Many politicians see government welfare as the best way to address the problem of poverty in society. President Barack Obama, for example, recently promised to halve poverty within ten years, and his Republican opponent, John McCain, similarly vowed to make poverty eradication a top priority of his Administration.
Others, however, say that even in the current economic situation, in developed countries, this kind of rhetoric about cutting "poverty" is misleadingly outmoded—because it implicitly suggests that government income transfers are the best vehicle for achieving substantial reductions in poverty.
Virtually limitless sources of energy are everywhere. One such potential source is energy from ocean waves that could be used to generate electric power. Yet as engineers test new technologies for capturing it, the devices are plagued by battering storms, limited efficiency, and the need to be tethered to the seafloor.
Currently, a team of aerospace engineers is attempting to address these setbacks by applying the principles that keep airplanes aloft to create a new wave-energy system that is durable, extremely efficient, and can be placed anywhere in the ocean, regardless of depth.
Following up their 2000 discovery of an ancient reptile commonly referred to as SuperCroc, paleontologists from the University of Chicago and McGill University today unveiled key fossils of five previously unknown or poorly understood crocodile species. Most of them walked "upright" with their arms and legs under the body like land mammals, with their bellies touching the ground. The discoveries are reported in the latest issue of ZooKeys.
The five new species, dubbed BoarCroc, RatCroc, DuckCroc, DogCroc and PancakeCroc by University of Chicago Paleontologist Paul Sereno, lived roughly 100 million years ago and ultimately survived the dinosaurs.
Considering the people and things most often googled these days, it maybe surprising to learn that search engines play a much bigger role in our lives than just helping us find pictures of Megan Fox and mildly entertaining videos of would-be wrestlers in their backyards. Specifically, search engines are becoming a major part of how we learn, according to research published in the November issue of Information Processing and Management.
A new study of Antarctica's past climate reveals that temperatures during the warm periods between ice ages (interglacials) may have been higher than previously thought. The latest analysis of ice core records suggests that Antarctic temperatures may have been up to 6°C warmer than the present day. The study also found that during the last warm period, about 125,000 years ago, the sea level was around 5 metres higher than today.
The findings, reported this week by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the Open University and University of Bristol in the journal Nature could help us understand more about rapid Antarctic climate changes.
I recently discussed
here the Tevatron results of searches for new Z bosons in electron-positron or dimuon samples collected by CDF and DZERO, pointing out that there seem to be a couple of intriguing upward fluctuations in the data. One of the dielectron fluctuations sits at a mass of 240 GeV, the other, also in the dielectron spectrum, is at about 720 GeV. Neither is compelling.
Some
discussion over the identity of Nemo's little octopus friend Pearl has led me into a deep investigation of
Grimpoteuthis (dumbo octopuses) and
Opisthoteuthis (flapjack octopuses). Both are shortened on the antero-posteral axis (which, yes, takes some head-scratching to figure out--octopuses are even more difficult than squid when it comes to
axes of symmetry) but this shortening is carried to the greatest extreme in flapjacks. Hence the name. From the Tree of Life web project:
Bacteria are abundant in soil, water, and air as well as in the depths of the Earth's crust, organic matter, and live animals or plants. They are also abundantly social -- among themselves and with others. Not only do they interact with each other but also with their host. Bacillus subtilis and Streptomyces coelicolor are two examples from daily life. The former would be involved with the ropiness of spoiled bread. But the well-known Streptomyces produce the soil's earthy aroma and flavor and the majority of today's antibiotics.
During the past few days, news media has inundated the U.S. public with word that for the first time in 20 years, a government task force has changed course in its recommendations for breast cancer screening.
On the surface, that doesn't seem like an earth-shattering story. Guidelines are routinely revised and updated based on available evidence. But the new recommendations go against entrenched medical practice and advice, and the firestorm the change caused shows no signs of flickering out, and is pitting two government groups against each other.
I'm a reasonable man, but there's a laxness in cyberspace I just can't abide with. And I'm talking to you,
space.com. I'll say it straight, you may know science but you ain't giving your readers any links to the real stuff. You just echo-chamber yourself-- all your dang blag links link back to you! If you ain't gonna share your references, you ain't doing science, just flappin' yer gums. Buck up and cite like a man, ya here?
Let's look at us down home at
ScientificBlogging. We got us an article on NASA's report of
'water on the Moon'. It's a purty piece, maybe a bit talky, but it's got itself some solid references. Let's list 'em:
