The search for actively 'jumping' genes in humans has found new evidence that the genome contains numerous pesky mobile elements that may help to explain why people have such a variety of physical traits and disease risks. 

Using bioinformatics, the study in Genome Research set out to compare the standard assembly of genetic elements as outlined in the reference human genome to raw whole-genome data from 310 individuals recently made available by the 1000 Genomes Project, the team found 1,016 new insertions of retrotransposon insertion polymorphisms (RIPs), expanding the catalog of insertions that are present in some individuals and absent in others. 

Mice have a healthy concept of fear and so they fear the scent of a predator.   While it seems obvious that brains quickly figure out with a sniff that a predator, like a cat, is nearby, the mechanism is not well understood.

In a Nature study, researchers describe a new technique that makes it possible to map long-distance nerve connections in the brain. The scientists used the technique to map for the first time the path that the scent signals take from the olfactory bulb, the part of the brain that first receives signals from odor receptors in the nose, to higher centers of the mouse brain where the processing is done. 

Facebook has always been plagued with privacy issues, such as revealing to third parties personal information which may be used to sell you goods and services.  While to some, this may seem like an invasion, I like it when people try to sell me things, and I have no problem saying no.  However, there is a far more insidious algorithm embedded in facebook.  By a few refreshes and a few clicks, you can easily see who has most recently been looking at your facebook profile, down to a timeframe of 36 hours, as well as who your overall top stalkers are.  Of course, they may not be exactly stalking you, but they are watching you. 

A Proposal for the District Community Jury Style Bank:

 

Executive Summary:

A Jury Style Bank would be a wholly innovative form of banking and community development which can expand the formal banking system while also increasing the community’s financial literacy and human capital.  Furthermore, economic development funds are recycled, and actual funds injected into the community would far exceed the seed money.  Establishing such an institution in Chinatown would result in a vast inflow of capital from China if the institution is also structured in a way to help facilitate EB-5 visas for High Net Worth foreign investors.

How much actual on-task work do you do on a typically work day? The myth is everyone produces 8 hours of useful, targetted work in an 8.5 hour work day (with unpaid lunch). Staying in the office extra hours, likewise, produces more useful work. I suggest you should measure this for yourself. Here's how to find out-- but you may want to hold off telling your boss quite yet.

As a freelancer, I have no salary or set work hours. I bill only for time spent on task. I use an electronic timer-- a stopwatch, really-- to track my time. Starting on a task? Timer on. Pause to check personal email or Facebook? Timer off. Back to task? Timer on.

Talking about relativity one should not forget Galileo's great contributions to - or perhaps in fact foundations of - physics. But more fun are Galileos researches on falling bodies and motion of projectiles, all mainly carried out by either real or Gedanken-experiments, the historians are not quite sure there.

But these Galileo experiments have been realized later and are both on YouTube and in Italian museums. 

Here is a schematic picture, the rolling ball will produce regular bell sounds.

In case you don't know it, the Navy is not the 1970s "Village People" branch of the military.  These guys do some cool stuff and are making even cooler toys to do it with.

Want to find future tech for megawatt-class laser beams in next-generation weapon systems?  The Navy.   Want to go completely science fiction and find work on a railgun with a projectile that rides an electromagnetic current to its target?  The Navy.

Humans have about 23,000 genes and we are at the top of the food chain but the animal with the most genes is the near-microscopic freshwater crustacean Daphnia pulex, or water flea, clocking in around 31,000.

Daphnia is the first crustacean to have its genome sequenced.   The findings are part of a comprehensive report by members of the Daphnia Genomics Consortium, an international network of scientists led by the Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics (CGB) at Indiana University Bloomington and the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute.

Coffee can be quite good for you, as any number of studies have shown.   But you still have to take some personal responsibility for moderation because companies like Starbuck's are not going to do it for you.    They're not in the personal responsibility business, they are in the drink business, so when they roll out a new size - the "Trenta" - this spring, all 31 ounces of it, they want you to buy it in any form you want.

There are exceptions, of course - some athletes will never be ethical no matter how much coaching they receive and not all coaches are ethical, but overall coaching helps athletes become more than better athletes.   

New survey data from Concordia University says coaches exert moral influence over athletes and how athletes respond.