This digest presents the most recent news and reviews from The Scientific Lawyer. You are invited to download this digest's RSS feed:
December 31, 2:59 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Today's Mystery Bird for you to Identify [Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)]tags: mystery bird , identify this bird , birds , mystery bird , bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] photographed in Boyce Thompson Arboretum Demo Garden, Superior, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Richard Ditch , 2006 [ larger view ]. Date Time Original: 2006:02:25 08:54:01 Exposure Time: 1/60 F-Number: 11.00 ISO: 200 Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
December 31, 2:59 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Today's Mystery Bird for you to Identify [Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)]tags: mystery bird , identify this bird , birds , mystery bird , bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Richard Ditch , 2007 [ larger view ]. Date Time Original: 2007:05:04 08:14:06 Exposure Time: 1/639 F-Number: 8.00 ISO: 200 Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 9:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Rush Of Blood To The Head: Anger Increases Blood FlowMental stress causes carotid artery dilation and increases brain blood flow. A series of ultrasound experiments also found that this dilatory reflex was absent in people with high blood pressure.
July 4, 9:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / 'A Touch Of Glass' In Metal, Settles Century-old QuestionScientists have found evidence of an important similarity between the behavior of polycrystalline materials -- like metals and ceramics -- and glasses, research that could lead to better predictions of how many valuable materials behave under stress.
July 4, 9:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Bypass Surgery Has Long-term Benefits For Children With Kawasaki Disease, Study SuggestsCoronary artery bypass surgery provides "excellent" long-term survival for children who have severe inflammatory heart and blood vessel damage caused by Kawasaki disease. While post-operative problems may increase over time, these can be managed with proper follow-up care. Most of the young patients have normal lives, including participation in sports.
July 4, 9:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Cancer-causing Protein Can Also Help Fight The Tumors It CausesNew research uses the Ras protein to fight its own malign effects.
July 4, 9:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / 'Jumping Gene' Diminishes The Effect Of New Type 2 Diabetes Risk GeneResearch has identified a new gene associated with diabetes, together with a mechanism that makes obese mice less susceptible to diabetes. A genomic fragment that occurs naturally in some mouse strains diminishes the activity of the risk gene Zfp69. The researchers also found that the corresponding human gene (ZNF642) is especially active in overweight individuals with diabetes.
July 4, 9:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Coolest Spacecraft Ever In Orbit (-273 Degrees Celsius)On July 2 the detectors of Planck's High Frequency Instrument reached their amazingly low operational temperature of -273°C, making them the coldest known objects in space. The spacecraft has also just entered its final orbit around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, L2.
July 4, 3:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Hormone Treatment Eases Post-surgery Distress In ChildrenPhysicians focused on reducing anxiety in children and their families report that oral treatment with melatonin before surgery can significantly reduce the occurrence of emergence delirium in children.
July 4, 3:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / First Detailed Look At Progress Of A Wildland-urban FireTo better understand increasingly prevelant Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fires -- and how best to prevent or fight them -- researchers have issued an in-depth case study on fire behavior and defensive actions taken in a community during a major WUI fire in California.
July 4, 3:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Patients With Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms More Likely To Suffer From Metabolic SyndromeResearchers have determined that individuals with mild to severe symptoms of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are more likely to suffer from metabolic syndrome, a collection of cardiovascular risk factors thought to be linked by insulin resistance). LUTS encompass voiding (incomplete emptying, weak stream, intermittency, straining) and storage (frequency, urgency, nocturia) difficulties.
July 4, 3:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Novel Light-sensitive Compounds Show Promise For Cancer TherapyChemists have developed novel compounds that show promise for photodynamic cancer therapy, which uses light-activated drugs to kill tumor cells. The new compounds, called dye-sensitized ruthenium nitrosyls, are absorbed by cancer cells and respond to specific wavelengths of light by releasing nitric oxide, which triggers cell death.
July 4, 3:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Existing Parkinson's Disease Drug May Fight Drug-resistant TBExisting drugs used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease could be repositioned for use in the treatment of extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis, which kills about 2 million people each year, according to a new study. The rise of these strains of TB throughout the world, including industrialized countries, poses a great threat to human health.
July 4, 3:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Super-energetic Bursts Discovered Near Giant Black HoleCombining gamma-ray telescopes with the supersharp radio 'vision' of the Very Long Baseline Array showed astronomers the location from which very-high-energy gamma rays are emerging from the core ot the giant galaxy M87.
July 4, 1:20 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Homeopathic Emergency Room [Aardvarchaeology]Thanks to Felicia for the tip-off. Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 1:00 PM / CNET News.com / At 2,000 miles, Road Trip 2009 heads to America's largest bombing rangeIn the days since 1,000 miles, Road Trip 2009 has visited some of the most incredible scenery America has to offer, as well as learned some of the most sobering military realities.
July 4, 12:59 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / This Grrl is Shopping for Her Perfect Man -- Have You Seen Him? [Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)]tags: Britney Spears Parody , comedy , humor , funny , streaming video This video reveals my perfect man: "He's got me rocking like Stephen Hawking .. Check out his hard drive, sets me to Warp Five .. I dream of him hooking up my ethernet cable and whispering in my ear about the Periodic Table .. Don't need a jock, I want a Spock!" (And he doesn't even need to know Russian!) [2:46] Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 12:45 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Why would I go on a game show with a lose-lose premise? [Pharyngula]What a crazy idea for a game show: a Turkish program is looking for 10 atheists to compete for the chance to be converted . What next, a show with healthy contestants competing for the chance to be infected with a disease, and the winner gets a long hospital stay? The game show producers give their bias away when they announce "We don't approve of anyone being an atheist" . They're also planning to have a team of theologians to screen out religious people pretending to be godless so they can get a free trip to the holy site of their choice. Well, I'm not a fake atheist, but I'm wondering what they're offering to people like me. We go on the program, we get non-stop harangues from crazy imams, priests, rabbis, and monks, and if we don't fall for their foolishness, we lose ? I'd be tempted to just say "yes!" to the rabbi to really piss off the Muslim hosts, get a trip to Jerusalem, and then annoy the rabbi when I tell him I lied. Or would the theologians also have to confer to determine that your conversion was sincere? Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 12:26 PM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Astronomers See A New Class of Black Hole - NPRLaboratory Equipment Astronomers See A New Class of Black Hole NPR Talk of the Nation, July 3, 2009 · Scientists say X-ray data collected by the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton spacecraft show evidence of a new type of black hole in a galaxy about 290 million light years from Earth. Astronomer Sean Farrell explains ... New Class of Black Holes Discovered Wired News New findings suggest midsize black holes exist msnbc.com Backstory to detecting a possible middleweight black hole Christian Science Monitor National Geographic - Register - Space.com all 86 news articles »
July 4, 12:26 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Photo of the Day #630: Japanese macaque [Laelaps]A Japanese macaque ( Macaca fuscata ), photographed at the Central Park Zoo. Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 12:09 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Who is freakier, Cats or Dogs? [Greg Laden's Blog]Cats: Dogs: Hmmm... don't have one for dogs this week. Hat Tip: The Millikan Daily Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 12:06 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Bachmann on Census [Greg Laden's Blog]Woooo!!!! Hat Tip: Dump Bachmann where you will find more from Ed. Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 12:02 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / I thought birds didn't eat millipedes [Tetrapod Zoology]Yes, I thought that birds didn't eat millipedes on account of their toxicity. Most millipedes (including the little species we have here in Britain) secrete noxious liquid through glands on their sides, and substances such as chlorine, iodine and cyanide are involved. As is obvious from the photo here, these chemicals don't make millipedes immune to attack from birds. After checking the literature I see that toads and hedgehogs also don't seem deterred by millipede toxins. However, other predators probably are, and toads and hedgehogs are actually unusual in being able to eat to tolerate highly toxic prey. The photo shows a bird dropping on the top of our compost bin and, no, I can't identify the dropping to species. The millipede seems to have been eaten whole. It's a White-legged snake millipede or Black millipede Tachypodoiulus niger : we have a pretty good little colony in our garden. They're very neat little animals. Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 12:00 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night Lindau! We'll see you next year [Page 3.14]That was it, we're back. After six inspiring days in Lindau, the Nobel Laureates Meeting 2009 has ended. Eight authors blogged about it on ScienceBlogs Germany , plus we had further blogging guests such as PZ Myers , Bora Zivkovic and Seema Singh . I did not make myself heard in the last two days. That was due to a lack of wifi on the Isle of Mainau where we spent the last days. Nevertheless it is time now to sum up what our English bloggers had to offer you: Sir Harold Kroto gave a video interview in which he talked about competition in science and the negative aspects of a Nobel Prize. We could also get an interview with Erwin Neher who explains how he got into science and which fields his current research is focusing on. Ashutosh Jogalekar wrote about Richard Schrock's talk . The MIT chemist spoke about his probably biggest discovery: the first method for forming large molecular rings. Ashutosh also wrote about the panel on green fluorescent protein . Paula Schramm summed up the results of a discussion about Open Access betweet Bora Zivkovic from PLoS and Nature's Jason Wilde - apparently it was quite entertaining. Meanwhile Matthew Chalmers went on a trip to the World Conference of Science Journalists in London where he gave a talk about science blogging and science journalism . Por fin la periodista Lorena Guzmán H. de Chile escribìa también sobre la reunión anual de premios Nobel de Lindau - su artículo puede ser leído en el blog de la gaceta "El Mercurio" . Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 12:00 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Does science journalism falter or flourish under embargo? [Not Exactly Rocket Science]One of the highlights of the World Conference of Science Journalists was the final day's heated debate about embargoes. For newcomers to the issue, journalists are often given press alerts about new papers before they are made publicly available, on the understanding that they aren't reported before a certain deadline - the infamous embargo. This is why so much science news magically appears at simultaneously across news outlets. All the major journals (and many minor ones) do this with their papers, as increasingly do universities and other research institutions. Vincent Kiernan (who has written a book deriding this practice) launched the first volley against embargoes by urging journalists to "just walk away" from them. He described them as a set of "velvet handcuffs", leashing journalists to the goal of providing "infotainment or carry[ing] water for scientific establishments" instead of their giving people the information they need. To him, embargoes play on the "pack mentality" of journalists, luring them in with the fear of missing a story. Far from duplicating the same news as everyone else, society, he says, needs journalists to "follow news noses to find stories that establishment doesn't want you to cover". That is the key to flourishing in the era of new media - to provide unique content not via embargoed material. Kiernan paved the road for an even more brutal (and much louder) onslaught by Richard Horton , editor of an obscure medical journal called the Lancet, who suffers from a 14-year embargo addiction. Looking like he was on the verge of spontaneously detonating (and noting with possible accuracy that he was about to get himself fired), he derided journalists for "equating reproduction with communication" and writing material filtered through the lens of biased press releases. "You're sold your soul to publicity masquerading as science," he shouted, adding that embargoes hand power over to journals, allowing them to dictate to institutions that have actually done the work. To me, both these arguments are reflective of the massive conflation that pervaded the entire debate. The anti-embargo side consistently equated embargoes (which, let's face it, are just time constraints) with the press releases they are actually constraining. Geoff Watts of BBC Radio also noted this conflation. A further logical leap was made in assuming that the very existence of press releases (and thus embargoes) necessarily leads to shoddy churnalism, and I'd like to think that this blog, at the very least, is an exception to that model. Similarly, the concept that ridding science reporters of embargoes would foment more investigative journalism is surely too simplistic. As Nick Davies discussed in his much earlier session , PR leads to poor journalism by exploiting structural problems that are already present - lack of reporters, tight deadlines and increasing workloads which lead to less time per story. These overarching factors, much more so than any inherent laziness, are the reasons that even enterprising journalists regurgitate press releases. Stripping away embargoes, or even those releases, isn't going to magically solve the underlying lack of time. Fiona Fox of the Science Media Centre rightly picked Kiernan up for this failure to make the case that embargoes have precipitated a loss of investigative reporting. When pushed, he conceded that the "real problem is not the embargo", it's the competitive system we work in and time-specific nature of editorial demands. What of the reverse question - will the loss of embargoes lead to a deluge of scoops? Watts thinks not, saying that scoops are relatively uncommon in science journalism. When they exist and are sufficiently big, they aren't drowned out by other embargoed material. Indeed, Mark Henderson , Science Editor at the Times, noted that the embargo is a simple, benign "bilateral agreement about information provision that is often fetishised as a big rule". It's often not appreciated that if information is sourced through another route (investigative ones, say, rather than press alerts), then embargoes don't apply and journalists are at liberty to report at their convenience ( as Paul Sutherland did with his Mars scoop ). In light of this, Henderson noted that the much bigger problem is the Inglefinger rule , the draconian policy where a journal will only consider publishing research if it has not been submitted elsewhere or already reported. The rule scares researchers away from talking about their work for fear of the journal's retribution. But critically, at that point in the proceedings, the news has not been embargoed and no press release has been written. Watts summed it up by dismissing the embargo issue as a "minor technicality in larger debate about media". He eloquently compared the lot of the journalist to that of a fighter pilot - parachutes aren't desirable because it's better that the plane doesn't crash at all but until that risk is non-existent, you'd be daft to disregard this necessary safety measure. Likewise, embargoes provide both journalists and science as a whole with benefits that it would be remiss to ignore. For a start, they "bring a measure of order to chaotic flow of events". Predictability allows you to allocate time to more thorough investigation, contacting people, digging into background and so on. I wholeheartedly agree. I find it a tremendous help to be able to plan what I want to write about in a given week, to select the most interesting of forthcoming papers and to take time over assessing the quality of potential fodder. And I do this in my spare time; it's even more pertinent for people working on busy news desks and particularly for broadcasters who need to deploy film crews. But first and foremost, the main benefit of embargoes is that they lead to more overall science coverage. While they may certainly skew the balance away from smaller journals, they also skew the balance towards smaller stories. Watts alluded to this, positing a hypothetical embargo-free world where important stories will get covered anyway, but those that fail to shatter earth (such as this piece on the learning ability of sticklebacks ) simply won't get in. If these interesting but less practically important works do somehow fight off competition for column space in one paper, it is unlikely that opposition outlets will pick them up. And that will be a massive shame for science and the general public alike. As far as I'm concerned, this is the winning argument. I am a scientist first and a journalist second and my concern is far less for the prevalence of investigative journalism than it is for giving the public more and more opportunities to hear about science. It is those opportunities that are in danger of becoming endangered should embargoes vanish. You could, of course, argue that this greater quantity of science coverage is a shallow victory when so much is regurgitated or inaccurate. But, as I've noted earlier, this is not the fault of the embargo - it's a fault of journalistic practices fuelled by other structural problems. For many journalists, embargoes actually give you the time to not regurgitate and to craft material more carefully. This is especially true for the biggest stories (ironically those would probably get covered without an embargo, and indeed, whose embargoes are most commonly broken) that need good analysis. Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 11:57 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / What I had for breakfast: Belief = Blame [Greg Laden's Blog]They don't exactly equal each other. But from the perspective of a skeptic, I would like you to consider that belief and blame are very similar. Yesterday at the Skeptics 101 panel at Connie, I heard the fact that not everyone today is already a questioning, thoughtful, intelligent skeptic blamed on the usual things. Kids these days. The school system. Standardized tests. Dumb-ass political leaders. And so on. Buried in this is a thread to a second thought I wanted to get on the table quickly: In the US, we need academic standards for K-12 that are uniform across the country. Anything less, it turns out, is classist and possibly racist, inefficient and ineffective. Think about it. It is good education to have nation-wide curriculum standards that specify to grade. I will try to connect the dots later. In the mean time, you can blow some shit up. It is July 4th. Just make sure you to it legally and safely and don't drink to much and avoid driving. The biggest danger to All Americans on July 4th is radiation. From all the radar guns pointing at us. Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 11:38 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Swine flu and auto accidents [Effect Measure]The number of people who die from seasonal flu every year varies greatly from year to year. No one really knows what it is. The most frequently (mis)quoted figure is 36,000 deaths directly or indirectly, although this figure is a long term seasonal average of excess mortality correlated with flu season. We discussed this in more detail in an earlier post and for the purposes of this one, only the rough order of magnitude is pertinent. Let's just say it's in the tens of thousands -- roughly. Let's also agree on the several hundred thousand hospitalizations from flu or flu related illness -- on average. It turns out that this is roughly the annual mortality from motor vehicle accidents (41,000) and about half the hospitalizations from car accidents (around 500,000). There are roughly 4 million emergency department visits for motor vehicle related injuries ( CDC ). So with seasonal flu we are talking about a public health problem in the same league as another major issue, death and injury from car wrecks. As long as we are making the comparison, let's pursue some other similarities. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 11:31 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Clock Tutorial #3c - Darwin On Time [A Blog Around The Clock]This post is a modification from two papers written for two different classes in History of Science, back in 1995 and 1998. It is a part of a four-post series on Darwin and clocks. I first posted it here on December 02, 2004 and then again here on January 06, 2005: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 10:21 AM / New Scientist - Latest Headlines / Fellow students smell your exam fearAnxiety seems to prompt the release of a chemical that automatically triggers empathy in anyone who sniffs it
July 4, 10:05 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Weekend Diversion: A New Kind of Hero [Starts With A Bang]I've only recently become musically acquainted with the artist Slaid Cleaves , born in Maine and living in Texas. This weekend, I present to you a heartbreaking song, Lydia , about a kind, wise old woman who can't quite pull her life together after the death of her son. Oh, Lydie, let him go. The boy is gone. Her mother struggled as she tore him from her arms. Oh, Lydia, your tears are heaven's rain. But she never was the same. He hasn't hit it big yet, but his music is good enough that I think he ought to. Listen for yourself: But there's something else -- that's also wonderful -- that is hitting it big, which you've probably never heard of. It's a comic book called the 99 that's quickly becoming a huge success in the Muslim world . The comic is based on a legend of the 99 names of God , which is a list of 99 virtues of Allah in Islamic culture. These are, as far as I can tell, universally accepted good human behaviors, such as being graceful, merciful, protective, just, and nourishing. The BBC has a great article on the creator of this comic , who says the following about creating the comics for his children in the aftermath of 9/11: I had already made a decision that I needed to find a way to take back Islam from its hostage takers, but I did not known how. The answer was staring me in the face. It was a[s] simple, and as difficult, as the multiplication of 9 by 11: 99. So, at the age of 32, I uncapped my pen to create a concept that could be popular in the East and the West. I would go back to the very sources from which others took violent and hateful messages and offer messages of tolerance and peace in their place. I would give my heroes a Trojan horse in the form of THE 99. Islam was my Helen. I wanted her back. What has been created looks amazing, and is partly based in actual history. In 1258, the Mongols invaded and destroyed much of Baghdad, leaving its great library in ruins, and littering the Tigris River with its books. But in this comic, the librarians placed 99 special stones in the river to absorb some of the wisdom. Now, in modern times, the 99 stones have made it into the hands of 99 normal teenagers and young adults from around the globe, giving them each one of the 99 virtues and/or powers of Allah. The comics now sell about 1,000,000 copies per month worldwide, in many different languages. A movie is being created based on it, theme parks have opened in Kuwait based on it, but best of all, you can download an issue in English for free if you're curious to check it out! I think it's a wonderful way to spend some time this July 4th weekend, and I hope you enjoy it, too! Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 10:00 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / links for 2009-07-04 [Uncertain Principles]Charlie Rose - An interview with David Foster Wallace A 1997 interview, when Wallace was promoting A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, covering a wide range of topics. (tags: video writing books literature movies humanities academia society culture ) In Which Your Host Witnesses a High-Speed Chase : Built on Facts "Conservation of momentum happened. The collision was not entirely inelastic nor was it entirely elastic. The truck struck the car very solidly on its right side behind the center of mass of the car, sending the car into a spin more or less along its original trajectory. The collision reduced the speed of the truck but didn't change its trajectory much either, and the truck skidded to a halt. (A bonus friction problem!)" (tags: physics blogs built-on-facts crime ) And Yes, In Fact, While We’re On the Subject of “The Big Three” « Whatever "That the “big three” science fiction magazine won’t accept electronic submissions in this day and age isn’t merely anachronistic in both a business and social sense, it’s actually a bit embarrassing. Written science fiction already has enough problems working around the image that it is trapped in its own alternate universe branching off from 1971; the fact the major print publications of the genre deal with the electronic era as if it was something to be handled from a great distance, with tongs, isn’t helping any of us." (tags: SF blogs whatever books magazines writing publishing ) Five Problems In Physics Without The Definite Article / Science News "Most physicists don’t consider a phenomenon to be understood until there are both repeatable experiments displaying it and a quantitative theoretical description. The only physics problems without both aspects are those unrelated to experiment. We have a name for such problems: mathematics. The book’s list, however, did inspire me to come up with my own list. Here are my “Five Great Problems in Theoretical Physics,” without the definite article:" (tags: physics theory science math ) Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 9:50 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Update: Today's Antarctic Vote Count [Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)]The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 722 - 579 - 387 - 324 - 289 out of 224 candidates registered. I am in second place. If you've already voted, then please encourage your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to vote for the person whom you think would be best for this unique job: traveling to Antarctica for the month of February 2010 and writing about it for the public on a blog. Here is my 300-word essay ; hopefully, you will agree that I am a very well-qualified candidate for this job opportunity. Voting ends 30 September and there is one vote allowed per valid email address (registration required). Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 9:21 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / What is it with atheists and GLBT folk? [Pharyngula]There is a strange correlation: most of the atheists I know are straight, yet when I post a pointless poll like this one, I know with near certainty which way the godless hordes of Pharyngula will try to skew it. Do you agree with President Obama's decision to extend certain benefits to gay partners of federal employees? 51.38% Yes 48.62% No It goes further, too. We atheists tend to strongly favor women's rights and equality in the marketplace, yet only about half of us are female. I could bring up an article like this one, in which conservative democrats demand that abortion services not be provided under universal healthcare , and I know how most of the progressive godless readers here will respond: with anger. You won't be voting for Reps. Dan Boren (D-OK); Bart Stupak (D-MI); Colin Peterson (D-MN); Tim Holden (D-PA); Travis Childers (D-MS); Lincoln Davis (D-TN); Heath Shuler (D-NC) Solomon Ortiz (D-TX); Mike McIntyre (D-NC); Jerry Costello (D-IL); Gene Taylor (D-MS); James Oberstar (D-MN); Bobby Bright (D-AL); Steve Driehaus (D-OH); Marcy Kaptur (D-OH); Charlie Melancon (D-LA); John Murtha (D-PA); Paul Kanjorski (D-PA); and Kathleen Dahlkemper (D-PA) in the next election. Hey, Colin Peterson is my state representative; I'll be writing him a pissed-off letter when I get home, and he has lost my vote. It's not just a selective reading on my part. Other sources, like Lavender Magazine , have noticed that the atheists in their communities have a rather reliable political and social position. Here's a review of Atheists Talk radio (which is no more, I'm sorry to say). Many radio programs broadcast locally are queer-inclusive. But aside from KFAI's Fresh Fruit, which is total queer content, no program is as fully queer-supportive as Atheists Talk. Large time chunks have been devoted to Wayne Besen, the Fagbug, and Project 515. Plus, an organic queer sensitivity weaves throughout other segments, because of the atheist and democratic value that separates religion and state. Host Mike Haubrich thinks "religious institutions that suppress the rights of GLBT folks are using their beliefs as justification for an underlying homophobia. By using the Bible as an absolute moral guide in legislating issues related to marriage and other societal benefits that should be recognized as being granted by such a basic document as the Declaration of Independence, they are demonstrating precisely the effects of church-state entanglement that James Madison was warning against. The state should not be used as a sledgehammer to enforce a particular religious code, and an individual's sexuality should not be subject to the whims of religious interpretation." Contributor August Berkshire observes, "Americans are proud of our ideals of liberty and equality. Why then are some people shocked when these ideals are applied to people of color, women, and sexual minorities? Are some citizens 'more equal' than others?" People dependent on religion like to claim that atheism is just another religion, and they argue that we can't know that we'd have a better society if we got rid of god (and usually go the other way and claim we'd be immoral without our imaginary cosmic policeman in the sky), but you know, I look around at all the atheist communities springing up around the country, and I see the people who are most committed to tolerance and equality joining them, and I am convinced. A godless America would be a better America, one more committed to the Enlightenment ideals that accompanied its founding, one that would actually have some ideals and principles that would make it a better place to live for everyone. Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 9:04 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Clock Quotes [A Blog Around The Clock]No man was ever endowed with a right without being at the same time saddled with a responsibility. - Gerald W. Johnson Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 9:00 AM / New Scientist - Latest Headlines / 'Hippy' monkey is a killer when starved of sexThe world's most peaceful primate is observed launching a lethal attack, giving clues to the origins of human gang warfare
July 4, 9:00 AM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Children With Autism Need To Be Taught In Smaller Groups, Experts ArgueSince the 1970s, there has been much debate surrounding the fact that individuals with autism have difficulty in understanding speech in situations where there is background speech or noise. Neuroscientists argue in favor of smaller class sizes for children with autism.
July 4, 9:00 AM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Shape Matters In The Case Of Cobalt NanoparticlesNew studies show that changing the shape of cobalt nanoparticles from spherical to cubic can fundamentally change their behavior.
July 4, 9:00 AM / ScienceDaily Headlines / HIV-related Death: Predicting Fatal Fungal InfectionsResearchers have identified cells in blood that predict which HIV-positive individuals are most likely to develop deadly fungal meningitis, a major cause of HIV-related death. This form of meningitis affects more than 900,000 HIV-infected people globally--most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas of the world where antiretroviral therapy for HIV is not available.
July 4, 9:00 AM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Climate Change And The Mystery Of The Shrinking SheepMilder winters are causing Scotland's wild breed of Soay sheep to get smaller, despite the evolutionary benefits of possessing a large body, according to new research.
July 4, 8:44 AM / New Scientist - Latest Headlines / Blood test could predict IVF successPatterns of gene expression in a woman's blood may give couples a clue as to whether she is likely to get pregnant using IVF
July 4, 7:07 AM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Fisher Plaza fire disrupts Web service, TV station - Seattle TimesKATU Fisher Plaza fire disrupts Web service, TV station Seattle Times A short-lived fire at Seattle's Fisher Plaza Thursday night caused service disruptions Friday to numerous Web sites, including one that handles transactions for thousands of online merchants. Also affected were KOMO-TV, radio and other stations that ... Seattle fire knocks out service to Bing Travel, other sites CNET News Fire in downtown Seattle data center knocks out businesses, online ... BetaNews Fisher Plaza blaze knocks out Internet service Seattle Post Intelligencer Bizjournals.com - KOMO News - Data Center Knowledge all 62 news articles »
July 4, 5:39 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / 'Tis the 4th [Neurotopia]w00t I know not all my readers are from the US (I know I've got a couple in the UK, some in Canada, and some in New Zealand. What up, guys?) but 'round these digs, the 4th of July is usually celebrated as Independence Day, the day a bunch of people who didn't like their taxes decided to let their government know it in a really violent manner. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the day the 2nd Continental Congress voted to declare independence. That was July 2. Neither was it the day when the Declaration was read out loud to the city of Philadelphia (that was July 8). Some say it was the day when the Declaration of Independence was signed officially, but it's believed the official signing didn't happen until after all the details were hammered out, on August 2. So WHAT, pray tell, happened on July 4? The Declaration of Independence was adopted. Yeah. That's it. Not voted on. Not signed (though maybe it was), not read to a cheering populace. John Adams always thought that Independence Day should be celebrated on July 2. Others thought August 2. Perhaps people were compromising. So today is the day. The day of cook-outs, and fireworks, and food, and patriotism. After all it's been through, and all it's going through, and all the crap we have to contend with, and all the issues, in the end, Sci is American, and she's proud of her country. She tries not to get too cynical. After all, everyone in the Roman empire moralized when the empire was 250 years old that everyone had gone soft, and after the Punic wars, what was there to live for, and the whole empire was going downhill. That was around 100 BCE (or a little before or after), and they managed to stick around for while. And in the US, we don't have despotic emperors (anymore), and no lead in the drinking water, and actually give people the vote even if they don't have enough money for a cavalry horse and armor. So I hope we'll stick around a while, at least long enough to fix some of the problems. Democracy is delicious. Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 4:27 AM / NYT > Science / Environment Groups Find Less Support From JusticesEnvironmental groups lost all five of their cases before the Supreme Court last term, a trend scholars see continuing as the court moves to the right.
July 4, 3:24 AM / Google News - Sci/Tech / NASA's lunar orbiter sends back results of first Kodak moments - Christian Science MonitorTopNews United States NASA's lunar orbiter sends back results of first Kodak moments Christian Science Monitor The first images have come back from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Although they are test images, they give a clear sign that the craft's camera suite, LROC, is ready to rock. A little over a week ago, one of two tandem ... Lunar mapping satellite snaps first test images CNET News Satellite Offers New View of Dark, Light Sides of Moon AHN New Moon Orbiter Sends First Lunar Snapshots FOXNews msnbc.com - Wired News - TopNews United States all 82 news articles »
July 4, 3:24 AM / Google News - Sci/Tech / NASA's lunar orbiter sends back results of first Kodak moments - Christian Science MonitorScience Centric NASA's lunar orbiter sends back results of first Kodak moments Christian Science Monitor The first images have come back from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Although they are test images, they give a clear sign that the craft's camera suite, LROC, is ready to rock. A little over a week ago, one of two tandem ... New Moon Orbiter Sends First Lunar Snapshots FOXNews Satellite Offers New View of Dark, Light Sides of Moon AHN Lunar mapping satellite snaps first test images CNET News msnbc.com - Wired News - Softpedia all 84 news articles »
July 4, 3:00 AM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Overweight Kids Experience More Loneliness, AnxietyAs childhood obesity rates continue to increase, experts agree that more information is needed about the implications of being overweight as a step toward reversing current trends. A new study has found that overweight children, especially girls, show signs of the negative consequences of being overweight as early as kindergarten.
July 4, 3:00 AM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Risk Of Liver Cancer In Women With Hepatitis B Virus Infection Varies With Number Of PregnanciesRisk for hepatocellular carcinoma, a primary malignancy of the liver, was statistically significantly higher among women with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection than among women without the virus, according to a new study.
July 4, 3:00 AM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Police Work Undermines Cardiovascular Health, Comparison To General Population ShowsIt is well documented that police officers have a higher risk of developing heart disease: The question is why. In the most recent results coming out of one of the few long-term studies being conducted within this tightly knit society, researchers have determined that underlying the higher incidence of subclinical atherosclerosis -- arterial thickening that precedes a heart attack or stroke -- may be the stress of police work.
July 4, 2:55 AM / NYT > Technology / What Did Shaq Just Tweet? A New Web Site KnowsWith more athletes using Twitter, Facebook and personal blogs, one Web site is trying to provide a centralized place for fans to keep up with the increasing amount of content.
July 4, 2:52 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / So, you think Linux is "ugly"? [Greg Laden's Blog]Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 2:51 AM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Dismissal of MySpace Case 'Proper,' Defendant Says - Washington PostLos Angeles Times Dismissal of MySpace Case 'Proper,' Defendant Says Washington Post AP LOS ANGELES, July 3 -- A Missouri mother said she never should have been prosecuted for her role in a MySpace hoax directed at a 13-year-old girl who ended up committing suicide. A federal judge this week acquitted Lori Drew of ... MySpace victim's mom disappointed by ruling msnbc.com MySpace cyber-bullying conviction tentatively dismissed Los Angeles Times Mom in MySpace case says it was properly dismissed The Associated Press CNET News - New York Times - TMCnet all 1,013 news articles »
July 4, 2:51 AM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Dismissal of MySpace Case 'Proper,' Defendant Says - Washington PostWashington Post Dismissal of MySpace Case 'Proper,' Defendant Says Washington Post AP LOS ANGELES, July 3 -- A Missouri mother said she never should have been prosecuted for her role in a MySpace hoax directed at a 13-year-old girl who ended up committing suicide. A federal judge this week acquitted Lori Drew of ... MySpace victim's mom disappointed by ruling msnbc.com MySpace cyber-bullying conviction tentatively dismissed Los Angeles Times Mom in MySpace case says it was properly dismissed The Associated Press CNET News - New York Times - Ars Technica all 1,014 news articles »
July 4, 2:45 AM / NYT > Science / In Public Housing, Spreading the Gospel of the Recycling BinTwo residents of the General Grant Houses in Upper Manhattan are spreading the word about recycling, building by building.
July 4, 2:39 AM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Fisher Plaza blaze knocks out Internet service - Seattle Post IntelligencerKATU Fisher Plaza blaze knocks out Internet service Seattle Post Intelligencer A fire at Fisher Plaza late Thursday night disrupted Internet service for several companies - including one that handles online credit card transactions for hundreds of thousands of businesses - and affected Seattle television and ... Seattle fire knocks out service to Bing Travel, other sites CNET News Fire at Seattle's Fisher Plaza disrupts web sites Bizjournals.com Fire in downtown Seattle data center knocks out businesses, online ... BetaNews KOMO News - LiveSide - Data Center Knowledge all 62 news articles »
July 4, 2:39 AM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Fisher Plaza blaze knocks out Internet service - Seattle Post IntelligencerKATU Fisher Plaza blaze knocks out Internet service Seattle Post Intelligencer A fire at Fisher Plaza late Thursday night disrupted Internet service for several companies - including one that handles online credit card transactions for hundreds of thousands of businesses - and affected Seattle television and ... Seattle fire knocks out service to Bing Travel, other sites CNET News Fire in Seattle disrupts programming at KLEW KLEW Fire at Seattle's Fisher Plaza disrupts web sites Bizjournals.com BetaNews - LiveSide - Data Center Knowledge all 62 news articles »
July 4, 2:26 AM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Why I'm Dropping Bing For Google - InformationWeekStraits Times Why I'm Dropping Bing For Google InformationWeek It's been about a month since I started a Bing experiment, and it's gone pretty well. Search results are about as good as Google, sometimes better. After a month, though, I've decided to go back to Google. The problem isn't with the search results ... Bing: Not Really Gaining on Google BusinessWeek Microsoft: Bing needs to improve when news breaks CNET News Microsoft Gets Twitter Search First Reuters PC Magazine - Computerworld - AHN all 455 news articles »
July 4, 2:04 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / A Pacemaker is a Network [A Blog Around The Clock]This is going to be a challenging post to write for several reasons. How do I explain that a paper that does not show too much new stuff is actually a seminal paper? How do I condense a 12-page Cell paper describing a gazillion experiments without spending too much time on details of each experiment (as much as I'd love to do exactly that)? How do I review it calmly and critically without gushing all over it and waxing poetically about its authors? How do I put it in proper theoretical and historical perspective without unnecessarily insulting someone? I'll give it a try and we'll see how it turns out (if you follow me under the fold). Clock Genes - a brief history of discovery Late 1990s were a period of amazing activity and rate of discovery in chronobiology, specifically in molecular basis of circadian rhythms. Sure, a few mutations resulting in period changes or arrhythmicity were known before , notably period in fruitflies, frequency in the fungus Neurospora crassa , the tau mutation in hamsters and some unidentified mutations in a couple of Protista . But in 1995, as the molecular techniques came of age, flood-gates opened and new clock genes were discovered almost every week (or so it appeared). Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 2:03 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Friday Follow: Neurophilosophy [The Primate Diaries]Or, Why I Love ScienceBlogs Reason #372: Mo at Neurophilosophy has a fascinating article on the evolutionary origins of the nervous system : THE HUMAN BRAIN is a true marvel of nature. This jelly-like 1.5kg mass inside our skulls, containing hundreds of billions of cells which between them form something like a quadrillion connections, is responsible for our every action, emotion and thought. How did this remarkable and extraordinarily complex structure evolve? This question poses a huge challenge to researchers; brain evolution surely involved thousands of discrete, incremental steps, which occurred in the mists of deep time across hundreds of millions of years, and which we are unlikely to ever fully understand. Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 1:58 AM / NYT > Technology / Internet Companies and Ad Agencies Go From Old Enemies to New FriendsThe slowing growth in online advertising is pushing traditional ad agencies and Internet companies to work together.
July 4, 1:33 AM / NYT > Technology / Bits: Apple, Acer, and...Arrington?Michael Arrington, the founder of the TechCrunch blog, says he will begin selling the CrunchPad, a touch-screen tablet for Web surfing, later this summer.
July 4, 1:21 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Deep thought [Thoughts from Kansas]Sarah Palin is utterly batshit. Look, I can see not running for reelection: she wants to run for president in 2012. That alone is pretty dumb, since she was less popular than John McCain, and McCain/Palin couldn't beat Obama in 2008. In 2012, all signs suggest we'll have national health insurance and a growing economy, so why would anyone pick Palin to ruin it? But she wants to run in 2012. Fine. Why resign from office now? She doesn't want to be a lame duck? Fine, then why stay in office for a month? I mean, her official resignation will happen on my birthday, which is thoughtful of her, but still, she's quacking and limping. Furthermore, she hasn't really been doing a lot as governor anyway. With all the feuding and fighting for national prominence, I can't think she's been delving into the finer details of Alaskan policy. Which may be to Alaska's benefit. Surely, though, she could persist in this manner for her full four-year term, and then get beaten in 2012. But what really puzzles me is the precise timing of her announcement. Last week, Vanity Fair rolled out an article in which McCain staffers unloaded on her, calling her, among other things, a “Little Shop of Horrors,” a “diva,” and a “whack job.” That would all be forgotten by July, but by signaling her 2012 candidacy unmistakably and by announcing her resignation now, Palin makes it impossible for those of us who planned to ignore the Vanity Fair piece. And we have to ask whether she's resigning as Governor to free up more time to run laps , or to run for office. All this could have been mitigated by delaying the announcement, or just by serving out her term. Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 1:10 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Life in Biosphere 2 [Greg Laden's Blog]Several years ago, I was at a going away party for Bruno. Bruno was a hard core scientist who was being brought into the Biosphere project down in Arizona to get it straightened out after a long period of bad press. One of the folks at the party was an archaeology graduate student, Ben, who had a very dry sense of humor. As Ben was leaving that evening, he turned to Bruno to wish him well. "Bruno, see you around! And good luck with the terrarium!" .... Sorry, that's my only Biosphere story. Here's a Ted Talk on it: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 0:03 AM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Lindau Nobel - interview with Bente Flier [A Blog Around The Clock]A brief interview with one of the young researchers attending the Lindau Nobel conference - Bente Flier of the University of Constance, Germany: Read the comments on this post...
July 4, 0:00 AM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Hurricane Katrina: Why Some People Stayed BehindHurricane Katrina was the largest natural disaster in US history, claiming the lives of more than 1,800 victims and causing well over $100 billion in damage along the Gulf Coast. The 2005 storm breached every levee in New Orleans, flooding almost the entire city as well as the neighboring parishes. Yet a surprising number of people stayed behind and rode out the storm.
July 4, 0:00 AM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Predicting The Return Of Prostate Cancer: New Study Betters The Odds Of SuccessCancer experts say a study tracking 774 prostate cancer patients for a median of eight years has shown that a three-way combination of measurements has the best chance yet of predicting disease metastasis.
July 4, 0:00 AM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Alzheimer's Research Yields Potential Drug TargetScientists have found laboratory evidence that a cluster of peptides may be the toxic agent in Alzheimer's disease. Scientists say the discovery may lead to new drugs for the disease.
July 4, 0:00 AM / ScienceDaily Headlines / What Drives Lung Cancer's Spread?A new study reveals the genetic underpinnings of what causes lung cancer to quickly metastasize, or spread, to the brain and the bone -- the two most prominent sites of lung cancer relapse.
July 4, 0:00 AM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Human-like Brain Disturbances In Insects: Locusts Shed Light On Migraines, Stroke And EpilepsyA similarity in brain disturbance between insects and people suffering from migraines, stroke and epilepsy points the way toward new drug therapies to address these conditions.
July 3, 11:32 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / ER, homeopath style [White Coat Underground]Yes, every skeptic on the web has posted this, but it is irresistible. Remember, yanks, that A&E in the UK is not a boring cable TV channel but what they call an ER. Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 11:25 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Linux: Not for everyone. [Greg Laden's Blog]Before they know how pronounce the thing the story is about: After they know how pronounce the thing the story is about: Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 10:26 PM / CNET News.com / Blogging live from Spiral JettyNever say never, but this may be the first blog ever posted live from the monumental earthwork on the edge of the Great Salt Lake called Spiral Jetty.
July 3, 10:09 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Another reason to support full sex education [Pharyngula]Because it would end embarrassing mistakes like this one. A group of teenagers misunderstood a woman's screams during sex and, thinking they were stopping an assault, beat a 25-year-old man in her bedroom, police said. Multiple tragedies here: not only was an innocent man beat up, but now everyone at school is so going to know those teenagers are like total virgins . Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 9:38 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / The subsidiary patient [Brazillion Thoughts]Many times, in my practice, I am required to explain some statistical concepts to my patients in order to make them avoid some frequent pitfalls. The most common concept I explain is what is "normal" in lab exams. Let's suppose someone invents a new lab test to measure the glucose in the blood. How would we determine what are the normal values for this test? Once we are certain that the exam will not harm anyone, the researcher start looking for HEALTHY (this is important) subjetcs in order to measure their blood glucose levels. The researcher will probably measure thousands of blood samples, put them in a graph and what will he find? Normal distribution A distribution like the above (if not, statisticians will find a way). In our hypothetical situation, the y-axis is the number of subjects that has a particular glucose level in their blood while the x-axis show the glucose level of these people. We can easily see that a few subjects have very high glycemy while another few have very low glycemy levels. Most of the subjects are found in the "peak"of the curve, with intermediary glycemy levels. The σ is the standard deviation, a measure of how variable is the sample (please, don't panic). The σ measures how the measurements are usually away from the average. The normal distribution has some interesting properties. The one we are using in this example is the one above. It is possible to calculate the proportion of the subjects (area under the curve) in each point. If we evaluate the area between μ-2σ and μ+2σ, we will find out that it corresponds to about 95,44% of the whole population Here you are. I thereby declare that the "normal" values in this alb tests are found between μ-2σ and μ+2σ, as 95% of all the healthy people are found in this interval. Whenever a patient comes to see me, and I decide to test his glycemy using the method we have just described, there will be a chance, intrinsic to the method, that it will give a result that is out of the boundaries determined as "normal" limits, even though the patient is completely healthy. This chance, as explained, is about 5% (2.5% for each side of the distribution). Somebody may say: "OK, KArl, nothing is perfect and there is always margin for error." I agree. The problem is that we never ask for only one exam. On one hand, patients love to do a full check-up "Please, test me for everything because my health plan will cover everything". On the other hand, doctors love to ask for exams "I will ask for all the exams since blood will be drawn anyway". In Brazil, doctors ask for an average of 1o to 20 tests per consulattion, depending on the specialization and health plan. (OK, now it is time to PANIC) When we ak for 1 test, the chance of this test come back as NORMAL/NEGATIVE and the patient does NOT have the tested disease, is 95%, or 0.95. If we ask for 2 tests, the chances of both test come back normal and the patient does not have the tested disease is 0.95 x 0.95 = 0.9025. That means that there is about 10% of chance of one of the test come back as ABNORMAL/POSITIVE and the patient is healthy. If you consider 4 tests, the chances are 0.81 and when we achieve the number of 16 tests, the chances of one test coming back as abnormal is a THIRD! The conclusion is quite important. Whenever I ask for a brazillion of tests, the chances that at least one of the results will come back abnormal and the patient is healthy is overwhelming. If I am, as I usually say, a doctor that is "hostage" of the exams, I will look for diseases where there are none! I will keep trying to fit the patient in the test results and not the opposite! This is what I call of "subsidiary patient, when the tests are what matter. Some years ago, there was a trend in Brazil to take some flock of hairs and send them to USA, where they examined for almost all the elements in the periodic table! There were more than 50 exams. And who knows how the normal values for, let's say, Cadmium, were established. The chance of at least one of the tests coming back as NOT NORMAL was close to 100%. Then, the doctor, in possession of the lab results, would say "Your Cadmium levels are high! We have to detoxify you!" and would prescribe you with some medicine. Some patients would become better, of course, and the rest of the herd would follow... That's something that is always on my mind: how many doctors today would have the guts to ignore a lab test jsut because it does not fit with the picture he drew from his patient? Hard question. Another: what kind of patients would believe his doctor if he decided to ignore the lab test? This one is easier: a patient that do not want to become subsidiary. ================================== This post was written by Karl in his blog Ecce Medicus and translated by Carlos Hotta. Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 9:35 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Friday Links [Mike the Mad Biologist]A little more than 24 hours to go until people blow shit up all across America--in a good way. Until then, here are some links to keep you busy: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 9:28 PM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store - CNET NewsPC Advisor Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store CNET News An employee at an Apple store near Washington DC was shot and wounded Friday, police have confirmed. The victim is in an area hospital in serious but stable condition recovering from a wound to the right shoulder. ... Gunfire at Apple Store in DC Suburb Leaves One Injured PC World Woman Shot in Apple Store at Clarendon's Market Common Washington Post Apple Store Employee Shot by Suspect With Fake Beard FOXNews Tom's Guide - Apple Insider - WJZ all 20 news articles »
July 3, 9:28 PM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store - CNET NewsCNET News Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store CNET News An employee was shot Friday at this Apple store on Clarendon Blvd. in Arlington, Va. Customers were inside the store when the shooting happened, but no one else was injured, police say. An employee at an Apple store near Washington DC ... Gunfire at Apple Store in DC Suburb Leaves One Injured PC World Woman Shot in Apple Store at Clarendon's Market Common Washington Post Woman Shot in Apple Store Hard OCP VentureBeat - FOXNews - Apple Insider all 23 news articles »
July 3, 9:28 PM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store - CNET NewsCNET News Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store CNET News An employee was shot Friday at this Apple store on Clarendon Blvd. in Arlington, Va. Customers were inside the store when the shooting happened, but no one else was injured, police say. An employee at an Apple store near Washington DC ... Gunfire at Apple Store in DC Suburb Leaves One Injured PC World Apple store employee shot VentureBeat Apple Store Employee Shot by Suspect With Fake Beard FOXNews Apple Insider - Tom's Guide - Hard OCP all 23 news articles »
July 3, 9:28 PM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store - CNET NewsCNET News Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store CNET News An employee was shot Friday at this Apple store on Clarendon Blvd. in Arlington, Va. Customers were inside the store when the shooting happened, but no one else was injured, police say. An employee at an Apple store near Washington DC ... Gunfire at Apple Store in DC Suburb Leaves One Injured PC World Employee Shot at Apple Store; Suspect Sought Washington Post Colonel Mustard, in the Apple Store, with the revolver CrunchGear FOXNews - Apple Insider - Tom's Guide all 22 news articles »
July 3, 9:28 PM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store - CNET NewsCNET News Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store CNET News An employee was shot Friday at this Apple store on Clarendon Blvd. in Arlington, Va. Customers were inside the store when the shooting happened, but no one else was injured, police say. An employee at an Apple store near Washington DC ... Gunfire at Apple Store in DC Suburb Leaves One Injured PC World Employee Shot at Apple Store; Suspect Sought Washington Post Female employee of Arlington County App Store shot at and wounded TopNews United States FOXNews - Apple Insider - Tom's Guide all 23 news articles »
July 3, 9:28 PM / Google News - Sci/Tech / Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store - CNET NewsCNET News Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store CNET News An employee was shot Friday at this Apple store on Clarendon Blvd. in Arlington, Va. Customers were inside the store when the shooting happened, but no one else was injured, police say. An employee at an Apple store near Washington DC ... Apple store employee shot during attempted armed robbery The Money Times Employee Shot at Apple Store; Suspect Sought Washington Post Gunfire at Apple Store in DC Suburb Leaves One Injured PC World TopNews United States - Apple Insider - Tom's Guide all 24 news articles »
July 3, 9:25 PM / CNET News.com / Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple storeThe victim, a 26-year-old woman, is in serious but stable condition with a wound to the shoulder. Some media outlets are reporting robbery as the motive, but police say it's too early to tell.
July 3, 9:21 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Quitter [Pharyngula]That wacky no-nothing up north, Sarah Palin, has quit her job as governor . She doesn't give a good reason why; in an annoyingly chipper speech, she whines about the way she was being scrutinized for ethics violations, and the fact that she was currently an ineffective lame duck governor, and then announces that she's stepping down from office. It makes no sense at all, and it does say something about the weakness of her character. Brave Dame Sarah ran away. ("No!") Bravely ran away away. ("I didn't!") When danger reared it's ugly shead, She bravely turned her tail and fled. ("no!") Yes, brave Dame Sarah turned about ("I didn't!") And gallantly she chickened out. Bravely taking ("I never did!") to her feet, She beat a very brave retreat. ("all lies!") Bravest of the braaaave, Dame Sarah! ("I never!") Remember this if (when) she runs for president in 2012. Who wants a president who at the first minor crisis turns her office over to the vice president and runs away? Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 9:20 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / In defense of hir in a male-dominated environment [Sciencewomen]After the weekend, I'll be back with a follow up to the post on my progress towards tenure , and I'll try to address some of the substantive and thought-provoking comments that you all have raised. But, here in the States, it's already a holiday weekend, and so for today, I'll punt and take on a side issue from that comment thread. Comrade Physioprof commented: "hir" is a total ...abomination! It is so ...distracting it totally ruins the flow of reading, because it is NOT A REAL ...WORD! In terms of identifiability of an anonymous individual, how much difference does a factor of two make in the likelihood of identifying the person? And if you really think it makes a difference, for the love of god, just use "his or her". [Use your imagination to fill in the ellipses.] Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 9:10 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / CJR: The health-care reform debate as Groundhog Day [Neuron Culture]It's been 26 years since health-care reform failed. Does the debate reflect anything that's happened since? From The Columbia Journalism Review : "The idea that we've made a great breakthrough just isn't so," says Jonathan Oberlander, a health-policy expert at the University of North Carolina. "Most of the plans today are direct descendants of what was proposed for the '93-'94 debate. The debate reminds me of one of my favorite movies, Groundhog Day. With few exceptions, like the fine series last summer by NPR that explained how a number of other countries handle health care, the press has done little to challenge this reality or help to broaden the health-care debate. Rather, it has mostly passed along the pronouncements of politicians and the major stakeholders who have the most to lose from wholesale reform. By not challenging the status quo, the press has so far foreclosed a vibrant discussion of the full range of options, and also has not dug deeply into the few that are being discussed, thereby leaving citizens largely uninformed about an issue that will affect us all. [and] Absent from the debate are not only single-payer systems like the ones in England and Canada, but other systems with multiple payers, like ones in Germany and Japan--or, for that matter, any discussion of why a system that relies on competition among private insurers in The Netherlands hasn't resulted in lower prices for consumers, as advocates claimed. What's common to all these systems is that everyone is entitled to health care and pays taxes to support the system, and medical costs are controlled by limits on spending. The specter of a system that takes a significant bite out of stakeholder profits in the U.S. is the real reason the debate is so restricted. Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 9:06 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / If homeopathy were actually practiced by your doctors… [Pharyngula]Maybe health care would be cheaper . Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 9:06 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Morning Sickness is an Adaptation, not a ... Sickness [Greg Laden's Blog]The best of last June There is new information from an older idea (from about 2000) by Paul Sherman and colleagues. The idea underlying this research is simple: Symptoms of illnesses may be adaptive. Indeed, this may be true to the extent that we should not call certain things illnesses. Like "morning sickness." Broadly speaking, there are two different kinds of reasons that a woman may experience nausea in association with pregnancy. 1) This pregnancy thing is a complicated mess with all kinds of hormonal (and other) things going on, so you puke; or 2) a woman who is pregnant feels nauseous for good evolutionary reasons. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 9:05 PM / news@nature.com / Japanese diplomat elected to head atomic agencyYukiya Amano set to succeed Mohamed ElBaradei.
July 3, 9:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Experts Call For Federal Regulation Of Genetic Ancestry TestingThe need for a clear set of rules governing genetic ancestry testing is becoming more urgent, according to experts, given the proliferation of private corporations that promise consumers insight into their genetic origins.
July 3, 9:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Prostate Cancer Patients Disease Free After Five Years Likely To Be Disease Free After 10 YearsProstate cancer patients who receive brachytherapy and remain free of disease for five years or greater are unlikely to have a recurrence at 10 years, according to a new study.
July 3, 9:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Nanotechnology May Increase Longevity Of Dental FillingsTooth-colored fillings may be more attractive than silver ones, but the bonds between the white filling and the tooth quickly age and degrade. Researchers hope a new nanotechnology technique will extend the fillings' longevity.
July 3, 9:00 PM / ScienceDaily Headlines / Brain Malformations Significantly Associated With Preterm Birth, Study SuggestsNew research provides for the first time a solid scientific answer for the long-standing question of whether there is an association between preterm birth and brain malformations.
July 3, 8:50 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Sarah Palin resigning, the Obama effect? [Gene Expression]Palin announces resignation : Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she was resigning her office later this month, a stunning decision that could free her to run for president more easily but also raises questions about her political standing at home. Palin disclosed the surprise news Friday afternoon from her home in Wasilla with her husband, Todd, and Lt. Governor Sean Parnell, who the governor said would take over the state on Saturday, July 25th. By not running for re-election, Palin liberates herself from the political constraints that come with running for president while still in elected office. It seems like a joke that someone who was governor of Alaska for such a short time could conceive of a presidential run, but Barack Obama didn't even complete his term as senator, so the bar has been resent when it comes to political experience. Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 8:48 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Lindau Nobel conference - the Lindau island [A Blog Around The Clock]It's a beautiful place: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 8:25 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Amnesty International Report Rejected ... [Greg Laden's Blog]Nigeria's state oil company rejected criticism from a leading human rights group Wednesday, calling an Amnesty International report "inaccurate." "We have issues with the report," said Levi Ajuonoma, a spokesman for Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Amnesty said Tuesday that pollution and environmental impacts from the oil industry in the Niger Delta are creating a "human rights tragedy" in which local people suffer poor health and loss of livelihood. Governments and oil companies are failing to be accountable for the problems, Amnesty said in its report, called "Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta." But the state oil company said it was local communities who cause much of the environmental damage by vandalizing pipelines for monetary gain. Source: Shell Oil Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 8:22 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Heard but not confirmed: Palin stepping down as Alaska gov? [Greg Laden's Blog]There's got to be a good explanation. Either way, somebody's gonna loose themselves a trailer ... Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 8:22 PM / Google News - Sci/Tech / BlackBerry vs. iPhone 3.0: Smackdown Revisited - PC WorldBrisbane Times BlackBerry vs. iPhone 3.0: Smackdown Revisited PC World The new iPhone 3.0 OS is now old news, but do its enhancements overcome any advantages that the BlackBerry has over the iPhone? In May, I pitted the BlackBerry Bold in a head-to-head competition against the iPhone 3G, which handily beat RIM's business ... Deathmatch rematch: BlackBerry versus iPhone 3.0 Computerworld Porn Continues to Plague iphone Apps Store ABC News Apple Bans Another iphone App For Nudity InformationWeek Los Angeles Times - TechCrunch - Ars Technica all 170 news articles »
July 3, 8:22 PM / Google News - Sci/Tech / BlackBerry vs. iPhone 3.0: Smackdown Revisited - PC WorldBrisbane Times BlackBerry vs. iPhone 3.0: Smackdown Revisited PC World The new iPhone 3.0 OS is now old news, but do its enhancements overcome any advantages that the BlackBerry has over the iPhone? In May, I pitted the BlackBerry Bold in a head-to-head competition against the iPhone 3G, which handily beat RIM's business ... Deathmatch rematch: BlackBerry versus iPhone 3.0 Computerworld Apple Shoots Down Obama's Hope Tom's Guide Porn Continues to Plague iphone Apps Store ABC News InformationWeek - Ars Technica - ChannelWeb all 171 news articles »
July 3, 8:22 PM / Google News - Sci/Tech / BlackBerry vs. iPhone 3.0: Smackdown Revisited - PC WorldBrisbane Times BlackBerry vs. iPhone 3.0: Smackdown Revisited PC World The new iPhone 3.0 OS is now old news, but do its enhancements overcome any advantages that the BlackBerry has over the iPhone? In May, I pitted the BlackBerry Bold in a head-to-head competition against the iPhone 3G, which handily beat RIM's business ... Deathmatch rematch: BlackBerry versus iPhone 3.0 Computerworld Apple Shoots Down Obama's Hope Tom's Guide La Sierra University to offer course on creating iPhone applications Press-Enterprise ABC News - InformationWeek - Ars Technica all 173 news articles »
July 3, 8:11 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / In Which Your Host Witnesses a High-Speed Chase [Built on Facts]Last night I saw a classic conservation of momentum problem in person. It was about midnight, and I was on a service road beside west Houston's Beltway 8 (avoiding the tolls) when I slowed down to stop at a red light. In my rear view mirror I saw the red and blue flash of emergency lights approaching, so with the room I had left I crept over a bit to the right to let them by. Whoosh! A car blew by my left side at high speed, swerving in front of me and speeding into the intersection heedless of the light. My neurons barely had time to start cooking up some surprise when a black pickup truck coming from the cross street entered the intersection from the right and neatly intersected the path of the speeding car with a tremendous and violent bang. Conservation of momentum happened. The collision was not entirely inelastic nor was it entirely elastic. The truck struck the car very solidly on its right side behind the center of mass of the car, sending the car into a spin more or less along its original trajectory. The collision reduced the speed of the truck but didn't change its trajectory much either, and the truck skidded to a halt. (A bonus friction problem!) "Holy crap! This is a serious accident, I should pull over and try to help!", I'd have thought to myself, if I had had time to form the mental impression into words. I didn't have time, because within a second or two probably four or five police cars blazed past as well, surrounding the stopped and thoroughly totaled car. "Holy crap! This wasn't an accident, it's a crime in progress! I might have to be ready to react to real danger," I'd have thought to myself, if I had had time to form the mental impression into words. I didn't have time, because the police jumped out with guns drawn and raced toward the car. I was in the process of pulling my car into the service station just to my right when the arrest happened, and though I didn't see it clearly it looked like the driver was pulled from his car without appearing to be injured, arrested, and put into the back of one of the police cars. Within a minute or two another dozen squad cars were on the scene, along with an ambulance and two firetrucks. The driver of the pickup truck seemed to be uninjured as well, and the ambulances and firetrucks seemed to be a precautionary measure. The police processed the scene and photographed everything, cleaned up the road with the help of the fire department, and later took a statement from me. They seemed pretty nonchalant about it, which I expect is because a witness isn't really needed when there's a bunch of dashboard cameras, two new-looking red light cameras on the intersection itself, and the driver of the truck as a more direct witness, aside from whatever other evidence they might have had for whatever caused the suspect to run in the first place. It's not really all that directly related to the practice of physics, but then again it's not so often you see a classic Physics 101 problem instantiated in front of you in such dramatic fashion. In any event, I'm back in College Station now, tomorrow will have a quick July 4 holiday post, and then back to our regular schedule with a Sunday Function the next day. Enjoy your weekend, and remember that fireworks are physics too! Read the comments on this post...
July 3, 7:59 PM / ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed / Helsinki Dahlia, 1 [Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)]tags: Dahlia , Gardening , Horticulture , Botany , nature , Helsinki , image of the day Dahlias. Photographed at Rautatientori in Helsinki, Finland. Image: GrrlScientist, 3 July 2009 [ larger view ]. (raw image) Read the comments on this post...