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June 18, 2009
This method, if it pans out, could not only be clean, it could make the environment even cleaner. Jonathan Trent, the lead research scientist on the Spaceship Earth project at NASA Ames Research Center, has been working on a method to produce oil from algae.  Their Algal Biofuels Team appears to…
June 17, 2009
When I first heard about the American Medical Association (AMA) opposing Obama's health care reform, I was troubled.  I almost wrote a post about it, but by the time I got home, I found that others had beaten me to it.   href="http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/06/revolutionary_medicine.…
June 16, 2009
This is one of those "interesting, wonder if it'll ever pan out" studies.  So far it has been presented at a meeting, but not published.   The study was summarized in an article on Medpage Today (free registration): href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/APSS/14689#ayk">APSS:…
June 9, 2009
Market Folly writes of a new hedge fund strategy, and asks if there are any more ideas href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/141982-hedge-funds-latest-idea-investing-in-lawsuits">like this: We came across this interesting piece in Dealbook the other day and thought it was very intriguing.…
June 7, 2009
In 2008, we href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7574684.stm">were informed that a kind of cloud formation had been named: the mammatus formation, so-called because it resembles a breast.  Sort of.  Whatever. href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7574684.stm">…
June 3, 2009
Business Matters has posted interviews about the financial crisis.   these interviews provide a good overview of the origin of the crisis, plus some clues as to where we are headed.  The first interview is with href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Craig_Roberts">Paul Craig Roberts.  Roberts…
June 1, 2009
Some may recall Brodmann Area 25 (a part of the brain also known as the subgenual area or area subgenualis).  It was mentioned by Orli Van Mourik ( id="a028464" href="http://scienceblogs.com/neurontic/2006/08/much_ado_about_area_25.php">Much Ado About Area 25) in 2006, and by me in 2008 ( href="…
May 28, 2009
It has come to my attention that Kalamazoo is on the map, again.  The last time was is 1942, when the Glen Miller Orchestra played href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%28I%27ve_Got_a_Gal_In%29_Kalamazoo">I've Got A Gal In Kalamazoo (lyrics). Now, Ratebeer.com has included TWO Kalamazoo…
May 28, 2009
Last night I heard a snippet of an interview with some Senator, who expressed fear that the Supreme Court candidate, Sonia Sotomayor, would let her feelings interfere with her judgment.  Evidently, this was based upon Obama's characterization of Ms. Sotomayor as "emphatic."  Although I can't recall…
May 25, 2009
Courtesy of Chart of the Day... href="http://www.chartoftheday.com/20090522.htm?T"> Click on the graphs to see the Chart of the Day explanations for the data. The top chart shows the aggregate earnings, over time, of the companies in the S&P 500 Index.  The second chart shows the…
May 21, 2009
Traumatic Brain Injury href="http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2007/08/traumatic_brain_injury_on_the.php">has been called the "signature injury" of the Iraq War, due to the reported high prevalence of the injury there.  This is in contrast to previous wars.  It's not that head injury is…
May 18, 2009
This is a continuation from href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2009/05/peak_oil_imminent_public_healt.php">last time.  Sort of.  Last time I wrote about some things from a recent program at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, in conjunction with the Centers…
May 13, 2009
A post at Energy Bulletin recaps a recent presentation at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  href="http://www.energybulletin.net/node/48895">The post is U.S. public health community begins…
May 10, 2009
Revere has an alarming post about one potential problem.  This could occur if there is a serious influenza pandemic: href="http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/05/swine_flu_breaking_the_acute_c.php">Swine flu: breaking the acute care system [H]hospitals and emergency departments have…
May 9, 2009
Patti Smith reads the Declaration of Independence, in a rousing performance.  She follows it with an indictment of George W. Bush.  She speaks in English, but with German subtitles. In a way, I'm hesitant to dignify Bush by mentioning him on my site.  But the performance is worth watching.  Lest…
May 8, 2009
I've been trying to figure this out.  I don't think I need to include any links to the evidence, because it's all over the place.  Some people think there is a ridiculous amount of hysteria about H1N1/2009, others think people aren't worried enough.   It is abundantly clear that nobody can predict…
May 5, 2009
Not sure what to make of this, as the prediction appears to be based entirely upon the intuition of an experienced pediatric infectious disease specialist. It is reported on Medscape (open access, free registration required). PAS 2009: H1N1 Flu Predicted to Wane and Reemerge in Fall Martha Kerr…
May 4, 2009
The Union of Concerned Scientists has issued a press release: href="http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/ucs-gives-obama-high-marks-on-0229.html">UCS Gives Obama High Marks on Scientific Integrity for First 100 Days.  Granted, after suffering through eight years of the Bush II Administation…
May 1, 2009
Barry Ritholtz, author of Bailout Nation: How Greed and Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy,  has a nice, terse, thought-provoking post on his blog: The Big Picture: href="http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/05/us-vs-europe-who-is-the-welfare-state/">US vs Europe: Who is…
April 30, 2009
If you encounter a web site that contains malware (virus, trojan, etc.), how do you report it?  I had a devil of a time finding out.  A friend had forwarded a suspicious email to me.  The email contained a link.  The link indicated that it would take you to a text file that explained a finding…
April 30, 2009
One of the strangest things I've ever seen.  The photographer's identification is tentative:  Vespula pensylvanica.  Personally, I'd never try to identify an unfamiliar insect.   One summer, I took classes at the UM Biological Station near Pellston, MI.  My cabinmate was an entomologist.  Watching…
April 29, 2009
Just to let everyone know, if they don't already: freebooks4doctors has a downloadable text, Influenza Report 2006. It is a 225-page, 2.7 MB PDF. Being from 2006, it does not specifically cover the current situation. Rather, it focuses a bit on avian influenza. Still, it is a reasonably good…
April 29, 2009
Well, maybe not Malthus, but Garrett Hardin and Paul Ehrlich -- the 1960's-era neomalthusian academicians -- have been right on the money.  There are hard limits to growth, and those limits are upon us.  This is the contention of Charles A. S. Hall and John W. Day, Jr., two systems ecologists who…
April 26, 2009
Just a few quick interesting links: href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=47.100045,9.316406&spn=34.792294,79.101563&t=h&z=4"> Google Map of H1N1 Swine Flu Cases (HT: href="http://casesblog.…
April 26, 2009
I had to look this up, so to save others the trouble of finding it, here is the WHO href="http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/phase/en/index.html">explanation of pandemic alert levels: In nature, influenza viruses circulate continuously among animals, especially birds. Even though…
April 25, 2009
The NASA Earth Observatory site is holding a photo contest to celebrate and popularize their 10th anniversary.  It is a contest in which users vote for their favorite images-of-the-day.  Here's my favorite: style="display: inline;"> This is an image from the href="http://www.nasa.gov/…
April 20, 2009
style="display: inline;"> Amy Goodman, the lead journalist for Democracy Now!, has been traveling around the country, giving talks, and promoting her book href="http://www.democracynow.org/store/product/5/BKSUTMHC">Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times. This…
April 14, 2009
Michelle Obama's White House garden has href="http://www.lavidalocavore.org/diary/1309/">attracted some attention, as noted on La Vida Locavore: Did you hear the news?  The White House is planning to have an "organic" garden on the grounds to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for the Obama's…
April 13, 2009
his is a photo of a mask from an ancient Peruvian tomb.  The mask is about 1,500 years of., made of copper and seashells, among other items. style="display: inline;"> href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/photogalleries/king-bling-moche-tomb-pictures/index.html"> It is one…
April 9, 2009
This obviously is the second part of the part I put up a couple of days ago: href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2009/04/reset_button_for_dsm_diagnosis.php">Reset Button for DSM Diagnosis? (Part 1).  It may not make much sense unless you read the first part. In order to understand the…