Telepathy And The Quantum
Higgs Boson Limits For Dummies
The Singularity That Will Probably Not Come
Two Research Careers: A Fable for Grad Students
For this experiment, two identically thin cylinders which are initially static... Read >
Organic solar cells that can be produced easily and inexpensively are the perfect... Read >
In a column posted a few days ago (November 1) I mentioned that... Read >
In a previous post, I published my letter to the Columbus Dispatch editor responding... Read >
We have all heard the term, "Nutty Professor", which brings to mind the highly... Read >
MIT researchers and designers are developing the Affective Intelligent Driving... Read >
Gravity Satellites Map Amazon (x3)
Scientists used a pair of gravity-measuring satellites, GRACE, to look at Amazon river basin water levels and, hopefully, better predict future water storage and runoff. The twin GRACE satellites measure the mass distribution of the Earth between the two satellites, and accumulating these measurements ...
The Continuing Quest For Flavor-Changing Neutral Currents
These days the Higgs boson search is a bit over-hyped, with the impending competition between Tevatron and LHC on the discovery of the fabled boson making headlines every time there is a new, even minor, update in the results of the CDF and D0 experiment. But the hunt is on for many other, maybe ...
The 85 Tools Of The World's Largest Swiss Army Knife
Have you ever been stranded in the deep Congo? Hung from a finger on the 27th pitch of the Nose on El Cap? Been jumped from behind by muggers in the Bronx? If so, this tool would have been almost completely useless. However, if you want to enliven any party and/or imply things about your manhood ...
Ultra-Primitive Particles Found In Earth's Cosmic Dust
Dust samples collected by high-flying aircraft have found relicts from the ancient cosmos, according to scientists from the Carnegie Institution.This stratospheric dust includes minute grains that likely formed inside stars that lived and died long before the birth of our sun as well as material ...
Ecuador's Plan To Save The Amazon And Fight Climate Change--The Yasuní-ITT Initiative
The Ecuadorian government has devised a novel, albeit idealistic, plan to prevent gas and oil development in the Yasuní National Park in hopes of protecting biodiversity and combating climate change. The proposal, known as the Yasuní-ITT Initiative, would leave untouched nearlyone billion barrels ...
Geologists Say New Ocean Likely Forming Under Ethiopian Desert
Back in 2005, when a massive 35-mile-long rift broke open in the Ethiopia desert some geologists controversially claimed that a new ocean was forming as two parts of the African continent pulled apart. Currently, scientists from several countries have supposedly confirmed that the volcanic processes ...
Some Potential Biofuel Plants For Semi-Arid And Arid Regions
Concern over the growing levels of greenhouse gases and climate change has been building up for the last decade. Any measure or project reducing the release of greenhouse gases would get a “credit”, regardless of the location of such measure or project since climate is a global phenomenon. ...
Productivity Of Calotropis Procera And Its Use In Renewable Energy
India has over 180 million of wasteland out of which 90 million ha is uncultivable. The degraded and denuded lands arise due to soil erosions as well as secondary salinizations. However Calotropis procera is a potential plant for bioenergy and biofuel production in semi arid regions of the country ...
The Purpose Of Life
In an earlier article titled What is Life?, I took the reader through a reasoning process to finally arrive at the conclusion that, contrary to general expectation, finding a definition of life is not an overwhelmingly difficult problem at all because life is a remarkably simple concept – ...
Caught In The Act: Butterfly Mate Preference Shows How 1 Species Becomes 2
Biologists say they have found a population of tropical butterflies that may be on its way to a split into two distinct species. The cause of this particular break-up? A shift in wing color and mate preference.In a paper published this week in the journal Science, the researchers describe the relationship ...
Date A Water Strider, Where Nice Guys Get The Girls
Female water striders don't like the bad boys and they don't even have to reach the age of 30 before they wise up about choices in males.Water striders are those insects commonly seen skittering hurriedly across the surface of streams but when it comes to romance, male water striders who played ...
Human Embryonic Stem Cells Differentiated Into Lung Tissue
Scientists have successfully differentiated human embryonic stem cells (hESC) into major cell types of lung epithelial tissue, a technique which could provide an alternative to lung transplants for patients with lung injury due to chronic pulmonary disease and inherited genetic diseases such as ...
Is There A Connection Between Thyroid Cancer And Volcanoes?
People living in volcanic areas may face a higher risk for thyroid cancer, says a new study published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. While the increasing incidence of thyroid cancer has been attributed to more sensitive screening, recent evidence suggests that this may ...
Columbus Dispatch Follow-Up
As you may or may not be aware, The Columbus Dispatch (the only major newspaper left in my hometown) recently got my dander up by publishing an anti-H1N1 vaccine screed by a Dr. Phillip DeMio that completely misrepresents the science surrounding vaccine safety without checking the accuracy of his ...
New Treatment Option Emerging For Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Patients with early stage, non-small cell lung cancer who are not able to undergo surgery, now have a highly effective treatment option. Physicians say that option, radical stereotactic radiosurgery performed with CyberKnife, leads to a 100 percent overall survival after threeyears in patients ...
Wasted Fruit Flies May Help Scientists Cure Alcoholism
With the help of inebriated fruit flies, scientists have discovered an entire network of genes the tiny creatures share with humans that help explain why some people tolerate alcohol better than others and may one day lead to a cure for alcoholism. Their findings also yield more information about ...
Parents Who Meddle Too Much Could Drive Their Children Nuts
Everybody understands that good parents have to lay down rules for their children as they grow up. However, too many rules can be a bad thing, says a new report in Current Directions in Psychological Science.According to the authors, numerous studies have found that in Western countries, when parents ...
Finger Length Linked To Social Behavior?
Hormones called androgens are considered important in the development of masculine characteristics like aggression and strength and some believe that prenatal androgens affect finger length during development in the womb.High levels of androgens, such as testosterone, increase the length of the ...
Survey Says Industry Support For Life Science Research On The Decline
While more than half the academic life science researchers responding to a 2007 survey indicated having some relationship with private industry, the prevalence of such relationships – particularly direct funding for research studies – appears to be dropping. The Results of a survey, appearing ...
Appearance Says A Lot When Making First Impressions
With the publication of a paper in the upcoming issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, science has finally confirmed what most people have long thought. According to the study, physical appearance says a lot when seeing someone for the first time. What most people likely don't know ...
The Concept Of Fairness
I recently read, in one of the posts, the following statement."Evolution is not fair, economics is not fair."http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_articles/chemical_engineer_solves_capitalism_problemI'm sure we've all heard the platitude that "life is not fair", which set me to thinking about ...
Experts Say They Can Keep Google's Grubby Hands Off Your Internet Searches
When you use popular search engines like Google or Yahoo to find something on the internet, the information you input is collected and built into a profile that helps those companies market products you may find interesting. Your favorite search engines justify this practice by claiming that it ...
Iconic Lee Harvey Oswald Photo Authentic, Says Forensics Expert
A photograph of John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald holding a rifle and a copy of The Militant communist paper in 1963 is authentic, says Dartmouth Computer Scientist Hany Farid, a pioneer in the field of digital forensics, who digitally analyzed the iconic image of Oswald pictured in a ...
Want To Promote Literacy? Let Kids Read Comics
Comics have typically been shunned by educators and parents who want to promote literacy among children. After all, kids should be reading "real" books, which are more complex and require more effort to understand than colorful, picture-filled comic books. But according to University of Illinois ...
Love and Being in Love: Love is in our mind and is fueled by chemicals and chemistry.New love produces... more »
1571 was also interesting. Galileo Galilei was then seven years old. Johannes Kepler was born on... more »
Pain is important. The experience of pain can engage protective behavioral responses to harmful... more »
I live in an academic bubble into which very little pop culture penetrates. I guess a few years... more »
