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The Multi-Muon Analysis - A Recollection

The Multi-Muon Analysis - A Recollection

Jan 31 2025 | comment(s)

As part of the celebrations for 20 years of blogging, I am re-posting articles that in some way were notable for the history of the blog. This time I want to (re)-submit to you four pieces I wrote to explain the unexplainable: the very complicated analysis performed by a group of physicists within the CDF experiment, which led them to claim that there was a subtle new physics process hidden in the data collected in Run 2. There would be a lot to tell about that whole story, but suffices to say here that the signal never got confirmed by independent analyses and by DZERO, the competing experiment at the Tevatron. As mesmerizing and striking the CDF were, they were finally archived as some intrinsic incapability of the experiment to make perfect sense of their muon detector signals.
3 Pro-Science Action Items For EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin

3 Pro-Science Action Items For EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin

Jan 30 2025 | comment(s)

Yesterday, the Senate confirmed former Congressman Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Though the Trump administration has promised reform, there will be big challenges in that. Though high-profile jobs are appointees, the nuts-and-bolts work of governance is done by career employees, and nearly 90 percent of them are Democrats.
Gym Paradox: People Want To Get Healthier But Until They're Healthier Don't Feel Comfortable

Gym Paradox: People Want To Get Healthier But Until They're Healthier Don't Feel Comfortable

Jan 29 2025 | comment(s)

Gym Bro, Curl Gurl, Gym Rat if you choose not to identify as any gender - everyone knows what it means, and it can be pretty intimidating if you walk into a fitness center as a new member. Imagine feeling like you have to get in shape before you can join a gym to get in shape.

Fitness executives don't want that but store managers know not to alienate their best customers for someone who will join on a special deal, go for a month, and then cancel the first time they download RocketMoney and remember they have a gym membership.
Marijuana's Impact On Working Memory Revealed In Brain Scans

Marijuana's Impact On Working Memory Revealed In Brain Scans

Jan 28 2025 | comment(s)

A new study examined the effects of marijuana use of 1,003 adults aged 22 to 36 from the Human Connectome Project collected between August 2012 and 2015 and found that 63% of heavy lifetime cannabis users exhibited reduced brain activity during a working memory task, while 68% of recent users also demonstrated a similar impact.
Cardiac Medication Digoxin Off Label Reduces Risk Of Breast Cancer Metastases

Cardiac Medication Digoxin Off Label Reduces Risk Of Breast Cancer Metastases

Jan 26 2025 | comment(s)

While off-label uses of medication may be controversial in political media, in science and health they lead to important gains. A new example is the cardiac disease drug digoxin used at a low and safe dosage for one week for nine patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Electric Cars Match Gas And Diesel For Longevity

Electric Cars Match Gas And Diesel For Longevity

Jan 25 2025 | comment(s)

An analysis of 300 million United Kingdom Ministry of Transport test records, which tries to estimate the ‘health’ of every vehicle on UK roads between 2005 and 2022 and determine potential vehicle longevity (basically survival rates for different powertrains) has concluded that electric vehicles now match the lifespans of conventional counterparts and may even be more reliable.
Two Fewer Almonds: That's All You Need To Prevent Weight Gain

Two Fewer Almonds: That's All You Need To Prevent Weight Gain

Jan 24 2025 | comment(s)

When people see labels or menus listing the calories in their food, it doesn't change their consumption in any way beyond what experts call "statistical wobble." About two fewer almonds worth of calories per meal. But two almonds over time can add up to a lot.

That's the conclusion in the data of a systematic review by The Cochrane Collaboration. The team of academics reviewed 25 papers which discussed the impact of calorie labeling on consumption and found a minute reduction in the foods selected - about 11 calories.
The Protein Signature Of Long Covid In Children Revealed In Lab Tests

The Protein Signature Of Long Covid In Children Revealed In Lab Tests

Jan 24 2025 | comment(s)

"Long Covid", the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that erupted in Wuhan, China in 2019 and spread worldwide, causing millions of deaths, is difficult to pin down.

Pediatricians report it affects on average 0.5% of children who got the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that caused COVID-19. It has a few names, like Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, but Long Covid is the common term, and is generally characterized as persistence of COVID-19 symptoms 12 weeks or more weeks after the disease. 
Vaccinate Plants Against Insects And Disease

Vaccinate Plants Against Insects And Disease

Jan 24 2025 | comment(s)

Science is always looking for new ways to protect plants and the environment. In Hawaii, for example, when their staple papaya was under attack by aphids that transferred the "papaya ringspot virus" to plants, legacy breeding and pesticides did not work. A gene gun sending in a GMO did.(1) In the Wall Street Journal, I discussed how a non-corporate, free modification by academics could save the American Chestnut from the natural blight that had devastated billions of trees.(2)
Brits Associate Accents With Crime But Trust Scottish Accents Most

Brits Associate Accents With Crime But Trust Scottish Accents Most

Jan 23 2025 | comment(s)

With Burns Night this weekend,  Scotland will celebrate its heritage. In the First Among Equals country to the south that controls them, Scottish accents used to mean trouble. Now, it is the sound of safety for both English men and women.

A new study finds that the English, even some Welsh and Scottish, associate a "working-class" accent with criminal behavior. In a jury trial, that could have serious ramifications, but it likely also matters before that. Arrests and voice identification, for example. You're more likely to be one of The Usual Suspects(1) if your accent is criminal.