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Battling the Red Queen (2)
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The Bird's Brain (3) permalink
The Red Queen has to keep running just to stay in the same place. In the same vein, drug development for infectious diseases has to constantly keep on its toes. Infectious disease sources, like some bacteria, can evolve resistance to our drugs, and when that happens we need new drugs to maintain our effective battle against the threat to our health. But, is there a way to get around this process of evolution - to ...Shared by Gord (61) RapidEye (34)Comment View comments -
Our Toyota Freakout (1)
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True/Slant Network Activity (20) permalink
Image by Getty Images via Daylife With the nation freaking out about runaway Toyotas, how dangerous are they really? How much of the danger is just our availability bias run amok? Well, the buggy vehicles increase the risk of driving, according to Carnegie Mellon University Professor Paul Fischbeck, a risk expert, by about 2 percent. So, would it just be safer to walk?: “Replacing driving by walking really increases the risk of dying,” Fischbeck said. ...Shared by rzklkng (309)Comment View comments -
Another earthquake, but not more earthquakes (1)
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Boing Boing (3425) permalink
Haiti, Chile, Turkey, Chile (again). There've been a lot of earthquakes lately. But scientists say there haven't been more earthquakes lately. Tremors are, and have always been, common. On average, per year, you can expect one 8.0 or above quake, 17 quakes between 7 and 7.9, and 130-odd quakes between 6.0 and 6.9. One thing that has risen: Death tolls. But scientists say that increase has more to do with economic conditions that drive people ...Shared by Marty (17)Comment View comments -
The effects of gold-medal hockey on Edmonton, Canada water usage (4)
onI feel a great disturbance in the public utility, as if millions of bladders cried out, and were suddenly silenced. Pats Papers: What If Everybody in Canada Flushed at Once? (Thanks, Christina!)Comment View comments
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Are You A Tetrachromat? (1)
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The Presurfer (18) permalink
Look at the three circles above. If all you see are three circles filled with dots of the same color, you are normal. If you see something different (such as different colored letters inside each circle) you may be a tetrachromat: very rare and super human.A tetrachromat is sort of like being a super taster of color vision. To date, only two or three people have been identified as potential tetrachromats. You might be one.The ...Shared by Jennifer (41)Comment View comments -
A Rogue Star May Be Roaming Our System (1)
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Softpedia News - Science (12) permalink
Experts believe that the possibility of another star existing within our solar system may not be as remote as initially thought. Experts believe that a dark body, several times the mass of Jupiter, may be making its way through our surroundings, at times kicking comets within the inner solar system. The body, called “Nemesis” or “The Deat... (read more)Shared by Chris (291)Comment View comments -
The Fallacy of Irreducible Complexity (1)
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Don't Feed the Animals (2) permalink
There's a term floating about that I have an epistemological problem with: irreducible complexity. The premise of this phrase is that the modern biological systems that make up our bodies and those in nature are too complex to have happened "by chance." To me, the use of this argument represents a lack of understanding of many different concepts: chaos, evolution, time, probability and history. Funny enough, these are the very subjects I've been studying over ...Shared by ngl (7)Comment View comments -
DIY: Make Your Own LEDs (1)
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GEARFUSE (8) permalink
And all you’ll need is a few things laying around the house. You know, the usual – 9v batteries, needles.. *ahem* silicon carbide crystals *ahem*, all easily accessible stuff. In all honesty though you apparently can pick up silicon carbide crystals easily enough from eBay. And if you’re really in a pinch you can even use sandpaper, which is made out of a similar material but will likely only give off a faint glow. You ...Shared by Anski (29)Comment View comments -
Publicada en Nature: Primera verificación a escala cosmológica de la teoría de la gravedad de Einstein (1)
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Francis (th)E mule Science's News (10) permalink
Comparación entre observaciones experimentales y teóricas para el nuevo parámetro cosmológico (izq.) obtenido tras un análisis de los datos de galaxias del Sloan Digital Sky Survey. (C) Nature La cosmología moderna se basa en el supuesto de que la relatividad general es una teoría válida de la gravedad a escalas cosmológicas. Un artículo publicado en Nature presenta la primera confirmación de la teoría de la gravedad de Einstein, la relatividad general, en escalas mucho más ...Shared by Gebla (15)Comment View comments -
Dating Science – The three speeds of male dating (1)
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The Wed or Dead Wager (2) permalink
Toast Yes it’s been quiet of late. The reason being that I haven’t seen the Fez because of work and currently I don’t really want to see anyone else. I know this is a dangerous tactic, but I am a fool, it’s a defining characteristic. Anyway. Biscuit and I were talking about girls and things and we realised that men have three speeds or modes when it comes to dating. 1) I Wouldn’t touch you ...Shared by Tom (9)Comment View comments -
Human Subway Map (3)
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Cool Hunting (65) permalink
Good Magazine highlights a new illustration from Sam Loman that incorporates subway design into a map of the human body. The body shows urinary, digestive, arterial and respiratory lines, among many others, with stops at the liver, kidneys and more. The biggest transfer point is, of course, the heart. Check out the visual at Good.Comment View comments -
Fat is a flavor? (3)
onResearchers at Australia's Deakin University have published a paper in the British Journal of Nutrition showing evidence that human beings can taste fat -- that is, they can distinguish between two flavourless solutions in which one has more fat than the other. I believe that this is true -- and that fat can offset bitterness the same way that sweet can. For example, raw cacao nibs mixed with cashew nuts taste sweet and chocolatey. "We ...Comment View comments
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Fat is a flavor? (3)
onResearchers at Australia's Deakin University have published a paper in the British Journal of Nutrition showing evidence that human beings can taste fat -- that is, they can distinguish between two flavourless solutions in which one has more fat than the other. I believe that this is true -- and that fat can offset bitterness the same way that sweet can. For example, raw cacao nibs mixed with cashew nuts taste sweet and chocolatey. "We ...Comment View comments
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IBM Develops Infinitely Recyclable Plant-Based Plastic [Plastics] (5)
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Gizmodo (3833) permalink
Earlier this week, IBM researchers announced a discovery that could lead to plastics made from plants instead of petroleum. The new plastics will be more energy efficient, more versatile, and infinitely recyclable (until we move to our space colony). More »Comment View comments -
Genomes of whole family sequenced (1)
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The Guardian World News (133) permalink
Sequencing the genomes of every family member gives researchers a powerful new tool for tracking down the defective genes that cause inherited diseasesAn American family has become the first to have the entire genome of each member mapped to identify the causes of rare diseases that affect the children.The family of four is unusual because the parents are healthy but both son and daughter have two rare inherited medical conditions that cause facial and limb ...Shared by cgsheldon (45)Comment View comments -
Bill Gates’ hurricane-busting tubeships are real, people (1)
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CrunchGear (448) permalink
Last year, I wrote that Bill had this (let’s be honest) evil-genius style plan to weaken hurricanes before they make landfall. Sounded a bit fantastical at the time, but as it turns out, there are real scientists ready to rock and roll with these things. They’re so serious they even put together a video. The idea is really pretty simple: by pumping warm surface water to the cool depths of the ocean, the temperature at ...Shared by cbsmith (61)Comment View comments -
Free Energy and the Meaning of Life (4)
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Cosmic Variance (11) permalink
When we think about the “meaning of life,” we tend to conjure ideas such as love, or self-actualization, or justice, or human progress. It’s an anthropocentric view; try to convince blue-green algae that self-actualization is some sort of virtue. Let’s ask instead why “life,” as a biological concept, actually exists. That is to say: we know that entropy increases as the universe evolves. But why, on the road from the simple and low-entropy early universe ...Comment View comments -
Black Penguin (2)
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clusterflock (90) permalink
King Penguins are notorious for their prim, tuxedoed appearance — but a recently discovered all-black penguin seems unafraid to defy convention. In what has been described as a “one in a zillion kind of mutation,” biologists say that the animal has lost control of its pigmentation, an occurrence that is extremely rare. Other than the penguin’s monochromatic outfit, the animal appears to be perfectly healthy — and then some. “Look at the size of those ...Shared by Ninoo (185) Phreak (141)Comment View comments -
National Geographic’s Great Sperm Race (1)
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Laughing Squid (232) permalink
image by Jeremy Benning, National Geographic We really wish we could have been a fly on the wall when “Sizing Up Sperm” — a human re-enactment of fertilization — was pitched in the esteemed offices at National Geographic. Regardless of how the idea was hatched, the results are stunning and the program airs this Sunday, March 14. In it, people dressed in all white literally act out the role of sperm in the race to ...Shared by Dave (5)Comment View comments -
Absurdly Simple Ocean Pumps Could Thwart Hurricanes [Science] (4)
onIn yet more research funded by Bill and Melinda Gates (and Intellectual Ventures), Stanford University's Ken Caldeira explores a mechanically simple ocean pump that could significantly diminish the power of a hurricane. More »Comment View comments
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