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Drains And Chemicals: Rethinking How We Clean Our Homes

Drains And Chemicals: Rethinking How We Clean Our Homes

Sep 15 2015 | comment(s)

Individually, we use thousands of chemicals in our households and very few of us think about whether they are harming the environment. We often think about buying a “green” detergent to wash our clothes, but the simple act of shampooing and conditioning our hair, even with green products, results in more than 30 chemicals being washed into our sewers.

Despite our best efforts in the supermarket, our waste water treatment systems are well designed for removing most of these chemicals, as the majority are biodegradable. However, a number of household chemicals are difficult to remove and end up being discharged into our coastal environments and waterways.

The Industrial Revolution Ended 1,800 Years Of Ocean Cooling

The Industrial Revolution Ended 1,800 Years Of Ocean Cooling

Sep 15 2015 | comment(s)

The high frequency and magnitude of volcanic eruptions could have been the cause of the progressive cooling of ocean surfaces over a period of 1,800 years, according to a new study.

The study emphasizes that this trend came to an end with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the resulting global warming caused by human activity. It further shows that the lowest temperatures in the first 1,800 years of the Common Era were recorded between the 16th and the 18th centuries, a period known as the "Little Ice Age".

Humans Are Hard-Wired For Laziness

Humans Are Hard-Wired For Laziness

Sep 15 2015 | comment(s)

Every time you go to the gym to burn off those Dim Sum calories from the night before, your nervous system is subconsciously working against you.

Researchers have found that our nervous systems are remarkably adept in changing the way we move so as to expend the least amount of energy possible.

In other words, humans are wired for laziness.

The findings, which were made by studying the energetic costs of walking, likely apply to most of our movements, the researchers say.

California Drought: Sierra Nevada Snowpack At 500-Year Low

California Drought: Sierra Nevada Snowpack At 500-Year Low

Sep 15 2015 | comment(s)

In the Mediterranean climate of California, with its warm, wet winters and hot, dry summers, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains plays a critical role. It serves as a natural water storage system that feeds waterways and reservoirs during the dry summer months.

That’s why it was very fitting that when Governor Jerry Brown announced the first-ever mandatory statewide water restrictions, he did it from the snow-barren Phillips snow course station in the Sierra Nevada. The April 1 snowpack’s water content has been measured at this station since 1941 and has averaged at 66.5 inches over this period.

Large Eyes Come At A High Cost

Large Eyes Come At A High Cost

Sep 15 2015 | comment(s)

Researchers ave shown that well-developed eyes come at a surprising cost to other organ systems. 

Researchers have long associated the presence of a well-developed brain with major energy consumption. This means that animals that develop advanced nervous systems require environments where this is possible. There has to be good access to nutrients, and every investment in an organ comes at a cost to some other organ system that is less essential in that particular environment. Up to now, there have been few concrete measurements of how high the cost of a nervous system actually is.

The study involving Mexican cavefish shows that the visual system can require between 5% and 15% of an animal's total energy budget.

African Dams Linked To Over 1 Million Malaria Cases Annually

African Dams Linked To Over 1 Million Malaria Cases Annually

Sep 15 2015 | comment(s)

Over one million people in sub-Saharan Africa will contract malaria this year because they live near a large dam, according to a new study which, for the first time, has correlated the location of large dams with the incidence of malaria and quantified impacts across the region. The study finds that construction of an expected 78 major new dams in sub-Saharan Africa over the next few years will lead to an additional 56,000 malaria cases annually.

Fewer Women Getting Minimally Invasive Hysterectomies Since FDA Guidelines

Fewer Women Getting Minimally Invasive Hysterectomies Since FDA Guidelines

Sep 14 2015 | comment(s)

Since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cautioned against using a minimally invasive method to treat fibroid tumors called power morcellation, there was a nearly quarter increase in hospital readmissions and 27 percent increase in major postoperative complications after hysterectomies in Michigan, a new University of Michigan study says.

After the first FDA safety communication in April 2014, the percent of women receiving minimally invasive hysterectomies in a large Michigan database also went down by an absolute 1.7 percent decrease.

The findings appear in the American Journal of Obstetrics&Gynecology.

Half Of Diabetes Among Asian-Americans Undiagnosed

Half Of Diabetes Among Asian-Americans Undiagnosed

Sep 14 2015 | comment(s)

More than half of Asian Americans and nearly half of Hispanic Americans with diabetes are undiagnosed, according to researchers from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additionally, prevalence of diabetes for all American adults went up, from nearly 10 percent to over 12 percent between 1988 and 2012. Diabetes prevalence - how common the condition is - also went up in every age, sex, level of education, income and racial/ethnic subgroup. One bright spot: The proportion of people with diabetes that was undiagnosed decreased 23 percent between 1988-1994 and 2011-2012.

The statistics account for age differences across the surveys.

Mark Bittman Goes From Editorializing To The Real World

Mark Bittman Goes From Editorializing To The Real World

Sep 13 2015 | comment(s)

When Paul Krugman, a famous liberal economist who has gained enduring cultural prominence by writing for the New York Times, actually put his philosophical beliefs to practical use, he helped give us Enron. Today, Dr. Krugman wisely avoids anything that translates to the real world. In the Sarbanes-Oxley culture he helped make necessary, he can stay out of jail if he sticks to polemics about Republicans.
Teenage Sexting: Criminalize Abuse, Not Sexual Exploration

Teenage Sexting: Criminalize Abuse, Not Sexual Exploration

Sep 13 2015 | comment(s)

Now that so many teenagers have smartphones equipped with cameras it’s inevitable that they’re used to take pictures, sometimes regrettable pictures, and to share them with others. The problem is that this is not just often regrettable in their own eyes, but also illegal in the eyes of the law.

A 14-year-old boy who took a naked selfie and sent it to a girl at school that he’d been flirting with recently found himself in hot water with his school and with the police. Both his and the girl’s details have been added to a police intelligence database for making and distributing an indecent image. Indecent because, as an image of a minor, it’s classified as child pornography under the Protection of Children Act 1978.

Diet Soda Drinkers Often Offset That With More Unhealthy Food

Diet Soda Drinkers Often Offset That With More Unhealthy Food

Sep 12 2015 | comment(s)

Want fries with that diet soda? You aren't alone, and you may not be saving as many calories as you think by consuming diet drinks, according to a new examination of the dietary habits of more than 22,000 U.S. adults which found that diet-beverage consumers may compensate for the absence of calories in their drinks by noshing on extra food that is loaded with sugar, sodium, fat and cholesterol.

Why Americans Are Obsessed With Pumpkin Spice Everything

Why Americans Are Obsessed With Pumpkin Spice Everything

Sep 12 2015 | comment(s)

It was a humid, sticky 32°C when I made a quick trip to the grocery store in shorts and a tank top earlier this week. Despite the heat, however, the store clearly wanted me to think it was the fall season – and for us Americans, that means pumpkin spice.

Weaving in and out of each aisle, I was inundated with row upon row of pumpkin spice M&Ms, pumpkin spice yogurt, pumpkin spice Oreos, pumpkin spice cereal, pumpkin spice beer, pumpkin spice cookies, pumpkin spice bagels, pumpkin spice Pop-Tarts, pumpkin spice popcorn, pumpkin spice hummus, pumpkin spice creamer for my pumpkin spice coffee …

Half Life Of Stories On Science 2.0

Half Life Of Stories On Science 2.0

Sep 12 2015 | comment(s)

Taking Andy Warhol's quip, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes," (which seems, like so many quotations, to have been stolen or mis-attributed) as a point of departure, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi hypothesized that perhaps the internet was the place where this prediction might be close to accurate.

In his 2010 book "Bursts," Barabasi looks at many phenomena related to dispersion, starting with Einstein's thought experiments and predictions for a power law to describe the "random" movement of dust particles in water.
Help Category Theory - Fund A Female Scientist

Help Category Theory - Fund A Female Scientist

Sep 12 2015 | comment(s)

Category theory is a branch of mathematics which attempts a formalization in terms of simple elements and associations between them. A rather abstract construction, indeed, and certainly one above my head (I am an experimentalist, for god's sake!).
Glaucoma Drugs Get A Step Closer

Glaucoma Drugs Get A Step Closer

Sep 12 2015 | comment(s)

Scientists have discovered that the high pressure in the eye that occurs with most common forms of glaucoma can trigger two genes that work together to cause vision loss, a finding that may help pave the way for new glaucoma drugs.

There is currently no way to prevent onset or worsening of glaucoma and it is usually treated by managing fluid pressure inside the eye.

The researchers looked at the genes involved in primary open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of the disease, which usually affects people over 50 and can cause blindness.

The strong nuclear force

The strong nuclear force

Sep 12 2015 | comment(s)

Nuclear Glue

The nucleus of an atom is made up of protons and neutrons.  Both have about the same weight although protons have a positive charge and neutrons have no charge (they are neutral).  Like charges such as protons produce a repulsive force against each other.  This then begs the question, what holds the nucleus together then if these positively charged protons are all pushing each other away while being crammed into the nucleus together?

Why Nukes Can't Terraform Mars - Pack Less Punch Than A Comet Collision

Why Nukes Can't Terraform Mars - Pack Less Punch Than A Comet Collision

Sep 11 2015 | comment(s)

This story has recently hit the news. I think it is reasonably clear he was not putting forward a serious worked out future plan for Mars. But is there any potential in the idea?

Vestibular Organ -- Signal Replicas Make A Flexible Sensor

Vestibular Organ -- Signal Replicas Make A Flexible Sensor

Sep 11 2015 | comment(s)

When a jogger sets out on his evening run, the active movements of his arms and legs are accompanied by involuntary changes in the position of the head relative to the rest of the body. Yet the jogger does not experience feelings of dizziness like those induced in the passive riders of a rollercoaster, who have no control over the abrupt dips and swoops to which they are exposed.

The reason for the difference lies in the vestibular organ (VO) located in the inner ear, which controls balance and posture. The VO senses ongoing self-motion and ensures that, while running, the jogger unconsciously compensates for the accompanying changes in the orientation of the head.

Study: Compensation Does Not Lead To More Positive View Of Products

Study: Compensation Does Not Lead To More Positive View Of Products

Sep 11 2015 | comment(s)

With all of the recent controversy about claims that Monsanto funding a plant biologist skewed discussion by scientists in their favor, and claims that organic PR companies strategically used anti-science activists at Mother Jones and the New York Times to keep those readers against GMOs, a public relations study couldn't be more timely.

The FOIA Babe, and the New Abuse of Vanity Harassment

The FOIA Babe, and the New Abuse of Vanity Harassment

Sep 11 2015 | comment(s)

I’ve been a critic of the Food Babe for a long time. Actually, I’ve been the critic of anyone that attempts to manipulate the public perception of science, while presenting zero scientific evidence. Especially deplorable are those that use fear to force a message, and scare people about safe food while profiting in the process.
It’s an old story now, but when ‘Food Babe’ Vani Hari visited my university to sell her science-blind worldview I was not exactly thrilled. We professors are tasked to teach from evidence, with foundation in a scholarly literature. Why would we subject our students to the daft rants of a dim food activist that lines her pockets by frightening people away from safe food?