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Science 2.0 at ECCS 2012

Science 2.0 at ECCS 2012

Aug 27 2012 | comment(s)

Science 2.0 columnist Cees Pieters will be at the ECCS 2012 Satellite Meeting on Critical Complexity in Practice: Exploring the Entanglement of Causal and Ethical Complexity in Organizations and Professions. 

ECCS is the European Conference on Complex Systems and is being held at at Université Libre de Bruxelles from September 3rd-7th.
Just Take It Easy: Humboldt Squid Survive Low Oxygen By Slowing Down

Just Take It Easy: Humboldt Squid Survive Low Oxygen By Slowing Down

Aug 27 2012 | comment(s)


Little glowing fish called lanternfish and the similarly sized, shrimplike krill are creatures worthy of pity. They're on the menu of almost every large marine animal you can name: from tuna to penguins to whales, and, of course, squid. Most notably Humboldt squid, who stuff their beaks with truly epic quantities of these small fry.
GMOs: Food Science Grows Up In Europe As America Goes Backwards

GMOs: Food Science Grows Up In Europe As America Goes Backwards

Aug 27 2012 | comment(s)

For more than a decade, Europe has been as anti-science as can be imagined regarding genetically modified organisms —  consumer crops that have had their genetic code altered in order to make them easier to farm.

Environmental activists have frequently responded to GM crop trials by vandalizing or destroying them, while scare stories about “Frankenfoods” have been a regular staple of the British media diet. But two developments in the last month show that Europe may be joining the science community again, while California prepares to leave it:
Now Broadcasting From Radio Jupiter

Now Broadcasting From Radio Jupiter

Aug 27 2012 | comment(s)

A project that investigated the planetary radio-frequency emissions of the Earth and Saturn also discovered a strange radio emission from the planet Jupiter.

The Earth is loud. As in"radio-loud", which is how objects causing measurable radio emissions are described in astronomy. The Earth's magnet field influences charged particles (electrons, protons, and ions) in a way that causes radio emissions. Other planets such as Saturn or Jupiter cause these emissions as well and measuring them allows us to draw conclusions about planetary magnetic fields.

The new analysis discovered a new modulation in terrestrial radio emissions along with analysis of particular components of Saturn´s radio emissions.
Another Scientific Fantasy or Why Social Scientists Are Simply Annoying.

Another Scientific Fantasy or Why Social Scientists Are Simply Annoying.

Aug 27 2012 | comment(s)

There are few things as irritating as scientists taking complex topics and reducing them to sound bites that are invariably wrong.  They pick up the wrong data, manipulate it with a bit of correlation and suddenly they're off and running on a new study which promises to be as ridiculous as the last.

Currently there is one entitled "The role of Genes in Political Behavior", that would have people rolling in the aisles if it weren't so pathetic.
What hasn’t changed since 1969?

What hasn’t changed since 1969?

Aug 27 2012 | comment(s)

Neil Armstrong changed the way we think of ourselves – but, oddly, not the way we think of the Moon, writes Daniel Hannan on Telegraph Blogs.

But what I particularly like is the comment by one Maria Kay:
I've toured the USS Hornet, now retired in Alameda, Calif. (That is the aircraft carrier that fished the Apollo 11 capsule out of the ocean.) There is a small museum of moonshot memorabilia stored on board.
Shock And Awe

Shock And Awe

Aug 27 2012 | comment(s)

Well this is objectively awesome. In a report published earlier last week in Science, Berényi et al. demonstrate that carefully controlled electrical stimulation of the rat skull can quickly and drastically diminish abnormal brain activity associated with epilepsy1.

Environmental Guilt Is Big Business

Environmental Guilt Is Big Business

Aug 26 2012 | comment(s)

39% of Americans feel 'green guilt' for wasting food, a much higher number than letting the sink run while they brush their teeth or not buying those stupid low-flow toilets.

The 2012 Eco Pulse results are in.  So look for the latest marketing campaigns from environmental activism corporations soon.

Why does anyone do surveys on what people feel guilty about rather than what people care about?  They do it to sell it to environmental groups and no environmental group raises money on a 'things are great' platform, they raise money by telling you how much you are a parasite for Gaia. The Eco Pulse survey tells marketers at Greenpeace, Sierra Club, etc. what your weak points are.  
Yes, I have that twisted nerve too - I sneeze when I shouldn't

Yes, I have that twisted nerve too - I sneeze when I shouldn't

Aug 26 2012 | comment(s)

Okay, I am coming out for the interest of Science.

I read today this article, which does not really say anything new to me, but for some reason triggered my wish to speak up about the condition. The article explains clearly that some people have a twisted connection in their nerves, sort of a short-circuit, which makes them sneeze when they think about sex (others have the same kind of problem making them sneeze when they are looking at bright light sources, e.g. the sun).
An experiment to detect currents due to an Axial Force

An experiment to detect currents due to an Axial Force

Aug 26 2012 | comment(s)

In last weeks post,I introduced the Axial force, a force interacting between neutrinos, left handed neutrino repel other left handed neutrino while attracting right handed anti-neutrinos or indeed right handed neutrino (if there where any). We may follow interaction emitting or absorbing neutrinos to assign axial force charges to the other particles too. Electrons don't have a charge, but neutrons can decay to a proton, an electron and a neutrino, so either the proton or the neutron must have a axial charge. We don't see any extra forces in neutron scattering to a good precession, so we assign a axial charge to the proton and not to the neutron.
They Called Us Salisbury Steak? Oh, The Humanity

They Called Us Salisbury Steak? Oh, The Humanity

Aug 26 2012 | comment(s)

On-Cor Frozen Foods of Geneva, Illinois has the funniest product recall you will read today.

Now, product recalls are not generally humorous. As Ian Froeb at Riverfront Times rightly notes, they are usually about serious stuff like listeria, E. coli, salmonella - and that is just in the organic food section. 
Neil Armstrong: A Man Of Peace For All Nations

Neil Armstrong: A Man Of Peace For All Nations

Aug 25 2012 | comment(s)

The first man to walk on the moon passed away today, a few weeks after heart surgery. He was 82. 
Conspiracy Theories And Believing The Impossible

Conspiracy Theories And Believing The Impossible

Aug 25 2012 | comment(s)

Distrust and paranoia did not start with claims about genetically modified foods or vaccines. Concern about the motivations of government, secret societies and corporations has a long history. The belief in a conspiracy of elites fuels suspicion about all authorities and the claims they make. 

What is more of a puzzle is that the attraction of conspiracy theories is so strong that it leads people to endorse entirely contradictory beliefs, like how the government should make special regulations for genetically modified foods, though the government is supposedly dependent on lobbyist money and can't be trusted.
Okay, Let’s Talk About Abortion

Okay, Let’s Talk About Abortion

Aug 25 2012 | comment(s)

PZ Myers is not exactly known for the timidity of his statements (or for the mildness of his tone when he disagrees with someone, even a fellow atheist). On August 1st he posted a brief statement on his blog, presumably as a commentary on the recent Republican-led charade concerning a proposed ban on all abortions after 20 weeks in Washington, DC . (The ban was voted favorably by a majority in the House, but since Republicans themselves invoked a ⅔ majority rule, it didn’t pass.
The Buddha, Topoi, And Quantum Gravity

The Buddha, Topoi, And Quantum Gravity

Aug 25 2012 | comment(s)

Anything is either true,
Or not true,
Or both true and not true,
Or neither true nor not true;
This is the Buddha's teaching.

--Nagarjuna (second century Buddhist monk and philosopher), the Mulamadhyamakakarika, Chapter XVIII, verse 8 (Note: there are other translations of this verse, for example, using "real" instead of "true.")
It's Not Smokey Bear's Fault!

It's Not Smokey Bear's Fault!

Aug 24 2012 | comment(s)

Having just read an article about forest fires [How the Smokey Bear Effect Led To Raging Wildfires], I was struck by the obvious question of why this should be a problem.

In effect, it illustrates one of the primary difficulties we face, as humans, in a modern society, equipped with all manner of scientific knowledge and yet seemingly unable to solve the simplest problems.
When It Comes To Being Pro-Science, Kenyans > Americans > Europeans

When It Comes To Being Pro-Science, Kenyans > Americans > Europeans

Aug 24 2012 | comment(s)

The British may think they 'colonized' Kenya to teach them about civilization and the modern world, but it would be the other way around today.  While over 80 percent of Europeans admit they are against any GMO regardless of whether or not they can be 'proved' safe - an impossibility anyway - and some Americans on the kooky anti-science left insist they are allergic to any product that has anything to do with GM sugar beets, Kenyans are downright enlightened about food science.
Prisoner's Dilemma Breakthrough: Zero Determinant Strategy Shows Winning isn't Everything

Prisoner's Dilemma Breakthrough: Zero Determinant Strategy Shows Winning isn't Everything

Aug 24 2012 | comment(s)

The world of game theory has been on fire since Freeman Dyson of Princeton and William Press of the University of Texas announced that they had discovered a previously unknown strategy for the game of prisoner's dilemma - and it guarantees one player a better outcome than the other.

The Prisoner's Dilemma is this: Alice and Bob commit a crime and are arrested. The police offer each a deal to rat the other our and go free while their friend does 6 months in jail. If both Alice and Bob snitch, they both get 3 months in jail. If they both remain silent, they both get one month in jail for a lesser offence. What should Alice and Bob do? 
Mutant? Blame Your Father

Mutant? Blame Your Father

Aug 24 2012 | comment(s)

Humans inherit more than three times as many mutations from their fathers as from their mothers, and mutation rates increase with the father's age but not the mother's, researchers have found in the largest study of human genetic mutations to date.

A study based on the DNA of around 85,000 Icelanders, the largest study of human genetic mutations to date, has found that humans inherit more than three times as many mutations from their fathers as from their mothers and mutation rates increase with the father's age but not the mother's.
Are Large Earthquakes Across The Globe Linked?

Are Large Earthquakes Across The Globe Linked?

Aug 24 2012 | comment(s)

Reading media accounts, it seems the past decade has witnessed what seems to be a cluster of large earthquakes, with massive events in Sumatra, Chile, Haiti and Japan since 2004.

Some hypothesize that this cluster has occurred because the earthquakes may be "communicating" across large distances, possibly triggering each other.