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A Concert In Crete

A Concert In Crete

Sep 09 2019 | comment(s)

On August 20, in occasion of the "5th International Workshop on Nucleon Structure at Large Bjorken x", organized at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, I had the pleasure to accompany at the piano my wife, the soprano Kalliopi Petrou, for a concert offered to the participants to the workshop by the organizers.
Sulfur, Sodium - A Mysterious Salt Combination Preserved The Dead Sea Scrolls For Millennia

Sulfur, Sodium - A Mysterious Salt Combination Preserved The Dead Sea Scrolls For Millennia

Sep 07 2019 | comment(s)

First discovered in 1947 by Bedouin shepherds looking for a lost sheep, the ancient Hebrew texts now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls are some of the most well-preserved ancient written materials ever found.

And among the roughly 900 full or partial scrolls found in the years since that first discovery, the best preserved is the Temple Scroll, at almost 25 feet also among the longest. It is the best-preserved even though its material is the thinnest of all of them (one-tenth of a millimeter, or roughly 1/250th of an inch thick). It also has the clearest, whitest writing surface of all the scrolls. 

'I See Nothing But Fields For My Horses' - The Mystery Of A Mongol Massacre In 1238

'I See Nothing But Fields For My Horses' - The Mystery Of A Mongol Massacre In 1238

Sep 07 2019 | comment(s)

In 1227, Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire, died, leaving 129,000 soldiers to carry on his war of conquest. But they didn't do it in one unit, his sons and brothers were all given troops. One of the deceased sons, Jochi, had a son named Batu, and after all of his uncles died as well, Batu, founder of the Golden Horde in the western part of the empire, became the most feared Mongol of his generation.
Attention Athletes: Get Ready For Performance-Enhancing Bacteria Probiotic Microbiome Omics Hype

Attention Athletes: Get Ready For Performance-Enhancing Bacteria Probiotic Microbiome Omics Hype

Sep 06 2019 | comment(s)

String Theory, stem cells, epigenetics, antioxidants, they've all been important basic research that got exaggerated beyond recognition, which got media attention, which got people rushing into the fields and led to even more papers making increasingly cosmic claims until the public stopped believing any of the hype, which is where they should have been all along.

Make way for the microbiome. What was once a goofy yogurt claim - as if your trillions of bacteria were going to be impacted by a half cup of overpriced dairy goop - became mainstream supplement gold.
Precision Electronic Medicine And The Future Of Mind Control

Precision Electronic Medicine And The Future Of Mind Control

Sep 05 2019 | comment(s)

Implanted brain electrodes can help alleviate symptoms of tremors like with Parkinson's disease but current probes face limitations due to their size and inflexibility.

Neurotechnology may be on the verge of a major renaissance and mesh electronics could lead to a way to design personalized electronic treatment for just about anything related to the brain.
Though Deaths Remain Infrequent, There Are Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Pregnancy-Related Mortality

Though Deaths Remain Infrequent, There Are Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Pregnancy-Related Mortality

Sep 05 2019 | comment(s)

Emily E. Petersen, MD; Nicole L. Davis, PhD; David Goodman, PhD; et al. have produced a report on racial disparities in pregnancy-related deaths between 2007 and 2016.

The sample is small, only about 700 women die of pregnancy or its complications each year, and that is out of 6,000,000 pregnancies, so it is hard to draw conclusions but data from CDC’s Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System (PMSS) for 2007–2016 find that black and American Indian/Alaska Native women had significantly more pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 births than did white, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander women. 
Cancer Is The Leading Cause Of Death In High-Income Countries, And That's A Public Health Win

Cancer Is The Leading Cause Of Death In High-Income Countries, And That's A Public Health Win

Sep 05 2019 | comment(s)

Two statistical analyses looked at common disease incidence, hospitalization and death, plus modifiable cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged adults across 21 High-Income, Middle-Income, and Low-Income Countries and found that cancer is now the leading cause of death in wealthier countries.

That's a good thing. It means cardiovascular deaths are in decline, which means greater longevity. The number one risk factor for cancer is instead age.
Pre-Historic Air Conditioning - Inside The Head Of T. Rex?

Pre-Historic Air Conditioning - Inside The Head Of T. Rex?

Sep 05 2019 | comment(s)

Scientists believe two large holes in the roof of a T. rex's skull, called the dorsotemporal fenestra, were filled with muscles that assist with jaw movements. 

But Casey Holliday, a professor of anatomy at University of Missouri-Columbia, didn't think that made much sense. "It's really weird for a muscle to come up from the jaw, make a 90-degree turn, and go along the roof of the skull. Yet, we now have a lot of compelling evidence for blood vessels in this area, based on our work with alligators and other reptiles."
Marijuana May Help With PTSD But It's All Anecdotes At This Point

Marijuana May Help With PTSD But It's All Anecdotes At This Point

Sep 05 2019 | comment(s)


Though "medical" marijuana has long been available to much of the public, to the medical community it's been a joke. For example, over 60 percent of pain patients are older women, but the majority of medical marijuana users who got it for pain were young men. It's a nice non-specific system on a subjective scale so it became an easy route to get legal access to a drug.

And it is a drug, it does things to receptors, but what they are really accomplishing is unclear.
Plagiarism, Lack Of Diversity; Humanities Journal Editors Criticize Humanities Academia

Plagiarism, Lack Of Diversity; Humanities Journal Editors Criticize Humanities Academia

Sep 03 2019 | comment(s)

Humanities academics have so long signaled toward progressivism - even when progressives were eugenicists - that it is harm to imagine that they wouldn't become more inclusive without having it called out, but perhaps that is the nature of truly lacking inclusivity. 

You don't know you are missing something if everyone tells you that you're not. Like intolerance for plagiarism.