As much as our 'Project Calliope' satellite is a science project, it's also a music experiment.  We are, after all, flying scientific instruments on a picosatellite specifically to make music.  So it's worth pointing out another group that is doing neat things with music invention, in this report on Berlin Hackday

Their tag line is "take a weekend, and make something".  Quoth the article:

Over at Bioephemera, Jessica Palmer agree with Language Log’s Mark Liberman in his admonition against the use of “generic plurals” in science reporting.

I'm starting to suspect that my study organism, Dosidicus gigas, is a bit of a diva.

It seems like every other day there's a news story on Humboldt squid, jumbo squid, or (my favorite!) giant squid. (D. gigas is still not a giant squid.) I haven't been covering all of these articles here because, well . . . I didn't want to be a diva by association.

But this article is the most thorough I've seen yet, including all the interviews and topics that have been covered piecemeal in earlier articles, so it seemed like a good time to jump in and clarify a few items.

Individuals use a variety of cues to identify their own kin and humans can also detect resemblances in families other than their own, in defiance of 'you all look alike to us' jokes.   A new study says that our success in doing so is the same even if those families are not the same race as ourselves. 

If you find it ironic that members of Congress take private jets to meetings on global warming or debate raising taxes to pay for government health care they get for free, a RAND study may warm your Republican heart.  Except it means saying Europe did something right, which could make it run cold again.

The new study says that wealthier countries use more than a third of their energy to heat, cool and illuminate buildings - but not always efficiently. Recent steps taken by the European Union (and some states in Australia) to inspect, rate and publicly disclose the energy efficiency of buildings indicate buildings that use less energy are worth more when sold or leased.

A new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg says middle-aged women who have large abdominal fat cells are at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to women with smaller fat cells. Waist circumference divided by body height can also be used to determine which women are at risk.

The study is based on the extensive population study of women in "Gothenburg Kvinnoundersökningen i Göteborg". 

If you're concerned that too much politically-motivated action regarding the environment will end up costing a lot of money and accomplish little, you're not without rationale.  History has shown that government involvement rarely helps and is always expensive.

But merging more than a decade of atmospheric data from European satellites, scientists have compiled a homogeneous long-term ozone record that allows them to monitor total ozone trends on a global scale – and it shows an ozone recovery.  So there is at least one example where industry complained, government regulations were put into place and the environment actually improved.

Allergies are on the rise and there are a number of theories why.  Some speculate that it's due to more parents getting kids tested for allergies; allergists will find allergies thta 40 years ago would have been dismissed as inconveniences.   Other speculation is that over-hyped concern about sterility regarding babies has weakened their immune system.

A study conducted in 2008 by the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg says diet may be the culprit.  

In Västra Götaland County in western Sweden, half of all teenagers are considered affected by asthma, nasal symptoms and eczema, almost 10 percentage points higher than when a similar study was conducted in 2000.

Who is least affected?  Those who eat more fish and butter.

Microbloggers are having trouble being interesting, a new study says.    So they write more often, just to have something to say.  The top 5 most frequent postings on microblogging sites like Twitter, Jaiku and Mobile Facebook are “working,” “home,” “work,” “lunch,” and “sleeping”.  Hardly the stuff that would seem enchanting to most - and it isn't.   Most newcomers drop out soon after registering.

Some scientists believe that Mars is red due to rocks being rusted by water that once flooded the planet.

That is not the case, say recent laboratory studies which show that red dust may be formed by ongoing grinding of surface rocks and liquid water need not have played any significant role in the formation process.  The data were presented at the European Planetary Science Congress by Dr Jonathan Merrison.