milhayser
Posts by this author
February 26, 2013
For once an asteroid strikes when we were kinda, sorta expecting one to. According to the Washington Post, the Russian Academy of Sciences "estimated that the meteor weighed around 10 tons and was traveling at 10 to 12 miles per second (roughly 30,000 to 45,000 mph) when it disintegrated." The…
February 15, 2013
On February 15th, Asteroid 2012 DA14 came hurtling between us and our satellites, twelve times nearer than the Moon, so close that it was visible through binoculars from certain parts of the globe. Greg Laden writes, "This asteroid is not going to hit the earth now or during any of the next few…
February 8, 2013
It's not often that medical science seems nuttier than its alternative. On Respectful Insolence, Orac dismisses the enema as a cure for all ills, writing that the "liver, colon, and kidneys" are specialized to remove toxins, and you won't "become chronically ill if you don’t shoot water up your…
January 18, 2013
Flu season is gearing up in the northern hemisphere, and this year's strains appear more virulent than usual. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control declared an epidemic on January 11; the CDC estimates that between 3,000 and 49,000 people die from influenza or its complications…
January 14, 2013
Reports that researchers elicited a temperature "lower than absolute zero" might make one question the meaning of the word absolute. On Built on Facts, Matt Springer writes "temperature is a relationship between energy and entropy, and you can do some weird things to entropy and energy and get the…
January 9, 2013
On Starts With a Bang, Ethan Siegel makes headway on his tour of "110 spectacular deep-sky objects" first cataloged by Charles Messier in 1758. Before powerful telescopes were developed, the heavens consisted of the sun, moon, stars, a few bright planets, and the rare passing comet. Comets were…
December 7, 2012
Although Curiosity has not found evidence of life on Mars, NASA announced yesterday that its suite of dirt analyzers works perfectly. Meanwhile new discoveries on Earth and the planet Mercury continue to imply the possibility of extraterrestrial life. On ERV, Abbie Smith marvels at the extremophile…
December 4, 2012
A new look at twenty years worth of research shows that polar ice is in fact melting, and raising sea levels, faster than anticipated. Greg Laden writes "Greenland is losing ice about 500% faster now than it was in the early 1990s, while Antarctica is losing ice at about the same rate." Altogether…
November 30, 2012
On Pharyngula, PZ Myers deconstructs the hypothesis of two physicists who show an undue enthusiasm for biology. They claim cancer is caused by cells regressing from their modern, multicellular functionality to a "proto-metazoan" lifestyle of largely uncoordinated growth. Myers says their is no…
November 26, 2012
As organisms spread into new habitats, they diverge and differentiate to best adapt to their surroundings. But when separated species exploit similar niches, their body plans begin to converge, and they end up looking a lot like each other. Such is the case with Beaked Sea Snakes, uber-venomous…
November 19, 2012
Although the science is getting cold, the conversation about climate change was warmed over by President Obama on Thursday. On Thoughts from Kansas, Josh Rosenau says “This is a welcome change from the complete silence of the last few years, but falls well short of what the American people and the…
November 16, 2012
"This is a map of the United States, with the spatial distortion reflecting the population sizes of different counties and the relative contribution of electoral college votes."
Along with President Obama, statistician Nate Silver emerged triumphant on election night, after calculating a 90%…
November 9, 2012
New research rethinks the possible prevalence of life in the Universe, suggesting that our asteroid belt—as disrupted by the gravitational influence of Jupiter—played a key role in seeding the Earth with water and organic compounds. Unable to coalesce, and situated around the solar system's "snow…
November 5, 2012
Hurricane Sandy Impacts Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge (DE) by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Hurricane Sandy made landfall on October 29th, drawn northwest by two cold fronts into the most populous area of the United States. Coby Beck has a telling wind map of the colossal storm on A Few…
October 29, 2012
Even the best and brightest can get things wrong, which is why science depends on corroboration to get things right. On Respectful Insolence, Orac investigates the conviction of six Italian seismologists for failing to warn people about an earthquake that killed 300. Orac writes “‘earthquake swarms…
October 24, 2012
On Respectful Insolence, Orac writes “the relationship between health insurance and, well, health is a question that can be addressed scientifically, which puts it right smack dab within the purview of science-based medicine.” Orac contradicts Mitt Romney’s statement that because a 1986 mandate…
October 19, 2012
On Universe, Claire L. Evans notes the renewed appreciation than can come with a change in perspective—whether it's seeing the space shuttle Endeavour roll past a Sizzler in South Central, or daredevil Felix Baumgartner leap towards the Earth from 24 miles up. Baumgartner, aided only by gravity and…
October 17, 2012
Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have fostered chemical reactions at "one hundredth of a degree above absolute zero," analogous to conditions in interstellar space. By merging two parallel beams of ultra-cold atoms, scientists kept them sedated enough for quantum behavior. Chemical…
October 12, 2012
Alexander Pope wrote "Hope springs eternal in the human breast," but cancer isn't far behind. Yet when hope springs, it can lead the sick to the unproven, to more dire disease, and death. On Respectful Insolence, Orac tells the stories of two women—one Kenyan, one American—who avoided modern…
October 10, 2012
Paul C. Broun by U.S. Department of Agriculture
Congressman Paul Broun struck something into the hearts of empiricists everywhere with his remark that evolution, embryology, and the Big Bang theory are "lies straight from the pit of hell." Some of us were put off, others angered, possibly amused…
October 8, 2012
Some people can't see beyond the tip of their nose.
Mars appears to be our twin in some ways—it is rocky, nearby, and of similar size. But after many a hopeful prodding, Mars remains a dead body. The rover Curiosity made a happy discovery last month, photographing river rocks in an ancient…
October 1, 2012
On Casaubon's Book, Sharon Astyk says that although many books are ascribed profound historical significance, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring truly brought environmentalism to the mainstream. Carson described the deadly effects of pesticide use on its unintended targets—birds, wildlife, human beings…
September 25, 2012
Could HIV soon follow in the footsteps of smallpox and polio? On The Pump Handle, Sara Gorman says that recent research has "allowed political figures such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to proclaim that the phenomenon of a generation without HIV/AIDS is within reach." But no vaccine has…
September 21, 2012
A Stanford University analysis of over 200 nutritional studies found little evidence that organic food is better for you than conventional food. But health is affected by more than vitamins and minerals; for example by the chemical chlorpyrifos, which was banned for indoor use but continues to be…
September 17, 2012
On a pilgrimage to Glacier National Park, Ethan Siegel notes "the hike to Grinnell Glacier is nearly a mile longer than it was when the trail was first constructed." Worldwide, nearly 90% of glaciers are shrinking, and "glacial melt is contributing noticeably to the overall sea level of our planet…
September 13, 2012
On The Pump Handle, Anthony Robbins discusses his tenure at NIOSH, the World Health Organization's drive to vaccinate people around the world, and the fallout of the CIA's decision to use a vaccination program as a subterfuge for spying operations in Pakistan. Robbins writes, "WHO had hoped to…
September 5, 2012
On Pharyngula, PZ Myers considers a computer model which posits that bones are simply exoskeletons turned inside-out. Myers writes “We know from the homology of the patterning molecules involved that vertebrates and invertebrates are upside-down relative to each other, so at some point an ancestor…
August 31, 2012
Neil Armstrong, first man to walk (and take a photograph) on the Moon, died August 25th at the age of eighty-two. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin turned a primordial fantasy into reality, and what we knew was possible changed in the space of a television broadcast. On Universe, Claire L. Evans honors…
August 27, 2012
Filovirus Entry by AJ Cann
Two weeks after an outbreak of Ebola in Uganda, the same disease is circulating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But the outbreaks have been caused by two distinct subtypes of virus, meaning they were not spread from one country to the other. The same thing…
August 22, 2012
The extent of Arctic sea ice undulates like a yearly sine wave—rising in October, peaking in winter, and melting all spring and summer. This September we are likely to observe the lowest of lows; Greg Laden writes "There is less sea ice in the Arctic Circle than recorded in recent history." More…