Making Science More Better For You on 10/15/07

Is it ok to buy green bananas?
Long-lost, Dangerous Asteroid Is Found Again

Science Daily — Echoing the re-discovery of America by the Spanish long after an earlier Viking reconnaissance, astronomers have learned that a recently observed asteroid - one that could potentially hit the Earth - was actually first observed nearly a half-century ago. Researchers at the Minor Planet Center of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, MA have confirmed work by SETI Institute astronomer Peter Jenniskens that the recently discovered asteroid 2007 RR9 is in fact the long-lost object 6344 P-L.

So far, this object has not yet been seen to be even weakly active, but the now dormant comet is still moving closer to the Sun.

6344 P-L was last seen in 1960, and ever since has had the peculiar distinction of being the only Potentially Hazardous Asteroid without a formal designation. "The object was long recognized to be dangerous, but we didn't know where it was," says Jenniskens. "Now it is no longer just out there."

A designation as Potentially Hazardous means that 2007 RR9 is one of 886 (not 887) known asteroids bigger than 150 m (500 ft) in diameter that come to within 0.05 astronomical units of Earth's orbit (roughly 7,480,000 km or 4,650,000 miles). The size is estimated on the basis of the object's observed brightness and an assumed reflectance of 13 percent.

We can see misplacing your keys, but how do you lose track of something like this? Maybe it was hiding out in Jersey.


You mean it beats out lust and greed?

People detect fear before other emotions

NASHVILLE, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have discovered that the brain becomes aware of fearful faces more quickly than faces showing other emotions.

Randolph Blake, David Zald of Vanderbilt University and doctoral student Eunice Yang used continuous flash suppression, which keeps people from becoming aware of what they are seeing for up to 10 seconds.

The team had research subjects look at a screen through a viewer, similar to the eyepieces on a microscope, which allowed different images to be presented to each eye. Many images were rapidly presented to one eye while a static image of a face was presented to the other. The multiple images served as visual "noise," suppressing the image of the face.

The study participants indicated when they first became aware of seeing a face, enabling the researchers to determine if the expression on the face had any impact on how quickly the subject was aware of the face.

The study, published in the November issue of Emotion, found that subjects became aware of faces that had fearful expressions before neutral or happy faces.

"What we believe is happening is that the happy faces signal safety," Zald said in a statement. "If something is safe, you don't have to pay attention to it."

Don’t let the pharmaceutical boys find out about this. Not that they’d ever try to sell us something based on fear.

He took on the “five families” and all those guys had two eyes. This would be a piece of cake.

When Mars attacks, Giuliani's ready

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani often stresses his ability to protect America from terrorist threats, but what about from enemies beyond this planet?

Campaigning in Exeter, New Hampshire Sunday, the New York Republican was asked by a young questioner what he would do if aliens attacked the United States, according to the Associated Press.

"Of all the things that can happen in this world, we'll be prepared for that. Yes we will," Giuliani said, noting that he had never fielded a question about potential attacks from outer space before.

"We'll be prepared for anything that happens," he added.

Giuliani spent most of Sunday campaigning in the Granite State, the same day a new poll indicated he narrowly trails rival Mitt Romney there.

He'd probably greet them with, "You folks look like Romney supporters."

Headline Of The Day
“English 'pull own teeth' as dental service decays”
The line for jokes about the English and their teeth forms to the right.

“Other Headline Of The Day
Chicago Cops Match Torso With Feet Found 12 Miles Away


From our “Why are some people more like this than that sometimes” department

Nobel in Economics Given For "Mechanism Design Theory"


As AP reports:

Americans Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin and Roger B. Myerson won the Nobel prize in economics on Monday for developing a theory that helps explain situations in which markets work and others in which they don't.

The three researchers "laid the foundations of mechanism design theory," which plays a central role in contemporary economics and political science,


Essentially, the three men, starting in 1960 with Hurwicz, studied how game theory can help determine the best, most efficient method for allocating resources given the available information, including the incentives of those involved.

We have a great deal of respect for all of the great metaphysical traditions, especially economics.

Glad to see that college stuff payed off.

In a Newsweek article about a new book that examines the Clinton marriage, Chelsea Clinton is quoted as saying, "Emotions aren't rational."

Yes dear, that's why they're called emotions.