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The Origins Of The Reductionist Program

The Origins Of The Reductionist Program

May 13 2009 | comment(s)


The Origins of the Reductionist Program

"How can the events in space and time which take place within the spatialboundary of a living organism be accounted for by physics and chemistry?" Erwin Schrodinger - What is Life - 1944
Weak governments may be hazardous to your health (and your rights)

Weak governments may be hazardous to your health (and your rights)

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

Human rights abuses are commonly associated with despotic, totalitarian regimes, not with weak and failing states. But Professor Neil Englehart’s recent study of 140 nations suggests that weak states may actually put personal security rights at the greatest risk.

Englehart defined state "capacity" as "the willingness and capability of the state apparatus to carry out government policy" not by a particular government’s stability, longevity, or popularity. He used three measures of capacity: (1) expert opinion on law and order (impartial legal system and general respect for the law); (2) expert opinion on state corruption; and (3) the state’s tax (which fund state services) as a proportion of gross domestic product.
What Tetris Teaches Us About Self-Assembly And Solubility

What Tetris Teaches Us About Self-Assembly And Solubility

May 13 2009 | comment(s)




Tetris stole hundreds of hours of our lives.  It’s about time it starts giving back.  Researchers at the Washington University of St. Louis have built a computer simulation that uses a modified Tetris game to explore self-assembly.  Their take on the classic puzzle game confirms what Tetris junkies have always known: The T-shaped tetromino is insanely versatile, and the L and Z tetrominoes just can’t get along.  
Update from Demeter Design

Update from Demeter Design

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

We have just finished the second version of our environmental database. This database includes not only our own published work but hundreds of publications regarding Salmon, Habitat, Climate Change, Invasive Weeds, and more.  We also have loads of GIS data.

We want feedback! Please let us know if this library is helpful, what information should be added, and anything else you think.

http://demeterdesign.net/downloads.html

Hit the "PNW Reports" link for the pdfs. You may need to refresh this page if you are not able to view it properly. Java script required to get the fancy links but the info is still there even if you don't have it.
The Internet, in

The Internet, in "New Scientist"

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

New Scientist magazine has posted an eight-part article titled “Eight things you didn’t know about the internet”. As someone who knows about the Internet, I thought I’d comment on the various parts. Today, part 1: “Who controls the internet?”, by Michael Brooks.

Mr Brooks gives his answer to the question in terms of ICANN:

As The Bug Evolves: Where Is Swine Flu Headed?

As The Bug Evolves: Where Is Swine Flu Headed?

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

Recently I had the opportunity to ask Paul Ewald, one of the nation's leading evolutionary biologists, about a subject near and dear to his heart: the evolution of a bug, specifically swine flu. As usual, Ewald, a professor of biology at the University of Louisville, was lucid, cogent and memorable.

In his 2002 book, Plague Time: The New Germ Theory of Disease, Ewald set the bio-med community on its head by arguing that most chronic disease is caused by sub-acute levels of pathogenic origin, rather than genes.

Hope Is On The Way For Hubble

Hope Is On The Way For Hubble

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

Monday afternoon the space shuttle Atlantis blasted off into the Florida sky carrying with it the hopes and dreams of astronomers like me and people around the world.  Seven NASA astronauts have set out to repair the aging Hubble Space Telescope and upgrade it with new instruments.

The launch was picture-perfect from our vantage point at Space View Park in Titusville, Florida.  This may be the second shuttle launch I have seen in person, but it is the first I am old enough to remember.  (photo courtesy of David Radburn-Smith)
Microbial Ocean Study Reels In RNA Surprise

Microbial Ocean Study Reels In RNA Surprise

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

To study small RNA, snippets of RNA that act as switches to regulate gene expression in single-celled creatures, you need lab-cultured microorganisms but a new method of obtaining marine microbe samples while preserving the microbes' natural gene expression has shown the presence of many varieties of small RNAs.  

The discovery of its presence in a natural setting may make it possible finally to learn on a broad scale how microbial communities living at different ocean depths and regions respond to environmental stimuli.
Kepler Mission Status Report - Let The Planet Hunting Begin

Kepler Mission Status Report - Let The Planet Hunting Begin

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has begun its search for other Earth-like worlds. The mission, which launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 6, will spend the next three-and-a-half years staring at more than 100,000 stars for telltale signs of planets. Kepler has the unique ability to find planets as small as Earth that orbit sun-like stars at distances where temperatures are right for possible lakes and oceans. 
Buy Expensive Sports Drinks? Just Eat Some Cereal Instead

Buy Expensive Sports Drinks? Just Eat Some Cereal Instead

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

A bowl of whole-grain cereal is as good as a sports drink for recovery after exercise. Research published in BioMed Central’s open access Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition has shown that the readily available and relatively inexpensive breakfast food is as effective as popular, carbohydrate-based ‘sports drinks’.
Swabian Jura Venus Figurine Rewrites Ideas On Paleolithic Art

Swabian Jura Venus Figurine Rewrites Ideas On Paleolithic Art

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

2008 excavations at Hohle Fels Cave in the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany recovered a female figurine carved from mammoth ivory from the basal Aurignacian deposit. The figurine is the earliest depiction of a human and one of the oldest known examples of figurative art worldwide and is at least 35,000 years old.

If you're looking closely at the Venus of Hohle Fels below, you may also notice those are breasts, which radically changes our views of the context and meaning of the earliest Paleolithic art; maybe it's porn-eolithic.

Venus of Hohle Fels Swabian Jura
Blood Stem Cells Go With The Flow

Blood Stem Cells Go With The Flow

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

A new report published in Cell says that a heart beat and blood circulation are critical signals for the production of blood-forming, or hematopoietic, stem cells in the developing embryo.
Cocaine Regulates Gene Expression - And Has Long-Lasting Impact On Behavior

Cocaine Regulates Gene Expression - And Has Long-Lasting Impact On Behavior

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

New research sheds light on how cocaine regulates gene expression in a crucial reward region of the brain to elicit long-lasting changes in behavior. The study in Neuron provides insight into the molecular pathways regulated by cocaine and may lead to new strategies for battling drug addiction.

It is well established that addictive drugs induce persistent changes in the brain's reward circuits. Previous research has indicated that addiction to drugs such as cocaine is associated with altered gene expression in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a region of the brain that is involved in motivation, pleasure, and reward.
Climate Change Modeling Complication - Ocean Circulation Does Not Work As Expected

Climate Change Modeling Complication - Ocean Circulation Does Not Work As Expected

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

You probably envision ocean currents as a 'conveyor belt'  - that's okay, so do oceanographers.  But at least in the Atlantic, it doesn't work quite the way scientists have believed, according to new research led by Duke University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.  Their analyses showed that much of this water, originating in the sea between Newfoundland and Greenland, rather than flowing southward from the Labrador Sea, is diverted generally eastward by the time it flows as far south as Massachusetts. From there it disperses to the depths in complex ways that are difficult to follow.
Ginseng Is A Natural Anti-Inflammatory - Study

Ginseng Is A Natural Anti-Inflammatory - Study

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

Laboratory experiments have demonstrated the immunological effects of ginseng, say researchers writing in the Journal of Translational Medicine.  Their studies show that the herb, much used in traditional Chinese and other Asian medicine, does have anti-inflammatory effects.

The scientists treated human immune cells with different extracts of ginseng. They found that of the nine ginsenosides they identified, seven could selectively inhibit expression of the inflammatory gene CXCL-10. Allan Lau concludes, "Further studies will be needed to examine the potential beneficial effects of ginsenosides in the management of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases in humans."
Jamming Analysis - Condensed Matter Physics Gets Cool Again

Jamming Analysis - Condensed Matter Physics Gets Cool Again

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

Researchers in condensed matter physics at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago have created an experimental and computer model to study how jamming, the physical process in which collections of particles are crammed together to behave as solids, might affect the behavior of systems in which thermal motion is important, such as molecules in a glass.

The study presents the first experimental evidence of a vestige of the zero temperature jamming transition — the density at which large, loose objects such as gas bubbles in liquid, grains of sand or cars become rigid solids such as foam, sand dunes or traffic jams — in a system of small particles where thermal energy is important.
Star Trek Versus Intelligent Design

Star Trek Versus Intelligent Design

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

The recent Star Trek movie raised a new set of conundrums about time travel and alternative realities. As an astrophysicist, I am clearly most able to tackle these issues.

Basically, time travel theories fall into two classes. C. J. Ander posits 6 Theories of Time Travel, but Anders is more of a trek anthropologist. His work categorizes how time travel affects people and things, not entire universes. From a physics point of view, these can be simplified to two different energy perspectives.
Teddy Goes To Washington

Teddy Goes To Washington

May 13 2009 | comment(s)

Perhaps Hank is the smartest guy in the room (so was Enron), but while he and Bloggy are taking Manhattan (as did the Muppets, although apparently not well if it needs to be taken again), Teddy and I went to Washington to fix health care.
Whale Evolution with Pictures

Whale Evolution with Pictures

May 12 2009 | comment(s)

The journal Evolution: Education and Outreach has a great piece on the evolution of whales, complete with pictures. As the piece says, "cetacean origin is one of the best known examples of macroevolution documented in the fossil record."

The authors, leading researchers in the field, lay out the details with pictures of fossils, whale embryos, and even a four-limbed dolphin. Evolution: Education and Outreach is aimed in part at K-12 teachers, so this piece is not too technical. You're not going to find a better short intro to whale evolution.
Wait, This Maneuver In Top Gun Was Real?

Wait, This Maneuver In Top Gun Was Real?

May 12 2009 | comment(s)

Scott Altman is a pretty cool guy.   He's the commander of the Atlantis mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope (and, as noted previously, astronaut John Grunsfeld is also carrying along Edwin Hubble's basketball, another level of awesome) and being commander of a space shuttle mission is nice, though I generally think NASA has lost both its way and the imagination of the public by manning a fleet of delivery trucks instead of doing actual space exploration.

   No, Altman is cool because he was one of the stunt pilots in "Top Gun."