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Should There Be More Religious Control Of Banking? Asks University Of Leicester

Should There Be More Religious Control Of Banking? Asks University Of Leicester

Jun 18 2009 | comment(s)

The University of Leicester’s School of Management wonders if more religious control of banks might have lessened the impact of the global financial crisis.
 
Buying into the notion that a 'sub-prime' housing market led to the latest global financial crisis, they say developing new practices which can address the issues that led the world to the brink of collapse are a vital part of recovery.

Professor Martin Parker, Director of Research for the Management School, thinks a banking system consistent with the principles of Islamic law (Sharia) may be a solution so the university is hosting a conference to consider potential lessons from the Islamic Banking and Finance sector. 
Fossil Vs DNA Smackdown - 'Dental Hominoids' And How Humans Are Closer To Orangutans Than Chimps

Fossil Vs DNA Smackdown - 'Dental Hominoids' And How Humans Are Closer To Orangutans Than Chimps

Jun 18 2009 | comment(s)

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the Buffalo Museum of Science say we've been making a mistake using DNA to contend that humans are most closely related to chimpanzees.  The fossil record says otherwise, they report in the Journal of Biogeography.

Jeffrey H. Schwartz, professor of anthropology in Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences and president of the World Academy of Art and Science, and John Grehan, director of science at the Buffalo Museum, conducted an analysis of the physical features of living and fossil apes that suggested humans, orangutans, and early apes belong to a group separate from chimpanzees and gorillas.
Forget Hypnosis - This Tentacled Snake Startles Prey Right Into Its Mouth

Forget Hypnosis - This Tentacled Snake Startles Prey Right Into Its Mouth

Jun 18 2009 | comment(s)

You've heard legends of snakes that hypnote their prey - Kaa in "The Jungle Book" did it and Disney is renowned for their scientific accuracy - but a tentacled snake from South East Asia has gone hypnosis one better; it startles its prey so that the fish turn toward the snake's head to flee instead of turning away. In addition, the fish's reaction is so predictable that the snake actually aims its strike at the position where the fish's head will be instead of tracking its actual movement.
Creep Cavitation - Deep Earth Pump Fuels Earthquakes

Creep Cavitation - Deep Earth Pump Fuels Earthquakes

Jun 18 2009 | comment(s)

Scientists have discovered the presence of a natural deep earth 'pump' that is a crucial element in the formation of ore deposits and earthquakes.  The process, called 'creep cavitation', involves fluid being pumped through pores in deformed rock in mid-crustal sheer zones, which are approximately 15 km below the Earth's surface.

The fluid transfer through the middle crust also plays a key role in tectonic plate movement and mantle degassing.

The discovery was made by examining one millimeter sized cubes of exposed rock in Alice Springs, which was deformed around 320 million years ago during a period of natural mountain formation.
Girls Remake Anime Films And Reinforce Stereotypes

Girls Remake Anime Films And Reinforce Stereotypes

Jun 18 2009 | comment(s)

Girls are gathering online to remake action-oriented Japanese animation videos geared toward males - you know, because males are genetically engineered to like action cartoons with bounty hunter vampires who need to kill their half-brothers that run an evil clan - into romances, because girls are genetically engineered to like ... well, you get the point.   

Anime is a style of animation popularized in Japan, usually in material that contains action-filled plots with fantastic or futuristic themes. The style is used in manga, computer games and videos.
3-D Rapid Prototyping Your Future Replacement Organ

3-D Rapid Prototyping Your Future Replacement Organ

Jun 18 2009 | comment(s)

Organ donation would be a lot less variable if they could be grown in the lab and a more effective way to build plastic scaffolds on which new tissues and even whole organs might be grown in the laboratory is being developed by an international collaboration between teams in Portugal and the UK.

The researchers say rapid prototyping, or three-dimensional(3-D) 'printing', could enable tissue engineering that replicates the porous and hierarchical structures of natural tissues at an unprecedented level.
'Unambiguous Evidence' For Ancient Lake On Mars 3.4 Billion Years Ago

'Unambiguous Evidence' For Ancient Lake On Mars 3.4 Billion Years Ago

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)

A University of Colorado at Boulder research team say their discovery of shorelines on Mars is an indication of a deep, ancient lake there and a finding with implications for the discovery of past life on the Red Planet.

Estimated to be more than 3 billion years old, the lake appears to have covered as much as 80 square miles and was up to 1,500 feet deep, roughly the equivalent of Lake Champlain bordering the United States and Canada, said CU-Boulder Research Associate Gaetano Di Achille, who led the study. The shoreline evidence, found along a broad delta, included a series of alternating ridges and troughs thought to be surviving remnants of beach deposits.
Limusaurus Inextricabilis - Birdlike Dinosaur May Have Clues To Finger Evolution

Limusaurus Inextricabilis - Birdlike Dinosaur May Have Clues To Finger Evolution

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)

Scientists who discovered a beaked, plant-eating dinosaur in China called Limusaurus inextricabilis ("mire lizard who could not escape") say it demonstrates that theropod, or bird-footed, dinosaurs were more ecologically diverse in the Jurassic period than previously thought.  Even more, they write in Nature that it offers important evidence about how the three-fingered hand of birds evolved from the hand of dinosaurs.
The Embrace of the Lion

The Embrace of the Lion

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)

Ok, this is an old story and probably all of you have seen the footage already - but after seeing the video myself, I cannot avoid posting it in my blog too. The recorded ending of a moving story of love between a lion and two young men is still all the rage on YouTube several months after being posted, and if you have not seen it yet, here is your chance to get even.
Protein Cryptography And The Cell's Public Transportation System

Protein Cryptography And The Cell's Public Transportation System

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)



It's easy to get lost in a eukaryotic cell. Proteins need to be in the right place at the right time to carry out their functions, but the cell is a crowded place, and the layout isn't exactly simple. Fortunately, the cell has a fairly sophisticated transportation system: if you need to head out of the cell, take the secretory pathway; if your job is to regulate genes, the nuclear shuttle will take you where you need to go.



The protein Htb2 hanging out exactly where it is supposed to be - the nucleus

If only we all saw things like Hank...

If only we all saw things like Hank...

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)


My apologies, Kim...
Sometimes we all need to just stop and ...

Sometimes we all need to just stop and ...

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)

stop hammertime

I was outside the target demographic of this dance (though I can moonwalk like no one's business) but if I were going to pick up a retro dance, this would be a cool one.

FDA Cracks Down on Zicam

FDA Cracks Down on Zicam

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)

I've always hated Zicam, because of it's ridiculous claim to be a homeopathic remedy, when the mechanism of action of zinc gluconate (the active ingredient) has nothing whatsoever to do with the pseudoscientific principles of homeopathy.

Now the FDA is cracking down, because Zicam may be downright harmful - you could lose your sense of smell because zinc ions applied directly to your nasal epithelia can be toxic.
Lost World Shropshire? Mammoths In England Found To Be Most Recent Yet

Lost World Shropshire? Mammoths In England Found To Be Most Recent Yet

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)

Some mammoths remained part of British wildlife long after they were believed (scientifically) to have become extinct, according to research published today in the Geological Journal.

Analysis of both the bones and the surrounding environment in Shropshire, England provide the most geologically recent evidence of woolly mammoths in western Europe, they say.
Attention Sports/Fitness Enthusiasts: Do you know how much protein you really need?

Attention Sports/Fitness Enthusiasts: Do you know how much protein you really need?

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)

As some of you already know, I've been sharpening my sports nutrition skills.  With that, I figured I would share with you guys some tips that I think would help you guys out.  

This first one is protein needs.

 As rowers and/or cyclists we would consider ourselves endurance athletes.  FYI:  These numbers apply for both men and women b/c they are based on body weight - not gender.

The current standard for the avg (i.e. sedentary person) is 0.4g per lb of body weight.

For example, 0.4g x 150 pound person = 60g
Life's Beginning: Cycling To Complexity

Life's Beginning: Cycling To Complexity

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)

There must have been an abundant source of free energy on the early Earth that could produce the polymers required for natural experiments leading to the origin of life.

What was it?
A jewel in the rough: for Bente

A jewel in the rough: for Bente

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)

Given the thousands of years of modern human history, all the brilliant minds that have popped up in science during that time, and especially advances in the last half century or so in computers, how many Mersenne prime numbers do you think we've discovered?

Turns out, only 46 - until recently, when the 47th was discovered by a "prime hunter" in Norway. (This one's for you, Bente, since I failed you in the thunder article.)

Bear with me, even if you aren't a math wizard, as the story is a quirky testament to the power of the media and the ability of anyone to contribute to science, amateur or expert.
The Brain's Linguistic Auto-Pilot

The Brain's Linguistic Auto-Pilot

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)

The Brain's Linguistic Auto-Pilot



We tend to be not very good at proof-reading and 'proof-hearing' our own words.  It takes mental training and a great deal of concentration even to proof-read other peoples' words, or to notice common slips of speech.  This, I suggest, is because our brain holds a linguistic auto-pilot which is so good at error-correction that we are blissfully unaware of most typos and slurs of speech.


The Jabberwock Effect
Morning Science Quote

Morning Science Quote

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)

Science grows through accretion, but becomes potent through distillation.

- James P. Sethna, Entropy, Order Parameters, and Complexity











The Last Coiner - Yorkshire's Answer To The 18th Century 'Credit Crunch'

The Last Coiner - Yorkshire's Answer To The 18th Century 'Credit Crunch'

Jun 17 2009 | comment(s)

When a steep decline in the wool trade prompted an 18th century credit crunch, folks in Yorkshire took up a new (and dangerous) business venture - counterfeiting.

In the 18th century, coining was a treasonable offense and therefore punishable by death but in the 1760s and 1770s, a decline in the textile trade motivated hundreds of Yorkshire people from rural communities to risk the gallows by counterfeiting British and Spanish coins.