Making Science More Better For You 12/17/08

Headline of the day

Heart found in Paw Paw car wash (WWMT.com)
Hot wax is extra.

Making Science More Better For You 12/09/08

Headlines of the day

Woman smuggles monkey to U.S. under blouse (MSNBC)
We hear they met online.


Giant mutant potato weights 22 lbs. (CNN)
And you thought the steroid era was over.



Monkey Meat Is Confiscated At Dulles (Washington Post)
Monkey Meat—a great name for a band or what?

Making Science More Better For You 12/05/08

Headlines of the day

Man dies after EMTs suggest antacids (CNN)
Try these. The green ones always worked for me.

City says pizzeria butchered deer; manager claims misunderstanding (The morning call.com)
So, how many toppings do you have here?

Making Science More Better For You 12/02/08

Headline of the day

Your brooding teen: Just moody or mentally ill? (MSNBC)
We think the correct answer is yes.

Making Science More Better For You 11/20/08

Headline of the day

Indian man dies in pie-eating contest (ValleyWag)
Some jobs just shouldn't be outsourced


Finally, a use for all the Cabbo Wabbo that never sold.

Mexican scientists turn tequila into diamonds (USA Today)

It's said these "tequila diamonds" aren't suitable for jewelry, but they could be used to "detect radiation, coat cutting tools or, above all, as a substitute for silicon in the computer chips of the future."

Making Science More Better For You 11/19/08

Headline of the day

Undercover officers use Taser on pallbearer (AP) Yeah, some days are like that.

Making Science More Better For You on 11/18/08

Headlines of the day

Vicar hospitalised with potato up his bum (Metro.co.uk)
The report went on to say, “He explained to me, quite sincerely, he had been hanging curtains naked in the kitchen when he fell backwards on to the kitchen table and on to a potato.” This reminds us of an old joke that involved a proctologist, a dozen roses and a note.

Fast-food order may have led to father-son shooting (Chron.com)
Sounds like someone wanted it his way.

Polish foreign minister: Obama's grandfather was a cannibal! (Drudge)
That’s nothing. We hear the foreign minister’s grandfather was Polish.

Scoop: Spears to appear at 30 Rock tree lighting (MSNBC)
Hope they told her this has nothing to do with firing up a blunt.


Breaking News—Sad people will stare at anything. Also, happily married couples have more sex. Honest. Film at 11 (No, not that kind of film)....

Study: Unhappy people watch more TV (James Hibberd thr.com)

An extensive new research study has found that unhappy people watch more TV while those consider themselves happy spend more time reading and socializing.

The University of Maryland analyzed 34 years of data collected from more than 45,000 participants and found that watching TV might make you feel good in the short term but is more likely to lead to overall unhappiness.

"The pattern for daily TV use is particularly dramatic, with 'not happy' people estimating over 30% more TV hours per day than 'very happy' people," the study says. "Television viewing is a pleasurable enough activity with no lasting benefit, and it pushes aside time spent in other activities -- ones that might be less immediately pleasurable, but that would provide long-term benefits in one’s condition. In other words, TV does cause people to be less happy."

The study, published in the December issue of Social Indicators Research, analyzed data from thousands of people who recorded their daily activities in diaries over the course of several decades. Researchers found that activities such as sex, reading and socializing correlated with the highest levels of overall happiness.

Watching TV, on the other hand, was the only activity that had a direct correlation with unhappiness.

"TV is not judgmental nor difficult, so people with few social skills or resources for other activities can engage in it," says the study. "Furthermore, chronic unhappiness can be socially and personally debilitating and can interfere with work and most social and personal activities, but even the unhappiest people can click a remote and be passively entertained by a TV. In other words, the causal order is reversed for people who watch television; unhappiness leads to television viewing."

Making Science More Better For You 11/14/08

Headlines of the day

Beer truck driver apparently drunk at time of I-70 accident (Rocky Mtn News)
There’s a joke about carrying coal to Newcastle in here somewhere.

Villagers steal Russian church — brick by brick (MSNBC)
So, that's where Legos come from.

But humans are much more evolved. No, really.

Fish choose Their Leaders By Consensus

ScienceDaily (Nov. 14, 2008) — Just after Americans have headed to the polls to elect their next president, a new report in the November 13th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, reveals how one species of fish picks its leaders: Most of the time they reach a consensus to go for the more attractive of two candidates.

---

"It turned out that stickleback fish preferred to follow larger over smaller leaders," said Ashley Ward of Sydney University. "Not only that, but they also preferred fat over thin, healthy over ill, and so on. The part that really caught our eye was that these preferences grew as the group size increased, through some kind of positive social feedback mechanism."

Fish follow leaders, ain't got no parkin' meters.....

Now you know what happened to all those old lava lamps.
Mysterious glowing aurora over Saturn confounds scientists

By Daily Mail Reporter

A stunning light display over Saturn has stumped scientists who say it behaves unlike any other planetary aurora known in our solar system.

The blueish-green glow was found over the ringed planet's north polar region just like Earth's northern lights.

It was discovered by the infrared instruments on NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

The northern polar region of Saturn shows both the aurora and underlying atmosphere, as captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft

'We've never seen an aurora like this elsewhere,' said Tom Stallard, a scientist working with Cassini data at the University of Leicester.

'This aurora covers an enormous area across the pole. Our current ideas on what forms Saturn's aurora predict that this region should be empty, so finding such a bright aurora here is a fantastic surprise.'

Making Science More Better For You on 11/12/08

Headlines of the day

After a year of hiccups, man ready to die (CNN)
Guess it’s been more than he could swallow.

Boxing gym in Ohio hit by thieves who steal ring (SI)
Sounds like the plot for "Rocky 8.6." Anybody seen that Stallone guy lately?

Gay rights protesters disrupt Sunday service (LSJ.com)
So, how long have you folks been in marketing?

Are they out to get you? Paranoia on the rise (MSNBC)
Burroughs said," a paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on."
"What a field day for the heat..."

Making Science More Better For You on 11/11/08

Headlines of the day

Man's coffin kills wife on way to cemetery (MSNBC)
"Do not go gently into that...hey, look out."

Missing 150-year-old tortoise is back home (SF Gate)
It turns out that he was missing for six weeks. He would have been there sooner but, well, he is a tortoise after all.

Making Science More Better For You on 11/04/08

Headlines of the day

Party Host In Manatee Arrested After Guest Loses His Ear (TBO.COM)
Now that's a party. It's not easy keeping the correct meth to Bud ratio.

Nudists want to vote in the buff (CNN)
We're not going to make any jokes about pulling the lever, not us.

Flag-waving gunman closes Calif. highway for hours (AP)
Police identified the man as 28-year-old Eddie Van Tassel, proving that you can't make up the good ones.


A political interlude recycled from this past January
(It seems appropriate)

Senator Patrick Leahy’s (D-Vermont) recent endorsement of Barack Obama offered the candidate more than just the support of a member of the Senate’s old guard.

It also provided Senator Obama with entree to an relatively untilled voting block—Grateful Dead fans. Leahy is perhaps the most visible “Dead Head” among politicians.” He has been known to play “Truckin’” at his post-election rallies, claims “Black Muddy River” as his favorite song and sent a congratulatory video to Bob Weir when the band received a Lifetime Achieve Award at the 2002 Jammy’s. Please, no pajama jokes. It’s been done.

While Senator John Kerry’s endorsement brought with it a gilded rolodex and held the potential of access to George Soros and the like, Leahy’s offers the chance to all patchoulied up with folks like “The Grilled Cheese Guy” and several young ladies who go by the sobriquet “Moonbeam.”

It also offers the rest of us the hope that, should he win, the new President might deliver an inaugural speech that goes something like this.

My fellow citizens.

“Well the first days are the hardest days, don't you worry any more,
'Cause when life looks like Easy Street, there is danger at your door.
Think this through with me, let me know your mind,
Wo, oh, what I want to know, is are you kind?”

“Who can deny, who can deny, it's not just a change in style?
One step down and another begun and I wonder how many miles.”

“See here how everything led up to this day,
And it's just like any other day that's ever been.
Sun going up and then the sun going down.”

“I have spent my life seeking all that's still unsung.
Bent my ear to hear the tune, and closed my eyes to see.
When there was no strings to play, you played to me.”

“Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me What a long, strange trip it's been.”

“I love you all, but Jesus loves you the best”
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight.”

Oh, and one more thing… we think he's going to "get a miracle."

Peace out Yo

Making Science More Better For You on 11/03/08

Headline of the day
Ex-Playboy bunny faces cat cruelty charges (CNN)
Sounds like a case for Dr. Moreau.

Making Science More Better For You on 10/29/08

Headlines of the day

Fish receives hernia operation in London. (Drudge)
So, do you think the surgeon worked for scale?

Funeral home hires Elvis impersonator for open house (The Obscure Store)
Sounds like they were caught in a trap.

Making Science More Better For You on 10/27/08

A political interlude...

According to a report on CNN's Web site, Governor Palin's supporters said she's not very good with 'process questions." We suspect that the process that seems to make her so uncomfortable is the one usually referred to as thought.

Recent headlines of note..

St. Lucie firefighter allegedly walks off with crash victim's foot(TC Palm)
We know, you're waiting for a joke about a hotfoot, right?

Italian plumbing bungle turns water into wine (DECANTER.COM)
According to Adriano Palozzi, mayor of Marino, "People were calling it a miracle which it wasn't – it was a mistake." Sure thing mayor. God said the same thing about miracles.

Probation officer in miniskirt charged with DUI, drug possession (Newsherald.com)

Does drinking alcohol shrink your brain? (CNN)

Space Smells Of Steak Syays NASA (the Sun)
So, like you need more proof that God eats meat?

Woman Wearing Cow Suit Charged With Disorderly Conduct (WLWT.com)
Udderely rediculous....

Grandma with five dead husbands freed (CNN)
On is an event, two is a coincidence, three is a pattern, five is a retirement plan.

Study: Urban bears are fatter, die earlier (CNN)
That's because they probably sleep less. You know, all the noise

Math mistake sees hundreds of teachers laid off/ The deficit was caused by a massive miscalculation in the budget, CNN affiliate WFAA-TV reported.
We heard they were multiplying and forgot to carry the incompetent.

Ten fossils that evolved the tale of our origins (MSNBC)
OK, We've got Wilfred Brimley, Joan Rivers and Sen Robert Byrd. Who are the others?

Oh yeah, we're back. More later.

Making Science More Better For You on 09/24/08

Headlines of the day

Rubber ducks aid climate research (CNN)
Mostly with their money. You know, the royalties from that Rubber Duckie song.


Pig holds woman prisoner in her house (CNN)
Two legs or four?

Homeland Security Detects Terrorist Threats by Reading Your Mind (Fox News)
You mean, "God, I'm hung over-nice ass-if only the Mets had a closer-Wake me up before you go go-what ever happened to her-you moron-I like tater tots-hope i'm not late-why did Sister Norbert say that in Latin class-I gotta eat something." could get us pulled out of line? Don't you just hate it when Dylan is right?

Making Science More Better For You on 09/23/08

Headline of the day

Abe Vigoda still alive, thank you very much (CNN)

We're going to avoid the obvious "sounds fishy" line. We are however, pleased that while the world crumbles around us, CNN is keeping us posted on Tessio's health. While we're at it, how's Hal Linden doing?

Making Science More Better For You on 09/19/08

Headlines of the day

Brother says he was stabbed over Hot Pocket (South Bend Tribune.com)

Wife and husband charged in brawl at baby shower (The Salt Lake Tribune)
Brawl and Bawl?


Va. town tries to prove existence of 'ghost cats' (AP)
Okay, here's the pitch. I got it. Picture a musical that's a cross between Ghost and Cats. Huge I tell ya.

Looters dig for nickels at crash site (CNN)
About that economic recovery plan...

Does That Phelps Guy Know About This?
It’s All In The Hips: Early Whales Used Well Developed Back Legs For Swimming, Fossils Show

ScienceDaily (Sep. 18, 2008) — The crashing of the enormous fluked tail on the surface of the ocean is a “calling card” of modern whales. Living whales have no back legs, and their front legs take the form of flippers that allow them to steer. Their special tails provide the powerful thrust necessary to move their huge bulk. Yet this has not always been the case.


Reporting in the latest issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, paleontologist Mark D. Uhen of the Alabama Museum of Natural History describes new fossils from Alabama and Mississippi that pinpoint where tail flukes developed in the evolution of whales.

“We know that the earliest whales were four-footed, semi-aquatic animals, and we knew that some later early whales had tail flukes, but we didn’t know exactly when the flukes first arose,” said Uhen. “Now we do.”

The most complete fossil described in the study is a species called Georgiacetus vogtlensis. Although not new to science, the new fossils provide some very significant new information. In particular, previously unknown bones from the tail show that it lacked a tail fluke. On the other hand, it did have large back feet and Uhen suggests that it used them as hydrofoils. Undulating the body in the hip region was the key factor in the evolution of swimming.

Making Science More Better For You on 09/16/08

Headline of the day

Naked man walking dog Tasered by Tallahassee police
(Tallahasse.com)

Making Science More Better For You on 09/05/08

Headlines of the day

Pregnant ex allegedly bit off new girlfriend's finger (Madison.com)

What? You never heard of a craving?

Cops kick in door over bird’s cries for help (MSNBC)

Elephant cured of heroin addiction (The Star.com of Toronto
>

"It's all happenin' at the zoo"...Oh, that's what they meant.

Puff the Magic Dragon declined comment.


This just in…Given half a chance kids will stay up later than they should. Film at 11. Science Marches On…

Children With TVs Or Computers In Their Room Sleep Less

ScienceDaily (Sep. 5, 2008) — Middle school children who have a television or computer in their room sleep less during the school year, watch more TV, play more computer games and surf the net more than their peers who don't – reveals joint research conducted by the University of Haifa and Jezreel Valley College.

The research, conducted by Prof. Yael Latzer and Dr. Tamar Shochat of the University of Haifa and Prof. Orna Chishinsky of the Jezreel Valley College, examined 444 middle school pupils with an average age of 14. The children were asked about their sleep habits, their use of computer and television, and their eating habits while watching TV or using the computer.

The study participants reported an average bedtime of 11:04 P.M and wake-up time of 6:45 A.M. On the weekends, the average bedtime was somewhat later – at 1:45 A.M. and wake-up much later – at 11:30 A.M. Those children with TVs or computers in their room went to sleep half an hour later on average but woke up at the same time.

According to the study, middle school pupils watch a daily average of two hours and 40 minutes of TV and use their computer for three hours and 45 minutes. On weekends, they watch half an hour more TV than during the rest of the week and use their computers for four hours. Children with a TV in their room watch an hour more than those without and those with their own computer use it an hour more than their peers.

A fifth of pupils said they ate in front of the TV set on a regular basis, while 70 percent said they did so only occasionally. Only 10% reported never eating in front of the TV. Computers were considered to be a less attractive eating place, with only 10% eating in front of the computer on a regular basis, 40% occasionally, and half never eating there.

But how will they learn to be good consumers if they don't eat in front of the TV? If they're not there it means they're missing ads.

Making Science More Better For You on 09/03/08

Headline of the day
Taser ends emu scamper on Pennsylvania Turnpike
(Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

Well yeah, if you stay in base ten they do ok.

Elephants show flair for arithmetic

Leo Lewis in Tokyo (Times Online.UK)

The elephant's memory is legendary, but in a large, grey surprise to science the mighty Asian elephant turns out to have a distinct flair for maths as well

Under carefully controlled experimental conditions — essentially comprising a large cage and two buckets of assorted fruit — one elephant at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo managed to get its sums right 87 per cent of the time. A slightly less gifted pachyderm across the country in Kyoto scored a still respectable 69 per cent.

The curiously accurate adding skills of Elephas maximus have been discovered by Naoko Irie, a behavioural ecologist at the University of Tokyo putting the finishing touches to her doctoral thesis. In her tests, three apples were dropped into one bucket and five into a second one next to it. Two more apples were added to each bucket, leaving the first with five and the second with seven apples.

Unable to see inside the buckets or probe them with her trunk, 30-year old Ashiya selected the bucket with the more apples having, apparently, counted the contents of each as it was being loaded-up with fruit. Nothing spectacularly rare about that, say scientists – plenty of animals have been shown to possess basic counting abilities but most animals fail when the numbers get much bigger than three or four or the margin of difference between the available choices become too narrow.

“I couldn’t believe it at first,” said Irie, “They could instantly compare numbers like six and five."

The elephants she subjected to the fruit-based arithmetic tests were as good at telling the difference between five and six as they were at spotting that five is greater than one, she said.

Speculation among scientists over why the elephant should have developed its limited but nonetheless impressive mathematical ability centres on the way in which the lumbering creatures move in herds. A basic counting ability, say experts, might act as a guarantee that no calf is left behind.



To be on the safe side, we suggest you don’t eat the ones with three eyes.

Clones' offspring may be in food supply: FDA

By Christopher Doering

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Food and milk from the offspring of cloned animals may have entered the U.S. food supply, the U.S. government said on Tuesday, but it would be impossible to know because there is no difference between cloned and conventional products.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in January meat and milk from cloned cattle, swine and goats and their offspring were as safe as products from traditional animals. Before then, farmers and ranchers had followed a voluntary moratorium on the sale of clones and their offspring.

While the FDA evaluated the safety of food from clones and their offspring, the U.S. Agriculture Department was in charge of managing the transition of these animals into the food supply.

"It is theoretically possible" offspring from clones are in the food supply, said Siobhan DeLancey, an FDA spokeswoman.

Cloning animals involves taking the nuclei of cells from adults and fusing them into egg cells that are implanted into a surrogate mother. There are an estimated 600 cloned animals in the United States.

Proponents, including the Biotechnology Industry Organization, say cloning is a way to create more disease-resistant animals that produce more milk and better meat. The cloning industry and the FDA say cloned animals and their offspring are as safe as their traditional counterparts.

Critics contend not enough is known about the technology to ensure it is safe, and they also say the FDA needs to address concerns over animal cruelty and ethical issues.

"It worries me that this technology is out of control in so many ways," said Charles Margulis, a spokesman with the Center for Environmental Health. The possibility of offspring being in the food supply "is just another element of that," he said.

FDA and USDA have said it is impossible to differentiate between cloned animals, their offspring and conventionally bred animals, making it difficult to know if offspring are in the food supply.

"But they would be a very limited number because of the very few number of clones that are out there and relatively few of those clones are at an age where they would be parenting," said Bruce Knight, USDA's undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs.

As the FDA unveiled its final rule, USDA in January asked producers to prolong the ban on selling products from cloned animals. That ban did not extend to meat and milk from the clone's offspring.

Major food companies including Tyson Foods Inc, the largest U.S. meat company, and Smithfield Foods Inc have said they would avoid using cloned animals because of safety concerns.

The list grew on Tuesday after the Center for Food Safety and Friends of the Earth said 20 food producers and retailers vowed not to use ingredients from cloned animals.

The list, provided by the two groups, included Kraft Foods Inc, General Mills Inc, Campbell Soup Co, Nestle SA, California Pizza Kitchen Inc and Supervalu Inc.

In a letter to the Center for Food Safety, Susan Davison, director of corporate affairs with Kraft, said product safety was "not the only factor" the company considers.

"We must also carefully consider additional factors such as consumer benefits and acceptance ... and research in the U.S. indicates that consumers are currently not receptive to ingredients from cloned animals," she said.

"It is theoretically possible" offspring from clones are in the food supply, said Siobhan DeLancey, an FDA spokeswoman.

"Theoretically possible" is spokesperson speak for , "oh yeah, it happened."

Making Science More Better For You on 08/20/08

So, does this mean it’s ok to just use “more” or "mine" as a number?

Aboriginal Kids Can Count Without Numbers

ScienceDaily (Aug. 19, 2008) — Knowing the words for numbers is not necessary to be able to count, according to a new study of aboriginal children by UCL (University College London) and the University of Melbourne. The study of the aboriginal children – from two communities which do not have words or gestures for numbers – found that they were able to copy and perform number-related tasks.

The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that we possess an innate mechanism for counting, which may develop differently in children with dyscalculia.

Professor Brian Butterworth, lead author from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, says: “Recently, an extreme form of linguistic determinism has been revived which claims that counting words are needed for children to develop concepts of numbers above three. That is, to possess the concept of ‘five’ you need a word for five. Evidence from children in numerate societies, but also from Amazonian adults whose language does not contain counting words, has been used to support this claim.

“However, our study of aboriginal children suggests that we have an innate system for recognizing and representing numerosities – the number of objects in a set – and that the lack of a number vocabulary should not prevent us from doing numerical tasks that do not require number words.”

We shouldn’t be surprised. We know some entrepreneurs in Brooklyn who use a very similar approach—especially if you’re late with the payments.


This just in—good-looking people are pleasing to the eye. Also, guys like to look at women who don’t look like guys. Film at 11.

Why Symmetry Predicts Bodily Attractiveness

ScienceDaily (Aug. 19, 2008) — A study by Dr William Brown and colleagues in Brunel University’s School of Social Sciences and School of Engineering and Design, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), has revealed an explanation for the correlation between attractiveness and bodily characteristics like height, breast size, long legs, broad shoulders or a curvy figure.

The study also explored the degree of asymmetries between the left and right sides of the body, which is widely believed to be an indirect measure of developmental quality in many species including humans.

Through their research at Brunel’s Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging, Dr Brown and a team of scientists identified a property dubbed ‘body masculinity’, a mathematical fusion of traits including greater height, wider shoulders, smaller breasts and shorter legs.

Key findings of the study included:

* When asked to assess the attractiveness of female 3D body images, men rated those with less body masculinity most attractive, and vice versa
* High masculinity correlated with fewer departures from perfect bodily symmetry in males but with more asymmetry in females, suggesting that those with good development and health may have bodies that exaggerate sex-typical bodily features.

Commenting on the research, Dr Brown explains: “It is widely believed that human beings are attracted to one another as a result of genotypic and phenotypic quality – in other words, their prospect as a mate who will yield higher quality offspring for the chooser.”

He concludes: “It seems that because bodily asymmetries are too subtle to be seen with the naked eye, evolution has instead engineered more conspicuous signals and displays, such as broad shoulders, curvy waist lines or smooth dance moves to indicate mate quality.”

Oh yeah, gettin' busy as an engineering problem. That’s a worthwhile endeavor.

Making Science More Better For You on 08/13/08

A geopolitical interlude...

It's said there are only two stories:
"A stranger called the Russian army comes to town, a Georgian army leaves on a trip."

Given that Putin still calls the shots even though he now has the title of Prime Minister, maybe the Russians should take a tip from the movie "Casino." His next title could be Food and Beverage Chairman.

Making Science More Better For You on 08/12/08

Headline of the day
Lab makes diesel fuel from E. coli poop (CNN)
Sounds bio-disgusting...

We warned 'em about the cigarettes and trans fats, but you can’t tell them giant critters anything when they're on a bender. Ever seen a giant kangaroo on a bender?

Prehistoric giant animals killed by man, not climate: study
(AFP)
The chance discovery of the remains of a prehistoric giant kangaroo has cast doubts on the long-held view that climate change drove it and other mega-fauna to extinction, a new study reveals.

The research, published this week in the US-based journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, argues that man likely hunted to death the giant kangaroo and other very large animals on the southern island of Tasmania.

The debate centers on the skull of a giant kangaroo found in a cave in the thick rainforest of the rugged northwest of Tasmania in 2000. Scientists dated the find at 41,000 years old, some 2,000 years after humans first began to live in the area.

"Up until now, people thought that the Tasmanian mega-fauna had actually gone extinct before people arrived on the island," a member of the British and Australian study, Professor Richard Roberts, told AFP Tuesday.

He said that it was likely that hunting killed off Tasmania's mega-fauna -- including the long-muzzled, 120 kilogram (264 pound) giant kangaroo, a rhinoceros-sized wombat and marsupial 'lions' which resembled leopards.

Roberts, from the University of Wollongong south of Sydney, said the idea that climate change could account for the death of the animals was disputed by the fact the area had a very stable climate in the critical time period.

"Things were very climatically stable in that part of Australia and yet the mega-fauna still managed to go extinct," he said. "So it's down to humans of one sort or another."

Roberts said because the large animals were slow breeders, it would not have required an aggressive campaign to see them quickly die out.


"It was basically just one joey (baby kangaroo) in the pot for Christmas. And that's all you've got to go to do to drive slow-breeding species to extinction."

Slow breeders, mouth breathers, what’s the difference?

Making Science More Better For You on 08/07/08

Damn it Jim, I’m a huckster, not an intergalactic undertaker.

Scotty's ashes fail to reach final frontier
Star Trek star's ashes lost in failed space mission
( From Ian Sample’s Science Blog at the Guardian.co.uk)


The ashes of actor James Doohan, who played Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in Star Trek, were lost on the way to space on Sunday morning, when the rocket carrying them malfunctioned minutes after take-off.

The actor's ashes were among those of 208 people, including Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper, who had paid to have their remains fired into space. Engineers later said that the two stages of the rocket had failed to separate.

The accident is the third in a row for SpaceX, which was set up in 2002 by the internet entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Making Science More Better For You on 08/05/08

Fat chance

All U.S. adults could be overweight in 40 years
By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If the trends of the past three decades continue, it's possible that every American adult could be overweight 40 years from now, a government-funded study projects.

The figure might sound alarming, or impossible, but researchers say that even if the actual rate never reaches the 100-percent mark, any upward movement is worrying; two-thirds of the population is already overweight.

"Genetically and physiologically, it should be impossible" for all U.S. adults to become overweight, said Dr. Lan Liang of the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, one of the researchers on the study.

However, she told Reuters Health, the data suggest that if the trends of the past 30 years persist, "that is the direction we're going."


Yep, everyone last one of us—even the super models are going to look like the Michelin Man. Unless we don't.

Making Science More Better For You on 08/05/08

Headlines of the day

Beheading victim 'saw good in everyone' (CNN)
It would appear this worldview is not always adaptive.

Cow falls on slaughterhouse butcher (Milwaukee Journal Sentinal)
They must have had a beef.


Brewers' Fielder attacks teammate (SI)
So much for vegans being pacifists. Although, the word fist is in there.


Knights Templar heirs in legal battle with the Pope. (TDG)
Guess there’s a lot a stake.


German policewomen get 'bullet-proof bras'...(Drudge)
Truth or dare, Jean-Paul Gaultier?

Making Science More Better For You on 07/31/08

Headlines of the day

New Mexico first state to adopt Navajo textbook (MSNBC)
The first. As opposed New Jersey?


France launches inquiry into legality of 10-year-old bullfighter (AFP)
Too much time on their hands, government division

Diamonds May Have Been Life's Best Friend (Science Daily)
Marilyn Monroe’s only known journal article

Making Science More Better For You on 07/30/08

Headlines of the day

Man charged in sex toy theft (Haywood County News)
There’s lonely and then there’s lonely.

Jerry Lewis cited for gun in luggage, police say (CNN)
La-la-la, nice weapon

Mystery woman found under van Gogh painting (MSNBC)
Alex, who is Courtney Love?

Making science more better for you on 07/14/08

Headline of the day

Atheist soldier sues military (CNN)
For the abyss and country? No, that's not it...


A financial interlude...

Poker players and bundles of bad paper
A real poker player knows that if he's invited to a game and he doesn't see a sucker when he enters the room, well, he understands why he was called. The suckers in this case were the folks who signed up for the subprime loans that are being blamed for much of the current financial crisis.

We're not arguing that the borrowers, as a class , were victims. Maybe some were, clearly many weren't. More accurately, what they were was fuel for the machine. Keeping the focus of the story on the "kind of people" that got the loans—you know, risky types— is working the long con on the audience. The borrowers were the marks, not the banks.

Follow the money
Start with the basic question: "cui bono?"—who benefits? These mortgages were being offered by banks, not social workers trying to help the underclass. Would the banks have signed off on these mortgages if it wasn't in their financial interest? We think not. We think the banks got what they wanted, loans they could bundle together and sell off to investors as a financial product. That's where they were going to make the real money—not on the loan, but on what they could turn the loan into. Financial alchemy 101.

Assuming the banks would make most of their profit off of the interest paid on subprime loans is like believing that a newspaper makes it's profit off the money you drop in the coin box. In the case of the newspaper, the money is in the ads. In the case of the banks, the real money was in what the loans could be used for by the banks. The loan was the raw material.

They're called consumers, but actually they're what gets consumed
The borrower was the mark and the mortgage the key ingredient in an investment sausage that has started to spoil. Want a slice?

The Fed's hand wringing about the need for more controls and standards is fine as far as it goes. What about controls on the back end? It's seems like getting rid of the regulations that used to prevent this kind activity, such as the repeal of Glass-Stiegel in 1999 by the Clinton administration, has made for a real bad round of financial Jenga. And they're passing the savings on to the rest of us.

Oh yeah, can anyone say credit cards? Sure you can.

Making Science More Better For You on 07/08/08

Headline of the day
Naked man arrested after hijacking Las Vegas bus...(Drudge)


Bet he lost his shirt.

Making Science More Better For You on 07/07/08

Today's headlines
For Better or Worse, Sex in Space Is Inevitable
(Space.com)
We guess that whether it’s better or worse depends on how much space is available.

Funeral industry is dying to be reformed (Newsweek)
Is that because it's a dead end profession?


Russians suspect Welsh arsonist stripper could be British spy (Telegraph.co.uk)
Talk about multitasking...

Making Science More Better For You on 07/02/08

Today's headlines

Man arrested after beaning mom with sausage
(news-journalonline.com)

Ok, so Freud and Jung walk into a bar...


Man struck by lightening says it hurt. (CNN)

Also reveals that water is wet.

It’s not used. We like to call it pre-owned.

Who knew? Solar system is 'dented,' not round

WASHINGTON (AP) -- When viewed from the rest of the galaxy, the edge of our solar system appears slightly dented as if a giant hand is pushing one edge of it inward, far-traveling NASA probes reveal.

New data suggests our solar system is not as symmetrical as astronomers have long assumed.

Information from Earth's first space probes to hit the thick edge of the solar system -- called the heliosheath where the solar wind slows abruptly -- paint a picture that is not the simple circle that astronomers long thought, according to several studies published Thursday in the journal Nature.

A little Bondo and this baby is as good as new.

Making Science More Better For You on 07/01/08

Today's headlines

Giraffe gathers troops, escapes circus (CNN)
We hear the chase was neck and neck.

National outbreak of grave robbing; stems from lagging economy. (Drudge)
Make no bones about it, they just can’t bury this story.

How does Mars taste? Salty, reports lander (MSNBC)
Did they find any peanuts? How about caramel?


He’s either hiding in a junior high school or at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Toilet-trained chimp on the run in Calif. forest
Animal served as owner's best man at wedding; linked to horrific attack (MSNBC)

“LOS ANGELES - A 42-year-old chimpanzee who is toilet-trained and can eat with a knife and fork is believed to be at large in a Southern California forest after escaping his cage.

The chimp called Moe disappeared Friday from Jungle Exotics, which trains animals for the entertainment industry. The chimp wandered into a house next door, surprising construction workers who saw him head for a nearby mountain.

A weekend search in the San Bernardino National Forest 50 miles east of Los Angeles came up empty.
"I yelled his name out for hours, for hours, with no one else around. Nothing. Not even a hoot," said LaDonna Davis, who owns Moe with husband St. James Davis.” (MSNBC)


We’re not sure about the wisdom of walking around in a forest near L.A. yelling “Hey Moe.” You might get more than you bargained for. No word about Curly or Larry.


This just in: Some products don’t deliver on advertised benefits. Film at 11.

Study: Some sunscreens overpromise on protection (CNN)

“The Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based nonprofit, has released an investigation of nearly 1,000 brand-name sunscreens that says four out of five don't adequately protect consumers and may contain harmful chemicals.

The group says some of the products of the nation's leading brands -- including Coppertone, Neutrogena and Banana Boat -- are the poorest performers.

Coppertone was named by the Environmental Working Group as having 41 products that failed to meet the group's criteria for issues ranging from failing to protect adequately to containing potentially harmful ingredients to making unsubstantiated claims.

But in a statement to CNN, the company says it "rigorously tests all its products in the lab and in the real world," to ensure they're safe and effective.” (CNN)



Breaking news: People with enough to eat tend to be happier

The world is getting happier, study says

(Science Daily) The World Values Survey (WVS) is the work of a global network of social scientists who perform periodic surveys addressing a number of issues. The latest surveys, taken in the United States and in several developing countries, showed increased happiness from 1981 to 2007 in 45 of 52 countries for which substantial time series data was available.

Researchers responsible for the analysis, from the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research (ISR) in Ann Arbor, say the overall rise in reported happiness is due to greater economic growth, democratization and social tolerance.

Denmark tops the list of surveyed nations, along with Puerto Rico and Colombia. A dozen other countries, including Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden also rank above the United States, which maintains about the same relative position as it did in WVS's 2000 survey.

We hear they dropped Darfur’s questionnaires out of a plane.

Making Science More Better For You on 06/27/08

From: (The DenverChannel.com)
FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Colorado's new flag stamp that went on sale two weeks ago as part of a new national stamp series may have a major problem: the mountain is in Wyoming.

East is east, west is west, we use the pictures that we like the best.

Making Science More Better For You on 06/26/08

Headline of the day


Harness volcano power, energy experts say
(Telegraph.co.uk)

Others say the idea is just a “krak”-atoa.

Making Science More Better For You on 06/24/08

Looks like someone had some extra time on his hands.

For what it’s worth, we think this demonstrates that Neil Young was right—numbers really do add up to nothing.

Odysseus' return from Trojan War dated
Time pinpointed to the day based on references in epic poem


By Charles Q. Choi (MSNBC)

In the epic "Odyssey," one of the cornerstones of Western literature, the legendary Greek hero Odysseus returns to his queen Penelope after enduring 10 years of sailing the wine dark sea.

Now scientists have pinned down his return to April 16, 1178 B.C., close to noon local time, according to astronomical references in the epic poem that seem to pinpoint the total eclipse of the sun on the day that Odysseus supposedly returned on.

The "Odyssey" is a millennia-old epic said to be composed by the blind poet Homer. In modern times, the "Odyssey" is typically seen as fiction. Still, Homer's earlier epic, the "Iliad," was centered on the war against Troy, and scientists first uncovered physical evidence of Troy in the 19th century. This has long raised questions as to what other historical facts the epics might refer to.
Story continues below ↓advertisement

In the "Odyssey," after the decade-long Trojan War, King Odysseus of the island Ithaca contends with monsters and witches after he draws the wrath of the sea god Poseidon. After he finally returns home, Odysseus slays more than 100 unruly suitors all of whom wish to marry Penelope.

Blood red
The possible solar eclipse comes up in the 20th book of the "Odyssey," as the suitors begin their final lunch. At this point, the goddess of war Athena "confounds their minds," making the suitors laugh uncontrollably and see their food spattered with blood. The seer Theoclymenus then foresees the death of the suitors, ending by saying, "The sun has been obliterated from the sky, and an unlucky darkness invades the world."

The Greek historian Plutarch suggested the prophecy of Theoclymenus referred to a solar eclipse.

More recently, astronomers Carl Schoch and Paul Neugebauer computed in the 1920s that a total solar eclipse occurred over the Ionian islands — of which Ithaca is one — about noon on April 16, 1178 B.C., and would have coincided roughly a decade before the most often cited estimate for the sack of Troy — about 1190 B.C.


INTERACTIVE

Ancients liked to party
We may practice debauchery like we invented it, but we sure didn't. From the Egytian "festival of drunkenness" to the Roman hot-tub parties, ancient people knew how to party long before we were born.
Still, a great deal of skepticism remains over whether Theoclymenus refers to this or any eclipse. To shed light on the issue, researchers Marcelo Magnasco and Constantino Baikouzis at Rockefeller University in New York decided to analyze other passages in the "Odyssey" for astronomical references without assuming an eclipse.

The scientists first created a rough chronology of events depicted in the "Odyssey." First, 29 days before the supposed eclipse and the massacre of the suitors, three constellations are mentioned as Odysseus sets out from the island of Ogygia, where he has spent seven years as a captive of the beautiful nymph Calypso. Odysseus is told to watch the Pleiades and late-setting Boötes and keep the Great Bear to his left. Next, five days before the supposed eclipse, Odysseus arrives in Ithaca as the Star of Dawn — that is, Venus — rises ahead of the sun.

Finally, the night before the eclipse, there is a new moon.

Also, the messenger of the gods, Hermes, is sent west to Ogygia by the king of the gods Zeus to release Odysseus and then immediately returns back east roughly 34 days before the eclipse. The researchers conjecture this trip refers to an apparent turning point of the motion of the planet Mercury. (Mercury was the Roman name for Hermes.)

Backward planet
Mercury completes its orbit around the sun in just roughly 88 days, compared with the year it takes Earth to do so. This means that Mercury and Earth are somewhat like two cars moving along separate lanes of a racetrack at different speeds. The effect of these motions is that Mercury occasionally appears to go backward or retrograde in the sky from our point of view, Magnasco explained. This happens for roughly three weeks at a time, about three times a year.

The scientists then searched for potential dates that satisfied all these astronomical references close to the fall of Troy, which has over the centuries been estimated to have occurred between roughly 1250 to 1115 B.C. From these 135 years, they found just one date satisfied all the references — April 16, 1178 B.C., the same date as the proposed eclipse.

"That's just one day out of about 50,000 days," Magnasco told LiveScience. "If our findings are correct, it would be pretty spectacularly strange. How could Homer have known about this eclipse, about planetary positions that happened some 100 years before him? If this is all true, it would change the timetable of what we think they knew about astronomy then." Homer, if he really existed, is said to have composed the "Odyssey" sometime near the end of the ninth century B.C.




And so, the handkerchief, the weekly bath and the commodore 64 were born.

Britain's Last Neanderthals Were More Sophisticated Than We Thought

ScienceDaily (June 23, 2008) — An archaeological excavation at a site near Pulborough, West Sussex, has thrown remarkable new light on the life of northern Europe’s last Neanderthals. It provides a snapshot of a thriving, developing population – rather than communities on the verge of extinction.


“The tools we’ve found at the site are technologically advanced and potentially older than tools in Britain belonging to our own species, Homo sapiens,” says Dr Matthew Pope of Archaeology South East based at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. “It’s exciting to think that there’s a real possibility these were left by some of the last Neanderthal hunting groups to occupy northern Europe. The impression they give is of a population in complete command of both landscape and natural raw materials with a flourishing technology - not a people on the edge of extinction.”

The team, led by Dr Pope and funded by English Heritage, is undertaking the first modern, scientific investigation of the site since its original discovery in 1900. During the construction of a monumental house known as ‘Beedings’ some 2,300 perfectly preserved stone tools were removed from fissures encountered in the foundation trenches.

Only recently were the tools recognised for their importance. Research by Roger Jacobi of the Leverhulme-funded Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (AHOB) Project showed conclusively that the Beedings material has strong affinities with other tools from northern Europe dating back to between 35,000 and 42,000 years ago. The collection of tools from Beedings is more diverse and extensive than any other found in the region and therefore offers the best insight into the technologically advanced cultures which occupied Northern Europe before the accepted appearance of our own species.

“Dr Jacobi’s work showed the clear importance of the site,” says Dr Pope. “The exceptional collection of tools appears to represent the sophisticated hunting kit of Neanderthal populations which were only a few millennia from complete disappearance in the region. Unlike earlier, more typical Neanderthal tools these were made with long, straight blades - blades which were then turned into a variety of bone and hide processing implements, as well as lethal spear points.

“There were some questions about the validity of the earlier find, but our excavations have proved beyond doubt that the material discovered here was genuine and originated from fissures within the local sandstone. We also discovered older, more typical Neanderthal tools, deeper in the fissure. Clearly, Neanderthal hunters were drawn to the hill over a long period time, presumably for excellent views of the game-herds grazing on the plains below the ridge.”

The excavations suggest the site may not be unique. Similar sites with comparable fissure systems are thought to exist across south east England. The project now aims to prospect more widely across the region for similar sites.

Barney Sloane, Head of Historic Environment Commissions at English Heritage, said: “Sites such as this are extremely rare and a relatively little considered archaeological resource. Their remains sit at a key watershed in the evolutionary history of northern Europe. The tools at Beedings could equally be the signature of pioneer populations of modern humans, or traces of the last Neanderthal hunting groups to occupy the region. This study offers a rare chance to answer some crucial questions about just how technologically advanced Neanderthals were, and how they compare with our own species.”

The project, which has been running with the assistance of the landowners since February 2008, has been directed by Dr Matthew Pope of UCL and Caroline Wells of Sussex Archaeological Society, working closely with specialists from the Boxgrove Project and the Worthing Archaeological Society.

Making Science More Better For You on 06/23/08

Headline of the day
Heart Failure Kills George Carlin (CNN)

A character in a Ross Thomas novel once observed that the phrase is just about meaningless. That's because in the end, everyone dies of heart failure.


We already have a drug that's used to cure shyness. It’s called alcohol.

According to ThisIsLondon.UK, scientists find childbirth wonder drug that can 'cure' shyness

It can turn anything from job interviews to the most routine of family gatherings into a sweat-inducing ordeal.

But a 'love drug' produced naturally by the body during sex and childbirth could offer hope to the millions of people blighted by shyness, scientists have said.

Investigators believe oxytocin - a natural hormone that assists childbirth and helps mothers bond with newborn babies - could become a wonder drug for overcoming shyness.

Scientists found the drug could help shyness

Trials have found that oxytocin can reduce anxiety and ease phobias. Researchers say the hormone offers a possible, safe, alternative to alcohol as a means of overcoming the problem.

Sixty per cent of Britons say they have suffered from shyness and one in 10 say it impedes their daily life.

Researchers in the US, Europe and Australia are now racing to develop commercial forms of the hormone, including a nasal spray.

They believe it could also be turned into a 'wonder drug' to treat a range of personality disorders such as autism, depression and anxiety.

Paul Zak, a professor of neuroscience at California’s Claremont Graduate University said: 'Tests have shown that oxytocin reduces anxiety levels in users. It is a hormone that facilitates social contact between people.

What’s more, it is a very safe product that does not have any side effects and is not addictive.'

Professor Zak has tested the hormone on hundreds of patients. Its main effect is to curb the instincts of wariness and suspicion that cause anxiety.


The hormone is said to help mothers bond with their babies

Produced naturally in the brain during social interactions, it promotes romantic feelings, helps mothers bond with babies and makes people more sociable.

Oxytocin is released during orgasm and is also the key birthing hormone that enables the cervix to open and the contractions to work. Where labour has to be induced, it is often given to the mother intravenously to kick-start contractions.

Professor Zak said: 'We've seen that it makes you care about the other person. It also increases your generosity towards that person. That's why (the hormone) facilitates social interaction.'

In other recent trials, researchers at Zurich University in Switzerland have managed to ease symptoms of extreme shyness in 120 patients by giving them the hormone treatment half an hour before they encountered an awkward situation.

Oxytocin spray has also been successfully trialled at the University of New South Wales.

Autistic patients given oxytocin as part of a study in New York found their ability to recognise emotions such as happiness or anger in a person's tone of voice - something which usually proved difficult - also improved.

Experiments by Dr Eric Hollander at the city's Mount Sinai School of Medicine found a single intravenous infusion of the chemical triggered improvements that lasted for two weeks.

Previous research has revealed autistic children have lower than usual levels of oxytocin in their blood.

Professor Zak said: 'Oxytocin does not cure autism, but it does reduce the symptoms.'
Studies on rats at Emory University in Atlanta also suggested the hormone made the rodents more faithful to their partners.

The potential uses of oxytocin offer commercial possibilities well beyond individual patients too. Restaurants, for instance, could spray a thin mist over customers to put them at ease.

It could be used as a benign form of tear gas, quelling any violent feelings among groups of demonstrators, or, building on the Atlanta research, even to prevent extramarital affairs.

Previous research into the hormone by Professor Zak suggested that generous people had higher than average levels of oxytocin in the brain, while mean-spirited people have lower than normal levels.

Researchers gave doses of oxytocin and a placebo to participants, who were then asked to decide how to split a sum of cash with a stranger. Those given oxytocin offered 80 per cent more money than those given a placebo.

However, despite the many potential benefits of the research projects, some scientists have sounded warnings over the negative potential uses the hormone offers.

They say oxytocin could have potential as a date-rape drug as it is involved in both trust and sexual arousal.

And if oxyctin really is a childbirth wonder drug, the subjects in the study probably weren't that shy to begin with.

Making Science More Better For You on 06/19/08

Live fast, drive young

Eight-year-old in Serbia steals car, goes on rampage
Jun 19 (Breitbart)

An eight-year-old boy stole a car before going on a rampage through the streets of a southern Serbian town, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, Beta news agency reported Thursday.

After jumping into the car -- a Zastava 101 -- the boy only identified by the initials V.P. promptly steered it onto a pavement and struck a passer-by pushing a pram in front of the town hall in Leskovac.

His apparent test of his driving skills soon came to an abrupt end when the boy crashed the car into a nearby tree, damaging the vehicle.

The pavement victim was in shock, but not injured, said Beta, which added that police had detained the boy before placing him under the watch of childcare authorities.

A rampage in Siberia? He must have run around melting things.

Making Science More Better For You on 06/18/08

Headlines of the day
5th human foot mysteriously washes up (CNN)
Why can’t this moron go to Payless like everyone else?

Police Find Lobster Tails Down Cooks Pants (WCBS)
Boil'em. Dano.

If they want to monkey around they should just do what humans do and turn up the stereo.

Shhhh! Quiet copulation key for female chimps

By Michael KahnPosted 2008/06/17 at 9:42 pm EDT

LONDON, June 17, 2008 (Reuters) — Female chimps keep quiet during sex to keep other females from finding out and punishing them for mating with the best males, British researchers said on Wednesday.

The study of chimp copulation calls also found that females seem more concerned with having sex with as many mates as possible rather than just finding the strongest male as a way to confuse paternity and secure future protection for offspring.

"They are trying to make the high-ranking males think they are the father," said Simon Townsend, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of St. Andrews in Britain, who led the study. "If you confuse paternity, they are more likely to provide that female with future support."

The findings show that chimps -- our closest living relatives -- can use their calls flexibly in response to social factors while knowing more about the apes could help in conservation efforts, he added.

Researchers have long been interested in mating calls of different animals, especially primates. A common hypothesis is that females use such calls to advertise to prospective males they are ready to mate, which in turn incites competition that leads to the strongest partner and highest quality offspring.

But it appears the female chimps are also a touch more savvy about the opposite sex, according to the findings published in the journal PLoS One.

"The female chimps we observed in the wild seemed to be much more concerned with having sex with many different males, without other females finding out about it, than causing males to fight over them," Townsend said.

Ah yes, another research question based on someone’s fantasy life.


We've always thought of donuts as a form of self-medication.

Study: Depression and Diabetes May Trigger Each Other

Not only are people with type 2 diabetes more prone to depression, but people with depression are more prone to getting diabetes, a new study, published in the June 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found.

Researchers have long known that type 2 diabetes and depression often go hand-in-hand, according to the study, so researchers with Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore set out to determine which comes first.

Dr. Sherita Hill Golden and her colleagues looked at data from an ethnically diverse group of 6,814 men and women between ages 45 to 84. Study participants identified themselves as white, black, Hispanic or Chinese.

Participants made three visits to clinics over the course of three years.

How about an éclair stuffed with Prozac?

Making Science More Better For You on 06/17/08

Headlines of the day

Man accused of ordering python to attack girlfriend, cops
(The Obscure Store)
Ok, we’ll ask. How many eyes did the snake have? Because that could change the whole thing.

Woman, 52, sues Victoria's Secret, claims injury from defective thong (The Smoking Gun)
Too many parts?

Monkeys swim to freedom (CNN)
They say one changed his name to Spaulding Gray

Coffee Drinkers Have Slightly Lower Death Rates (Science Daily)
So, that means fewer of them die, ever. Right? Starbucks must be over the moon on this one.


Mr. Sporty sez, “That’s right, cause it’s all about the honey, sonny”

Decision-Making, Risk-Taking Similar In Bees And Humans

ScienceDaily (Jun. 17, 2008) — Most people think before making decisions. As it turns out, so do bees. In the journal Nature, Israeli researchers show that when making decisions, people and bees alike are more likely to gamble on risky courses of action - rather than taking a safer option - when the differences between the various possible outcomes are easily distinguishable. When the outcomes are difficult to discern, however, both groups are far more likely to select the safer option - even if the actual probabilities of success have not changed.

The findings by researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University help shed light on why people are inclined to choose certainty when differences between potential outcomes - such as paybacks when gambling or returns on financial investments - are difficult to discern.

In tests with 50 college students, subjects chose between two unmarked computer buttons. Pushing one of the buttons resulted in a payoff of 3 credits with 100% certainty, while pushing the other led to a payoff of 4 credits with an 80% certainty - though participants only learned these payoffs through trial and error as they flashed on screen. Test subjects were required to make 400 such decisions each, and tended to choose the risky strategy when payoffs were represented as simple numbers (i.e. "3 credits" and "4 credits"). The results were similar when the numerals 3 and 4 were replaced with easily distinguishable clouds of 30 and 60 dots. But when the numerals were replaced with clouds of 30 or 40 dots - making it much more difficult to distinguish between the two - subjects veered towards the more certain outcome.

The researchers subjected honeybees to similar trials, using the bees' sense of smell and 2 µl drops of sugar solution payoffs of varying concentrations. The researchers first tested the bees with payoffs for risky and safe alternatives at 10% and 5% sugar concentrations, respectively. In a second experiment, the payoffs were a less-easy-to-discriminate-between 6.7% and 5%, and in a third experiment, the payoff in both alternatives was 6.7%. Bees were required to make 32 such decisions, and were given a choice between two smells, each presented twice for one-second each, in an alternating sequence. The bees tended towards the risky strategy only when their choice was easily discernable, paralleling their human counterparts.

According to Professor Ido Erev of the Technion Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, some practical implications of this research can be seen in an analysis of the values placed on rule enforcement in the workplace. The results, he said, suggest that:

* consistent and constant rule enforcement is necessary, since workers are more likely to ignore risks - if they have done so before without punishment;
* workers are likely to be supportive of enforcement, since they initially plan to obey many of the rules (wearing safety goggles, for instance) they end up violating; and
* severe penalties that are not always enforced are not likely to be effective, but gentle, consistently enforced rewards and punishments can be.

"The similar responses by humans and bees demonstrates that this decision-making process happens very early in evolution," said Erev. "The results suggest that this is a very basic phenomenon shared by many different animals."


Forget about those pesky word thingies. They get in the way of the pretty picture

The meaning of the butterfly
Why pop culture loves the 'butterfly effect,' and gets it totally wrong (Boston.com)
by Peter Dizikes

SOME SCIENTISTS SEE their work make headlines. But MIT meteorologist Edward Lorenz watched his work become a catch phrase. Lorenz, who died in April, created one of the most beguiling and evocative notions ever to leap from the lab into popular culture: the "butterfly effect," the concept that small events can have large, widespread consequences. The name stems from Lorenz's suggestion that a massive storm might have its roots in the faraway flapping of a tiny butterfly's wings.
more stories like this

Translated into mass culture, the butterfly effect has become a metaphor for the existence of seemingly insignificant moments that alter history and shape destinies. Typically unrecognized at first, they create threads of cause and effect that appear obvious in retrospect, changing the course of a human life or rippling through the global economy.

In the 2004 movie "The Butterfly Effect" - we watched it so you don't have to - Ashton Kutcher travels back in time, altering his troubled childhood in order to influence the present, though with dismal results. In 1990's "Havana," Robert Redford, a math-wise gambler, tells Lena Olin, "A butterfly can flutter its wings over a flower in China and cause a hurricane in the Caribbean. They can even calculate the odds."

Such borrowings of Lorenz's idea might seem authoritative to unsuspecting viewers, but they share one major problem: They get his insight precisely backwards. The larger meaning of the butterfly effect is not that we can readily track such connections, but that we can't. To claim a butterfly's wings can cause a storm, after all, is to raise the question: How can we definitively say what caused any storm, if it could be something as slight as a butterfly? Lorenz's work gives us a fresh way to think about cause and effect, but does not offer easy answers.

Pop culture references to the butterfly effect may be bad physics, but they're a good barometer of how the public thinks about science. They expose the growing chasm between what the public expects from scientific research - that is, a series of ever more precise answers about the world we live in - and the realms of uncertainty into which modern science is taking us.

. . .

The butterfly effect is a deceptively simple insight extracted from a complex modern field. As a low-profile assistant professor in MIT's department of meteorology in 1961, Lorenz created an early computer program to simulate weather. One day he changed one of a dozen numbers representing atmospheric conditions, from .506127 to .506. That tiny alteration utterly transformed his long-term forecast, a point Lorenz amplified in his 1972 paper, "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?"

In the paper, Lorenz claimed the large effects of tiny atmospheric events pose both a practical problem, by limiting long-term weather forecasts, and a philosophical one, by preventing us from isolating specific causes of later conditions. The "innumerable" interconnections of nature, Lorenz noted, mean a butterfly's flap could cause a tornado - or, for all we know, could prevent one. Similarly, should we make even a tiny alteration to nature, "we shall never know what would have happened if we had not disturbed it," since subsequent changes are too complex and entangled to restore a previous state.

So a principal lesson of the butterfly effect is the opposite of Redford's line: It is extremely hard to calculate such things with certainty. There are many butterflies out there. A tornado in Texas could be caused by a butterfly in Brazil, Bali, or Budapest. Realistically, we can't know. "It's impossible for humans to measure everything infinitely accurately," says Robert Devaney, a mathematics professor at Boston University. "And if you're off at all, the behavior of the solution could be completely off." When small imprecisions matter greatly, the world is radically unpredictable.

Moreover, Lorenz also discovered stricter limits on our knowledge, proving that even models of physical systems with a few precisely known variables, like a heated gas swirling in a box, can produce endlessly unpredictable and nonrepeating effects. This is a founding idea of chaos theory, whose advocates sometimes say Lorenz helped dispel the Newtonian idea of a wholly predictable universe.

"Lorenz went beyond the butterfly," says Kerry Emanuel, a professor in the department of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences at MIT. "To say that certain systems are not predictable, no matter how precise you make the initial conditions, is a profound statement." Instead of a vision of science in which any prediction is possible, as long as we have enough information, Lorenz's work suggested that our ability to analyze and predict the workings of the world is inherently limited.

But in the popular imagination, that one picturesque little butterfly became a metaphor for the surprising way that long chains of events unfold. A SmartMoney.com market analysis from 2007 cites Lorenz, then suggests that hypothetical problems at Sony could affect a string of shippers, retailers, and investors: "One butterfly, in this case a Japanese butterfly, sets off the entire chain." Even applied to society, rather than nature, such claims merit skepticism.

That we imagine the butterfly effect would explain things in everyday life, however, reveals more than an overeager impulse to validate ideas through science. It speaks to our larger expectation that the world should be comprehensible - that everything happens for a reason, and that we can pinpoint all those reasons, however small they may be. But nature itself defies this expectation. It is probability, not certain cause and effect, that now dictates how scientists understand many systems, from subatomic particles to storms. "People grasp that small things can make a big difference," Emanuel says. "But they make errors about the physical world. People want to attach a specific cause to events, and can't accept the randomness of the world."

Thus global warming may make big storms more likely - "loading the die," Emanuel says - but we cannot say it definitively caused Hurricane Katrina. Science helps us understand the universe, but as Lorenz showed, it sometimes does so by revealing the limits of our understanding.

Peter Dizikes is a science journalist living in Arlington.



So, picture Earth in a fat suit. You know, like Monica in that episode of “Friends,” only they’re planets.

Newly found planets make case for 'crowded universe'

WASHINGTON (AP) -- European astronomers have found a trio of "super-Earths" closely circling a star that astronomers once figured had nothing orbiting it.

The discovery may mean the universe is teeming with far more planets than previously thought.

The discovery demonstrates that planets keep popping up in unexpected places around the universe.

The announcement is the first time three planets close to Earth's size were found orbiting a single star, said Swiss astronomer Didier Queloz.

He was part of the Swiss-French team using the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory in the desert in Chile.

The mass of the smallest of the super-Earths is about four times the size of Earth.

That may seem like a lot, but they are quite a bit closer in size and likely composition to Earth than the giants in Earth's solar system -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

They are much too hot to support life, Queloz said.


Scientists are more interested in the broader implications of the finding: The universe is teeming with far more planets than thought.

Using a new tool to study more than 100 stars once thought to be devoid of planets, the Swiss-French team found that about one-third had planets that are only slightly bigger than Earth.

That's how the star with three super-Earths, 42 light-years away, was spotted.

The European team took a second look with a relatively new instrument that measures tiny changes in light wave lengths and is so sensitive that it is precisely positioned and locked in a special room below the observatory in Chile. The key is kept in Switzerland, scientists say.

The discovery is "really making the case that we live in a crowded universe," said Carnegie Institution of Washington astronomer Alan Boss, who was not part of the discovery team. "Planets are out there. They're all over the place."

That means it is easier to make the case for life elsewhere in the universe, both Boss and Queloz said.

European astronomers have found a trio of "super-Earths" closely circling a star that astronomers once figured had nothing orbiting it.
No way around it, those Europeans just love Liza Minelli

Making Science More Better For You on 06/16/08

Headlines of the day
Police investigate wife for five dead husbands (CNN)

Nobody likes a showoff.

Dinosaur mummy holds many secrets (CNN)
Oh yeah? Who shot JFK, mr. know-it-all dinosaur?

International relations
Yesterday's football dust up between the Czechs and the Turks reminded us once again why soccer is more like adult dating and american football is more like teen dating. When it comes to adult dating, people don't score as often, but when they do they tend to get really excited. They might even burn down an embassy or two.

A political interlude: "Great job Brownie"
Are we the only ones who find it a bit odd that several cities in the heartland are under water and no one is asking why the President hasn't cut his farewell tour of the continent short?

Making Science More Better For You on 06/13/08

Headlines of the day
Salmonella fear traps tomatoes in Mexico (AP)

Is Tomatoes Salmonella the mob name of the week, or what?

Rare male sea dragon pregnant (CNN)
Puff?


A Friday the 13th thought.
That's life
That's what all the people say.
First you're ridin' high in April
Then you're Jacques de Molay.

Making Science More Better For You on 06/11/08

Headline of the day
Cat eating students shooed off from Facebook (Copenhagen Post)

Cheesy Danes feel blue. Film at 11.

Making Science More Better For You on 06/10/08

Headline of the day
Groom arrested at own wedding reception (LaCrosse Tribune)

Well, that bodes well.


Feed a monkey a fish and you have fed him for a day. Teach a monkey how to fish ...and you have a fishing monkey.

Scientists find monkeys who know how to fish
By MICHAEL CASEY
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Long-tailed macaque monkeys have a reputation for knowing how to find food - whether it be grabbing fruit from jungle trees or snatching a banana from a startled tourist.

Now, researchers say they have discovered groups of the silver-haired monkeys in Indonesia that fish.

Groups of long-tailed macaques were observed four times over the past eight years scooping up small fish with their hands and eating them along rivers in East Kalimantan and North Sumatra provinces, according to researchers from The Nature Conservancy and the Great Ape Trust.

The species had been known to eat fruit and forage for crabs and insects, but never before fish from rivers.

"It's exciting that after such a long time you see new behavior," said Erik Meijaard, one of the authors of a study on fishing macaques that appeared in last month's International Journal of Primatology. "It's an indication of how little we know about the species."

Meijaard, a senior science adviser at The Nature Conservancy, said it was unclear what prompted the long-tailed macaques to go fishing. But he said it showed a side of the monkeys that is well-known to researchers - an ability to adapt to the changing environment and shifting food sources.

"They are a survivor species, which has the knowledge to cope with difficult conditions," Meijaard said Tuesday. "This behavior potentially symbolizes that ecological flexibility."

The other authors of the paper, which describes the fishing as "rare and isolated" behavior, are The Nature Conservancy volunteers Anne-Marie E. Stewart, Chris H. Gordon and Philippa Schroor, and Serge Wich of the Great Ape Trust.

Some other primates have exhibited fishing behavior, Meijaard wrote, including Japanese macaques, chacma baboons, olive baboons, chimpanzees and orangutans.

Agustin Fuentes, a University of Notre Dame anthropology professor who studies long-tailed macaques, or macaca fascicularis, on the Indonesian island of Bali and in Singapore, said he was "heartened" to see the finding published because such details can offer insight into the "complexity of these animals."

"It was not surprising to me because they are very adaptive," he said. "If you provide them with an opportunity to get something tasty, they will do their best to get it."

Fuentes, who is not connected with the published study, said he has seen similar behavior in Bali, where he has observed long-tailed macaques in flooded paddy fields foraging for frogs and crabs. He said it affirms his belief that their ability to thrive in urban and rural environments from Indonesia to northern Thailand could offer lessons for endangered species.

"We look at so many primate species not doing well. But at the same time, these macaques are doing very well," he said. "We should learn what they do successfully in relation to other species."

Still, Fuentes and Meijaard said further research was needed to understand the full significance of the behavior. Among the lingering questions are what prompted the monkeys to go fishing and how common it is among the species.
Long-tailed macaques were twice observed catching fish by The Nature Conservancy researchers in 2007.

Another little known fact is that the Royal Coachman fly was created by a macaque that lived a quiet life as a fishing guide in a village near Saskatchewan. It’s said the bears swore by him.


Earth must seem like the Jersey Shore when those guys from Nebula 16 come here.
You've got to wonder how they both those heads into the T-shirt that says "The "rents" went to Earth and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

Star wars: who are we inviting in from the cold?

* Graham Phillips/The Age.com.au
IT SOUNDS wacky, but a fight has broken out among scientists over whether we should be sending messages to aliens. Sure, it's a boffin fight: no vigorous punching, just vigorous publishing, spirited debate, and shock resignations from erudite organisations.

The latest instalment in the scientific scrap is a paper by Russian physicist Alexander Zaitsev. In it he shows why his alien messages can't be held responsible if extraterrestrials do one day invade the Earth. In fact if that happens, he says, blame astronomers.

At the core of the debate is a process called Active SETI. Ordinary SETI - the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence - is a worldwide effort by astronomers using radio telescopes to listen for alien signals. Active SETI, which some researchers are now pushing, involves actually sending messages into space.

Zaitsev has been pursuing Active SETI for a decade using a radar facility in the Ukraine. He has sent messages in the direction of various sun-like stars in the Milky Way, hoping to attract alien attention.

But some astronomers believe this puts the Earth at risk. They argue that if we don't send messages, any hostile galactic super-civilisations out there won't know we're here, and we'll remain hidden among the billions of stars. If we do send messages, ET might read our greetings as a dinner invitation.

University of California biologist Jared Diamond has pointed out that there is no guarantee extraterrestrials will be interested in chatting with an inferior species like ours. After all, he says, look what we do to the inferior species on Earth. We shoot them, dissect them, cut off their hands for trophies, exhibit them in cages, inject them with AIDS as a medical experiment, and destroy or take over their habitats.

Now the probability of inducing alien invasion is very low. But because we don't know what is out there, the risk is not zero. New research continually indicates there is reason to expect that alien life in some form is relatively common throughout the universe. Just last month Australian National University researcher Charles Lineweaver added to that research by showing that stars like our sun are very common in the Milky Way. If life got going here, why not around some of those other suns too?

A group of people within the International Academy of Astronautics determines policy decisions on SETI matters, and last year two of its prominent members resigned. They were concerned too many people in the group were professionally interested in sending messages to ET. The two didn't think SETI scientists should be making decisions on behalf of the whole of humanity.

But Zaitsev has hit back at critics. He has calculated that his - and everyone else's - messages to other star systems are small fry compared with the standard exploratory signals astronomers have been sending out for decades. In an attempt to work out the properties of the other planets and orbiting asteroids, astronomers beam microwaves into the solar system. This radiation doesn't stop in our planetary system, however, it keeps going. Aliens could detect it and calculate our location from the signals.

The area of space that has received this radiation is 2000 times bigger than the area targeted with messages, calculates Zaitsev, so the radiation is far more likely to attract attention. Our secret is already out.

Really the only question now is, how much information about ourselves should we beam into the cosmos? So far, those in Active SETI have sent out only simple messages, often just patterns of numbers. The idea is, ET should be able to distinguish the patterns from the general radio noise that clutters the skies and recognise our signals as messages. Also, as the rules of mathematics are universal, aliens should speak the language of maths.

But why not go much further? Seth Shostak, an astronomer at the SETI Institute in California, has suggested we transmit the entire contents of the internet to select stars in the Milky Way. By browsing those billions of websites, ET would not only know there are other intelligences out there, but would be able to learn all about us.

Actually, all that mindless internet detail might just put off the alien hoards from descending on Earth.

Making Science More Better For You on 06/09/08

Sure we'll say it..'It's the gift that keeps on giving."

Ah, don't be sore......

Study: 1 in 4 adults in NYC have herpes virus
NEW YORK (AP) - A city Health Department study finds that more than a fourth of adult New Yorkers are infected with the virus that causes genital herpes.

The study, released Monday, says about 26 percent of New York City adults have genital herpes, compared to about 19 percent nationwide.

The department says genital herpes can double a person's risk for contracting HIV.

Herpes can cause painful sores, but most people have no recognizable symptoms.

Among New Yorkers, the herpes rate is higher among women, black people and gay men.

The health department urges consistent use of condoms, and says its STD clinics offer free, confidential herpes testing.


We just called to say that you're late with the payments.

Saudi calls for talks with oil consumers
Jun 9 01:12 PM US/Eastern


Oil kingpin Saudi Arabia called on Monday for talks with consumer nations on soaring world prices and reiterated its readiness to meet any increase in demand.

At a meeting chaired by King Abdullah, the Saudi cabinet restated its view that the leap in prices that saw New York's benchmark contract hit a record 138.54 dollars on Friday was unjustified by fundamentals.

But it added that it had asked Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi to "convene a meeting soon of representatives of producer and consumer nations and firms operating in the production, export and trading of oil to discuss the jump in prices, its causes and how to deal with it objectively".

"Saudi Arabia ... has notified all oil companies with which it does business, as well as consumer nations, of its readiness to provide them with any additional quantities of oil they need," added the cabinet statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

It's like having the five families run a clinic for problem gamblers.

Making Science More Better For You on 06/06/08

Headlines of the day
Kennedy’s Brain Surgeon On Cutting Edge (New York Post)

Does Kobe have Beef with Allen? (SI.com/CNN)

Try saying it out loud.

This just in—Kids do what they want until someone says no. Film at 11.

Kids drinking more sugary drinks and juice
By Anne Harding
Posted 5:06 pm EDT

NEW YORK, Jun. 2, 2008 (Reuters Health) — Children in the U.S. are now getting more of their calories from fruit juice and sugar-sweetened beverages than they were 20 years ago, according to a new analysis of national data published in Pediatrics.

Limiting the consumption of "empty calories" by reducing intake of sugar-sweetened beverages could help kids eat healthier and stay slim, the study's authors, Dr. Y. Claire Wang of the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in New York City and colleagues, conclude.

However, the authors of another study out today report that children who drink 100 percent fruit juice are no more likely to be overweight than kids who don't. What's more, say Dr. Theresa A. Nicklas of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and her team, juice drinkers ate more fruit and had a higher intake of several nutrients including vitamin C, folate and potassium.

"The science clearly shows that 100 percent juice is a valuable contributor of nutrients to children's diets and it's not associated with weight," Nicklas told Reuters Health in an interview.

Both sets of researchers looked at the same data: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), in which people report what they ate in the previous 24 hours. Wang and her team compared NHANES 1988-1994 and NHANES 1999-2004, while Nicklas and colleagues looked at 1999-2002 NHANES data.

"I don't think we are really saying opposite things," Wang commented. "The focus of our study is to look at the trends."

Wang and her colleagues looked at the percentage of calories consumed as sugar-sweetened beverages and fruit juice from 1988 to 2004. On average, they found, kids 2 to 19 years old got 242 calories a day from these beverages in 1988-1994, and 270 calories daily in 1999-2004; intake of sugar sweetened beverages increased from 204 to 224 calories daily while fruit juice intake rose from 38 to 48 calories per day.

Preschoolers who drank fruit juice consumed an average of 10 ounces a day. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends no more than six ounces daily for children one to six years old. Children 7 to 18 years old should drink no more than 12 ounces, or two servings, of fruit juice daily, according to the AAP. Across children of all ages, average fruit juice consumption was 12.4 ounces daily in 1999-2004, up from 11.2 ounces in 1988-1994.

Two- to five-year-olds were consuming 176 calories a day worth of sugar sweetened beverages, equivalent to more than a can of soda, while 6- to 11-year-olds took in 229 calories in sugar-sweetened beverages daily and 12 to 19 year olds consumed 356 calories, about the same as a 20-ounce bottle.

The sharpest increases in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, of 20 percent, were seen among 6- to 11-year-olds. Consumption also rose more among Latino and African-American children than whites.

Among teens, Wang and her team found, the 84 percent who drank sugar sweetened beverages consumed 30 ounces daily or 360 calories, representing 16 percent of their calorie intake. A 15-year-old boy would have to spend an hour jogging or more than three hours walking in order to burn off this amount of extra calories, the researchers say.

Fruit juice isn't the problem, argues Nicklas, who points out that the daily calorie increase represented by fruit juice is quite small-just 10 calories between the two time periods. "It explains such a small percentage of the calories in the diet. We need to look at where are all the other calories coming from."

Also, Nicklas notes, most Americans aren't meeting fruit consumption requirements, and drinking 100 percent juice may be one way to up fruit intake.

Fruit juices "can never replace the benefits of whole fruit," said Wang. "However I do think that juices do contain some essential nutrients and you cannot say the same thing about sugar sweetened beverages."

Nicklas' study was funded by the US Department of Agriculture and the Juice Products Association. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided support for Wang's research.



“Limiting the consumption of "empty calories" by reducing intake of sugar-sweetened beverages could help kids eat healthier and stay slim, the study's authors, Dr. Y. Claire Wang of the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in New York City and colleagues, conclude.” Yeah, sure. Hey look, there’s a flying pig.