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B Cross Sections From CMS

B Cross Sections From CMS

Feb 10 2011 | comment(s)

Embarassingly overdue, the slides of my talk on "Heavy Flavour and Quarkonia Production in 7 TeV pp Collisions", meant for the 2011 Les Houches meeting on "Recent Advances in QCD" to be held next week near Chamonix, France, are slowly coming together. Since these days I seem to be straggling my feet on the blog as well, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. So here you are going to get a short overview of recent measurements of b-quark production by CMS.

While providing the results for experts and beginners alike, I will try to make this discussion as simple as possible (but not simpler), something that lately I tend to forget. I do not like my blog posts to be too technical, but maybe I am getting old and my popularization powers are weakening. Let's see.
Non-coding DNA Function... Surprising?

Non-coding DNA Function... Surprising?

Feb 10 2011 | comment(s)

The existence of functional, non-protein-coding DNA is all too frequently portrayed as a great surprise uncovered by genome sequencing projects, both in large media outlets and in scientific publications that should have better quality control in place. Eric Lander, writing a Human Genome Project 10th anniversary retrospective in Nature, explains the real surprise about non-coding DNA that was revealed by big omics projects.
Voynich Manuscript - Book No One Can Read Gets Dated To The 15th Century

Voynich Manuscript - Book No One Can Read Gets Dated To The 15th Century

Feb 10 2011 | comment(s)

It won't make it readable, but University of Arizona researchers have cracked at least one of the puzzles surrounding the Voynich manuscript, a book filled with drawings and writings nobody can make any sense of.

Using radiocarbon dating, a team led by Greg Hodgins in department of physics says the manuscript's parchment pages date back to the early 15th century, making the book a century older than previously thought. 

It's nonsensical structure has kept the Voynich manuscript fascinating for the 50 people who care; rows of text scrawled on visibly aged parchment, flowing around intricately drawn illustrations depicting plants, astronomical charts and human figures bathing in, some claim, the fountain of youth.
Australopithecus Afarensis: Lucy Had Foot Arches?

Australopithecus Afarensis: Lucy Had Foot Arches?

Feb 10 2011 | comment(s)

Arches in human feet have been instrumental in our ability to walk upright and researchers at the University of Missouri and Arizona State University say they have found proof that arches existed in a predecessor to the human species, Australopithecus afarensis, that lived more than 3 million years ago. 
The Piece Of Paper That Fooled Hitler

The Piece Of Paper That Fooled Hitler

Feb 10 2011 | comment(s)

Pas de Calais was the smart choice for an invasion by the Allies in 1944 - it had a port that could easily be used for the largest ships and was a short distance to England.
Ray Kurzweil Pushes Singularity Back To 2045

Ray Kurzweil Pushes Singularity Back To 2045

Feb 10 2011 | comment(s)

Last year I attended a singularity conference and Ray Kurzweil's avatar predicted it was 25 years away.   Well, it's been 25 years away for a long time.  It's a nice, safe number, close enough that no one gives up and stops buying books (global warming will happen in 100 years, for example) and not so close anyone looks silly (Al Gore saying in 2006 that we were doomed in 10 years, for example) it if doesn't happen.

 In 1993, for example, Vernor Vinge said "Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended." 
Green house gas emission and global warming

Green house gas emission and global warming

Feb 10 2011 | comment(s)

Green house gas emissions are natural with use of fossil fuel resources and increasing levels of Carbon di oxide are causing great concern. “Scoping meeting on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation From January 21st-25th, 2008, the IPCC workshop on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation was held in Luebeck, The mandate of the meeting was to guide and support decision making by the IPCC on a possible Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation or on the inclusion of this subject in the normal Assessment Report cycle. A Special Report could be finalised by end of 2010, while a fifth Assessment Report would probably not be available before 2013”.(source of the quote: IPCC SCOPING MEETING ON RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES)
Snake Bites Get You High

Snake Bites Get You High

Feb 10 2011 | comment(s)

In the ongoing concern about future generations not being as intelligent as prior ones, due to computers, video games and what not (in my day it was calculators that would lead to brain rot) the many examples of creative people doing things we never would have thought of are lost.

I can't go to the pharmacy cold medicine aisle and buy Drixoral these days - I instead have to go the pharmacist and sign some document to get it and I finally, owing to the need to buy some every three years or so, asked the pharmacist why.    Turns out young people had discovered that they could make crystal meth or something from it.   Amazing.  I would never have thought of that, and I am usually the smartest guy in any room I enter.   I just used it to cure sniffles.
This Day In 1906: Skepticism About The Wright Brothers

This Day In 1906: Skepticism About The Wright Brothers

Feb 10 2011 | comment(s)

We've all heard of the Wright Brothers, the father of flight, as it were.  But early in their day there was some understandable skepticism about what they claimed to have done.

Here, from Feb. 10th, 1906 is the New York Herald commentary:
“The Wrights have flown or they have not flown. They possess a machine or they do not possess one. They are in fact either fliers or liars. It is difficult to fly. It is easy to say, ‘We have flown.’”
From the National Air&Space Museum
Pain Laboratory

Pain Laboratory

Feb 10 2011 | comment(s)

Just that I was recovering from a tooth ache and being lectured upon dental anesthetics, that I came across an interesting experiment on understanding pain. 

I hope this can alleviate the pain levels you had been ignoring for some while. 
Falling Off the Ladder: How Not to Succeed in Academia

Falling Off the Ladder: How Not to Succeed in Academia

Feb 10 2011 | comment(s)

Kathy Weston's personal tale of how a promising academic career gradually went off the rails as her interests changed.   No discrimination, she has no white, male privilege to blame, the job ending up being different than what she wanted as she matured.

It's interesting stuff.  Give it a read.
Usage-Based Internet A Flop In Canada, Will Be Revoked

Usage-Based Internet A Flop In Canada, Will Be Revoked

Feb 09 2011 | comment(s)

You may remember a short while ago the concerns about the metered Internet experiment in Canada, courtesy of the government.   
 
Usage-Based Billing may be leaving as quickly as it came.   The Canadian Radio-Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved usage-based billing for Bell Canada but a senior Conservative government official said Wednesday that the CRTC could reconsider or it would be done for them.
Photodynamic Therapy For Cancer?

Photodynamic Therapy For Cancer?

Feb 09 2011 | comment(s)

Metastasis is when tumor cells move from the primary tumor to distant tissues - it is metastasis of the primary tumor that kills most cancer patients. One of the least studied routes of metastasis is the lymphatic system, though many tumors produce factors that promote the formation of new lymphatic vessels (lymphangiogenesis). The newly formed lymphatic vessels enable tumor cells to travel from the primary tumor to the regional lymph nodes from whence they can spread throughout the body.

Current treatment practice is to surgically remove the primary tumor as well as the metastatic lymph nodes, but tumor cells in metastatic transit inside the lymphatic vessels have not been given much attention. 
Verizon iPhone? Depends On If You Use It To Make Phone Calls Or Not

Verizon iPhone? Depends On If You Use It To Make Phone Calls Or Not

Feb 09 2011 | comment(s)

The early reviews of the iPhone on Verizon are that it's much better if you use the iPhone as a phone.    Data may be something else.    Solution: Wait for the iPhone 5 unless you truly want this thing or use it all of the time and hate AT&T.

Sample - Laptop Mag's Mark Spoonauer:
The iPhone 4 on Verizon Wireless delivers the reliable data and voice coverage AT&T has failed to provide, making this device a dependable partner for work and play. Everything we love about Apple's smart phone
Best Reason To Leave Racing On The Racetrack

Best Reason To Leave Racing On The Racetrack

Feb 09 2011 | comment(s)

Some professional racers drive like crazy people on the streets but they are a special sort of crazy because they know what they are doing.   You never hear about professional racers getting into wrecks off the track.

Compare them to these guys, who, aside from trying to show off with lousy cars, apparently can't look left and right.

Want To Learn How To Take Ecstasy? L.A. County Health Officials Are Here To Help

Want To Learn How To Take Ecstasy? L.A. County Health Officials Are Here To Help

Feb 09 2011 | comment(s)

Government-sanctioned, drug-fueled raves?  Sure, if it makes sense to have elementary school children putting condoms on bananas, it certainly makes sense (this is L.A. we are talking about) to issue fliers to rave participants on how to not off themselves taking the illicit, schedule 1 drugs they are not legally allowed to take.

Dennis Romero at the LA Weekly Blog was kind enough to post a copy so all of you responsible parents in less progressive parts of the nation can teach kids how to roll without overdosing.
The Internet is falling!

The Internet is falling!

Feb 09 2011 | comment(s)

[I’m re-posting this, because the original, from Saturday, seems to have disappeared.]

A More Accurate Kilogram Thanks To A More Accurate Avogadro Constant

A More Accurate Kilogram Thanks To A More Accurate Avogadro Constant

Feb 09 2011 | comment(s)

A milestone in the international Avogadro project coordinated by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) has been reached - with the aid of a single crystal of highly enriched 28Si, the Avogadro constant has now been measured more precisely than ever before, with a relative overall uncertainty of 3 · 10-8.

Within the scope of the redefinition of the kilogram, the value NA = 6.02214078(18) · 1023 mol-1 allows a more exact realization of this unit. 

How to Brew Coffee In A Race Car Engine

How to Brew Coffee In A Race Car Engine

Feb 09 2011 | comment(s)

I like coffee but I love coffee makers.  I currently own 14, though only four are allowed on the counter at any one time.   They're not all elaborate.  One is an electric percolator while one percolator goes on the fire pit outside when I am smoking a cigar.  There are two French presses and a small, 4-cup Mr. Coffee.  Aside from those, they are all rather distinct and have their own special features which make me cherish them.

But there are limits to features I require and costs I will incur.  It is a hobby, not a need to be cutting edge.
But Could The Squid Hear Themselves On TV?

But Could The Squid Hear Themselves On TV?

Feb 09 2011 | comment(s)

Well, it's been six months and the news cycle has come around again to the same squiddy topics: a new TV show about giant squid, and the question of whether squid can hear.

The giant squid documentary, which was supposed to come out in 2010, is a wee bit behind schedule. The new news is that the Japanese broadcaster NHK is partnering with Al-Jazeera Children's Channel in this venture. That's a cool collaboration! Nothing brings the whole world together like a fascination with giant squid.
In 2009, NHK said it was working on a series called Giant Squid: Last