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Miami Dolphins Cheerleader Embraces Her Inner Science Geek

Miami Dolphins Cheerleader Embraces Her Inner Science Geek

Jun 03 2011 | comment(s)

Cranky militant females in science resent the heck out of attractive women who are also smart - they insist it is objectification but really it is plain old discrimination to demean the intellectual accomplishments of a woman just because she has great legs - no differently than it would be to understate the intellectual accomplishments of a woman, or anyone else, if they didn't have great legs.

To encourage tolerance and diversity in science, we present the latest in the Science Cheerleader pantheon of women who are in the science field and can kick a hole through a wall with their legs - Mariela:
No English? In America, Science Is Still The Universal Language

No English? In America, Science Is Still The Universal Language

Jun 03 2011 | comment(s)

Colombian immigrant Carolina Salguero came to the U.S. as a teenager, alone and not knowing any English, but she did have a dream: to study science.

Yesterday, 28-year-old Salguero graduated from Hunter College with a double major in biochemistry and economics - and a full scholarship to Harvard awaits.  Salguero's parents sent her from Colombia to Miami - alone - at 16 and she spent eight years wandering and finally got the chance to pursue her science dream at age 24, when Hunter College gave her a science scholarship.  
Building A Virtual Brain: A Dialogue

Building A Virtual Brain: A Dialogue

Jun 03 2011 | comment(s)

On June 6th 2005, EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland) and IBM launched the Blue Brain Project, an ambitious attempt at simulating a mammalian brain down to a molecular level. Headed by professor Henry Markram, the Blue Brain Project, along with a dozen international partners, has recently proposed the Human Brain Project, with as ultimate goal the simulation of a human brain. Recently, the group has been awarded a grant of roughly 1.4 Euros by the European Commission to formulate a detailed research proposal. If the decision of the European Commission (expected in 2012) is favorable, up to 1 billion pounds could be awarded to the project…

Seafood Ethics, Or Why I Don't Eat Squid (Part I)

Seafood Ethics, Or Why I Don't Eat Squid (Part I)

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

Squid are often considered to be one of the more sustainable seafood choices. Squid grow like weeds, right? They have short life cycles, make tons of babies, and adapt easily to changing environments. It's like eating dandelions.

Only not.
‘Worms from hell’ are sign of potential extraterrestrial life?

‘Worms from hell’ are sign of potential extraterrestrial life?

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

Extraterrestrial life gets invoked in some study or another every three months - astrobiology approaches astronomy levels of hype with its over-the-top claims about incremental studies.
 
But a rock wall in a South African mine near where "radiation eating microbes" were found a mile underground may be something else entirely.   

Tullis Onstott
Being a prude in a family of libertines - Erica Jong's daughter speaks out

Being a prude in a family of libertines - Erica Jong's daughter speaks out

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

Erica Jong, most famous (I think) for "Fear of Flying" and generally for talking about sex at a time when it was daring, has a daughter Molly , who contributed a piece for a new collection of essays edited by Jong called "Sugar in my Bowl: Real Women Write about Real Sex".   

And it begins...

"It's Sad But True That Most Discoveries In Biology Are Made By Physicists" - Freeman Dyson

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

What's ailing biology?

Wilson da Silva, Editor-in-Chief of COSMOS, a science publication in Australia, was attending a lecture by Freeman Dyson lecture at the Perimeter Institute in Canada when Dyson said, "It's sad but true that most discoveries in biology are made by physicists."
Juggling Is So Easy Even A Robot Can Do It

Juggling Is So Easy Even A Robot Can Do It

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

The wizards at the Czech Technical University's Department of Control Engineering created a machine to show off how their servo motors can be used for precision tasks - and so they made it juggle.  Juggling is, of course, both easy and hard.  Anyone can do it, like playing golf, but doing it will is something else entirely.  Jugglers often have to move to keep the balls in the air because of subtle changes in throwing force and angle.  Not so this Juggler machine:
New Executive Editor Means More Of The Same New York Times

New Executive Editor Means More Of The Same New York Times

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

I get why New York people read the New York Times, what I don't get is why people elsewhere read it - and I have said publicly I am sure many in science would happily trade a 3-day waiting period on gun purchases if the NY Times would agree to a 3-day wait period on its science stories; in both cases so the suspects can be investigated thoroughly.
World Health Organization Is Rotting Our Brains More Than Cell Phones

World Health Organization Is Rotting Our Brains More Than Cell Phones

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

The World Health Organization (WHO) has created another cultural tizzy because some people persist in an irrational belief that anyone in the UN knows anything about anything. 

Recently, WHO issued a fuzzy statement saying maybe, perhaps, alarmism about cellphones and cancer was right after all.   This, despite no quantitative data, no published study, no absolute risk factor and even no definition of "limited evidence" hidden in a footnote
DNA Sequencing Says New Hybrid E. Coli Strain Is Cause Of German Outbreak

DNA Sequencing Says New Hybrid E. Coli Strain Is Cause Of German Outbreak

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

Preliminary data from DNA sequencing performed in cooperation with the University Hospital Muenster, Germany, on the Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM) strongly suggests that the bacterium at the root of the deadly outbreak in Germany is a new hybrid type of pathogenic E. coli strains. 

To Be Is To Be Measured (Part 2)

To Be Is To Be Measured (Part 2)

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

Last time I invited you to consider the following "game": Three "players" (Andy, Bob, and Charles) compete agains three "inter­roga­tors".

Two things can happen: either all players are asked for the value of X, or one player is asked for the value of X while the two other players are asked for the value of Y. The pos­sible values of X and Y are +1 and −1.
Quantum Randi Challenge: Help Perimeter Physicist Joy Christian To Collect The Nobel Prize

Quantum Randi Challenge: Help Perimeter Physicist Joy Christian To Collect The Nobel Prize

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

You know the James Randi Challenge right? James offers $1000000 to anyone that can demonstrate paranormal abilities under laboratory conditions. Well, today we have something big to announce: A very similar challenge (now officially on the archive here), but much easier to accomplish.

The rewards are immediate fame (in a few weeks from now if you like) and the reception of the Nobel prize in physics later on – no doubt about it.

Exchange with the Future King of Physics

Exchange with the Future King of Physics

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

The following is my email correspondence with Joy Christian. It shows how seriously he took my bait and how he quite agreed with my main point, namely that the “Quantum Crackpot Randi Challenge” should be earnestly attempted.

World Science Festival Events on LiveStream

World Science Festival Events on LiveStream

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

The World Science Festival, unlike many in New York City who think anything beyond the Hudson River is some sort of post-apocalyptic wasteland from "Fallout", gets that the rest of the world can't necessarily make it to the Big Apple this week, so they have made some of the events available live and in a Livestream video library.

Take a look!



Thomas Edison also invented the concrete house?

Thomas Edison also invented the concrete house?

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

Afficionados of modern poured-concrete design heard NJIT Assistant Professor Matt Burgermaster's presentation at the 64th annual meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians entitled "Edison's 'Single-Pour System: Inventing Seamless Architecture", which illustrated how, in 1917, Thomas Edison invented and patented an innovative construction system to mass produce prefabricated and seamless concrete houses. Typically most people associate this style of architectural design and type of building technology with the European avant-garde of the early 20th century. 
50 Books That Will Make You a Better Writer

50 Books That Will Make You a Better Writer

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

Literary genius — or at least competence — never blossoms in a vacuum. As much as many creative types like to pose as a mysterious lone wolves skulking through the fringes of society without ever becoming a cog in the machine, man, even their works have been shaped by their external experiences up to that point. Fred Lapides notes that soaking up advice through any reads available opens up new worlds and ideas and can help mold a work from just OK to just plain awesome.
Fight Evolution With Evolution: Kill Bacteria With Viruses

Fight Evolution With Evolution: Kill Bacteria With Viruses

Jun 02 2011 | comment(s)

We are losing the war against infectious bacteria. They are becoming increasingly resistant to our antibiotics, and we have few new drugs in the pipeline. Worse still, bacteria can transfer genes between each other with great ease, so if one of them evolves to resist an antibiotic, its neighbours can pick up the same ability. But Matti Jalasvuori from the University of Jyvaskyla doesn’t see this microscopic arms-dealing as a problem. He sees it as a target.
Junk Science - Atheists Have Better Sex Lives

Junk Science - Atheists Have Better Sex Lives

Jun 01 2011 | comment(s)

Just after Satoshi Kanazawa once again trashed the reputation of fringe field evolutionary psychology, independent psychology researcher Darrel Ray wants to tank clinical psychology.

His method for its destruction?  An online survey of people with a 'religious background' who left religion, of course.   14,500 people responded and, not surprisingly, the results skewed toward exactly what an atheist-who-was-raised-fundamentalist-Christian wants them to skew toward; that atheists have better sex lives.
Angry Pitchers Retaliate More In The Heat

Angry Pitchers Retaliate More In The Heat

Jun 01 2011 | comment(s)

Last week, the Cubs made a rare visit to Fenway Park to face the Red Sox in a Major League Baseball inter-league series. Things got a little nasty when Sox pitcher Alfredo Aceves put a fastball into the face of the Cubs’ Marlon Byrd, causing multiple fractures. As is “tradition” in baseball, the Red Sox batters knew the score would be settled in the following game. After just missing Jed Lowrie with an inside pitch in the eighth inning, Cub pitcher Kerry Wood made sure he connected with his target and plunked Lowrie in the behind on the very next pitch.