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Moms (Up)Rising: Grassroots Health Care Reform Movement Or Well-Funded PAC?

Moms (Up)Rising: Grassroots Health Care Reform Movement Or Well-Funded PAC?

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

As you might imagine, I get a lot of press releases.  As I have said here before, I like getting them because it's difficult for me to know all the good things happening out there, especially if an organization lacks the budget to hire an expensive PR firm.  A little proactive work helps get your message out.
Health Insurance - The Smoke and Mirrors Industry

Health Insurance - The Smoke and Mirrors Industry

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

Before we consider the issue of health insurance it is useful to examine the basis of insurance, generally, and how revenue is generated within that business model.  The basic premise is that a group of individuals will pay premiums which will provide a reserve of funds which can be used to pay out claims to any member of the group for whatever has been insured.  The model is relatively straightforward when it comes to car insurance, homeowner's, and even life insurance.

In effect, the business model is a gambling enterprise where the insurer is gambling that only a minimal number of claims will ever need to be paid, whereas the insured is gambling that they will be filing claims that need to be paid.  Consider the case of life insurance where premiums
Hitler's Gift To Astronomy

Hitler's Gift To Astronomy

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

Hitler's gift to astronomy? What?

Believe it or not, Hitler wanted to give Mussolini and Rome a planetarium*. Rome was among the first in the world to build a planetarium. Italy (and Mussolini) had already taken a planetarium as part of the 'compensation' for the damage Germany did to Italy in WW1 and opened the first Roman planetarium already in 1928.

It is the most peculiar story, so much so that I feel compelled to tell, however little, what I know about this hidden treasure of planetarium history...
The Shortest Distance?

The Shortest Distance?

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

Until recently, I had only known of Thomas Carlyle as a writer, mightily significant in the 19th century, but somehow superannuated by the time I heard of him.  However, recently I learnt that he is responsible for that famous English mis-definition:


A straight line is the shortest distance between two points.

which he gave us while translating the Eléments de géométrie of Legendre.  The great French mathematician actually wrote

"La ligne droit est le plus court chemin d'un point à un autre."

Et Tu, Brute ?

Et Tu, Brute ?

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

Stabbed by his once most faithful man after many other blows received by the conjurors, Julius Caesar pronounced those words, according to reports, before falling to death.

Now, is history repeating itself ? Paolo Guzzanti, once one of Silvio Berlusconi's best men, is an aggressive journalist who became a politician under king Silvio the II. Guzzanti always maintained some sort of twisted coherence in his reactionary positions and vitriolic approach to the political issues he handled -one remembers, for instance, his leading of the Italian Mitrokhin commission which tried to assess the veridicity of some files disclosed by a russian ex-spy. From Wikipedia:
GE Ecomagination Makes Smart Grids Seem Way Cooler Than They Really Are

GE Ecomagination Makes Smart Grids Seem Way Cooler Than They Really Are

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

There's this little company you may have heard of called GE.   Yeah, it's the one Edison started and I don't know where you come down in the whole Westinghouse/Edison fight but one of those guys screwed Tesla and one did not, so I am inclined to like Westinghouse more than Edison even though GE stock obviously did much better.

Hey, I can stick with my principles and still make some money.

But GE has earned my respect, not because of Jack Welch (though he earned my respect, mostly by making the stock a gold mine and despite being a part of that annoying Six Sigma crap that has been foisted off on MBAs since the 1990s) but because they made smart grids seem kind of cool.

What are smart grids?
Hockey Sticks And Organic Solar Cells For The Masses

Hockey Sticks And Organic Solar Cells For The Masses

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

It's easy for Arizona residents to hope for widespread solar power usage - they don't have to think about the thousands of miles of new power lines on land that will be grabbed under eminent domain.

And you'd think hockey stick analogies regarding climate issues would be bad, since the most famous one turned out to be made up.

But University of Arizona postdoctoral electrochemist Erin Ratcliff can't resist.  She says solar power is ready to take off.   "We're right at the magic moment when the hockey stick starts to take off, when you go from flat to hockey stick. We're right there. It's exciting to read the literature and hope that, yes, we will take off. It will be exciting to look back and say 'I was there for that.'"
HD 87643 - Rare Class Of Star Gets Its Close Up

HD 87643 - Rare Class Of Star Gets Its Close Up

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

HD 87643, a member of the exotic class of B[e] stars, is in a very rich field of stars towards the Carina (the Keel) arm of the Milky Way. It recently became part of a set of observations that provide astronomers with the best ever picture of a B[e] star.

B[e] stars are stars of spectral type B, with emission lines in their spectra, hence the "e". They are surrounded by a large amount of dust.
Cryptomartus Hindi - 300 Million Year Old Spider Ancestor Gets Imaged For First Time

Cryptomartus Hindi - 300 Million Year Old Spider Ancestor Gets Imaged For First Time

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

Scientists at Imperial College London have created detailed 3D computer models of two fossilized specimens of ancient creatures called Cryptomartus hindi and Eophrynus prestvicii that lived around 300 million years ago and are closely related to modern-day spiders. The study reveals some of the physical traits that helped them to hunt for prey and evade predators.

The researchers created their images by using a CT scanning device, which enabled them to take 3,000 x-rays of each fossil. These x-rays were then compiled into precise 3D models, using custom-designed software.

Betelgeuse - The True Face Of A Dying Behemoth

Betelgeuse - The True Face Of A Dying Behemoth

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

Betelgeuse, the second brightest star in the constellation of Orion (the Hunter), is a red supergiant, one of the biggest stars known, and almost 1,000 times larger than our Sun.

To put that in perspective, if Betelgeuse were at the center of our Solar System it would extend out almost to the orbit of Jupiter, engulfing Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and the main asteroid belt.
Global Warming Hold 'Em - Why Some Countries Are All In

Global Warming Hold 'Em - Why Some Countries Are All In

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

The world's environment ministers, government officials, diplomats and campaigners are preparing for the biggest poker game of their lives - the COP15 conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.

It's one of the most complicated political deals the world has ever seen but third world countries are holding the cards.

In Environmental Research Letters, the paper 'Tripping Points: Barriers and Bargaining Chips on the Road to Copenhagen' lays bare the main tripping points – those political barriers and bargaining chips – which need to be overcome for countries to reach a consensus on how to address global climate change. 
Diverse Generation, Efficiency, And Electric Transportation Cut Costs

Diverse Generation, Efficiency, And Electric Transportation Cut Costs

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

CO2 reduction targets can be met with affordability. An EPRI report released this week concludes affordability requires a "full portfolio" of electricity sector technologies. Diverse generation "could simultaneously address the challenge of growing load demand while meeting carbon constraints and limiting increases in the cost of electricity." 
Government Programs - Opinions Welcome

Government Programs - Opinions Welcome

Aug 05 2009 | comment(s)

Almost everyone seems to be opposed or at least guarded about the government becoming engaged in more services.  There seems to be a general assumption that it will be badly run, or simply bad.  However, in thinking about it, it seems that when we remove our own political beliefs or objectives from the equation, it becomes more difficult to really gauge the effectiveness of this process.
What happens if you REALLY don't like the pharma industry

What happens if you REALLY don't like the pharma industry

Aug 04 2009 | comment(s)

Big Pharma gets a bad rap, and sometimes deservedly so. After covering the industry for a number of years and working with them (not for them), I know the good, the bad, and the ugly of industry well.

But no matter how bad the story is, I've never been tempted to go after someone's dead mom.
Tickling Makes For Happy Rats

Tickling Makes For Happy Rats

Aug 04 2009 | comment(s)

I remember in grade school, as the box of crayons expanded into the hundreds, a cool new color of pink was invented, called Tickle Me Pink – well, probably just the name was invented.  Maybe Crayola had more insight into science than I thought.  

Wohr and colleagues tickled some rats and found that tickling induces hippocampal cell proliferation in rats emitting appetitive 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations. Coincidentally that’s the name of this published paper. 
Tangential Science: Jurassic Beer And Ptolemy According To Homer

Tangential Science: Jurassic Beer And Ptolemy According To Homer

Aug 04 2009 | comment(s)

Tangential Science: it's not necessarily science, but it's still funny.
Science is arriving Sept. 1!!

Science is arriving Sept. 1!!

Aug 04 2009 | comment(s)

What's that, you say? Science is coming? I thought it was already here - then what are we talking about on Scientific Blogging?

Fear not, befuddled blog readers. For when I speak of science coming to us, I speak of only the most spectacular, the most enthralling, the most "these guys are off their rocker" of the scientific milieu. That's right, a They Might Be Giants album.
Stop Eating Chocolate or You May Die!

Stop Eating Chocolate or You May Die!

Aug 04 2009 | comment(s)

When I say 'stop eating chocolate or you may die' it is in theory, as there have been no recorded cases that I could find, so generally you need not worry. Thus, if you are sure you’re human you should be fine.
Proton Therapy: One of the most popular modes of cancer treatment nowadays

Proton Therapy: One of the most popular modes of cancer treatment nowadays

Aug 04 2009 | comment(s)

    Proton Therapy (PT) is a high-quality radiation therapy and initially used to treat  human patients in Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. For about 50 years of its use in treating cancer, it has been reported to have an excellent clinical result especially in prostate cancer (Smith, 2006). The precise dose deposition to the tumor volume prescribed in a cancer patient (Kim, 2006) improved local control and a disease-free survival (Smith, 2006).

What other scientists say
Economic Theory - Supply and Demand Part 2

Economic Theory - Supply and Demand Part 2

Aug 04 2009 | comment(s)

In considering some of the comments made on the original posting, I realized that there were some variations and refinements in discussing supply and demand that warranted additional consideration.

In light of those comments, let me refine the definition of the "Law of Supply and Demand" as an equilibrium law which attempts to explain the various paths either "supply" or "demand" may take based on the perceived imbalance in that state of equilibrium. This is usually expressed as