read for many people. But it contains the gist of his findings: Calories from carbohydrates, even in whole grains, are responsible for this na-tion's epidemics of obesity and diabetes. "Get rid of carbohydrates," he said, "and everything gets better." Taubes, sporting a physics degree from Harvard, is a correspondent for Science Magazine and the only print journalist to win three Science in Society journalism awards from the National Association of Science Writers.
He stirred the debate over the causes of obesity in 2002 with a controversial cover article in The New York Times Magazine, "What if it's all a big fat lie?" He synthesized decades of research into nutrition and health to argue that consuming the right kind of calories was far more important than counting the number.
His latest book: "Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It." (Note: Due to contractual obligations, this lecture is not available on the IHMC website.) WILLIAM DAVIS Modern wheat, including whole grain, is not just not healthy, it is toxic to people. And getting it out of your diet has a wide range of dramatic, positive health impacts. That's what Dr. William Davis told an Ocala audience in his talk, "Wheat: The UNhealthy Whole Grain." Davis, a cardiologist from Milwaukee, said he's well aware that grains, especially wheat—and especially whole wheat—have been sold to the American public as a healthy alternative to meat and other fat-laden foods. Saying wheat is bad for you, he said, is "obnoxious" to most people.
But, he says, "I was unhappy with the way things were going. I was unwilling to accept this notion of take your Lipitor and cut your fats and you're done," Davis said. In his cardiology practice, he said, he was watching too many people do that, but still die of heart disease.
And, he said, the wheat we eat today is significantly different than the wheat that evolved naturally, and there is abundant scientific evidence that the changes, and how we use wheat, are taking a serious toll on human health. His bottom line? "Humans have no business eating grains." FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN & MACHINE COGNITION n n n IHMC'S EVENING LECTURE SERIES ROY BAUMEISTER Researchers made "an honest mistake" in believing that self-esteem was a cause, not a result, of success in life. But the more powerful life-force is self-control, says Dr. Roy Baumeister.
In his lecture, "Willpower: Self-control, decision fatigue, and energy depletion," Dr. Baumeister told a Pensaco-la audience that ultimately, "self-control is the ability to change oneself," to "self-regulate": change yourself based on ideas. The benefits are wide-ranging, he said, including a longer life.
"Self-control has been called ‘moral muscle,' " he said. "It forms the basis for free will." But exercising self-control takes energy, and making decisions reduces your ability to continue making good ones. So your physical and mental energy must be husbanded and renewed, especially in a way your mother would approve of: by eating well and getting plenty of rest. Dr. Baumeister has a Ph.D. in social psychology from Princeton. He is the Frances Eppes Professor of Psychology and head of the Social Psychology Graduate Training Program at Florida State University. The Institute for Scientific Information lists him among the handful of most-cited psychologists in the world.
CHARLIE KENNEL Climate change "is a grim topic," Charlie Kennel told his Ocala IHMC audience. "But there are things we can do" to slow it down and mitigate its impact.
But, he warned in his talk, "The Climate Threat We Can Beat," it is coming no matter what we do now, because the scope of dealing with it is so immense. For instance, in California alone it would mean building 30 nuclear power plants, by 2050, in a state where six exist now. "We are already committed to a 2.4-degree rise" in global temperatures that can't be stopped, he said.
"Dealing with carbon dioxide is the existential problem in climate change, and it is exceptionally difficult to solve," he said. Especially because politicians are so slow to take action. He lays out a number of actions that can "take the edge off" climate change.
Kennel is the former director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and vice chancellor of Marine Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. He is the distinguished professor, emeritus, of Atmospheric Sciences at Scripps, and chaired the National Academy of Science's Board on Physics and Astronomy and its Committee on Global Change Research. He chaired the NASA Advisory Council from 2000-2005.
WES HUNTRESS Are we alone in the universe? Probably not, Wes Huntress told an Ocala audience. "Most scientists believe there probably is life" elsewhere, he said, perhaps in our solar system, perhaps farther out in deep space.
Dr. Huntress is chair of the NASA Science Advisory Council's Science Committee and director emeritus at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. In his talk, "Roving the Solar System: Looking for Signs of Life," he said that advances in exploration of the Earth, the solar system and beyond have equipped us to "dare now to ask questions we weren't prepared to ask before." The big one: "Are we alone?" Over the last 20 years, he said, "monumental discoveries" about life on Earth have shown that life is extremely old, complex and capable of existing "in the most extreme environments." It doesn't need sunlight, oxygen or soil. It can survive extreme pressure and temperatures and feed on hydrogen, sulfur or methane.
Explorers seeking life elsewhere will look for the three conditions that are necessary to life, he said: liquid water; a source of biogenic compounds; and a source of chemical energy. This search is one of the primary forces driving NASA's exploration of the solar system.
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