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Hyenas' Laughter Gives Clues About Age, Dominance And Identity

Hyenas' Laughter Gives Clues About Age, Dominance And Identity

Mar 29 2010 | comment(s)

Scientists writing in BMC Ecology say the "giggle" sound made by spotted hyenas has revealed that the animals' laughter encodes information about age, dominance and identity.
 
Researchers recorded the calls of 26 hyenas in captivity and found that variations in the giggles' pitch and timbre may help hyenas to establish social hierarchies.

"The hyena's laugh gives receivers cues to assess the social rank of the emitting individual. This may allow hyenas to establish feeding rights and organize their food-gathering activities," said Frédéric Theunissen, a researcher the University of California at Berkeley.

Life Before Life

Life Before Life" A Case For Life After Life

Mar 29 2010 | comment(s)

"When I was your age, I used to change your diapers," said eighteen month old Sam Taylor to his father. Two years later, Sam correctly picked out his grandfather from a photo of his grammar school class of 27 children, shouting "That's me!" Sam's father believes his father has returned as his son to share the love he was unable to express in the former lifetime.
Iraq War Making Children Shorter, Says Study

Iraq War Making Children Shorter, Says Study

Mar 29 2010 | comment(s)

In a study sure to delight the Lamarckian in you, and not part of our annual April Fool's Day science content, a new study by Royal Holloway, University of London, says Iraqi children born in areas affected by high levels of violence are shorter in height than children born in less violent areas.

Not factored in; whether or not the Baathists who live in the nice, less-violent areas and have money marry taller women, though look for that in a follow-up.
Understanding Climate : #4 - Calculating Sunshine

Understanding Climate : #4 - Calculating Sunshine

Mar 28 2010 | comment(s)

Understanding Climate : #4 - Calculating Sunshine


The Fire In The Sky
More Snow Anyone?

More Snow Anyone?

Mar 28 2010 | comment(s)

More Snow Anyone?

We may get a little snow in England in a day or two.  Scotland, being in somewhat cooler climes, may get a little more.

Quite apart from the UK Met Office's ability - or lack of it - to predict weather, the current Arctic Oscillation trend, if continued, could lead to some surprise sprinklings of snow.

I can't predict who will get snow, nor how much.  Boston?  New York?  What I can predict, as a virtual certainty, is that if there is more snow we will see more inane questions from parochial northern hemisphere residents asking what happened to global warming.
Predictable Barriers Precluding Any Consideration of Transversable Black Holes Through Outer Space

Predictable Barriers Precluding Any Consideration of Transversable Black Holes Through Outer Space

Mar 28 2010 | comment(s)

Predictable Barriers Precluding Any Consideration of Transversable Black Holes Through Outer Space

#1 of The Three Part Series : Black Holes Through Outer Space

By

Marshall Barnes
AET RaDAL
United States of America


Abstract
What is Nature’s Worst Design?

What is Nature’s Worst Design?

Mar 28 2010 | comment(s)

What is Nature’s Worst Design?

Francisco Ayala Answers:

"The human reproductive system. Twenty percent of pregnancies end in spontaneous abortions and miscarriages in the first two months. In the world, that’s 20 million abortions per year. Twenty million abortions per year? You wouldn’t want to blame God for that."
Where forests have disappeared and why there are no trees on no mans land ?

Where forests have disappeared and why there are no trees on no mans land ?

Mar 28 2010 | comment(s)

If you happen to travel by air on good sunny day across India and  you are crossing Aravallis and hills of Udaipur and Ajmer and Jaipur  its needless to mention that hills which were once covered with thick forests have gone barren and getting degraded and denunded at a very faster rate with scores of visible or invisible mining sites. 

Satellite imagaries will confirm my observations if you compare of present with that of 10 or 20 years ago.  Huge water bodies are dry and banks are degraded. Silting has filled most of the rivers .

Making dams has worsened the situations.
The Amazing Cataclysmic Variables

The Amazing Cataclysmic Variables

Mar 28 2010 | comment(s)

Marco Silva (right) is an amateur astronomer since the 1997 Hale-Bopp comet passage. He is also an amateur scientist. His studies can be found in his web site. When I knew of his interesting measurements of cataclysmic variable stars, I invited him to write about the matter for us here....

Cataclysmic Variables
Extending Asset Life-cycle And Enhancing Safety Are Now Of Paramount Importance

Extending Asset Life-cycle And Enhancing Safety Are Now Of Paramount Importance

Mar 28 2010 | comment(s)

Biologist And Former Dominican Wins £1 Million Templeton Prize For Science And Religion

Biologist And Former Dominican Wins £1 Million Templeton Prize For Science And Religion

Mar 28 2010 | comment(s)

"Francisco J. Ayala, an evolutionary geneticist and molecular biologist who has vigorously opposed the entanglement of science and religion while also calling for mutual respect between the two, has won the 2010 Templeton Prize." Yet again the prize has gone to a scientist who says nice things about religion.

"Ayala, 76, a naturalized American who moved from Spain to New York in 1961 for graduate study and soon became a leader in molecular evolution and genetics, has devoted more than 30 years to asserting that both science and faith are damaged when either invades the proper domain of the other.
CO2 Emissions : More Is The New Less

CO2 Emissions : More Is The New Less

Mar 27 2010 | comment(s)

CO2 Emissions : More Is The New Less


As part of its climate change strategy, the Government set a UK aviation target in January 2009, to reduce UK aviation emissions back to 2005 levels in 2050. Together with deep cuts in other sectors, this would achieve the UK’s legislated economy-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) target to reduce emissions by 80% in 2050 relative to 1990. 
http://www.theccc.org.uk/sectors/aviation

Saturday, 27 March 2010
The political arguments about a third runway for London's Heathrow airport broke out again fiercely last night after a High Court judge declined to quash the project but told the Government to get its aviation policy in order.
Cosmic Rays Invade Planet Earth: First Strike on Toyota

Cosmic Rays Invade Planet Earth: First Strike on Toyota

Mar 27 2010 | comment(s)

Toyota's sticky accelerators could be caused by a concerted attack by evil cosmic rays. Toyota has kept quiet about these malicious forces but this puff piece may have unmasked a sinister force that could be causing untold havoc throughout the planet.

Cosmic rays are high energy protons that have been flung into space by a supernova. Upon hitting Earth they seem to focus their attention on Toyotas. But not, apparently, in random acts of sabotage but rather they seem to have a foot fixation and enjoy playing with their gas pedals.
On Blogging And Soothsaying

On Blogging And Soothsaying

Mar 27 2010 | comment(s)

On Blogging And Soothsaying


The internet is a wonderful means of spreading information, but there is a danger of spreading misinformation.  It probably takes far fewer years of education to read a science article than to fully understand it.  The danger is that, just as many people rely on their horoscopes, so too do many people rely on their favorite bloggers to do their critical thinking for them.
My 10 Books

My 10 Books

Mar 27 2010 | comment(s)

Over at Marginal Revolution economist Tyler Cowan has started one of those blog trends, and many other bloggers have followed like a pack of lemmings.
Cheese on Toast, Anyone?

Cheese on Toast, Anyone?

Mar 27 2010 | comment(s)



Here's a short sequence of art videos, which made me smile


This line is just a space-filler to move the embedded screen down ;-)


On Peer Review

On Peer Review

Mar 27 2010 | comment(s)

In Adventures in Ethics and Science, Janet Stemwedel asks some questions about peer review — its purpose and its effect — prompted by strong online criticism of a peer-reviewed paper that was published with at least some significant review comments ignored.

One particularly interesting statement that Janet makes is in the second sentence of this paragraph:

As Bora was the "editor" of the paper rather than an official referee of the paper, it’s not clear whether the journal editors overseeing the fate of this submission actually forwarded Bora’s critiques onto the author, or if they did forward the critiques to the author but indicated that they wouldn’t coun

Medefield Announces Executive Appointments To Lead Its US And UK Businesses

Medefield Announces Executive Appointments To Lead Its US And UK Businesses

Mar 27 2010 | comment(s)

It's Earth Hour - Let's Black Out Big Time!

It's Earth Hour - Let's Black Out Big Time!

Mar 27 2010 | comment(s)

It's Earth Hour - Let's Black Out Big Time!


Earth hour is an event organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature in which participants switch off lights for one hour at night.  The objective is to produce an hour of darkness as a means of highlighting the need for global action on climate change.

Earth Hour - climate change campaigners urge global switch-off

The fourth annual lights-out event expects 1 billion participants, and counts for the first time international landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State building and the Burj Khalifa
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/26/energy-climate-change
A Skin Cancer Too Common

A Skin Cancer Too Common

Mar 26 2010 | comment(s)

A pale pink, half-moon shaped scar sits above my left breast as a  reminder of my youth spent at Jones Beach with more baby oil than sunscreen, doing more baking than bathing. My scar is from having MOHS micrographic surgery, after basal cell carcinoma was found in a biopsy of a mole.

Basal cell carcinoma is one of several types of nonmelanoma skin cancers, which are the most common forms of skin cancer in the United States.  According to a study in the "Archives of
Dermatology", as of 2006, there have been 3.5 million cases a year in 2 million American people.