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Governments Set To Tackle International Shark Trade

Governments Set To Tackle International Shark Trade

Oct 07 2012 | comment(s)

Seven species of vulnerable sharks and manta rays have now been submitted by 35 countries for consideration for protection next year under an international treaty concerned with regulating wildlife trade.

Governments met the deadline today and formally submitted their proposals for the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in March 2013. The recommendations include porbeagle and oceanic whitetip sharks, three species of hammerhead sharks, and two types of manta rays. For nearly 40 years, CITES has shielded thousands of plants and animals from overexploitation through international trade, and the treaty is widely considered one of the best-enforced international conservation agreements.

A Response To Pigliucci’s Response To Coyne’s Response To Dupre

A Response To Pigliucci’s Response To Coyne’s Response To Dupre

Oct 06 2012 | comment(s)

I must admit, before reading Massimo Pigliucci’s interesting article on Science 2.0, I was unaware of John Dupre’s so-called scholarship. My curiosity first led to Wikipedia which refers to him as a critic of evolutionary biology. With amazing tools such as Google and YouTube, I was able to watch Dupre debate Alex Rosenberg of Duke University, someone whom I had many exchanges with in his first philosophy of genomics class in 2004. After watching the video, in a matter of minutes it was apparent that Dupre is a philosopher, not an expert in evolution.  

600 People: Network Effect Of Event Fundraising Revealed

600 People: Network Effect Of Event Fundraising Revealed

Oct 06 2012 | comment(s)

Online fundraisers taking part in organized events use social media to reach close to 600 people and inspire others to take on challenges for charity, according to new data from JustGiving.com

 Speaking at Making every step count: How to maximize participation and fundraising at your event, Howard Bell, Director of Partnerships at JustGiving revealed new data showing that each individual fundraising campaign is seen by an average of 562 people on Facebook.

 What's more, the event fundraising 'network effect' means fundraisers encourage others to follow their lead. One in four fundraisers will choose either to take part in the same event for charity the next year or will inspire a friend or family member to take part instead. 

FDA Approval Of Subcutaneous Implantable Defibrillator For Patients At Risk Of Sudden Cardiac Arrest

FDA Approval Of Subcutaneous Implantable Defibrillator For Patients At Risk Of Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Oct 06 2012 | comment(s)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Boston Scientific Corporation regulatory approval for its S-ICD(R) System, the world's first and only commercially available subcutaneous implantable defibrillator (S-ICD) for the treatment of patients at risk for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).

Sudden cardiac arrest is an abrupt loss of heart function. Most episodes are caused by the rapid and/or chaotic activity of the heart known as ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. Recent estimates show that approximately 850,000 people in the United States are at risk of SCA and indicated for an ICD device, but remain unprotected

Robot Technology Performs Complex Spinal Surgery On 10-Year-old

Robot Technology Performs Complex Spinal Surgery On 10-Year-old

Oct 06 2012 | comment(s)

 Apollo Hospitals performed a complex spinal surgery on a 10-year-old child, the 12th successful surgery done within 10 days of the launch of Renaissance Robotic Technology, the only technology specifically designed for spine surgery. Apollo Hospitals Group is the first in the Asia-Pacific to offer this surgical guidance system, which is a minimally-invasive robotic-guided spine surgery. 

A 10-year-old girl from Gujarat, Heema was born with congenital anomalies that left her with a severely deformed spine. Before being admitted to Apollo Hospitals, the child had already undergone multiple procedures that had failed and left her with rods placed in her back, broken at multiple places, and a spine that was grotesquely deformed.

Robert Bork And Gregory Sidak Discuss Google Antitrust Claims

Robert Bork And Gregory Sidak Discuss Google Antitrust Claims

Oct 06 2012 | comment(s)

For over a year, Google has been the target of U.S. and European antitrust investigations, but now the search company has fired back. In a report commissioned by Google and released today, two acclaimed antitrust experts dismiss Google's critics' claims as lacking any compelling legal or economic argument for a government antitrust case.

What Does the Chicago School Teach About Internet Search and the Antitrust Treatment of Google? the work of Judge Robert Bork and Professor Gregory Sidak. The report examines the legal theories of Google's critics and compares those conjectures to the real-world search experience.

Natural Gas Declared Unnatural, But Fracking Fuels Global Gas Conversation

Natural Gas Declared Unnatural, But Fracking Fuels Global Gas Conversation

Oct 06 2012 | comment(s)

Hydraulic fracturing technology, called fracking, has been around since the 1940s but has recently gained attention as the energy industry expanded cleaner natural gas production.

The inaugural Energy Census from business intelligence company Polecat says it is a big topic, with energy writers noting that CO2 emissions from energy have plummeted and coal emissions have gone even farther back in time, to the days of the first Reagan administration. Meanwhile, detractors claim it causes headaches and cancer (cancer has been the go-to disease for everything since Rachel Carson made up a scare about DDT 50 years ago) and even that it could cause the earth to deflate.

The Power To Label: Finding Our Own Swagger

The Power To Label: Finding Our Own Swagger

Oct 06 2012 | comment(s)

One of the interesting things in the online autism world is how the use of labels and definitions created by mental health professionals are being taken over by the community. Autism is redefined away from a mental disorder to a neurological difference, and labels are adopted by individuals and reworked into personality traits and features that are innate to the person and not a signifier of defects  or deficits.
Ziggs, QPAD’s, curvature and inertia

Ziggs, QPAD’s, curvature and inertia

Oct 06 2012 | comment(s)

Recently Leonard Susskind introduced a new type of objects and called them ziggs.

See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqNg819PiZY

Ziggs are supposed to form a condensate. Massive particles emit and absorb the ziggs, by exchanging them with the condensate.

So where is the recent information on marine mammals in Indian waters!

So where is the recent information on marine mammals in Indian waters!

Oct 06 2012 | comment(s)

In India most of the marine mammal records come from stranding and accidental catch in trawls and purse seine. There are two main habitat of marine mammals in India, (1) Arabian Sea on the western coast with a wide continental shelf and constant salinity, and (2) Bay of Bengal with narrow continental shelf and fluctuating salinity. Both the habitats provide optimum living condition for  tropical marine mammals as there are  few Islands and submarine features which offers less hindrance in their movement. 
Meningitis Outbreak Currently Under Investigation By The CDC

Meningitis Outbreak Currently Under Investigation By The CDC

Oct 06 2012 | comment(s)

An outbreak of meningitis has been reported among patients who received injection of preservative-free methylprednisone acetate, a steroid medication which is administered by injection into the spinal cavity. As of today, 47 cases of meningitis and 5 deaths as a result of the distribution of contaminated compounds have been reported. 
Scientific Misconduct, Not Error, Accounts For The Majority Of Article Retractions

Scientific Misconduct, Not Error, Accounts For The Majority Of Article Retractions

Oct 05 2012 | comment(s)

Scientists are commonly portrayed as paragons of rationality, subsisting solely on fact-based evidence and hard data; what goes on behind laboratory doors is in large part a mystery to the general public. In the past several years, however, there have been several notable cases of scientific fraud exposed: in 2006, it was revealed that Hwang Woo Suk fabricated data in papers claiming that he had managed to extract stem cells from cloned embryos. At around the same time it was discovered that Norwegian researcher Jon Sudbo made up a study where he claimed that anti-inflammatory drugs reduced the risk of oral cancer.
Bad Economic News: Beer Consumption Continues Decline

Bad Economic News: Beer Consumption Continues Decline

Oct 05 2012 | comment(s)

How can you tell the American recession is still worrisome, despite government worker unemployment only being 4.3%?  Beer sales have fallen again.  You'd think beer sales would go up in a bad economy, like it does historically, right?  Cheap entertainment and all that.  No, that only happens for a short while, and by now things have been so persistently bad people are buying a lot more hard liquor instead.  Beer just isn't strong enough to make an emotional difference these days.
Logarithm Versus Linear Thinking: Why In Our Brains The Midpoint Of 1 And 9 Might Be 3

Logarithm Versus Linear Thinking: Why In Our Brains The Midpoint Of 1 And 9 Might Be 3

Oct 05 2012 | comment(s)

If you ask an adult for the midpoint between 1 and 9 they say 5. Mentally, they put 9 points on a ine and add 1 and then split that in half.

But if you ask a child or someone from a culture not trained in maths, the answer could be different; perhaps 3. It isn't that they don't know how to count, it's because it's actually more natural for humans to think logarithmically instead of linearly, say researchers.  Neural circuits seem to bear out that hypothesis; in psychological experiments, multiplying the intensity of some sensory stimuli causes a linear increase in perceived intensity.
European Food Safety Authority Reviews, Dismisses Séralini Maize Study As Hopelessly Flawed

European Food Safety Authority Reviews, Dismisses Séralini Maize Study As Hopelessly Flawed

Oct 05 2012 | comment(s)

The European Food Safety Authority has weighed in with its assessment of the maize study by Gilles-Eric Séralini and his research team at France’s University of the Caen, which purportedly showed that rodents fed a strain of genetically modified corn with Monsanto’s Roundup Ready developed tumors and died.
Thor’s Helmet Nebula Gets Close-Up During ESO 50-Year Celebration

Thor’s Helmet Nebula Gets Close-Up During ESO 50-Year Celebration

Oct 05 2012 | comment(s)

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is officially 50 years old today and this morning, for the first time ever, observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope were made of an object chosen by the public. The winner of an anniversary competition pointed the VLT towards the spectacular Thor’s Helmet Nebula and the observations were broadcast live over the Internet. 

The signing of the ESO Convention on October 5th, 1962 and the foundation of ESO was the culmination of the dream of astronomers from five European countries; Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. They had decided to join forces with the primary goal of building a large telescope that would give them access to the southern sky.
The Quote of the Week

The Quote of the Week

Oct 05 2012 | comment(s)

"A good speech should be like a woman's skirt: long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest."

W. Churchill
Probiotics: Because Asians Can Sell Anything

Probiotics: Because Asians Can Sell Anything

Oct 05 2012 | comment(s)

Are you a probiotic manufacturer who has become annoyed you are not allowed to market microbes that can help cultivate “intestinal flora” for consumers? Did the European Food Safety Authority tell you to stop claiming your magic potion reduces the chances of people developing diarrhea or respiratory tract infections? Did the U.S.A. force you to stop advertising that Activia yogurt and DanActive dairywhatever helps avoid colds or flu and force you to pay $21 million as part of a class-action settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and 39 states?
Monsanto, Nestle Add Fleet Of Black Helicopters, Says Aging European Crank

Monsanto, Nestle Add Fleet Of Black Helicopters, Says Aging European Crank

Oct 05 2012 | comment(s)

Sometimes when I add a cool link, I want to make it funnier, or more prescient.  Sometimes the weird vibe of a writer straining for edgy legitimacy just stands on its own.  So, Science 2.0 audience, I present to you a sample of a site you may never need to bother with again, OpEdNews - because even its name is in conflict with itself and insecure, kind of like calling a site Belt And Suspenders:
Duck Bills For The Herbivore Win, Even 85 Million Years Ago

Duck Bills For The Herbivore Win, Even 85 Million Years Ago

Oct 04 2012 | comment(s)

Duck-billed dinosaurs, also known as hadrosaurids, had an amazing capacity to chew tough and abrasive plants with grinding teeth more complex than those of cows, horses, and other modern grazers.