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Hey, Barbie—Show Me The Science!

Hey, Barbie—Show Me The Science!

Dec 16 2010 | comment(s)

While Christmas shopping today with my sister and little 3 year old niece, I noticed something that rather disturbed me. And as difficult as it is for me to say this—it was Barbie.

Claire and Barbies
OMG. So many Barbies!
How Many, How Much?

How Many, How Much?

Dec 16 2010 | comment(s)

A key question in ecology is: who eats whom? This can be fairly straightforward to answer, by observing predatory or grazing activities, by opening up stomachs or sifting through feces, or even by analyzing chemical signals.

A more challenging follow-up question is then: how many do they eat? Calculating a rate of consumption is considerably trickier!
WikiLeaks irony - Julian Assange asks court not to disclose his address

WikiLeaks irony - Julian Assange asks court not to disclose his address

Dec 15 2010 | comment(s)

Hypocrisy or irony? Attorneys for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have argued his address should not be disclosed because of privacy concern, an odd sentiment from a fellow who argues that 'there is no proof' anyone has been or could be killed because he disclosed their names in sensitive military documents regarding Iraq and Afghanistan.

It's often the case that when the situation is personal, feelings change.

District Judge Howard Riddle of the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court was having none of it, though, and Assange's mansion whereabouts were disclosed to the court.

Here is the pic from the Daily Mail:
Nanoclay Strengthens Thermoplastic Starch

Nanoclay Strengthens Thermoplastic Starch

Dec 15 2010 | comment(s)

Because of environmental problems with huge piles of plastic garbage, biodegradable plastics are still widely studied. Personally,  I thought this was a relatively easy problem to solve because of today’s advancements in chemistry and technology.

HIV-Positive Patient Cured by Adult Stem Cell Transplant

HIV-Positive Patient Cured by Adult Stem Cell Transplant

Dec 15 2010 | comment(s)

Writing in Blood, a group says that a 2007 adult stem cell transplant cured a patient of both his HIV and his leukemia.   Up to 33 million people worldwide have HIV/AIDS.

How did it work and what does it mean?  It was a perfect storm of good fortune for the patient so it's an interesting medical starting point but not really a cure-all just yet.   Timothy Brown, an HIV-positive man in Germany, also had leukemia and was undergoing chemotherapy but he got a bone marrow transplant  from a donor who carried an inherited CCR5 gene mutation that seems to make carriers immune to HIV.
Security of auto ignition systems

Security of auto ignition systems

Dec 15 2010 | comment(s)

New Scientist tells us that the encryption between electronic key fobs and car ignition systems has been cracked in many cases. The reason is that most car manufacturers are using weak and/or home-grown encryption:

A device fitted within the key fob of a modern car broadcasts an encrypted radio signal to the car as the driver starts the vehicle. If the signal is recognised by the car’s receiver, it responds by sending an encrypted signal to the engine control unit (ECU), which allows the car to start.

Fermenting Galactose! Seaweed May Be A Viable Biofuel

Fermenting Galactose! Seaweed May Be A Viable Biofuel

Dec 15 2010 | comment(s)

Metabolic engineering may rescue our energy future. A new strain of yeast that is more efficient at fermenting galactose might make red seaweed a viable future biofuel.

Producers of biofuels made from terrestrial biomass crops have had difficulty breaking down recalcitrant fibers and extracting fermentable sugars. The harsh pretreatment processes used to release the sugars also resulted in toxic byproducts, inhibiting subsequent microbial fermentation.

But perhaps marine biomass can be more easily degraded to fermentable sugars, leading to production rates and range of distribution higher than terrestrial biomass.
2008 Nubian Asteroid - Parts Of An Unknown Celestial Body

2008 Nubian Asteroid - Parts Of An Unknown Celestial Body

Dec 15 2010 | comment(s)

An asteroid the size of a Volvo exploded over Sudan's Nubian Desert in 2008 and initial research was focused on classifying the meteorite fragments soon after they were strewn across the desert and tracked by NASA's Near Earth Object astronomical network. Now in a series of 20 papers published in Meteoritics and Planetary Science and the diversity of these fragments introduces as many questions as it does answers.
Inherent Intelligence: How widespread is it?

Inherent Intelligence: How widespread is it?

Dec 15 2010 | comment(s)

Suppose you want to measure how inherent intelligence is distributed amongst the population.  That is to say, you want to get a sense for how many are born with the potential to be very smart, and how many are not, and what the capabilities of each are.  How would you do it?  The most trusted attempts to measure such quantities probably come from standardized testing, such as IQ tests.  More common but perhaps cruder metrics include academic degrees (perhaps weighted by relevant factors such as the type of college), and income level.  Given the distribution of intelligence measured by one of these means, what could we then conclude about the distribution of innate ability?  

Mummified Head Identified As King Henry IV of France

Mummified Head Identified As King Henry IV of France

Dec 15 2010 | comment(s)

Unlike the American Revolution, the French version is best forgotten, especially to those on the short end of it - and it wasn't just the current monarchy that got punished by the philosophy of the day.   In 1793, revolutionaries also desecrated the tombs of previous monarchs, including  assassinated King Henry IV - it had been a hard time to be a Protestant king in France in 1610, it seems, so Henry was murdered, and then 180 years later the French stuck it to him again.   After executing Louis XVI, the current monarch, they went after the old ones.
The Happiness–Income Paradox For Christmas: Wealthier Nations Not Getting Happier?

The Happiness–Income Paradox For Christmas: Wealthier Nations Not Getting Happier?

Dec 15 2010 | comment(s)

Humans are essentially unsatisfied creatures - if you take a starving dog out of the rain and feed him, he will love you forever.   After a few weeks of nice treatment, many humans will decide they deserved to be taken out of the rain and maybe even that they are doing you a favor.

So it goes with wealth.   Money does buy happiness, contrary to folk wisdom - it just doesn't last.  In the case of entire nations that get a better standard of living, after about a decade happiness is no longer rising with wealth.   Let's not kid ourselves, people in wealthier nations are happier, on average, than people in poor ones, but it does not rise forever.
Closing the California Market Squid Fishery

Closing the California Market Squid Fishery

Dec 15 2010 | comment(s)

Big squid news, in California at least: the state Department of Fish and Game announced that the fishery for California market squid is hitting its harvest limit and is scheduled to be closed on Friday.

This is big news because A) market squid is the biggest fishery in California, worth tens of millions of dollars, and B) the harvest limit has not been hit basically ever.

I say "basically" because the rules of the game--the fishery management plans--were revamped eight years ago, and the harvest limit hasn't been hit since then.
A Dangerous Knowledge Gap: The Autism Wars

A Dangerous Knowledge Gap: The Autism Wars

Dec 14 2010 | comment(s)

Lisa Rudy posted "Misinterpretation of Autism News Can Cause Serious Confusion" over at About.com's autism site, and the comments have gotten interesting and clearly demonstrate the growing gap between what consumers know and believe and what researchers have determined. This is something I've written about 
William Trubridge sets a superhuman diving record

William Trubridge sets a superhuman diving record

Dec 14 2010 | comment(s)

Yesterday, William Trubridge did something we might think is insane and many thought impossible - a dive of 100 meters on a single breath and without assistance at Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas.

That's right, he held his breath and went straight down - no fins, no weights, no airbag back up and a depth of three times what is considered safe.

Madness.   You can't even see the surface at that depth so you are running out of air but you have to know how to get there fast and without creating embolisms in the blood due to rapid decompression.
Ancient Chinese Secret - Soup From 400 B.C.

Ancient Chinese Secret - Soup From 400 B.C.

Dec 14 2010 | comment(s)

If you think people in your family can't cook, imagine how bad the soup must have been to bury it and leave it untouched for 2,400 years.   

Chinese archaeologists say a bronze cooking pot dug up near the former capital Xian (for 1,100 years - go see the terracotta army at the burial site of Qin Shihuang, the first emperor, there) contains bone soup.   They found it while excavating a tomb because they need an extension of the airport - nothing new, China is sort of like a "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" opening when it comes to history getting in the way of Progress.
Hamburglar Robble Robble's McDonald's Database, Steals Tasty Email Addresses

Hamburglar Robble Robble's McDonald's Database, Steals Tasty Email Addresses

Dec 14 2010 | comment(s)

It may be poignant that the "Hamburglar", one of the many characters McDonald's created in the early 1970s to rip off the "H.R. Pufnstuf" children's television show (fear not, McDonald's was sued and lost) is used in Reuters / Fox News headlines about hackers who hack filched data from the McDonald's servers in classic “Robble robble” fashion.