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Defining Dallas: Struggles of a Pond

Defining Dallas: Struggles of a Pond

Jun 28 2011 | comment(s)

Ponds are interesting things because their boundaries are always changing.  On a very small scale there's a lot of drama, such as the snakes fishing for Mosquito fish (gambusia) trapped in a drying puddle.  On a larger scale, what happens in the local small ponds may reflect on what happens elsewhere.  So when folks at TRAC told me that the Great Blue Heron pond had dried to a puddle during the summer of 2008, I began to wonder how well the pond would do in this, the third dryest year in Texas since recordkeeping began.
Endocarditis And Streptococcus Mutans

Endocarditis And Streptococcus Mutans

Jun 27 2011 | comment(s)

Endocarditis is a dangerous and sometimes lethal infection of the heart sometimes caused after a dental procedure.    
That Diet Soda May Be Fooling You

That Diet Soda May Be Fooling You

Jun 27 2011 | comment(s)

A pair of studies presented Saturday and today at the American Diabetes Association's Scientific Sessions in San Diego suggest diet sodas may be a dietary head fake for the body. 

Epidemiologists from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio reported data showing that diet soft drink consumption is associated with increased waist circumference in humans.  Whatever, associated is not caused - people drink diet sodas more after they put on weight, not when they are still thin - but a second study that found aspartame raised fasting glucose (blood sugar) in diabetes-prone mice is more of a concern.
Revealed - The First Ad Campaign For Monkeys

Revealed - The First Ad Campaign For Monkeys

Jun 27 2011 | comment(s)

In the immortal Richard Donner classic "Scrooged", the following exchange takes place between Frank, the president of the network, and his boss, Preston:

Preston: Do you know how many cats there are in this country?
Frank: No, ummmm...I don't have...no.
Preston: Twenty-seven million. Do you know how many dogs?
Frank: ...in America?
Preston:  Forty-eight million. We spend four billion on pet food alone.
Frank: Four...?!
Claim: TSA “Mischaracterized” Safety Of Full Body Scanners

Claim: TSA “Mischaracterized” Safety Of Full Body Scanners

Jun 27 2011 | comment(s)

It's easy to hate the government.  It's a faceless bureaucracy that can easily grind you down to nothing if you are on the wrong side of it.   But there are higher orders of contempt reserved for the select few, even in government, and TSA is that.

No one really believes TSA ia making anyone safer, since they can't profile the people most likely to be a threat and instead resort to making 95-year-old women remove their adult diapers because, you know, geriatric grandmothers in diapers bombed the twin towers 10 years ago.
Prayer Or Empathy: Which Is More Likely?

Prayer Or Empathy: Which Is More Likely?

Jun 27 2011 | comment(s)


The role of spirituality and religion in individuals' lives has been studied since the beginning of modern psychology. It's not been a consistent examination, nor always a useful one, but the desire to understand both why people believe in gods and how these religious beliefs can be adaptive and helpful in their lives is a relevant one, since over 70% of Americans profess religious beliefs.
Meet Yoda, the World's Ugliest Dog

Meet Yoda, the World's Ugliest Dog

Jun 27 2011 | comment(s)

Yoda, a 14-year old female dog of mixed breed (chihuahua and Chinese crested dog) has won the World's Ugliest Dog competition, held in Northern California. Abandoned behind an apartment building, the current owner, Terry Schumacher, first mistook Yoda for a rat. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that it was a dog in need of help.



As winner, Yoda received a trophy and $1000 prize money.

Congratz, Yoda!
10 Civilizations That Mysteriously Disappeared

10 Civilizations That Mysteriously Disappeared

Jun 27 2011 | comment(s)

Why do nations rise and fall?   Historians and anthropologists can usually make an educated hypothesis but some instances are nothing more than guesses.   Here are 10 that disappeared and maybe it was due to global warming or global cooling or famine or flood, but no one knows, including the Minoans, the Anasazi, the Indus, the Nabateans and six more.

Top 10 Civilizations That Mysteriously Disappeared 
Respectfully drawing your attention to...

Respectfully drawing your attention to...

Jun 26 2011 | comment(s)

How could I miss it - and you did too. A very comprehensive article on standardization as a way to reduce environmental pollution has appeared here, and has almost gone unnoticed. I think it is worth reading, if only to acknowledge the existence of this issue and the need for all of us to pay attention to it.

Here is an excerpt of Enrico's conclusions from the study:
Jump The Shark? This Time The Shark Jumps A Surfer

Jump The Shark? This Time The Shark Jumps A Surfer

Jun 26 2011 | comment(s)

Who says sharks can't be fun?   Jacob Langston knows they can.  He works for the Orlando Sentinel and was shooting some footage but didn't notice this spinner shark until he heard another surfer say, "Dude! Did you see that?"
Wired In And Then Some: Finding an Electronic Balance With Our Kids

Wired In And Then Some: Finding an Electronic Balance With Our Kids

Jun 26 2011 | comment(s)

 How many famlies have more electronic devices than people? It's not hard to be swimming in a digital sea in today's culture. Americans appear to worship the latest upgrade, willing to wait overnight in lines just to get the next version of an iphone or ipad. Finding balance in the digital age is incredibly difficult, and some families feel overwhelmed when it comes to finding ways to disconnect their children from their digital devices.

Talking Cartoon Birds May Be More Realistic Than We Thought

Talking Cartoon Birds May Be More Realistic Than We Thought

Jun 26 2011 | comment(s)

Songbirds have been used in the past to examine the precursor functions to human language in our neural circuitry, but they may be capable of much more than being animal models. 

A new study shows the Bengalese finch (Lonchura striata var. domestica) can learn the rules of an artificial grammar system - hierarchical language structure has been previously thought to be specific only to humans.
Are Inaccurate Climate Models Making Us Feel Too Secure?

Are Inaccurate Climate Models Making Us Feel Too Secure?

Jun 26 2011 | comment(s)

The common refrain when climate science detractors point out the flaws in numerical models is that, if no one is sure of the accuracy, the risks are being exaggerated.

It could be the opposite.   Numerical models could be giving us a false sense of security, a belief that we have plenty of time to fix pollution issues.   

Writing in Nature Geoscience, Paul Valdes from the University of Bristol School of Geographical Sciences, discusses four examples of abrupt climate change 'tipping points' over the last 55.8 million years that have been reconstructed from palaeoclimate data and states that the level of inaccuracy could be too comforting. 
Treating Diabetes By Switching Genes On And Off?

Treating Diabetes By Switching Genes On And Off?

Jun 26 2011 | comment(s)

A fairly new method in genetic research, known as optogenetics (selected as Method of the Year in 2010 by Nature Methods, see video for a great explanation), uses light to control gene expression. Now, researchers form EHT Zürich have engineered human cells (implanted in mice) so that the expression of a gene that plays a role in diabetes can be controlled by light. Instead of creating a whole new genetic network, they combined existing signal pathways, one from the immune system, and one from the eye.




Stupidity Is Contagious - Science Says So

Stupidity Is Contagious - Science Says So

Jun 25 2011 | comment(s)

Writing in Media Psychology, Markus Appel discusses a study where 63 Austrian college students who read a short about someone stupid then did worse on a test than a control group - they became more stupid - but the effect did not occur when the readers had to outline how they differed from the stupid character.    The stupid character was in "Slow on the Uptake," about a hooligan named Meier, and students either summarized the story or underlined passages where Meier differed from them.  A control group of 18 read a story with a protagonist who didn't do something stupid like go to a football match, get drunk, get into a fight and miss the actual game he attended.
A Neuroeconomics Argument For Gender Equality In Finance - Young Men Are Idiots

A Neuroeconomics Argument For Gender Equality In Finance - Young Men Are Idiots

Jun 25 2011 | comment(s)

It's rare that you will find me arguing for gender quotas.   Obviously I am not for discrimination but, at least in science, mandating representation - which is discrimination against the qualified in the interests of sex organs - does not lead to better science, it leads to equality at the expense of excellence.

Economics, however, is not science and some mandated equality might help.  Science says so.
No Entanglement, No Classicality, Or No News?

No Entanglement, No Classicality, Or No News?

Jun 25 2011 | comment(s)

This recent Nature article makes people jump up and down in classical, non-quantum jumps as we speak: “Experimental non-classicality of an indivisible quantum system”.

There are plenty of misleading news articles already, including here on Science2.0, about that this experiment is disproving classicality without even needing “spooky action at a distance” or entanglement. The message one often takes away is therefore that this new experiment may be the best proof yet, the most convenient disprove of hidden variables.

Progressive Head Spin - GMO Marijuana

Progressive Head Spin - GMO Marijuana

Jun 25 2011 | comment(s)

Conservatives, who generally agree on the value of individual freedom, want the government to limit marijuana.   Progressives, who generally agree on the value of big government, don't want the government to limit marijuana.

Conservatives, who generally agree on the merits of capitalism, like genetically modified organisms, as long as they aren't researched using human embryonic stem cells and curing people of serious illnesses.   Progressives, who generally dislike capitalism unless it is the magical sort that works in a world where regulation of fossil fuels and mandates and subsidies for lousy alternative solutions from 1600 A.D. will still allow capitalism to flourish, dislike genetically modified organisms because they hate science.
Marketing for Scientists

Marketing for Scientists

Jun 25 2011 | comment(s)

Marc Kuchner built the Facebook group 'Marketing for Scientists' to help drag the usually reticent science population into this century's culture of social media and the rise of the individual.  Now out for pre-order is his book, "Marketing for Scientists: How to Shine in Tough Times", at Amazon:  http://amzn.to/kdK3Zf. The book's blurb:
Blooming Botany (2)

Blooming Botany (2)

Jun 24 2011 | comment(s)

Now we come to the second part of the series

Botany: A Blooming History


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