gregladen | January 15, 2008Nokia 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 the cellphone can sometimes play in commerce, or the deep emotional bonds we all seem to share with our phones. And watch for his surefire trick to keep you from misplacing your keys.
gregladen | January 15, 2008You 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 importantly, however, you know that everything you know is wrong. Right?
The "Junk DNA" story is largely a myth, as you probably already know. DNA does not have to code for one of the few tens of thousands of proteins or enzymes known for any given animal, for example, to have a function. We know…
gregladen | January 15, 2008National 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.
gregladen | 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 five continents, the program tracks the world's top climate researchers and follows ranchers, photographers and everyday people to uncover climate trends. From Greenland's ice sheet to tropical ocean coral reefs, from Himalayan glaciers to the Amazon rainforest, come chilling firsthand accounts of…
gregladen | January 15, 2008We 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 cleaned up and saved by Fish and Wildlife workers, and two eagles died during the cleanup.
It is a bit frustrating that there are no real details about this incident. Was the truck moving? Exactly how did the eagles die? Did they get fish guts on them and then die of exposure? Did they all run into…
gregladen | January 15, 2008While 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 died on his way back to his camp. Today is the 100th day of work on the new bridge, replacing God's Bridge, on Highway 35W, which fell down last summer. (Maybe 35E is the holy branch of the now nationally famous Highway 35, and 35W is the evil twin ... ever think about that?)
Garrison Keillor is…
gregladen | January 15, 2008If 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 novel and starting to look persistent.
Foster was a relatively typical family values fiscal conservative kind of city council member. Term limits have forced him out of his job, which is too bad because maybe he would have just continued along that course minding his own business and not doing…
gregladen | January 14, 2008Syphilis 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 mortality in Europe was truly devastating. Is it the case that syphilis was brought to Europe by Columbus and his men just prior to the plague-like outbreak of 1495?
The origin of syphilis has been debated for years, really since the actual 1495 event itself. Some researchers have asserted that…
gregladen | January 14, 2008In 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 Room, a dichotomy she illustrates with provocative clips of Al Jazeera journalist Sameer Khader and U.S. press officer Josh Rushing. Noujaim ends by outlining her plans for Pangea Day, an event in which people all over the world can watch the same films at the same time. (Contains strong language.)
gregladen | January 14, 2008In 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 of swift and immediate victories; and an internationally supported network of System Administrators, an older, wiser, more diverse organization that actually has the diplomacy and power it takes to build and maintain peace.
gregladen | January 14, 2008This 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 GNU General Public Library (GPL). The code won't have reference to any SimCity name as that has all be renamed to Micropolis. Micropolis was the original working title of the game and since EA requires that the GPL open source version not use the same name as SimCity (to protect their trademark) a…
gregladen | January 14, 2008There 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 Buzz.
gregladen | January 13, 2008The 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 rewiring time.
I keep asking myself the following questions.
1) How often can you check that a circuit is dead, and have it not be dead?
2) How is it that a human can survive a shock from household current (several times in one afternoon) but the same exact current melts metal tools (in the same exact…
gregladen | January 13, 2008It 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 demonstrated in the Science Fair.
Pretty boring, actually.
Unless you focus on the Christian Creationist Science Fairs. They are Always so much fun. And remember, Greg Laden's Blog here at scienceblogs.com is your Christian Creation Science Creationist Science Fair Center! Keep checking back!
For now, I…