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Chaos In A Coffee Stain

Chaos In A Coffee Stain

Aug 29 2011 | comment(s)

The ring-shaped stains of tiny dissolved particles, like a coffee stains from the bottom of a cup,  that develop after a liquid has evaporated hold a physics mystery - while the particles on the outside of the ring are neatly organized, chaos reigns on the inside of the ring where the particles seem to have collected in a great hurry. 
Asian Longhorned Beetle Puts New England Maple Trees At Risk

Asian Longhorned Beetle Puts New England Maple Trees At Risk

Aug 29 2011 | comment(s)


Results from the first study of the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) in forests show that the invasive insect can easily spread from tree-lined city streets to neighboring forests. Successful ALB eradication efforts in Chicago, and ongoing eradication efforts in Boston, New York, and other U.S. cities have focused exclusively on urban street trees and the ongoing ALB infestation in Worcester, Mass., is the only outbreak so far that has allowed the beetle to invade nearby closed-canopy forests.
Hurricane Formation... And Control?

Hurricane Formation... And Control?

Aug 29 2011 | comment(s)

This time of year, hurricanes take over the news coverage. Hurricane season is one of those annual events nobody really looks forward to. And yet, there they come, year after year. This has spurred some people to question whether or not hurricanes can potentially be controlled. Or at least influenced.

But first, how do hurricanes form? I’ll choose the lazy option here and quote the brief but elucidating explanation given by Ross N. Hoffman:

Getting No Love: Age Of Autism Wants Autism Speaks To Shut Up

Getting No Love: Age Of Autism Wants Autism Speaks To Shut Up

Aug 29 2011 | comment(s)

Dan Olmsted is pissed at Autism Speaks and wants them to shut up and go away, all because of Dr. Dawson's coverage of the IOM report this past week.
King Solomon: The Wisest Man Who Ever Lived Was More Like A Gothic Myth

King Solomon: The Wisest Man Who Ever Lived Was More Like A Gothic Myth

Aug 28 2011 | comment(s)

King Solomon is credited with a lot.   He knew everything, he could turn lead into gold, conjure demons and become invisible. Jamaicans even credit him with discovering marijuana.  If you know the Captain Marvel comic book superhero, the keyword he uses to change from Billy Batson to Captian Marvel is an acronym, SHAZAM - the S stands for Solomon and Solomon gave Cap wisdom.(1)

But he was also the prototype for Faust.  According to the Talmud, written around 500 A.D., Solomon cut a deal with the devil to build the great temple of Jerusalem – with disastrous consequences.
ClimateGate Is Not Over?

ClimateGate Is Not Over?

Aug 28 2011 | comment(s)

Penn State had no issue with research by Michael Mann and, with qualifications about his 'statistical analysis techniques', the National Science Foundation cleared him as well, so why hasn't this ClimateGate thing gone away?

The University of Virginia is providing ammunition for skeptics by citing 'proprietary nature' of some material requested under a Freedom of Information Act request, forcing a court order to get it.
Al Gore - Global Warming Skeptics Are Like Racists

Al Gore - Global Warming Skeptics Are Like Racists

Aug 28 2011 | comment(s)

What, no comparisons to Hitler or Nazis?

There are some people, left and right, who are never going to accept climate change, just like there are some people on the left and right who think vaccines are bad for kids.   The percentages skew more toward right for the former and more left for the latter.

But is it constructive to compare them to racists?  
Rountable Discussion at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora

Rountable Discussion at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora

Aug 28 2011 | comment(s)

The Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA) worked with Senator Michael Bennet's office in assembling a group of more than 35 bioscience industry CEOs from its membership last week to dialogue with the Senator and Margaret Hamburg, M.D., Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, Director, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, and Dr. Vicki Seyfert-Margolis, Senior Science Advisor to the FDA’s Chief Scientist, accompanied Commissioner Hamburg here.
Stretchy Squids Save The Seas! (Game)

Stretchy Squids Save The Seas! (Game)

Aug 28 2011 | comment(s)

I've seen cephalopods pop up in a few video games here and there, but The Game Bakers' Squids is the first one that looks both adorable and fun enough that I want to play it. (Which is a big deal, for me--I don't make time to play video/computer games the way I used to. Though, there was that time a few months ago when we had some friends over and played through the original 16-color version of Monkey Island . . . )
Gordon Kane On SUSY At The LHC

Gordon Kane On SUSY At The LHC

Aug 28 2011 | comment(s)

Despite the hopes of most and the preconceptions of many, news from the Lepton-Photon conference in Mumbay, India, report that the Standard Model is as alive and strong as it has ever been. Indeed, the recent searches for Supersymmetry by ATLAS and CMS, now analyzing datasets that by all standards must be considered "a heck of a lot of data", have returned negative results and have placed lower limits on sparticle masses at values much larger than those previously investigated (by experiments at the Tevatron and LEP II).
Weekend Science: The Physics Of Smoking A Pipe

Weekend Science: The Physics Of Smoking A Pipe

Aug 27 2011 | comment(s)

If you're one of those cultural mullahs who thinks smoking causes lung cancer - even a cigar or a pipe - you can stop reading.  This article is not for you.   I have never smoked a cigarette in my life but gradual efforts by the modern temperance movement to ban smoking everywhere(1) should be resisted by anyone claiming they care about independence, tolerance and diversity.(2)
Biology Is Not Physics

Biology Is Not Physics

Aug 27 2011 | comment(s)

...reductionism will never be able to account for the role of historical contingency and accident. Even if an all-powerful being could account for all biological scenarios emerging from an initial state of the universe, it could never tell us why one particular scenario is preferred over others...evolutionary accidents by definition cannot be predicted from starting conditions because they depend on chance and opportunity. 
al-Maqar - Arabians discover 9,000-year-old civilization

al-Maqar - Arabians discover 9,000-year-old civilization

Aug 27 2011 | comment(s)

The discovery of a new civilization, named al-Maqar after the site's location, will challenge the theory that the domestication of animals took place 5,500 years ago in Central Asia, said Ali al-Ghabban, Vice-President of Antiquities and Museums at the Saudi Commission for Tourism&Antiquities in Arabia.

The site also includes remains of mummified skeletons, arrowheads, scrapers, grain grinders, tools for spinning and weaving, and other tools that are evidence of a civilization that is skilled in handicrafts.
Limiting Squid Fishing in Chile

Limiting Squid Fishing in Chile

Aug 27 2011 | comment(s)

So, it's a bit tricky to figure out exactly what this means, but it could be big news for Humboldt squid in Chile--and therefore Humboldt squid everywhere, since the ocean doesn't exactly control immigration.

Jumbo squid fishery requested to be artisanal:
Ronald Reagan - A Big Fan Of Science Funding

Ronald Reagan - A Big Fan Of Science Funding

Aug 26 2011 | comment(s)

Texas Governor Rick Perry is one Republican who doesn't seem to be a big fan of science but, regardless of what you may read, he is not the norm.  Pres. George W. Bush was also criticized as being 'against' science despite doubling funding of the NIH and boosting a NASA program which had declined throughout the 1990s.

Most people don't recall President Ronald Reagan as advocating for more spending of anything - he was distrustful of Big Government and the nation agreed with him after the bloated government spending of the 1960s and the 'stagflation' of the 1970s.

But he was a fan of more spending in one area - science.
Cultural accommodationists and religion; what about 'creationist' politicians?

Cultural accommodationists and religion; what about 'creationist' politicians?

Aug 26 2011 | comment(s)

Josh Rosenau at Scienceblogs tackles some criticism leveled at people who don't think all religious politicians (and voters) should be met with scorn and derision, a la the Richard Dawkins way.

The topic is, of course, Texas Governor Rick Perry, who plays to the fundamentalist base among Republicans by noting that evolution 'has some gaps', a wink to religious folks who don't believe in it at all (though they are few, and nearly as many Democrats, as I noted).
Measure The Sun Yourself

Measure The Sun Yourself

Aug 26 2011 | comment(s)

Do you know what a creepmeter measures?  Measurement is the heart of science.  What distinguishes science from opinion or philosophy is measureables.  The root of science is facts that are determined by actual observation, compared, then extended into predictions.

Any good measurement has three parts: the number value, the units you're using, and the error.  If I say I am 6 feet tall, that's a number (6) and a unit (feet), with a presumed error of 'within an inch or two'.  All three parts are crucial.
Creationism Wins Votes - For Both Parties

Creationism Wins Votes - For Both Parties

Aug 26 2011 | comment(s)

'Creationism' is a confusing term.  In science, militant atheists will intentionally call all religious people 'creationists' and then complain creationists are anti-science, even about the religious people who are not anti-science at all.   'Young Earth' creationists think we were created in whole form 6,000 or so years ago and believe paleontology and biology are some test of faith but commingling the terms is intellectually dishonest.   Politics makes even otherwise smart scientists do bad things.
The Science Is Settled: No Nutritional Difference Between Free-Range And Caged Chicken Eggs

The Science Is Settled: No Nutritional Difference Between Free-Range And Caged Chicken Eggs

Aug 26 2011 | comment(s)

One of the stranger claims of anti-science hippies is that there is not only a difference between 'organic' food (and apparently 'inorganic' food, whatever that could be) in structure - and if you believe that, go read Huffington Post, I won't take it personally - but also in nutrition.
Did Interbreeding With Neanderthals And Denisovans Boost Our Immune System?

Did Interbreeding With Neanderthals And Denisovans Boost Our Immune System?

Aug 26 2011 | comment(s)

In 2008, a fossil tooth and finger bone were found in a cave in Siberia. After analysis it turned out to belong to a new species of human, now known as the Denisovans. In 2010, a draft of the Neanderthal genome was released, providing indications for potential interbreeding with our ancestors. In the same year, analysis of the Denisovan genome also revealed indications for potential interbreeding.

Now, a new study, published in Science, states that these interbreeding events could have boosted the human immune system.