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Return of the World's Cutest Squid

Return of the World's Cutest Squid

Oct 06 2009 | comment(s)

My personal favorite sepiolid is the striped pyjama squid. It burrow in the sand! It secretes mucus! And it is spelled in the British way! Seriously, nothing should be allowed to be that cute:


As a bonus, its eyes are closed in this picture, to minimize potential creepiness.

To Save Forests, Think Blue And Not Just Green

To Save Forests, Think Blue And Not Just Green

Oct 06 2009 | comment(s)

'Blue haze' is a natural occurrence over heavily forested areas around the world but natural does not always mean good.  Still, while blue haze may be formed by natural emissions of chemicals, human activities can worsen it to the point of affecting the world's weather and even cause potential climate problems, according to a new study.

When you walk through a forest or even a large grassy area, it's not uncommon to be able to smell the plants around you, such as pine trees or other vegetation. That smell is nature's way of naturally making organic gases produced by the plants themselves, often millions of tons per day.
Too Many Antioxidants, More Diabetes?

Too Many Antioxidants, More Diabetes?

Oct 06 2009 | comment(s)

It seems like common sense that too much of even good things can be bad.  Everyone has heard about the damage that reactive oxygen species (ROS) – aka free radicals – can do to our bodies by now and the sales pitches for antioxidant vitamins, skin creams or "superfoods" that can stop them - so many that we will shut off comments for this article because it will be all spam.

There is ample scientific evidence that chronic ROS production within cells can contribute to human diseases, including insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes but a new report in Cell Metabolism, says that low levels of ROS – and hydrogen peroxide in particular - might actually protect us from diabetes, by improving our ability to respond to insulin signals. 
Autism Epidemic? Please stop the insanity!

Autism Epidemic? Please stop the insanity!

Oct 06 2009 | comment(s)

This study was released today, regarding the incidence of Autism in the population. According to the study, which is based on data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, there is a prevalence rate of 1 in 91 American children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, and even worse, 1 in 58 boys.

I can hear the people screaming.... "Autism Epidemic!!! Run for the hills!!! Don't vaccinate your children!!! It is a government conspiracy!!!"

I am on the lookout for Jenny McCarthy, but so far, her mug has not found its way to the big news stations yet.

Here are some take-home points:
A King Of Righteousness For The 21st Century?

A King Of Righteousness For The 21st Century?

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

Recent correspondence directed me to the fact that there is a Philosophy section in Scientific Blogging. This is something I have kept away from, since my view of the subject follows the Pooh-Goethe paradigm [1]. However, I have just read In The Beginning - A Rough Guide To A Physicalist View Of Everything which introduced the subject of metaphysics. Now it may be customary to think that metaphysics is “that which lies beyond physics”, so the more we get our physics right, the better the metaphysics. But then Darwin had a different perspective. In his Notebook M (1838) he wrote

Testing The Fairness Of My Rejection Of Homeopathy

Testing The Fairness Of My Rejection Of Homeopathy

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

To test whether my belief that homeopathy is not an evidence-based rational system of medicine is reasonable or just prejudice on my part, I did a quick experiment using Google Scholar. (This was done Jan 17, 2008)

A "layman's meta-analysis" of sorts. Not supremely scientific alas (although perhaps somewhat reminiscent of a GCSE science project ;) ), but the best I could do early in the morning with only vending-machine coffee to keep my brain from sleep ;-) 

The Setup
The basics of the test were as follows:

"Creation" film / movie

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

A friend on a newsgroup went recently to see the "Creation" fim / movie.  He'd like to know what the folks on Scientific Blogging think of it (I presume it's being shown across the pond, also.)  He writes:

Dear All,
Went to see the film the other night. Not quite what I expected and to some extent disappointed as it was very much an interpretation of Darwin (and Huxley), which didn't always fit in with the biographies of Darwin I've read.

Specific points:
Huxley had a walk on part and the actor who played him made him look like a dwarf and a stooge to Hooker.

With what words he did say, I'm not sure whether many people would be able to differentiate between his anti-clericalism and an anti God stance.
The Say of the Week - Martin Perl on his discovery

The Say of the Week - Martin Perl on his discovery

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

"An illustration of the confusion about the tau is provided by two editions of a popular book on particle physics by Nigel calder entitled The Key to the Universe. In the first edition Calder wrote:

Martin Perl and his colleagues detected peculiar events occurring in SPEAR. From the scene of collision an electron and a heavy electron (the well-known muon) carrying opposite electric charges were ejected at the same moment without any other detectable particles coming out. No conventional process, involving conventional particles, could account for such events.
Plastic Solar Cells: Science, Expectations, and Challenges
By Darren Lipomi | October 5th 2009 03:51 PM | Print | E-mail
Nearly all problems of global scale—climate change, clean water, sustainable agriculture, healthcare, and even war—list the availability and use of energy as either a principal cause or potential solution. Everywhere we turn, we are hounded by advertisements for “green” technologies such as hybrid cars, wind power, clean coal, smart grids, and compact fluorescent light bulbs. Some technologies promise to be “small steps” toward sustainability, while others make more ambitious claims. Realists agree, however, that a complete solution to the energy challenge will be a patchwork quilt of strategies that includes gains in efficiency, conservation, alternative sources of energy, and changes of habit (gasp!). This essay describes one possible piece of the puzzle: plastic solar cells.
Want to prevent neighbors from stealing your wi-fi? Redecorate.

Want to prevent neighbors from stealing your wi-fi? Redecorate.

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

Most people have at one time or another hitched their internet connection on to someone else's wi-fi signal, or have had others use theirs. Annoying? Yes. But it could also get you in trouble if the snooper is engaged in illegal activity, says The Working Guy's Christopher Null.
It's not just about slowing down your connection; while they're downloading Mad Men via bittorrent, you could be on the hook for their actions.

Wireless security and encryption systems are fraught with problems and insecurity, and other methods to restrict your signal to a small area are cumbersome at best.
Walmart - the new farmer's market?

Walmart - the new farmer's market?

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

Can Walmart sell nutrition better than the U.S. government? Honestly, it might be able to, says agricultural trade policy analyst Sallie James in this NPR report.

James says it's not economically feasible for the vast majority of Americans to buy and eat local foods, and it will be difficult not only to get many people within reasonable distance of a local market, but also to create enough production to feed America's 300-million-plus population.
You like Skype; I like Skype; everybody likes Skype!

You like Skype; I like Skype; everybody likes Skype!

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

When I worked for IBM, I didn’t use Skype. As with many large companies, they don’t allow the use of software on company computers unless the lawyers have approved the terms and conditions — the end-user license agreement, EULA — and the company lawyers didn’t approve the Skype license. It didn’t matter much to me: I had a Cisco IP telephone on my desk, and software on my computer to control the phone. I could make and receive calls from my computer as though I were at my desk.

Alioramus Altai - Tiny Tyrannosaur With Horns Revealed

Alioramus Altai - Tiny Tyrannosaur With Horns Revealed

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

Tyrannosaurus rex has had an interesting few weeks - Raptorex kriegsteini, a man-sized ancestor, was unveiled a few weeks ago and now we find out that Alioramus altai—a horned, long-snouted, gracile cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex—shared the same environment with larger, predatory relatives.

Tyrannosaurs are bipedal predators that lived at the end of the Cretaceous (from 85 million years to approximately 65 million years ago) is currently known from several groups of fossils. One subfamily from North America includes Albertosaurus and Gorgosaurus, while the other subfamily bridges Asia and North America and includes Tyranosaurus, Tarbosaurus, and Alioramus.

Both T.

College Students Get Some Voting Respect

College Students Get Some Voting Respect

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

Outreach campaigns like 'Rock the Vote' don't generally do a lot for the image of young voters - if you're in the tank for one party the other party gives up on you and your own party takes you for granted because they are going after undecided people in swing states who keep their votes up for grabs.   But get-out-the-vote campaigns are essential, politicos say, because students are flaky, so if they're in your party you don't have to listen to them on issues but you have to rent a bus, take them to the booths and buy them a sandwich to get them to actually vote.
Air Pollution Linked To Appendicitis?

Air Pollution Linked To Appendicitis?

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

Can air pollution trigger appendicitis?  Yes, says a study conducted by researchers at the University of Calgary, University of Toronto and Health Canada who looked at 5191 adults admitted to hospitals in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Fifty-two per cent of admissions occurred between April and September, the warmest months of the year in Canada during which people are more likely to be outside.

Therefore, air pollution must be the culprit if your correlation-causation arrow is more like a Scud missile.
Good Posture Good For Positive Self Image Too

Good Posture Good For Positive Self Image Too

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

Sitting up straight in a chair is obviously good for posture but it can also make you unconsciously more confident, say Ohio State University researchers.   

They found that people who were told to sit up straight were more likely to believe thoughts they wrote down while in that posture concerning whether they were qualified for a job while those who were slumped over their desks were less likely to accept written-down feelings about their own qualifications.

The results are an indication that our body posture can affect not only what others think about us, but also how we think about ourselves, said Richard Petty, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at Ohio State.
Religious And Skeptics Not All That Different, Reasoning Wise, Says Neuroimaging Study

Religious And Skeptics Not All That Different, Reasoning Wise, Says Neuroimaging Study

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

You would think religious people and atheists don't have a lot in common regarding thinking but they do, says a study by UCLA, Pepperdine and USC neuroscientists.    

It's tough to systematically compare religious faith with ordinary cognition, so calibrate accordingly, but in a neuroimaging study the researchers found that while the human brain responded very differently to religious and nonreligious propositions, the process of believing or disbelieving a statement, whether religious or not, was governed by the same areas in the brain. 
Qubits - 0, 1 Or Both

Qubits - 0, 1 Or Both

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

The power of quantum mechanics for data transmission is intriguing because of potential for secure, high speed communications but current storage and transmission of quantum information is far too fragile to have any practical value in the near term.

In classical communications, a bit can represent one of two states - either 0 or 1. But because photons are quantum mechanical objects, they can exist in multiple states at the same time. Photons can also be combined, in a process known as entanglement, to store a bit of quantum information (i.e. a qubit). 
Does Super-High IQ= Super-Low Common Sense?

Does Super-High IQ= Super-Low Common Sense?

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

We have all heard the term, "Nutty Professor", which brings to mind the highly intelligent, yet socially inept individual; excelling in the academic world, yet failing miserably in the realm of common sense. Is there an evolutionary explanation for why this phenomenon exists?

Bruce Charlton, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Medical Hypotheses, says "yes". He calls these people 'Clever Sillies' in his article, "Clever Sillies- Why the High IQ Lack Common Sense". He proposes that high IQ is not just a cognitive ability, but also a cognitive disposition. He says,
Calamari Makes the Ursine Menu

Calamari Makes the Ursine Menu

Oct 05 2009 | comment(s)

A couple of years ago, during one of these flurries of Humboldt squid activity in the Pacific Northwest, people were reporting headless squid bodies on the beach. It turned out that at least one and possibly several local wolves had caught on to the protein bonanza, and were carrying squid heads home for a calamari feast.

Fun squid fact: squid heads are generally not very well attached to their bodies, so if you grab the head and pull, you'll often leave the body behind. This is probably what was happening to the wolves, and they weren't motivated enough to come back for the bodies.