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Geometry in Chicago

Geometry in Chicago

Dec 31 2008 | comment(s)

Even on this side of the Atlantic, we have noticed:
Burris, standing at the governor’s side, said he’s eager to get to work in Washington “to face a convergence of parallel crises.”
 One’s first thought is that either in Chigaco or Washington the geometry is of Riemann’s elliptic variety. 

But it then struck me, that the word “parallel” has long taken on the meaning “simultaneous” as in multi-tasking or even parallel processing.  Another case where mathematical and scientific usage run counter to (or even athwart – lovely old Anglo Saxon word) common usage.
DoD New Year's Resolution: I Promise I Will Destroy All My Remaining Stockpiles Of VX Nerve Gas

DoD New Year's Resolution: I Promise I Will Destroy All My Remaining Stockpiles Of VX Nerve Gas

Dec 31 2008 | comment(s)

Well, it's now a merry Christmas for everyone except Nicholas Cage. The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) announced Monday that as of Christmas Eve, 2008, they've completed the destruction of all munitions carrying VX gas in the possession of the U.S. Army. Unfortunately for Mr. Cage, this means that he's far less likely to be called upon to save San Francisco from rockets armed with the deadly gas by breaking into the former prison on Alcatraz Island aided by Sean Connery, as he proved he could do in Micheal Bay's 1996 film, The Rock.
Gravity Makes A Comeback In Astrophysics - And A 3D 'Dendrogram' PDF Is Showing How

Gravity Makes A Comeback In Astrophysics - And A 3D 'Dendrogram' PDF Is Showing How

Dec 31 2008 | comment(s)

New computer visualization technology developed by the Harvard Initiative in Innovative Computing has helped astrophysicists understand that gravity plays a larger role than previously thought in deep space's vast, star-forming molecular clouds.

The insight is being illustrated in Nature's online version through new three-dimensional Portable Document Format (PDF) technology that will allow readers to view the article's key graphics using free PDF software already commonly found on computers.
Grape Seed Extract Found To Kill Leukemia Cells In Laboratory Tests

Grape Seed Extract Found To Kill Leukemia Cells In Laboratory Tests

Dec 31 2008 | comment(s)

An extract from grape seeds forces laboratory leukemia cells to commit cell suicide, according to researchers from the University of Kentucky. They found that within 24 hours, 76 percent of leukemia cells had died after being exposed to the extract.



The investigators, who report their findings in the January 1, 2009, issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, also teased apart the cell signaling pathway associated with use of grape seed extract that led to cell death, or apoptosis. They found that the extract activates JNK, a protein that regulates the apoptotic pathway.


Antibiotic Advocates Fight Back - It's Preventing A Lot Of Deaths, They Say

Antibiotic Advocates Fight Back - It's Preventing A Lot Of Deaths, They Say

Dec 31 2008 | comment(s)

Antibiotics may be overprescribed in kids because of concern by helicopter parents and worries about malpractice lawsuits, but in at least one instance they are saving a lot of lives - as a preventive measure to patients in intensive care units (ICUs).

This from a study involving nearly sixthousand Dutch patients in thirteen hospitals. Researchers at University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht have published their findings in an article in The New England Journal of Medicine. 
Berry Go Round #12

Berry Go Round #12

Dec 30 2008 | comment(s)

The 12th edition of Berry Go Round, the botanical blog carnival, is now online at Foothills Fancies.  Lots of good reading to be had.
Fun Physics (???)

Fun Physics (???)

Dec 30 2008 | comment(s)

I have received this request from a friend roughly 5,000 miles away:
My maternal cousin has to prepare a write up for her school.  She needs to write something on 'fun physics'.
Plant blindness and common names for plants

Plant blindness and common names for plants

Dec 30 2008 | comment(s)

There's a discussion going on over at Wikipedia regarding the naming convention for articles about plants.  In general, article titles are supposed to be the "most common" name for the thing in English.  But when you're trying to compile "the sum total of human knowledge", that simple rule can be problematic.  Do you really want to use "the most common" name, or do you want to use the most accurate name?  After all, Wikipedia seeks to be an encyclopaedia.

Things get far worse when you try to write articles about plant species.  There are about a quarter million species of flowering plants.  Most of them lack common names in English.  But where they exist, common nam

Cymascope - High Definition Imprints May Mean Deciphering Dolphin Language

Cymascope - High Definition Imprints May Mean Deciphering Dolphin Language

Dec 30 2008 | comment(s)

Researchers in Great Britain and the United States have imaged the first high definition imprints that dolphin sounds make in water.   They consider it a real breakthrough in deciphering dolphin language.

Certain sounds made by dolphins have long been suspected to represent language but the complexity of the sounds has made their analysis difficult. Previous techniques, using the spectrograph, display cetacean (dolphins, whales and porpoises) sounds only as graphs of frequency and amplitude.
Which Was First, Religion To Help With Self Control Or Self Control Codified As Religion

Which Was First, Religion To Help With Self Control Or Self Control Codified As Religion

Dec 30 2008 | comment(s)

Religious people have more self-control than non-religious counterparts, says a study by University of Miami professor of Psychology Michael McCullough and he says this is why religious people may be better at pursuing and achieving long-term goals and also might help explain why religious people tend to have lower rates of substance abuse, better school achievement, less delinquency, better health behaviors, less depression, and longer lives.

Light, Nanoparticles And The Future Of Smart Drug Delivery

Light, Nanoparticles And The Future Of Smart Drug Delivery

Dec 30 2008 | comment(s)

Using tiny gold particles and infrared light, researchers have developed a drug-delivery system that allows multiple drugs to be released in a controlled fashion.  Such a system could one day be used to provide more control when battling diseases commonly treated with more than one drug, according to the researchers.

Delivery devices already exist that can release two drugs, but the timing of the release must be built into the device — it cannot be controlled from outside the body. The new system is controlled externally and theoretically could deliver up to three or four drugs. 

The new technique takes advantage of the fact that when gold nanoparticles are exposed to infrared light, they melt and release drug payloads attached to their surfaces. 
Meditation Effective For ADHD - Study

Meditation Effective For ADHD - Study

Dec 30 2008 | comment(s)

While in some cases a child with ADHD cannot function without medication, there is growing concern about the health risks and side effects associated with the common ADHD medications, including mood swings, insomnia, tics, slowed growth and heart problems. In 2006 the FDA required manufacturers to place warning labels on ADHD medications, listing the potential serious health risks. 

These high risks and growing concerns are fueling parents' search for alternatives that may be safer for their kids.

The Transcendental Meditation technique may be an effective and safe non-pharmaceutical aid for treating ADHD, according to a study published in Current Issues in Education.
F-35 Decides It May Need To Use Conventional Take-Off Also

F-35 Decides It May Need To Use Conventional Take-Off Also

Dec 30 2008 | comment(s)

Lockheed Martin rolled out a conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant of the F-35 Lightning II fighter, called F-35AF-1, which joins three weight-optimized F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variants currently undergoing testing. The aircraft are structurally identical to the F-35s that will be delivered to armed services beginning in 2010.

The first F-35A, known as AA-1, has completed 69 flights, and has a production-representative external shape and internal systems. Unlike AF-1 and the other F-35 test aircraft, AA-1's internal structure was designed before a 2004 weight-savings program resulted in structural revisions to all three F-35 variants.
Molecule Implicated In Leukemia Also Important In Muscle Repair

Molecule Implicated In Leukemia Also Important In Muscle Repair

Dec 30 2008 | comment(s)

Researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered that a molecule implicated in leukemia and lung cancer is also important in muscle repair and in a muscle cancer that strikes mainly children. 

The study shows that immature muscle cells require the molecule, called miR-29, to become mature, and that the molecule is nearly missing in cells from rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer caused by the proliferation of immature muscle cells. 

Cells from human rhabdomyosarcoma tumors showed levels of the molecule that were 10 percent or less of those in normal muscle cells. Artificially raising the level of the molecule in the cancer cells cut their growth by half and caused them to begin maturing, slowing down tumor growth.

"Rough Sex at 40,000 Leagues Under the Sea" - Scientific American eye-opener

Dec 29 2008 | comment(s)

What images do the words 'traumatic fertilization' conjur? If you are picturing deep-sea squid, you are either a fellow subscriber to Scientific American's daily digest or in dire need of pscyhological help.

This little nugget of 'size does matter' wisdom popped into my email inbox today, and I have to share.
What Is The State Of Solid State LED Lighting?

What Is The State Of Solid State LED Lighting?

Dec 29 2008 | comment(s)

It seems like they're already everywhere - if you look down at your keyboard, one is providing the little green indicator for your Num Lock key, while another may be frantically blinking to inform you of your waiting voice mail. On your next drive, chances are you will stop at a stoplight lit purely by LED's and perhaps may notice a blinker made up of small, bright lights instead of one bulb.

LED's certainly are everywhere, faithfully providing indications of all kinds. But, with a few exceptions, the primary purpose of an LED is to indicate rather than illuminate, despite the fact that LED's do nothing useful besides produce light. A few new developments, however, may bring solid-state lighting into our homes very soon.
Peppered moth

Peppered moth

Dec 29 2008 | comment(s)

The peppered moth, Biston betularia, has been used as a classic example of natural selection in action. This moth (like many others) includes both light and dark forms that change in frequency under conditions of higher or lower pollution. Anti-evolutionists have challenged this, and unfortunately they gained ammunition in this regard from a book review by Jerry Coyne.

No Nonsense Nutrition Advice Most Of You Will Ignore In 2009

No Nonsense Nutrition Advice Most Of You Will Ignore In 2009

Dec 29 2008 | comment(s)

America is slightly schizophrenic when it comes to weight.   If you open a newspaper you can simultaneously read that the five skinny women left must need counselling and society is to blame for that but anorexia is genetic even though that gene seems to only be present in middle-class white girls, all while we are the fattest country in the world.  It can be confusing to people outside the US and anyone with a clue.

Nutrigenomics Says You Can Make A Diet For Your Genetics

Nutrigenomics Says You Can Make A Diet For Your Genetics

Dec 29 2008 | comment(s)

If you put 'genomics' on the end of a word, you can gain instant credibility, so it makes sense that someone would come up with 'nutrigenomics' and say they can make a diet that corresponds to your genetic profile.

It's tough to know what they mean by 'genetic profile' though obviously some people have a different metabolism than other so they can eat more.   A customized diet consisting of 'eat fewer calories' wouldn't seem to require genomics.   But 'nutrigenomics', they say, is something better because it aims to identify the genetic factors that influence the body's response to diet and studies how the bioactive constituents of food affect gene expression.

Climate Change Or Competition? The Neanderthal Extinction Debate Goes On

Climate Change Or Competition? The Neanderthal Extinction Debate Goes On

Dec 29 2008 | comment(s)

In a recently conducted study, a multidisciplinary French-American research team reported that Neanderthal extinction was principally a result of competition with Cro-Magnon populations, rather than the consequences of climate change.