retrospectacle | August 17, 2006From Montgomery Gentry's website (Hat tip to jc):
Troy is accused of conspiring with a professional hunting guide to improperly fill out a hunting tag. To back up this charge, the indictment claims that Troy shot a tamed bear in a cage, then made a video to appear that he did not shoot the bear in a cage, but in the wild. These claims are wildly inaccurate.
The bear in question was never in a cage or pen; not when it was killed or at anytime prior to that. This wild bear occupied its own habitat (consisting of several acres of woodlands) on a game preserve owned by the codefendant.…
retrospectacle | August 17, 2006Scientists find "brain evolution gene" !!!
Looking at 49 areas that have changed the most between the human and chimpanzee genomes, Haussler zeroed in on an area with "a very dramatic change in a relatively short period of time."
That one gene didn't exist until 300 million years ago and is present only in mammals and BIRDS, not fish or animals without backbones. But then it didn't change much at all. There are only two differences in that one gene between a chimp and a chicken, Haussler said.
But there are 18 differences in that one gene between human and chimp and they all seemed to occur…
retrospectacle | August 17, 2006Humans can really piss me off sometimes. For example, Jake over at Pure Pedantry blogged about how some really short-sighted, selfish people are stripping slippery elms of their bark, which inevitably kills them, to sell as "medicine."
Well perhaps I can even top that:
A "country star" Troy Lee Gentry purchased a tame black bear named "Cubby" for the sole purpose of killing it in a small pen. Then, he tried to cover up the slaying as killed in the wild.
Authorities allege that Gentry purchased the bear from Greenly, a wildlife photographer and hunting guide, then killed it with a bow and…
retrospectacle | August 16, 2006I've always had a passing interest in the JonBenet Ramsey case. Mostly because I thought her parents were demonized by the media, driving then from their home in Colorado, and her mother to an early grave.
Now, it seems they have perhaps found the true killer years later, in Thailand.
A law enforcement source identified the suspect as 41-year-old John Mark Carr, a one-time school teacher.
Carr was arrested Wednesday morning and has confessed to certain elements of the crime that are unknown to the general public, KUSA reported.
JonBenet's father, John Ramsey, told 9NEWS in Denver, Colorado…
retrospectacle | August 16, 2006We SciBloggers were posed with this question:
To what extent do you worry about AIDS, either with respect to yourself, your children, or the world at large?
Here's what really worries me about AIDS (from the old Retrospectacle):
The Federal Chief of AIDS research recently said that he believed that drug companies don't have an incentive to create a vaccine for HIV and are likely going to wait for the government to develop the vaccine and then profit from it.
"They're dropping out like flies because there's no real incentive for them to do it. We have to do it."
The UN also recently…
retrospectacle | August 16, 2006Steinn over at The Dynamics of Cats brought my attention to an interesting topic intially broached over at Bitch PhD. That issue is a little pet peeve of mine: the representation of women in media, advertising, and entertainment. Specifically, guest blogger No_Nym asks:
Am I the only one who thinks that Carrie Fisher's slave outfit in Return of the Jedi is part of the reason that there are so few women in science and engineering? George Lucas did shape the minds of a whole generation, seldom for the better.
Although Steinn wasn't sure, the comments at Bitch PhD were quite interesting:
...Many…
retrospectacle | August 15, 2006I don't really understand why I'm in love with this geriatric blogger on YouTube, but I so am. For one, his handle is Geriatric1927 (makes him 79!), he's got the cutest English accent, and he confirms that "Yes, I am as old as I look."
I don't really know what Tuesday with Morrie was about, but I envision it to be a bit like this. He video-blogs about his time in the military ("when they de-mobilze you, they kitted you out with a new set of clothes....including a Trillby hat...I wish I had it now, it would be so kitsch, in present terminology 'cool"'), motorcycling, among just general things…
retrospectacle | August 15, 2006In a recent article on CNN, it was mentioned that while GPS navigation is becoming quite "the" thing to have, London cabbies want none of it. GPS systems were just allowed into cabs earlier this year, but very few drivers have opted for them; they prefer to rely on their own memory rather than any device prone to glitches. There's a good reason they should do exactly that.
Every one of London's cabbies has to take the grueling test known as "The Knowledge" in order to get a taxi license. The test consists of learning 320 routes as well as the city's many confusing streets, shortcuts, and…
retrospectacle | August 15, 2006As I have mentioned before, I'm going to Europe next month----flying into France and out of Amsterdam.
I want your input specifically on what places to hit in Amsterdam, if ya got 'em.
Stories? Tell me!!
Great restaurants? Lemme know!
Things to see/places to avoid?
And, what I'm really looking for: I need a fantastic place to stay (mid range no more than 150 euros/night) and the names of the, er, best coffee houses. :)
Anything related to the Netherlands, I'd love to know about it.
retrospectacle | August 14, 2006University of Michigan researchers are using gas bubbles to block the flow of oxygen to tumors, like a cork in a bottle. They can also be used to deliver drugs to tumors. The theory behind this is to create a artificial embolism, or blockade of a blood vessel, referred to as embolotherapy. When this occurs naturally, it usually is the result of coronary disease (cholesterol deposits or blood clots which become dislodged) which can lead to a stroke or aneurysm. By creating an artificial gas-bubble embolism, a doctor is able to carefully control the path of the bubble from the outside with high…
retrospectacle | August 14, 2006Go check out Issue #4 of Encephalon, a neuroscience carnival, over at the Neurocritic.
retrospectacle | August 14, 2006
You know all those times you wish you'd had a cute plastic wabbit to read you your email? Well, wish no more, for yout wildest dreams are fufilled!
The plastic bunny with ears like TV antennae can read out emails and mobile phone text messages, tell children to go to bed, alert one to a stock collapse and give traffic updates by receiving internet feeds via a wireless Wi-Fi network.
"It gives a visual and vocal representation of what is on the internet," explained Paul Jackson, an analyst at research house Forrester. "It is also a nice way of making physical your relationship online with…
retrospectacle | August 14, 2006Note: ScienceBlogs has been following the 16th Annual AIDS Conference, with a special temporary blog reporting on the goings-on. I encourage you to all check it out.
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As more and more women are acquiring AIDS in South Africa, a new trend is emerging: in order to not look HIV positive, women are becoming obese in large numbers. According to the Independent Online, half of all women in South Africa are overweight, and almost one-third are severely overweight. More than 5 million of South Africa's 45 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS, and the cultural perception is that if a…
retrospectacle | August 12, 2006I'm sick. Note to self: eating Taco Bell and then drinking NOT a good idea. Somebody leave me some links to cheer me up........:(
retrospectacle | August 10, 2006Ugh, I'm writing a paper today and swamped until the afternoon. And there seems to be some problem with file uploading right now, so i'm gonna check back later. So Grey Matters will be out around 3 or 4 pm today. Sorry for the delay!
Some exciting news though: Irene Pepperberg has agreed to do an interview here on Grey Matters! I can't wait to pick her brain about Alex and her studies on greys. That should be happening in September sometime.
Meanwhile, check out some of the past editions of The Synapse! (Info on how to submit to the next round in a post below.)
The Synapse
Edition 1…
retrospectacle | August 10, 2006John over at Stranger Fruit has posted an infogram from Science, which ranks 34 countries acceptance of evolution. I have hijacked it below:
John notes that only Turkey has beaten us in evolutionary ignornace. But I immediately was struck by how similar this list looks to one I posted about last week regarding the happiest countries in the world! To summarize:
The 20 happiest nations in the World are:
1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. The Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Bhutan
9. Brunei
10. Canada
11. Ireland
12. Luxembourg
13. Costa Rica
14. Malta
15. The Netherlands
16.…
retrospectacle | August 10, 2006Once when i was in a taxi, the driver was attempting to make conversation and asked what I did. I usually try to avoid the subject with some people, because when i say "I study the inner ear" a lot of people feel the need to unload their medical problems regarding earwax upon me. Only half-way through their offering a sample (ugh) can I correct them. Anyway, this cabbie did just that--asking me this and that about earwax. After I said I had no idea, he seemed rather like "Well then what DO you know!" Its even worse when i try to reply that I study hair cells in the ears---invariably this…
retrospectacle | August 10, 2006The fifth issue of The Synapse, our homegrown Neuroscience carnival, will be hosted here August 20th. Submission guidelines are here.
I really want to see some quallity work from some new bloggers here! Pass the word around to your friends, I've already had a few great submissions. Please get them to me by 9pm August 19th to be included.
Submit your best brain-based blog entries directly to me: the.synapse.carnival {AT} gmail
Happy Neuro-Blogging!
retrospectacle | August 10, 2006"New Zealand's indigenous Maori population reacted angrily on Wednesday to a researcher's findings that Maori have a high representation of a gene linked to aggression, as the nation faces a domestic violence crisis."
According to a Yahoo news story, genetic epidemiologist Rod Lea recently presented research in Australia that Maori men were twice as likely to carry monoamine oxidase than European men, describing it as "the warrior gene." This gene has apparently been tied to aggression and risk-taking behaviors such as smoking and gambling.
"I believe this gene has an influence on behavior of…