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After Successfully Killing Hostess, Let's Kill The Remaining Food Companies

Nov 21 2012 | 1 comment(s)

We have a cultural problem brewing. Business is evil, when you are selling something to voters, but class warfare may have worked too well and so a week after Hostess decided to give up and sell its brands to someone who could make them without having to deal with union labor, and just before airport workers and Wal-Mart workers go on strike to piss off the public who just got done voting for the same candidate unions donated all of their money to, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has introduced a bill to remove federal tax deductions for marketing if that marketing includes 'junk food' aimed at children.

Asymmetry In Time:

Nov 20 2012 | 0 comment(s)

New BaBar results are a strong verification of the predictions of the Standard Model of particles, demonstrating that—at least for some elementary particle processes—the direction of time matters.

Unlike our daily experience, the world of elementary particle physics is mostly symmetrical in time. Run the clock backward on your day and it won't work; run the clock backward on a process in particle physics and things are just fine. However, to preserve certain fundamental aspects of space-time the Standard Model predicts that certain reversible events nevertheless have different probabilities, depending on which way they go.

South West Monsoon Plays A Role in Fighting Piracy

Nov 17 2012 | 0 comment(s)

Most media are attributing the 2012 decline of Somalian piracy to coordinated naval task forces. But the Economist discusses several factors, including severe storms in the Arabian Sea that have made it difficult for pirates' skiffs to sneak up on their victims.

Eat Meat? You Are A Liar And A Sex Criminal, Says New Textbook

Nov 17 2012 | 1 comment(s)

If you eat meat you "easily cheat, lie, forget promises and commit sex crimes", according to a controversial school textbook called New Healthway, which is on hygiene and health for 11 and 12 year-olds and is printed by one of India's leading publishers.

"The strongest argument that meat is not essential food is the fact that the Creator of this Universe did not include meat in the original diet for Adam and Eve. He gave them fruits, nuts and vegetables," reads a chapter entitled Do We Need Flesh Food?

Worrying About 'Frankenfoods' Is Scientifically Precipitous

Nov 16 2012 | 0 comment(s)

To suggest genetically modified ingredients pose a threat to consumers is scientifically precipitous. Most studies that draw this conclusion are either methodologically unsound or contain flawed data sets. Thus far, science has demonstrated that products containing GMOs are perfectly safe for human consumption. Since they have only been on the market since 1994, however, more research is obviously warranted.

How to Preserve the Yellows In a Van Gogh

Nov 15 2012 | 0 comment(s)

There are different crystal forms of chrome yellow pigments (PbCrO₄, PbCr_1-xS_xO₄) in Vincent van Gogh paintings.

The Secret To Science (And Life) - Be Wrong

Nov 14 2012 | 0 comment(s)

What's worse than being on a grant treadmill always picking a safe subject with a conservative hypothesis designed only to advance to the next round of funding?

Nothing I can imagine. Most scientists probably feel the same way, though everyone knows someone in research who gets by just as I described.

Man In Vegetative State Communicates With Doctors Via MRI Communication

Nov 13 2012 | 0 comment(s)

What would you say if you had been in a vegetative state for 12 years?

39-year-old Scott Routley has been able to communicate to doctors that he is not in any pain, marking the first time an uncommunicative, severely brain-damaged patient has been able to give direct answers regarding their care and treatment.

The communication was done with doctors who are monitoring his brain activity through Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans.

Autoscopic Doubles - If You See Yourself In A Hallucination, Stay Calm

Nov 12 2012 | 0 comment(s)

What a strange condition to be visited by your perfect double, your doppelganger. Dr. Oliver Sacks, in his new book on hallucinations, calls these episodes "autoscopic doubles," and he cites a number of cases from medical history.

Luckily, autoscopic doubles obey certain rules. "The autoscopic double is literally a mirror image of oneself, with right transposed to left and vice versa, mirroring one's positions and actions," says Sacks.

The Tau Of Alzheimer's

Nov 12 2012 | 2 comment(s)

The American public loves underdogs, the outlier or even outcast who defies convention and is proven right.

Dr. Claude Wischik may be just that. He believes that a protein called tau, which forms twisted fibers known as tangles inside the brain cells of Alzheimer's patients, is largely responsible for driving the disease.

Traditional Selection and Partial Genetic Map Used to Develop Disease-Resistant Farm Fish

Nov 11 2012 | 0 comment(s)

The Tokyo University of Marine Science has developed the equivalent of a HapMap for fish, in other words a partial DNA map that focuses on differences within a species. Combining this information with selective breeding, they have already developed flounders resistant to viral lymphocistosis. This approach will continue to be useful because crowded individuals in fish farms can succumb to an array of diseases.

"Up" In Real Life: Jonathan Trappe Wants To Take Helium Balloons Across The Atlantic

Nov 09 2012 | 2 comment(s)

If you haven't seen the movie "Up", you should. It's a cartoon but it tells a more authentic love story in a three-minute montage than every Katherine Heigl movie combined.

And it has inspired a 2,500 mile trip for Jonathan Trappe. The only thing keeping him up? 365 helium balloons.

Balloonists have wanted to cross the Atlantic for decades but there is a 'demon in the air' and five have died while no one succeeded. Trappe got attention flying across the English Channel so he is crowd-sourcing the funding for this new, much more expensive endeavor. He also expects to set an altitude record in the process - 25,000 feet up.

2,400-Year-Old Thracian golden jewelry unearthed in Bulgaria

Nov 08 2012 | 2 comment(s)

Archaeologists have unearthed an almost 2,400-year-old treasure in an ancient Thracian tomb in northern Bulgaria. The Thracians lived in Bulgaria and parts of modern Greece, Romania, Macedonia, and Turkey from 4,000 B.C. until they were wiped out and assimilated by invading Slavs in the 7th century AD.

The treasure was found near the village of Sveshtari, 250 miles northeast of Sofia, team leader Diana Gergova said. Among the artifacts, dating back to the end of the fourth or the beginning of the third century B.C., were gold jewelry and applications for horse trappings, a tiara with reliefs of lions and fantasy animals, as well as four bracelets and a ring.

Proposed Shutdown of the Experimental Lakes Research Facility

Nov 08 2012 | 0 comment(s)

It's not often that an entertainer defends science, but here's CBC's Rick Mercer and his recent, funny rant against the government's proposed shutdown of the Experimental Lakes Research Facility in Ontario, Canada.

Sylvia Kristel : IQ of 167!

Nov 06 2012 | 2 comment(s)

If the Economist's obituary of Sylvia Kristel, star of Emmanuelle, is accurate: that she was moderate, responsible, moral and had an IQ of 167, how could we not have cloned her? :)

Even The Bones Of Richard III Divide England

Nov 04 2012 | 0 comment(s)

What exactly should they do when a despised English monarch is found under a provincial car park?

He wasn't buried under a car park, of course. He was buried in a monastery, which was disbanded by King Henry VIII when he created the Anglican Church so he could get a divorce. Richard's story came at the end of the War of the Roses, he was the last Plantagenet king, so the people of York think he should be buried there. A minority contends he should be moved to London to be with his wife but Leicester is saying they should keep him where he has been for more than 500 years. Reburying him as a Catholic is far less controversial today than the potential tourism money.

Science Girl Calendar to Protest Youtube Video

Nov 04 2012 | 3 comment(s)

In response to the controversial Youtube video Science: It's a Girl Thing ! , the Science Grrl web site, associated with the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, is launching a calendar portraying real women doing science.

As they point out, the cheesy video was supposed to promote a good web site by the European Commission on Research and Innovation, which has now put up this much better video about a female solid state physicist who talks about what first inspired her as a 12 year old and how she now balances work with family life.

Human Guinea Pigs Among India's Poorest

Nov 01 2012 | 5 comment(s)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20136654
There's no evidence that the drug trials from pharmaceutical companies caused the deaths, but there were no autopsies carried out in many, if not all cases! Finally, lawmakers are beginning to investigate.

Science Cartoons

Oct 31 2012 | 0 comment(s)

Here's a site with plenty of Sidney Harris' chemistry cartoons:

Canada Recalls Organic Spices Due To Salmonella Contamination

Oct 30 2012 | 0 comment(s)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued a warning that the public should not consume the Clef Des Champs brand organic products described below because these products may be contaminated with Salmonella bacteria (no one hospitalized yet, thankfully).

Organic Ginger Ground root
Organic Curry Spices Culinary Mix (3 sizes)
Organic Spice Cake Culinary mix
Organic Ginger

The manufacturer, Herboristerie La Clef Des Champs Inc., Val-David, Quebec is voluntarily recalling the affected products. More info on Salmonella, if you need it.