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Chemo + Herbo (CHerbotherapy) as Cancer treatment

Chemo + Herbo (CHerbotherapy) as Cancer treatment

Oct 04 2010 | comment(s)

Cancer chemotherapy has been successful in delaying cancer progression but the flip side has been its side effects. Kinases have gained popularity as drug targets but achieving target specificity has been a major bottleneck in the development of anti-cancer drugs.  In fact the reason why most of the drugs are being shelved during clinical trials is because of their poor therapeutic index.  The potential benefits of alternative therapy in the treatment of cancer cannot be ruled out, though this field has not been extensively researched.

How To Punk Memory: The Brainworks Of Misremembrance, False Memories, And Alternate Realities (Part Trois)

How To Punk Memory: The Brainworks Of Misremembrance, False Memories, And Alternate Realities (Part Trois)

Oct 04 2010 | comment(s)

Okay, in the past two days we've seen that our memories are malleable. We can easily be made to misremember, and easily be made to adopt memories of things that never happened. But what actually goes on in our brains as we code bad information? Can we see misinformation taking hold?

Researchers Yoko Okado and Craig Stark can.

They showed subjects slides (correct information), and then showed them another set of slides with details changed (incorrect information).
Father Of The Test Tube Baby Robert G. Edwards Wins 2010 Nobel Prize In Medicine

Father Of The Test Tube Baby Robert G. Edwards Wins 2010 Nobel Prize In Medicine

Oct 04 2010 | comment(s)

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2010 was awarded to Robert G. Edwards "for the development of in vitro fertilization".

Their reasoning seemed to be partly cultural - that Edwards battled societal and establishment resistance to his development of the in vitro fertilization procedure, which has so far led to the birth of around 4 million people.

Edwards, now 85 and professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge, began working on IVF in the 1950s and developed the technique with British gynecologist Patrick Steptoe, who died in 1988 - posthumous prizes are not allowed.  In IVF, egg cells are removed from the mother and fertilized outside her body and then implanted into the womb.
When It Comes To Sex And Orgasms, Men Want To Believe Women...

When It Comes To Sex And Orgasms, Men Want To Believe Women...

Oct 04 2010 | comment(s)

The fake orgasm scene in "When Harry Met Sally" is likely the only good thing about that movie, and that's because it resonated with nearly everyone.    To men, it seemed real, and women knew they could do a better job - and likely had.  Recently, according to new data.

An Indiana University survey on sexual behavior covering a startling range (ages 14 to 94 - not sure which is creepier) said 85% of men believed their partners climaxed during the most recent sex act but only 64% of women affirmed that.
Upside To Disappearing Glaciers - More Biodiversity

Upside To Disappearing Glaciers - More Biodiversity

Oct 04 2010 | comment(s)

A group of researchers say receding glaciers due to global warming at the end of the last ice age, 20,000-100,000 years ago, resulted in the rampant biodiversity left behind in their wake.

Certainly it is true there is much less biodiversity at the poles, though likely there are limits in how hot we want the planet to be.

Investigating fossil clams and snails Steffen Kiel and Sven Nielsen at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU) say retreating glaciers created a mosaic landscape of countless islands, bays and fiords in which new species developed rapidly, geologically speaking. 
Sloppy eating habits can be hazardous to your health

Sloppy eating habits can be hazardous to your health

Oct 04 2010 | comment(s)

If you're a squid, that is.

Apparently squids of the species Martialia hyadesi like to eat oily fish. They're messy, so they leave oil in the water, which floats to the surface. Grey-headed albatrosses, meanwhile, like to eat squid. They cue in to these oil slicks and dive to catch the squid, which are probably still in a food coma after that nice big fatty meal.



I made up the bit about a food coma. But everything else is in this paper:
Globalization, impact factor and research output assessment for human welfare.

Globalization, impact factor and research output assessment for human welfare.

Oct 03 2010 | comment(s)

If you remember your visit to an airport of Moskow, or Indira Gandhi Airport terminal 2 of yesteryears, or airports of even european countries some 20 or 30 years ago there was a distinct feeling where you have landed. There was reflection of culture of the region , its food, its local variety of handicrafts and a flair of the country quite apparent of your country of landing. It has changed. If you are guided to any airport of the world as far as I have seen and open your eyes after landingin some shopping area or lounge you can not tell where you are. Its an era of globalization. Same brands of cigeratte and wine and whisky are sold everywhere irrespective of culture, or national identity.
Baseball Heresy - A Purist Mathematically Argues For The Unthinkable; More Playoffs

Baseball Heresy - A Purist Mathematically Argues For The Unthinkable; More Playoffs

Oct 03 2010 | comment(s)

Living in California now, I follow my third 'home' team in my life.   Growing up in Vero Beach, FL I was (and remain) a Dodgers fan because they held spring training there for 60 years.   As an adult living in Pittsburgh I was (and remain) a Pirates fan because they were the new home team.  
How To Punk Memory: The Brainworks Of Misremembrance, False Memories, And Alternate Realities (Part Deux)

How To Punk Memory: The Brainworks Of Misremembrance, False Memories, And Alternate Realities (Part Deux)

Oct 03 2010 | comment(s)

Yesterday I posted about how Elizabeth Loftus is able to Jedi mind trick our interpretations of memories, but what about creating entirely new memories?

Oh yeah, baby. Actually, making a false memory is pretty easy. Loftus describes a father convincing his daughter she’d gotten lost in a mall when she was five years old. At first, the daughter denied any memory of the event, but as the father provided more fake details—“Don’t you remember that I told you we would meet at the Tug Boat”—the daughter began to “remember” and even provide details of her own. Eventually when her father said “I was so scared,” she responded “Not as scared as I was!”
To Brains, Even Common Gestures Unfamiliar

To Brains, Even Common Gestures Unfamiliar

Oct 03 2010 | comment(s)

What's more universal in culture than a "thumbs up"?

To our brains, whether we seem to have a cultural familiarity or not, it isn't familiar at all, says new research in Human Brain Mapping.

People seem to react quickly and intuitively to body language, tone of voice and gaze but gestures are different, at least when the gesturer offers no other cues.    Less surprisingly, the new study also found that same-race interaction leads to greater activity in the mirror neuron system, a region of the brain linked to subconscious imitation.
POP Physics: The Free Nanotech Scientific Journal Article Generator

POP Physics: The Free Nanotech Scientific Journal Article Generator

Oct 03 2010 | comment(s)

No, the following does not belong into the humor section, because I know of people who made a career with the method described below. This is serious! This is another article in my series on the usual cheating in science.

POP-science culture (POP = publish or perish = popular) ensures that only publications count in academia. Successful grant applications also count, but the grant you get only if you have many publications. And “friends” count, which you get with coauthoring and publications. And all that impacts science – no conspiracy theory necessary here. This is science today:

The Doomsday Lobby: How Hype And Panic Impact Science Funding

The Doomsday Lobby: How Hype And Panic Impact Science Funding

Oct 03 2010 | comment(s)

It's election season and the biggest schism in American culture come November voting won't be abortion or global warming, it will be the size and role of the U.S. government in the last two years.

But increased government involvement is not new in American cultural debates - nor is it even new in science.   
Altered Cardiac Muscle Cells Controllable With Light

Altered Cardiac Muscle Cells Controllable With Light

Oct 03 2010 | comment(s)

Scientists have altered cardiac muscle cells to make them controllable with light and showed an ability to cause conditions such as arrhythmia in genetically modified mice, which opens up new possibilities for researching the development and therefore treatment of arrhythmias. 

Tobias Brügmann and his colleagues from the University of Bonn’s Institute of Physiology I used a “channelrhodopsin” for their experiments - a type of light sensor. At the same time, it can act as an ion channel in the cell membrane because when stimulated with blue light, this channel opens, and positive ions flow into the cell. This causes a change in the cell membrane’s pressure, which stimulates cardiac muscle cells to contract.
The Bible In ... Legos?

The Bible In ... Legos?

Oct 03 2010 | comment(s)

Everything is LEGOs these days.  My kid has played some game that is LEGOs but is based on all three Star Wars movies.    25 years ago LEGOs were almost out of business, today they are bigger than the Bible.  Well, not bigger, but big enough to be the Bible.

Side note: The Bible has made a heck of a comeback.   Atheists have been predicting its demise for centuries yet it is still out there and more popular than ever.  Heck, it is even a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game (see The Bible MMO - in where I get beat to the best gaming idea ever)
No evidence for Clovis comet catastrophe

No evidence for Clovis comet catastrophe

Oct 03 2010 | comment(s)

New research challenges the controversial theory that an ancient comet impact devastated the Clovis people, one of the earliest known cultures to inhabit North America.

The comet theory first emerged in 2007 when a team of scientists announced evidence of a large extraterrestrial impact that occurred about 12,900 years ago. The impact was said to have caused a sudden cooling of the North American climate, killing off mammoths and other megafauna. It could also explain the apparent disappearance of the Clovis people, whose characteristic spear points vanish from the archaeological record shortly after the supposed impact.
GMOs could help counter global warming

GMOs could help counter global warming

Oct 03 2010 | comment(s)

Genetically modified organisms have existed for thousands of years but more recently an anti-science contingent has been concerned, perhaps with reason, about their impact on the environment.

But genetically modified organisms, like forests of genetically altered trees and other plants, could also help save the environment and sequester several billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year, according to a study in BioScience.
Why Physicists Are Smug

Why Physicists Are Smug

Oct 02 2010 | comment(s)

Over at Cosmic Variance Sean Carroll is fighting an interesting battle. In a series of recent blogs that started under the title "The Laws Underlying The Physics of Everyday Life Are Completely Understood" he is making the claim that physicists have fully figured out whatever we may encounter in our day-to-day lives. Everything. No exception. Sean wonders why this several decades old achievement never got the attention it deserves.
My experience in the Church of Scientology

My experience in the Church of Scientology

Oct 02 2010 | comment(s)

I saw a cool program on the Church of Scientology a few days ago, and I meant to post this review here but forgot until just now when a Google Ad unit linking to their site appeared on the sidebar.
This isn't a review of the show, it's a review of the Church and a little experience I had with it around three years ago.  The next words you read will be mine, written...holy crap, three years ago to the day, how about that!

My review of the Church of Scientology



I was walking down Tottenham Court Road today, unsuccessfully attempting to get a job, when I walked past none other than the Church of Scientology. A sign outside said "Free Stress Test". Out of curiosity, and for shits and giggles, I decide to take the test.
The Robust Clubhook Squid Is Also Quite Large

The Robust Clubhook Squid Is Also Quite Large

Oct 02 2010 | comment(s)

Humboldt squid have gotten so much press off the west coast of the Americas that pretty much any big squid found in these waters is immediately labeled a Humboldt. For example, a Mr. Anderson and his dog Chance recently found a Big Squid Strayed Too Far North on an Alaskan beach:
Sherry Tamone, a professor of marine biology at the University of Alaska Southeast, looked at Anderson's pictures and guessed the creature was likely a very large humboldt squid that had accidentally hitched a ride on a dead-end warm current headed north.
But is it so obvious?

But is it so obvious?

Oct 02 2010 | comment(s)

Geoffrey Lean, the hard-pressed environmental correspondent of the Telegraph, has come
in for some stick again.  He published

Rubbish saves birds, a major study finds

And this was typical of the replies.

Gosh! Incredible scientific insight. Animals thrive better where food is readily
available.
Deserves a Nobel Prize for the bleedin' obvious.