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Hondurans Burn Shark Fins To Stick It To Poachers

Hondurans Burn Shark Fins To Stick It To Poachers

Jun 01 2012 | comment(s)

Honduras is now a permanent shark sanctuary so any shark fins found are illegal - the International Union for Conservation of Nature says that 30 percent of all shark populations around the world are threatened or near threatened with extinction. 
Prehistoric Iberian Twins Remains Discovered

Prehistoric Iberian Twins Remains Discovered

Jun 01 2012 | comment(s)

The remains of newborn twin girls have been found in the archaeological site of Sant Miquel d'Olèrdola in Catalonia and it is expected that they belong to two girls between 38 and 40 weeks of gestation, who were buried at the same time in the same grave with their legs entwined.

The remains date between the middle of the 4th century B.C. to the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. and are the first bone remains of twins to be recorded in the Iberian peninsula.
The Quote of the Week

The Quote of the Week

Jun 01 2012 | comment(s)

"The decay widths have higher-order perturbative QCD corrections, and these are particularly important for the  decay which dominates over a wide range of (light) Higgs masses. The main effect is to cause the quark mass to run from its "constituent quark" value at  to a lower value at ."
The Evolutionary Advantage Of Having Sex

The Evolutionary Advantage Of Having Sex

Jun 01 2012 | comment(s)

If you think about it rationally, sex may be fun but it's too much work and, from a reproduction standpoint,  the payoff is uncertain. Scientists have speculated for a long time on why all living things don't simply make like amoebas and split.

Scientists believe that sexual reproduction offers two big advantages: It can sweep bad mutations out of the gene pool more quickly. Also, by shuffling parents' genetic material each generation, it increases the likelihood that new genetic combinations will arise that help organisms adapt to their environment.
The Conservative Case For A Carbon Tax

The Conservative Case For A Carbon Tax

Jun 01 2012 | comment(s)

Conservatives and more taxes are kind of an oxymoron in the same sentence but pretend for a minute that more taxes are going to happen.   Because they are.  Do you want a bad one or a really terrible one?

America has been trying to get a really terrible one but even President Obama couldn't pull that one off - he gave us terrible health care law instead.  But he had limits even on what he could do with a bulletproof majority.  When it came to higher taxes in the form of cap and trade for emissions, his own party's Senators were airing commercials shooting the bill with an assault rifle.
Legislating Sea Level Rises Out Of Existence

Legislating Sea Level Rises Out Of Existence

May 31 2012 | comment(s)

Hey, if the California Air Resources Board can create an entire cap and trade industry just by inventing emissions 340% higher than any actual evidence, it can go the other way.  Science is all postmodern and relative that way - once you let people you agree with make stuff up, anyone can do it.
What the kids are finding interesting these days...

What the kids are finding interesting these days...

May 31 2012 | comment(s)

So, I find that my students get a lot of their "news" and certainly their "entertainment" from YouTube, for better or worse. Today one student pointed me to this video from Russia Today: http://youtu.be/r-0gtkRB90w. While it is pretty interesting- what a weird creature!- I was of course sceptical and wanted some more information. I also would rather read my information than get it from a video, but that might be a function of my age. So I found the "print" article: http://www.rt.com/news/abyss-alien-creature-jellyfish-004/. I was thinking it looked like a jellyfish myself, and MSNBC dug up a few experts who say it is: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/11/11665712-the-verdict-is-.... Pretty cool!
Naturality: If We Fight The Power Laws, Who Will Win?

Naturality: If We Fight The Power Laws, Who Will Win?

May 31 2012 | comment(s)

I have set out to write about "Naturality" for this column three times since the beginning of 2012 and each time I have abandoned the article.  It's a complex topic that easily gets away from me.  I have been measuring Naturality in search engine results for several years now.  Some years ago I devised a simple formula to help me explain Naturality to people:

1 = Ny + Ty + Oy
Reality and Relativity

Reality and Relativity

May 31 2012 | comment(s)


REALITY AND RELATIVITY

Before we begin, let's put one thing on the record. Albert was not wrong; it's just that we have a much more detailed, precise understanding of what he was saying.  Over the past century relativity has been used to investigate ‘space-time’.  Space-time has been assumed to be a mathematical relation between actual space and time. With the SFT formulation the observed ‘space’ and 'time' can be seen to include the internal motions of the photon where its motion can be written as a bispinor.

Farm Schism: Can You Be Successful And Still Be Called Fair Trade?

Farm Schism: Can You Be Successful And Still Be Called Fair Trade?

May 31 2012 | comment(s)

The fair trade movement  is in its seventh decade but has an internal problem.  Fair trade, as a concept, sought originally to make sure small people got a fair deal - a Mennonite visiting Puerto Rico saw the poverty levels of people there and decided to help them make more money, rather than advocating to give them government handouts (I know, I know, zany religious types).  
Republicans Versus Democrats - Why Some People Give More To A Charity

Republicans Versus Democrats - Why Some People Give More To A Charity

May 31 2012 | comment(s)

Conservatives give more money to charity, studies show. This makes some sense; liberals believe in sharing wealth already and advocate policies reflecting that while conservatives advocate smaller government and greater individual initiative.

But why do people in those political groups give to one cause over another? According to a new analysis in the International Journal of Research in Marketing: Special Issue on Consumer Identities, the values of their political affiliation are more important than the charity itself.
The Science Of Lunacy - The Moon Has An Effect (Just Not On People)

The Science Of Lunacy - The Moon Has An Effect (Just Not On People)

May 31 2012 | comment(s)

The word 'lunacy' is derived from the longheld belief that people act a little crazier during a full moon.  We know the moon - Luna - effects us, its gravitational pull creates ocean tides and many ancient cultures thought it could also affect our health or state of mind.

While there is no link between the moon and human lunacy, spacecraft and computer simulations reveal that the moon does indeed have the cosmic kind; a far-reaching, invisible influence on the solar wind.
5 Things Separate Science From Non-Science

5 Things Separate Science From Non-Science

May 31 2012 | comment(s)

Sorry economists, you don't do science, no matter how much envy you have.  Nor you, mathematicians, and social psychologists surveying undergraduates are disqualified too. 

In order to be a science you have to be scientifically rigorous - that doesn't mean just using some statistics. Obviously, even getting funding from the National Science Foundation doesn't qualify as science, though it should.
Solar's Just Deserts: Renewable Energy In Delicate Landscapes

Solar's Just Deserts: Renewable Energy In Delicate Landscapes

May 31 2012 | comment(s)

When I was small, the word “desert” conjured images of towering Saharan dunes: windswept sand punctuated by rare oases, the only sign of life an occasional animal track quickly buried by the next sandstorm. Then, when I was 13, my parents took me to the Southwest. We visited Saguaro, Joshua Tree, and other parts of the Mojave Desert, chased tarantulas, and watched cactus wrens build nests. 
Chicks Linked To Salmonella Cases

Chicks Linked To Salmonella Cases

May 31 2012 | comment(s)

Be careful when ordering things through the mail - especially chicks.

Apparently, 50 million live poultry are sold through the mail each year in the United States.  Business has been booming because wanna-be farmers regard backyard chickens as a great way to raise their own food. So they buy chicks, for their kids or themselves.

I imagine they only think that chickens are a great way to raise their own food until the little eco-terrorists ruin the yard and smell up the place - or give their kids salmonella. 316 cases have been reported in 43 states since 2004.
Can't Quit Smoking? Blame Your Genes

Can't Quit Smoking? Blame Your Genes

May 31 2012 | comment(s)

Oppressed people under attack in the War Against Smokers may have a new defender - science. 
Antioxidants For Autism

Antioxidants For Autism

May 30 2012 | comment(s)

A specific antioxidant supplement containing N-Acetylcysteine, or NAC may be an effective therapy for some features of autism, according to a pilot trial from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital that involved 31 children with the disorder.
Stars in Soft Focus

Stars in Soft Focus

May 30 2012 | comment(s)

Recently I was taking pictures of the night sky.  My intention was to photograph the double star Epsilon Lyrae.  It’s actually a double-double, made of two closer pairs, as one can see through a telescope of three-or-more inches aperture.  However, the pairs themselves are quite far apart, and can be easily resolved with the unaided eye.

However, my camera flipped from manual focus (on infinity) to autofocus (on whatever), as it tends to do if not touched for a minute.  To my surprise, the effect was most pleasing.


Mathematicians Pull An Invisible Matter Rabbit Out Of Schrödinger's Hat

Mathematicians Pull An Invisible Matter Rabbit Out Of Schrödinger's Hat

May 30 2012 | comment(s)

You've read a lot about 'invisibility' over the last few years.  Mathematicians and scientists have been working on various devices that enable invisibility cloaks which shield small objects from detection by microwaves or sound waves.
Gas Exploration Boosts Archeology - Ancient Shipwrecks Found

Gas Exploration Boosts Archeology - Ancient Shipwrecks Found

May 30 2012 | comment(s)

Ancient sunken ships are generally found in shallow water 100 or so, but two Roman-era shipwrecks have been found almost a mile deep in waters off the islands of Corfu and Paxoi, the Ionian Sea between western Greece and Italy.

The wrecks are from the third century A.D. and lend more evidence to the idea that bolder ancient shipmasters did not just stick to coastal routes and ventured into the open sea. Of course, since they are wrecks it also explains why more cautious trade captains absolutely did stick to coastal routes when they could.  Smaller vessels such as this, 80 feet long and usually loaded with cargo and not built for open water navigation, liked to be closer to land to save the crew if things went wrong.