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Smokers Relieved - Obesity Is Getting Blamed For Everything Now

Smokers Relieved - Obesity Is Getting Blamed For Everything Now

May 12 2009 | comment(s)

We already have a war on drugs, a war on terror, and war against everything French (freedom fries anyone?) but our capacity for war is seemingly unlimited and the newest vendetta has targeted high BMIs. That's right, we're fighting a war on fat people and the soldiers have just added a new weapon to their arsenal.

Not only does obesity cause diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, cancers, depression, high blood pressure, asthma, arthritis, and urinary tract infections (i.e everything) but now obese people also cause global warming. If we could prove that obesity caused 9/11 and the AIDS epidemic, we would have found the root of all evil, hands down.
Dark Matter and Dark Energy as Undiscovered Particles of Scalar and Vector Fields.

Dark Matter and Dark Energy as Undiscovered Particles of Scalar and Vector Fields.

May 12 2009 | comment(s)

Dark matter, dark energy and scalar tensor vector theories of gravity are widely thought of as at odds.  I have shown that if the scalar and vector fields common to alternative gravities are considered as any other quantum fields on a curved space time the consequence is the creation of particles and matter which need not couple into the electromagnetic force.  In short if there are "extra" fundamental forces of nature then there will be "extra" dark matter particles related to those forces. 
Elitism Is Back, Baby (Star Trek Is Proof)

Elitism Is Back, Baby (Star Trek Is Proof)

May 12 2009 | comment(s)

I have a confesson to make; I'm probably smarter than you.
Fighting Dirty in Science

Fighting Dirty in Science

May 12 2009 | comment(s)

John Tierney wants to know - how widespread is the problem of unethical competition in science? Here's the problem explained by Dr Sean Cutler on Tierney's blog:

Sadly, there is a lot of unethical competition that goes on in science. This year alone, I have heard of cases that are the scientific equivalent of insider trading, where reviewers of important papers exploit their access to privileged data to gain unfair advantages in the “race” to the next big discovery. I have heard of researchers being ignored when they request published materials from scientists.
Why H1N1 Swine Flu Scares The Heck Out Of People

Why H1N1 Swine Flu Scares The Heck Out Of People

May 12 2009 | comment(s)

Why are people scared before an epidemic even happens?—A question inspired by the recent H1N1 outbreak.  From a sociological perspective, entities that we rely upon to keep us safe from harm are now advising us that a threat is amongst us which is highly troubling to the human psyche.  Aside from of our sense of safety being compromised, the usual suspects—media outlets and major public institutions, are also to blame for contributing to the present swine flu hysteria.

Pavlopetri - Preserving The World’s Oldest Submerged Town

Pavlopetri - Preserving The World’s Oldest Submerged Town

May 12 2009 | comment(s)

The oldest submerged town in the world is about to give up its secrets — with the help of equipment that could revolutionise underwater archaeology.

The ancient town of Pavlopetri lies in three to four metres of water just off the coast of southern Laconia in Greece. The ruins date from at least 2800 BC through to intact buildings, courtyards, streets, chamber tombs and some thirty-seven cist graves which are thought to belong to the Mycenaean period (c.1680-1180 BC). This Bronze Age phase of Greece provides the historical setting for much Ancient Greek literature and myth, including Homer’s Age of Heroes.

Biomass And Bio-Oil Would Be A Lot More Environmentally Efficient If They Were Easily Converted To ...

Biomass And Bio-Oil Would Be A Lot More Environmentally Efficient If They Were Easily Converted To ...

May 12 2009 | comment(s)

Bio-oil is an aqueous, acidic, highly oxidized mixture. However, its high oxygen content and instability turn out to have a negative impact: bio-oil cannot be used directly as a liquid fuel. It would, however, be highly interesting as a source of basic raw materials if it were possible to convert it to alkanes. Alkanes, which are also commonly called paraffins, are saturated hydrocarbons; they are among the most important raw materials for chemical industry, and in particular as starting materials for the production of plastics. Furthermore, they are among the primary fuels in the world's economy.
Frequency Dependent Selection: It Is Different And Therefore I Fear It

Frequency Dependent Selection: It Is Different And Therefore I Fear It

May 12 2009 | comment(s)

Rare traits persist in a population because predators detect common forms of prey more easily. Researchers writing in BMC Ecology found that birds will target salamanders that look like the majority – even reversing their behavior in response to alterations in the ratio of a distinguishing trait. 
Canadian Duck Bill A New Species Of Dinosaur?

Canadian Duck Bill A New Species Of Dinosaur?

May 12 2009 | comment(s)

The discovery of a gruesome feeding frenzy that played out 73 million years ago in northwestern Alberta may also lead to the discovery of new dinosaur species in northwestern Alberta.

University of Alberta student Tetsuto Miyashita and Frederico Fanti, a paleontology graduate student from Italy, made the discovery near Grande Prairie, 450 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. 
What Spore should have been

What Spore should have been

May 11 2009 | comment(s)

The evolution game Spore was somewhat of a critical flop - especially among scientists. The game has glitzy graphics, but, for a game billed as being somehow connected to science, the science sucked.  What's more important, many of us thought the game play could have been improved with better science.
Well, if the Spore guys had gotten together with the creator of Swimbots, (or GenePool - not sure which is the real name) the result might have been amazing graphics, gameplay, and science:
Is Austria Leaving CERN ?

Is Austria Leaving CERN ?

May 11 2009 | comment(s)

With an unexpected move, the Austrian Minister of Research and Science, Johannes Hahn, announced last Friday that he intends to put an end to the 50-year-long participation of Austria to CERN.

Such a move is hard to understand, in light of the great prospects of physics that the start-up of LHC will bring at the end of this year. Losing membership to CERN would mean a downgrade of Austrian scientists in all the projects they are involved, and it would be detrimental to the experiments, to the lab, and to particle physics in general, but most of all it would be a catastrophe for Austrian research.
Don’t You Understand The Square Root Of NO?

Don’t You Understand The Square Root Of NO?

May 11 2009 | comment(s)

Frederick II (1194 –1250), Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily, so I have read, preferred equation-solving contests to watching knights impaling each other in jousting. Certainly, the great mathematician we know today as Fibonacci spent some time at his court.

As a result of this development, Italy became a leading centre of the mathematical arts, and by the 1530s the solving of cubic equations was all the rage in Venice, with great prize money.

The Stephen Colbert Beetle And Ten More Pop Culture Biological Namesakes

The Stephen Colbert Beetle And Ten More Pop Culture Biological Namesakes

May 11 2009 | comment(s)

A couple of entomologists at Arizona State have done what NASA famously failed to do: name a thing after Stephen Colbert. The Agaporomorphus colberti diving beetle joins the ranks of Colbert’s many namesakes: the Aptostichus stephencolberti trapdoor spider, the Diamphipnoa colberti stonefly, and just about everything else that needed naming in the last few years.

This Colbert-named arthropod series is in good company. There is a wealth of homage, wordplay, and good ol’ scientist shenanigans hiding beneath the latinized genus and species names of formal biological nomenclature. Here are a few highlights.
A Sunday Afternoon in New York

A Sunday Afternoon in New York

May 11 2009 | comment(s)

On my way back to CERN from Fermilab (yes, I am betting on two tables at a time these days, as our Poker-addict friend Garth Sundem suggests), I made a 7-hour stopover in New York. Originally this was meant to save money to my employer, because other combinations costed more than the Swiss ticket I found. But I made virtue of necessity, and organized a meeting with my friend Peter Woit in the West Village. It turned out that I picked the right day for my visit.
Dynamic Heart System Makes Animal Heart Pump Outside The Body

Dynamic Heart System Makes Animal Heart Pump Outside The Body

May 11 2009 | comment(s)

A new machine developed at North Carolina State University makes an animal heart pump much like a live heart after it has been removed from the animal's body, allowing researchers to expedite the development of new tools and techniques for heart surgery. The machine saves researchers time and money by allowing them to test and refine their technologies in a realistic surgical environment, without the cost and time associated with animal or clinical trials.
Coming Clean

Coming Clean

May 11 2009 | comment(s)

Chessplayers are a strange lot. Those who get attracted by the game and end up sticking to it, making it the game of their life, are typically intelligent, creative thinkers; yet among them one may usually count a unusually large number of nutcases. It is not a secret, for instance, that several of the best chess players of the past were disturbed souls. Whole books have been written on this topic (see for instance the famous "The psychology of the chess player" by R.Fine), and I cannot offer any meaningful contribution here. However, I can tell you the personal story of the worst moment of mental insanity in my chess career.
Thank God For Atheists (And Vice Versa)

Thank God For Atheists (And Vice Versa)

May 11 2009 | comment(s)

The success of religion may be the fault of non-believers (or, if you look at it the other way around, thank god for the atheists!) 

At least that is one interpretation of a recent individual-based simulation study of social evolution conducted by James Dow at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, and published in a recent issue of the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (vol. 11, no.

Internet Poker: By The Numbers

Internet Poker: By The Numbers

May 11 2009 | comment(s)

No matter what you read in the various published strategy guides and online chat rooms about pot odds, implied odds, reverse-implied odds and pot equity, there is no mathematically definite strategy for poker played in casinos. Because the best poker is unpredictable and in casinos you are likely to experience the best poker, all decisions are eventually somewhat intuitive. (Like the stock market, you can’t figure out Dan Harrington—if you could, you could beat him. Note: you can’t.)
The Race To Cure Malaria

The Race To Cure Malaria

May 11 2009 | comment(s)

The death toll due to malaria outbreaks has reached over million lives every year with an additional 300-500 million people suffering illness from serious malaria infections. The growing pandemic and high mortality rate has caused renewed and fervent interest in creating an effective vaccine treatment for the prevention of malaria.

This interest has sparked physicians, scientists and pharmaceutical companies alike to race for the most cost-effective, efficient and overall viable vaccine against malaria.  There are currently multiple vaccines in various stages of trial and with various ranges of efficacy.
Acupuncture Eases Chronic Lower Back Pain In Trial (But So Does Simulated Acupuncture)

Acupuncture Eases Chronic Lower Back Pain In Trial (But So Does Simulated Acupuncture)

May 11 2009 | comment(s)

Acupuncture can help people with chronic low back pain feel less bothered by their symptoms and function better in their daily activities, according to the largest randomized trial of its kind, published in the May 11, 2009 Archives of Internal Medicine. But the SPINE (Stimulating Points to Investigate Needling Efficacy) trial raises questions about how the ancient practice actually works.