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Obama's "Gainful Employment" Rules For Colleges And What It Means For Science

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

You've seen the advertisements on television; schools that market heavily with dubious promises of how wonderful the job market is, but then students who incur student loan debt to get those degrees - loans which are unlimited since the government in the early 1990s said higher education meant more money - find that in a market where everyone has some sort of degree or another, it doesn't mean much.
Next Best Reason To Watch

Next Best Reason To Watch "Game Of Thrones" - Sean Bean Is Bad In Real Life Too

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

We first saw Sean Bean as the best bad guy in the best Pierce Brosnan, James Bond film, "GoldenEye" and he just gets better with age.   He also loves the sword and sorcery stuff, as witnessed by his turn in "The Lord of the Rings" and now "Game of Thrones".

But who knew he was so tough in real life also?

Bean was apparently smoking in front of a London pub Sunday evening with a stripper (or whatever)  when someone walking by made a lewd comment about her, so Bean took off after him and the guy ran but when Bean went back out for another cigarette the guy was waiting and stabbed him.

Did he to a hospital?  Nope, he threw a band-aid (or whatever) on it and ordered another drink.
A Typical Week In A 1-Person Satellite Project

A Typical Week In A 1-Person Satellite Project

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

Into every satellite a little grunt work must fall.  Today you get to read the exceedingly boring but entirely real details of a typical week of satellite construction and project management.

Outreach Work

The flight pins and first mission patches have arrived for the 76 exceptional contributors to Calliope!  This week I will be packaging up approximately 76 bundles to mail out.  Oh, and I have to write this week's project update-- which you're reading now.

Assembly Work

Physics - Why Animated Movies Are Better Than Ever

Physics - Why Animated Movies Are Better Than Ever

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

Only nostalgia zealots can argue we are not in a Golden Age for animated movies. 2010 gave us classics like "Megamind", "Toy Story 3" and the one movie to rule them all, "Tangled." These awesome animated family movies are just a few of the reasons why we are in the Golden Age of cartoons, and we do not even have to include "The Incredibles", "Finding Nemo", or "Up". The characters and story had heart and compelling plots.

They also had physics.
Wnt Signaling - Why Hair Turns Gray

Wnt Signaling - Why Hair Turns Gray

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

A new study in Cell shows that Wnt signaling, already known to control many biological processes, between hair follicles and melanocyte stem cells can dictate hair pigmentation.

Using genetic mouse models, researchers were able to examine how Wnt signaling pathways enabled both hair follicle stem cells and melanocyte stem cells to work together to generate hair growth and produce hair color.

Research also showed the depletion (or inhibition or abnormal) Wnt signaling in hair follicle stem cells not only inhibits hair re-growth but also prevents melanocytes stem cell activation required for producing hair color. The lack of Wnt activation in melanocyte stem cells leads to depigmented or gray hair.
High Protein Diet Reduces Cancer Risk In Mice

High Protein Diet Reduces Cancer Risk In Mice

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

A diet low in carbohydrates and high in protein may reduce the risk of cancer and slow the growth of tumors already present, according to a study published in Cancer Research.
 
The study was conducted in mice but the scientists believe the strong biological findings warrant that a similar effect in humans can be considered. 
Poor Sleep Linked To Perceived Racism, Including In White People

Poor Sleep Linked To Perceived Racism, Including In White People

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

Perceptions of racism may cause loss of sleep and perhaps loss of sleep may also impact perceptions of racism.

A new study has found that self-reported sleep disturbance correlated to perceived racism, which was increased by 61 percent after adjusting for socioeconomic factors and symptoms of depression. A similar relationship between perceived racism and daytime fatigue was no longer significant after additional adjustment for depressive symptoms.
LHC About to Reach The 1/fb Goal

LHC About to Reach The 1/fb Goal

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

The LHC has been running very well in the last few weeks, and I can announce, with some anticipation, that the 1-inverse-femtobarn line will be crossed in the next few days. Check it out in the figure below, which shows, together with the delivered luminosity (red line), the one acquired by the CMS experiment (that is, the part acquired with CMS fully operational).

The total bounty available before the next shutdown (end of June) is probably going to amount to 1.3-1.4/fb. Expect exciting new results by ATLAS and CMS for the summer 2011 conferences!
The Plot Of The Week - A Black Hole Candidate

The Plot Of The Week - A Black Hole Candidate

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

CMS has recently produced an updated search for black hole production in the 7 TeV proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC. The data sample now consists of 190 inverse picobarns of collisions collected in 2011, and the limits set on black hole production are more stringent.
Gamma Gamma Girl Graphs

Gamma Gamma Girl Graphs

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

I got counter snarked. At the end of my blogs, I include what I call a snarky puzzle. If you can follow along with the technical parts of my blogs, a snarky puzzle is  suppose to be a playful but snide problem with a straightforward answer. David Halliday asked a question of his own which I will present after setting up the context.
click or skip this reading of the blog
Could A Teenage Brain Have Predicted Lady Gaga's Success?

Could A Teenage Brain Have Predicted Lady Gaga's Success?

Jun 13 2011 | comment(s)

Lady Gaga is a marketing-fueled pop music phenomenon.   If you exclude her music, she can do no wrong, and every appearance, even a walk through an airport, is carefully choreographed.   She knows her audience.

But a Little Monster could help create the next Lady Gaga in a more direct way.  A new study suggests that the brain activity of teens while they are listening to new songs may help predict the popularity of those songs.
Plywood Gives You Cancer? Politics

Plywood Gives You Cancer? Politics "Have Hijacked The Scientific Process"

Jun 13 2011 | comment(s)

The National Toxicology Program has released its latest warning on things that 'give' you cancer and they include two things people come into contact with every day.

If you have walked into a new house and smelled that 'new house' smell, you are now ingesting a carcinogen, according to the report.   Let the lawsuits begin.   The issue is formaldehyde and they say, as they also said about carcinogens in their previous 11 reports, that the science is clear, but it turned out that the science in second-hand smoke was more cultural politics than data and the risk from tanning beds in cancer is the same as in cell phones and drinking coffee.
Treatment For Primary Insomnia - Brain Cooling?

Treatment For Primary Insomnia - Brain Cooling?

Jun 13 2011 | comment(s)

A cap that literally cools the brain during sleep may be an effective insomnia treatment, according to new research.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says that chronic insomnia, symptoms that last for at least a month, affects about 10 percent of adults.  Most often insomnia is a "comorbid" disorder, occurring with another medical illness, mental disorder or sleep disorder, or associated with certain medications or substances. Fewer people with insomnia are considered to have primary insomnia, which is defined as a difficulty falling asleep or maintaining sleep in the absence of coexisting conditions.
Morning Person Or Night Owl? Sleep Type Predicts Batting Averages Of Baseball Players

Morning Person Or Night Owl? Sleep Type Predicts Batting Averages Of Baseball Players

Jun 13 2011 | comment(s)

Baseball coaches often use traditional metrics for managerial decisions, like batting results against specific pitchers, performance in certain park configurations and whether they bat from the left or right side in making strategic lineup decisions.

Maybe some day they can also think about what 'sleep type' their players are.
Is It Still Sexism If No One Notices?

Is It Still Sexism If No One Notices?

Jun 13 2011 | comment(s)

If you're in an older generation and a female calls another female "dude", it may seem strange to you.  It happens all of the time and should be a sign that sexism is less today but a recent study from Psychology of Women Quarterly says subtle, unnoticed daily acts of sexism like that, even women doing it to women, are a concern.
Dante in the Scientific Inferno

Dante in the Scientific Inferno

Jun 13 2011 | comment(s)

The topic of Dante came up recently here in a comment stream following an article on parsley.  So I am taking this opportunity to share with you two of my favourite bits.

First, from Canto XVI of Paradiso
Progerin, Telomeres And New Clues About Aging

Progerin, Telomeres And New Clues About Aging

Jun 13 2011 | comment(s)

A new study offers insights about the interaction between a toxic protein called progerin and telomeres, which cap the ends of chromosomes like aglets, the plastic tips that bind the ends of shoelaces.   

Telomeres wear away during cell division. When they degrade sufficiently, the cell stops dividing and dies. The researchers have found that short or dysfunctional telomeres activate production of progerin, which is associated with age-related cell damage. As the telomeres shorten, the cell produces more progerin.

Progerin is a mutated version of a normal cellular protein called lamin A, which is encoded by the normal LMNA gene. Lamin A helps to maintain the normal structure of a cell's nucleus, the cellular repository of genetic information.
Routine Screening For Autism Unnecessary

Routine Screening For Autism Unnecessary

Jun 13 2011 | comment(s)

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently recommended that screening for autism be incorporated into routine
physician check-ups, even if no concern has been raised by the parents.

Such routine screening of all children for autism gets a thumbs down from researchers at McMaster University in a Pediatrics study.  The researchers say there is "not enough sound evidence to support the implementation of a routine population-based screening program for autism."

Living Lasers

Living Lasers

Jun 13 2011 | comment(s)

Lasers (acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) were invented roughly half a century ago, and in that time, they have found their way to industry, medicine, all kinds of research, consumer electronics, and much more. Pervading modern day western society, several media can be used to generate lasers. But up until now, all these media were inanimate. Not any longer. Research published online on June 12th, 2011 in Nature Photonics (Gather and Yun, 2011) used a living cell to generate a laser (see figure 1).

Figure 1: Illustration of a single-celled laser. (Source: Gather and Yun, 2011)

Germany Abolishes Itself

Germany Abolishes Itself

Jun 13 2011 | comment(s)

Germany shortens school ("turbo abi") and abolishes mandatory military training at the same time! This year, those that otherwise would have marched to the shooting range instead squeeze in between the seats taken by immigrants and the standing space occupied by usual graduates wrestling the new “turbo” graduates. The icing on the cake is how the universities deal with it.


You may have heard of Germany’s Thilo Sarrazin and his book “Germany Abolishes Itself: How We Are Risking the Future of Our Nation”. It focuses on the influx of Islamic culture that makes it almost impossible for immigrants to integrate into modern society. It also mentions intelligence being linked to genes, so it is controversial and criticized by people who never read it.