Science News

National Geographic Ardipithecus http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091001-oldest-human-skeleton-ardi-missing-link-chimps-ardipithecus-ramidus.html Ardipithecus- Carl Zimmer http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/10/01/ardipithecus-we-meet-at-last/ John Hawk’s webblog- long article on Ardi http://johnhawks.net/weblog/fossils/ardipithecus/ardipithecus-faq-2009.html thanks, Jamie Hale jhale

Anyone in the right place with the right 'scope going to watch this? http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091008-nasa-moon-bombing-lcross-water-crash.html

Culture mag interview with the reader in nano materials chemistry at Imperial College on carbon nanotubes and their applications. http://glassmagazine.co.uk/forum/feature.asp?tid=561 thoughts?

This clearly cannot compete with threads about melons, but for those involved or interested in science careers this is a nice viewpoint regarding funding situations. The interesting thing is that it is almost universally valid. http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1000197 One of the many nice quotes in the text: Edit: shoot. I meant science careers in the title, of course.

There is an experiment in its infancy that needs scientists of all fields to contribute. Drawn from the works of the late Carl Sagan, the State of the Species Experiment asks the question, “How should society be structured to facilitate the peaceful and rapid advancement of the species?” Check it out at http://www.stateofthespecies.org

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113139754 " When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drawing on years of experience warned: "Be careful." The 51-year-old Sparkman was found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery and had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment..."

Now who of you just ran out to get some watermelon? Yes? Yes? show of hands? Eating watermelon has a similar effect on the body to Viagra, according to researchers in the US. It's down to a chemical called citrulline which is found in the juicy fruit. ... Citrulline is an organic compound which affects the body's blood vessels in the same way as the sex enhancement pills. http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/health/newsid_7498000/7498061.stm

http://libwww.freelibrary.org/closing/ I have no idea what to say.

This article is actually an essay and also about a year old. However, I found myself pulling it out every so often to show it to new grad students. Essentially, is you do not feel stupid doing what you are doing, you are not trying hard enough. http://jcs.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/121/11/1771

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/09/18/glove-writing.html From the article: A fingerless bike glove equipped with electrical sensors lets you write on thin air, according to new research. The modified glove could not only allow for discreet, one-handed text messaging but also create an early warning system for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's ... Placing the patches over the major muscle groups in the hand and lower arm, the researchers recorded the time and strength of the impulse and input the data into a computer program. Now that's pretty neat! Beyond the application as early detection of neurodegenerative diseases, this has huge app…

Hallo! Ich war gestern im Casino und habe den ganzen Tag roulette gespielt und das eigentlich sehr erfolgreich. Ich hab da mehr auf gut glück gespielt, aber eigentlich ist es doch auf einen tisch recht simple zu gewinnen wenn man einfach eine taktik spielt: Man setzt zb. jedes Mal nur auf rot. Beim 1. mal setzt man 5 euro Bei Verlust, setzt man 10 euro Falls man wieder verliert 20;40;80;160 Die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass in 6 Runden 1x die Farbe rot mindestens einmal kommt, ist doch sehr hoch oder? Also mit dem System kann man dann praktisch ja nur gewinnen, bei einer 50/50/1 wahrscheinlichkeit ist das ja sehr wahrscheinlich. Habt jemand einen Plan?

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Blind-Womans-Eye-Surgery-Long-in-the-Tooth-59481182.html

It seems we may have a new understanding of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, and it involves nitric oxide (NO). http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nitric-oxide-helps-antibiotic-resistance Neato.

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090903/full/news.2009.881.html They cite these papers: Morris, J. et al. Science advanced online publication doi:10.1126/science.1178868 (2009). Fennell, T. et al. Science advance online publication doi:10.1126/science.1177582 (2009). Kadowaki, H. et al. preprint at http://arXiv.org/abs/0908.3568v2 (2009). Bramwell, S. T. et al. preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/0907.0956 (2009). If they're right, this is amazing. All these years of reading threads on SFN where monopoles are proclaimed to be impossible... and here they are. I'm now curious to see if someone else will overturn the claims or if their conclusions are…

Two firefighters have died in California as they battled intense wildfires to the north of Los Angeles.

... yes they do! http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2809%2901455-9 It is interesting that they appear to have much more sophisticated approach than simple try and error in trying to solve the problem. Another snipe at those who, contrary to all evidence, might believe that only humans or very closely related species are tool users.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/5921266/Blue-MandMs-mend-spinal-injuries.html The blue pill just keeps getting better...

Date: October 15 – 25, 2009 Location: Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and various venues in Uptown Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Description: For 10 exciting days this October, Perimeter Institute’s Quantum to Cosmos: Ideas for the Future (Q2C) will take a global audience from the strange world of subatomic particles to the outer frontiers of the universe. All events will occur on-site in Waterloo, Ontario and online at q2cfestival.com. Q2C will transcend traditional festivals by streaming events live and on demand. All events will be recorded and will also be available online at a later date. Tickets: Nearly all events are free but tickets are required.…

A news article I read today. Quote: "The white-hot meteorite bounced off the schoolboy's hand and hit the ground so hard it left a foot-long crater in the tarmac - as well as a three-inch scar on his hand." If a meteorite traveling at 30,000 mph hit someone's hand, wouldn't it take it off, rather than bounce off?

Scientists from Germany introduced the Foxp2 gene in a mouse {through gene therapy I am guessing} in order to hopefully provide clues to language development in humans. Quite interesting, I wonder if the mouse has an advanced form of communication compared to other mice. Full story on "http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090624093315.htm"

Article in Nature Using genomic comparisons the authors reconstructed the evolutionary history of this particular virus. Apparently the common ancestor of this and other known sequenced virus emerged around 9-17 years ago. This indicates that the ancestors of the pandemic virus might have been circulating and reassorting, unnoticed, 9 or more years in pigs before emerging as a human pathogen.

http://www.astronomynow.com/090626Cosmicraysefficientlyacceleratedbyexplodedstars.html http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090625141454.htm Cosmic rays are mostly protons (hydrogen nuclei) which have somehow been accelerated to big energies, some as high as one joule. A joule is the thump released when you drop a (one kilo) textbook ten centimeters onto the table. That is a big thump for such a little particle to deliver. It has been an extreme mystery what has been accelerating all these protons that are constantly arriving to our atmosphere from space with these incredibly high energies. It was thought that there weren't enough supernova explo…

Hey all, I noticed yesterday that the swine flu pandemic is gaining momentum and that it is not predictable. And anyhow at the BBC website says that this is all not adequacy preparation, and plainly did not get the drift what treatment and how secure. The Authority of Britain expressed that preparations harvested at 50% of the population. I am so alarmed, anyone can tell me what anti-viral drugs should be applied? I have heard about Tamiflu, but my doctor said that Tamiflu is not effective. My pal told about Relenza, I apprehensiveness on the Internet that the nostrum is more effective. But I'm not effective how efficient these drugs. And the dominant matter, som…

It looks like there has been a breakthrough in Alzheimer's Disease treatment. For those of you who don't know, it appears that most forms of dementia, where mature people have problems with thinking or memory. There seems to be a continuum of symptoms. In America, it affects the quality of life of 5.3 million Americans and also has a problematic effect on the families of the people diagnosed with the disease. Fans of the Sopranos series will recall the effect of Alzheimer's Disease on Corrado John Soprano Jr, where his dementia was made more poignant as his confusion about the past and present became more and more apparent. However, a mouse model for Alzheimer…

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090703065222.htm There is the link. It is also about how rushes of blood to the head can be caused by anger, although from what I read, they seemed to have an exceptonally low number of subjects.Never the less, enjoy.