Featured Articles

Talk About Ancient History: Pyramid Over 4000-Years-Old Discovered In Egypt

Talk About Ancient History: Pyramid Over 4000-Years-Old Discovered In Egypt

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

Archaeologists have made a discovery in Egypt, which fills in a missing piece of history in the Old Kingdom ancient burial ground of Saqqara.  The newest discovery, found in the sand south of Cairo about two months ago, most likely housed the remains of Queen Shesheshet.  Shesheshet, the mother of King Teti, ruled from 2323 BC to 2291 BC and founded Egypt's Sixth Dynasty -- over 4,000 years ago.
A frustrating press release (or, adaptation is not random)

A frustrating press release (or, adaptation is not random)

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

My feeling about science news reports is decidedly mixed. On the one hand, I read most of the main news services in order to keep up with research outside of my own discipline. On the other hand, I would say that about once every two or three days I find a story so silly that it makes me physically uncomfortable. This is one of those.

Evolution's new wrinkle: proteins with 'cruise control' act like adaptive machines

It opens:

A team of Princeton University scientists has discovered that chains of proteins found in most living organisms act like adaptive machines, possessing the ability to control their own evolution.

Deep Cerebral Stimulation Has 'Encouraging' Clinical Trial For Patients With OCD

Deep Cerebral Stimulation Has 'Encouraging' Clinical Trial For Patients With OCD

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder(OCD) affects as much as 2 % of the population and is considered a psychiatric disorder. It is the number four psychiatric pathology in terms of frequency following phobias, disorders relating to alcohol and drugs, and depression.

People affected with OCD are obsessed with cleanliness, order, and symmetry or are overcome by doubts and irrational fears. In order to reduce their anxiety, they carry out rituals of tidying, washing or verification for several hours a day in the most serious cases.
Mandatory HPV Vaccination Both Unwarranted And Unwise

Mandatory HPV Vaccination Both Unwarranted And Unwise

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

The HPV vaccine, sold as Gardasil in the U.S., is intended to prevent four strains of the human papillomavirus, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world. The vaccine also prevents against cervical cancer. While the vaccine represents a significant public health advance, a new article in the Journal of Law, Medicine&Ethics suggests that it is premature for states to currently mandate the HPV vaccine as a condition for school attendance.

Gail Javitt, J.D., M.P.H., Deena Berkowitz, M.D., M.P.H., and Lawrence O. Gostin, J.D., LL.D., review the scientific evidence supporting Gardasil's approval and the legislative actions in the states that followed and raise several concerns about state mandates for HPV vaccination. 
Alfred Wallace Confirmed? Hidden Mechanism Guiding How Biological Organisms Respond To Natural Selection, Says Study

Alfred Wallace Confirmed? Hidden Mechanism Guiding How Biological Organisms Respond To Natural Selection, Says Study

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

A team of Princeton University scientists say they have discovered that chains of proteins found in most living organisms act like adaptive machines, possessing the ability to control their own evolution.  They say the research appears to offer evidence of a hidden mechanism guiding the way biological organisms respond to the forces of natural selection and provides a new perspective on evolution, the scientists said.
Resistin Identified As Biomarker For Heart Failure

Resistin Identified As Biomarker For Heart Failure

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

Blood levels of resistin, a hormone produced by fat cells, can independently predict an individual's risk of heart failure, cardiologists at Emory University School of Medicine have found.

Their findings were presented Nov. 12 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions conference in New Orleans.

"This is one of the strongest predictors of new-onset heart failure we've been able to find, and it holds up even when you control for other biomarkers and risk factors including high blood pressure and diabetes," says Javed Butler, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine and director of heart failure research at Emory University School of Medicine.
Putting Aside One Size Fits All Global Warming Blame, What Is Really Killing The Frogs?

Putting Aside One Size Fits All Global Warming Blame, What Is Really Killing The Frogs?

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

Evidence that global warming is causing the worldwide declines of amphibians may not be as conclusive as previously thought, according to biologists whose findings contradict two widely held views and could help reveal what is killing the frogs and toads - and aid in their conservation.

Studies suggest that more than 32 percent of amphibian species are threatened and more than 43 percent face a steep decline in numbers.

"We are currently in the midst of a sixth mass extinction event," said Peter Hudson, the Willaman professor of biology at Penn State and co-author of the research study. "And amphibians are bearing the brunt of the problem."
Solved: 500-million Year Burgess Shale Soft Tissue Fossil Mystery

Solved: 500-million Year Burgess Shale Soft Tissue Fossil Mystery

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

Scientists from the universities of Leicester and Cambridge and from the British Geological Survey have published new research in the journal Geology this month shedding new light on a 500-million year old mystery.

The 500 million year-old fossils of the Burgess Shale in Canada, discovered over a century ago, still provide one of the most remarkable insights into the dawn of animal life. The beautiful silvery fossils show the true nature of the life of that time, just after the "Cambrian explosion" of animal life. 
Asian Superiority In The US A Myth, Says Study

Asian Superiority In The US A Myth, Says Study

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

There's a perception that people who immigrate to the US from China, or whose parents did, the so-called "Chinese-Americans", are all wildly successful and well educated. And they are, unless they are the least educated. They are also confronted by a "glass ceiling," unable to realize full occupational stature and success to match their efforts, according to a new study from the University of Maryland.

The returns on Chinese Americans' investment in education and "sweat equity" are "generally lower than those in the general and non-Hispanic White population," says the report, "A Chinese American Portrait." It adds that, on average, Chinese American professionals in the legal and medical fields earn as much as 44 percent less than their White counterparts.

Air Pollution Is Dangerous Indoors Too

Air Pollution Is Dangerous Indoors Too

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

Indoor and outdoor pollutants can rapidly harm the heart in ways different than outdoor air pollution alone, according to a new study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008.

The Cardiovascular Sub-study of the Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS) is the first study to show that two different aspects of exposure — community wide and personal — have differing adverse health outcomes on the heart and blood vessels.

Fiddler Crabs Know How To Bluff

Fiddler Crabs Know How To Bluff

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

Dishonesty may be more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously thought. A team of Australian ecologists has discovered that some male fiddler crabs “lie” about their fighting ability by growing claws that look strong and powerful but are in fact weak and puny.

Yes, the authors say, the study is the first direct evidence that crabs “bluff” about their fighting ability and they detail it in Functional Ecology.
Old People Need Sex Education Too - Condom Use Among Adult Brits Far Too Low

Old People Need Sex Education Too - Condom Use Among Adult Brits Far Too Low

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

A high proportion of people are not using condoms when they have sex with a new partner, according to a new study of heterosexual partnerships among British men and women - but it's not teenagers, it's people in their 30s, 40s and in partnerships where there is an age difference of five or more years.  Among those groups, condom use is particularly low.

The research, published online in the International Journal of Epidemiology today, looks at all heterosexual relationships experienced in the previous 12 months by 11,161 men and women interviewed for the second British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal 2). [1]
Sex Life And Handed Behavior Of The Pond Snail

Sex Life And Handed Behavior Of The Pond Snail

Nov 12 2008 | comment(s)

A third-year undergraduate student, Hayley Frend, at The University of Nottingham has had her research into the sex life of the pond snail published in the peer-reviewed journal Royal Society Journal Biology Letters. 

With a grant of £1,500 from the Nuffield Foundation, Frend, who is a student in the School of Biology,  has shown that just like humans the pond snail is genetically programmed to use the left or right handed side of its brain to perform different tasks. 
Conservatism is Unnatural

Conservatism is Unnatural

Nov 11 2008 | comment(s)

This is the fourth essay from Brian Taylor's lowbrow explanation of the concepts facing the modern enlightened.  So far, using plain language, typical story-like reflections and humor he has explained not only that we have all been lied to for thousands of years and not only have we believed the lie but are only now discovering the lie is actually working against us.

    This latest installment hopes to prove that the edicts of conservatism are counter-productive in natural systems.

    It is recommended that you read the Assignee's Prerogative blog chronologically.

    Best Thoughts,
    Brian Taylor



Conservatism is Unnatural

The Way of the Why or the Death of a Pig

The Way of the Why or the Death of a Pig

Nov 11 2008 | comment(s)

This is the third installment explaining in plain language the promise and pitfalls of the new modern Enlightenment. In this essay the practical exemplification of the power of paradigm begins to illustrate the absurdity of counter-productive man. It is recommended that you read this blog in chronological order.


Putting Your Prostitution Paradigm In Its Place

Putting Your Prostitution Paradigm In Its Place

Nov 11 2008 | comment(s)

This essay is the second in the series concerning Assignee's Prerogative, the new Enlightenment's promise and shortcomings in an easy to understand empirical precis.

This essay hopes to illumine the masses to concepts, types, powers and dangers of Paradigm. It is recommended that this blog be read chronologically.
  
Putting Paradigm in it’s Place.
The Black Sheep says

The Black Sheep says "No!"

Nov 11 2008 | comment(s)

“The larger a society or confederacy, the greater the amalgamation of collusive factors - which is typical of every large organization - the more aggravated the moral and spiritual degeneration of the individual.”
                                -Carl Jung

“The absurd depends as much on man as it does on the world. For the moment it is all that links them together. It binds them one to the other as only hatred can weld two creatures together.” “The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.”
Protein Patterning Technique Is So Accurate It Can Reproduce Art Masterpieces

Protein Patterning Technique Is So Accurate It Can Reproduce Art Masterpieces

Nov 11 2008 | comment(s)

Canadian researchers have created a new protein patterning technique that's enabled them to reproduce complex cellular environments and a miniature version of a masterpiece painting. According to a new study published in the journal Lab on a Chip, scientists from Université de Montréal, the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Research Centre, McGill University and the Montreal Neurological Institute have developed a laser technology that can mimic the protein patterns that surround cells in vivo and that could lead to great advances in neuroscience.
Remembrance Day (repost)

Remembrance Day (repost)

Nov 11 2008 | comment(s)

(Repost from one year ago on the older Genomicron -- this got a nice
response from readers and family, so I am posting it once again.)

In Canada, as in many countries around the world, November 11 is a day of remembrance for the sacrifices made during wartime. In Canada, this refers in particular to World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945), but also to smaller engagements in which Canadians were (or are) involved, such as Korea and Afghanistan.