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White Nose Syndrome Bat Die-Off: Blame Europe

White Nose Syndrome Bat Die-Off: Blame Europe

Apr 10 2012 | comment(s)

The deaths of millions of bats in the United States and Canada due to 'white nose syndrome' over the last few years has been linked to a fungus that came from Europe, scientists have reported.

In North America, more than 5.7 million bats have died since 2006 when white nose syndrome was first detected in a cave in upstate New York. The disease does not pose a threat to humans but people can carry fungal spores, so while it's not known exactly how the fungus crossed the Atlantic, it was likely brought accidentally introduced by tourists. Spores are known to stick to people's clothes, boots and caving gear.
Canadian Military Implicated In Death Of Something

Canadian Military Implicated In Death Of Something

Apr 09 2012 | comment(s)

The Canadian military, those legends of World War II, don't get a lot of respect these days - namely from the Canadian government.

But they can still kill stuff. Unfortunately, the only time it makes the news is when they might have killed a whale during training exercises.  There's no proof, of course, but when it comes to criticizing the military, Canadian news does not need proof; the headlines make the claim and then they bury the qualifiers.

A young killer whale, orca L112, died on the beach in Washington state in February a few days after HMCS Ottawa conducted sonar training exercises in the waters off Victoria, B.C. This prompted Americans to launch an investigation and look at Canadians.
Michigan Grad Students Can't Unionize

Michigan Grad Students Can't Unionize

Apr 06 2012 | comment(s)

If you get into a Ph.D. program, are you there to learn and do research, like an academic, or are you there to earn a wage, like a corporate researcher?  Basically, are you still a student or are you an employee?

A group of Michigan students who had sought to unionize a year ago has been denied. A few weeks back, Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation clarifying that graduate student research assistants are not public employees as recognized by the state Public Employment Relations Act. So they can't form a union.
News Mob: A Flash Mob With Actual Value

News Mob: A Flash Mob With Actual Value

Apr 06 2012 | comment(s)

Usually, when the majority of reporters in a newsroom rallies around coverage of a single story or event something really big is breaking. Maybe a mass shooting, a tsunami, or a terrorist attack.

Or, if you happen to work for the Orange County Register, it’s opening day for the Los Angeles Angels — April 6, 2012 — and you’re part of the newspaper’s first official “news mob.”

So what exactly does an Angels news mob cover?
Let science drive regulation, not fear

Let science drive regulation, not fear

Apr 04 2012 | comment(s)

I have long argued that while the kooky, anti-science conservative is a new phenomenon, the kooky, anti-science progressive has a decades-old history.  And it basically came into existence due to Rachel Carson's anti-science screed "Silent Spring"(1) - unless you really want to believe someone sprayed DDT, got cancer and died 6 months later.
How To Make A Rainbow Part 2 - Use A Shotgun

How To Make A Rainbow Part 2 - Use A Shotgun

Apr 02 2012 | comment(s)

A while back I discussed the optics of rainbows and showed you how to make your own; namely, what angle to stand at and how to use a hose.

But Republicans out there may not have liked all my hippie talk about reflections and refractions and want to be a little more proactive with their rainbow creation - like how it can involve a gun; luckily Kristi at the Endo Gun Blog has that covered.


Science Win: EPA Forced To Investigate Before Blaming Fracking

Science Win: EPA Forced To Investigate Before Blaming Fracking

Apr 01 2012 | comment(s)

In a decision is that is “a vindication of the science-based processes at the Railroad Commission,” according to Barry Smitherman, chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission, a federal judge has ordered the EPA to actually investigate wells in Texas before declaring fracking the culprit and penalizing the company they think is involved.

The case of U.S. v. Range Production Co., 11:-cv-00116, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas) was withdrawn by the EPA because the government wants to “shift the agency’s focus in this particular case away from litigation” and instead test water wells in the area.

Shocking.
Einstein's Brain Has Arrived

Einstein's Brain Has Arrived

Mar 30 2012 | comment(s)

Einstein wanted to be cremated and his ashes spread in a secret location to avoid creating a shrine or anything weird.

He got the weird instead. Dr. Thomas Harvey, the pathologist on call the evening Einsten died of a burst aortic aneurysm, stole his brain.  Why? Who knows why, he was no brain specialist.  He got  retroactive permission from Einstein's son, Hans Albert, as long as the brain was used for scientific purposes, whatever that was supposed to mean. Einstein’s eye doctor, Henry Adams, got the eyeballs from Harvey and they are sitting in a safe deposit box in New York, presumably also for 'scientific purposes'.
Adorable Abomination Of Nature Wins Swiss Hearts

Adorable Abomination Of Nature Wins Swiss Hearts

Mar 30 2012 | comment(s)

A six-legged calf has defied the odds by thriving despite a vet's prediction at birth that it would not survive - and now the Swiss public has fallen in love with Lilli.

Farmer Andreas Knutti from Weissenburg told Blick that a curve in her spine means that Lilli may never become a normal milk cow. Regardless, he couldn't euthanize her because she is just too darn cute.


Lilli. Photograph: Peter Schneider/EPA. Link: Guardian
Footloose In Real Life: NYC Department of Education Wants To Ban 'Dancing'

Footloose In Real Life: NYC Department of Education Wants To Ban 'Dancing'

Mar 29 2012 | comment(s)

The New York City Department of Education wants to remove words that  might upset special interests from standardized tests. Which special interests?  Apparently all of them, if you look at the list, even special interests no one knew existed.
Placentophagia - Eating Afterbirth As Disgusting As It Sounds

Placentophagia - Eating Afterbirth As Disgusting As It Sounds

Mar 28 2012 | comment(s)

In America, we don't eat cats or snails or brains but a lot of food choices are just cultural.  So it may be with afterbirth.

Placentophagia may offer benefits to human mothers and perhaps to non-mothers and even males, according to a new study in Ecology of Food and Nutrition. Hey, they have devoted a whole issue to Placentophagia so it must be important.  
Heat From Hell May Be Secular Green Energy

Heat From Hell May Be Secular Green Energy

Mar 28 2012 | comment(s)

Krafla, in the north of Iceland, is a caldera ten kilometers wide. It is basically a geological cauldron, created when the core of a volcano collapsed in the distant past. The crater Víti (it means “Hell” in Icelandic) is inside Krafla.
 
In 1724 this crater erupted but now scientists want to use the awesome power of Hell for good; so they have drilled a two-kilometre deep well into the crater to see if they can put a geothermal plant there.   A geothermal plant in Hell?  Who has the last laugh now, Satan?
Solar Power Is Booming - Why Do We Want To Kill It?

Solar Power Is Booming - Why Do We Want To Kill It?

Mar 28 2012 | comment(s)

We'd have to be crazy not to want more solar power - the Sun is limitless energy and, as time and research tackle the science and technology issues, it will get a lot more efficient.

In 2005, when President Bush and a Republican Congress (you know, the people who hated both science and clean energy) authorized the solar investment tax credit, solar panel imports were a paltry $21.3 million. The credit was renewed in 2008 and last year imports of solar panels were in the range of $3 billion.  Yes, that's a 'b' and not an 'm'.
Can The Government Make You Buy Broccoli?

Can The Government Make You Buy Broccoli?

Mar 28 2012 | comment(s)

If the government can make you buy something, why can't it make you buy anything?  You may one day need health care so if they can make you buy health insurance now, why can't they make you buy broccoli, since you will need food? If all people do not buy cars, cars may become more expensive for those who do, so should the government make everyone buy a car?

“Could you define the market — everybody has to buy food sooner or later, so you define the market as food, therefore, everybody is in the market; therefore, you can make people buy broccoli,” Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said during arguments for health care reform called  the Affordable Care Act, colloquially called ObamaCare.
Want Bugs With That Starbucks Frappuccino? Of Course You Do

Want Bugs With That Starbucks Frappuccino? Of Course You Do

Mar 28 2012 | comment(s)

It's the biggest news in fast food - Starbucks Frappuccinos have bugs.  On purpose.

The company has started using cochineal extract to supply its Frappuccinos’ strawberry color - hey, that beats using strawberries.  The extract is derived by exploiting developing nation insects, namely grinding up the dried bodies of cochineal bugs found primarily in Mexico and South America. They aren't the first to do so.  European colonialists began using cochineal dye as a coloring agent in the 15th century.
ATREX: 5 Rockets In 5 Minutes

ATREX: 5 Rockets In 5 Minutes

Mar 27 2012 | comment(s)

Last night, off the coast of Virginia, NASA launched five small rockets in five minutes as part of the ATREX (Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment), to test the winds of the upper atmosphere. The rockets flew up to a height of about 100 km (60 miles) and released a chemical that was blown by those winds, forming an amazing, milky, ghostly scene:

ATREX, for Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment.
Even HuffPo Science Can't Resist Being Anti-Science

Even HuffPo Science Can't Resist Being Anti-Science

Mar 27 2012 | comment(s)

Huffington Post is right up there with Psychology Today in its willingness to post absolute nonsensical woo.  But they seemed to have been trying to get better (HuffPo, that is.  Psych Today, whatever), even going so far as to create an actual science section.

It has to be science in a science section, right?  Well, no.  If you get some humanities pseudoscience crank determining what science is, its easy to lose sight of what a science site is.
Human Gene Fight Rages On - Supreme Court Overturns Breast & Ovarian Cancer Gene Patents

Human Gene Fight Rages On - Supreme Court Overturns Breast & Ovarian Cancer Gene Patents

Mar 26 2012 | comment(s)

A lower appeals court ruling allowing human genes to be patented has been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, which sends the case back down for a continuation of the battle between those who believe that genes carrying the secrets of life should not be exploited for commercial gain and companies who argue that a patent must be the reward for years of expensive research that moves science forward.

The ruling again overturns patents belonging to Myriad Genetics Inc. of Salt Lake City on two genes linked to increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Myriad's BRACAnalysis test looks for mutations on the breast cancer predisposition gene, or BRCA.  Now they must go back for a rehearing and the impact could be substantial.
Fooling Ourselves - The Illusion Of Being Human

Fooling Ourselves - The Illusion Of Being Human

Mar 26 2012 | comment(s)

When I did my recap of the Being Human conference held this past weekend in San Francisco, I intentionally did not go into a lot of the content - for two reason.  First, I went knowing I would be free to just relax and enjoy the conversations and demonstrations and interaction on stage and in the audience and not find a larger meaning. I was there as a media partner, not a journalist.
Paul Callaghan, top New Zealand scientist, dies at 64

Paul Callaghan, top New Zealand scientist, dies at 64

Mar 24 2012 | comment(s)

Paul Callaghan, a top New Zealand scientist who gained international recognition for his work in molecular physics, has died after a long battle with bowel cancer. He was 64.

In a time of increasing desire for nationalized funding of science, Callaghan, best known for his work with magnetic resonance, argued in favor of commercializing science. He was able to make science accessible to regular New Zealanders by explaining it in a straightforward and entertaining way, and that he was able to use radio, books and public lectures to promote his view that the country could use science to become a wealthier and better place.