The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory has detected the antimatter partner of the helium nucleus, antihelium-4. This new particle, also known as the anti-alpha, is the heaviest antinucleus ever detected, topping a discovery announced by the same collaboration just last year.  The new record will likely stand far longer, the scientists say, because the next weightier antimatter nucleus that does not undergo radioactive decay is predicted to be a million times more rare - and out of reach of today's technology.

Why should there not be ‘stuff’, or ‘real things’ instead of weird quantum mechanics at some microscopic scale? In other words, how can we accept that direct realism is wrong without getting too ‘difficult’.

Accepting that the world is in some sense in our minds is not aimed at encouraging ‘spirituality’ or whatever the euphemism for religious craziness is nowadays. I have none of that! Not even any switching on of consciousness once we add a little quantum magic to a zombie’s brain. There is indeed a deep connection* between consciousness and quantum physics, but for this article here, let’s forget about that connection.

The Oldest Arctic Ice


The oldest non-glacial ice in the northern hemisphere is a small remnant of the former Ellesmere Ice Shelf which began  forming about 5500 years ago.  That remnant is breaking up.  Where the ice shelf has vanished the fjords are free of perennial ice for the first time in 3000 to 5500 years.  It seems likely that very soon the oldest non-glacial ice will be a mere 5 years old, or less.

BERN, Switzerland, April 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CSL Behring announced today that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for Hizentra(R) (Human Normal Immunoglobulin), 20 percent solution for subcutaneous injection, for treating patients diagnosed with primary immunodeficiency (PI) as well as secondary immunodeficiencies. This authorization is valid for all 29 European/European Economic Area member states.

CSL Behring is a subsidiary of CSL Limited . Hizentra is currently marketed in the United States. It received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in March 2010.

LONDON, April 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Proposed changes to the immigration rules will not actually target sham colleges, instead the changes will shut down legitimate private education providers. This feeling is wide spread throughout the coalition Government and the Association of UK Private Schools and Colleges (AUKPSC). The colleges have invested a lot of time and money to gain accreditation and licensing and are now left with the prospect of losing everything.

BRUSSELS, April 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Every person's intestinal system falls into one of three clearly distinguishable types of gut microbiota, comparable to blood types. These types are not related to race, native country or diet, according to a new metagenomics study by an international consortium of scientists including Jeroen Raes, of the VIB and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, published in Nature. Metagenomics is the study of the genetic material of complete ecosystems, in this case the human gut.

    Methodological Stuff:

1. 1. Introduction
2. 2: Patterns
3. 3: Patterns, Objectivity and Truth
4. 4: Patterns and Processes

The Pattern Library:

Having examined PBS's Autism Now in an earlier posting and noting its overall negativity, I'd like to turn to a documentary on autism that I can recommend: Todd Drezner's Loving Lampposts.

The PBS series on autism, Autism Now, has aired all of its segments now. The extended transcripts of interviews are available online, as well.

You might think that those who are skeptical (or downright intransigent) on a CO2 basis for global warming are bigger wasters of energy or greater polluters than those who accept climate science.

Not so.   Skeptics are just as green.   Their reasons may simply be different.