Featured Articles

Human Evolution: Speeding? Splitting? Borging? And The Future Of The Olympics

Human Evolution: Speeding? Splitting? Borging? And The Future Of The Olympics

Jul 31 2012 | comment(s)

A number of recent web-notables all seem to revolve (eccentrically) around the question of human evolution.  Whether it continues. Whether there is such a thing as "selection in groups." Whether our technological (cyborg) augmentations and/or increasing numbers of "non-neuro-typical" society members portend a new splitting of human destiny. And it looks as if I should have set Existence just five years in the future, instead of 35!

Aesop's Fable: Is Your Child Smarter Than That Crow?

Aesop's Fable: Is Your Child Smarter Than That Crow?

Jul 31 2012 | comment(s)

If the legend is true, Aesop lived during the sixth century B.C. He was born a slave but was given his freedom as a reward for his wit and intelligence.  

He never wrote anything down but the stories people remembered were so intriguing virtually every moralistic fable before him (and after) got attributed to him.  Now Aesop's Fables number in the 600s.  

One of them, "The Crow and the Pitcher", highlights the 'necessity is the mother of invention' concept. A thirsty crow can't get his beak far enough down into a pitcher of water to drink, so he drops stones in until the water level rises.
Debunked? Hunter-Gatherers Burned More Energy Than Modern People

Debunked? Hunter-Gatherers Burned More Energy Than Modern People

Jul 31 2012 | comment(s)

Modern lifestyles are quite different from those of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. That seems obvious. People looking to apply blame for the obesity rise focus on their own agendas, be it lobbying against GMOs, high fructose corn syrup or video games. Or contend it is because we don't spend our days picking berries.

But what does science say?  There's no way to know but anthropologists are at least taking a shot at it. A new analysis, of modern hunter-gatherers anyway, found that there is no difference between their energy expenditure and Westerners, casting doubt on 'we don spend all day picking berries' hypothesis for obesity.
ATLAS: 5.9 Sigma For A 126 GeV Higgs !

ATLAS: 5.9 Sigma For A 126 GeV Higgs !

Jul 31 2012 | comment(s)

ATLAS has just released a note which summarizes the searches for the standard model Higgs boson in 7-TeV and 8-TeV data. Since July 4th the main improvement is the addition of the WW channel, which had not been shown back then. With it, the combined local significance of the 126 GeV Higgs boson excess in the WW, ZZ, and γγ channels grows to 5.9 standard deviations. In the words of a Facebook friend who's in ATLAS: "if this is not a discovery, I don't know what is".
Tevatron: Evidence Of The Higgs In B-Bbar Final States

Tevatron: Evidence Of The Higgs In B-Bbar Final States

Jul 31 2012 | comment(s)

The Tevatron experiments have jointly published on the arxiv two days ago a paper which is titled "Evidence for a particle produced in association with weak bosons and decaying to a bottom-antibottom quark pair in the search for the Higgs boson at the Tevatron collider". You can get the paper in the arxiv.
Progressive Anti-Science: Biologists Are Just Tinkerers

Progressive Anti-Science: Biologists Are Just Tinkerers

Jul 31 2012 | comment(s)

Do you work in genetics? If so, you are out to ruin the brains of children, according to a claim at Alternet.org.
Did The Scottish Invent Golf?

Did The Scottish Invent Golf?

Jul 31 2012 | comment(s)

Want to get in a fight in Scotland?

Okay, just about anything will get you into a fight in Scotland but if you want a guaranteed way to get a headbutt and then kicked when you are on the ground, tell them they did not invent golf, the world's most frustrating pastime.
The Million Song Dataset - Science Concludes Modern Music Too Loud, All Sounds The Same

The Million Song Dataset - Science Concludes Modern Music Too Loud, All Sounds The Same

Jul 30 2012 | comment(s)

Crotchety old men seem to have won this argument.

Modern pop music is too loud and does sound all the same, just like angry old types have been saying for 70 years. 

A team from Spain analyzed music from a 55 year period, using an archive known as the Million Song Dataset, and found that songs have indeed become both louder and more homogenized in terms of chords and melodies. 
GM Potato Trial 'Threatens Ireland's Image' - Among Anti-Science Activists, Anyway

GM Potato Trial 'Threatens Ireland's Image' - Among Anti-Science Activists, Anyway

Jul 30 2012 | comment(s)

Anti-science activists in a war on genetically modified organisms are for more pervasive than right-wing types who limited federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research 10 years ago - because right-wing people just wanted to let taxpayers opt out and left-wing zealots want things banned if it violates their naturalistic world view.

Ireland is, by heritage, a potato culture - and nothing is worse for potatoes than blight.  Who wouldn't want a science solution that could safely prevent blight? Scientists agree, and so does Ireland's environmental protection agency because they understand, you know, science.

Irish anti-science hippies are outraged. 
Ancient Nature: Using Poison To Kill 44,000 Years Ago

Ancient Nature: Using Poison To Kill 44,000 Years Ago

Jul 30 2012 | comment(s)

Man has been killing man and beast since whatever critter of common descent crawled out of the primordial ooze. And likely before, there's just no way to know it.

But some things can be known and one of them is this; you don't manufacture poison unless you intend to kill something with it. And ancient man was interested in using the best applied science they could find. 
Pollution In China Makes Rich Want To Go Green Too

Pollution In China Makes Rich Want To Go Green Too

Jul 30 2012 | comment(s)

A contaminated river and a polluted sky are proof that environmentalism isn't just for the rich any more, say sociologists.

Obviously it never was, in many countries.  In the developed world, people in the country actually care more about the environment than rich urbanites, but in the developing world the practical takes precedence over policy.  The poor can't afford to protect the environment.

A new survey says that may be true in the country but in the city it is another matter. People living in China's cities who say they've been exposed to environmental harm are more likely to be green, recycling or reusing grocery bag.  It also says the poor would sacrifice economic gain to protect their environment.
Anti-Research: Indian Scouts Rural Areas For Inventors

Anti-Research: Indian Scouts Rural Areas For Inventors

Jul 30 2012 | comment(s)

If necessity is the mother of invention, then surely poor farmers will invent more than billion-dollar corporations or highly paid academics.

Or so believes Prof. Anil Gupta, who has spent two decades traveling rural India and searching for for its hidden innovations. So far, Gupta says he and his aides have uncovered more than 25,000 inventions.

Some examples:

 A bicycle-mounted crop sprayer

An electric paintbrush that never needs to be dipped in a paint can.

A rice cleaner designed by a 13-year-old after he watched his mother wearily picking pebbles from yet another sack of grain.

A washing machine mounted on the back of a scooter and powered by its engine
An Economic Case For More Natural Medicine?

An Economic Case For More Natural Medicine?

Jul 30 2012 | comment(s)

With the Supreme Court decision to uphold mandatory health insurance purchasing under the Affordable Care Act, it's going to get more expensive. But for thousands of years people were able to go into the woods and get health care for free, so all is not lost. Maybe they can even get a rebate for using nature.

Natural remedies may not be as effective as their synthetic pharmacological cousins but a Harvard post-doc says there may be economic benefits people could receive by relying on such traditional cures.  If that feels like 'ketchup is a vegetable' sweet lemons rationalization, you are not alone.
Berkeley Physics Professor Richard Muller: Conversion Of A Climate Skeptic

Berkeley Physics Professor Richard Muller: Conversion Of A Climate Skeptic

Jul 30 2012 | comment(s)

It’s a scientist’s duty to be properly skeptical, says Berkeley physics Prof. Richard Muller, who still says that much, if not most, of what is attributed to climate change is speculative, exaggerated or just plain wrong. He has analyzed some of the most alarmist claims and his skepticism about them hasn’t changed. 

What has changed is his doubt about the very existence of global warming. And he is now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause, he says.
Learning New Tasks Is Good For You - But Difficult

Learning New Tasks Is Good For You - But Difficult

Jul 30 2012 | comment(s)

The brain is like a muscle; it can get into a routine.  But mixing up the workout a little is healthy in both cases.  In the brain, however, it isn't without difficulties.

Learning a new task when rules change can be a surprisingly difficult process and entail repeated mistakes, according to a new study. Take a US driver and put them in England where they suddenly have to drive on the left side of the road. The brain, trained for right-side driving, becomes overburdened trying to suppress the old rules while simultaneously focusing on the new rules  - putting them on a moped if they are used to driving a car would make it even worse.
Smile, You're In Our Database

Smile, You're In Our Database

Jul 30 2012 | comment(s)

What exactly happens to your face when you smile spontaneously, and how does that affect how old you look? Computer scientists from the University of Amsterdam's Faculty of Science recorded the smiles of hundreds of visitors to the NEMO science centre in Amsterdam, creating the most comprehensive smile database ever.

The computer scientists behind the project say that you look younger when you smile - if you are over forty. If you are under forty, you should look neutral if you want to come across younger. And be cold and distant and act a little broken inside if you want to date a stripper.
Giant Neo-Hittite Human Sculpture Found In Turkey

Giant Neo-Hittite Human Sculpture Found In Turkey

Jul 30 2012 | comment(s)

A  giant human sculpture has been unearthed at the Tayinat Archaeological Project excavation site in southeastern Turkey.

The head and torso of the human figure is intact to just above its waist and stands approximately 5 feet tall, so it likely had a total body length of 10 to 12 feet. The figure's face is bearded, with beautifully preserved inlaid eyes made of white and black stone, and its hair has been coiffed in an elaborate series of curls aligned in linear rows. Both arms are extended forward from the elbow, each with two arm bracelets decorated with lion heads. The figure's right hand holds a spear, and in its left is a shaft of wheat. A crescent-shaped pectoral adorns its chest.
European Food Safety Agency: Feed Additives Could Protect Environment

European Food Safety Agency: Feed Additives Could Protect Environment

Jul 30 2012 | comment(s)

Livestock is an essential part of the human diet and farm productivity is dependent on animals being healthy, which depends on adequate nutrition. Existing evidence shows that livestock feed can be improved by the use of feed additives which improve diet and health but also increase milk yields, suppress the oestrus (female reproductive) cycle or improve digestion in livestock. When properly used in a well-managed environment, many of these additives can substantially improve performance and farm profitability.
Love Drugs And The Perils Of Human Enhancement

Love Drugs And The Perils Of Human Enhancement

Jul 30 2012 | comment(s)

The latest issue of Philosophy Now features an interesting collection of articles on human enhancement, with articles arguing that the approach is “essential” to humans in order to avoid catastrophes, that it can be used to extend youthfulness, and so on. There are also a couple of essays that are more cautious about the likely success, and even perils, of enhancement, so the full package (five entries) makes for stimulating reading.
Playing God

Playing God

Jul 29 2012 | comment(s)

I recently came across an article entitled "Synthetic biology: 'playing God' is vital if we are to create a better future for all".  

As you can imagine, the article itself is primarily focused on the advance of science and the counter-arguments that are often viewed as being "anti-science".  Many of the comments support this view by arguing that we have been "playing God" since we domesticated the first animal, or planted the first food plant (1).

One of the primary issues is what this phrase of "playing God", actually means and the article addresses that point (2).