Where’s the Outrage?

This is crap. This is nothing but intelligent design repackaged. How many times do we have to plow the same field. I guess we, those who want religion taught in church or even in a religion class at school, much get used to plowing these fields every year. In some areas of the country we need to plow these fields several times a year.

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From NOLA:

Gov. Bobby Jindal attracted national attention and strongly worded advice about how he should deal with the Louisiana Science Education Act.

Jindal ignored those calling for a veto and this week signed the law that will allow local school boards to approve supplemental materials for public school science classes as they discuss evolution, cloning and global warming.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will have the power to prohibit materials, though the bill does not spell out how state officials should go about policing local instructional practices.

A subject of considerable debate, but receiving few “nay” votes, in the legislative session that ended Monday, the bill is lauded by its supporters as a great step forward for academic freedom. (more…)

Tags: Party Politics, Science by ecthompson
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Above is a picture of Phobos.

While Phobos looks like a rock, it is in fact a moon of Mars.

The above graphic shows the orbit around Mars of the two Martian moons.

They spin around and around to no apparent end. 

Here are some facts about Phobos–

Phobos, the largest Martian, gouged and nearly shattered by a giant impact crater and beaten by thousands of meteorite impacts, is on a collision course with Mars

Phobos, named after a messenger of the Roman god of war, is the larger of Mars’ two moons and 27 by 22 by 18 km in diameter. It orbits Mars three times a day, and is so close to the planet’s surface that in some locations on Mars it cannot always be seen.

Measurements of the day and night sides of Phobos show such extreme temperature variations that the sunlit side of the moon rivals a pleasant winter day in Chicago, while only a few kilometers away, on the dark side of the moon, the climate is more harsh than a night in Antarctica. High temperatures for Phobos were measured at -4 degrees Celsius (25 degrees Fahrenheit) and lows at -112 Celsius (-170 degrees Fahrenheit). This intense heat loss is likely a result of the fine dust on Phobos’ surface, unable to retain heat.

Phobos has no atmosphere. It may be a captured asteroid, but some scientists show evidence that contradicts this theory.

Moral of the story—Though it may look like a rock, it may in fact be a moon. 

Tags: Science by Texas Liberal
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A recent article in New Scientist magazine says human beings are not as unique as they imagine.

Above is a photo of sheep living in Austria. Here is a story about the minds of sheep.

The article says animals have newly discovered and surprising abilities in ways people once thought as specific to humans.

For example, killer whales have been found to have distinct ways of communicating and hunting depending on if they live in a stable pod or are more transient. This speaks to culture among non-human species.

Some chimps use tools. Many people have seen the pictures of chimps using sticks to fish termites out of the termite mound. This is an example of tool use by animals.

Elephants grieve for dead herd members. Many animals have been noted for apparently emotional reactions. Humans are not the only species that experience emotion.

Beyond culture, tool use and emotion, some animals may possess distinctive personalities, morality, and the ability to understand the mind and intent of another.

Humans are clearly unique.

We are just not as special as we figure.

Who is as special as they figure?

Here is a BBC article on the subject of the minds of animals.

Below are lyrics from the Talking Heads song Animals.

They say they don’t need money
They’re living on nuts and berries
They say animals don’t worry
You know animals are hairy?
They think they know what’s best
They’re making a fool of us
They ought to be more careful
They’re setting a bad example
They have untroubled lives
They think everything’s nice
They like to laugh at people
They’re setting a bad example

Tags: General, Science by Texas Liberal
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One of the worst ideas I’m aware of is the search for intelligent extraterrestrial life.

This Los Angeles Times story details new efforts to use sensitive radio telescopes to hear alien signals.

This is called SETI—Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

This is a terrible idea.

I don’t want to know about any space beings. It’s bad enough we bring back samples from the moon or wherever else. Someday we are all going to get the spacepox.

I feel any aliens coming here will either enslave us or eat us. Maybe both. It rarely went well when civilizations met for the first time in Earth history. At best, aliens will transmit a horrible disease.  

The thought of aliens is terrifying. People would lose their minds if the mother ship landed in Red Square or the Bronx or anywhere. People lose their minds over far less. 

I get upset when I think of the records on the Voyager spaceprobes that give our location. Why tell our potential alien masters where we are?  

I know we can’t do anything about the radio and television signals transmitting our location for the whole galaxy to hear. But we can at least put our heads in the sand about whatever beings that mercifully have not found us yet.

Or are not yet hungry enough or in need of all our water to come to Earth.    

Tags: Science by Texas Liberal
7 Comments »

I’ve been reading The View From The Center Of The Universe by Joel Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams.

One things this book discusses is the composition of the universe.

Only a fraction of existence is solid and visible.

The chart above offers some detail.

The dark matter and dark energy that comprises most of existence does not react with light and is impossible to see.

Yet these dark materials alter the shape and the size of the universe.

These facts were not fully understood as recently as 15 years ago.

They are understood better today, though still imperfectly.

Here is a good article on this subject from The New York Times science section.

This is something we should keep in mind when dealing with others.

Much is unseen, and it may be late in the day when we understand the forces motivating people to act as they do.

You have your own view as to the extent all things are connected.

I think all things are, in some way, connected.

As much as we think we might know what exists and what’s going on, we don’t know so much.

One of many good reasons to be slow to judge the actions of others, is the fact that much of existence is made up of the unseen.

Tags: Books, Science by Texas Liberal
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I have a soft spot in my heart for JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratories). There was a time when out best and brightest went there to develop rockets. Now, JPL is responsible many of our unmanned missions. Unfortunately, they are on tight budgets but they do remarkable work.

Wow, who knew? DailyKos has more.

From MSNBC:

A NASA spacecraft plunged into the atmosphere of Mars and landed in the Red Planet’s northern polar region on Sunday to begin 90 days of digging in the permafrost to look for evidence of the building blocks of life.

Cheers swept through Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory when the touchdown signal from the Phoenix Mars Lander was detected after a nail-biting descent. (more…)

Tags: NASA, Science by ecthompson
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I couldn’t help myself. When I saw the article, I knew that I had to post it. Unfortunately, reading the article will not made you a better lover or more attractive to the opposite sex. It will just make you a little more knowledgeable about the physiology of sex.

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From LAT:

AS they seek to document and demystify one of life’s great thrills, scientists have run across some real head-scratchers.

How, for example, can they explain the fact that some men and women who are paralyzed and numb below the waist are able to have orgasms?

How to explain the “orgasmic auras” that can descend at the onset of epileptic seizures — sensations so pleasurable they prompt some patients to refuse antiseizure medication? (more…)

Tags: Healthcare, Science by ecthompson
1 Comment »

The portion of the Earth covered by tropics has expanded since 1979 and will continue to expand as the world warms.

From the BBC article—

While geographers define “The Tropics” rigidly as the region between 23.5 degrees North and 23.5 degrees South, to atmospheric scientists it is a more variable zone marked by features such as the jet stream and the circulation known as Hadley cells.

On these measures, the tropics have expanded since the era of reliable satellite observation began in 1979.

“The edges of the tropical belt are the outer boundaries of the subtropical dry zones, and their poleward shift could lead to fundamental shifts in ecosystems and in human settlements,” the researchers write in the journal Nature Geoscience.

“Shifts in precipitation patterns would have obvious implications for agriculture and water resources, and could present serious hardships in marginal areas.”

As is the case in so many aspects of life, the poor will bear many of the most difficult burdens of this climate change.

[Read more →]

Tags: Environment, Science by Texas Liberal
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Now, this is totally cool. A dinosaur found with muscle and skin intact. Although I studied dinosaurs in Geology a long time ago, I couldn’t remember what a hadrosaur was. So, I looked it up.From Paleodirect:
Hadrosaurs were the most common, varied, and well-adapted ornithopod (bird-hipped) dinosaurs. The group probably evolved in central Asia and by the Late Cretaceous Period, had spread all over the lands of the northern hemisphere, migrating across a land bridge that existed at that time connecting Asia to North America. From there, the group moved eastward again to Europe. Remains of a certain type have even been found in southern Argentina, believed to be from a migration from North America across a volcanic island chain that once existed. (more…)
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From WaPo:

A high school student hunting fossils in the badlands of his native North Dakota discovered an extremely rare mummified dinosaur that includes not just bones but also seldom seen fossilized soft tissue such as skin and muscles, scientists will announce today.

The 25-foot-long hadrosaur found by Tyler Lyson in an ancient river flood plain in the dinosaur-rich Hell Creek Formation is apparently the most complete and best preserved of the half-dozen mummified dinosaurs unearthed since early in the last century, they said.Much scientific investigation remains to be done, and no peer-reviewed studies of it have yet been published, but the discovery appears to be yielding tantalizing new clues about the size, body mechanics and appearance of the reptilian beasts that ruled the Earth millions of years ago, said paleontologists studying the specimen.  (more…) 

Tags: Science by ecthompson
1 Comment »

I have written on stem cell research several times.  I have supported stem cell research.  I have written about stem cell research in my book, A Letter to America.  This break through is very exciting BUT we have had breakthroughs before that haven’t worked out.  We had the South Korean scientist that reported a huge breakthrough in stem cell research only later did we find out that he fudged the data.  The reason that I believe that this isn’t another venture into left field is that 2 different research groups using 2 different methods have the same results.  Skins cells have been made to act like embryonic stem cells.

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From WaPo:

Researchers in Wisconsin and Japan said yesterday that they have turned ordinary human skin cells into what are effectively embryonic stem cells without using embryos or women’s eggs — the previously essential ingredients that have embroiled the medically promising field in a nearly decade-long political and ethical debate.

The ability to turn adult cells into embryo-like ones capable of morphing into virtually every kind of cell or tissue, described in two scientific journal articles yesterday, has been a major goal of researchers for years. In theory, it would allow people to grow personalized replacement parts for their bodies from their skin cells and give researchers a powerful means of understanding and treating diseases.  (more…)

 

 Stem Cell breakthrough [2:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Medical Ethics/Issues, Science by ecthompson
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He’s old and older folks tend to say what’s on their mind. James Watson part of the famous team of Watson and Crick who described the DNA Helix has retired as Chancellor of a Long Island Lab after his racial remarks.

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From NYT:

James D. Watson, the eminent biologist who ignited an uproar last week with remarks about the intelligence of people of African descent, retired today as chancellor of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island and from its board.

In a statement, he noted that, at 79, he is “overdue” to surrender leadership positions at the lab, which he joined as director in 1968 and served as president until 2003. But he said the circumstances of his resignation “are not those which I could ever have anticipated or desired.”

Dr. Watson, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for describing the double-helix structure of DNA, and later headed the American government’s part in the international Human Genome Project, was quoted in The Times of London last week as suggesting that, overall, people of African descent are not as intelligent as people of European descent. In the ensuing uproar, he issued a statement apologizing “unreservedly” for the comments, adding “there is no scientific basis for such a belief.” (more…)

Tags: Race, Science by ecthompson
3 Comments »

Sorry, as far as I know you can’t transplant or inject a skin gene into a fat person.

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From my Alma mater, UT Southwestern:

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that a single gene might control whether or not individuals tend to pile on fat, a discovery that may point to new ways to fight obesity and diabetes.

“From worms to mammals, this gene controls fat formation,” said Dr. Jonathan Graff, associate professor of developmental biology and internal medicine at UT Southwestern and senior author of a study appearing in the Sept. 5 issue of Cell Metabolism. “It could explain why so many people struggle to lose weight and suggests an entirely new direction for developing medical treatments that address the current epidemic of diabetes and obesity. (more…)

 

 Skinny Gene [1:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Healthcare, Science by ecthompson
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Really cool vid on lightning. I love science.

 

 National Geographic - Lightening [5:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Environment, Science by ecthompson
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This lady in Sweden has the sweetest high speed connection in the world.  It makes my “high speed” cable modem look retardedly slow. 

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From CNN.com:

She is a latecomer to the information superhighway, but 75-year-old Sigbritt Lothberg is now cruising the Internet with a dizzying speed.

Lothberg’s 40 gigabits-per-second fiber-optic connection in Karlstad is believed to be the fastest residential uplink in the world, Karlstad city officials said.

In less than 2 seconds, Lothberg can download a full-length movie on her home computer — many thousand times faster than most residential connections, said Hafsteinn Jonsson, head of the Karlstad city network unit.  (more…)

Tags: Science by ecthompson
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As a trauma surgeon, I can tell you that the trauma community was stoked about Richard Carmona being named Surgeon General. I remember posts to trauma discussion groups talking about Carmona helping the trauma and EMS community. Many trauma folks saw research money coming our way. NOT!! It didn’t happen. As a matter of fact. Really, nothing happened that I’m aware of. Well, yesterday, Dr. Carmona spoke out against the Bush administration’s anti-science agenda.

 

 Carmona speaks out [1:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Bush Administration, Science by ecthompson
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Please.  We spent money on this.  Clearly, the first born is the smartest.

 

 1st Born [2:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Science by ecthompson
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I’m sorry this sounds to good to be true.  We make embryonic stem cells without embryos?  I have to see more research before I jump on this band wagon.

 

 Creating Stem Cells [3:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Science by ecthompson
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Well I guess there are no more excuses.  No more excuses from men or women.  New study suggest that men and women get aroused at the same rate. 

Tags: Science by ecthompson
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Pluto is a planet no more.  This was a big discussion topic when I was in astronomy class in high school (in the 70’s)!  It is simply a big rock in space.  An astroid.  more 

Tags: Fun, Science by ecthompson
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