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Using more than 10% of your brain

Using more than 10% of your brain

Aug 10 2009 | comment(s)

People who are completely paralyzed due to illness or trauma are getting help communicating with a new technology that connects their brains to a computer, CBS reports on 60 Minutes. In the future, brain computer interface, or BCI, may restore movement to paralyzed people and allow amputees to move bionic limbs.


Courtesy: Brown University
The Voynich Manuscript Part 7 : Scripts & Swallowtails

The Voynich Manuscript Part 7 : Scripts & Swallowtails

Aug 09 2009 | comment(s)

The Voynich Manuscript Part 7 : Further Dating Studies

I present here more evidence in support of my suggestion that the Voynich manuscript may date from a period between 1350 to 1450, perhaps even earlier.  This is part 7 of an occasional series which commenced in part 1 with information about Wilfrid and Ethel Voynich.

Merlons and Bartizans.
A new meaning to

A new meaning to "carbon compounds"?

Aug 09 2009 | comment(s)

Ploughing through the Codex just now, I come across this (with particular reference to MRSA), by Brigitte Nerlich of the University of Nottingham, England:

Words matter in public health

... media coverage of hygiene and cleanliness in hospitals tended to portray doctors and nurses engaged in a heroic "battle" against "intelligent super bugs. This was personified by the modern matron wielding the weapon of "cleanliness." Interviews with hospital matrons revealed a gap between the media portrayal and the reality on the wards. Matrons said that the limitations in their authority over contractors, and time constraints made it impossible for them to spend even half their time as a "visible presence" on the wards. ...
The Continuing Search Of A Dark Site

The Continuing Search Of A Dark Site

Aug 09 2009 | comment(s)

Amateur astronomers fond of visual observation of faint galaxies and other fuzzy treasures of the night sky are always in search of the best observative site, where to drag their large Dobsonian telescopes.

Unfortunately, their road is always uphill - also in a metaphorical sense: light pollution is growing everywhere at a disturbing rate, and it has already erased all but the brightest stars from our urban and suburban skies.

Many of our kids grow without having seen the Milky Way, and the few who are drawn to astronomy are surprised to realize, from the tales of older dogs like me, that it did not use to be that way.
College Major Still A Factor In The Narrowing Gender Wage Gap

College Major Still A Factor In The Narrowing Gender Wage Gap

Aug 09 2009 | comment(s)

Higher education has helped women narrow the wage gap but there is one college-related factor that has becoming increasingly important in perpetuating that gap, according to new research.

And that factor is their college major.   Women dominate the social sciences, for example, so by not moving more into hard sciences, the numbers are not normalizing across all fields.   Women at the higher levels of research and in disciplines like engineering show no modern wage gap.
Unchurched Believers On The Rise And Liberals Less Religious Than 20 Years Ago - Study

Unchurched Believers On The Rise And Liberals Less Religious Than 20 Years Ago - Study

Aug 09 2009 | comment(s)

Americans go to church less but the rate of departure previously reported may have been incorrect, according to sociologists Michael Hout and Claude S. Fischer of the University of California, Berkeley.

According to the new data, 93 percent of Americans believe in God, a figure unchanged since 1988. The group that increased was the group Hout and Fischer call "unchurched believers," those people who believe in God but report no religion. 
Let's Bring Combustion Out Of The 18th Century

Let's Bring Combustion Out Of The 18th Century

Aug 09 2009 | comment(s)

A new paper outlines what it calls a simple-to-use technique which enables companies to optimize the performance of industrial boilers and reduce their main emissions.

It's about time.   

Obviously there aren't going to be any new super-efficient combustion techniques any time soon -   combustion is what it is - but using a new oxidation method with an improved catalyst is a different story.   

A catalyst is a substance which increases the speed of chemical reactions, without taking any apparent part in the reaction, or which modifies the parameters of the reaction (temperature, pressure, concentration, etc.).  In the case of catalytic combustion, the main parameter is its speed of reaction given by the equation for the speed of the flame front UL:
Mothers Raise Kids Like Their Moms Did - Fathers Not So Much

Mothers Raise Kids Like Their Moms Did - Fathers Not So Much

Aug 09 2009 | comment(s)

When it comes to how they raise their children, mothers do things the way their mothers did, according to a new study that looked at parenting practices across two generations.

Fathers don't seem to use their moms as parenting role models despite the fact that the fathers studied were raised more by their mothers, even in a changing workplace environment.

Obviously, fathers may have been more influenced by their dads rather than their moms, but the surveys used by the study didn't examine their fathers' behavior,  said Jonathan Vespa, co-author of the study and doctoral student in sociology at Ohio State.
Top 10 Schools For Science

Top 10 Schools For Science

Aug 09 2009 | comment(s)

If you’re serious about pursuing an extended education in science, you may want to set your sights on one of the U.S. campuses that have been identified as having the best science graduate programs. In April, US News&World Report released the results of their 3-year study that ranked the best science schools in the nation.
Moon Or Mars?

Moon Or Mars?

Aug 08 2009 | comment(s)

One of the current questions for the future of space exploration is whether to return to the moon, or just head to Mars.

Should we return somewhere we’ve been before? Or just strike out toward someplace totally new? Is there any benefit to going back to the moon? Can we make it to Mars without building up our endurance and scientific knowledge on the moon first?

There are intelligent, well-connected, even famous, proponents on both sides.
The Oxford Calculators

The Oxford Calculators

Aug 08 2009 | comment(s)

I have often found reference to medieval and early modern folks most helpful in debugging things that have bugged me since I did science when I was a student in the Sixties (for me they did not swing). One particular bunch are the Oxford Calculators, also known as the Merton scholars. As the Wikipedia article states:
The Principle Of Maximal Aging

The Principle Of Maximal Aging

Aug 08 2009 | comment(s)

The Principle of Maximal Aging - Capturing the Essence of Relativity

BigBOSS Joins The Hunt For Elusive Dark Energy

BigBOSS Joins The Hunt For Elusive Dark Energy

Aug 08 2009 | comment(s)

The hunt for dark energy is on and ways to find it, such as weak gravitational lensing and baryon acoustic oscillation, hold great promise but are as yet unproven.   Supernovae studies, which depend on measuring the redshift and brightness of distant Type Ia supernovae, are the most reliable.
Stop The Cat Bias - Dogs Are Smarter Than You Think

Stop The Cat Bias - Dogs Are Smarter Than You Think

Aug 08 2009 | comment(s)

Cats have a reputation for being smart but dogs deserve more respect, says canine researcher Stanley Coren, PhD, of the University of British Columbia, who spoke on dog psychology (seriously) today on the topic “How Dogs Think” at the American Psychological Association’s 117th Annual Convention.

They can also understand more than 150 words and intentionally deceive other dogs and people to get treats,  Coren says. He is the author of more than a half-dozen popular books on dogs and dog behavior, and reviewed numerous studies to conclude that dogs have the ability to solve complex problems and are more like humans and other higher primates than previously thought. 
Lab BMC II

Lab BMC II

Aug 08 2009 | comment(s)

Los alumnos deberán analizar información reciente en los temas indicados en el programa. Al finalizar el curso serán capaces de comprender la relación que existe entre los distintos tipos del metabolismo y de integrar dicho en relación al funcionamiento de la célula. Asimismo adquirirán las bases teóricas necesarias para asimilar nueva información en ese campo de estudio.

Laboratorio de practicas

Prof. Q. Ángel Gabriel Díaz Sánchez

angel50404@hotmail.com
Tangential Science: Modern Greek Fire Ain't What It Used To Be

Tangential Science: Modern Greek Fire Ain't What It Used To Be

Aug 08 2009 | comment(s)

Tangential Science: it's not necessarily science, but it's still funny.

1.  Greek fire ain't what it used to be.  If you're a student of history, you know that Greek fire  (πῦρ θαλάσσιον) was popularized by the Byzantines, mostly against Arab navies.   We don't know what it consisted of because the recipe was lost to antiquity but it made enough of an impression that various other cultures copied it.   Naptha?   Saltpeter?  No one can be sure.

Greek fire was not an ingredient but instead an entire system.   It required special processing to make and was compressed so that the liquid shot out.  Thus it required expert handling as well. 
Quantum field theory in curved space time, quantum gravity....They are one and the same.

Quantum field theory in curved space time, quantum gravity....They are one and the same.

Aug 07 2009 | comment(s)

Robert Wald has formulated QFT in curved space time in terms of it's algebra of observables on a manifold.  In doing so he has, perhaps unintentionally, provided framework in which very different theories of quantum gravity look very similar. 
On Twitter, Hacking And Denial Of Service Attacks

On Twitter, Hacking And Denial Of Service Attacks

Aug 07 2009 | comment(s)

If you’re a Twit... [um, no...] if you like Tweety... [still no...] if you’re a Twitter user [there, that works] you might have been frustrated on Thursday, when Twitter had service problems. So, apparently, did Facebook and LiveJournal, all three hit with denial-of-service attacks Thursday morning. Here’s Twitter’s status message from around 7 A.M.

The Daytime Astronomer on Summer Web Traffic

The Daytime Astronomer on Summer Web Traffic

Aug 07 2009 | comment(s)

I've noticed that my readership numbers are lower in summer, often only half as much as usual.  Bearing in mind I only launched in Spring, there was a noticeable drop as we hit (especially) July and now August.  With my non-science web column, I've noticed the same trend.  It's the flip side to the 'September Effect', when most sites get a sudden surge in visitors as incoming collegiate freshmen suddenly have free, unstructured time and fast web access.
Stone-age map - or knife-sharpener?

Stone-age map - or knife-sharpener?

Aug 07 2009 | comment(s)

This link http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/christopherhowse/100002162/stone-ag... shows an interesting piece of stone age ware from Northern Spain that has been investigated by the University of Zaragoza.  Even to my beady Hedgehog eyes, the pattern labelled "relief design" looks remarkably like a fish.

But look at the article and comments.  Please tell me, O Human Hank, why are the columnists and readers of such a conservative newspaper so "snotty" about science?   To save youall the bother of registering, the Hedgehog would be glad to receive your comments and feed them back to the author.