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Sex Chromosomes: Why The Y Genes Matter

Sex Chromosomes: Why The Y Genes Matter

May 30 2015 | comment(s)

Several genes have been lost from the Y chromosome in humans and other mammals but essential Y genes are rescued by relocating to other chromosomes, according to a new study.

The Y chromosome is dramatically smaller than the X chromosome and has already lost nearly all of the 640 genes it once shared with the X chromosome.

The Moon Illusion - It Looks Bigger Near The Horizon Because You Can't Handle It Otherwise

The Moon Illusion - It Looks Bigger Near The Horizon Because You Can't Handle It Otherwise

May 30 2015 | comment(s)

Why does the moon look bigger when it’s near the horizon?

It's a mystery at least 3,000 years old. Physicists attributed it to refraction while the “angle-of-regard” hypothesis said it was due to the angle that our eyes (or head) make relative to the horizon. The more your eyes are angled upward, the thinking goes, the smaller something looks, due to the physiology of our visual system.

And then some psychologists today say it is a conflict between the conscious and subconscious mind, because, as Kepler said, “Perception does not belong to optics but to the study of the wonderful.”
The Real Ghost Of Kubrick's Version Of

The Real Ghost Of Kubrick's Version Of "The Shining" - Franz Kafka

May 30 2015 | comment(s)

I have a wife, three children, three dogs, seven cats. I’m not a Franz Kafka, sitting alone and suffering.

So wrote Stanley Kubrick in 1972. And indeed, Kafka and Kubrick may not seem to have a whole lot in common. Kafka is Czech, Kubrick American.

Gaming on Windows 10 Build 10122, The Good, The Bad and The Malfunctioning. (UPDATE 10130 same issues)

Gaming on Windows 10 Build 10122, The Good, The Bad and The Malfunctioning. (UPDATE 10130 same issues)

May 30 2015 | comment(s)

Windows 10 build 10122 marks the arrival of something like a first beta Build of Windows 10.  (Build 10130 has a bit more polish, new icons, but has the same issues as 10122.) As such, one can now start to ask the question how will my favorite games fare under Windows 10?  Back when Windows 8 came out many people from corporate IT to Gamers said "We'll wait for Windows 9".  Microsoft has skipped to 10 and kept the live tiles and touch friendly aspects of the interface it was fashionable to hate about Windows 8 and 8.1.
Typhoons Up To 14 Percent Stronger Under Moderate Climate Change

Typhoons Up To 14 Percent Stronger Under Moderate Climate Change

May 30 2015 | comment(s)

Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated large portions of the Philippines in November 2013, killed at least 6,300 people. It set records for the strongest storm ever at landfall and for the highest sustained wind speed over one minute ever, hitting 194 miles per hour when it reached the province of Eastern Samar.

It could become more common, according to a new model which factored in what controls the peak intensity of typhoons. The model finds that under climate change this century, storms like Haiyan could get even stronger and more common - as much as 14 percent, nearly equivalent to an increase of one category.
Mexican Team Develops Cosmic Ray Detector For The Large Hadron Collider

Mexican Team Develops Cosmic Ray Detector For The Large Hadron Collider

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

A multidisciplinary team from Mexico created ACORDE, a full cosmic ray detector, and Sergio Vergara Lemon, researcher at the University of Puebla says it is the first Mexican cosmic ray detector.

ALICE is one of five experiments installed in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and its function is to characterize other detectors and develop physics experiments of high energy with cosmic rays to record their passage. ALICE is made up of several screening instruments. "It's like an onion, you have a detector inside, one outside and one more, ACORDE, is all the way up," says Arturo Fernandez Tellez of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at  University of Puebla.
UN Sustainable Development Goals Are Discriminatory And Ageist

UN Sustainable Development Goals Are Discriminatory And Ageist

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

One of the main health targets proposed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals is to reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases such as cancer, stroke and dementia by a third.

The goals for 2016-2030 define "premature" mortality as deaths occurring among people aged 69 years old or younger, so if you die after that you have lived a full life and shouldn't expect much more. But that is blatant "ageism", according to Professor Peter Lloyd-Sherlock, professor of social policy and international development at University of East Anglia, and colleagues. 
San Andreas, The Movie: 5 Geology Facts Versus Fictions

San Andreas, The Movie: 5 Geology Facts Versus Fictions

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

The new disaster movie San Andreas draws on science fact - that earthquakes are a reality - and turns it into an action movie by creating a domino effect and pitting Duane "The Rock" Johnson against them.

The USDA Considers 15th Century Food Labeling

The USDA Considers 15th Century Food Labeling

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

The Atlantic Ocean's Cool Phase Will Change The World's Weather

The Atlantic Ocean's Cool Phase Will Change The World's Weather

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

The Atlantic Ocean’s surface temperature swings between warm and cold phases every few decades. Like its higher-frequency Pacific relative El Nino, this so-called “Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation” can alter weather patterns throughout the world.

The warmer spell we’ve seen since the late 1990s has generally meant warmer conditions in Ireland and Britain, more North Atlantic hurricanes, and worse droughts in the US Midwest.

However a colder phase in the Atlantic could bring drought and consequent famine to the developing countries of Africa’s Sahel region. In the UK it would offer a brief respite from the rise of global temperatures, while less rainfall would mean more frequent summer barbecues. A cold Atlantic also means fewer hurricanes hitting the southern US.

Expecting Temptation May Reduce Unethical Behavior

Expecting Temptation May Reduce Unethical Behavior

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

Why do good people do bad things? It's a question that has been pondered for centuries, and new research may offer some insight. 

In a series of experiments with undergraduates, participants who anticipated a temptation to act unethically were less likely to then behave unethically, relative to those who did not. These participants also were less likely to endorse unethical behavior that offered short-term benefits, such as stealing office supplies or illegally downloading copyrighted material.  

Analyzing The Components Of Cosmetics Organically

Analyzing The Components Of Cosmetics Organically

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

There are about 10,000 compounds used to make cosmetics, and they are monitored by government agencies in a way that products go inside the body, such as 'alternative' medicine and supplements, are not.
Highlights Of The INFN School Of Statistics For Physicists

Highlights Of The INFN School Of Statistics For Physicists

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

The second infn school of statistics took place this week in the nice "green island" of Ischia, in the gulf of Naples, Italy. Organized by the INFN section of Naples, the school aims at training Ph.D. students and post-graduates in the foundations and the applications of the statistical methods most used nowadays in particle physics, nuclear physics, and astrophysics.

Programmatic Marketing: Sometimes It Actually Is Rocket Science

Programmatic Marketing: Sometimes It Actually Is Rocket Science

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

If you have gone to a new web page and seen an advertisement based on things you looked at in your browser history, you have likely been impressed or creeped out. You can thank MIT for a lot of this “programmatic marketing” - and rocket science. It is also why you will probably never make any money on your blog. 
The Dating Jungle: How Men And Women See Each Other Online

The Dating Jungle: How Men And Women See Each Other Online

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

In the world of online dating, nothing is as it seems. But that doesn’t stop many of us from leaping to the wrong conclusions about people. A recent paper presented at the Annual Conference of the International Communication Association and reported on in the press suggested that when evaluating photographs from online dating profiles, men and women judge enhanced and un-enhanced photos somewhat differently.

Catechins In Green Tea Reduce Prostate Cancer In Men At High Risk

Catechins In Green Tea Reduce Prostate Cancer In Men At High Risk

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer in men and is predicted to result in an estimated 220,00 cases in the United States in 2015.

10,000 Years of Artificial Cranial Modification

10,000 Years of Artificial Cranial Modification

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

In 2013, archaeologists working in Alsace, in eastern France discovered the tomb and skull of an aristocrat who died some 1,600 years ago. Her skull was heavily deformed, with the front flattened, and the rear rising into a cone shape.

An amateur digger might have been forgiven for thinking they had found one of the “Grey aliens” that UFO-spotters regularly claim to see. Instead, this was this was an example of “artificial cranial deformation,” or in layman’s terms, the practice of altering the head’s natural shape through force.
Ancient Microbe-Sediment Systems Of The Barberton Greenstone Belt

Ancient Microbe-Sediment Systems Of The Barberton Greenstone Belt

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

The modern sedimentary environment contains a diversity of microbes that interact very closely with the sediments, sometimes to such an extent that they form "biosediments."

But can such a phenomenon be fossilized? How far back in time can "biosedimentation" be traced? In a study for Geology, Frances Westall and colleagues examine some of the oldest rocks on Earth, in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa (older than 3.3 billion years), to answer this question.

Westall and colleagues use multi-scale methods to document the simultaneous presence of diverse types of microorganisms, including phototrophs and chemotrophs, directly interacting with coastal volcanic sediments that were bathed by hydrothermal fluids.
Gender Bias? Science Seen As A Male Profession

Gender Bias? Science Seen As A Male Profession

May 29 2015 | comment(s)

In America, the social sciences, like psychology and anthropology, are regarded as female occupations - because they are.

But does that mean women are self-selecting women and there is bias against males in those fields? It depends on who you ask.

People rarely admit to bias and in 2015 people are rarely overtly biased, so instead it may be that when you walk into a classroom and no one looks 'like' you, you may be uncomfortable or, worse, you may feel like you are representing your whole gender/ethnicity and under-perform because you worry about how it makes your group look if you fail. 
Will Female Viagra Be An FDA Boner?

Will Female Viagra Be An FDA Boner?

May 28 2015 | comment(s)

First of all, let me state that my conscience is perfectly clear:

However, unlike yours truly, if you have an impure mind I suggest you take it up with Merriam-Webster.

Having dispensed with that trivial distraction, can someone please explain to me what is going on below?