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Pulses, And Why Whales Don't Get Sick Swimming

Pulses, And Why Whales Don't Get Sick Swimming

Sep 26 2022 | comment(s)

Land mammals such as horses experience ‘pulses’ in their blood when galloping, where blood pressures inside the body go up and down on every stride. In all mammals, average blood pressure is higher in arteries, or the blood exiting the heart, than in veins. This difference in pressure drives the blood flow in the body, including through the brain. Locomotion can forcefully move blood, causing spikes in pressure, or ‘pulses’ to the brain.

The difference in pressure between the blood entering and exiting the brain for these pulses can cause damage. Long-term damage of this kind can lead to dementia in human beings while horses deal with the pulses by breathing in and out.
Will You Pay More If You Like The Feel Of A Smartphone? Probably

Will You Pay More If You Like The Feel Of A Smartphone? Probably

Sep 26 2022 | comment(s)

A recent survey found that even if the cost was 10X as much (though still a small amount), users would pay more if they liked the feel of a smartphone cover. This means designers might benefit more factoring that into product design.

The caveat; this was a small number of students and Hiroshima University staff so not representative even of Japan. Still, it showed willingness to pay more when the reference smartphone cover price was 100 yen and 1000 yen. The covers were differentiated by surface smoothness, height, slipperiness, dampness, granularity, stickiness, and dryness.
The Real Reason Europeans Invented That Einstein Quote About Bees - Money

The Real Reason Europeans Invented That Einstein Quote About Bees - Money

Sep 21 2022 | comment(s)

Environmental groups who spent a lot of time and money promoting a Beepocalypse (and blaming it on a class of modern targeted pesticides called neonicotinoids) are getting really desperate to shore up their campaign.

They have been promoting a 1994 quote from physicist Albert Einstein who worried about the loss of bees.

Einstein died in 1955.

But that is just a detail when the goal is saving Gaia. The ends justify the means and all that. 



“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left.” 

Wait, what? 
Supreme Court Got Some 'splainin To Do

Supreme Court Got Some 'splainin To Do

Sep 20 2022 | comment(s)

The way Chief Justice Roberts tosses red herrings, he could get a job at Seattle’s Pike Market. The court may make unpopular decisions, he says, but that’s no reason to question the Supremes’ legitimacy. He’s right, but he’s right in a way that totally misses the point.

Statins Rethink: LDL Cholesterol Alone Has Very Weak Association With Heart Attack, According To A New Paper

Statins Rethink: LDL Cholesterol Alone Has Very Weak Association With Heart Attack, According To A New Paper

Sep 20 2022 | comment(s)

What correlation giveth, correlation can taketh away. Statins, taken by some 40 million Americans, may not be helping a lot of them.

Statins are used to lower cholesterol levels and reduce their risk of heart disease and stroke. They are endorsed by medical groups and the American Heart Association, but many won't benefit from these drugs based on new research. Basically, healthy people with high cholesterol aren't gaining anything.
Biden Administration Says The Way To Prevent An Infant Formula Shortage Government Created Is More Government

Biden Administration Says The Way To Prevent An Infant Formula Shortage Government Created Is More Government

Sep 20 2022 | comment(s)

If Product A and Product B are identical in every meaningful way, and Product A is unavailable, is there any reason the government should make it illegal to buy B?

No, but that is government. The Biden administration first created an infant formula shortage by overreacting to contamination in a small batch. Then the president said he didn't know his actions would create a shortage. Then after he was reminded the companies who make formula told him his actions would create a shortage he replied that they knew, but he didn't.
Socialist UN Secretary General: Affordable Energy For The Poor Is The Problem

Socialist UN Secretary General: Affordable Energy For The Poor Is The Problem

Sep 20 2022 | comment(s)

Since 2017, avowed socialist António Guterres has led the United Nations. That means he has led the organization that has never once defended people in Taiwan or Mongolia but defended communist China when it was clear they were the source of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

The UN even did as told when China weirdly said to blame the COVID-19 pandemic on American frozen food. Rather than the Wuhan lab which deleted its coronavirus database after the pandemic raged, scrubbed the nearby Wuhan market clean, and only let UN investigators onsite for four hours, during which they were allowed to ask no questions the Communist Party had not pre-approved.
'What Hath God Wrought' - Today, Luddites Are Concerned About Weedkillers Like They Once Were The Telegraph

'What Hath God Wrought' - Today, Luddites Are Concerned About Weedkillers Like They Once Were The Telegraph

Sep 20 2022 | comment(s)

Do you believe the telegraph was giving telegraph operators cancer? If not, it's only because there was no Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or US Right To Know group promoting fear and doubt about it the way they do vaccines, food, and cell phones.

On May 24th, 1844 a telegram was sent from the Capitol because Samuel Morse, the inventor, wanted a government contract. Because he was diplomatic, he let the daughter of Henry Ellsworth, first Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office, draft the message. And because young people need to Live In Important Times, the message proposed by young Annie was "What Hath God Wrought.” (1)
In The Quantum World, You Can Get Something From Nothing

In The Quantum World, You Can Get Something From Nothing

Sep 20 2022 | comment(s)

Creativity occurs whenever novel connections are made, and often, this occurs by accident.
Finding And Testing A New Solution To The Mystery Of Dark Matter Via Gravitational Waves

Finding And Testing A New Solution To The Mystery Of Dark Matter Via Gravitational Waves

Sep 19 2022 | comment(s)

The solution to the issue of dark matter and dark energy may be found by way of modifying Einstein's equations of General Relativity.  Working with Shane Larson of Northwestern University we may have found an analytical and exact solution to one such set of equations.  With this we may be able to test such proposals once and for all using the future Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, LISA. Exact solutions to the differential equations that describe fundamental physics are rare. So rare they are sometimes called by name.  As one of many collaborators in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, Fundamental Physics working group, solving such problems is just what I do.

Don't Be A Charles About Science: The New Prince Of Wales Should Divest From Mystical Organic Beliefs

Don't Be A Charles About Science: The New Prince Of Wales Should Divest From Mystical Organic Beliefs

Sep 19 2022 | comment(s)

England is in crisis. They lost a beloved figurehead this month but for decades prior were losing scientific ground. If you look for the home of the modern organic food and anti-vaccine movements, you find their nexus in 1990s England.

The primary royal behind those beliefs is now King Charles III. 
Even Before The Pandemic, 20% Of Kids Reported Depression Symptoms

Even Before The Pandemic, 20% Of Kids Reported Depression Symptoms

Sep 19 2022 | comment(s)

Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, from school closures to lockdowns, were important for health officials and implemented even after factoring in concerns about long-term psychological effects.

If results from 2015-2020 surveys are an indication, depression cases may go up sharply in future data. In 2020, past 12‒month depression was prevalent among nearly 20 percent of adolescents and young adults, and almost 10 percent of Americans.  
Being A Great Drummer May Be Genetic

Being A Great Drummer May Be Genetic

Sep 19 2022 | comment(s)

'Keeping time' is easy for humans, but not all can keep time equally. Some great drummers, and even more guitarists, use a device like a metronome to keep them on a precise beat, while others seem to do it effortlessly.

A new study finds human capacity to move in synchrony with a musical beat may be partially coded in the human genome.
Disease Spillover Risk Was Oversimplified During The COVID-19 Pandemic - And It's A Chronic Problem In Science Journalism

Disease Spillover Risk Was Oversimplified During The COVID-19 Pandemic - And It's A Chronic Problem In Science Journalism

Sep 16 2022 | comment(s)

SAR, R0, these are all terms that became part of the pop culture lexicon during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, because they were used in simplistic fashion they were more helpful for those engaged in wedge politics than the public.

Part of the problem can be laid at the feet of social media. COVID-19 was the third coronavirus pandemic of the last 17 years but it was the first to truly spread worldwide and have so much concern that the country where it originated created a campaign of disinformation, and even got the World Health Organisation to be complicit. And it all happened in real time on social media.
Detecting Seafood Fraud Using Chemical Maps

Detecting Seafood Fraud Using Chemical Maps

Sep 13 2022 | comment(s)

Food fraud is common. Probably 25 percent of imported food with an "organic" label is just conventional food and even in America some organic farmers are just selling regular food. In Europe, everyone knew that Russia was not magically producing all of the organic food they were selling to France and Germany so those companies could pretend it works to feed the world.
20 Post-Doctoral Research Positions Open At INFN

20 Post-Doctoral Research Positions Open At INFN

Sep 13 2022 | comment(s)

Are you a recently (<8 years) appointed Ph.D. graduate in fundamental physics, who wants to work in Italy? This post is for you. The INFN is opening 20 positions for foreigners who would like to join a group of research in one of the INFN sections (there are 25 across Italy). The positions are for one year, renewable, and the salary is competitive, given that it is roughly at the level of a starting associate professor in Italy. Note, also Ph.D. students who plan to graduate before November 1st 2023 can apply! 


Also, the 8-years limit can be waived if you spent time in maternity, military service, or illness. The winning candidates are expected to start their contract before November 2023.
Rare Diamonds Came From Outer Space

Rare Diamonds Came From Outer Space

Sep 13 2022 | comment(s)

Scientists have confirmed the existence of lonsdaleite, a rare hexagonal form of diamond named after British crystallographer Kathleen Lonsdale, in ureilite meteorites from the mantle of a planet in our solar system.

According to the new findings, a large asteroid probably collided with the planet collided about 4.5 billion years ago, and the hexagonal structure of lonsdaleite’s atoms, making it harder than the cubic structure of terrestrial diamonds.
Infertility Was A Problem In The 19th Century, And Still Is Today In Scandinavia

Infertility Was A Problem In The 19th Century, And Still Is Today In Scandinavia

Sep 12 2022 | comment(s)

It is something we have all heard; educated, wealthy people who don't want to have kids, for various reasons. They are letting culture of the future be created by someone else. It is common to be voluntary now but in the past it was not a choice.

Demographers recently looked at the Skellefteå region in northern Sweden (since the work of digitizing population data from the 19th century on had already been done) and had access to 5,850 people and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, which numbered in the tens of thousands.
Marek Karliner On Exotic Doubly-Heavy Hadrons

Marek Karliner On Exotic Doubly-Heavy Hadrons

Sep 10 2022 | comment(s)

In the final day of the ICNFP 2022 conference in Kolympari (Greece), we could listen to an enlightening presentation by Prof. Marek Karliner (Tel Aviv University), who is an absolute authority on the matter of the theory of hadron spectroscopy. 
Bitter orange, Ephedra and Heart Issues: Supplements Among The Left Coasts Show How Endemic Anti-Science Beliefs Remain

Bitter orange, Ephedra and Heart Issues: Supplements Among The Left Coasts Show How Endemic Anti-Science Beliefs Remain

Sep 07 2022 | comment(s)

Since 2021, journalists and their political allies have been acting like Republicans are anti-vaccine and Democrats have always been the party of science.

Just the opposite was true. Prior to politicization of COVID-19, right-wing religious states like Alabama and Mississippi had nearly 100 percent vaccine uptake while cities like San Francisco, Berkeley, and Los Angeles had so much denial that California had more unvaccinated kids than the rest of America combined. After years of pressure because of the issue, Governor Jerry Brown was forced to sign a law removing those arbitrary exemptions.