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Ultraviolet Disinfection For Water - Love It

Ultraviolet Disinfection For Water - Love It

Aug 14 2012 | comment(s)

Among misguided positions, radiation and pesticides are only slightly behind vaccinations and genetic optimization on the anti-science hippie scale.  A 2011 analysis of the GSS showed that, along with harmless positions like that astrology is scientific, there was a big difference between the left and the right on knowledge of science issues like "Exposure to radioactivity doesn't necessarily lead to death" (67.5% left to 77% right) and "Exposure to pesticides doesn't necessarily cause cancer"(55.5% left and 66.8%) - bigger science gaps than the 9% difference between the right and left on evolution that gets all Republicans labeled 'anti-science'.
2012 Olympics Win A Medal For Sustainability Too

2012 Olympics Win A Medal For Sustainability Too

Aug 14 2012 | comment(s)

The Olympics can never be green, given that countries spend $14 billion tearing down and building stuff and then people fly and drive in from all over the place to watch.  But they can at least be relatively green.

 As Melissa C. Lott at Scientific American Blogs notes, the Brits did it right; the event was built with sustainability as part of the planning.  From recycling to energy efficiency, plenty of their materials and buildings are being repurposed, so in the Green Olympics of Olympics, London is #1
Would Science Benefit From A 'Good Housekeeping Seal Of Approval'?

Would Science Benefit From A 'Good Housekeeping Seal Of Approval'?

Aug 14 2012 | comment(s)

Like many, science journalist Carl Zimmer has become concerned about the ability of science to correct itself; at least on a culturally acceptable timescale brought about by instant media publication of studies.

Arsenic life is one example, though clearly the system worked.  While the article got published it was criticized quite rapidly and bloggers have caught stealth Creationist papers that peer reviewers missed too.
ICARUS: Neutrinos Travel At Light Speed. Period.

ICARUS: Neutrinos Travel At Light Speed. Period.

Aug 14 2012 | comment(s)

Little less than one year ago the world of fundamental physics was shaken by the bold claim of the OPERA collaboration, which produced a measurement of the time of flight of neutrinos traveling underground from Geneva to the Gran Sasso mine in central Italy. The beam of neutrinos, produced by the CERN SpS proton synchrotron, was observed to produce interactions in the large mass of the OPERA detector with about 60 nanosecond anticipation with respect to what would be expected for a particle traveling at exactly the speed of light (2439096.1+-0.3 nanoseconds, since the flight path is of 731221.95+-0.09 meters).
Macabre Archeology: Forty Hectares Of Remains Found In Denmark Bog

Macabre Archeology: Forty Hectares Of Remains Found In Denmark Bog

Aug 14 2012 | comment(s)

Forty hectares of remains have been found in Alken Enge bog located in in the Alken Enge wetlands near Lake Mossø in East Jutland, Denmark.
Detractors Not Grasping The Memristor

Detractors Not Grasping The Memristor

Aug 14 2012 | comment(s)

The so called "memristor" is an intriguing case for the sociology of science [2] and it still unfolds. Especially annoying are critics who do not grasp the core issue. They hand easily refuted charges to Goliath so he can point to them laughing: “Look, all that criticism is mere envious pseudo-science”.

UPDATE: new article on that the memristor has not been found now published by Nature group

Heteronormative Biases And Hermeneutic Phenomenology In Mass Effect 3

Heteronormative Biases And Hermeneutic Phenomenology In Mass Effect 3

Aug 14 2012 | comment(s)

This paper seeks to address hypermasculinity and the settled heteronormative value system embodied in public-policy actors, primarily the White-centered hegemonic masculinity that has created negative performative aspects of cultural identity constructions in this multicultural and globalized era.
Smooth Patch Effect: Freddy Garcia Pitch Leads To New Physics Hypothesis

Smooth Patch Effect: Freddy Garcia Pitch Leads To New Physics Hypothesis

Aug 13 2012 | comment(s)

An April 29, 2011, a low split-finger fastball thrown by Yankees right-handed pitcher Freddy Garcia inspired a whole science study.
Wildlife Conservation Society Endorses Reponsible Energy Development In Arctic Alaska

Wildlife Conservation Society Endorses Reponsible Energy Development In Arctic Alaska

Aug 13 2012 | comment(s)

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) came out in support of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar's proposed plan for energy development in Arctic Alaska. By protecting extensive coastal plain habitat around Teshekpuk Lake, and the foothills around the Utukok uplands, the most important Arctic wetlands and migratory corridor for caribou and migratory birds would be conserved.

A final management plan for the NPR-A may be issued by the secretary after a 30-day review but  the WCS lauds the proposal because it balances conservation, subsistence rights for Alaska Natives, and energy extraction.

Rachel Carson Wanted GMOs

Rachel Carson Wanted GMOs

Aug 13 2012 | comment(s)

"The formation of a new science of biotic controls,” predicted Rachel Carson in "Silent Spring" 50 years ago next month, was going to save us from pesticides.

She was wrong that DDT would give you cancer if you sprayed it but she was right in believing that the future of agriculture rested solidly on genetic solutions to problems that chemicals were then solving.

Why, then, are her intellectual descendants so against science?  Mostly, it's because they never read her book, they have simply read activists discussing what her book was about; being anti-agriculture and gravitating to what she perceived as the problem (DDT and pesticides) rather than one factor (misuse).
Google Earth Uncovers Lost Pyramids In Egypt

Google Earth Uncovers Lost Pyramids In Egypt

Aug 13 2012 | comment(s)

Archaeologists used to note for new students that the field was not the place where most work was done; the Indiana Jones perception of flying off to ancient, hidden ruins and outfoxing Nazis was just an adventure tale. Archeology instead was done in libraries, they said. The visiting and digging was the fun part after the work was done.

Now they don't even need libraries; they have Google Earth.
Triclosan: Antibacterial Handsoap Chemical Poses Risks In Animal Models

Triclosan: Antibacterial Handsoap Chemical Poses Risks In Animal Models

Aug 13 2012 | comment(s)

Triclosan, an antibacterial chemical widely used in hand soaps and other personal-care products, may impair muscle function. It hinders muscle contractions at a cellular level, slows swimming in fish and reduces muscular strength in mice, according to research from the University of California, Davis, and the University of Colorado. 
It's Simple; Shale Gas Is Our Best Short-Term Climate Fix

It's Simple; Shale Gas Is Our Best Short-Term Climate Fix

Aug 13 2012 | comment(s)

Current policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions are inadequate for dealing with the threat that they pose - for every emission that America alone reduced (and we have reduced a lot, we are back at 1992 levels) China added that and more, and India would also like to have air conditioning.

Yet anyone who contends there has to be a hard stop on fossil fuels has basically eliminated themselves from a rational policy discussion - the energy density of gasoline is unmatched and we would need to create a nuclear power plant worth of clean energy every day for the next 50 years to meet our energy needs right now.  
...and this is why I once saw an iguana outside my classroom.

...and this is why I once saw an iguana outside my classroom.

Aug 13 2012 | comment(s)

Invasive species have been something of a pet peeve of mind ever since I found about them several years ago.  Who knew that the honeysuckle I enjoyed as a child actually belonged in Japan?  While some invasive species have proven more harmful than others (snakehead fish vs. brown trout, for example)- and some can more correctly be called "non-native species"- in general, they are a huge headache.
Is Your Duck Too Fat?

Is Your Duck Too Fat?

Aug 13 2012 | comment(s)

The BBC (cue: Land of Hope and Glory!) has just started yet another series on Chinese food.  In Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure, two famous chefs, the illustrious Ken Hom OBE and the rising star Ching-He Huang (黃瀞億) (neither of whom has an entry in Chinese Wikipedia) are travelling around China, and so far have been travelling around the region of Beijing, encountering a Grandmaster of Peking Duck.  Crisp skin and moist meat are essential, but the Chinese are becoming increasingly health-conscious, and over half of the ducks they eat are now of a reduced-fat v

Contrarian View: Science Standards In School Won't Help?

Contrarian View: Science Standards In School Won't Help?

Aug 13 2012 | comment(s)

I will tell you a secret. The loudest partisan progressives, some even in the science community, can find a way to hate anything if a Republican is involved.  So George Bush doubled NIH funding?  He still hated biology, we were told. No Child Left Behind improved scores for minorities every year it was in effect and girls achieved math parity with boys for the first time in history.  Who gets credit for that achievement?  Well, the bill was bipartisan, both Ted Kennedy And John Boehner signed off on it, but Bush was president so it sucked, according to partisans.
The Wildcard Of Renewable Energy

The Wildcard Of Renewable Energy

Aug 13 2012 | comment(s)

One renewable energy source is easily available as waste from from construction, agriculture, landscaping, logging and sawmills. And it's already used in domestic and district-level heating systems.

It is the main solid biomass fuel source used for combined heat and power production, known as co-generation, a definite advantage as an energy source.

It's wood chips, but you don't hear much about them.
2012 Olympics and the Ghosts Of Empire

2012 Olympics and the Ghosts Of Empire

Aug 13 2012 | comment(s)

The Olympics are coming to a close and now the British get to reflect on what, if anything, has changed in the world due to a gaming event designed to make the world a smaller and better place.
Why The Higgs Is A Bad Ballerina

Why The Higgs Is A Bad Ballerina

Aug 12 2012 | comment(s)

The Higgs boson, whose discovery was confirmed by CERN on July 4th to the exacting 5-sigma level required in particle physics (meaning that the probability that the bulge in the data indicating a particle with mass-energy in the range of ~125 GeV is a random fluke is less than 1 in 3.5 million), is the first and only boson to be predicted to be a very bad ballerina--it can't twirl around! 

Why Race Is Pseudo-Science

Why Race Is Pseudo-Science

Aug 12 2012 | comment(s)

Recently several posts have played the "race" card and elicited all manner of responses, but at its root, the fundamental premise had not actually been examined.  Is "race" a valid concept?

I know that many people will immediately experience a knee-jerk reaction to the idea of discussing "race" as pseudo-scientific, because they either have a vested interest in advancing their own "race", or because they wish to use it as a lever against other "races".