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Compassion in Adversity

Compassion in Adversity

May 21 2013 | comment(s)

Compassion in Adversity

It is not our petty squabbles that define what it is to be human: it is our compassion in the hour of adversity.  The Oklahoma tornado demonstrates this.

"There are empty spaces where there used to be living rooms, and bedrooms, and classrooms. In time we'll have to refill those spaces with love, support and community."
President Obama.

I wish to express my sympathy to all those affected by the tornado, and my admiration for all who are engaged in rescue and assistance.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
What's More Important In Science, Input Quantity Or Output Quality?

What's More Important In Science, Input Quantity Or Output Quality?

May 21 2013 | comment(s)

If spending is the metric, Canadian research is in trouble.

Of course, if spending is the metric, American Democrats hate science a lot more than American Republicans do, but you'd have a hard time getting science media to acknowledge that. Still, spending is at least one metric.
The Trust Issues That Netflix Creates

The Trust Issues That Netflix Creates

May 21 2013 | comment(s)

Are you among the 60% of UK television viewers who admit to a Television Tryst behind your partner's back?

A survey of Netflix customers found that the freedom to watch what we want, when we want can be a romantic minefield.  Netflix has 36 million members in 40 countries so the pool of people is obviously there.

Phase III Study: Tiotropium Effective In Symptomatic Asthma Patients

Phase III Study: Tiotropium Effective In Symptomatic Asthma Patients

May 21 2013 | comment(s)

Tiotropium delivered by the Respimat(R) Soft Mist(TM) Inhaler (SMI) increases time to first severe exacerbation and first episode of asthma worsening across a broad spectrum of patients who remain symptomatic despite at least inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) / long-acting beta2-agonists (LABA) therapy.

The results are from pre-planned subgroup analyses of data from the PrimoTinA-asthma(TM) Phase III studies being presented for the first time today at the 2013 American Thoracic Society (ATS) congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

So You Want To Dance On The Ceiling?

So You Want To Dance On The Ceiling?

May 20 2013 | comment(s)

Fred Astaire is, of course, beyond compare. As a dancer, he had already set the bar for everyone and then he set it a lot higher when he appeared in 1951's "Royal Wedding" at age 52. Echoing a Voodoo shaman, he animated what most of us regard as inanimate and poked a little fun at younger competitor Gene Kelly in the process when he danced with a hat rack the way only a genius can.(1) 

But he blew minds when he danced on the ceiling in that same movie, to the tune "You're All The World To Me", written by "Brigadoon" lyricist Alan Jay Lerner.

Like all great illusions, it relies on our grounding in science. Gravity works, people don't dance on the ceiling. Audiences raved over it.
Organism : Genes :: Forest : Trees

Organism : Genes :: Forest : Trees

May 20 2013 | comment(s)

Decades of focus on genes may have led the scientific community away from a balanced exploration of the organisms that those genes define - whether they be plants, animals or microorganisms - and more toward gene-focused directions: inward, toward the world of cellular and molecular biology, and outward, toward the broad-scale evolutionary issues of population and quantitative genetics. We've become too genetic variation heavy.
European Farmers Ignore Science In Favor Of Superstition - Or So They Want Us To Believe

European Farmers Ignore Science In Favor Of Superstition - Or So They Want Us To Believe

May 20 2013 | comment(s)

Next month, the US and Europe would like to make some progress in tearing down trade barriers, an archaic notion left over from the Colonial period in history.(1)

Special trade agreements with blocs, like The Hanseatic League of the 12th century, were always common, but restrictions enjoyed a popularity boom after the collapse of the East India Trade Company in 1799 became the poster child for the perils of free trade - 18th century globalization hysteria. 
Explosion On The Moon

Explosion On The Moon

May 20 2013 | comment(s)

During the Bush administration, NASA began monitoring the Moon for explosions - they have turned out to be more common than previously believed, happening hundreds of times each year. 

Smart Science 2.0 readers are already wondering how there can be an 'explosion' when the Moon has no oxygen atmosphere. Lunar meteors hit the ground with so much kinetic energy that even a pebble can make a crater several feet wide and so the flash of light comes not from combustion but rather from the thermal glow of molten rock and hot vapors at the impact site. No oxygen or combustion needed.
Is Cold Fusion For Real?!

Is Cold Fusion For Real?!

May 20 2013 | comment(s)

The results of a third-party investigation of Rossi's E-CAT reactor have appeared on the Cornell arxiv, and the conclusions of the tests are at the very least startling:
Chemtrails Or Acid Rain ?

Chemtrails Or Acid Rain ?

May 20 2013 | comment(s)

Chemtrails or Acid Rain ? - The Birth Of Two Myths

The idea that acid rain is some sort of hoax or scam is ludicrous. Sulfuric acid and its environmental effects have been known since ancient historical times. If acid rain is a hoax, then the ancient Sumerians and Greeks were certainly in on it. Modern science has been accumulating facts about environmental damage caused by sulfuric acid since at least 1736, when sulfuric acid was first produced industrially in Britain. When deniers of anthropogenic global warming claim that acid rain is a hoax they demonstrate, not their knowledge of science, but their political preferences, as here for example.

Engineered Photosynthetic Cyanobacteria Can Grow Without Light

Engineered Photosynthetic Cyanobacteria Can Grow Without Light

May 19 2013 | comment(s)

A new strain of photosynthetic cyanobacteria have been engineered to grow without the need for light.  

Some People Trust Researchers More Based On Gender And Race

Some People Trust Researchers More Based On Gender And Race

May 19 2013 | comment(s)

In order for research to be most effective, the people included need to be as diverse as possible.  That is why the hundreds of papers each year that are surveys of psychology undergraduates who got extra credit come up with the kind of crazy conclusions mainstream media love to write about, but don't have the credibility of clinical trials.

In America, diversity in research is a struggle.  Black and female patients are less likely to agree to participate in research, despite being offered more frequent opportunities to participate. 

Agriculture May Have Been In Xincun China 5,000 Years Ago

Agriculture May Have Been In Xincun China 5,000 Years Ago

May 19 2013 | comment(s)

In Europe, the arrival of the farmers who replaced Mesolithic hunter-gatherers happened in force 9,000 years ago but it was happening elsewhere prior to that. In Syria, there is even evidence of scientific trait selection in grains in 10,000 B.C. but in other parts of the world agriculture came much later.  

A region in sub-tropical China which did not have agriculture until the arrival of domesticated rice from elsewhere may have gotten agriculture prior to that - as far back as 3,000 B.C., according to a new paper.

Female Reproductive Ability May Be Related To Immune System

Female Reproductive Ability May Be Related To Immune System

May 19 2013 | comment(s)

Because energy resources in the body must be optimized as much as possible, a new paper says, tasks inherently related to survival, like immune function, take priority. Any leftover energy is then dedicated to reproduction.

Elements Make Headlines

Elements Make Headlines

May 18 2013 | comment(s)

Elements Make Headlines

If you ever enjoyed Tom Lehrer's take on the elements, or even if not, check out this way of using the names of the elements in a novel way:

http://news.knowledgedoor.s3.amazonaws.com/home_headlines.html
In Defense of DSM-5 Making Tantrums A Mental Disorder

In Defense of DSM-5 Making Tantrums A Mental Disorder

May 18 2013 | comment(s)

While the new DSM-5 has attracted plenty of criticism - and the National Institute of Mental Health has given up on it, saying "patients with mental disorders deserve better" - not everyone is critical.
9th Circuit Court Of Appeals Denies Claim That GM Alfalfa Is A 'Plant Pest'

9th Circuit Court Of Appeals Denies Claim That GM Alfalfa Is A 'Plant Pest'

May 17 2013 | comment(s)

If you live in California, you can never get too amazed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. If there is a progressive position that an activist court can take, they usually take it.

If you can't go to a national chain store and get your eyes checked and buy glasses, the 9th is why - they ruled that is medical care and health care is not interstate in America. Sure, we can mandate health care and force people to pay for it under the Commerce clause, but for some reason we can't let people buy prescription glasses from an out-of-state company.
Crystal Flowers At Micron Scale Self-Assemble In A Beaker

Crystal Flowers At Micron Scale Self-Assemble In A Beaker

May 17 2013 | comment(s)

 By simply manipulating chemical gradients in a beaker of fluid, researchers have been able to create delicate flower structures -  not at the scale of inches, but microns.

These minuscule sculptures don't resemble the cubic or jagged forms normally associated with crystals, though that's what they are. Rather, fields of carnations and marigolds seem to bloom from the surface of a submerged glass slide, assembling themselves a molecule at a time.

Bach To The Blues: Are Brains Wired To Make Color-Music Connections?

Bach To The Blues: Are Brains Wired To Make Color-Music Connections?

May 17 2013 | comment(s)

Do you see music the same way as your neighbor? Apparently so.  U.C. Berkeley psychologists say people in both the United States and Mexico linked the same pieces of classical orchestral music with the same colors, suggesting that humans share a common emotional palette – when it comes to music and color – that appears to be intuitive and can cross cultural barriers. They suggest that
our brains are wired to make music-color connections depending on how the melodies make us feel 

Mic Stand Telescope Mount (or Camera Mount)

Mic Stand Telescope Mount (or Camera Mount)

May 17 2013 | comment(s)

My wife’s cousin, the break-dancing radiologist, broke the microphone clip off my mic stand while singing karaoke on Thanksgiving (my wife and I host Thanksgiving at our house for the family every year). I had another microphone clip and replaced it so we could continue with karaoke, but I decided to keep the broken pieces of the old clip for the junk drawer.