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There is no training to "overcome" motion sickness.

NASA disagrees.

"Previous studies have shown the training can enhance tolerance of motion sickness in 80 percent of the participants within six hours of training, notes NASA in a summary of the Navy study."

A bit of clarification -- it's not the yeast, it's contamination of the grain itself by streptomyces. It would have also led to (much lower) levels in unfermented products like bread or gruel, but fermentation let the production increase tremendously.

Linky.

No. Next question, is Slashdot dying?

Slashdot was reported as dying back in 2011.

Although there has long been a connection between math and physics, as people dig further into the math they are finding some unexpected things, and ways to better understand, simplify, or extend the equations.

Mathematicians Link Knot Theory to Physics
A Jewel at the Heart of Quantum Physics

There are a number of seemingly promising developments out there that are sharpening the investigative tools as well as providing interesting new lines of investigation, as well as new data to chew on.

Spooky Connection: Wormholes and the Quantum World
Physicists Create Quantum Link Between Photons That Don't Exist at the Same Time
Schrodinger’s ‘Kitten’? Large-Scale Quantum Entanglement Achieved By Two Physics Labs

String theorists squeeze nine dimensions into three
New work gives credence to theory of universe as a hologram

Now we are developing a growing understanding of the interplay between biology and physics.

Quantum biology: Do weird physics effects abound in nature?

Who knows where things may lead next? Of course people should be careful in performing experiments.

Collapse of the universe is closer than ever before

Millions of tons of various gas are dumped into the atmosphere daily as they rise from the crust of the Earth.

Once again, we see that slashdot aonymous cowards confuse millions with billions.

Volcanoes emit millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Humans emit billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/archive/2007/07_02_15.html
http://news.discovery.com/earth/weather-extreme-events/volcanoes-co2-people-emissions-climate-110627.htm

No, it wasn't a sample size of 1 with no control group. But according to one expert, the control group was way too small to derive statistically valid results from. According to UCD researcher Martina Newell–McGloughlin, quoted in the Discovery article (from 2012), here's what they did wrong:

• They had a control group of 10 or 20 rats in an overall population of 200 rats (Discovery claimed the study should have had a control group that was two or three times the size of the experimental rat population.)
• The breed of rat is tumor prone (I assume this is a problem because the researchers were pre-supposing the outcome will be tumors.)
• The rats were two years old (a very old rat for such a study, and at two years old are likely to randomly develop tumors independently.)
• The rats were allowed to eat unlimited quantities of the food (which is known to lead to tumors even with untainted food.)
• They found no dose-dependent correlation between the quantity of food consumed and the tumor rate (expected in toxicology studies.)
• They performed no independent confirmation analysis to determine if the outcome they saw could have been arrived at by chance.

So yeah, while it's not as bad as the vaccine hoaxers, it was apparently not good research.

And bad it was. Fractal badness.

I mean, really bad.

It shouldn't have been published in the first place, but at least they're admitting their mistake.

I clearly remember a science project where some teenager bred bacteria that could break down plastic bags in about three weeks. It won somebody's science fair project and everything.

That would have been this guy. Other people have made similar claims, such as here and here. I've no idea why they haven't made it to mainstream processing yet, but it wouldn't be the first time there was a problem scaling something up from a small lab-batch process to an industrial sized continuous one, or a problem finding a way to make it commercially viable either.

http://news.discovery.com/space/why-does-a-star-explode.htm

This is the first result for the Google search "Why do stars explode".

Cripes that's obscure. Says the author was considered insane by his colleagues...what are we up to here, 8 different fiction references? So here's a few more: Dinosaur Central: The Lost Worlds of Dinosaurs - Earth's interior

Liquid fuel is actually not easily ignited (do not believe what you see in movies :-) ).

No, believe what the mythbusters do...

Give a more profitable use to jellyfish (even if it is for making glow-in-the-dark ice cream, or other uses) better than "normal" fishes and the balance could be reached again... before is too late.

That, and the results of both of our effective planet detecting schemes - transit and doppler - skew proportionately towards these hot worlds, as for both methods a shorter period will give a stronger signal and therefore be more likely to be detected. So just like with the hot jupiters detected by the doppler method, they are probably actually a minuscule fraction of the planets out there but happen to be the easiest to detect. So even though they are rare, we are guaranteed to see them, and then muse about their rarity.

It's just like scientists to be racist and not be willing to detect the black planets.

No it isn't.

Yeah, I hear cooking crystal meth will make you money too--and would probably be a lot safer and easier than extracting gold out of a PC. Just ask those poor bastards in India.

The researcher did not actually investigate what it is that dolphins do, he thought of what they could possibly do. I would be more interested in finding out if this is actually the technique dolphins use or do they do something different?

Following links to here we find:

"As for the dolphin: while acting as an inspiration for the technology, Leighton and his team later discovered this was not how the animals' sonar worked. Dolphins also send out twin pulses, but theirs vary in amplitude, not polarity, he said."

While I hesitate pushing the mythbusters as conclusive (sometimes their scientific method is atrocious), I recommend watching their Hindenburg segment. Seems like it would have burned with or without the powder coating although that made it extra harsh.

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/hindenburg-minimyth.htm

I don't think it quite hits the rank of the top 10 here: http://science.discovery.com/famous-scientists-discoveries/big-100-medicine.htm though it is very admirable.

You can't polish a turd.

Myth: Busted. You can, in fact, polish a turd.

This stuff is a bit dense for me (or me for it) but wouldn't this be considered a biological neural net:
http://news.discovery.com/tech/robotics/brain-dish-flies-plane-041022.htm

Or did I completely misinterpret what you were saying in your comparison.

Film is not "biased" towards people with "light skin." ... I think this whole article is a trollish attempt to inject a "racial issue" where there is none.

No, no; the universe REALLY IS biased against you.....

2.1.6 Sentence 4: Why does the universe prefer matter over antimatter?

Physicists have announced that more matter particles are generated than antimatter

A team working with data from CERN's Large Hadron Collider says it has discovered a particle that decays unevenly into matter and antimatter.

.... that is, if you're made out of antimatter. If so, then to make us for the total unfairness of everything, I'll give you a BIG hug.


Back on topic, I agree. Some people are looking for biases and problems where none exist and keep on finding them.

Reminds me of the Face on Mars. You're looking for something that isn't there and finding it in the noise. That fine -- but you need more supporting evidence to back up your "findings" rather that just point and say, "Look -- look! There it is!"

Or perhaps the US also:

http://news.discovery.com/space/we-may-have-already-colonized-mars-120831.htm

I am tired of this stupid argument to use horses. A machine is way easier to deal with and can be completely autonomous. Fuel wise a horse may be able to get by on as little as 15 lbs a day when hanging around a pasture. When working a horse needs about 25-35 lbs http://www.horsebarn.com/content/horse-care/how-much-horse-eat-daily.aspx. Gasoline isn't light either and a 5kw generator will suck down 30lbs of gasoline in about 6 hours. But then engine is on demand and will not use fuel when "resting". The big advantage is the fact that unlike a horse, you don't have the emotional attachments that go along with a living creature. If the horse breaks a leg then its game over http://animal.discovery.com/mammals/broken-leg-horse.htm. Many horses with broken legs are put down simply because the healing process is costly and takes a long time. Even if they are healed they are not able to go back to work and will live their lives out in a pasture or used for light riding. If a robot breaks down it can be repaired or abandoned without anyone shedding a tear or having animal rights groups protest using animals in the field. Another big advantage is unlike a horse, they don't need training and the soldiers who use them won't need training either. They can sit idle for days/weeks/months/years without feeding or care. Unpack, push the power button and give it coordinates or let it follow a group of soldiers. Simple. That is what the military wants.

In the short term these robots might be costly but in the long run they are quite cheap compared to horses and much more simple to use.

They are seeing claims go up.

There is a difference.

If a catastrophic weather event occurred three times in the 1800's they didn't get a claim because there were no humans there who made insurance claims.

High population density equal high claim rate.

The estimates are 12% more climate events (probably due to climate change but not statistically provable yet) for that area of the country.

As population increases, and people build in beautiful places like on the banks of creeks and rivers (because having water in the area is a premium view except for when there is an uncommonly heavy rain), claims will increase.

If you look here:
http://news.discovery.com/earth/weather-extreme-events/colorado-floods-aftermath-pictures-130919.htm

You can see the flooding (even from this extreme event) could have been completely avoided by placing parklands in the watersheds and avoiding building in the flood zone (or at least requiring buildings and garages to be elevated).

MythBusters tried it already. It didn't work on a 2000+ group of balloons tied to a child (poor kid!). What makes you think that it will work on a fully grown adult?

I blame Facebook for a lot, but I think they deserve a pass for this. "Mass hysteria" looks to me like a real phenomenon, but that doesn't mean the "victims" aren't doing in on purpose.

For example, from one of the stories linked in the summary:

"... At last all the nuns meowed together every day at a certain time for several hours together." The meowing went on until neighbors complained and soldiers were called, threatening to whip the nuns until they stopped meowing.

If they can stop whenever they want, then I have a hard time calling it a "disease." It sounds more like "being an asshole." (See also, Salem witch trials.)

NASA now has money for and is paying to produce Plutonium-238 for deep space power generation. (Note that the Curiosity MSL rover also uses this for power.)

All we need to do is continue what we are doing.

Send Al'Queda into regions with resources we want, properly fund them to do terrorist attacks here and abroad to keep the money flowing for the bankers and industrialists. That way we can install regimes to get the natural resources of any country for the cheap.

You don't think for a minute for example that Afghanistan war for the past 10 years is about "People who hate our freedom and liberty.".

I tend to think it is about this:

  http://news.discovery.com/earth/afghanistan-minerals-lithium.htm

I mean seriously people. Wake up and smell the coffee. Your getting your balls felt up at the air port, your cities are laying in ruin all for a bunch of bankers, who are printing money for the government to obtain these things.

No way in hell can we afford 11 carrier groups from just taxes, the dollar is a reserve currency so they can print it to fund all of this stuff.

When the dollar loses its reserve status, which is in the making, there is going to be a massive correction.

In my opinion when this happens the government in charge at the time is going to probably set off a Nuke in New York or something dramatic so the event clouds the issue and nobody asks these sorts of questions.

-Hack

Luckily, the U.S. has just taken ownership of a country with vast lithium reserves! I hope they remember who got them on their feet.

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/way-to-beat-police-speed-cameras.htm

...the MythBusters determined that the only way to fight speed cameras was with speed itself — and lots of it. Speed camera sensors can generally detect cars traveling up to 200 miles per hour.

So, in theory, you can crank up a hot rod capable of speeds greater than 200 mph and beat the camera. Well, until you're nabbed for reckless driving and excessive speeding, that is.

How a Mission to Mars Could Kill You

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/08/16/dirty-little-secret-orange-juice-is-artificially-flavored-to-taste-like-oranges.aspx
http://science.discovery.com/tv-shows/how-do-they-do-it/videos/how-do-they-do-it-how-is-orange-juice-made.htm
http://www.foodrenegade.com/secret-ingredient-your-orange-juice/
http://organicplanet.blogspot.com/2011/08/citricy-secrets-truth-about-orange.html
http://gizmodo.com/5981057/the-secret-algorithm-that-controls-everything-about-orange-juice

The first step is probably going to be hunting down mini moons where all the delta-v is provided by gravity. Once the fundamental technologies are in place we can go hunting for bigger fish, but first we have to start with the minnows.

Wolf howl identification technology excites experts http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/23263266 and on a lighter note Wolves Munch Watermelons to Beat the Heat: Photos http://news.discovery.com/animals/endangered-species/wolves-munch-watermelons-photos-130723.htm via http://www.metafilter.com/130297/Wolf-Watermelon-Party

That's only of people on Facebook. If you included someone like me it would jump to infinite because I have exactly 0 facebook friends by not using facebook.

If you use the Dunbar number of 150 friends as your maximum you can get to 4 if everyone has the maximum and they are all unique associations. In the us we have very few friends per person. If you assume 4 unique friends the "3 hop" query only returns 160-640 results, and with 10 it's between 1000 - 10000. No one is as social as facebook has lead you to believe. Only social whores who think that they actually know thousands of people meet your Kevin Bacon game nonsense.

Don't worry, you're already a suspect because you don't use Facebook. Congratulations

If you use the Dunbar number of 150 friends as your maximum you can get to 4 if everyone has the maximum and they are all unique associations. In the us we have very few friends per person. If you assume 4 unique friends the "3 hop" query only returns 160-640 results, and with 10 it's between 1000 - 10000. No one is as social as facebook has lead you to believe. Only social whores who think that they actually know thousands of people meet your Kevin Bacon game nonsense.

No. It's much easier to find in this illustration.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/oceans/lost-continent-discovered-beneath-indian-ocean-130225.htm

My experience with Crash Space in LA has been that it has created a whole bunch of new stuff:

FlipBookKit, a Kickstarter-funded project, started there.

The bGeigie nano radiation detector (a part of Safecast.Org) was developed there, as well as products from ThingM such as the "blink(1)" USB-connected programmable status LED and the "blinkm" programmable smart 3-color LEDs.

Members of Crash Space have also shown up on TV shows such as Unchained Reaction.

Crash Space has several folks whose full-time job is working on various tech projects.

I would, but I figured I'd leave it to professionals.

Jessi, Bogi and Cristy would beg to differ.

Anyway, aren't the batteries under the trunk liner? So, in order to swap your battery during a shopping/camping/golf trip, wouldn't you need to empty your trunk first, then wrench out your back pulling out the used batteries (probably leaving a grease mark on your pants in the process), then wrench it again putting in the new ones? Sounds like fun...

Nope, the Tesla Model S's battery pretty much is the entire bottom of the car (with a metal shell over it). This will be an automated system because the battery pack is one single unit. This article is old but has a good picture of the battery pack giving you an idea of the size of the thing. It also weighs a lot... so you won't be doing any wrenching yourself.

Basically the way this will work is that you'll drive up onto a ramp and then a robot will drop the battery pack out and swap it for a new one from underneath. You won't even need to get out of the car.

Any non conservative field can have energy extracted from it, so this is clearly possible -as long as there is something-in this case the water-that is moving at a different velocity than the wind

True, and demonstrated by sailboats for millenia, but this is incomplete as a proof that the Blackbird works as described. It's like saying that we know nuclear fusion releases energy, so that must be what is happening in Rossi's E-Cat.

But the people who built the pyramids weren't slaves (not to mention that the pyramids were built in a different era) http://news.discovery.com/history/ancient-egypt/pyramids-tombs-giza-egypt.htm

Also, it is likely that the Hebrews were never slaves, rather they were kings, though they were expelled from Egypt after their dynasty failed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyksos

Some experts hold that mammoths were hunted to extinction beginning some 10,000 years ago by the species that was to become the planet's dominant predator -- humans.

Others argue that climate change was more to blame, leaving a species adapted for frigid climes ill-equipped to cope with a warming world.

Al Gore theorizes that it was climate change brought about by humans.

It won't help rescue the drowning victim because the actual people who could rescue aren't going to be any closer to the victim than currently and a 20 minute response time will REMAIN a 20 minute response time for that reason.

Sure, I used the wrong word. I should have said "soon-to-drown" victim, not "drowning" victim. Also in theory, the quadrocopter itself could carry a rescue buoy and/or it could also be paired up with a water rescue bot like Emily.

This presumes

a) that the drone is taken out there (if it's on a charging station), but if they knew that then they could also send humans out there at that time instead

A bot could be sitting in a launching station ready to deploy at a moment's notice 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. I don't think you could say the same thing for a human being. In any case, I'm not saying that a bot would be ideal for all use cases. That's certainly not the case.

There's no more Carl Sagan, no more Bill Nye on television, nothing except Mythbusters to inspire future generations of engineers and scientific thinkers.

PBS is the obvious response.

But there are others and there is more to science and to scientific thinking than engineering.

National Geographic Channel

Smithsonian Channel

Science Channel

The Discovery Channel --- in its many incarnations --- has a lot to offer if you are willing to poke around a bit.

Okay, I'll calm down. I agree, they will get cheaper. Might I ask you read this article by a NASA astronaut on how our dreams are being hijacked by terrorists? http://news.discovery.com/space/history-of-space/astronaut-leroy-chiao-space-dreams-media-130507.htm This one is also intriguing: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130510-buzz-aldrin-space-mars-moon-nasa-science/

I erred, I believe. I should have just said "bees", where I said "honey bees". Overall, the bees - honey or otherwise - pollinate more human edible crops than any other creatures. It's quite possible that in times past, other creatures such as flies, wasps, and butterflies held a more important position than they do today. But, again - we've very nearly eradicated so many of those other creatures.

There was a headline in my newsfeed recently about bumble bees - let me look for that again - - - - http://news.discovery.com/animals/insects/study-bumble-bees-at-risk-while-others-thrive-13030.htm#mkcpgn=rssnws1

Here are some of the key findings:

        From the years 1872 to 2011, the researchers see slight declines in the overall number of bee species in the northeastern United States.
        Three species — all bumble bees — showed signs of rapid and recent population collapse. Other species showed more gradual declines.
        More than half of all bee species changed in proportion over time. Twenty-nine percent of the species decreased and 27 percent increased.
        Bees that showed the greatest increase are mostly species introduced to North America by Europeans that were scarce in the earliest historical samples but made up an ever-increasing proportion of more recent samples.
        The declining bee species tend to have larger body sizes, restricted diets, and shorter flight seasons.
        “Southern” bees are getting more abundant as the climate warms.

And, with that, I must admit to a lot of ignorance. I have only ever studied honey bees, because of their importance to our food production. I really can't tell you very much about bumble bees, carpenter bees, those little things that I call sweat bees, or even if hornets are closely related to bees. I know more about wasps than I do about most bees. Wasps are wonderful creatures too, but that's another subject!

Now we are in the information age and people are extrapolating computers implanted in our brains. I don't think it will happen.

http://scienceblogs.com/sciencepunk/2013/02/20/implanted-bionic-eye-allows-the-blind-to-see-again/

http://news.discovery.com/tech/biotechnology/two-rats-communicate-brain-to-brain-130227.htm

I see no reason why I wouldn't want more bandwidth between my mind and the Internet. Keyboards and touchscreens are clumsy.

True. I mean, it's not like we ever got anything from space travel after all.

It'd be just as fine if you did read 'super' as 'sugar' : http://news.discovery.com/tech/sweet-sugar-batteries-120927.htm

Discussion: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/09/28/234255/sugar-batteries-could-store-20-more-energy-than-li-ions