February 12, 2006
churches celebrate darwin's birthday
As Wallace would say, "Happy Birthday, Chuck!":
Nearly 450 Christian churches around the country plan to celebrate the 197th birthday of Charles Darwin on Sunday with programs and sermons intended to emphasize that his theory of biological evolution is compatible with faith and that Christians have no need to choose between religion and science.
January 08, 2006
Scopes Monkey Trial, Take 2
Same topic, same outcome. Just a bit less hullabaloo this time. And I think we all need to become card carrying members of the ACLU!
November 28, 2005
Where the porpoises and dolphins play....
This could also be categorized under Things That Make Deana Happy.
November 22, 2005
news flash: cuddling babies is good
It's an obvious one, but it's good to see the science being done. A Daily Mail article says that recent studies have shown increased levels of oxytocin and arginine vasopressin, hormones involved in social bonding, in children who were held, cuddled, and otherwise lavished with love and attention as babies. The hope is that this research will help to understand why orphaned children have trouble bonding with adoptive families, with the possibility of developing a treatment.
October 27, 2005
Brontosaurus theory and intelligent design
October 18, 2005
intelligent design and sloppy journalism
Is it just me, or is this Washington Post article on the intelligent design trial completely lacking in journalistic rigor? It sounds more like a press release for Michael J. Behe, the pseudoscientist who testified yesterday. It's not so much bias as an apathy toward really determining how the scientific community views intelligent design.
October 14, 2005
black holes help stars form
According to recent observations by the Chandra Observatory, the black hole at the center of our galaxy has been shown to provide a safe and even nurturing environment for the formation of stars. This may indicate that black holes play more than just a destructive role in the evolution of the universe.
September 30, 2005
the family of tool users is growing
Chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and even some birds have been shown to use (and sometimes even fashion) tools in the wild, for a variety of purposes. The latest find is that gorillas use tools in the wild, which means that there isn't a great ape that doesn't use tools.
As much as the world hates to think this, it's becoming more and more obvious that the difference between humans and other animals is one of degree, not of kind. We haven't developed some innate difference, we just happen to have found a runaway combination of existing qualities like social networks, tool use, and language.
August 17, 2005
"Intelligent Falling"
May the Designer bless the wisdom that is The Onion.
July 06, 2005
charles darwin has a posse
...or at least there are Charles Darwin has a posse stickers available. Share and enjoy.
May 26, 2005
Thing one
I have a new favorite thing to think about: chimerism. The Discovery Health Channel ran this documentary last week:
I Am My Own Twin - Thursday, May 19, 10-11m e/p In this riveting documentary, cameras follow the stories of individuals who were born with an extraordinarily rare condition. Sometimes in early pregnancy, two embryos fuse together creating one fetus in the womb resulting in a baby with two distinct sets of DNA. In the most severe cases, this can result in a person who is half black and half white, has different colored eyes, and has split male and female genitals. These babies are called Chimeras, after the Greek mythological being who is a hybrid of three different life forms.
What I want to know is how do people who believe human life begins at conception deal with two fertilized eggs becoming one person?
Thing two
The twentieth century is 'nothing but a theory'
May 25, 2005
evolution update
A county in Georgia is following a court order to remove evolution 'disclaimers' from science textbooks . I'm glad to hear that, because it indicates that someone, somewhere is being a bit more reasonable about this.
For those looking for more science ammo in this fight, Scientific American has an excellent list of answers to creationist nonsense. It answers the most common creationist (or "Intelligent Design") misconceptions in a clear, decisive fashion. Yay, science!
UPDATE: Scientific American seems to have moved the article behind their Wall of Subscription, so here are a couple alternate links if you're still interested in reading the whole thing.
May 06, 2005
cosmetology is not a science
Note to self: don't move to Kansas.
The first [proposal] recommends that students continue to be taught the theory of evolution because it is key to understanding biology. The other proposes that Kansas alter the definition of science, not limiting it to theories based on natural explanations.
"Part of our overall goal is to remove the bias against religion that is in our schools," said William Harris, a chemist who was the first witness to speak yesterday on behalf of changing the state's curriculum.
I'm personally in favor of teaching the "supernatural theory" that magical pixies inhabit my television and whisper messages to me while they put on fanciful light shows to lull me into a stupor. Perhaps I should write a textbook.
If you're getting tired of this debate (I am), you might like the Fafblog version instead. Ah, humor... eases the pain...
April 13, 2005
I want I want I want!
Not a very good title for this, but true! I will save my money so I can learn about my genetic ancestors with National Geographic's "National Genographic" project. Oh, this is so neat. Oh, I am such a dork.
Oh! It's neat!
March 18, 2005
13 things that do not make sense
Want to become the next big name in science? It's easy: solve one of these nagging questions and you're almost guaranteed a Nobel prize.
I particularly like number 4, the effects of homeopathy. I actually use homeopathic remedies, and some of them have worked well. I just try not to dwell on the official explanation of why they work. (Bonus points for answering both 1 and 4 with the same theory.)
February 23, 2005
fun with gizmos
Just you wait 'til Ben is old enough...
Science Toys You Can Make With Your Kids
January 18, 2005
stars hidden in plain sight
Who says that beauty can't be truth, that art can't be science? It seems that a scientist at LSU has found the long-lost sky catalog of Hipparchus in plain sight. Specifically, it's on a statue called the Famese Atlas, a depiction of Atlas holding up the sky. Apparently the sculptor used one of Hipparchus' catalogs to lay out the constellations on the 7-foot statue's globe, with enough accuracy that the sky depicted can be dated to within 50 years.
December 17, 2004
2004 science highlights
Scientific proof that water once flowed on Mars has been voted the breakthrough of the year according to journal Science.
Runners-up included Homo floresiensis, human embryo clones, and declining diversity. Yay, scientists!
November 12, 2004
on natural philosophers
New Scientist has a beautiful interview with Benoit Mandelbrot, who discovered the Mandelbrot set and brought fractals to the masses. It's refreshing to see someone with such history and brilliance at the same time. Mandelbrot is 80 years old, yet he's still pursuing revolutionary branches of mathematics.
[I am] A mathematical scientist. It's the official name of my chair at Yale and it was chosen with care. It is deliberately ambiguous. In a different era, I would have called myself a natural philosopher. All my life, I have enjoyed the reputation of being someone who disrupted prevailing ideas. Now that I'm in my 80th year, I can play on my age and provoke people even more.
I have a personal fondness for Mandelbrot because the idea behind fractals -- complex forms emerging from a simple function recursively applied and geometrically expressed -- provides a compelling reason why it's possible for us to understand the workings of a complex Universe at all. It doesn't have to be just randomness out there. We can discern patterns that may turn out to be simple and elegant, even when they are capable of infinite variety.
November 11, 2004
reason and "balance"
The Columbia Journalism Review has a thought-provoking article on media coverage of science, specifically the role of "balance" in determining the journalistic merit of a science article. This has been on my mind lately, since public perception of scientific topics like climate change, medicine, and evolution is so crucial to making sound decisions.
October 27, 2004
cul-de-sac
From Yahoo News, via Deana: "In a breathtaking discovery, scientists working on a remote Indonesian island say they have uncovered the bones of a human dwarf species marooned for eons while modern man rapidly colonized the rest of the planet."
I love it when we discover puzzling new evidence. Whatever the explanation turns out to be, the process of learning such extraordinary new things is worth it all by itself.
"This hobbit-sized creature appears to have lived as recently as 18,000 years ago on the island of Flores, a kind of tropical Lost World populated by giant lizards and miniature elephants."
You just know that writers wait for opportunities like these...
September 18, 2004
Ethics and Embryos
I'm in favor of stem cell research, but it's interesting to see how various fertility clinics deal with embryos that go unused. This is apparently not something taken lightly.
September 08, 2004
Rock and Roll, Baby!
We had a small shake up today as I was sitting in our winemaker's second story office in Yountville. Yep, we looked up at each other stupidly, mouths ajar -- such a useful reaction!!
However, the happy result is that I discovered this awesome website for the USGS! It had the quake posted within minutes of the event. Plus it has maps and all kinds of geeky fun (including a "Did You Feel It?" submit your story page).
September 03, 2004
New hope for nuclear?
They may be on our dirty words list, but recent articles on fission and cold fusion might signal a new age for nuclear power. Most interesting to me is the idea of a pebble bed reactor or cold fusion bottle providing megawatts of power to Mars missions and other weight-conscious applications without having to compromise on environmental security.
Having been burned by the original hype about both Our Bold Atomic Future and cold fusion, I'll admit I'm skeptical. It's now the responsibility of nuclear proponents to show that these technologies are safer and more effective than existing alternative energy sources. Good luck to them.
September 02, 2004
Educational Videos for Animals?
Some of you know of my interest in Susan McCarthy's, Becoming a Tiger: How Baby Animals Larn to Live in the Wild (that link is to a great blog entry about one of her book signings in San Diego). McCarthy worries that humans will never be able to teach captive-raised animals natural behaviors. Well, according to the BBC, San Diego native Hua Mei got pregnant and gave birth to twins after watching panda sex on-screen. I wonder if animals can actually learn things this way?
July 21, 2004
Contagious yawning
Apparently chimps are subject to contagious yawning just like humans.
The team played videos of chimps either yawning or exhibiting other open-mouth behaviours such as grinning to six adult chimps and three infants at the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University in Japan.
...They argue that their figure of 33 per cent of adults showing contagious yawning compares well with humans since the chimps do not understand the purpose of the trial.
..."Our data suggest that contagious yawning is a by-product of the ability to conceive of yourself and to use your experience to make inferences about comparable experiences and mental states in others," Gallup told New Scientist.
June 10, 2004
Twilight bark revealed!
Deana sent this story from Yahoo! News:
German researchers have found a border collie named Rico who understands more than 200 words and can learn new ones as quickly as many children.
...The researchers found that Rico knows the names of dozens of play toys and can find the one called for by his owner.
...The border collie, a breed known primarily for its herding ability, was able to go to the room with the toys and, seven times out of 10, bring back the one he had not seen before.
..."Apparently he was able to link the novel word to the novel item based on exclusion learning, either because he knew that the familiar items already had names or because they were not novel," said the researchers.
May 03, 2004
Intelligence to Crow Over
You may remember from a couple of years ago that scientists accidentally found that a crow (specifically a female crow) had tool-making capabilities that suggested very strong reasoning. While digging up more info on this for one of my classes, I came across a great site about it, which includes a Real Player video clip of Miss Betty the Crow doing her stuff. Yay!
April 27, 2004
Oh, that it were true
I was a big fan of the cold fusion idea when it first surfaced, because there's nothing quite as cool as a little bubbling generator providing gobs of energy. Of course, everyone knows it didn't work out, right? As it turns out, there may have been something to cold fusion after all. Now it looks like there's an effect there, but the combination of finicky equipment and incomplete theory is making it difficult to figure out exactly what's happening and how to make it happen reliably.
I'm glad that someone had the guts to continue with the research even after it became taboo; it really would be nice to know that *something* really happened there.
April 22, 2004
Mouse Sperm?
We don't need no stinkin' mouse sperm!
April 16, 2004
The Shape of Things
Folks have been trying to figure out the shape of the universe for a long time. Early answers included "a big tree" and "flat, supported by elephants on the back of a turtle". One of the latest ideas is a Picard topology, sort of a horn shape with a really long end.
I notice that the term "pringle" has replaced "saddle" when describing areas of negative curvature...
April 15, 2004
An Exercise
This probably won't make sense to anyone else, but I need to make a note reminding myself about something I thought about over lunch. (I always lose them otherwise, so maybe this will help me remember.) Read on if that kind of thing interests you.
Continue reading "An Exercise"
April 07, 2004
Those Hands, Those Eyes...That Coordination
I don't know why this pleases me - probably because so many traditionalists complain about the evils of videogames. But a new study shows video game playing is good for surgeons.
I love human adaptability.
March 06, 2004
Gay Culture Study
The American Association of Anthropologists recently came out with a statement on gay marriage.
KK, you should be proud of your people!
December 05, 2003
Oldest Male Anything Found
Um... welcome colymbosathon ecplecticos to the world. But don't stand too close. You know, I used to be intimidated by the Latin and/or Greek names scientists give to things. But after this, maybe the naming of things should be more closely regulated....
November 15, 2003
The Elegant Universe
As Strong Bad would say, "Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" It looks like PBS is offering the entirety of a NOVA series on modern physics for online viewing. Even better, they're offering it in a good-quality QuickTime stream with closed-captioning!
Between this and the BBC's Reith Lecture series on the human brain, the future of public broadcasting online seems very promising.
November 08, 2003
Never Thought I'd Say This....
But credit where credit's due! Yay for Texas! And go science!
October 31, 2003
Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation
If you like your science saucy, be sure to check out this review of Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation. The book is Olivia Judson's fun look at the love lives of animals, insects, and other creatures -- from a very human perspective.
The horror, the horror!
Vampires and werewolves are real! I want to believe.
And a Happy Halloween, y'all.
October 30, 2003
This is so Indy
A 600-pound, 1200 year-old Mayan altar has been recovered from looters by the Guatemalan police and some "archeologists turned detective". Neat.
September 30, 2003
Does Religion Hold Back Science?
That's the argument made by the Michigan Freethought group. As evidence, one member pointed out this article about recent work restoring a palimpsest to its original form. Seems the scrolls held copies of a bunch of Archimedes' treatises and calculations originally, but some monks saw fit to rub and scrape those out and replace them with prayers in Greek. But with modern imaging techniques, we're getting it all back now... Yay!
Baby study links antibiotics to asthma
Disturbing news from a New Scientist article:
Babies given antibiotics during the first six months of their lives are far more likely to develop asthma, according to a US study. Why is not clear, but the team claims antibiotics might be partly responsible for the steady rise in asthma cases in western countries.
September 25, 2003
Motion and the Mind
This has nothing to do with anything, but I saw a few optical illusions today and had to share them.
Rolling circles
Whirling seeds
Spinning snakes
Are they moving? Look closer...
September 10, 2003
On a lighter, more musical note
I love that a black hole can be heard singing! Or maybe it's meditating, doing one long Om.
Talk to the animals
Hiya,
I'm working on a lecture about human language and its relationship to abstract thought and culture, and I wanted stuff on meerkat alarm calls for comparison's sake. I stumbled across this great site talking about animal behavior and communication in a number of arenas, all assembled for your reading pleasure. It has the overly simple title of "biology - animal behavior".
August 13, 2003
Yay for the Rajasaurus!
It's true! A newly discovered carnivorous dinosaur from India has been named the "Rajasaurus". It's fun...
July 03, 2003
Fun stuff!
I've been reading a lot about carbon nanotubes lately. (Specifically, I'm reading The Space Elevator, which is fascinating despite the sketchy writing style.) There seems to be no end to great uses for them, including bulletproof T-shirt fabric. And to think, we didn't even know they existed until a decade ago. Go nanotubes!
UPDATE: Deb noticed that I had the wrong link. It's been corrected.
June 11, 2003
Oldest human skulls found
May 21, 2003
More reasons to like tea
Apparently, black or green tea has antibacterial properties, especially against oral bacteria. Recent research has indicated that drinking tea may reduce the bacteria that cause bad breath. Of course, that doesn't take into account the sugar and milk I put in my black tea, but at least the unsweetened green stuff is doing me good. So drink up!
April 15, 2003
Parallel Universes
I'm not sure how big a grain of salt to take this with, but Scientific American has just published an overview article on the state of the art of parallel universes.
April 08, 2003
New hope for frozen zoos
The San Diego Zoo recently announced the first healthy clone of an endangered species, a Javan banteng. The clone is an early sign of success for the "frozen zoo" concept, where cells from endangered species are stored in hopes that cloned animals can be produced at a later time.
The process is still very inefficient, with 45 embryos and 30 cows required to give birth to a single banteng healthy enough to live past a few days. However, scientists at CRES are hoping that the process will provide greater genetic diversity to existing zoo populations.
April 01, 2003
British Company To Fly Manned Rocket Capsule
Whoo! Starchaser is going to unveil their manned capsule on Thursday. After some drop-and-retrieve tests, they're going to launch the one-man craft on their previously-tested NOVA II rocket, first unmanned and then with a test pilot. Cool stuff!
March 27, 2003
Sperm may 'sniff' their way to eggs
The Times (of London) writes: "Scientists from the Ruhr University in Germany and the University of California in Los Angeles have discovered a “chemical nose”, named hOR17-4, on sperm cells that allows them to sense high concentrations of a sperm- attracting substance called bourgeonal, which researchers believe works as a chemical road sign to mark the location of an egg."
Cool stuff. UPI has a good story about it.