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grrlscientist | November 17, 2008Here's the latest carnivalia for you to explore;
"The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality." (George Bernard Shaw). Go read the Humanist Symposium issue 28.
revere | November 17, 2008Interesting new findings on household bleach as a disinfectant. Yes, we know it's a disinfectant. What we don't know is why it is a disinfectant. How exactly does it work? This utilitarian question has just been explored in a paper in the super select and prestigious journal Cell. Here's a bit of background, courtesy the PR flacks at the University of Michigan, whose job it is to publicize the work of their faculty:
In a study published in the Nov. 14 issue of the journal Cell, a team led by molecular biologist Ursula Jakob describes a mechanism by which hypochlorite, the active ingredient of…
gregladen | November 17, 2008
Burlington, Vt., is healthiest city, CDC says from PhysOrg.com
(AP) -- What's the healthiest city in America? It appears to be Burlington, Vt. Vermont's largest city is tops among U.S. metropolitan areas by having the largest proportion of people - 92 percent - who say they are in good or great health.
[...]
W. Virginia town shrugs at poorest health ranking from PhysOrg.com
(AP) -- As a portly woman plodded ahead of him on the sidewalk, the obese mayor of America's fattest and unhealthiest city explained why health is not a big local issue.
[...]
cortex | November 17, 2008A nice summary of "humaniquness," or the cognitive talents that make homo sapiens such an unprecedented species:
[Marc] Hauser describes animals as having "laser-beam" intelligence, in which each cognitive capacity is locked into a specific function. Humans, by contrast, have "floodlight" intelligence, he says: they can use a single system of thought in multiple ways and can translate information from one context to another. "Animals," he elaborates, "live in a world in which the systems don't talk to each other."
This sort of abstract cognition is generally thought to reside in the…
mspringer | November 17, 2008Here, straight from the Wikipedia article, is a lovely picture of a basketball in a free-flight trajectory.
You probably expect a parabolic trajectory, and we do get pretty close. There are some deviations. The resistance of the atmosphere is the largest, and the rotation of the ball will itself result in aerodynamic effects that distort the flight of the ball from its idealized trajectory.
But in fact even in a perfect vacuum with no external forces but gravity we still won't get a parabola. We'll get a section of an ellipse.
Why? Newton's laws tell us that if you're in the…
gregladen | November 16, 2008... dum de dum de dum de dum ... something something ... Alma Mater true.. crap, I can't remember the words.... Anyway:
Overheard in the schoolyard. The Milne School, 1970something.
Miles: "So, Greg, did you ever wonder why you are only a fraction as smart at I am?"
Greg: "Well, no, not really, Miles ...."
Miles: "Breeding. For two thousand years, your ancestors took the best and the brightest males out of the population and made them into priests who were not allowed to have children. For five thousand years, my ancestors took the best and the brightest out of the population and made…
gregladen | November 16, 2008Even though I know this isn't really funny at all. In fact, it is quite tragic.
Over recent years, several states have enacted drop-off laws, allowing parents (=mothers) to drop off their unwanted children (=babies). Forever. Some of the impetus for this kind of law is to promote lousy sexual health. Go ahead and have unprotected sex and never mind abortion, you can always drop the baby off at the hospital if you live in Nebraska or one of those other terribly confused red states.
Whatever. It is probably a good idea to have a drop off law because it reduces the number of babies that get…
gregladen | November 16, 2008
Eberswalde Crater is an approximately 65-kilometer diameter, closed basin crater. It contains a delta, which indicates that flowing water was present for an extended period of time in the past.
Parts of the crater have inverted channels that have higher relief because a more resistant material was deposited in the channel and therefore it was less susceptible to erosion than the surrounding area. The image also shows resistant knobs and mounds as well as a scoured surface.
more
gregladen | November 16, 2008
This observation shows small, branching channels that are part of the larger Athabasca Valles channel system.
These side channels are "distributaries" because they bifurcate from the main channel, which is located to the northwest of this image. The distributaries flowed from north to south when they were active.
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gregladen | November 16, 2008
Praxis #4 is up at The Lay Scientist; and ...
... Oekologie returns! at The Infinite Sphere
grrlscientist | November 16, 2008Here's the latest carnivalia for you to read and enjoy;
Oekologie is undergoing a revival after a near-extinction event, so please be sure to go there to read it, then link to it from your blog and also be sure to consider sending your own blog entries to this carnival.
On Giant's Shoulders, issue #5. This blog carnival focuses on how our current knowledge is built upon previous research.
Friday Ark, issue 217. This weekly blog carnival links to images of animals!
Just Write, 14 November 2008 edition.
gregladen | November 15, 2008
This image shows layered sedimentary deposits in Candor Mensa, a broad plateau of thickly stacked sedimentary rocks in Candor Chasma, part of the giant troughs of Valles Marineris.
Valles Marineris is a system of tectonic depressions formed by down-dropping faults; the floors are among the lowest points on the surface of Mars, and may have once held lakes. Some sites show evidence for streams or rivers. The troughs may have also been sites of volcanic activity.
Currently, the deep floors contain massive deposits of bright sedimentary rocks. Some of the deposits are several kilometers thick,…
gregladen | November 15, 2008What? You've never heard of a Mosasaur? Imagine a crocodile with flippers and you're superficially there. See, way back around 100 million years ago the North American continent was split by a vast epeiric sea (a shallow, salty, inland sea) called the Western Interior Seaway (really creative science people).
You will not want to miss this post from Analyze Everything.
gregladen | November 15, 2008From Amanda Carpenter
... conservative leaders convened for a meeting of the minds to plot a way to reinvigorate the Republican brand ...
Bozell saw the 2008 election as a decision between a "moderate" and a "far-left" candidate. The moderate lost. Therefore, "the moderate wing of the Republican Party is dead, it is finished," Bozell said.
...
Bozell pushed [for] "whole new generation of organizations, particularly on the grassroots level" and "massively increasing the fundraising."
Others demanded that conservatives, rather than moderate Republicans, be appointed to fill leading roles on…
gregladen | November 15, 2008Here is a list of current blog carnivals, for your enjoyment:
The Giant's Shoulders #5 - The Magic (Blog) Circle! at BodBlack Cat
Friday Ark #217 at The Modulator
Cento: I and the Bird is at Aimophila Adventures
Tangled Bank #118: Yes We Did Edition at STACWDIA
Change of Shift: Volume 3, Number 10 at CrazGrl
Carnival of Education, Transition Team Edition mis at The Core Knowledge Blog
hourglass V, a carnival about the biology of aging, is at psique.
Molecular and Cell Biology Carnival #4 is at the Skeptical Alchemist.
Grand Rounds: Job Advice is at Musings of a Distractible Mind
Here…
gregladen | November 15, 2008
This image shows an exposure of the north polar layered deposits (NPLD) within the northern residual ice cap. The polar layered deposits are thought to have been formed by recent climate changes on Mars, like ice ages on Earth.
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mspringer | November 15, 2008So what would the elementary quantum of solace be? The soliton? I haven't actually seen Quantum of Solace yet, but I'm going to make a point to go at some time this week. The last Bond flick was great, and I have high hopes for this one. Most sequels don't quite live up to their predecessors, but by most accounts this one comes quite close. And this is the year that gave us The Dark Knight, after all.
Wall-E is about to be out in a few days, and that is probably the best or second best film of the last year. Seen it yet? If not, for shame. Go buy it. (That's the Blu-Ray version, but…