Mosque Replaces Synagogue; The FBI's Coming Power; When 'None' are the Majority; No Roundabout Peace; Brain-ictionary; Penciled in Woman Draft; Hubble's Golden Replacement; Avatar Driver

French Jews

Marseille Synagogue Becomes Mosque, French Muslims Want Churches Converted As Well jewishpress

Zvi Ammar, President of the Marseille Israelite Consistory, said the move was positive. “For the past 20 years or so we have seen the shift of the Jewish community to other neighborhoods,” he said, adding, “We all have the same God, the main thing is for this to proceed in harmony.”

In January, Ammar said that the Jews of Marseille should avoid wearing their yarmulkes on the street. So much for harmony.

US

FBI would gain new hacking power if search warrant rules change reuters

U.S. judges will be able to issue search warrants giving law enforcement agents power to access computers in any jurisdiction, potentially even overseas, under a controversial rule change likely to be approved by the Supreme Court by May 1.

Magistrate judges can normally only order searches within the jurisdiction of their court, which is typically limited to a few counties.

World Religion

The World's Newest Major Religion: No Religion news.nationalgeographic

The religiously unaffiliated, called "nones," are growing significantly. They’re the second largest religious group in North America and most of Europe. In the United States, nones make up almost a quarter of the population. In the past decade, U.S. nones have overtaken Catholics, mainline protestants, and all followers of non-Christian faiths.

This article was written with an emphasis on the 'none's point of view. In spite of that, it was written as fair as expected for National Geographic (in the last section the author seemed to inject his opinion and an odd rememberence of US history). A good general idea of the secularization trends for the world as we prepare life and evangelism to those lost with this particular blindness.

Peace

Israel rejects French peace plan: ‘Direct talks are only path’ timesofisrael

“Israel adheres to the position that the best way to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is direct and bilateral negotiations,” said a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an apparent rejection of the French plan.

Brain

Scans Show 'Brain Dictionary' Groups Words By Meaning npr.org v

Scientists say they have made an atlas of where words' meanings are located in the brain. The map shows that words are represented in different regions throughout the brain's outer layer.

Moreover, the brains of different people map language in the same way. "These maps are remarkably consistent from person to person," says Jack Gallant...

This one is fascinating. For a slightly more detail article, see A 3D MAP OF THE BRAIN SHOWS HOW WE UNDERSTAND LANGUAGE.

Military

House Committee Votes to Require Women to Register for Draft nbcnews

A divided Armed Services Committee backed the provision in a sweeping defense policy bill that the full House will consider next month, touching off a provocative debate about the role of women in the military.

Space

Say Hello to Our Future Mega-Space Telescope news.discovery

The JWST will be the most powerful space telescope ever to be launched. Looking at wavelengths “beyond” Hubble’s capabilities, the joint NASA, ESA, Canadian Space Agency and Space Telescope Science Institute mission will observe the universe in infrared light, opening a previously unseen look at the first galaxies to form at the beginning of time. Infrared light passes through even the most optically opaque molecular clouds, allowing us an incredibly high resolution and intimate look into star-forming regions. Though JWST won’t “replace” Hubble, as it won’t access the optical and ultraviolet wavelengths Hubble sees so well, it will see further back in time and give us a revolutionary view of the infrared cosmos.

Robotics

Maiden voyage of Stanford's humanoid robotic diver recovers treasures from King Louis XIV's wrecked flagship news.stanford.edu v

With guidance from a team of skilled deep-sea archaeologists who had studied the site, Khatib...spotted a grapefruit-size vase. He hovered precisely over the vase, reached out, felt its contours and weight, and stuck a finger inside to get a good grip. He swam over to a recovery basket, gently laid down the vase and shut the lid. Then he stood up and high-fived the dozen archaeologists and engineers who had been crowded around him.

This entire time Khatib had been sitting comfortably in a boat, using a set of joysticks to control OceanOne, a humanoid diving robot outfitted with human vision, haptic force feedback and an artificial brain – in essence, a virtual diver.