January 15, 2008
Nokia researcher Jan Chipchase's investigation into the ways we interact with technology has led him from the villages of Uganda to the insides of our pockets. Along the way, he's made some unexpected discoveries: about the novel ways illiterate people interface with their cellphones, or the role…
January 15, 2008
You know that organisms develop, grow, and function in part because genes code for proteins that form the building blocks of life or that function as working bioactive molecules (like enzymes). You also know that most DNA is junk, only a couple percent actually coding for anything useful. Most…
January 15, 2008
The One Year Anniversary Edition is here, at the Infinite Sphere.
January 15, 2008
National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is drawing up plans for cyberspace spying that would make the current debate on warrantless wiretaps look like a "walk in the park," according to an interview published in the New Yorker's print edition today.
Read about it here.
January 15, 2008
New York City underwater ? CNC Breaking News - Aug 2051Uploaded by CNCNews
This is a promo for a new National Geographic documentary.
"Six Degrees Could Change the World explores the potential impacts of global warming degree-by-degree--through six degrees over the next hundred years. Filmed on…
January 15, 2008
We are seeing odd and mixed reports from Alaska, where it is said that perhap more than fifty eagles "dove into" a truck full of fish guts in the vicinity of Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. The fish guts were from Ocean Beauty Seafoods. Twenty eagles died during the incident, about 30 were…
January 15, 2008
While Duluth is having a balmy morning, just over 10F, here in the twin cities we are hovering a few below zero. Despite the cold, the ice is simply not as thick as people expect it to be. Bradley Erikson's truck went through the ice on Leech Lake last night. Bradley got out of the water but…
January 15, 2008
If you follow the creationist news stories from around the country, you get a lot of the same exact thing over and over again, and it is hard to identify the novel or persistent elements in the flow of information. But increasingly it is clear that Bill Foster of St. Petersburg Florida is somewhat…
January 14, 2008
Syphilis is first clearly seen in Europe in 1495, when it appeared as a plague (though it was not "the blague" ... Yersinia pestis) among Charles VIII's troops. When these troops went home shortly after the fall of Naples, they brought this disease with them, staring an epidemic. The level of…
January 14, 2008
In this hopeful talk, 2006 TED Prize winner Jehane Noujaim unveils her wish: a global acceptance of diversity, mediated through the power of film. The first step? Getting people to understand each other. In 2003, Noujaim gained access to both sides of the story of the Iraq war for her film Control…
January 14, 2008
In this bracingly honest and funny talk, international security strategist Thomas P.M. Barnett outlines a post-Cold War solution for the foundering US military: Break it in two. He suggests the military re-form into two groups: a Leviathan force, a small group of young and fierce soldiers capable…
January 14, 2008
The blog carnival, is here, at When Pigs Fly Returns.
January 14, 2008
This is big. Sim City, the really cool computer game simulation program, is open source as of now.
This past holiday (I've been bugging him since November about it) my good friend Don Hopkins got a lot of work done on the finishing touches on releasing the original SimCity source code under the…
January 14, 2008
There is a new baby orangutan born at the Como Zoo in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I mention this for the edification of my local readers (who probably already know about it) and not as a statement of support or opposition to zoos, orangutans, or babies.
Details, including photographs, here on Science…
January 13, 2008
Based on this, I'm voting for Dennis for Vice President.
January 13, 2008
The 2007 Darwin Awards are out, and can be found here. [hat tip Afarensis!]
I have no comment, except that I'm glad I'm not on them this year. And believe me, it was a close call.... Especially after what happened last night.
Remember the kitchen? Well, this weekend, it was electrical wire…
January 13, 2008
It is science fair season! Elmer's Inc is cranking out the three-part display boards, Office Max is stocking up on its colored paper and glue sticks, and thousands upon thousands of kids are working out the fine details of the hypothesis they want to test using an experiment that can be…
January 13, 2008
is Here, at Falando pelos Cotovelos
January 13, 2008
Indigo Girls
January 13, 2008
By now you all know about Bill Foster, an outgoing council member in St. Petersburg, Florida, who has very strong creationist leanings. Foster had written a widely cited letter linking Hitler and the Columbine shooters to Darwinism. I thought it would be fair to have the ENTIRE letter written by…
January 13, 2008
Cells do things (or stop doing things) because of internal homeostatic (or other) regulatory mechanisms, or because of communication with the "outside" via receptor sites located on the cell membrane. To get cells to do what we want (produce more or less of a hormone, for instance, or simply to…
January 13, 2008
It's a good one....
Jan 13
Horatio Alger born, 1834
Jan 13
Sophie Tucker born, 1884
Jan 13
Wilhelm Wien born, 1864, Nobel prize for blackbody radiation laws
Jan 13
Fellowship enters Moria
Jan 13
National Liberation Day in Togo
Jan 13
Eric Clapton plays the "Rainbow Concert" in London…
January 13, 2008
We are reminded, via Mousie Cat at Evolving in Kansas, that Yesterday (I'm so embarrassed I missed this) was Alfred Russel Wallace's birthday!
Wallace was born in 1823.
We should now clearly recognise the fact, that the wealth and knowledge and culture of the few do not constitute civilization…
January 12, 2008
Accepting his 2005 TED Prize, inventor Robert Fischell makes three wishes: redesigning a portable migraine treatment, finding new cures for clinical depression, and reforming the medical malpractice system. He also shares three new inventions that could improve the lives of millions: His Angel Med…
January 12, 2008
Florida has a purifying effect on politicians. Around the nation, there is a range of opinion among politicians about science education and other issues, but it seems that in Florida, we have a purified strain of politicians. They are pure idiots.
A likely future candidate for Mayor of St.…
January 12, 2008
Bill Stone, the maverick cave explorer who invented robots and dive equipment that have allowed him to plumb Earth's deepest abysses, explains his efforts to build a robot to explore Jupiter's moon Europa. The plan is to send the machine to bore through miles of ice and swim through a liquid…
January 12, 2008
A 14 year old kid in Lodz, Poland, modified a TV remote to control the public transit train system.
"He studied the trams and the tracks for a long time and then built a device that looked like a TV remote control and used it to manoeuvre the trams and the tracks," said Miroslaw Micor, a…
January 12, 2008
Armed with a backhoe and a handful of markers, Deborah Gordon studies ant colonies in the Arizona desert. She asks: How do these chitinous creatures get down to business -- and even multitask when they need to -- with no language, memory or visible leadership? Her answers could lead to a better…
January 12, 2008
Cooperation in nature is very common, and papers about how unlikely cooperation in nature would be are also common. Especially in Nature. (The Journal.)
The latest paper is nicely summarized in a press release from the University of Bristol:
Cooperative behaviour is common in many species,…
