In Dating, Education Matters Less As We Age

Feb 06 2017 | comment(s)

In dating, at least the online kind, younger people tend to have a hard line on educational matching, but older people feel like that's less important.

The Machiavellian Side Of Cholera

Feb 06 2017 | comment(s)

Recently, two armies were pitted against each other, with harpoon-like appendages covered in poison. They went two war, stabbing each other and rupturing victims like water balloons.

It was all mathematically predictable, at least over time. In a one-off scenario, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, though in over 90 other instances where a team in the playoffs was down by 19 after three quarters, they lost. Knowing the math could lead to new, targeted therapies to fight infections.

But dueling bacteria would not be the infectors in that scenario; they'd be the remedy.

LHCb Finds Suppressed Lambda_B Decay

Feb 04 2017 | comment(s)

The so-called Lambda_b baryon is a well-studied particle nowadays, with several experiments having measured its main production properties and decay modes in the course of the past two decades. It is a particle made of quarks: three of them, like the proton and the neutron. Being electrically neutral, it is easily likened to the neutron, which has a quark composition "udd". In the space of quark configurations, the Lambda_b is in fact obtained by exchanging a down-type quark of the neutron with a bottom quark, getting the "udb" combination.

As Laundry Pod Popularity Increased, So Did Eye Injuries In Kids - But Don't Panic

Feb 03 2017 | comment(s)

Between 2012 and 2015, the number of chemical burns to the eye associated with laundry detergent pods increased more than 30-fold among preschool-aged children in the US, according to a new analysis, but don't fall prey to the scaremongering that will be done by CNN and PBS.

Detergent pods are dissolvable pouches containing enough laundry detergent for a single use - they lead to less waste because the amount used is precise. That's good for the environment. But harried parents are being given one more thing to be terrified about, and academics are blaming "candy-like appearance."

Google, Facebook, Who's Leading In Orwellian Dystopias Of The 21st Century?

Feb 03 2017 | comment(s)

Fictional metaphors matter, and in the battle to safeguard our civil liberties few metaphors matter more than George Orwell’s 1984. Although first published almost 70 years ago, the lasting salience of this most archetypal dystopia is undeniable.

Leukemia Treatment Adherence - Both Kids And Their Parents Over-report

Feb 02 2017 | comment(s)

Young patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia, the most common type of pediatric cancer, are likely to report that they adhered to their anti-cancer medication better than they really did.

And so do their parents.

Studies show that over 95 percent of prescribed doses must be taken to be effective but a new analysis instead finds that that 84 percent of patients or their parents over-reported adherence to a regimen of the oral maintenance therapy6-mercaptopurine (6MP), which is prescribed for two years after chemotherapy for patients to achieve durable remissions.

Triple Or Bust: Paradox Resolved

Feb 02 2017 | comment(s)

A few days ago I discussed the coin toss game ‘triple or bust‘. The game is between Alice and Bob. Alice start the game by writing a $ 1.00 IOU to Bob. Alice then makes at least six subsequent tosses with a fair coin. On each ‘heads’ Alice triples the IOU amount. On ‘tails’ she sets the IOU to zero.

The Amery Zig-Zags

Feb 02 2017 | comment(s)

The Amery Zig-Zags

Cracks in the Amery Ice Shelf show a prominent zig-zag form. This is a type of crack which forms in a laminated material which is deformed under pressure. As the laminate is forced into a curve it tends to crack in a series of radial and lateral failures.

The Amery Ice Shelf is the largest of the East Antarctic ice shelves. Its location is shown in the map below.

Antarctica ice shelves
image courtesy NSIDC.

Another Day, Another Séralini Study

Feb 02 2017 | comment(s)

In what seems like a scene from the movie Groundhog Day, another rat study has come out of the laboratory of Dr. Giles-Eric Séralini, only in this case it is Roundup and not GMOs that are under fire. When I read the title of the paper, “Multiomics reveal non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in rats following chronic exposure to an ultra-low dose of Roundup herbicide”,

The Genetics Of Human Height Revealed

Feb 01 2017 | comment(s)

A large-scale international study involving 700,000 participants has revealed 83 genetic variations controlling human height.

CRISPR Plus SCNT Leads To Tuberculosis-Resistant Cows In China

Feb 01 2017 | comment(s)

CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology, a way to generate very precise gene knock-out kits, has now been used to produce cows with resistance to bovine tuberculosis.

Bovine TB, caused by Mycobacterium bovis, can be transmitted from livestock to humans, primarily if raw milk is consumed (just one reason to embrace post-1860 science about food, namely pasteurization), and even other animals.

A Slow-Motion Particle Collision In Anomaly!

Feb 01 2017 | comment(s)

Lubos Motl published the other day in his crazily active blog a very nice new review of "Anomaly! Collider Physics and the Quest for New Phenomena at Fermilab". The review is authored by Tristan du Pree, a colleague of mine who has worked in CMS until very recently - now he moved to a new job and changed to ATLAS! (BTW thanks Lubos, and thanks Tristan!)
I liked a lot Tristan's commentary of my work, and since he mentions with quite appreciative terms the slow-motion description of a peculiar collision I offer in my book, I figured I'd paste that below.

I Would Appreciate Your Comment On A Recently Published Study....

Feb 01 2017 | comment(s)

The email was simple enough. It was a request from a member of the press asking “I would appreciate your reaction/comments to the recently published study on GMO corn for an article I am putting together on it. Deadline: Wednesday 4 January.”

Scorecard For President Trump's Science And Health Choices

Jan 31 2017 | comment(s)

After a successful Women's March to protest statements made by President Donald Trump about women in 2005, and other issues, a group of science advocates got the idea for a similar "Science March" to protest the President's restriction on use of social media by the Environmental Protection Agency. And ostensibly to support science.

A Primitive, Non-Photosynthesizing Microbe Still Had The Precursor Of Photosynthesis

Jan 31 2017 | comment(s)

A primitive, non-photosynthesizing microbe, Methanospirillum hungatei, which is thought to have existed since before the development of photosynthesis, possess genes similar to those that play a role in photosynthesis, finds a new study.

Photosynthesis, creating oxygen and carbohydrates such as glucose from solar energy, water, and CO2, is indispensable for many species on this planet. However, it is unclear exactly how or when organisms evolved the ability to photosynthesize. A team has discovered an evolutionary model for the biological function that creates CO2 from glucose in photosynthesis.

Alzheimer's Disease Linked To Glucose Deprivation In Mice

Jan 31 2017 | comment(s)

Though scant progress has been made in treating or understanding Alzheimer's disease in the last 100 years, one thing is known; there are declines in glucose levels in the hippocampus early on. What has remained unclear is whether that is a cause or consequence.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction - The Genetic Disease That Gets Little Funding Or Coverage

Jan 30 2017 | comment(s)

Mitochondrial dysfunction, which leads to rare genetic disorders in children, some forms of heart disease, and most likely some cases of Parkinson’s disease, is bewildering in the variety and complexity of problems it can cause.

Mitochondria are, after all, the energy factories contained inside most of our cells, they convert the diverse food we consume into a common energy type. No energy, no life.