Bad News For (Polar) Bears

Nov 29 2010 | comment(s)

Will polar bears survive in a warmer world? New evidence says their numbers are likely to dwindle.

As polar bears lose habitat due to global warming, biologists say, they will be forced southward in search of alternative sources of food, where they will increasingly come into competition with grizzly bears. Polar bears probably evolved very rapidly in response to glacial climates during the ice ages but rapidly on an evolutionary scale is not a realistic timeline for climate change.

Diogenes: Has The Secret To Preventing Obesity Been Discovered?

Nov 29 2010 | comment(s)

Researchers at the Faculty of Life Sciences (LIFE), University of Copenhagen have published the results of the world's largest diet study, called called Diogenes.

Like anything obvious, the formula is simple but the application can be difficult for those who already have a weight problem; if you want to lose weight, you should maintain a diet that is high in proteins with more lean meat, low-fat dairy products and beans and fewer finely refined starch calories such as white bread and white rice.

Maintaining that diet, you can eat until you are full without counting calories and without gaining weight.

Lucid Dreams...What's up with them?

Nov 29 2010 | comment(s)

I was 16 or so when my dad listened to me tell him about the dream I had the night before. I laughed it off and thought my dreams were for entertainment purposes only. Then he suggested that the next time I was in a dream I should try to look at my hands. I thought this was strange and asked, "Why?" He said, "I don't know. I heard someone suggest that once and I have always wanted to try it but I can never do it."

MSSM Reach Of An Extended Tevatron Running

Nov 28 2010 | comment(s)

The time is now. If you are going to fantasize about the possibilities of an extended Tevatron running and how likely it is that your favourite physics model may be tested by CDF and DZERO, you are advised to get in the game.

Wherein Lies Value? Perspective Is Everything

Nov 28 2010 | comment(s)

Over at the Autism Blogs Directory, we have over 400 blogs and websites representing a diversity of views and opinions on autism and what it means to the individuals who have it and the family members who must cope with the challenges of raising autistic children. We have parents and autistic individuals who are firmly convinced that vaccines cause autism. We have staunchly pro-science bloggers. We have folks who believe in god, that everything happens for a reason, and that autistic individuals are sent by god to teach us; we also have atheists, agnostics, and lukewarm Baptists, I'm sure. We have parents who are deep into biomed, parents who medicate, parents who don't, and all the ranges in between.

Primitive Instincts - Females Want Mates To Win Fights

Nov 28 2010 | comment(s)

Women may regard love and affection and consideration as most important in a mate, but if research in African cichlid fish applies to humans, they are suppressing a more primitive instinct to like winners.

In African cichlid fish, even when a female shows a preference for a male, if witnesses him losing a fight with another male, her feelings toward him change. Areas of the female's brain associated with anxiety showed increased activity after witnessing an altercation. Of course, being a winner in the eyes of cognitively diverse human females can take many different forms than pure combat.

Despite Economy In The West, Global CO2 Emissions Rise In 2010

Nov 28 2010 | comment(s)

Climatology might replace economics as the 'gloomy science'. Projections that the lousy economy might mean a slowdown in fossil fuels were cause for joy among activists, without realizing that people without jobs or food or houses aren't as concerned about abstract things like the future of the planet.

Whether or not global warming is a fashionable media topic in 2010, global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, the main contributor to man-made global warming, show no sign of lessening and could still reach a new record this year, according to a study that is part of the annual carbon budget update by the Global Carbon Project.

Tarsiers

Nov 28 2010 | comment(s)

What's this? Rich people more affected by inequality than poor people?

Nov 27 2010 | comment(s)

Yesterday I mentioned David Cameron's plan to introduce a national happiness index in the UK. This is not a new idea, and surveys have been going on for decades, and in 2003 a study looked at some of this data in comparison to inequality.

This is a pretty simple study in principle - with two variables, measured in a few countries, and over a few time points. But the results all depend on:

1) Whether the variables can be accurately measured

2) Whether they are measured in the same way in different places and times

The Rat-Brained Navigation Of Men

Nov 27 2010 | comment(s)

Imagine you're navigating a three-dimensional maze. Believe it or not, in this situation, both men and women think. Only, women think with the distinctly human right prefrontal cortex, while men use the rat-brain navigational instincts of their left hippocampus (according to fMRI studies). Basically, what this means is that while men efficiently snuffle around the corridors, rationally and analytically memorizing each branching path, women look at the map. And if the map is unclear, they ask directions (not to reinforce a pop stereotype, or anything).

Are All "Truths" Equal? Comparing Anti-Vaccine Parents To Kesey's "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"

Nov 27 2010 | comment(s)

It seems a silly question to ask, given the self-evident answer: we know that all beliefs and opinions are not equally valid. Obviously, it's important to acknowledge that the person who believe something believes it to be true, but it doesn't mean it is.

The reason I raise this question is that most of us in the skeptical community patently reject the assumption that all "truths" are equally valid. What matters is evidence. Where there is no clear answer, rather than assuming a position of absolutism regarding "truth," we tend to adopt a "wait and see" approach or an honest "I don't know" approach.

This is not the case in most areas. Truthiness is often more important than truth.

Melt Anything with the Sun mashup with Sun Steals Comets

Nov 27 2010 | comment(s)

MakeZine shows (not just tells, but shows) that

2 square meters of sunlight, focused, will melt anything on Earth

and NASA points out that

The Sun Steals Comets from Other Stars

So I suggest the obvious mashup:

Sun 'Chop Shop' Steals, Melts Comets

Hopefully you can come up with a better title mashup.

Alex

David Cameron To Introduce National Well-being Measure In The UK

Nov 26 2010 | comment(s)

This has been hitting the news a lot over here. I'll probably write more about this as I read/think more about it. I'm just free-writing my ideas now so don't consider this my definitive position, and of course I welcome any constructive thoughts and criticisms you have.

Here's the story thus far. GDP is a flawed measure of societal progress; but, it used to be fantastic. When a country's basic needs are less well met, GDP is a great indication of how well people are doing. When a country is rich, things beyond survival come into play, which GDP doesn't pick up.