by Amanda Siekierski (student)

I once read that "age doesn't matter, unless you're a cheese." This somewhat comical phrase is referring to the process of cheese production where various milks, depending on the type of cheese, are coagulated to concentrate specific proteins and fats that makeup the final dairy food product. Specifically it is saying that, like many wines, most cheeses improve in terms of flavor enhancement the longer they age.

Some Notes On Data Smoothing


The topic of data filtering can be pretty obscure for the general public.  Taking raw data and smoothing out the lumps can seem like deliberate falsification.  It isn't.


In the early days of space exploration it was only possible to produce images of fairly low resolution.  Special techniques were used to enhance the images.

In the first image, below, I have colorised a block of 9 pixels to demonstrate a simple set of image enhancement techniques.  Each pixel in an image is compared to its immediate neighbors and an operation is performed to filter the picture.  It could hardly be simpler.

This is to inform you of the new luminosity record set today by the Tevatron collider at Fermilab. The machine has been working excellently, improving its performance as the machinists found ways to obtain higher stacks of antiprotons, reducing inefficiencies in the transport of the beams from one accelerator to the other in the injection process, or finding better beam tunes. A painstaking work that brought increasing returns, it seems.

Well Done, My Old China


In London, U.K. 'my old china' is a friendly term for 'friend'.  It originated in the rhyming slang expression: 'china plate', rhyming with 'mate'.

Edit: a reader has spotted an error.  The reference should be to an interview, not a visit.

In a recent visit to Australia interview on Australian TV, US President Barack Obama on Thursday said China can't be allowed to wait until its standard of living improves before tackling climate change.

"It is in our interests, both of our countries interests for China to be successful, for China to be prosperous, because that means they're more likely to be stable," he said.

In Writing As Superpower we discussed that writing is really for the eye, at the expense of the hands, despite the fact that our brains may have evolved to comprehend speech.  We still prefer to 'listen' with our eyes, despite our eyes not having been designed for this.

The way we write is for the hand but the shapes of our symbols are for the eye.  And that is due to culture.

Blythe Corbett’s insights may be unique among researchers developing new interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders – at the M.I.N.D. Institute or elsewhere. Corbett’s Social Emotional NeuroScience Endocrinology (SENSE) lab focuses chiefly on analysis of the behavioral and biological effects of the stress hormone cortisol on children with autism. But her work is informed by the eclectic professional experience of someone with a background in autism diagnosis, brain analysis, behavioral intervention – and acting.

Arctic Tipping Points - #1: Background And Recent History

It is Spring, and with each passing day a greater area of Arctic sea ice has 24 hours of - albeit weak - sunshine every day. It is not surprising to see ice melting in these Lands Of The Midnight Sun.  What is surprising to many is the current extent of ice, and rate of loss, compared with past records.

"Every school boy learns that at the two ends of the earth the year is composed of one day and one night of equal length, and the intervening periods of twilight; but the mere recital of that fact makes no real impression on his consciousness. "

The eruption of the Icelandic Eyjafjallajokull volcano that sent a huge plume of ash into the atmosphere is unlikely to have a global impact and will probably dissipate in the next several days, according to a University of Colorado, Boulder atmospheric scientist.

Professor Brian Toon, chair of CU-Boulder's atmospheric and oceanic sciences department, compared the Icelandic eruption to the popping of a champagne bottle cork. When the pressure is released by breaching the rock "cork," gases bubble out, spewing tiny rock particles into the air like champagne droplets. Such rocks threaten the safety of airliners.

The next generation of doctors and other health professionals does not like fat people. In fact, they like fat people even less than the rest of the population, according to a study published in Obesity.

Scientists at the Universities of Manchester and Hawaii and Yale University suggests that medical and allied health professions need to present a balanced view of the causes of, and treatment for, obesity when training young professionals in order to reduce the strong prejudice towards obese people. Emphasizing the "uncontrollable" causes of weight gain, such as exposure to junk food advertising, would be one way to reduce the prejudice among health professionals.

A new British Medical Journal editorial claims that banning trans fats would protect the public and save lives by preventing thousands of heart attacks and deaths every year.

The policy recommendation follows calls by public health specialists to eliminate the consumption of industrially-produced trans fats in the UK by next year. Action by the UK might also produce larger benefits by inspiring other developed and developing countries to take similar measures to protect their citizens' health, the authors conclude.

Trans fats (trans fatty acids) are solid fats found in margarine, biscuits, cakes, and fast food. Many studies demonstrate harmful effects of trans fats on cardiovascular risk factors.