grrlscientist | June 10, 2007Where in the brain does déjà vu originate? Why it happens more frequently with increasing age and with brain-disease patients? Basically, the brain generates memories near its center, in a looped wishbone of tissue called the hippocampus. But a new study suggests only a small chunk of it, called the dentate gyrus, is responsible for "episodic" memories that allows us to tell similar places and situations apart. The dentate gyrus is a region within the brain that notes a situation's pattern -- its visual, audial, olfactory, temporal and other cues for the body's future reference. So what…
grrlscientist | June 10, 2007The most recent edition of the Carnival of Cats is being hosted by Feline Theocracy. They include a submission from me, so I am purring loudly.
grrlscientist | June 10, 2007tags: death penalty, murder
I am a person who argues against the death penalty for ethical and economic reasons (I won't get into those here), but I was quite surprised to learn that one argument that has been made against the death penalty (but not by me) seems to have been refuted; whether the death penalty serves as a deterrent to murder. In fact, a series of scientific studies published during the last five or six years have shown that between three and 18 lives could be saved by the execution of each convicted killer. Further, if executions were sped up, the deterrent effect would be…
grrlscientist | June 10, 2007tags: internet, Pew Research Center, poll
The Pew Research Center conducted a survey of 4,001 adults and found that half of them only use the internet occasionally, and even many avid Internet users surf the Web in the same way they did 10 years ago. Yeowza, not me!
"We were struck by a couple of things in the survey," says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Here's the list;
49 percent are not weaving Internet use into their daily life. These include people who don't check their e-mail every day -- or aren't online at all
20 percent are middle-of-the-road…
grrlscientist | June 10, 2007tags: urban sports, humor, streaming video
While writing tomorrow's issue of Birds in the News, I found this hilarious video that you might enjoy. Like most sports, urban sprinting is simple. First, you find a shop with a security guard, then you take an alarmed tag off merchandise and walk out the door with it, setting off the alarm. Of course, you haven't stolen anything (except the tag), but they'll still chase you anyway. When you get to the nearest hamburger shop, the clock stops. And that's how you play urban sprinting!
grrlscientist | June 9, 2007tags: Rags to Riches, Belmont Stakes, Triple Crown, Horse racing
Rags to Riches (7), ridden by John Velazquez, won the 139th Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York on Saturday, 9 June 2007. Curlin, ridden by Robby Albarado (background), finished second. Rags to Riches is the first filly to win the Belmont in 102 years since Tanya won in 1905.
Image: Jason DeCrow (AP Photo)
Rags to Riches, the bright chestnut-colored superfilly, beat six colts to win the Belmont Stakes today. Her winning time for the mile-and-a-half race was 2:28.74. The world and track record for this distance…
grrlscientist | June 9, 2007tags: Rags to Riches, Belmont Stakes, Triple Crown, Horse racing
Rags to Riches working out.
Rags to Riches will be only the 22nd filly to ever attempt to win the Belmont Stakes, and the fifth since 1980.
Image: NYTimes
Often, when the first two races of the Triple Crown of Horse Racing have been split between different winners, the Belmont Stakes serves as a Derby/Preakness winner rematch. However, that will not be the case today, because the Derby winner, Street Sense, was not entered in the race. But there is an entrant who is just as interesting: a filly will run in this demanding…
grrlscientist | June 9, 2007tags: Secretariat, Belmont Stakes, Triple Crown, Horse racing
Since the Belmont Stakes will be run soon today, I thought I'd show you a streaming video of the great Secretariat winning the mile-and-a-half Belmont Stakes in 1973, and smashing the old record. This particular race is probably one of the most famous ever seen.
grrlscientist | June 9, 2007Every time I hear about a teacher quitting his or her job because a kid dares to read a Harry Potter book, I automatically think this person is a religious wingnut employed somewhere in the United States. So it was surprising to me to learn that this basic scenario occurred recently in south London. I didn't know they had religious wingnuts in Great Britain: the Brits strike me as being so sensible.
The basic story is this; a teaching assistant, Sariya Allen, gave a seven-year-old girl a book that was "too easy" to read, according to the girl's mother. So the girl then chose to read a Harry…
grrlscientist | June 9, 2007tags: horseshoe crab, Limutus polyphemus, red knot, Delaware Bay
Horseshoe Crab, Limutus polyphemus,
a living fossil.
Image: Pier Aquarium, Florida [larger].
In a controversial ruling, a Delaware Superior Court judge partially rolled back the two-year ban on the horseshoe crab harvest by limiting it to males only. The decision was a reaction against John Hughes, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, who was actually doing his job. However, according to the judge, Hughes had already decided to enact a complete moratorium on horseshoe crab harvests…
grrlscientist | June 9, 2007tags: evolution, creationism, Gallup Poll
I read the results of the most recent Gallup/USA Today poll of 1007 Americans, asking them about evolution and creationism. Not only was it appalling to see how many supposedly intelligent people indulge themselves by believing in the hocus-pocus of creationism, but further, I was confused by the results from two conflicting questions (below the fold), making me wonder how stupid is the average American?
These conflicting questions and their responses;
Do you think evolution, that is, the idea that human beings developed over millions of years from…
grrlscientist | June 9, 2007tags: Harry Potter, blog carnival
I know you all are going nuts, waiting for the next Harry Potter movie and for the last HP book to appear in July, but until that happens, here's the 48th edition of the Harry Potter Blog Carnival to keep you satisfied. They included a couple submissions from me, too.
grrlscientist | June 8, 2007tags: hot ice, chemistry experiment, kitchen science, streaming video
This streaming video shows a fun chemistry experiment that you can do in your kitchen! Basically, you create a liquid that radiates heat and turns solid when something touches it. [2:25]
grrlscientist | June 8, 2007tags: slow loris, endangered species, conservation, CITES
The Slow Loris, from the genus Nycticebus, is a nocturnal animal endemic to Asia.
This animal's cuteness could very well be its undoing.
Image: Anna Nekaris, Oxford Brookes University, UK.
Aww, isn't this cuddly little creature simply adorable??
Apparently thousands of people from around the world agree with you because the slow loris, a small nocturnal and arboreal animal that is endemic to much of Asia, is experiencing population declines due to habitat destruction and trapping for the pet trade.
They certainly make ideal pets…
grrlscientist | June 8, 2007I'm not sure that I like my results.
Which Programming Language are You?
So tell me, dear readers, which programming language are you?
grrlscientist | June 8, 2007tags: king penguin, Image of the Day
A worker from Rome's Biopark zoo holds a Testudo Kleinmanni hatchling, an endangered species also known as the Egyptian tortoise, on 22 May 2007 at the Naples airport.
Image: Tony Gentile (Reuters) [larger]
grrlscientist | June 8, 2007tags: green blood, medicine
It was the middle of the night when surgeons were preparing to perform emergency surgery in Vancouver, Canada. The man they were going to operate on had developed compartment syndrome in his legs after he fell asleep while kneeling. Compartment syndrome is a dangerous medical condition where pressure builds up in the deep muscle tissues and can cause permanent nerve damage. However, when the surgical team established an arterial line in the man's wrist, they were surprised to discover that his blood was dark green instead of bright red. Even though the man is not a…
grrlscientist | June 8, 2007tags: blog awards, Koufax Awards
Wow, surprise, surprise!
I just discovered that Living the Scientific Life was nominated for one of the Koufax Awards, in the category "Most Deserving of Wider Recognition". This category is defined as being for writers who consistently deliver, yet don't receive the recognition they deserve.
Of course, I think my blog deserves this award, but there are a bazillion other very fine blogs nominated too, so chances are, it will merely be an electron blip across the screen of the blogosphere, as it always has been with the Koufax Awards. However, that said, if…
grrlscientist | June 8, 2007tags: global warming, LabLit, science fiction, book review
Fifty Degrees Below (Bantam Books, NYC: 2005) is the second novel in Kim Stanley Robinson's global warming trilogy (the first is Forty Signs of Rain). In this book, the novel shifts its attention from Anna and Charlie Quibler and their quirky sons onto NSF scientists/beaureaucrats Frank Vanderwal and Diane Chang.
The first book in this trilogy, Forty Signs of Rain, developed slowly, which seemed to reflect the author's perception of America's slow reaction to impending global climate change. However, that book ended with a stunning…
grrlscientist | June 8, 2007tags: creation museum, humor, streaming video
This streaming video shows Jackie and Dunlap talking about Kentucky's new creation museum, the new Billy Graham library, and Murfreesboro's own bible park. Plus, it includes a sneak peek at the new Ben Stiller comedy "Night at the Creation Museum". [2:36]