Featured Articles

Did Language Evolve From Singing?

Did Language Evolve From Singing?

Feb 23 2013 | comment(s)

In "The Descent of Man" (1871), while contemplating how humans learned to speak, Charles Darwin speculated that language might have had its origins in singing, which "might have given rise to words expressive of various complex emotions."

Since then, numerous researchers have believed that that Darwin was on the right path and a new group says the balance of evidence now suggests that human language is a grafting of two communication forms found elsewhere in the animal kingdom: first, the elaborate songs of birds, and second, the more utilitarian, information-bearing types of expression seen in a diversity of other animals.

Saturday in Space: Solar Coronal Rain

Saturday in Space: Solar Coronal Rain

Feb 23 2013 | comment(s)

My favorite star, our very own Sun, has a multitude of spectacular features she shows off with grandeur. In fact, the Sun was the subject of my thesis and so she is extra special to me.

When you think about all the billions and billions of stars out there in the vast universe, we are very lucky to live so close to one of them. This ball of fire, an electromagnetic plasma wonderland, is still quite a mystery to us. With the help of the likes of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) we keep adding new information and perhaps understanding to our knowledge capital. I like to think so.
Microbubbles And Ultrasound Improve Myocardial Remodelling After Infarction

Microbubbles And Ultrasound Improve Myocardial Remodelling After Infarction

Feb 23 2013 | comment(s)

Every year in Germany, approximately 280,000 people suffer a myocardial infarction; more than 52,000 die as a result. Due to an occluded vessel, parts of the heart muscle no longer have sufficient circulation and the tissue dies off. These regions are not replaced by new heart muscle cells but instead by scar tissue – this generally causes the pump function of the heart to decrease following an infarction.  

Scientists have tested a method in mice allowing the morphological and functional sequelae of a myocardial infarction to be reduced and
with which scar tissue can be reduced and cardiac output increased.
 

Music Does Not Make Your Child More Intelligent

Music Does Not Make Your Child More Intelligent

Feb 23 2013 | comment(s)

If your child likes playing an instrument, or you want them to be well-rounded, by all means get them music lessons; but parents who bought into social science claims that it makes kids more 'intelligent' are basically wasting money.

Music is great, I have played guitar for 35 years, but I never bought into the hype that music was a contributing factor in making me much smarter than you.
How a little known virus can cause asthma in kids.

How a little known virus can cause asthma in kids.

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

If I were a virus, I think I’d like to be Respiratory Syncytial Vi
Tablets for creativity and science - and the raspberry Pi

Tablets for creativity and science - and the raspberry Pi

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

There are now many affordable and even out right cheap tablets - computers with touch screens - available, useful computers for even less than the famous $100 laptops were supposed to be. These are sold with various versions of the android system, with a linux kernel inside.
The Lid’s Tale

The Lid’s Tale

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

Not long ago, we acquired a range of inexpensive storage vessels, ideal for keeping leftovers in the fridge before they go into yours truly, the family dustbin. 

Here is an example: the steel dish is covered by a tight-fitting plastic (presumably polyethylene) lid.  Or it was tight-fitting when we bought it, but some of these lids are now so tight-fitting that they won’t even go on at all, and one or two have split in the attempt to force them on.
 

 
Deficit Thinking - Still A Mistake In Science Outreach

Deficit Thinking - Still A Mistake In Science Outreach

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

Deficit thinking is the belief by elites that the public is simply unaware of or unable to understand science and that lack of knowledge prevents the right policy decision. It rarely works as a strategy.

Scholars at Umeå University in Sweden analyzed public opposition to dam removal,  an increasingly common practice as old splash dams and small hydropower dams have become obsolete, and found that disagreements are not based on knowledge deficiency but are instead a case of different understandings and valuation of the environment and the functions it provides. 

Geoengineering By Committee? Time To Get Totalitarian

Geoengineering By Committee? Time To Get Totalitarian

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

Solar geo-engineering is one proposed approach to mitigating the effects of climate change - the idea being to deflect some of the sun's incoming radiation. 

Ignoring the technology issues, in a world where countries can't even agree they contribute to greenhouse gases, the political uncertainties and geopolitical questions about who would be in charge of solar geo-engineering activity and its goals are daunting. A UN of climate change is the worst of all possible worlds. 

Weekend Science: Probing The Earth's Deep Interior - All It Takes Is Magic

Weekend Science: Probing The Earth's Deep Interior - All It Takes Is Magic

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

Researchers have described a new technique that might one day reveal in higher detail than ever before the composition and characteristics of the deep Earth. There's just one catch: it can't exist.

Instead of being part of the natural world we know, where we have gravity, the weak and strong nuclear forces and electromagnetism  the new technique would require a fifth, hypothetical force of nature - a long-range spin-spin interaction.   The building blocks of atoms —electrons, protons, and neutrons — separated over vast distances could still "feel" each other's presence.  

Turkish Astrophysicist Faces Jail - For Religious Intolerance

Turkish Astrophysicist Faces Jail - For Religious Intolerance

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

Turkey is the most secular of the Muslim countries in the world - some women wear headscarves (hijab), some do not. They are optional.

So when Turkish astrophysicst Rennan Pekünlü, who teaches at Ege University in Izmir, told women they could not wear headscarves in his classroom, he was bought up on criminal charges after a woman complained. He was found guilty of violating the freedoms and rights of women at the university.  He argued that he was upholding the Turkish constitution, which prohibits the display of religious symbols or affiliation in government offices and institutions supported by government funding. He was also found to be taking pictures of women who entered wearing headscarves, which is a cultural no-no, but he said he had permission. 
Living Against The Biological Clock Is Risky Business

Living Against The Biological Clock Is Risky Business

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

Living against our biological clock, working late-night shifts or eating at inappropriate times, can has been linked to health risks like metabolic syndrome, obesity, and diabetes in Current Biology - at least for mice. 

Insulin action rises and falls according to a 24-hour, circadian rhythm, the researchers write. Mice unable to keep the biological time for one reason or another get stuck in an insulin-resistant and obesity-prone mode. 

Alzheimer's Disease Modeled Using IPSCs

Alzheimer's Disease Modeled Using IPSCs

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

Researchers have successfully modeled using both familial and sporadic patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and revealed stress phenotypes and differential drug responsiveness associated with intracellular amyloid beta oligomers in
Alzheimer's disease
neurons and astrocytes. 

Resolvins: How Aspirin And Omega-3 Fatty Acids Work Together To Fight Inflammation

Resolvins: How Aspirin And Omega-3 Fatty Acids Work Together To Fight Inflammation

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

The health benefits of low-dose aspirin and omega-3 fatty acids in foods like flax seeds and salmon are touted frequently but the detailed mechanisms involved in their effects are not fully known.

A report in Chemistry&Biology says that aspirin helps trigger the production of resolvins, molecules that are naturally made by the body from omega-3 fatty acids. These resolvins shut off, "resolve," the inflammation that underlies destructive conditions such as inflammatory lung disease, heart disease, and arthritis.

Get Grandpa On Facebook - It May Give Him A Cognitive Boost

Get Grandpa On Facebook - It May Give Him A Cognitive Boost

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

For older adults looking to sharpen their mental abilities, Facebook may be the way to go, according to preliminary psychology research which suggests that men and women older than 65 who learn to use Facebook could see a boost in cognitive function.

Janelle Wohltmann, a graduate student in the Univesity of Arizona department of psychology, set out to see whether teaching older adults to use the popular social networking site could help improve their cognitive performance and make them feel more socially connected.

4 Recommendations For The Next Energy Secretary

4 Recommendations For The Next Energy Secretary

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

Pity Department of Energy workers. They are often demoralized; among the cynical, DOE’s motto is: “Ashamed of our past, afraid for our future.”

Instead of working on clean energy for the 21st century and beyond, they are stuck subsidizing technology from the 13th century, and maybe the 1950s, and wrapping themselves in the flag of anti-nuclear environmentalism. 
Inhaled Betadine Leads To Rare Lung Inflammation

Inhaled Betadine Leads To Rare Lung Inflammation

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

A routine step in preparing for cleft palate surgery in a child led to an unusual case of lung inflammation (pneumonitis), according to a report in the The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery. 

Is Muzzling Federal Scientists Legal In Canada?

Is Muzzling Federal Scientists Legal In Canada?

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

"In sharp contrast to past Canadian practice and current U.S. Government practice, the federal government has recently made efforts to prevent the media and the general public from speaking to government scientists,” Tyler Sommers, coordinator of Democracy Watch, wrote in a statement about a complaint they filed Wednesday, citing Canada's Access to Information Act.
Holy Robotic Bat Wing!

Holy Robotic Bat Wing!

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

The strong, flapping flight of bats looks fun but mimicking the function of ligaments, the elasticity of skin, the structural support of musculature, skeletal flexibility, upstrokes and downstrokes robotically also offers great possibilities for the design of small aircraft.

In a flapping animal, positive lift is generated by the downstroke, but some of that lift is undone by the subsequent upstroke, which generates negative lift. By running trials with and without wing folding, the robot showed that folding the wing on the upstroke dramatically decreases that negative lift, increasing net lift by 50 percent.

PiRNAs That Control Where Epigentic Factors Are Placed In Genome Discovered

PiRNAs That Control Where Epigentic Factors Are Placed In Genome Discovered

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

If a genome is the blueprint for life, then the chief architects are  the molecular regulators of epigenetics, say Yale School of Medicine researchers.

In the past 20 years, scientists have discovered that some proteins, epigenetic factors, traverse the static genome and turn the genes on or off. The staggering number of potential combinations of active and inactive genes explains why a relatively small number of genes can carry out such a wide range of functions. But what guides these epigenetic factors to their target? The answer specialized RNAsb - piRNAs.