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Skulls in the mail - a science mystery

Skulls in the mail - a science mystery

Nov 13 2010 | comment(s)

Two human skulls were mailed to Brigham Young University recently, to a department that doesn't exist ("BYU Historical Department") with a return address that doesn't exist, "Jim Crow, Route 3-126, Augusta, Mont."   

"Minority Report" web browsing - Google wants to pre-cog what pages you want next

Nov 12 2010 | comment(s)

Philip K. Dick wrote over a hundred short stories, none better than "The Minority Report", where police were able to anticipate crimes rather than arrest people after the fact - leading to arrests before the fact for crimes people hadn't committed yet and a 1950s science-fiction discourse on the nature of free will.

In "The Minority Report" three unaccountable mutants sit in a room mumbling gibberish until a computer sifts through it and makes projections about parallel futures created by actions; when two predictions agree it is a majority report.  When a police commissioner finds out he is going to be arrested for a future murder, he goes out to find the minority report where he commits no crime.
Like women in high heels? Thank science

Like women in high heels? Thank science

Nov 12 2010 | comment(s)

Lady Gaga's massive 10-inch tapered heels, like her gender, may be just for show - she certainly couldn't walk around in them all day.  Even three inch heels are tough.   And men look silly in them; trust me, I know.

Blake Snow stumbles into the physics of high heels, proving once again women are tougher than men.  

Once properly inspired by a man telling women about high heels, you can take the advanced course, like these high heels for high tide:


James Webb Space Telescope delivers more bad news

James Webb Space Telescope delivers more bad news

Nov 12 2010 | comment(s)

As I wrote in While Webb Bleeds, Space Science Hemorrhages, U.S. budget skepticism is going to persist as long as every big project is years behind schedule and far over budget.    The nation that put a man on the moon has since seen fiascoes like the Superconducting Supercollider and now the James Webb Space Telescope.   
Make lemons from lemonade and plastic from CO2

Make lemons from lemonade and plastic from CO2

Nov 11 2010 | comment(s)

Since oil is expensive, scientists are working on making plastic from human waste, algae and milk.

One company, Novomer, is getting topically relevant in the global warming arena and making it from carbon dioxide. They a petrochemical material, add carbon dioxide and a catalyst developed by Cornell University professor Geoffrey Coates to grow a polymer. Using this process, Novomer can control the length of the molecular chain for different types of materials.

Peter Shepard, Novomer's executive vice president of polymers, explained the whole thing to Discovery writer Alyssa Danigelis.
California as Lindsay Lohan

California as Lindsay Lohan

Nov 11 2010 | comment(s)

One is addicted to attention, delusions of grandeur and a belief that money exists in a magical pot that never ends - and the other is Lindsay Lohan.

Allysia Finley argues that California is suffering from spending addiction like starlet Lindsay Lohan - and also a fair amount of denial.   'Smoke free restaurants' do not actually make California the envy of the world any more than the remake of "The Parent Trap" makes Lohan enviable (though she was pretty good).  If you look at the decline in the California economy, it happened when the legislature started funding social activism and penalizing businesses that pay taxes - result; a whopping 12% unemployment rate though, since Lohan is 100% unemployed, California has her beat there.
The Physics of Global Warming

The Physics of Global Warming

Nov 11 2010 | comment(s)

The most valuable natural resources we have at our disposal during our brief lives are the Earth and the Sun. And if we want life on Earth to continue as we know it, we have to avoid destroying our own natural environment. The big questions are whether we're actually damaging it to the point of devastating destruction, and if so, what we need to do to fix it. 

One of the things we've measured reasonably well -- at, for instance, weather stations all across the world -- is the global average temperature since the late 19th century. Have a look.
Visit New York City's long-forgotten subway stop

Visit New York City's long-forgotten subway stop

Nov 10 2010 | comment(s)

City Hall station, which opened in 1904, has been out of use since 1945, but riders can still make the journey to this long-forgotten subway stop - if they know how.  

John-Paul Palescandolo was kind enough to take some pictures and tell curious folks how to visit.

city hall station track level
Global warming won't destroy Earth because only God will? Let's make a plan just in case

Global warming won't destroy Earth because only God will? Let's make a plan just in case

Nov 10 2010 | comment(s)

I'm not saying a belief that religion will prevent global warming should mean an immediate disqualification as chair of the House Energy Committee - but I am not saying it shouldn't either.

There are some areas of politics, well, most, where articles of faith work just fine - are there any atheist politicians in national office? - because politics is subjective.  We hope they have some basic ideas of economics and technology but on a national energy committee, belief in higher order solutions is not credible.
Like Civilization? Thank Beer

Like Civilization? Thank Beer

Nov 10 2010 | comment(s)

May beer have helped lead to the rise of civilization? It's a possibility, some archaeologists say.

Their argument is that Stone Age farmers were domesticating cereals not so much to fill their stomachs but to lighten their heads, by turning the grains into beer. That has been their take for more than 50 years, and now one archaeologist says the evidence is getting stronger.
5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident

5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident

Nov 10 2010 | comment(s)

We spent the Cold War in perpetual fear that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. would start an intentional nuclear conflict. The truth is, we came far closer to blowing ourselves up with nuclear weapons than we ever came to WWIII.
'Mystery missile' launch in California looks like a jet contrail to most of us

'Mystery missile' launch in California looks like a jet contrail to most of us

Nov 10 2010 | comment(s)

If you paid attention to video that appears to show a missile launch off the coast of California, you can imagine what conspiratorial types are making of the military's silence.   
 
The silence is because from plenty of angles it looks like an airplane contrail.  


Out of the gamma ray fog - giant, previously unseen structure found in our galaxy

Out of the gamma ray fog - giant, previously unseen structure found in our galaxy

Nov 09 2010 | comment(s)

In a finding likened in terms of scale to the discovery of a new continent on Earth, astronomers have stumbled on a previously unseen structure here in the Milky Way - 50,000 light years in size.

At more than 100 degrees across, the structure spans more than half of the sky, from the constellation Virgo to the constellation Grus and may be millions of years old.  No one had noticed before because of the so-called diffuse emission -- a fog of gamma rays that appears all over the sky. The emissions are caused by particles moving near the speed of light interacting with light and interstellar gas in the Milky Way.
Ultrawellness guru joins

Ultrawellness guru joins "wretched hive of scum and quackery (WHSQ), The Huffington Post"

Nov 09 2010 | comment(s)

Sometimes I read sentences like "It occurs to me that I ought to thank Mark Hyman, "pioneer of functional medicine," and creator of "Ultrawellness," particularly since he started blogging for that wretched hive of scum and quackery (WHSQ), The Huffington Post" on Scienceblogs.com and think, 'gosh, it must be fun to never about science on a science site and get away with it' but then I realize we would lose most of our audience; no one can outdo Scienceblogs for progressive politics, atheism and culture wars and people who like that stuff are already reading them so I guess we'll
Recovery Accountability and Transparency meeting not open to the public

Recovery Accountability and Transparency meeting not open to the public

Nov 09 2010 | comment(s)

Vice-President Joe Biden is having a meeting with a government transparency official today but the meeting is closed.    I hope Joe Biden does not hate irony.

The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board is run by Earl Devaney and its purpose is to monitor the use of taxpayer stimulus money and ensure that the taxpayers know all about where it is being used and...oh, forget it, if you don't get why it's funny that the meeting is closed by now, you never will.
In a bad economy, green technology loses its luster

In a bad economy, green technology loses its luster

Nov 09 2010 | comment(s)

When times are good, green technologies can make projections stating that they will develop a prototype and the miracle of capitalism will make it popular and cheap and people will basically turn a blind eye to the suspect math but when things are tough, there needs to be an actual business plan.
Kinect already hacked?

Kinect already hacked?

Nov 09 2010 | comment(s)

A hacker says he can control Microsoft's Kinect, the just-released motion-tracking game device for the Xbox 360, with a Windows PC. 

The feat, by a member of the Natural User Interface Group, comes just days after Adafruit Industries offered a $2,000 reward to the first person who published open-source drivers for the Kinect.  Microsoft can't be too thrilled, since they spent years working on making it secure - and if it happened so soon after a paltry reward it may mean an Xbox 360 isn't needed to use it at all.
10 hilarious inappropriately placed Google ads

10 hilarious inappropriately placed Google ads

Nov 09 2010 | comment(s)

Sure, Google is a multi-billion company that got there selling ads - and its contextual engine is smart but at heart it's still based on keywords and content.  So when it goofs, it goofs to funny effect:

Here's one and then the link below is to the full 10.

10 Inappropriately Placed Google Ads

All 10
Nutrition Professor proves calories count most in weight loss, not the nutritional value of the food

Nutrition Professor proves calories count most in weight loss, not the nutritional value of the food

Nov 08 2010 | comment(s)

It may not be healthy, but Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, was making a point; namely, that when it comes to weight loss, despite what people selling things want you to believe, all that matter is calories.   Eat fewer than you burn and you are guaranteed to lose weight.

So to prove it he ate a diet of Twinkies, powdered donuts, Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos every 3 hours - and no regular meals at all.  After 10 weeks he had lost 27 lbs.

"Fate of the World" - a climate change advocacy computer game

Nov 08 2010 | comment(s)

Wish that, like fantasy baseball players or civilization builders, you could have your own planet to kill with greenhouse gases?  Good news!  "Fate of the World" lets you run a UN environmental group tasked with saving the world by cutting carbon emissions or - and you know most people will do this - seeing what soaring temperatures do.

The people really excited about this "issue-led gaming" concept are the same people who think a game about cleaning up pollution would lead to less pollution and comic books about religion make kids want to go to church.   Basically they think people are pretty dumb and will only understand climate change if it's a game.    But let's face it, BP executives are not buying this game and getting rehabilitated, the already convinced are.