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Giant Squid Costume--They Actually Did It

Giant Squid Costume--They Actually Did It

Jun 19 2011 | comment(s)

A few days ago, I posted a design for a Giant Squid Multi-Costume that I'd sketched up for a friend of mine. Well, here is the implementation:

Giant Squid by Lauren Bell, Max, Liz, U-B., and Elsa.

It's difficult to see in the photo, but they had an absolutely brilliant idea for the squid's beak. It was a huge piece of black paperboard folded into a "fortune teller", like the ones we used to make in elementary school (with fortunes such as "your face looks like a squid" written inside).
Peace in the Garden: Michael Shermer and Belief Systems

Peace in the Garden: Michael Shermer and Belief Systems

Jun 19 2011 | comment(s)

One of my favorite songs of all time is "In the Garden." I know Willie's not got the prettiest of voices, but I love his version best of all. He lives hard and the gravel in his voice lends a depth to the content of the song that others don't quite have.
Complexity And Professionalism

Complexity And Professionalism

Jun 19 2011 | comment(s)

According to Karl Popper, there are two contexts at work when trying to understand science. One is called 'the context of discovery', the other 'context of justification'. In many ways all human cognitive activities share similar divisions; art for instance also tends to fall apart in discussions on the intrinsic qualities, the skills, and mastery of the craft on one side, and discussions on the meaning, the purpose, and the place of art in society on the other. Philosophy (of science) itself knows many discussions on the issues related to discovery (e.g.
Mutation Rates And Life-History Traits

Mutation Rates And Life-History Traits

Jun 19 2011 | comment(s)

Recently, research has been conducted to see if certain life-history traits could be correlated with DNA mutation rates. By using whole-genome sequence data for 32 species of mammal, the researchers tested the hypothesis that DNA mutation rates are influenced by species-specific life-history traits. These mutation rates were estimated by looking at the rate of substitutions of neutrally evolving DNA segments. 

This type of research could make it possible to infer life-history information of extinct species, providing that genomic data is present.

The research focused on three life-history traits.

1) Generation time
God changes DNA? Oh My...

God changes DNA? Oh My...

Jun 19 2011 | comment(s)

This video has become quite popular recently (so if you've already seen it, my apologies). It's about a preacher who claims that (hold on to your seatbelts) becoming christian changes your DNA. 
Say what? Yes, you've heard that correctly. Becoming christian changes your DNA. Oh my...





It's quite disturbing to see that there are actually people who buy this.

Wanna commit a crime and get away with it? Well, do so and afterwards become a born-again christian. Apparently, this'll greatly help you get away with it.

Sigh...
The Plot Of The Week - ATLAS Dilepton Resonance Search

The Plot Of The Week - ATLAS Dilepton Resonance Search

Jun 19 2011 | comment(s)

The ATLAS Collaboration, one of the two high-energy physics experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, has just produced updated results of their ongoing search for new heavy particles decaying into lepton pairs. They are now using up to 236 inverse picobarns of 7 TeV collisions, which is seven times more data than previous searches based on 2010 datasets. A seven-fold increase in data size grants a significant increase in sensitivity, so it is worth taking a look at what they see.
Defining Dallas: Trinity River Audubon Center after dark

Defining Dallas: Trinity River Audubon Center after dark

Jun 19 2011 | comment(s)

One of the most engaging things about a landscape is how it changes after dark.  I haven't been at TRAC very often after sundown, but last night I was in an Amphibian Watch training program and to count frogs, you have to wait until the sun goes down.  Suddenly, paths that are familiar in the sunshine become enchanting places of pale light and shade and have an element of strangeness after the last of the sunlight has faded.
Arctic Ice June 2011

Arctic Ice June 2011

Jun 19 2011 | comment(s)

Arctic Ice June 2011


The sun is the main driver of climate and weather.  The Arctic solar year could be plotted as a graph of the angle of the sun relative to the horizon,  negative in winter and positive in summer.  The graph would be a very neat waveform which varied little in amplitude or in frequency on decadal timescales.  By way of contrast, any graph of any effect of the sun's relative angle will vary from year to year.  Although the sun will warm the air, land, sea, snow and ice, it will never do so in exactly the same way during any two years. 
Blooming Botany (1A)

Blooming Botany (1A)

Jun 18 2011 | comment(s)

When I was a teenager, my two scientific passions were astronomy and botany.  However, at my school in the early 1960s, one could either do A-levels in Mathematics - Physics - Chemistry (Science A) or Chemistry – Botany - Zoology (Science B).  I chose the former option, being very much put off by medicine which was more or less entailed with the latter.  Botany still is a scientific passion – if I were time-transported back to the Jurassic I would be eager to investigate the flora, leaving others of the party to keep a watch-out for dinosaurs.
Conservation Success Story: The Arabian Oryx

Conservation Success Story: The Arabian Oryx

Jun 18 2011 | comment(s)

The last wild Arabian Oryx (Oryx leukoryx), an antelope species found only on the Arabian peninsula, (see figure 1) was shot in 1972, causing the species to be labled 'Extinct in the wild' by the IUCN (or the International Union for Conservation of Nature). A few days ago, a press release stated that this animal is the first ever to return from this precarious label to the less depressing category of 'Vulnerable' (after receiving an upgrade to the 'Endangered' stage in 1986). 
The Singularity Hypothesis: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment

The Singularity Hypothesis: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment

Jun 18 2011 | comment(s)


Springer has commissioned an edited volume about the singularity hypothesis and related questions, intelligence explosion, acceleration, transhumanism, and whole brain emulation.

“The book examines answers to central questions which reformulate the singularity hypothesis as a coherent and falsifiable conjecture, examine its empirical value, and investigate its most likely consequences, in particular those associated with existential risks”, blah blah blubber.

Academic Philosophers
Singularity Nothing Unusual Except

Singularity Nothing Unusual Except

Jun 18 2011 | comment(s)

This is the extended abstract of an article you cannot read anywhere, which ensures that one can later claim “nobody could have possibly foreseen as the relevant literature clearly shows …” (here more on why).  The article clarifies the singularity concept’s terminology and criticizes the concept itself, finishing with global suicide as the only expected annomality:


Singularity: Nothing Unusual Except For Global Suicide

Puyehue volcano in Chile Fills Lake Nahuel Huapi in Argentina With Ash

Puyehue volcano in Chile Fills Lake Nahuel Huapi in Argentina With Ash

Jun 17 2011 | comment(s)

The Puyehue volcano in Chile was dormant for decades but it recently made its presence known, covering Lake Nahuel Huapi in Argentina with ash.  6-mile high plumes.  And this guy is diving in it.
U.S. Dismisses Criminal Charges Against Bin Laden - Since He's Dead

U.S. Dismisses Criminal Charges Against Bin Laden - Since He's Dead

Jun 17 2011 | comment(s)

A federal judge has approved a request by prosecutors to officially dismiss all criminal charges against Osama bin Laden.   This makes sense - declaring terrorists criminals is what candidates do, not presidents.   Presidents kill them and get re-elected.  

If you are curious, Pres. Obama's predecessor George W. Bush did not file the criminal charges, that was done in 1998 by President Clinton.    Obviously hoping police arrest him did not pan out so Obama did the right thing having him shot.


Friday Fossil

Friday Fossil

Jun 17 2011 | comment(s)

This week's friday fossil is Cheirotherium (or Isocheirotherium, whichever you want).



Every year, thousands of geology students descend on the tiny Isle of Arran in the inner Hebrides. Its unique in the way you have so many different rocks all crammed next to each other on one tiny island, and so has been host to generation after generation of 1st year geology students from all over britain. Visit Arran in the Easter and you will never be out of sight of either disgruntled (if it's raining) or sunburnt (if it's hot) students, staring confusedly at the rocks on the shore.
Many Futures For Science Writing

Many Futures For Science Writing

Jun 17 2011 | comment(s)

I see a lot of talk on 'the future of science journalism'-- or science writing, or science funding, or science careers.  I'm guilty of contributing to it myself, but the 'future of' debates miss one point.  There isn't a single monolithic direction things are heading.  There isn't one solution.

In fact, there's not even 'one starting point' we're all moving from.
Dead Squid + Photo Paper = Art!

Dead Squid + Photo Paper = Art!

Jun 17 2011 | comment(s)

Artists, man! They'll cut a square of sod out of your front yard, stick it on the wall, and call it a masterpiece. No, but actually this is quite cool:
Film is said to be a dying medium, and Christopher Colville took that to heart for the "No Mirrors" exhibit that opens Thursday at RayKo Photo Center. He laid out a piece of photo paper and on it he placed a decomposing squid. The only light source was the natural phosphorescence given off by the animal as its body broke down.
Defining Dallas -- The Unexpected Life of Snakes

Defining Dallas -- The Unexpected Life of Snakes

Jun 17 2011 | comment(s)

I have just come in from Third Thursday at Trinity River Audubon Center.  The anticipated speaker canceled and there were families there who wanted a program, so I did the "Turtle Talk" and then took them out for turtle watching and a nature hike.  I wish I'd thought to take the pond temperature, because I'm getting reports from others now that yes, turtles don't bask when it's too hot.  We saw nine tonight, in the water with just their noses poking out.  When I took the group to look at the one turtle nest we'd seen, someone discovered a second one not fifteen feet from that!  I'll GPS all three of the known nesting sites so we can see if they come back next year.
Should Greenpeace Be Writing IPCC Reports?

Should Greenpeace Be Writing IPCC Reports?

Jun 17 2011 | comment(s)

For climate scientists to make positive inroads in policy regarding a problem we know is only going to get worse - pollution and climate change - they need to police the actions of a few in their circle, most notably the very loud.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has existed for over two decades now - they are not new to politics and this is not gotcha journalism from WikiLeaks; they have also already been implicated by an independent commission created by the United Nations for their use of 'gray' literature published as data and for ignoring commentary on what studies it uses in reports.
Next-Generation Sequencing Leads To Personalized Medicine Win For Teenager

Next-Generation Sequencing Leads To Personalized Medicine Win For Teenager

Jun 16 2011 | comment(s)

Noah and Alexis Beery were diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 2, but knowing that was only the first step on a journey to find an answer to the children's problems.  Yet a determined mother determination and the high tech world of next-generation sequencing in the Baylor Human Genome Sequencing Center were able to solve the case.

Writing in Science Translational Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine researchers, along with experts in San Diego and at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, describe how the sequencing of the children's whole genome along with that of their older brother and their parents zeroed in on the gene that caused the children's genetic disorder, which enabled physicians to fine-tune the treatment of their disorder.