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Latest Articles: Science/Tech
Obesity less harmful to blacks [my title]
Post Date: 2008-04-29 14:50:40 by Tauzero
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Race, Visceral Adipose Tissue, Plasma Lipids, and Lipoprotein Lipase Activity in Men and Women The Health, Risk Factors, Exercise Training, and Genetics (HERITAGE) Family Study Jean-Pierre Despre´s, Charles Couillard, Jacques Gagnon, Jean Bergeron, Arthur S. Leon, D.C. Rao, James S. Skinner, Jack H. Wilmore, Claude Bouchard Abstract—Abdominal obesity is associated with numerous metabolic alterations, such as hypertriglyceridemia and low levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. However, compared with abdominally obese white individuals, abdominally obese black individuals have been characterized by higher plasma HDL cholesterol levels, suggesting that the impact of ...
Hackers warn high street chains
Post Date: 2008-04-27 17:42:11 by robin
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Hackers warn high street chains The hackers panel is one of the highlights of InfoSecurity Europe High street chains will be the next victims of cyber terrorism, some of the world's elite hackers have warned. They claim it is only a "matter of time" before the likes of Tesco and Marks & Spencer are targeted. Criminals could use the kind of tactics which crippled Estonia's government and some firms last year, they warned. The experts were members of the infamous "Hackers Panel" which convened in London this week at the InfoSecurity Europe conference. The panel includes penetration testers and so-called "white hat" hackers, ...
Saving the Honeybee Through Organic Farming
Post Date: 2008-04-26 11:55:27 by Red Jones
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Saving the Honeybee Through Organic Farming Professor Joe Cummins Synergistic effects of pesticides and parasitic fungi and worsening decline of honeybees The decline of the honeybee attracted worldwide attention in 2007. Investigations carried out by the Institute of Science in Society implicated a synergistic interaction between the recent widespread use of new pesticides (including Bt toxin from GM crops) and fungal infections [1, 2] (Parasitic Fungus and Honeybee Decline , Parasitic Fungi and Pesticides Act Synergistically to Kill Honeybees?, SiS 35). Sub-lethal levels of neonicotinoid pesticides act synergistically with parasitic fungi in killing insects pests. Fungal spores, widely ...
Squirrel casts long shadow over solar project
Post Date: 2008-04-25 16:40:50 by farmfriend
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Squirrel casts long shadow over solar project By Debra Kahn California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) raised some eyebrows last week when he ended a speech on states’ role in fighting climate change with a diatribe against his own agency. “It’s not just businesses that have slowed things down, it’s not just Republicans that have slowed things down, it’s also Democrats and also environmental activists sometimes that slow things down,” he said of the pace of installation of renewable energy generators. He singled out a squirrel as a symbol of environmental protections run amok. “Our Department of Fish and Game is slowing approval of a solar facility in ...
John A. Wheeler, Physicist Who Coined the Term ‘Black Hole,’ Is Dead at 96
Post Date: 2008-04-25 11:22:39 by aristeides
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John A. Wheeler, Physicist Who Coined the Term ‘Black Hole,’ Is Dead at 96 By DENNIS OVERBYE Published: April 14, 2008 John A. Wheeler, a visionary physicist and teacher who helped invent the theory of nuclear fission, gave black holes their name and argued about the nature of reality with Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, died Sunday morning at his home in Hightstown, N.J. He was 96. The cause was pneumonia, said his daughter Alison Wheeler Lahnston. Dr. Wheeler was a young, impressionable professor in 1939 when Bohr, the Danish physicist and his mentor, arrived in the United States aboard a ship from Denmark and confided to him that German scientists had succeeded in ...
Human line 'nearly split in two'
Post Date: 2008-04-25 10:06:03 by robin
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Human line 'nearly split in two' By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News Humans diverged into separate populations for 100,000 years Ancient humans started down the path of evolving into two separate species before merging back into a single population, a genetic study suggests. The genetic split in Africa resulted in distinct populations that lived in isolation for as much as 100,000 years, the scientists say. This could have been caused by arid conditions driving a wedge between humans in eastern and southern Africa. Details have been published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. It would be the longest period for which ...
Sorry to ruin the fun, but an ice age cometh
Post Date: 2008-04-24 21:25:49 by rack42
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THE scariest photo I have seen on the internet is www.spaceweather.com, where you will find a real-time image of the sun from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, located in deep space at the equilibrium point between solar and terrestrial gravity. What is scary about the picture is that there is only one tiny sunspot. Disconcerting as it may be to true believers in global warming, the average temperature on Earth has remained steady or slowly declined during the past decade, despite the continued increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, and now the global temperature is falling precipitously. All four agencies that track Earth's temperature (the Hadley Climate ...
Fossilized Protein Shows Dinosaurs' Ties to Modern Birds
Post Date: 2008-04-24 17:30:22 by ...
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Protein retrieved from a 68-millon-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex bone closely resembles the main protein in chicken and ostrich bones and is only distantly related to lizard protein, strengthening the popular idea that birds, and not reptiles, are the closest living descendants of dinosaurs. The new work builds on a 2007 analysis showing remarkably close similarities between T. rex collagen and collagen from modern day chickens, but which did not include comparisons to other living species. Collagen is the primary protein in bones. "We had made a very loose connection at first," said John M. Asara of Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who led both ...
Biofuel Madness: Environmentalism exploited for political purposes
Post Date: 2008-04-22 23:09:06 by farmfriend
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Biofuel Madness: Environmentalism exploited for political purposes By Dr. Tim Ball Tuesday, April 8, 2008 Environmentalism exploited for political purposes, Threatening world food production The rush towards biofuels is threatening world food production and the lives of billions of people, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser said yesterday. Professor John Beddington put himself at odds with ministers who have committed Britain to large increases in the use of biofuels over the coming decades. In his first important public speech since he was appointed, he described the potential impacts of food shortages as the “elephant in the room” and a problem which rivaled that ...
Scientists say Midwest quakes poorly understood
Post Date: 2008-04-20 10:41:21 by Ada
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - Scientists say they know far too little about Midwestern seismic zones like the one that rumbled to life under southern Illinois Friday morning, but some of what they do know is unnerving. The fault zones beneath the Mississippi River Valley have produced some of the largest modern U.S. quakes east of the Rockies, a region covered with old buildings not built to withstand seismic activity. And, when quakes happen, they're felt far and wide, their vibrations propagated over hundreds of miles of bedrock. Friday's quake shook things up from Nebraska to Atlanta, rattling nerves but doing little damage and seriously hurting no one. It was a magnitude 5.2 temblor ...
Why flowers have lost their scent
Post Date: 2008-04-19 23:35:02 by Horse
15 Comments
Pollution is stifling the fragrance of plants and preventing bees from pollinating them – endangering one of the most essential cycles of nature, writes Environment Editor Geoffrey Lean Pollution is dulling the scent of flowers and impeding some of the most basic processes of nature, disrupting insect life and imperilling food supplies, a new study suggests. The potentially hugely significant research – funded by the blue-chip US National Science Foundation – has found that gases mainly formed from the emissions of car exhausts prevent flowers from attracting bees and other insects in order to pollinate them. And the scientists who have conducted the study fear that ...
Scientists hark back 30,000 years to give Neanderthal Man a voice
Post Date: 2008-04-18 06:47:58 by Ada
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The voice of Neanderthal Man has been synthesised 30,000 years after the human relatives became extinct. Scientists in the US have used a reconstruction of the larynx of Homo neanderthalis and computer models to mimic the way that the species probably spoke. Only one sound – the “e” – has been generated so far, which seems strangulated and nasal in comparison with its human equivalent. Robert McCarthy, of Florida Atlantic University, who is leading the research, said that he hoped eventually to produce an entire sentence. He told New Scientist magazine that the species lacked the “quantal vowel” sounds typical of modern speech. The Neanderthal “e” ...
Sokal affair
Post Date: 2008-04-16 19:12:40 by Horse
1 Comments
The Sokal affair was a hoax by physicist Alan Sokal perpetrated on the editorial staff and readership of the postmodern cultural studies journal Social Text (published by Duke University). In 1996, Sokal, a professor of physics at New York University, submitted a paper of nonsense camouflaged in jargon for publication in Social Text, as an experiment to see if a journal in that field would, in Sokal's words: "publish an article liberally salted with nonsense if (a) it sounded good and (b) it flattered the editors' ideological preconceptions."[1] The paper, titled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity"[2], was ...
Life at Four Cells Old
Post Date: 2008-04-13 22:45:46 by RickyJ
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ROME, APRIL 13, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Stem cell research using material taken from human embryos continues to be hotly debated. Advocates of using embryos maintain that at such early stages, the cells cannot be considered a human person. However, a recent book by two philosophers argues the contrary. Robert P. George, who is also a member of the President's Council on Bioethics, and Christopher Tollefsen, avoid religious-based arguments and lay out a series of scientific and philosophical principles in favor of the human status of the embryo. In "Embryo: A Defense of Human Life" (Doubleday), they maintain that the status of a human being commences at the moment of conception. ...
Unusual earthquakes measured off Oregon
Post Date: 2008-04-12 21:54:00 by richard9151
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Sat Apr 12, 5:06 PM ET GRANTS PASS, Ore. - Scientists listening to underwater microphones have detected an unusual swarm of earthquakes off central Oregon, something that often happens before a volcanic eruption — except there are no volcanoes in the area. Scientists don't know exactly what the earthquakes mean, but they could be the result of molten rock rumbling away from the recognized earthquake faults off Oregon, said Robert Dziak, a geophysicist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Oregon State University. There have been more than 600 quakes over the past 10 days in a basin 150 miles southwest of Newport. The biggest was magnitude 5.4, and two ...
Wikipedia's Zealots: Solomon
Post Date: 2008-04-12 20:13:31 by farmfriend
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Wikipedia's Zealots: Solomon Posted: April 12, 2008, 3:07 PM by Lawrence Solomon Lawrence Solomon, Junk Science, The Deniers, Climate change, global warming, propaganda, Wikipedia, Intergovernmental Panel on Climare Change, IPCC, Peiser, Oreskes(see above link for these links) As I'm writing this column for the Post, I am simultaneously editing a page on Wikipedia. I am confident that just about everything I write for my column will be available for you to read. I am equally confident that you will be able to read just about nothing that I write for the page on Wikipedia. The Wikipedia page is entitled Naomi Oreskes, after a Professor of History and Science Studies at the ...
Denmark on top for ICT (Information Communication Technology), US in 4th place
Post Date: 2008-04-12 19:48:08 by robin
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Denmark on top for ICT 10/04/2008 The World Economic Forum (WEF) has reported that Denmark is the most networked economy in the world. Sweden, Switzerland and Korea were some of the countries that made up the top ten of the 2007-2008 Global Information Technology Report. The report offers record coverage of 127 economies around the world, placing particular emphasis on the effective use of information communication technology (ICT). This year there was also a focus on network readiness in stimulating innovation. Senior economist of the WEF global competitiveness network and co-editor of the report Irene Mia said: 'Coherent government vision on the importance of ICT, coupled with an ...
Zombie Computers Decried As Imminent National Threat
Post Date: 2008-04-10 11:49:34 by robin
11 Comments
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff speaks about computer security at the RSA Conference on information security in San Francisco, Tuesday, April 8, 2008. AP Photo/Paul Sakuma SAN FRANCISCO -- Gangs of thousands of zombie home computers grinding out spam, committing fraud and overpowering websites are the most vexing net threat today, according to law enforcement and security professionals. Today's botnet herders have hundreds of thousands of computers at their command and use technically sophisticated ways to hide their headquarters, making it easy for them to make millions from spam and credit card theft. They can also be used to direct floods of fake traffic at a targeted ...
Credit Bust: Avoid Being the Little Guy
Post Date: 2008-04-09 10:23:16 by tom007
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Credit Bust: Avoid Being the Little Guy by: Tim Iacono posted on: April 06, 2008 | about stocks: AXP / BSC / MA / V * Font Size: * Print * Email The long (and maybe not-so-slow-anymore) unwinding of the credit excess of recent years is starting to show up as missed payments in all the usual places - mortgages, credit cards, and auto loans. Maybe someday they'll look back at this period in history and think that we all should have seen what was coming - to think that asset prices would rise indefinitely, forever masking the amount of credit and debt that was being created, seemed like an awfully stupid way to run an economy. Bloomberg reports that late payments just hit a high not ...
Teleportation and forcefields possible within decades, says Professor Michio Kaku
Post Date: 2008-04-09 06:29:20 by Ada
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Teleportation and forcefields could become scientific realities within decades, and time travel will also be possible in the future, according to one of the world's leading physicists. Interview with Michio Kaku, Mr Parallel Universe Extended extracts from Prof Kaku's new book 'Physics of the Impossible' Future of science: 'We will have the power of the gods' Professor Michio Kaku of City University in New York has studied a range of scientific "impossibilities" and concluded that most will almost certainly be achieved as our knowledge expands. Prof Kaku: 'What is unthinkable today might not be forbidden in a few decades or centuries' Applying ...
Search engines warned over data
Post Date: 2008-04-08 00:19:01 by robin
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Search engines warned over data By Darren Waters Technology editor, BBC News website Google has faced criticism in the past Search engines should delete personal data held about their users within six months, a European Commission advisory body on data protection has said. The recommendation is likely to be accepted by the European Commission and could lead to a clash with search giants like Google, Yahoo and MSN. Google and Yahoo anonymise user data after 18 months, while MSN does the same after 13 months. The body said search companies were not clear enough on data protection. Google said its privacy policy "strikes the right ...
'Ruthlessness gene' discovered
Post Date: 2008-04-07 22:53:02 by Tauzero
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'Ruthlessness gene' discovered Dictatorial behaviour may be partly genetic, study suggests. Michael Hopkin Selfish dictators may owe their behaviour partly to their genes, according to a study that claims to have found a genetic link to ruthlessness. The study might help to explain the money-grabbing tendencies of those with a Machiavellian streak — from national dictators down to 'little Hitlers' found in workplaces the world over. Researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem found a link between a gene called AVPR1a and ruthless behaviour in an economic exercise called the 'Dictator Game'. The exercise allows players to behave selflessly, or like ...
Big Brother Monitors Investment Activity (Ron Paul Here)
Post Date: 2008-04-07 22:27:42 by tom007
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Big Brother Monitors Investment Activity by: Michael Shedlock posted on: April 07, 2008 | about stocks: DIA / QQQQ / SPY * Font Size: * Print * Email Previously, and by charter, the Fed only lent directly to banks. On March 17, the Fed overreached that charter and started direct lending to broker dealers via the Primary Dealer Credit Facility [PDCF]. As one might expect, Investment firms have already tapped the Fed for billions. The Fed, for the first time, agreed to let big investment houses temporarily get emergency loans directly from the central bank. This mechanism, similar to one available for commercial banks for years, will continue for at least six months. It was the broadest ...
The REAL inconvenient truth: Zealotry over global warming could damage our Earth far more than climate change
Post Date: 2008-04-06 22:46:05 by farmfriend
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The REAL inconvenient truth: Zealotry over global warming could damage our Earth far more than climate change NIGEL LAWSON Over the past half-century, we have become used to planetary scares. In the late Sixties, we were told of a population explosion that would lead to global starvation. Then, a little later, we were warned the world was running out of natural resources. By the Seventies, when global temperatures began to dip, many eminent scientists warned us that we faced a new Ice Age. But the latest scare, global warming, has engaged the political and opinion-forming classes to a greater extent than any of these. The readiness to embrace this fashionable belief has led the present ...
Coming soon: superfast internet
Post Date: 2008-04-06 19:51:54 by robin
24 Comments
THE internet could soon be made obsolete. The scientists who pioneered it have now built a lightning-fast replacement capable of downloading entire feature films within seconds. At speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection, “the grid” will be able to send the entire Rolling Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in less than two seconds. The latest spin-off from Cern, the particle physics centre that created the web, the grid could also provide the kind of power needed to transmit holographic images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players; and offer high-definition video telephony for the price of a local call. David ...
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