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Hey Football Players, We Can Get Hurt During The Super Bowl Too

Hey Football Players, We Can Get Hurt During The Super Bowl Too

Jan 26 2009 | comment(s)

Who says football is dangerous only to the people who have 320 lb. linemen that can do a 4.4 second 40-yard dash flying at them?    We can get hurt too, namely by choking on a chicken wing.   Or getting a tummy ache from too much Bratwurst.

Super Bowl game day is actually pretty dangerous.   People get up and cheer too quickly and pull a muscle, there are drunken driving accidents and people who drink too much and fail to get up and go to the bathroom can also develop a problem called urinary retention, a condition where the bladder gets so full that the muscles are not strong enough to generate a stream.
Do You Have Congeniality Genes? Your Social Network Standing May Tell You

Do You Have Congeniality Genes? Your Social Network Standing May Tell You

Jan 26 2009 | comment(s)

Can't help being the life of the party?   Us either.  

Maybe we were just born that way.

Researchers from Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego have found that our place in a social network is influenced in part by our genes, according to new findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.   This is the first study to examine the inherited characteristics of social networks and to establish a genetic role in the formation and configuration of these networks. 

While it might be expected that genes affect personality, these findings go further and illustrate a genetic influence on the structure and formation of an individual's social group. 
Biased Gene Conversion Deserves Some Credit In Evolution Too, Say Researchers

Biased Gene Conversion Deserves Some Credit In Evolution Too, Say Researchers

Jan 26 2009 | comment(s)

Why have some of our genes evolved rapidly? It is widely believed that Darwinian natural selection is responsible, but research led by a group at Uppsala University suggests that a separate neutral (nonadaptive) process has made a significant contribution to human evolution. 
Not Just Materialism - Brand Loyalty Linked To 'Death' Anxiety

Not Just Materialism - Brand Loyalty Linked To 'Death' Anxiety

Jan 26 2009 | comment(s)

Some men are Baptists, others Catholics; my father was an Oldsmobile man - Jean Shepherd, "A Christmas Story"

Do you have brand loyalty?   Some of it may be historical ideas of quality, to be sure - if you bought a Mercedes-Benz this decade it was likely because it used to be that you paid more for better quality - but some of it is just materialism - if you bought a Mercedes-Benz this decade you also discovered that marketing people figure that if you were dumb enough to pay double for basically Hyundai quality you will be dumb enough to pay $1000 for the CD player they didn't include - but you may have bought it anyway.

It turns out it may also be 'death anxiety', according to a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack - World Trade Center Evacuation Risk Factors Identified

September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack - World Trade Center Evacuation Risk Factors Identified

Jan 26 2009 | comment(s)

Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health have released findings identifying factors that affected evacuation from the World Trade Center (WTC) Towers after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. A research methodology known as participatory action research (PAR) was used to identify individual, organizational, and structural/environmental barriers to safe and rapid evacuation. 
Energizer Bunny Goes Green? An Ethanol Battery Gets More Practical

Energizer Bunny Goes Green? An Ethanol Battery Gets More Practical

Jan 26 2009 | comment(s)

The only thing that gets less respect than ethanol these days are batteries -  having to replace batteries in a Prius and the acid rain that comes from manufacturing them is why the Prius was always destined to just annoy everyone in the HOV lane and not actually help the enviroment.

Likewise, ethanol's mandates and subsidies seem to mean it will never get more efficient, but it currently creates more greenhouse gases in manufacturing and usage than it saves.   
Despite Recent Issues, 'Happiness Gap' In The US Narrowed Since 1970

Despite Recent Issues, 'Happiness Gap' In The US Narrowed Since 1970

Jan 26 2009 | comment(s)

People have found plenty to criticize in the last year but if we look at the last few decades, there is actually a lot more American equality - in overall happiness.   Which is really looking at the glass half full.

That's not to say there are more happy people - it's about the same as 1970 - but it instead means that the 'happiness' gap, the levels of discontent between unhappy and happy people, has become smaller.   The research published by University of Pennsylvania economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers in the Journal of Legal Studies says that the American population as a whole is no happier than it was three decades ago. But happiness inequality, the gap between the happy and the not-so-happy, has narrowed significantly.
Anticholinergic Medications Linked To Cognitive Decline In Elderly

Anticholinergic Medications Linked To Cognitive Decline In Elderly

Jan 26 2009 | comment(s)

A study published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggests that the use of certain medications in elderly populations may be associated with cognitive decline. The study examined the effects of exposure to anticholinergic medications, a type of drug used to treat a variety of disorders that include respiratory and gastrointestinal problems, on over 500 relatively healthy men aged 65 years or older with high blood pressure. 
Can Kids Walk And Talk At The Same Time? Only If We Want More Accidents, Says Study

Can Kids Walk And Talk At The Same Time? Only If We Want More Accidents, Says Study

Jan 26 2009 | comment(s)

Children who talk on cell phones while crossing streets are at a higher risk for injuries or death in a pedestrian accident, said psychologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in a new Pediatrics journal study. 

Cell phones are quickly becoming ubiquitous among American schoolchildren, according to the UAB psychologists; "Commercial interests actively market cell phones for children, and marketing research firms estimate that 54 percent of children 8-12 will have cell phones by the end of [this year,] double the 2006 rate." 

Just as drivers should limit cell phone use while driving, pedestrians, and especially child pedestrians, should avoid using cell phone while crossing streets, they state. 
Not Just Food - Other Things Cause Bacterial Infections Too, Says USDA Study

Not Just Food - Other Things Cause Bacterial Infections Too, Says USDA Study

Jan 26 2009 | comment(s)

A new study finds swimming, having a private well or septic system, and other factors not involving food consumption were major risk factors for bacterial intestinal infections not occurring in outbreaks. 

Outbreaks linked to food, such as the current Salmonella outbreak involving peanut butter that has sickened more than 500 people in 43 states, account for only about 10 percent of intestinal infections, which are medically termed as enteric infections, according to a new study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.   The study suggests that methods for controlling bacterial enteric outbreaks may not be completely relevant to controlling the other 90 percent or so that occur sporadically.
Targin(R) (Oral Oxycodone/Naloxone Prolonged-Release Tablet) Now Launching Across Europe To Control Severe Chronic Pain With Significantly Reduced Risk Of Opioid-Induced Constipation

Targin(R) (Oral Oxycodone/Naloxone Prolonged-Release Tablet) Now Launching Across Europe To Control Severe Chronic Pain With Significantly Reduced Risk Of Opioid-Induced Constipation

Jan 26 2009 | comment(s)

CAMBRIDGE, England, January 26 /PRNewswire/ --

- Not Intended for Media in Austria, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, UK, France, Czech Republic and Switzerland

- First Analgesic Therapy to Combine Oxycodone, a Strong Opioid, With Naloxone, an Opioid Antagonist, Offers a New Treatment Option for Physicians

Mundipharma today announced that 13 countries* to date have received approval of Targin, a new combination therapy designed to control severe chronic pain whilst counteracting opioid-induced constipation, a common and often debilitating side effect associated with opioid treatment.[1],[2],[3] A period of European launches will now be initiated.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/targin/36704/

Another Unscientific Fluoridation Birthday

Another Unscientific Fluoridation Birthday

Jan 25 2009 | comment(s)

On January 25, 1945, 
Show Me the Science: 30 Days of Evolution Blogging

Show Me the Science: 30 Days of Evolution Blogging

Jan 25 2009 | comment(s)

The world got lucky on February 12th, 1809 with the birth of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. In the United States, Lincoln's 200th birthday will be celebrated in acknowledgement that he was possibly the greatest president in U.S. history. It's become cliché to compare our veneration of Lincoln with Darwin's notoriety during this bicentennial year, but the contrast is striking.
Continental Drift - What Earth Will Look Like In 120 Million Years

Continental Drift - What Earth Will Look Like In 120 Million Years

Jan 25 2009 | comment(s)

It wasn't always the case that people believed in continental drift, German geologist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener's(1)  theory that parts of the Earth's crust slowly drift atop a liquid core.   He believed  200 million years ago there was once a gigantic supercontinent which he called Pangaea ("All-earth") which slowly moved apart.
Is Genome Transcription Bidirectional?

Is Genome Transcription Bidirectional?

Jan 25 2009 | comment(s)

Genes that contain instructions for making proteins make up less than 2% of the human genome. Yet, for unknown reasons, most of our genome is transcribed into RNA. 

Investigating all transcripts produced in a yeast cell, researchers in the groups of Lars Steinmetz at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and Wolfgang Huber at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) in Hinxton, UK found that most regions of the yeast genome produce several transcripts starting at the same promoter. These transcripts are interleaved and overlapping on the DNA.   In contrast to what was previously thought, the vast majority of promoters seem to initiate transcription in both directions.
Sea Dead Zones Could Expand Due To Global Warming, Say Danish Researchers

Sea Dead Zones Could Expand Due To Global Warming, Say Danish Researchers

Jan 25 2009 | comment(s)

Dead zones are low-oxygen areas in the ocean where higher life forms such as fish, crabs and clams are not able to live.   In shallow coastal regions, for examples, dead zones can be caused by runoff of excess fertilizers from farming.

A team of Danish researchers is projecting that unchecked global warming would lead to a dramatic expansion of low-oxygen areas zones in the global ocean by a factor of 10 or more.

Whereas some coastal dead zones could be recovered by simply controlling fertilizer usage, expanded low-oxygen areas caused by global warming might remain for many years. The findings are reported in a paper 'Long-term ocean oxygen depletion in response to carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels' in Nature Geoscience. 
DNA 'Hotspots' Are Genetic Marker For Psoriasis, Say Researchers

DNA 'Hotspots' Are Genetic Marker For Psoriasis, Say Researchers

Jan 25 2009 | comment(s)

Psoriasis affects some 7.5 million people in the United States, causing sore, itchy patches of red, scaly skin. In many cases psoriasis is not only disfiguring; between 10 and 30 percent of patients develop psoriatic arthritis, a painful inflammation of the joints. Current treatments, including different types of immunosuppressive agents, aren't always effective, and they can cause serious side effects. 

Psoriasis has a strong genetic component; a child with two affected parents has a 50 percent chance of developing it; siblings have a three- to six-fold risk. But the genes responsible for psoriasis haven't yet been completely understood. 
The Death of Long Term Memory

The Death of Long Term Memory

Jan 24 2009 | comment(s)

This fascinating article at Scientific American, about human and animal consciousness, contains the following passage:

"In humans, the short-term storage of symbolic information—as when you enter an acquaintance’s phone number into your iPhone’s memory—is associated with conscious processing."
Not The Same Study Section: How The Truth Comes Out

Not The Same Study Section: How The Truth Comes Out

Jan 24 2009 | comment(s)

In the latest Vanity Fair is a brilliant piece of journalism, Goodbye to All That: An Oral History of the Bush White House by Cullen Murphy and Todd Purdum. In a fun, easy-to-read format, it tells some basic truths I had never read before. Here are two examples:

Matthew Dowd, Bush’s pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign:

When Abu Ghraib happened, I was like, We’ve got to fire Rumsfeld. Like if we’re the “accountability president,” we haven’t really done this.
A Mathematician a Cheerleader for Science?

A Mathematician a Cheerleader for Science?

Jan 24 2009 | comment(s)

In a Times News Review interview, Marcus du Sautoy, our new Oxford University Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, says:
I became a mathematician and not a scientist because science often goes wrong .... You do an experiment 100 times and you get the same result. You do it for the 101st time and something different happens. No one would be my lab partner at school because all my experiments went wrong. Maybe I’m a bad choice for this job.