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University Wields Holocaust Denial Lawsuit To Silence Critical Economics Professor, Skeptics Smell Blood

University Wields Holocaust Denial Lawsuit To Silence Critical Economics Professor, Skeptics Smell Blood

Jan 29 2012 | comment(s)

Franz Hörmann, professor at the Vienna University for Economics (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien), distinguishes between Expert-Knowledge (Fachwissen) and Experience-Knowledge (Erlebniswissen). The latter rests on memories formed by personal involvement. He has not personally experienced the Nazi-Jew holocaust; he has no Experience-Knowledge of it. He is not an expert on history, so he claims no Expert-Knowledge on the holocaust either. Nice – somebody who is humble. Hörmann states that:
German Authorities Recommend Removal Of TiBREEZE Breast Implants

German Authorities Recommend Removal Of TiBREEZE Breast Implants

Jan 29 2012 | comment(s)

A New CMS Result On Quarkonium Suppression

A New CMS Result On Quarkonium Suppression

Jan 28 2012 | comment(s)

The CMS Collaboration has just released the results of a deep study of their sample of lead-lead collisions, produced at a center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per nucleon by the Large Hadron Collider.
Where was I ?

Where was I ?

Jan 28 2012 | comment(s)

The CHIPP 2012 winter school of particle physics is over, and so is the 50th winter meeting on nuclear physics. The two events had three things in common: they were both held in renowned locations for winter sports in the Alps (Engelberg, Switzerland, and Bormio, Italy); they both ran from January 22nd to 27th; and I attended both as a lecturer.
How To Learn -- From Robert Bjork, Director Of UCLA Learning And Forgetting Lab

How To Learn -- From Robert Bjork, Director Of UCLA Learning And Forgetting Lab

Jan 28 2012 | comment(s)

Taking notes during class? Topic-focused study? A consistent learning environment? All are exactly opposite the best strategies for learning. Really, I recently had the good fortune to interview Robert Bjork, director of the UCLA Learning and Forgetting Lab, distinguished professor of psychology, and massively renowned expert on packing things in your brain in a way that keeps them from leaking out. And it turns out that everything I thought I knew about learning is wrong.

Here's what he said.
Palaeobarbie

Palaeobarbie

Jan 27 2012 | comment(s)

This is pretty funny; this is based on (supposedly genuine) letter sent to a well respected US museum. Obviously the names of institutions and individuals have been changed.

Dear Mr. Smith:
Alcohol In China And Enzyme Evolution

Alcohol In China And Enzyme Evolution

Jan 25 2012 | comment(s)

In China, drinking alcohol is often still a vital part of doing business. Science is important in China, which has become the scientific leader in several ways, but science is business of course. At times, alcohol belongs to science here.

Favorite ArXiv Articles Of The Day

Favorite ArXiv Articles Of The Day

Jan 24 2012 | comment(s)

I read ArXiv regularly. It's not easy because most of the latest publications of physics go there before print. Apart from pedagogical articles (for teaching purposes), all the articles are aimed at other scientists working at the state of art in the subject. I try read the principles at the beginnings of the paper, skim the maths, and see if the conclusion match the rest of physics. So apologies to the authors if I accidentally misquote them.

Today there were enough fascinating articles that I wanted to write about them. This might become an occasional series so let me know if you find this useful.
Slit Experiments and Coherence Patterns

Slit Experiments and Coherence Patterns

Jan 24 2012 | comment(s)

Fire a machine gun at a wall with two slits. Look at the pattern bullets make that pass through. The pattern is the sum of two Gaussian curves. Classical physics makes sense.


Repeat the exercise with electrons or photons. Where there is constructive interference, the signal is strong. Where there is destructive interference, the signal can drop to zero. Waves behave that way all the time. Yet quantum interference works even if particles are fired at extremely low rates, such as once a day.
Magnetic Soap - Just Because We Can

Magnetic Soap - Just Because We Can

Jan 24 2012 | comment(s)

Scientists have developed a soap composed of iron rich salts dissolved in water that responds to a magnetic field when placed in solution.  That's right, magnetic soap.

But there is a practical side. The generation of this property in a fully functional soap could calm concerns over the use of soaps in oil-spill clean ups and improve industrial cleaning products.
This Brain Region Activates To Rationalize

This Brain Region Activates To Rationalize "Selling Out"

Jan 23 2012 | comment(s)

A neuro-imaging study found that personal values that people refuse to disavow, even when offered money to do so, are processed differently in the brain than those values that are willingly sold.

Sacred values - those 'sell your soul' issues - prompted greater activation of an area of the brain associated with rules-based, right-or-wrong thought processes, as opposed to the regions linked to processing of costs-versus-benefits, where selling out can be rationalized.
Why Have There Been So Many Earthquakes Recently?

Why Have There Been So Many Earthquakes Recently?

Jan 23 2012 | comment(s)

I think most people - certainly myself - get that grim "what, another one?" feeling when you first hear news that there has been a big earthquake.

But is it justified? In other words, have we recently been experiencing an increased rate of earthquakes? This from Beroza (2012),
HPV Testing Set To Increase In UK

HPV Testing Set To Increase In UK

Jan 23 2012 | comment(s)

One hypothesis goes that electric toasters became popular because something had to be done with electricity. So it may go with some vaccines.  Roche has set up a co -marketing agreement with private laboratory Unilabs-IHS to support greater access to HPV testing throughout the UK. 

New Bid To Halt Nuclear Power Plant Construction

New Bid To Halt Nuclear Power Plant Construction

Jan 23 2012 | comment(s)

Like global warming?  You can thank nuclear power protesters.  Since the 1970s, a full-scale public relations war on nuclear power has been waged, meaning a growing population became more reliant on fossil fuels instead of zero-emissions nuclear power.

 Now, a formal complaint about subsidies for nuclear power has been sent to the European Commission (DG Competition). If it is upheld, it unlikely that any new nuclear power stations will be built in the UK or elsewhere in the EU. The complaint may be followed by legal action in the courts or actions by politicians to reduce or remove subsidies for nuclear power. The complaint has been prepared by lawyers for the Energy Fair group, with several other environmental groups and environmentalists. 

Neutrino, Flying from CERN to LNGS, and Brachistochrone

Neutrino, Flying from CERN to LNGS, and Brachistochrone

Jan 23 2012 | comment(s)

A particle which flies from a point C to point L in the Earth gravitation should submit to the brachistochrone problem decision. 


Well-known that the particle flying in a gravitational field of the Earth on a cycloid, spends less time, than flying on direct line. It concerns as neutrino so photon. Hence, why not to direct on the same way photons (for example, impulses of centimetric radio-waves over the Earth between the same points) and to compare time of their flight to time of these neutrinos?










Russian Academy of Sciences Member Leonid Ksanfomaliti Loses His Mind

Russian Academy of Sciences Member Leonid Ksanfomaliti Loses His Mind

Jan 23 2012 | comment(s)

If you want cool stuff that no one else will believe, look to Russia.(1)  It isn't just the home of rampant piracy and corruption (and trademark infringement, in the case of their ridiculous theft of "Science 2.0" for a terrible television show) it is also the place to find kooky confirmation of odd beliefs.
 
Leonid Ksanfomaliti of the Space Research Institute of Russia's Academy of Sciences says he analyzed photographs from the Venus mission made by a Soviet landing probe, Venus-13, in 1982 and found...aliens. Well, he found a black dot that may have not been the same as another black dot.
One Way To Fix Medicine - Publish Missing Trial Data

One Way To Fix Medicine - Publish Missing Trial Data

Jan 23 2012 | comment(s)

Should researchers be obligated to publish null results?  Should they have to publish all trial data? Missing data distorts the scientific record, so that clinical decisions cannot be based on the best evidence, and that can harm patients and lead to futile costs to health systems, accoding to an editorial at BMJ.

It's no secret that a large proportion of evidence from human trials is unreported, and much of what is reported is done so inadequately but there is no real accounting for the consequences of unpublished evidence.
Redefining Autism For DSM-V

Redefining Autism For DSM-V

Jan 22 2012 | comment(s)

Changes to the diagnostic definition of autism will be published in the fifth edition of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" - DSM V - but exactly what those changes will be is a key point of discussion. There are still a lot of qualifying issues in a lot of areas for a publication that has already been a long time in the making.

At stake? Apparently a lot of money.  Autism was once rare enough that a definition was not rigorous but it also was not crucial - some leeway was allowed.  As a result, recent increased instances, either to more occurrences or more accurate diagnoses or even mis-diagnosis, have made the new definition for DSM-V a hot topic.
Quantum Dots May Boost Solar Efficiency 45 Percent

Quantum Dots May Boost Solar Efficiency 45 Percent

Jan 22 2012 | comment(s)

If you don't think the government should be artificially mandating winners and losers among clean energy companies with artificial subsidies, don't let that turn you off of basic research, where the real improvement in future clean energy will be made.

A discovery by military and academic researchers that embedding charged quantum dots into photovoltaic cells can improve electrical output by enabling the cells to harvest infrared light, and by increasing the lifetime of photoelectrons, may mean dramatically increasing the amount of sunlight that solar cells convert into electricity.
Alcohol For A Longer Life?

Alcohol For A Longer Life?

Jan 22 2012 | comment(s)

Forget starving yourself or kooky ideas like a lettuce diet for increased longevity - the answer to living longer may be found in a bottle of alcohol. 

Minuscule amounts of ethanol, the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, has been shown to more than double the life span of Caenorhabditis elegans - though just why is still unclear, so don't get out the Jim Beam just yet.  Plus, high concentrations have been linked to numerous detrimental neurological effects too many times for that to be overthrown any time soon.