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Can Peer-Reviewed Videos Help Surgeons Become Better?

Can Peer-Reviewed Videos Help Surgeons Become Better?

Apr 15 2011 | comment(s)

You can learn to play guitar better watching YouTube videos - it doesn't replace practice, it helps inspire and educate by bringing talented practitioners to the world in a way not possible 40 years ago.

Why not surgery?  Otolaryngologist Martin Young writing at KevinMD.com argues that because he has learned so much from watching more experienced surgeons work, peer-reviewed videos might be the wave of the future - obviously a South Korean teenager may be fun to watch play guitar but he is not going to be a source for best surgical practices.   
Wikipedia More Accurate For Political Information Than In The Past

Wikipedia More Accurate For Political Information Than In The Past

Apr 15 2011 | comment(s)

Wikipedia is commonly derided as inaccurate and partisan but, at least when it comes to verifiable facts (rather than slant) that isn't the case, at least in political biographical information.

Brigham Young University political scientist Adam Brown focused on past and present candidates for governor across the 50 states. Brown fact-checked biographical information and voting statistics and found very few inaccuracies.  When Brown conducted the study, Wikipedia contained articles for 230 of the 246 major-party candidates that ran for governor between 1998 and 2008. Brown found that all of the verifiable biographical information in those articles was completely accurate. 
Acupuncture No Better Than Placebo And May Be Harmful

Acupuncture No Better Than Placebo And May Be Harmful

Apr 15 2011 | comment(s)

Acupuncture is advocated by some for pain control but there are doubts about its effectiveness and its safety.   Investigators from the Universities of Exeter&Plymouth (Exeter, UK) and the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (Daejeon, South Korea) evaluated systematic reviews of acupuncture in order to explore the issue. 

Their analysis in PAIN concluded there is little convincing evidence that acupuncture is effective in reducing pain and serious adverse effects continue to be reported.
Karaoke Reveals A Neurological Basis For Embarrassment

Karaoke Reveals A Neurological Basis For Embarrassment

Apr 15 2011 | comment(s)

A group of patients withneurodegenerative diseases have helped researchers discover a neurological basis of embarrassment.    The thumb-sized bit of tissue in the right hemisphere of the front part of the brain is called the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex and they found the link using...karaoke.

They recorded people belting out "My Girl" – the 1964 hit by The Temptations - and then asked them to listen to their own singing without the accompanying music.   The degree to which the singers were embarrassed in hearing themselves sing depended on the integrity of the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex region.
Cosmic Embryo #4: Breast Cancer Wars: Delaying The TKO?

Cosmic Embryo #4: Breast Cancer Wars: Delaying The TKO?

Apr 15 2011 | comment(s)

 

Why Does A Moving Bicycle Stay Up?

Why Does A Moving Bicycle Stay Up?

Apr 15 2011 | comment(s)

You know this already - given sufficient forward speed, a bicycle pushed sideways will not fall over.

Since the bicycle was invented, scientists have postulated various reasons as to why a bicycle is self stable above a certain speed.  The consensus has been that a bicycle's stability is related to two factors:  First, the rotating wheels of the bicycle provide stability through gyroscopic effects; secondly, that the ‘trail’, the distance by which the contact point of the front wheel trails behind the steering axis, plays an important part. 
Some Dinosaurs Were Nocturnal

Some Dinosaurs Were Nocturnal

Apr 14 2011 | comment(s)

A new study of the eyes of fossil animals in Science overturns the conventional wisdom that dinosaurs were active by day while early mammals moved at night.  Instead, dinosaurs like velociraptor hunted by night while the big plant-eaters browsed around the clock.
Yellowstone Supervolcano Plume - Conductivity Shows Its Even Bigger Than Previously Believed

Yellowstone Supervolcano Plume - Conductivity Shows Its Even Bigger Than Previously Believed

Apr 14 2011 | comment(s)

The first large-scale picture of the electrical conductivity of the underground molten rock that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano suggests that the plume beneath the volcanically active area, known for geysers and hot springs, is even bigger than it appeared in images made with earthquake waves. 

In the past 2 million years, three eruptions at Yellowstone have spewed enough volcanic ash to cover half of North America. The new study doesn't speculate about the chances of another cataclysmic caldera eruption at Yellowstone but it gives new perspective on the deep reservoir of fiery material that feeds eruptions.
The New XENON 100 Results On Dark Matter

The New XENON 100 Results On Dark Matter

Apr 14 2011 | comment(s)

The Xenon 100 collaboration has finally released the results of their data analysis, and the results are saying that there is no Dark Matter in sight so far. Since we live in an age where time is precious, I think many of you are only interested in the bottomline. I can give it to you straight away, in the form of the plot which summarizes the results.

Xenon 100 finds three events compatible with a dark matter signal, with a background expected from more mundane sources amounting to 1.8+-0.6 events. The limit they extract on the cross section versus mass of the hypothetical particle are shown below by a thick blue curve, which cuts into the flesh of the preferred parameter space of constrained minimal supersymmetric theories (in grey), pushing them farther away.
Suicide: Life Ends Six Meters Above The Ground

Suicide: Life Ends Six Meters Above The Ground

Apr 14 2011 | comment(s)

The greatest hurdle before committing suicide is the fear of dying and death as well as the fear of hurting people we care about. In order to assist suicide, Suicidal Philosophy alleviates these fears rather than stoking them like traditional Philosophy of Suicide does. Suicidal Philosophy is much more science than philosophy, as the following outtake of a long article aimed at helping people in distress exemplifies. It explains why it is that if you jump out of a 20 story building, your life already ends peacefully more than six meters before impact with the ground:

Neutrinos (for Brits only)

Neutrinos (for Brits only)

Apr 14 2011 | comment(s)



This morning this programme (45 minutes) was on BBC Radio 4.

In Our Time: the Neutrino
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0106tjc0

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the neutrino.

      with:

      Frank Close, Professor of Physics at Exeter College at the University of Oxford

      Susan Cartwright, Senior Lecturer in Particle Physics and
Melilotus officinalis Linn. and Psoralea corylifolia Linn. plants used in traditional medicine

Melilotus officinalis Linn. and Psoralea corylifolia Linn. plants used in traditional medicine

Apr 14 2011 | comment(s)

Melilotus officinalis Linn.Vernacular Names :- Bengal : Baupiring ; English : King’s Clover ; Hindi : Aspurk . Family :- Papilionaceae. Distribution :- It is found throughout India. Morphology :- It is a perennial herb found in dry fields with the smooth, erect and branched stems. Leaves placed on alternate sides of the stems are smooth and trifoliate, the leaflets oval. The plant bear long racemes of small, sweet-scented, white or yellow papilionaceous flowers. Pods one seeded, broad, black and transversely wrinkled (Trease and Evans, 1973). Chemical composition :- It contains melilotic anhydride or lactone, a fragrant oil, orthocoumaric acid, hydrocoumaric acid and coumarin, the crystalline substance are the important constituent (Trease and Evans, 1973).
Absolutely No Justification: The Use Of Restraints In A Florida School

Absolutely No Justification: The Use Of Restraints In A Florida School

Apr 14 2011 | comment(s)

Written with Kathleen Leopold and originally posted at Autism Blogs Directory (and edited for a wider audience)
Young Scientists From Across California To Compete for Top Honors

Young Scientists From Across California To Compete for Top Honors

Apr 14 2011 | comment(s)

More than 900 California state middle and senior high school students will convene at the California Science Center in Exposition Park for the final round of competition in the 60th annual California State Science Fair, May 2-3, 2011.

Winners will take home a combined total of more than $50,000 in cash prizes. The 2011 California State Science Fair is receiving support from THE MUSES of the California Science Center Foundation, Time Warner Cable, and the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.   Dr. Gary Michelson, an orthopedic surgeon and inventor specializing in spinal surgery who will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame this year, will serve as the keynote speaker.
Natalie Heracleous on CMS Times

Natalie Heracleous on CMS Times

Apr 14 2011 | comment(s)

A short post today, to mention the latest issue of the CMS Times, a online publication with news from the CMS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The CMS Times is always informative and a good resource, but I usually forget to check it due to chronic shortage of CMS time in my agenda.
Arctic Ice April 2011

Arctic Ice April 2011

Apr 14 2011 | comment(s)

Arctic Ice April 2011


The Nares ice bridge is still blocking the strait.  My forecast of breakup on April 07 ± 3 days was wrong.  A forecast is only as good as the assumptions it is based on.  My forecast was based on valid assumptions, but I missed something vital: the 'plug' in the ice bridge isn't just consolidated ice: it is homogenous ice.  It is likely also that it is less salty than ordinary first year sea ice.  That would mean that the ice bridge is much stronger than average.
Tinospora sinensis (Lour. ) Merr syn. T. malabaricaMiers ex Hook. f.; T. tomentosa Miers ex Hook. f. is similar to T.cordifolia, an important drug plant of traditional medicine

Tinospora sinensis (Lour. ) Merr syn. T. malabaricaMiers ex Hook. f.; T. tomentosa Miers ex Hook. f. is similar to T.cordifolia, an important drug plant of traditional medicine

Apr 13 2011 | comment(s)

Tinospora sinensis (Lour. ) Merr syn. T. malabaricaMiers ex Hook. f.; T. tomentosa Miers ex Hook. f. Menispermaceae family, and the stem is used as medicine. The plant grows wild in most parts of India, both in forests and plains. The plant is used almost in the same way as T. cordifolia. It is reported to be used for fumigation in piles and ulcerated wounds, and for the preparation of medicated baths for liver-complaints. Boiled roots are given in fever. Fresh leaves and stems are used in chronic rheumatism.
Eggs Too Religious? Name Them

Eggs Too Religious? Name Them "Spring Spheres"

Apr 13 2011 | comment(s)

If you want to take Easter away from religious people, you create Easter eggs and Easter bunnies and Rankin-Bass cartoons.  But what if the very term 'Easter' is offensive to schools in progressive Seattle?   Then you have to get another degree away and insist Easter eggs be termed 'spring spheres'.

A sophomore in high school, 'Jessica', volunteered in a third grade class.   "At the end of the week I had an idea to fill little plastic eggs with treats and jelly beans and other candy, but I was kind of unsure how the teacher would feel about that," Jessica said.   Why would she be concerned?  Due to a meeting earlier in the week where she learned about "their abstract behavior rules."
Liaoconodon Hui: Transitional Middle Ear Fossil Found

Liaoconodon Hui: Transitional Middle Ear Fossil Found

Apr 13 2011 | comment(s)

Liaoconodon hui, a complete fossil mammal from the Mesozoic, has been found in China and includes a long-sought transitional middle ear. The specimen shows the bones associated with hearing in mammals (the malleus, incus, and ectotympanic) decoupled from the lower jaw, as had been predicted, but were held in place by an ossified cartilage that rested in a groove on the lower jaw.

 The paper in Nature also suggests that the middle ear evolved at least twice in mammals, for monotremes and for the marsupial-placental group.
Space Metaphors - Right, Left Values More Literal Than You Might Think

Space Metaphors - Right, Left Values More Literal Than You Might Think

Apr 13 2011 | comment(s)

When we are 'up', we are happy, 'down' not so much.  'Right' is trustworthy while 'in left field' not so much, according to language and culture. 

But we don't all think right is right. Take handedness - people associate 'goodness' with the side they can act more fluently on.   Right-handed people prefer the product or job applicant positioned to their right. Lefties prefer the opposite. And those linguistic tropes? They probably "enshrine the preferences of the right-handed majority," says psychologist Daniel Casasanto, who believes "We use mental metaphors to structure our thinking about abstract things.   One of those metaphors is space."