The observations of faster than light neutrinos have stirred up much debate, but the most important is not pointed out. Seen in a wider context, the affair sheds yet again light on the rapid decay of the academic science machinery, a social construct where the quest for truth has given way to career gaming as well as plain political and monetary interests.

 

A meta-analysis has provided support to the previously suggested idea that a certain gene's variation is linked to suicidal behavior. The gene in question is the one that codes for BDNF (or brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a protein that performs the role of growth factor in nervous system development. After comparing 11 studies and adding data they had gathered themselves (resulting in a total of 3352 people, of whom 1202 had a history of suicidal behavior), the authors were able to confirm that people with the methionine (see figure 1) variation of the gene ran a higher risk of exhibiting suicidal behavior than those with the valine (see figure 1) variation.

   

8,000 years ago, which is basically yesterday in geological time, a now-vanished glacial lake covered a huge expanse of today's Canadian prairie and the rich farmland in the Red River Valley. As big as Hudson Bay, the lake was fed by melting glaciers as they receded at the end of the last ice age. At its largest, Glacial Lake Agassiz, as it is known, covered most of the Canadian province of Manitoba, plus a good part of western Ontario and the Minnesota-North Dakota border.

You can thank the stretching of continents and the oceans that filled those newly created basins for the Earth we know today.  Rifting is one of the fundamental geological forces that have shaped our planet. But rifting involves areas deep below the Earth's surface so scientists have been unable to understand fully how it occurs.

Using one of the most sensitive neutrino detectors on the planet, the Borexino instrument, an international team are measuring the flow of solar neutrinos reaching Earth more precisely than ever before. 

Canola, a specific edible type of rapeseed developed in the 1970s, contains about 40 percent oil and became popular as a substitute for traditional cooking oils. The name is derived as “Can” (for Canada) and “ola” (for oil low acid) and Canola oil is the lowest in saturated fats of all commonly used oils.  While much is imported, North Dakota leads the U.S. in canola, approximately 92 percent of domestic production.
 

The Draconids (also called Giacobinids) are a meteor shower associated to comet Giacobini-Zinner (see below for a 100-year-old picture of the comet). While most years this shower passes unnoticed to all but few professionals and experts amateurs, yielding only very few meteors in the nights between October 6th and 10th, every once in a while the Draconids do put up a real show, producing hundreds, or even thousands of meteor streaks per hour in clear skies.

Today's post in honor of the 2011 Cephalopod Awareness Days. October 8th is Octopus Day.

There are some weird octopuses out there, I'll grant you. The tiny-but-deadly blue-ringed octopus. The Dumbo octopus with its "ear flaps"--actually fins. But I propose that Haliphron atlanticus, the seven-arm octopus, outdoes them all.

Color version (from TONMO) of Figure 1 from O'Shea 2004.

This weekend is the first episode in a three-part "Brain Games" series on the National Geographic channel.  Since National Geographic does not have a show on the 'science' of ghost hunting, and since statistics show 97% of Internet readers never finish an article, if you are not a regular Science 2.0 reader I am okay endorsing this and telling you in the first paragraph you will enjoy it, so you can set your DVR and move on to reading about the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor.   

A new review has found evidence that a specific gene is linked to suicidal behavior, which may be one of the many complex causes of suicide. 

In the past, studies have implicated the gene for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in suicidal behavior. BDNF is involved in the development of the nervous system. After pooling results from 11 previous studies and adding their own study data involving people with schizophrenia, scientists writing in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology  found that among people with a psychiatric diagnosis, those with the methionine ("met") variation of the gene had a higher risk of suicidal behavior compared to those with the valine variation.