Cool Links

Microbiologist Dr. Alex Berezow On Genetic Modification And Its Benefits

Microbiologist Dr. Alex Berezow On Genetic Modification And Its Benefits

Mar 01 2011 | comment(s)

RealClearScience Editor and Science 2.0 fave Dr. Alex Berezow does a Science Cafe on genetic modification.  

Using humor and great examples, he punctures the anti-science hysteria surrounding GMOs in this video presentation, including the history and its benefits and concerns.    His endorsement of Wikipedia as a science source is suspect but otherwise we are right there with him.

Take a look:

The Road To Discovery & Why Researchers Stay Awake

The Road To Discovery & Why Researchers Stay Awake

Mar 01 2011 | comment(s)

Why would a researcher spend long nights for little money in search of the hopelessly obscure?   
Grassroots Archaeology Conference

Grassroots Archaeology Conference

Mar 01 2011 | comment(s)

Never heard of Blankaholm, a small village on the Baltic coast of Sweden between Kalmar and Västervik?   Okay, I hadn't either.   But this weekend was the fourth annual Blankaholm conference on Swedish east coast archaeology.

Grassroots archaeology conferences certainly have a Science 2.0 feel to them and for that, Swedish archaeologist Dr. Martin Rundkvist gets to be a cool link for bringing it to everyone's attention.
Too Smart To Play Football In The NFL?

Too Smart To Play Football In The NFL?

Feb 28 2011 | comment(s)

It seems to make sense that if you have what they call 'football instincts' and an ability to memorize plays you can be successful in the NFL regardless of IQ.

That doesn't mean general managers, who are risking a lot of money and so have to make the safest choices they can make, agree - if a player is too smart.

 Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy scored twice the average of NFL quarterbacks on the Wonderlic test the NFL uses.  And it may cost him positioning in the draft.

Is Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy too smart for the NFL? - ScienceAndSupermodels.com
Telomerase can reverse the aging process... sort of

Telomerase can reverse the aging process... sort of

Feb 28 2011 | comment(s)

Biologists are, at long last, beginning to understand the molecular processes responsible for aging in complex (multicellular) organisms – and to investigate ways to counteract these processes.

There is now research that shows in a  special case, telomerase reactivation reverses tissue degeneration in aged telomerase-deficient mice.

Charles Daney at scienceandreason.blogspot.com has the best overview of this study you will read today.
What Polygamists And Fruit Flies Share In Common

What Polygamists And Fruit Flies Share In Common

Feb 28 2011 | comment(s)

A biologist has determined that a harem lifestyle was bad for a female rate of reproduction.   

Mormon leader Brigham Young had 55 wives and conceived 56 children before he died in 1877. His followers had similar polygamous marriages.   But scientists have now uncovered an odd fact about 19th-century Mormons: the more women in a household, the lower the average birthrate. In other words, the more sister-wives a Mormon woman had, the fewer children she was likely to produce.
The Darker Side Of Essay Scoring In Standardized Tests

The Darker Side Of Essay Scoring In Standardized Tests

Feb 28 2011 | comment(s)

Standardized tests are important - every child in America takes them.   But what about scoring essays?   

Though the efficacy of standardized testing has been hotly debated for decades, one thing has become crystal clear: It's big business.   The companies that create and score tests saw profits skyrocket. In 2009, K-12 testing was estimated to be a $2.7 billion industry.

Jessica Lussenhop at CityPages uncovers some of the seedier side of essay scoring in standardized tests; under-qualified people filling a quota, making them rushed for time, and more.
Traveling Through Time to the Old Time Apothecary Shops

Traveling Through Time to the Old Time Apothecary Shops

Feb 28 2011 | comment(s)

The apothecary dates back not just to Colonial Times as some may think. The first mention of an apothecary actually dates back to the time of Moses (as mentioned in the Book of Exodus).

However, in the 19th century, the old time apothecary started to fade away and became what we know of today as the pharmacist. Although we can still get medicines, ointments and various tinctures from our local pharmacist, there will always be something intriguing, mysterious and awe-inspiring about the apothecary and his shop. Don’t you agree? Just take a look at some of these old time apothecary shops.


The Anti-Prius - 50% Of You Secretly Want This Car

The Anti-Prius - 50% Of You Secretly Want This Car

Feb 26 2011 | comment(s)

Yes, yes, we all care about the environment, though sociological studies show we mostly care about the environment when it comes to the behavior of others.  Example: If you are an earnest writer on climate change you will fly to a climate conference because the value of the personal relationship building versus watching the proceedings is more - and if you can inject yourself with a placebo like buying carbon offsets, so much the better.   Then you will write an article telling business people to use WebEx.
WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Can Be Extradited

WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Can Be Extradited

Feb 24 2011 | comment(s)

A British judge has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden for questioning over allegations of sexual misconduct.    Assange later said to send him to a foreign land where he does not speak the language or understand the judicial system "is a very grave matter", though he moved to England from Sweden when authorities wanted to question him so why it is suddenly a 'foreign land' to him is unclear.

Assange is from Australia and virtually every Swede speaks English so they should be able to understand each other.   One of Assange's attorneys said he will appeal the decision.
Three Theories of Planet Formation Busted

Three Theories of Planet Formation Busted

Feb 23 2011 | comment(s)

The more new planets we find, and the tally of confirmed planets orbiting other stars is now more than 500, the less we seem to know about how planetary systems are born.

We're heading for a golden age of discovery, says Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley in National Geographic, but that bonanza has been a headache for theoreticians because many of the newly discovered star systems defy existing models of how planets form.

The eight planets of our solar system all have roughly circular orbits, and models of planet-forming disks suggest most other star systems should be the same.

In reality, though, only about one in three of the known exoplanets has a circular or near-circular orbit.
Astronomy Club Restores Telescope From 1847

Astronomy Club Restores Telescope From 1847

Feb 23 2011 | comment(s)

An 1847 Merz and Mahler telescope got some love from a Missouri astronomy club and now local people can take a look at the stars they way scientists did the year Thomas Edison was born.   Fun fact - it operates with a falling weight clockwork mechanism, meaning that without any electrical power a mechanism inside the telescope turns at the exact same speed as the rotation of the Earth, keeping the object in the lens in view for up to 45 minutes.


Olfaction Controversy - Flies Sniff Out Heavy Hydrogen

Olfaction Controversy - Flies Sniff Out Heavy Hydrogen

Feb 21 2011 | comment(s)

Fruitflies (Drosophila melanogaster) can smell the difference between hydrogen and its heavier counterpart, deuterium, according to recent research, which they say offers support for a controversial hypothesis of how olfaction works - namely that odorants are identified not according to molecular shape, but by their atomic vibrations.

The flies can also be conditioned by electric-shock treatment to exhibit aversion to either form of the molecule, and the researchers say that shows they can clearly distinguish between them. 
Former Taliban Town Shows Big Gains

Former Taliban Town Shows Big Gains

Feb 20 2011 | comment(s)

Girls in schools, wheat crops instead of poppy?  This ain't your daddy's Afghanistan.   

No one believed meaningful change in Afghanistan would happen over night but, as in Japan and Germany and Korea, the longer the US stays and makes people who like democracy feel safe, the more gains there will be.    Though the cost is obviously quite high.

Marjah is a good example of what will be.   Obviously some there remain skeptical.  "If the Marines left, the Taliban would be back in two weeks," said Sidar Mohammad, the 25-year-old owner of a bakery in Marjah's Loy Chareh market.
Genome Uncertainy Principle? Biologists May Contaminate DNA

Genome Uncertainy Principle? Biologists May Contaminate DNA

Feb 17 2011 | comment(s)

In physics, it is sometimes the case that the act of observation changes the thing being observed.  While it isn't that extreme in biology, a study in PLoS One may mean a genome biologists think is accurate may not be so.

Up to 20 percent of the nonhuman genomes they examined were contaminated with human DNA, they say, a discovery they made while looking for a human virus.   They found so much human-looking DNA in nonhuman genomes that they did a specific search for the common human sequence AluY, which occurs one million times in the human genome.   It could be skin.
Scientists May Have Accidentally Found Baldness Cure

Scientists May Have Accidentally Found Baldness Cure

Feb 17 2011 | comment(s)

They were researching stress, but we might be able to add 'cured baldness' to the list of unexpected discoveries found using basic research.

As they wrote in PLoS One, a team led by researchers from UCLA and the Veterans Administration was investigating how stress affects gastrointestinal function but may have found a chemical compound that induces hair growth by blocking a stress-related hormone associated with hair loss — entirely by accident.

Except it's only in mice.  So we will have fewer bald mice, at least.
What is this massive, hidden object in space?

What is this massive, hidden object in space?

Feb 17 2011 | comment(s)

You know how you sometimes can sense that something is present even though you can't see it? Well, astronomers are getting that feeling about a giant, hidden object in space.   
Revealed: The Secret Recipe For Coca-Cola

Revealed: The Secret Recipe For Coca-Cola

Feb 15 2011 | comment(s)

The This American Life radio program claims it has found the secret recipe for Coca-Cola in an old (well, relatively speaking) newspaper article, published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1979.
Magnetricity: Monopole-like magnetic charges behave much like electricity

Magnetricity: Monopole-like magnetic charges behave much like electricity

Feb 15 2011 | comment(s)


Electricity has a new little sister: magnetricity.

A team of physicists in England has created magnetic charges — isolated north and south magnetic poles — and induced them to flow in crystals no bigger than a centimeter across. These moving magnetic charges, which behave almost exactly like electrical charges flowing through batteries and biological systems, could one day be useful in developing “magnetronic” devices — though what such devices would do is anybody’s guess.

Read ScienceNews for the full story.