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EPA Publishes List Of Terpenes In Marijuana Vaping That May Be Causing Illnesses And Deaths

EPA Publishes List Of Terpenes In Marijuana Vaping That May Be Causing Illnesses And Deaths

Oct 19 2019 | comment(s)

Marijuana oils, many illegal or of suspect origin, used in nicotine vaping devices ("e-cigarette" devices) have cause numerous health issues and even deaths recently, and so the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency has told consumers who are putting marijuana juice into nicotine vaping devices to stop immediately.

To help toxicologists narrow down what is causing these illnesses and deaths, and why so many occurred in a cluster this year, the EPA Computational Toxicology group has published a list of 37 chemicals found in the marijuana plant that give strains their aromatic and flavor profiles. 
HERstory: Christina Koch And Jessica Meir Conduct First All Female Spacewalk

HERstory: Christina Koch And Jessica Meir Conduct First All Female Spacewalk

Oct 18 2019 | comment(s)

Sure, a woman first walked in space 35 years ago but she didn't do that with another woman, and we are in a media culture increasingly desperate to create "firsts" and a NASA that needs to distract Congress from its decade of delays and budget overruns on the James Webb Space Telescope, so it makes sense that NASA would co-opt HERstory for what should be a non-event.

Seriously. Some will try to frame that as #triggerwarning sexism, but it's just the opposite. We should want a culture where there is no gender mention, because it's irrelevant. You know what gets no attention? That the women are engineers and biologists. Because being a scientist astronaut is pretty routine.(1)
E-6B Mercury 'Doomsday' Aircraft: Bird Strike Grounds Plane Meant To Survive Nuclear Armageddon

E-6B Mercury 'Doomsday' Aircraft: Bird Strike Grounds Plane Meant To Survive Nuclear Armageddon

Oct 18 2019 | comment(s)

The E-6B Mercury aircraft, a Navy "doomsday" plane, was grounded after a "touch-and-go" training maneuver (just what it sounds like, they land on the runway and take off again) resulted in a misfortunate bird strike that took out an engine and $2 million in damage.

The E-6B Mercury is a Boeing 747 modified to be shielded from EMPs (electromagnetic pulses) that would result in a nuclear strike, but more recently can also be directed to take out electronic systems. Like submarines, it also has low-frequency communications to communicate, which means it can launch Minuteman III ICBMs buried in mountain fortresses.
DFDT: Nazi Cousin Of DDT Has Been 'Rediscovered' But Will People Want It?

DFDT: Nazi Cousin Of DDT Has Been 'Rediscovered' But Will People Want It?

Oct 17 2019 | comment(s)

Scientists have written a paper talking about how they "rediscovered" a pesticide that had never really been forgotten but had been ignored because it was created during the Nazi regime and really expensive; DFDT, a chemical relative of DDT. German scientists called it "Fluorgesarol"(1) and "Gix." DDT is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and DFDT replaces the chlorine atoms with fluorine so it's difluorodiphenyltrichloroethane.(2)
Extinction Rebellion Give No Reasons For 2025 Zero Emissions Or Claim That Billions Will Die - What Would A Better Objective Be?

Extinction Rebellion Give No Reasons For 2025 Zero Emissions Or Claim That Billions Will Die - What Would A Better Objective Be?

Oct 16 2019 | comment(s)

It’s so good to see some climate scientists at last starting to speak up about the awful over the top things Extinction Rebellion activists are saying, though I wish more would speak up and speak up more strongly.

Rupert Read is a philosophy professor. Don’t watch his video if you are like the children and adults I help who get terrified of climate change.

Yes we do need to act on climate change. But we need to be informed by science. He is surely well grounded in philosophy. However, what he says in the video about climate science is mistaken.

Frostpunk: The Dystopian Global Cooling Apocalypse Comes To Xbox

Frostpunk: The Dystopian Global Cooling Apocalypse Comes To Xbox

Oct 16 2019 | comment(s)

I've had "Frostpunk" on my Steam wishlist since early 2018 and though it has gone on sale numerous times I didn't buy it. The reason is not hesitance about the game itself; I work on a PC all day, the last thing I want to do is sit at a desk at night.

But at the end of last week it went on sale for consoles and I was happy to literally pay twice as much just to sit on a couch and not use a mouse and keyboard. And it was worth the wait. 

Frostpunk is Steampunk, except when Global Cooling brings a new ice age
Nurses Can Identify Different Infections By Smell

Nurses Can Identify Different Infections By Smell

Oct 16 2019 | comment(s)

A scholar who spent five months at a cancer ward in a hospital that had roughly 5,000 employees studied how nurses use knowledge on the job and found something interesting;  they can smell infections.

I don't mean leprosy, or something really obvious, they can smell a type of infection.

“A urinary tract infection is very distinct. I can recognize that smell out in the corridor,” wrote one, while another said, "a urinary tract infection, or clostridium. It's super easy to smell!”
Maunakea Protests Have Grown Into Broad Anti-Science With Threats Of Terrorism

Maunakea Protests Have Grown Into Broad Anti-Science With Threats Of Terrorism

Oct 16 2019 | comment(s)

Ku Kiai Mauna protestors have branched out from being concerned with the fictitious pollution of a nonexistent aquifer at the top of Mauna Kea on the big Island of Hawaii. Some who wear their brand have been making terroristic threats up to and including raising the possibility of suicide bombing.

TIME Magazine Must Hate Greta Thunberg

TIME Magazine Must Hate Greta Thunberg

Oct 15 2019 | comment(s)

I just read an article about an Irish military vet who played a posthumous prank on his funeral attendees, which got a laugh out of them, exactly as he wanted.

TIME put in the URL and I am going to click on it, because Irish people always sound funny to me, and at funerals I bet they are even funny.
The Alternative To Opioids May Come From Tasmanian Waters

The Alternative To Opioids May Come From Tasmanian Waters

Oct 15 2019 | comment(s)

There is a war on opioids and legitimate pain patients have been caught in the stigma of recreational abuse. High-profile class action lawsuits against drug manufacturers are going to create an "icy chill" for pain medication just as they ran antibiotics out of the country.
Online Gaming Is The Great Equalizer For People With Disabilities

Online Gaming Is The Great Equalizer For People With Disabilities

Oct 15 2019 | comment(s)

Esports, competitive video game tournaments, have risen to prominence. You can watch an Apex Legends tournament on television and the commentary might make you dizzy, with the jargon and the rapid pace, but there is no denying the skill.

Twitch and Mixer are overwhelmingly dominated by Fortnite, a loot and shoot game, to such an extent that online groups went into spasms when Fortnite took itself offline for two days (via an asteroid, which even blew up their Twitter feed) to generate some buzz for the new season. And it was already huge after Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf won the $3 million Fortnite World Cup this summer.

Apex is rolling out Halloween characters for its upcoming event, Dracula and the Wicked Witch, among others.
Multiverse Speculation By Theoretical Physicists Sets A Dangerous Precedent: Science-y Claims Without Evidence

Multiverse Speculation By Theoretical Physicists Sets A Dangerous Precedent: Science-y Claims Without Evidence

Oct 15 2019 | comment(s)

Once upon a time theoretical physicists were regarded as smarter than their experimental brethren. Because they didn't need laboratories. 

Not everyone was convinced. Heisenberg, the uncertainty principle guy(1), only got his Ph.D. because his score was averaged out. He had to take an experimental physics course and part of the final grade was Q&A. He couldn't answer any of the questions one professor, Wilhelm Wien, asked, so Professor Wien threw him a bone; how does a battery work?
Psych Tests Where You ‘Answer Without Thinking’ Promote Politically Correct Answers, Not Honest Ones

Psych Tests Where You ‘Answer Without Thinking’ Promote Politically Correct Answers, Not Honest Ones

Oct 14 2019 | comment(s)

A new paper finds that instead of leading to more honest replies, presumably because people don't think about the response, time pressure questions actually increase the likelihood of socially desirable answers over honest ones.

There’s a longstanding belief in the field of psychology that limiting the time subjects have to respond to questions will result in more honest answers. Certainly, many of us who have participated in personality tests have heard the directive to “say the first thing that comes to mind.”  However, a recent study demonstrates that the quickest answer — especially if it is not the most socially desirable — still may not be the most truthful one.

Killer Robots, Mass Unemployment - No One Talks About How AI Systems Reinforce Cultural Bias

Killer Robots, Mass Unemployment - No One Talks About How AI Systems Reinforce Cultural Bias

Oct 14 2019 | comment(s)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already re-configuring the world in conspicuous ways. Data drives our global digital ecosystem, and AI technologies reveal patterns in data. Smartphones, smart homes, and smart cities influence how we live and interact, and AI systems are increasingly involved in recruitment decisions, medical diagnoses, and judicial verdicts. Whether this scenario is utopian or dystopian depends on your perspective.

Marion Nestle, Harvard School Of Public Health, And Other Correlation Fetishists Are Upset About Red Meat Not Causing Cancer

Marion Nestle, Harvard School Of Public Health, And Other Correlation Fetishists Are Upset About Red Meat Not Causing Cancer

Oct 14 2019 | comment(s)

When papers came out stating that cutting back on red meat didn't make any difference in your real risk of getting cancer, because a normal diet did not cause any more cancer, it came under fire by critics who had spent an alarming chunk of their careers criticizing modern diets.
The Plot Of The Week - Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay At Reach

The Plot Of The Week - Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay At Reach

Oct 13 2019 | comment(s)

The most recent preprint in the ArXiv this evening is an APPEC report on the neutrinoless double beta decay. This is the thick result of a survey of the state of the art in the search for a very (very) rare subnuclear process, which can shed light on the nature of the mass hierarchy of neutrinos. Oh, and, APPEC stands for "AstroParticle Physics European Consortium", in case you wondered.
California Forced PG&E To Shut Off Power During Risky Conditions - Now All Those Portable Generators Mean Air Pollution

California Forced PG&E To Shut Off Power During Risky Conditions - Now All Those Portable Generators Mean Air Pollution

Oct 13 2019 | comment(s)

Worldwide, a billion people still use things like fire and wood for energy, and in more developed areas they may have gas or diesel generators.(1) Both are terrific sources of pollution but if it's all you have, you are going to use it.
Reyvow (Lasmiditan) For Migraine Headaches Gets FDA Approval

Reyvow (Lasmiditan) For Migraine Headaches Gets FDA Approval

Oct 11 2019 | comment(s)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Eli Lilly and Company's Reyvow (lasmiditan) tablets for acute treatment of migraine headaches in adults. Though used colloquially by everyone who feels like their headache is bad, a clinical migraine is an intense throbbing or pulsing pain in one area of the head that often brings nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. 

The effectiveness of Reyvow for the acute treatment of migraine was demonstrated in two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. A total of 3,177 adult patients with a history of migraine with and without aura treated a migraine attack with Reyvow in these studies.
The Secret To Great Volleyball Is Sneaky Float Serves, Finds Aerodynamic Analysis

The Secret To Great Volleyball Is Sneaky Float Serves, Finds Aerodynamic Analysis

Oct 11 2019 | comment(s)

Wind tunnel experiments to determine the role of asymmetry caused by the orientation of a volleyball on its aerodynamic characteristics found that it would be easy to make a volleyball more predictable; with a hexagonal or dimpled pattern instead of six panels, each made with three parallel rectangular strips - but that would eliminate some of the fun.

Aerodynamics, the behavior of air as it flows around objects, plays a huge role in volleyball, golf, baseball, tennis, and soccer.  

Aerodynamics is why soccer players like David Beckham could "bend" kicks into the goal, and why baseball pitchers throw knuckleballs that can dance around an opposing player's bat. 
In Car Crash Scenarios, Self-Driving Cars Will Put The Many Ahead Of The Few

In Car Crash Scenarios, Self-Driving Cars Will Put The Many Ahead Of The Few

Oct 11 2019 | comment(s)

Self-driving cars are the future. Some day our grandchildren will look back on today and be baffled that we ever debated about whether or not to save hundreds of thousands of lives per year.

Yet crashes will still happen, and there is a debate about how those will be handled. Right now, automobile deaths that don't start off as heavily risky (drunk, high) involve a great deal of bad luck and perhaps a modicum of skill. Artificial intelligence tasked with deciding what to do as an accident occurs will have to get socialist about it, according to a new paper; choosing the course of action that will help the many at the expense of the few.