Featured Articles

Geometry Of The Big Bang

Geometry Of The Big Bang

May 29 2012 | comment(s)

The deeper we look into the universe, the deeper we look back in time. When in the night sky you see planets like Jupiter and Saturn, you look about an hour back in time. Look at the stars, and you are looking back in time anywhere from years to several centuries. Bring a binocular to a dark site and you will be able to see galaxies millions of years back in time. Get a decent telescope to the same site and you look even further back.
Square Kilometre Array Telescope Makes A Decision, Sort Of

Square Kilometre Array Telescope Makes A Decision, Sort Of

May 28 2012 | comment(s)

The Square Kilometre Array telescope will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope, but it had a bit of a problem most big science projects do not have; multiple countries wanted to host it.
Drought kills 23 elephants in Karnataka; SAVE ANIMALS SAVE PLANTS SAVE WATER. SAVE EARTH

Drought kills 23 elephants in Karnataka; SAVE ANIMALS SAVE PLANTS SAVE WATER. SAVE EARTH

May 28 2012 | comment(s)

India is reeling under heat wave. Nagpur temperatures cross 47 degree C while half of India is above45 degree or so.

Student Secretly Lives Inside AOL- And Builds A Company

Student Secretly Lives Inside AOL- And Builds A Company

May 28 2012 | comment(s)

What do you do when the project you did is complete but your entry badge still works for the AOL Palo Alto campus and you have no place to live?

You sleep on couches there.

Eric Simons, age 19, managed to pull it off for two months before being caught by a security guard - he ate the free food, drank the free drink, worked out in the gym when he wasn't working, and took showers there.

And built his company.

Meet the tireless entrepreneur who squatted at AOL by Daniel Terdiman, CNET
'RNA World' Hypothesis Gets A Challenge

'RNA World' Hypothesis Gets A Challenge

May 27 2012 | comment(s)

The ribosome is the cell's protein-building workbench and ribonucleic acids, the molecules we call RNA, are key tools perform a host of vital functions in cells.According to a new analysis, even before the ribosome's many working parts were recruited for protein synthesis, proteins also were on the scene and interacting with RNA. This finding challenges a hypothesis about the early evolution of life.
Withania somnifera (Ashwaganda) is one of the most valued medicinal plant in Ayurveda

Withania somnifera (Ashwaganda) is one of the most valued medicinal plant in Ayurveda

May 27 2012 | comment(s)

Withania somnifera is one of the most valued medicinal plant in Ayurveda and other traditional systems of medicine (Shivani and Kumar, 2000). In Ayurveda, W. somnifera is regarded as one of the most useful herbs having ‘Vata’ pacifying properties (Singh and Kumar, 1998 and Singh et al., 2001). In recent times, it has attracted tremendous pharmacological research interests. The plant has been reported to have adaptogenic, anticancer, immunomodulatory, antioxidative and neurological effects (Schliebs et al., 1973; Ray and Gupta, 1994 and Dhuley, 2001).
Science Can Save Crops, Forests And Endangered Animals By Doing This One Thing

Science Can Save Crops, Forests And Endangered Animals By Doing This One Thing

May 26 2012 | comment(s)

More than 600 million people could be fed each year by halting the spread of fungal diseases in the world's five most important crops -  rice, wheat, maize, potatoes and soybeans

Recent data further suggests that in 70% of cases where infectious disease causes the extinction of a type of animal or plant, an emerging species of fungus is behind the problem. 
'Follow The Money' Arguments Are Bogus

'Follow The Money' Arguments Are Bogus

May 26 2012 | comment(s)

How can scientists be out to kill us when it comes to food but out to save us when it comes to global warming?  

Easy, just 'follow the money'.  Everyone knows that funding source makes the difference, right?  So science done during the Bush years is not valid if you are a Democrat and likewise for science done during the Obama years for Republicans.

But that isn't really true.  Union of Concerned Scientists spends more in one year promoting climate change than Exxon has spent in its history denying it; is UCS just a cynical fundraising group advocating the latest pet causes?  Maybe, but getting donations is not evidence of that.
Organic Carbon In Meteorites Came From Mars

Organic Carbon In Meteorites Came From Mars

May 26 2012 | comment(s)

Molecules containing large chains of carbon and hydrogen, which happen to be the building blocks of all life on Earth, have been found in meteorites from Mars but scientists have been unsure how this organic carbon was formed and even disagreed on whether or not it came from Mars. 

A new paper shows evidence that this carbon did originate on Mars - but don't call the folks at SETI just yet, it isn't biological. 
Saturated Fat: You've Been Lied To

Saturated Fat: You've Been Lied To

May 26 2012 | comment(s)

Some cultural wars that throw science out the window - anti-DDT, anti-vaccine, anti-GMO, anti-evolution  - are baffling. Others at least have some science basis - smoking, for example - but sometimes bandwagon charlatans use the obvious to make all kinds of exaggerated, silly claims.  Where smoking harm was once clearly denied by Big Tobacco companies, exaggerated claims of all the ills smoking may cause are now so commonplace people assume that everyone with lung cancer got it from smoking.  And when that isn't true, they get even crazier ideas.  Donna Summer, the disco singer, never smoked but got lung cancer.  She believed the terrorist attack of September 11th, 2001 'caused' it.
Is That A Dragon In Your Berth Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?

Is That A Dragon In Your Berth Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?

May 25 2012 | comment(s)

Is it cheaper to privatize deliveries?  Sure is, that is why UPS and FedEx are doing well and the US Post Office is now advertising that companies should send more junk mail and waste natural resources.(1)
From Towel Day To SpaceX And Transparency Grenades

From Towel Day To SpaceX And Transparency Grenades

May 25 2012 | comment(s)

Weekend Science - The 5 Best Dogs For Attracting Women

Weekend Science - The 5 Best Dogs For Attracting Women

May 25 2012 | comment(s)

There is one thing men know about women; they are willing to believe anything about you if you just put forth the effort to fool them a little. A tuxedo in the eyes of a woman, for example, adds $10,000 to your income and knocks 10 lbs. off your weight.

Now, it doesn't really do any of those things, even social psychologists would not believe something so silly, but women are willing to give you credit for trying; namely spending 50 bucks on an ill-fitting suit and enduring patent leather shoes for an evening.
Was Einstein Wrong?

Was Einstein Wrong?

May 24 2012 | comment(s)

Was Einstein wrong about ? 
Squid-dorable Photos from the Vancouver Aquarium

Squid-dorable Photos from the Vancouver Aquarium

May 24 2012 | comment(s)


Jonathan Wong, Vancouver Aquarium

HuffPo has some fantastic photos and a video up from the Vancouver Aquarium. The species is Doryteuthis (once was Loligo) opalescens, sometimes called the inshore opalescent squid or market squid.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Scientization Of Politics About To Go From Bad To Worse

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Scientization Of Politics About To Go From Bad To Worse

May 24 2012 | comment(s)

Everyone has heard of the politicization of science - that is when various government agencies seek to insure that science is guided by the whims of the current administration.  Obama does it, Bush did it (both 43 and 41) Clinton did it, Reagan did it - every president in the post-World War II era has done it, that was the whole reason to take over basic and applied research from the private sector.  The atomic bomb showed what science could do when properly guided by political motivations. It's nothing new.
Why Science Test Scores Being 'Stagnant' Is A Good Thing

Why Science Test Scores Being 'Stagnant' Is A Good Thing

May 24 2012 | comment(s)

More high school students are taking math and science classes - a good thing, we all want more science literacy - but the U.S. Education Department, in its quest to stop people from wondering how it still exists after 33 years of education not being a federal prerogative, cautions that scores have stagnated.

To people not trying to rationalize their jobs, and not in the scare journalism business, that simply means we had nearly 50% fewer people in 1970 but we have a lot more now and the same percentage are good at math and science.  Math and science remain hard.

That's why smarter people do it.
Increasing encroachments on Forest lands, illegal mining will lead to total disaster.

Increasing encroachments on Forest lands, illegal mining will lead to total disaster.

May 24 2012 | comment(s)

Rajasthan Patrika a Hindi daily (22nd May 2012); has pointed out that 1500 sq. km area of forests in and around Jaipur has been encroached upon. Out of this 700 sq. km has now illegal housing or mining activities. The temperatures of entire India are running above 40 degrees.Sometimes temperatures of Middle East countries are lower. North eastern states are recording average temperature increase which is much more than expected.
Autism, Autism Speaks, And The True Stakeholders

Autism, Autism Speaks, And The True Stakeholders

May 24 2012 | comment(s)

Autism isn't a four letter word in our house. It's not something we treat with kid gloves, not something we see as a tragedy or, in our kids' case, in need of a cure. We see it as something to be worked with and around, but we don't talk much about it terms of being a negative thing. We try not to define it in terms of  core deficits, but in terms of how it makes socialization and language more challenging and different. 

It is what it is and in all honesty, we don't TALK about autism much here as a family. Everybody has issues and strengths. No biggie.

Don't Hate - Voters Were Born That Way, Say Psychiatrists

Don't Hate - Voters Were Born That Way, Say Psychiatrists

May 24 2012 | comment(s)

We tend to associate with people we like and that like us because they are like us - so it's no surprise I hang out with wickedly smart, outrageously attractive people. Long-term relationships, even non-sexual ones with women as ridiculously awesome as me, are part of what separates us from food...I mean, other animals.  Well, sort of. Maybe birds do that too.