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.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
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.
Harness volcano power, energy experts say
(Telegraph.co.uk)
Others say the idea is just a “krak”-atoa.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, June 23, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
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.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
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?
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?
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
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
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
Monday, June 16, 2008
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?
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?
Friday, June 13, 2008
Making Science More Better For You on 06/13/08
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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.
Cat eating students shooed off from Facebook (Copenhagen Post)
Cheesy Danes feel blue. Film at 11.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, June 9, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
