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Stress Really Can Give You Gray Hair

Stress Really Can Give You Gray Hair

Jun 11 2009 | comment(s)

Graying hairs that crop up with age could be more than just nature, they could be signs of stress, according to a new report in the June 12 issue of Cell. 

The researchers say that the kind of "genotoxic stress" that does damage to DNA depletes the melanocyte stem cells (MSCs) within hair follicles that are responsible for making those pigment-producing cells. Rather than dying off, when the going gets tough, those precious stem cells differentiate, forming fully mature melanocytes themselves. Anything that can limit the stress might stop the graying from happening, the researchers said. 
Dual Vision System: How President George Bush Could Duck Flying Shoes

Dual Vision System: How President George Bush Could Duck Flying Shoes

Jun 11 2009 | comment(s)

Who says politics and science can't mix?   Well, we say they shouldn't mix but we're rare in science media.  Yet sometimes political events can make for great science studies too.

Case in point, the value neuroscientists at the University of Washington got when former President George W. Bush and Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had shoes thrown at them by a crazy Iraqi 'reporter' during a Baghdad news conference. 

When Bush ducked and Maliki didn't flinch as the first shoe sailed toward them, it was a real-world example supporting the theory that there are two independent pathways in the human visual system. 
Dog's 'Guilty Look' Is All In Your Head

Dog's 'Guilty Look' Is All In Your Head

Jun 11 2009 | comment(s)

Can you tell when your dog has done something wrong by his appearance?   Not really, says Alexandra Horowitz, Assistant Professor from Barnard College in New York, in Behavioural Processes.   It's mostly what you want to see.

Horowitz was able to show that the human tendency to attribute a "guilty look" to a dog was not due to whether the dog was indeed guilty. Instead, people see 'guilt' in a dog's body language when they believe the dog has done something it shouldn't have – even if the dog is in fact completely innocent of any offense.
How Well Do You Know Anatomy?

How Well Do You Know Anatomy?

Jun 11 2009 | comment(s)

A study of patients and members of the public has shown that most lack even basic knowledge of human anatomy. The research, featured in the journal BMC Family Practice, found that people were generally incapable of identifying the location of major organs, even if they were currently receiving relevant treatment.
Academic Science Careers Bad For Women?

Academic Science Careers Bad For Women?

Jun 10 2009 | comment(s)

This study on "Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science" is now old news, but it hasn't answered many of the questions we're interested in about women in academic science careers. Women in 2004 and 2005 at top research universities were as successful as men in obtaining academic jobs and tenure, but the rub is that women are less likely to apply for academic or go up for tenure.

Why? Well, like I said, there are more questions that have to be addressed before we know why, but I'm betting that a big part of the problem is this:
Deepak Chopra Defends Oprah, Commits Endless Logical Fallacies

Deepak Chopra Defends Oprah, Commits Endless Logical Fallacies

Jun 10 2009 | comment(s)

I regularly read the Huffington Post, for the good reason that it often sports intelligent articles written from a progressive standpoint, and because I believe in open access and open contribution to the socio-political discourse (otherwise, I wouldn’t bother writing this blog).

Then again, one of the drawbacks of openness is that you get crap together with the good stuff.

This isn’t altogether bad, since reading crap is a necessary component of developing one’s own sense of critical thinking, sharpening the baloney detector, so to speak. But crap needs to be responded to, especially when it comes from influential sources.

Cooperation Among Predatory Animals - Biology Part 6

Cooperation Among Predatory Animals - Biology Part 6

Jun 10 2009 | comment(s)

Contrary to many notions about predators, it would seem that there are many whose success is directly linked to their social organization and more specifically to the role of the social leaders that may direct the group.



Predation is, by its nature, an energy intensive, high risk endeavor. Unexpected events may occur resulting in injuries, which may directly affect the ability of the predator to survive.


Obsessive-Compulsive Language Disorder

Obsessive-Compulsive Language Disorder

Jun 10 2009 | comment(s)

Obsessive-Compulsive Language Disorder


If you have never heard of Obsessive-Compulsive Language Disorder, don't worry.  I just invented the expression to get your attention.


In my article We Have Ways of Making You Conform,  I state: "The natural laws of conformity give rise to the patterns in language that we call grammar." and "In opposition to the natural drift of language is the set of communal rules of conformity." 
Twelve Misunderstandings Of Evolution

Twelve Misunderstandings Of Evolution

Jun 10 2009 | comment(s)



No. 1 “Evolution is the external and visible manifestation of the differential survival of alternative replicators.”

This is my all-time favourite, the Dawkins Fallacy, the definition of evolution Richard Dawkins gave in The Extended Phenotype p.82. The fallacy it contains is so obvious I’m amazed that his colleagues have not drawn his attention to it. The survival of replicators is a result of evolution, an outcome, and therefore cannot be the definition of evolution. If we said that fire is the visible manifestation of the production of ash, the statement would be true but meaningless. It would not be a definition of fire and it would tell us nothing about fire, just as Dawkins’ definition tells us nothing about evolution.
Extrasolar Planet Habitable Zones Around Distant Suns Get Some New Limitations

Extrasolar Planet Habitable Zones Around Distant Suns Get Some New Limitations

Jun 10 2009 | comment(s)

The search for planets capable of sustainable life (as we know it) is on, but with an infinite number of planets astronomers are focusing their attention on each system's 'habitable zone', where heat radiated from the star is just right to keep a planet's water in liquid form. They have found planets orbiting red dwarf stars because those make up about three-quarters of the stars close to our solar system. Potentially habitable planets must orbit closer to those stars, perhaps one-fiftieth the distance of Earth to the sun, since they are smaller and generate less heat than our sun.
The Future Of Science Communication - To Frame Or Not To Frame?

The Future Of Science Communication - To Frame Or Not To Frame?

Jun 10 2009 | comment(s)

Matthew C. Nisbet, assistant professor in the School of Communication writing in Nature Biotechnology, says there are changes that must be made to ensure quality science communication in the future. Some of his recommendations, based on the results of a science communication workshop in Washington, D.C., are: 1. Scientists should pursue a trust- and dialogue-based relationship with the public. The goal is not to 'sell the public' but to democratize public input about scientific issues so that members of the public can meaningfully participate in science-related decision making, which is not framing, but then ...
Retinoic Acid Embryology Study Clarifies Effects On Limb Formation

Retinoic Acid Embryology Study Clarifies Effects On Limb Formation

Jun 10 2009 | comment(s)

A group of researchers say they have clarified the role that retinoic acid plays in limb development. Their study in Current Biology says that retinoic acid controls the development (or budding) of forelimbs, but not hindlimbs, and that retinoic acid is not responsible for patterning (or differentiation of the parts) of limbs. This research corrects longstanding misconceptions about limb development and provides new insights into congenital limb defects.
Thor Comes To Philly - The Science Of Thunder

Thor Comes To Philly - The Science Of Thunder

Jun 10 2009 | comment(s)

I awoke early this morning, confused in my half-asleep stupor as to why the neighbors were rolling the garbage cans up and down the driveway while at the same time the nearby naval air station was staging extremely low-flying drills about 10 feet from the roof.

After I ruled out the garbage can theory (garbage day is Wednesday, so that would just be silly) and I didn't see Maverick and Goose buzzing the house tower, I thought, "Is that thunder?" It couldn't be - I'd never heard thunder like that, and I grew up in the upper midwest where tornadoes are the only relief from mosquitoes.

But it was.
Adaptive Oneness

Adaptive Oneness

Jun 09 2009 | comment(s)

During my essentially casual research of the native cultures that settled the Southwestern U.S., I repeatedly come across both archaeological and anthropological references to the concept of oneness.  Additionally, current Native American cultures carry forward modern expressions of this concept.  The definition I have gathered from these sources bridges both ancient and current cultural practices.  Oneness, in this respect is a state of cultural being in which the relationship by Native American cultures between their real and spiritiual environment is expressed in their art, their music, their rituals, their interrelationships and their practiced unity with the environment.  This performs as both a social and spiritual ethic that guides their daily lives.
Would you like your shrimp on a plate or a....treadmill?

Would you like your shrimp on a plate or a....treadmill?

Jun 09 2009 | comment(s)

Some enterprising scientists at NOAA have studied the health of animals suffering from bacterial infections by studying shrimp running on a treadmill.

I don't think this is recent news, but I just heard about it today and the video is too cute to pass up if you haven't seen it before, so check it out.
How To Annoy An Astronomer

How To Annoy An Astronomer

Jun 09 2009 | comment(s)

At parties, some people are intimidated when I say I'm an astronomer (or, worse, astrophysicist).  They assume I'm a haughty ivory tower genius who laughs at little people like them.  It's so hard to reassure them that, no, I don't laugh, I merely chuckle.  But I do feel it's my duty to help make life easier for the non-astrophysicists out there.

So, say you're at a party and you meet a famous astronomer.  It doesn't matter which one, we're all famous (or at least published).  Here are 6 things not to say.
  1. I'm an Aquarius, can you tell me my future?
  2. I'm angry because Pluto isn't a planet anymore!
  3. What will happen in 2012 when the Earth, sun and the center of our galaxy line up?
Lie to the Feds, Get a Book Deal

Lie to the Feds, Get a Book Deal

Jun 09 2009 | comment(s)

Struggling to find a publisher for your brilliant and genre-shifting novel? You could go the way of Andrew Bodnar, former Bristol-Myers Squibb senior exec VP.
Life's Beginning: The Shake And Bake Approach

Life's Beginning: The Shake And Bake Approach

Jun 09 2009 | comment(s)

 “May you live in interesting times!” So goes the ancient Chinese curse, and times certainly must have been interesting for Alexander Ivanovich Oparin, who was 23 years old when he graduated from Moscow State University in 1917. Lenin and the Bolsheviks had just seized power, the Czar and his family were imprisoned, then assassinated a year later, and the war between Red and White Russia began.
Theropod Dinosaurs Evolved Into Birds? Not Likely, Says Study

Theropod Dinosaurs Evolved Into Birds? Not Likely, Says Study

Jun 09 2009 | comment(s)

Paleontologists and some in biology have long believed that modern birds are the direct descendants of ancient, meat-eating dinosaurs.

Researchers at Oregon State University contend they have made a fundamental new discovery about how birds breathe and have a lung capacity that allows for flight – and the finding means it's unlikely that birds descended from any known theropod dinosaurs.

It's been known for decades that the femur, or thigh bone in birds is largely fixed and makes birds into "knee runners," unlike virtually all other land animals, the OSU experts say. What was just discovered, however, is that it's this fixed position of bird bones and musculature that keeps their air-sac lung from collapsing when the bird inhales.
The Creeping Doom Of ... Jellyfish

The Creeping Doom Of ... Jellyfish

Jun 09 2009 | comment(s)

Jellyfish blooms are up almost everywhere and it's going to become a menace.  The reason?   Over-fishing and excess nutrients from fertilizers and sewage, say researchers from The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency.

"Dense jellyfish aggregations can be a natural feature of healthy ocean ecosystems, but a clear picture is now emerging of more severe and frequent jellyfish outbreaks worldwide," says CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship and University of Queensland scientist Dr Anthony Richardson.