Featured Articles

The Say of the Week: Strumia on Backward Causation and Communism

The Say of the Week: Strumia on Backward Causation and Communism

Oct 13 2009 | comment(s)

"Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernencko: these three premiers of Soviet Union unexpectedly died around 1984, such that Gorbachev could lead the process that ended with the fall of Soviet Union, such that the US congress stopped funding the SSC, such that the Higgs was not discovered.

According to the new theory of backwards causation, you should be proud of having destroyed communism."
Philosophies of Evaluation (and the New OMB Directive)

Philosophies of Evaluation (and the New OMB Directive)

Oct 13 2009 | comment(s)

It often falls to the management scientist to evaluate how well a program (in the private, non-profit, or government sector) is performing.  There is a great number of ways to go about this task.  This article discusses some of the ways to evaluate a program.  

Different analysis techniques can be applied to the evaluation task, and as we shall see, the chosen technique is quite important. I don’t address the details of technique in this article  My emphasis today is on the variety of evaluation philosophies (principles).  

MYB - New Cancer Gene Discovered

MYB - New Cancer Gene Discovered

Oct 13 2009 | comment(s)

Researchers from the University of Gothenburg say they have discovered a new cancer gene related to adenoid cystic carcinoma,  a slow-growing but deadly form of cancer. The research group can now show that the gene is found in 100% of these tumors, which means that a genetic test can easily be used to make a correct diagnosis.

The newly discovered cancer gene is what is known as a fusion gene, created when two healthy genes join together as a result of a chromosome change.
Programmed Cell Death - In Plants, Animals And Humans, One Thing We All Have In Common

Programmed Cell Death - In Plants, Animals And Humans, One Thing We All Have In Common

Oct 13 2009 | comment(s)

Parts of our genetic programs that determine programmed cell death in plants and animals are actually evolutionarily related and function in a similar way, according to an article in Nature Cell Biology.

Research has previously believed that animals and plants developed different genetic programs for cell death. 
Discovering Ardi -- my thoughts

Discovering Ardi -- my thoughts

Oct 13 2009 | comment(s)

I liked it. Overall, I think the Discovery Channel did a good job of capturing the painstaking work that goes into scientific research, in this case spanning more than 15 years from discovery to publication. Some other quick thoughts:
  • This was not hype. If anything, it was pretty modest, given the amount and significance of the work involved. I didn't see the Darwinius special, but even the previews had me wincing.
Do Non-English Speaking Kids Get Dyslexia?

Do Non-English Speaking Kids Get Dyslexia?

Oct 13 2009 | comment(s)

Children in english-speaking, letter-driven languages are diagnosed with dyslexia more commonly than those in Asia so is it a function of our alphabet?

English dyslexia consists of a 'phonological disorder',  meaning that people with the condition have trouble detecting or manipulating the sound structure of oral language, which in turn leads to problems in mapping speech sounds onto letters

Chinese-speaking children get a form of dyslexia but the disorder is distinctly different, and perhaps more complicated and severe, than that of English speakers. Those differences can even be seen in the brain and in the performance of Chinese children on visual and oral language tasks, according to a report in Current Biology.
New Giant Squid Show Airing in 2010

New Giant Squid Show Airing in 2010

Oct 13 2009 | comment(s)

Mark your calendars! A Japanese broadcaster is joining forces with the Science Channel and renowned giant squid biologist Tsunemi Kubodera (the guy who went fishing with a long string and a bag of shrimp) on an "international quest to find and film a living giant squid." (Again.)
Overbye on Backward Causality

Overbye on Backward Causality

Oct 12 2009 | comment(s)

Many thanks to Dennis for linking, from the NYT site, an article I wrote one year ago to comment a crackpotty paper by an otherwise esteemed scientist.
The essay just appeared on the New York Times site is excellent, as always with Overbye, but it is also way more balanced than my rather vitriolic attack on the theory of backward causation and, in particular, the idea that one should use the Large Hadron Collider to test it by deciding to run or not to run based on the turn of a card.
High Tide on Haida Gwaii

High Tide on Haida Gwaii

Oct 12 2009 | comment(s)



The enormous difference between high and low tide in Haida Gwaii – up to twenty three vertical feet – means that twice a day, vast swathes of shellfish are unveiled, free for the taking.

An ancient Haida saying is still often heard today, “When the tide is out, the table is set.”
Computing Speed Limit

Computing Speed Limit

Oct 12 2009 | comment(s)

It seems that some people have misinterpreted the recent publication of Levitin and Toffoli's paper as implying that somehow there are alternative technologies or approaches that can salvage Moore's Law.  This is incorrect.
Studies on Reality

Studies on Reality

Oct 12 2009 | comment(s)

The Constituents of the Mind, (com), as I have stated previously, are composed of several attributes which we have neatly written down. However, we now need to discuss further this study (See article, ‘Constituents of the Mind’ (com)).

It needs to be said that each and every attribute, or mentioned (com) is by no means so cut and dry. Just like the infinite number of varying colours, hues, shades in a colour that exist, so too, these variations exist for each and every (com). Thus, Sound, Odour, Emotion, have an infinite ‘number’ of variations and these can and do interact with each other.

Teaching the iGeneration

Teaching the iGeneration

Oct 12 2009 | comment(s)

Some instructors have lamented the challenges of teaching students who are constantly logged-on, plugged-in, facebooked, etc. Guess what? I like teaching the iGeneration*. I enjoy using YouTube clips in my lectures, putting together online discussions, and making use of blogs and online resources. I like the fact that they all have laptops (but not if they're rude enough to play games during class). I appreciate that I can upload my lecture notes as PDF files and they will all be able to bring them to lectures. I have a BlackBerry, an iPod, a netbook, a blog (obviously), a document scanner, and miscellaneous other gadgets. I hate being offline as much as my students do.
New! My Paper On Solving The Omega B Controversy

New! My Paper On Solving The Omega B Controversy

Oct 12 2009 | comment(s)

The web site of the Cornell preprint archive, arxiv.org, says it best: successful submissions to the preprint archive are a source of considerable pride (darn it, the page with the exact statement is only available just after you submit a paper, so I cannot quote it literally here since my browser has by now forgotten it!).
How detailed an understanding of evolution do we need?

How detailed an understanding of evolution do we need?

Oct 12 2009 | comment(s)

The folks over at Science and Religion Today were interested in our study on graduate student conceptions of evolution, and asked me to give some thoughts on the question "How detailed an understanding of evolution do we need?" Here is my answer.

Bagheera Kiplingi - A Vegetarian In The Spider World

Bagheera Kiplingi - A Vegetarian In The Spider World

Oct 12 2009 | comment(s)

40,000 or so spiders have been described, all of which have been thought to be strict predators that feed on insects or other animals, trapping their prey in elaborate webs or hunting them down directly. But researchers have now found one exception to this rule, a neotropical jumping spider known as Bagheera kiplingi and the first instance known to science of a spider that dines primarily on vegetarian fare, according to a report published in Current Biology.

The spiders' veggie option of choice is so-called Beltian bodies, specialized leaf-tip structures produced by acacia shrubs. The Beltian bodies normally serve as a food reward for ants that live in hollow spines of the acacia and act as the plants' "bodyguards."
The Littlest Squid

The Littlest Squid

Oct 12 2009 | comment(s)

I've mentioned a couple of obscure "squids" here already, the bobtail squid (sepioids, actually more closely related to cuttlefish) and ram's horn squid (spirulids, which form their own evolutionary offshoot of decapods).

Today I am here to rhapsodize about another group that is little in every way--comprising only eight species, about which scant information is known, and which are the smallest squid in the world. By "small" I actually mean "minuscule." Adult pygmy squid can be smaller than your fingernail. Here's Idiosepius pygmaeus:

Global Warming Has Been Good If You Like Seafood

Global Warming Has Been Good If You Like Seafood

Oct 12 2009 | comment(s)

If you like big scallops for dinner, we have good news - ocean warming, at least in UK waters, has increased stocks of the great scallop Pecten maximus, according to a study published in Marine Biology.

But further rises in water temperatures could have the opposite effect on scallops and better management of these fisheries may be needed to protect sensitive seabed habitats, according to the analysis of 20 years of data by scientists at Bangor University and the Universities of York and Liverpool.
Supervised Strength Training More Effective And Prevents Injuries, Says Study

Supervised Strength Training More Effective And Prevents Injuries, Says Study

Oct 12 2009 | comment(s)

A new thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden says elite athlete injuries could be reduced if players perform injury-preventing strength training  with supervision.   About half of Swedish elite volleyball players suffer at least one injury per season.
'X-Ray Glasses' Can See Through Walls But Only Use Radio Waves

'X-Ray Glasses' Can See Through Walls But Only Use Radio Waves

Oct 12 2009 | comment(s)

University of Utah engineers have shown off a wireless network of radio transmitters that can track people moving behind solid walls, which may help police grab intruders or rescue hostages and might also help retail marketing and border control.

Their method uses radio tomographic imaging (RTI), which can "see," locate and track moving people or objects in an area surrounded by inexpensive radio transceivers that send and receive signals. People don't need to wear radio-transmitting ID tags.
How To Weight With A Balance

How To Weight With A Balance

Oct 11 2009 | comment(s)

Ah, the pleasure of study! I had forgotten the immense intellectual pleasure one may derive by reading a stimulating, informative book. And if half a lifetime has passed from the last time you studied something, and what is left in your brain of it is just Culture, then reading it back again combines the pleasure of the discovery (a rediscovery, in this case) with the one of putting things in perspective, combining the bits of information you recollect with all the knowledge you have acquired since the last time you put the book down.