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Food Labels - The Good , The Bad And The Ugly

Food Labels - The Good , The Bad And The Ugly

Nov 19 2013 | comment(s)

Special labels for foods that have genetic modification and are not organically processed have been the target of initiatives and legislative efforts recently. While a recent survey found that only 7 percent of people felt labeling GMOs was very important to them, that number climbed to 59 percent when they were reminded about genetically modified foods.

Gender Of Speaker May Affect Language Processing

Gender Of Speaker May Affect Language Processing

Nov 19 2013 | comment(s)

Do we process language we hear without regard to anything about the speaker?

Perhaps or perhaps not. A small psychological experiment using University of Kansas undergraduates who were paid to participate and spoke Spanish found that the sex of a speaker affected how quickly listeners identified words grammatically - evidence that even higher-level processes are affected by the speaker. 14 of the participants were female and 6 were male.

What Trans-fats Should Teach Us About The Pitfalls Of Food Labeling

What Trans-fats Should Teach Us About The Pitfalls Of Food Labeling

Nov 19 2013 | comment(s)

The Problem With Suspiciously Formed Desires

The Problem With Suspiciously Formed Desires

Nov 19 2013 | comment(s)

A recent talk by Adam Elga (Princeton University) at CUNY’s Graduate Center made me think a bit about what the author calls “suspiciously formed desires.”
Promiscuous Moms Bear Sexier Sons

Promiscuous Moms Bear Sexier Sons

Nov 18 2013 | comment(s)

When mother mice compete socially for mates in a promiscuous environment, their sons play hard - they also die young.

More urinary pheromones attract more females but smelling sexier shortens their lives.

600 Ancient Seals And Amulets Found In Turkey

600 Ancient Seals And Amulets Found In Turkey

Nov 18 2013 | comment(s)

An unusually large find, more 600 stamp seals and cylinder seals, have been found so far in an ancient sanctuary
of the storm and weather god Jupiter Dolichenus
in Turkey.

The stamp seals and cylinder seals as well as scarabs, made of glass, stone and quartz ceramics, were mostly crafted in a high-quality manner. Following the restoration work, the finds were handed over to the relevant museum in Gaziantep in Turkey. 

Don't Take Antibiotics For E. Coli Infection

Don't Take Antibiotics For E. Coli Infection

Nov 18 2013 | comment(s)

The FDA is investigating a multi-state outbreak of E. coli O157 illnesses possibly linked to pre-packaged salad products.  26 cases of illness were reported in 3 states, Arizona, California, and Washington.  

On November 10, 2013, the the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced that Glass Onion Catering, a Richmond, Calif. establishment, is recalling approximately 181,620 pounds of ready-to-eat salads and sandwich wrap products with fully-cooked chicken and ham because some of these products have been linked to the illnesses through epidemiological and traceback investigation.
Science Play And Research Kit: Fluorescence

Science Play And Research Kit: Fluorescence

Nov 18 2013 | comment(s)

You may wish to include a UV LED in your Science Play and Research Kit. Nowadays you can find inexpensive key chain lights that include a visible light LED flashlight, but also include a red laser LED and UV LED. The red laser can be used to demonstrate the Tyndall effect, and the UV LED can be used to demonstrate  a lot of stuff that becomes visible under UV light. I found this black light (UV) LED strobe light on clearance after Halloween for around $2.00 USD:

Von Neumann-Day Math Problem Solved

Von Neumann-Day Math Problem Solved

Nov 18 2013 | comment(s)

The famous Von Neumann-Day math problem, first described by mathematician John von Neumann in 1929, has gotten a geometric solution, according to Cornell University researchers. Graduate student Yash Lodha, working with Justin Moore, professor of mathematics, has described a geometric solution for the von Neumann-Day problem, first described by mathematician John von Neumann in 1929.

New Hampshire Legislators Not Buying Anti-GMO Scare Tactics

New Hampshire Legislators Not Buying Anti-GMO Scare Tactics

Nov 18 2013 | comment(s)

If biology fear mongers can't get referendums (let's vote on science!) passed in states like California and Washington where, let's face it, evidence-based thinking about science left long ago, what chance do they have in more politically moderate states? 

Not much, at least in New Hampshire. 

A well-funded effort by Gary Hirshberg, he of the organic giant Hirshberg’s Stonyfield Farms, failed to alarm lawmakers, who instead said that warning labels on GMO foods, in defiance of every scientific body's statements, would be a "rush to judgment", notes National Grange legislative director Grace Boatright.
EPA Scales Back Its Flawed Ethanol Mandate

EPA Scales Back Its Flawed Ethanol Mandate

Nov 18 2013 | comment(s)

Throughout the 1990s, environmentalists insisted that ethanol was the wave of our energy future. Vice-President Al Gore even famously broke a tie in the Senate to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to push its use.
Mandatory Calorie Postings At Fast-Food Chains Don't Influence Food Choice

Mandatory Calorie Postings At Fast-Food Chains Don't Influence Food Choice

Nov 18 2013 | comment(s)

Posting the calorie content of menu items at major fast-food chains in Philadelphia, per federal law, hasn't change purchasing habits or decreased the number of calories that those customers consume, researchers reported Friday at the Obesity Society's annual scientific meeting, held in Atlanta. 

The results echo those conducted by the same researchers among low-income neighborhoods in New York City before and after calorie-labels were mandated there in July 2008, lending more evidence to the arguments that micro-managing food choice in the name of awareness doesn't work for the intended group.

The Plot Of The Week - Higgs Width

The Plot Of The Week - Higgs Width

Nov 18 2013 | comment(s)

In a paper appeared a few days ago on the Cornell Arxiv Campbell, Ellis and Williams discuss how the LHC experiments have a chance to obtain information on the Higgs boson width by studying four-lepton events at masses much above the 126 GeV region where they cluster when produced by Higgs boson decays. Here I am going to show the graph that is at the source of this idea, and the general conclusions that the theorists reach on the precision that ATLAS and CMS can obtain on that parameter.

First of all let me explain to outsiders what is the Higgs boson width. In order to do so I need to make a short digression.
Genetically Modified Probiotic Cures Lab Animals Infected With Hookworm Parasite

Genetically Modified Probiotic Cures Lab Animals Infected With Hookworm Parasite

Nov 17 2013 | comment(s)

Laboratory animals fed a modified version of a common genetically modified probiotic were completely cured of intestinal worms that belong to a family of parasites that currently infect 1.5 billion people, or almost one quarter of the world's population, according to new research presented today at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH).

Is Creativity In Decline?

Is Creativity In Decline?

Nov 17 2013 | comment(s)

New research from the University of Washington Information School and Harvard University, followed 20 years of student creative writing and visual artworks and finds that the dynamics of creativity are changing.

They wanted to find out if creativity was in decline and found instead that some aspects of creativity — such as visual arts — have been rising over the years, while other aspects, such as creative writing, could be declining. 

Environmental Toxins During Pregnancy Linked To Child Heart Defects

Environmental Toxins During Pregnancy Linked To Child Heart Defects

Nov 17 2013 | comment(s)

Children's congenital heart defects may be associated with their mothers' exposure to specific mixtures of environmental toxins during pregnancy, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2013.

Congenital heart defects occur when the heart or blood vessels near the heart don't develop normally before birth. Defects may be caused by chromosomal abnormalities, but the cause is unknown in most cases.

Rate And Outcomes Of Of Aortic Valve Replacement Up

Rate And Outcomes Of Of Aortic Valve Replacement Up

Nov 17 2013 | comment(s)

Chicago – Jose Augusto Barreto-Filho, M.D., Ph.D., of the Federal University of Sergipe and the Clinica e Hospital Sao Lucas, Sergipe, Brazil, and colleagues assessed procedure rates and outcomes of surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR) among 82,755,924 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries between 1999 and 2011.

Underwater Rockets: Adopting A Penguin Propulsion System

Underwater Rockets: Adopting A Penguin Propulsion System

Nov 17 2013 | comment(s)

Kids love penguins. They sing and dance in cartoons, they waddle like Charlie Chaplin on land - but underwater, they are all business, accelerating from 0 to 15 miles per hour in less than a second. 

If You Prefer The Mythology Of Science, Read No Further

If You Prefer The Mythology Of Science, Read No Further

Nov 17 2013 | comment(s)

Modern science is comprised of cold, objective, Spock-like, reason-based, data-driven searchers in a quest for the truths about natural laws.

Ha ha ha.

In reality, science overall is much like it has always been. It is composed of some charlatans chasing the latest popular tripe, some who are in it for the money, some who are terrible and some who are great. Just like any other job. But a modern mythology has been carefully crafted and if you are competing for taxpayer money, it helps to promote the belief that your way is more ethical, noble and pure than science done by the private sector.

It makes for a tidy narrative. And a completely fake one.
39 Minutes: Quantum Superposition World Record Smashed

39 Minutes: Quantum Superposition World Record Smashed

Nov 17 2013 | comment(s)

A normally fragile quantum state has been shown to survive at room temperature for a world record 39 minutes, overcoming a key barrier towards building ultrafast quantum computers.

In conventional computers data is stored as a string of 1s and 0s. In the experiment quantum bits of information, 'qubits', were put into a 'superposition' state in which they can be both 1s and 0 at the same time – enabling them to perform multiple calculations simultaneously.