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Bad News For Anti-Science Hippies - Food Prices Lead To Riots

Bad News For Anti-Science Hippies - Food Prices Lead To Riots

Aug 23 2011 | comment(s)

Complexity theorists have some bad news for people who insist that unless it carries an organic label, food is evil; a group from the New England Complex Systems Institute says they've discovered what will trigger riots around the world in under two years.   It's the price of food and when it rises above the threshold they list for instability, social unrest will sweep the planet.
Cavemen Cooked 2 Million Years Ago - And It Was Due To Efficiency

Cavemen Cooked 2 Million Years Ago - And It Was Due To Efficiency

Aug 23 2011 | comment(s)

Cooking is not a modern invention, concludes new research.   It likely originated 1.9 million years ago, according to results they determined using statistical analysis and evolutionary trees.

How so? They estimated,  in their analysis, how long we should spend feeding every day, based on our body sizes throughout evolutionary history.   Sure, it might seem at first glance like cooking would add more time than directly eating but their results say we would need to spend almost half of our time in the 'feeding' process given our current sizes - cooking basically made food easier to chew and digest and as a result we got more caloric benefit and a smaller digestive tract.
 
Engineering Microbes To Kill Pseudomonas

Engineering Microbes To Kill Pseudomonas

Aug 23 2011 | comment(s)

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (see figure 1) is a human pathogen that colonizes the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract, where it can cause life-threatening infections in patients with a compromised immune system, such as cancer or cystic fibrosis patients. P. aeruginosa is resistant to many antibiotics. Current treatments comprise antibiotic chemotherapy and bacteriophage therapy. However, There are some setbacks to these therapies. The chemotherapy kills many kinds of bacteria, upsetting a healthy human microbiome, and the bacteriophage therapy relies on the use of a virus, which has a limited therapeutic potential as the host can develop specific antibodies against the virus.

   

The Say Of The Week

The Say Of The Week

Aug 23 2011 | comment(s)

"In a world of string theory, I can be the Pope [...]. I just need to modify dilatonic Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory with low-energy heterotic string theory and it's all quite easy."

H. Campbell
How Webometrics Become A Liability In Webometry

How Webometrics Become A Liability In Webometry

Aug 23 2011 | comment(s)

Webometrics faces many challenges, not the least of which is a dearth of tools capable of measuring the Web with any degree of accuracy.  Most academic and professional Webometrics analysts alike have had to rely on a mix of search engine downloads and query operators.  Yet even analysts from organizations with their own crawlers are challenged by the limitations of methodologies and technologies.
China For Science And Secularism, The Most Important 2012 Election

China For Science And Secularism, The Most Important 2012 Election

Aug 23 2011 | comment(s)

Almost only devote religious people like Obama are allowed to climb to power in the West. Germany’s chancellor Merkel had to play down that she was a physicist in order to ensure the voters trust her to be aligned with the obsessions of her “Christian Democratic Union”.

In China, scientists decide at the highest level for many years. Science bloggers dream about secular people in the most important political positions, of science having effective influence "up there". While they yearn, secular scientists occupy the most important political positions in the most important country in the world.

Steven Weinberg and I

Steven Weinberg and I

Aug 23 2011 | comment(s)

I don't like Steven Weinberg.


Good, I have said it. I will provide a brief biographical sketch and a short list of his lengthy accomplishments. I read one of his science outreach books, "Dreams of a Final Theory: The Search for the Fundamental Law of Nature".  I will pluck out three issues from the book to show why our scientific beliefs are divergent.
Émilie Du Châtelet - An Essay On Heat - 1739 - #3

Émilie Du Châtelet - An Essay On Heat - 1739 - #3

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

Émilie Du Châtelet - An Essay On Heat - 1739 - #3

This is a plain text transcription of Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu - Part 2.

For introductory comments, please see Émilie du Châtelet - An Essay On Heat - 1739 - #1.

[edit - inserted image at page 55 and corrected a few minor typos.]

Transcription of part 2 follows below this page break.
...........................................................................

    -  51  -

    DU FEU

    SECONDE  PARTIE.
Émilie Du Châtelet - An Essay On Heat - 1739 - #2

Émilie Du Châtelet - An Essay On Heat - 1739 - #2

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

Émilie Du Châtelet - An Essay On Heat - 1739 - #2

This is a plain text transcription of Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu.

For introductory comments, please see Émilie du Châtelet - An Essay On Heat - 1739 - #1.


Transcription of part 1 follows below this page break.
................................................................

DISSERTATION
SUR LA NATURE
ET
LA PROPAGATION
DU FEU
______________________
Ignea convexis vis, & sine pondere coeli
Emecuit, summâque locum sibi legit in arce.
Ovid.
______________________
NSF Clears Michael Mann Of Misconduct

NSF Clears Michael Mann Of Misconduct

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

On August 15th, the closeout memorandum for the Office of Inspector General at the National Science Foundation agreed with two reviews commissioned by Pennsylvania State University which cleared climate researcher Michael Mann of allegations regarding research integrity, including allegations of research misconduct, specifically

(1) falsifying research data
(2) concealing, deleting or otherwise destroying emails, information or data
(3)misusing privileged information and
When Is A Non-Profit Endorsing?: Autism Speaks And The National Autism Association Convention

When Is A Non-Profit Endorsing?: Autism Speaks And The National Autism Association Convention

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

Recently I became aware through Sullivan's post at LBRB that Autism Speaks was sponsoring the National Autism Association's national conference and that Andrew Wakefield was speaking at this conference, along with a long list of proponents of less-than-scientifically-backed treatments.

Émilie Du Châtelet - An Essay On Heat - 1739 - #1

Émilie Du Châtelet - An Essay On Heat - 1739 - #1

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

Émilie du Châtelet - An Essay On Heat - 1739 - #1


In 1739 the Paris Academy of Sciences proposed a question: what is fire?  A prize was offered for the best response. Entries were to be presented anonymously. The prize was awarded to Euler.  Voltaire, who had also entered the competition, did not know until the list of entrants was published with the prize award notification that his entry had been in competition against one from his lover.  Although Émilie du Châtelet did not win the prize, her entry was considered so remarkable that, at the request of Réaumur, the Academy decided to have it printed at its own expense.

MABEL - World's Fastest Bipedal Robot (With Knees)

MABEL - World's Fastest Bipedal Robot (With Knees)

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

A robot named MABEL was created in a University of Michigan lab but 'she' can run like a human, up to 6.8 miles per hour.

Unless HYDRA and SHIELD exist in secret underground lairs, MABEL is the world's fastest bipedal robot - with knees, that is.
World's Smallest Chicken Egg - about the size of a penny

World's Smallest Chicken Egg - about the size of a penny

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

The Rev. Donnie Russell of West Virginia found a 2.1-centimeter-long egg last month on his farm. It weighs just 3.46 grams, just over a one-tenth of an ounce, and is about the size of a penny.

The chicken that he believes laid the egg is normal sized and the state Department of Agriculture has certified the egg's size.  The Guinness Book Of World Records currently lists the smallest recorded chicken egg as 2.7 centimeters.



World's Smallest Chicken Egg Hard To Beat
1st Century BC Roman Wreck Full Of Wine Jars Found In Water Off Albania

1st Century BC Roman Wreck Full Of Wine Jars Found In Water Off Albania

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

A US-Albanian underwater expedition believes they have found a 1st century B.C. Roman shipwreck off the southwestern Albanian coast, close to the Sazan Island off the Karaburun Peninsula and the Vlora city, 87 miles southwest of the capital, Tirana.

They speculate  the 'well-preserved' 30-yard tall ship and some 300 Lambolie 2-type amphora were in the wine transport business. 

Unfortunately, the amphora were empty.  If wine gets better with age, it would have to be pretty terrific after 2,000-plus years.  


New CMS Limits On Higgs Mass

New CMS Limits On Higgs Mass

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

I have written enough today about the topic of Higgs boson searches at the LHC by discussing the new ATLAS limits (see previous post), but I feel that, before going to bed, I need to point out the new results on the same topic by CMS, the competitor experiment. As you know, I work in CMS and I have to be twice as cautious when I write about the results of my own experiment, because some of my colleagues have uncovered nerves when it comes to blogs. However, the little I'll say here tonight should cause no discomfort to anybody.
Madame Argonaut

Madame Argonaut

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

Miriam over at Deep-Sea News recently posted a lovely write-up on the argonaut, or paper nautilus. This reminded me that I, too, once felt the delight of finding a live argonaut in a manta tow cod end.

So I went digging through my grad school archives and found the video I took--on a miniDV tape, which felt so futuristic then and seems so retro now. How times change.

Anyway, amateur videographer that I am, I somehow managed to splice the least horrible footage together with a voiceover to create a brief film of the awesomeness that is the argonaut.
Wormholes Possible? Yes, And Using String Theory, I Am Also The Pope

Wormholes Possible? Yes, And Using String Theory, I Am Also The Pope

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

Science 2.0 fave Dan Vergano at USA Today wrote an article based on the arXiv preprint written by Panagiota Kanti, Burkhard Kleihaus and Jutta Kunz called "Wormholes in Dilatonic Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Theory".
Defining Dallas: Symptoms of Pond Mortality

Defining Dallas: Symptoms of Pond Mortality

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

The drought continues and our ponds shrink at Trinity River Audubon Center.  I'm torn between fascination about the process and worried for the life and diversity that we've worked so hard to nurture.   The floodplain ponds will come back with the first flood -- and they're the ones with the highest diversity.  But the ponds that were gone had a fairly low diversity... they were young ponds (deliberately formed during the brownfield remediation process, backed with a waterproof cloth, and planted (basically environmentally created swimming pools) and were just starting to develop.
What Was The Weather Forecast For The Battle Of Carthage?

What Was The Weather Forecast For The Battle Of Carthage?

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

Science, history and a little detective work?  Yes, please!  

Tony Lupo, professor and department chair of atmospheric sciences at the University of Missouri, and Mike Madden, a meteorology student,  pulled together bits and pieces of global meteorological flotsam to compile a Missouri weather forecast from 150 years.

They created their weather forecast for the Battle of Carthage, which took place early in the Civil War on July 5, 1861.  Why that one?  Well, they live in Missouri.