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Don't Shelter Your Children: Coping With Stress As A Child Develops Resilience And Emotion Regulation As An Adult

Don't Shelter Your Children: Coping With Stress As A Child Develops Resilience And Emotion Regulation As An Adult

Dec 31 2009 | comment(s)

We already know that "suffering builds character", but a new study suggests that it may do a lot more than that. Successfully coping with stress at an early age may significantly increase your chances of being a more resilient adult, as well as strengthen your ability to regulate emotions.
Herschel Space Observatory Captures Never-Before-Seen Galaxies

Herschel Space Observatory Captures Never-Before-Seen Galaxies

Dec 31 2009 | comment(s)

The Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver, or SPIRE instrument, riding aboard Herschel Space Observatory, launched in May by the European Space Agency, has provided one of the most detailed views yet of space up to 12 billion years back in time.

The December images have revealed thousands of newly discovered galaxies in their early stages of formation, said CU-Boulder Associate Professor Jason Glenn, a co-investigator on the project. The new images are being analyzed as part of the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey, or HerMES, which involves more than 100 astronomers from six countries.
Mosquitoes Attract Mates By 'Harmonizing'

Mosquitoes Attract Mates By 'Harmonizing'

Dec 31 2009 | comment(s)

The authors of a new study published in Current Biology say they've gained new insight into the sex lives of malaria spreading mosquitoes. In finding a partner of the right species type, male and female mosquitoes depend on their ability to "sing" in perfect harmony, and those tones are produced and varied based on the frequency of their wing beats in flight.
DNA Sequencing Answers Confounding Questions About Human Evolution

DNA Sequencing Answers Confounding Questions About Human Evolution

Dec 31 2009 | comment(s)

A team of anthropologists has for the first time directly analyzed DNA from a member of our own species who lived around 30,000 years ago, allowing scientists a unique glimpse into the history of evolution. Their research is detailed in the December 31 issue of Current Biology.

DNA--the hereditary material contained in the nuclei and mitochondria of all body cells--is a hardy molecule and can persist, conditions permitting, for several tens of thousands of years. Such ancient DNA provides scientists with unique possibilities to directly glimpse into the genetic make-up of organisms that have long since vanished from the Earth, but the ancient DNA approach could not be easily applied to ancient members of our own species.
Welcome To Hotel Boltzmann

Welcome To Hotel Boltzmann

Dec 31 2009 | comment(s)

“Room for one please!”

"Stylish, Stinky" Sake

Dec 31 2009 | comment(s)

Apparently, a committee in Japan is lobbying for a return to the traditional sake bottle.
The squid skins dry in the sun, stuffed with rice or grains to create the bottle shape. Once fully dried, warm sake is poured into the squid bottle to create a distinct squid-infused Sake flavour. Bottles can be used 4 or 5 times before being eaten.
Technically, these probably aren't "skins." The skin of a squid is a thin, delicate covering that wouldn't hold up well to this sort of treatment. My guess is that they're using the whole mantle--the muscular body of the squid, which is usually turned in calamari rings.
My Best And Worst Of 2009

My Best And Worst Of 2009

Dec 30 2009 | comment(s)

Okay, the year is not over just yet, but it is already time for a little accounting of the traffic on this site in the course of the last eight-and-a-half months -that is, since I moved my blog to Scientific Blogging.

For this year's summary I have been inspired in part by Alex Antunes, who decided to pick his least read articles to draw some conclusions about what really does not sell well here. But I have of course also given a close look at what appears to appease your taste, dear readers.
How To Make Tobacco Popular Again - Turn It Into Biofuel

How To Make Tobacco Popular Again - Turn It Into Biofuel

Dec 30 2009 | comment(s)

Biofuels were all the rage in the 1990s.   Sustainable, activists said, because they refused to do math.   It was only when Republicans mandated and subsidized biofuels in 2005 that environmentalists realized there must be something very wrong with them and $10 billion per year of wasted tax dollars on fuels actually worse for the environment than oil are what we have.

If biofuels can make oil companies look good, imagine what they can do for something like tobacco.

Researchers from the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories at Thomas Jefferson University say they have identified a way to increase the oil in tobacco plant leaves, which may be the next step in using the plants for biofuel, according to a paper in Plant Biotechnology Journal. 
Flu Pandemic School Closures

Flu Pandemic School Closures

Dec 30 2009 | comment(s)

A few recently published studies offered some insight into the issue of closing schools to reduce the effects of a flu epidemic.

The first problem, which hasn't been resolved, is determining the criteria for closing a school in the first place.  However, another study suggests that such closures could reduce swine flu transmission by 21%.  In this case the presumption is that reducing exposure would, of course, stall the spread of the disease.
Are Male And Female Adolescents At Different Risk For Caffeine Addiction?

Are Male And Female Adolescents At Different Risk For Caffeine Addiction?

Dec 30 2009 | comment(s)

Caffeine is the world's most popular stimulant drug and enjoys the cultural shield of being both legal and acceptable.    A caffeine addiction is considered perfectly normal.

But with soft drink and coffee companies like Starbuck's aggressively marketing to teens and younger there has to be consideration of the effects of acute and chronic caffeine consumption on blood pressure, heart rate and hand tremors.   Just as worrisome, does consuming caffeinated drinks during adolescence contribute to later use of legal or illicit drugs? 
Brilliance and Madness in Mania

Brilliance and Madness in Mania

Dec 30 2009 | comment(s)

Close up of Buddha relief. Copyright Keith Adams, 2007
During my one and only severe manic episode, during the summer of 2006, I had the scariest half hour of my life where I thought I was literally in danger of losing my sanity. I found myself wondering, the other day, if something like this was a common experience of mania. I don't think it is, because I've never read of anybody else going through something like this.

(Photograph by Keith Adams, 2006)
16-bit Blues

16-bit Blues

Dec 30 2009 | comment(s)

How often have you taken a picture with a digital camera, only for it to come out looking like this? The sky’s too bright, the shaded parts are too dark, and however much one juggles with it with software, it won’t come out right.
 


The eye managed to adapt to it all right, effortlessly moving over the scene. With film, if one were a darkroom wizard, one could play tricks with the processing. But digital – what do we get for our multi-megapixels and our 16777216 colours?
Killing For Living; A Magnificent Selfish Act

Killing For Living; A Magnificent Selfish Act

Dec 30 2009 | comment(s)

The autotrophic cell is the one who is able to produce, by it self, its own energy and structural components. It corresponds, in the natural world to the vegetable cell. We call to this process photosynthesis and the wonderful -and truly amazing feature- of this natural phenomena, is that while the income needed for it is inorganic, the final product corresponds to the organic biochemistry world.

My Worst Columns Of 2009

My Worst Columns Of 2009

Dec 29 2009 | comment(s)

To wrap up the year, I'm listing my 4 worst columns.  Or, at least, the four columns that got outstandingly terrible readership.  I searched for a pattern or justification for why people stayed away in droves, but darned if I can spot one.  If you've got any ideas on why some columns sink while others swim, feel free to speak up.
More Physics Questions

More Physics Questions

Dec 29 2009 | comment(s)

The turnaround of the three physics questions I offered a few days ago, to stimulate your neurons and extract you from the chocolate and alcohol flood caused by the usual string of Christmas parties and dinners, was rather scarce. Despite that, I wish to repeat the offer today, making some adjustments to reach a wider public. The questions I offer here are easier but still not accessible to everybody. However, my plans are that at least the answers I will give in a couple of days will be understandable. Further, anyone can try the bonus question I ask at the bottom of this piece...
See Green, Hear Green, Feel Green, Read Green, and Be Green-- Photosynthesis is at the heart of all our lives.... Govindjee

See Green, Hear Green, Feel Green, Read Green, and Be Green-- Photosynthesis is at the heart of all our lives.... Govindjee

Dec 29 2009 | comment(s)

Instead of reduction of emissions let us concentrate on making this world greener all over globally. Today was sad day of my life when I saw picture of vehicles parked in the area that used to be a sort of lake or big pond below the world famous fort Amber fort. Its hind pond has dried. Pushker lake is dried. Ramgarh lake of Jaipur has dried. Water table has gone as low as 1200 feet. The deep water is full of fluoride and heavy metals unfit for agriculture and drinking . We are trying to bring water from Bisalpur to Jaipur. Bisalpur dam is drying > Will there be Jaipur from 50 years from now. Make it green give back its greenary. When it used to be dense forests on hills of Jaipur the rainwater used to trickle down to mavathas below on ground.

"Produção de Biocombustíveis em Moçambique" (Production of biofuel in Mozambique),

Dec 29 2009 | comment(s)

Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry, Eduardo Mondlane University • Task • Submit paper and present orally on the research undertaken under the FACT/ADPP Jatropha project in Cabo Delgado 14 to 25 September Course on Jatropha production, Bilibiza, Cabo Delgado. • Tasks: • Teach and make training material for the course. 11 to 25 September A number of research tasks were planned too. • Tasks: • Follow up on trials, including inspection and weighing of harvested seeds. • Obtain rainfall data from the meteorological station, Bilibiza. • Forecast Jatropha production for 10 years. • Forecast transport needs for collecting Jatropha seeds from the project area. • Interview farmers about labour allocation during the rainy season. 28 September til 1 October • Task
FDA Approving Medical Devices Without Sound Evidence

FDA Approving Medical Devices Without Sound Evidence

Dec 29 2009 | comment(s)

The FDA's pre-market approval process for cardiovascular devices is often based on studies that lack adequate strength or may have been prone to bias, according to a study in the December 23/30 issue of JAMA. The researchers found that of nearly 80 high-risk devices, the majority received approval based on data from a single study.

Cardiovascular devices are increasing in number and usage. "In 2008, at least 350,000 pacemakers, 140,000 implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, and 1,230,000 stents were implanted. Although there has been recent scrutiny of evidence used in the FDA drug approval process, less attention has been paid to the approval process for medical devices," the authors write.