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So then are we to throw out matching bullets to guns as well?

Only if it doesn't work.

See picture here

Ya yew betcha! I wonder if that basket on the bike is to hold the hot dish? Only in Minnesota would we spend the time determining if square wheels would work... Perhaps from the potholes on 494?

I reside in Minnesota so I am permitted to make these important scientific observations :)

Anyone who has bought bulk rice is familiar with the fact that harvested rice is contaminated with bits of debris and wild rice.

Debris? Yes. Wild rice? No. So-called wild rice (Zizania aquatica) isn't even related to cultivated rice (Oryza sativa). They wouldn't likely be found together.

Even eating organic rice will not save you, since small amounts of rice seeds will surely drift on the winds and contaminate all crops.

Drifting seeds are not the problem. Drifting pollen is. I would hope that the researchers growing this rice would be very careful to prevent its escape into the environment, but given the profit motive and the unchecked spread of modified genes into traditional varieties of plants, it may be a lost cause. Or, to use a farm-country simile, it may be like closing the barn door after the horse is gone.

Well, you're not the only one pissed of about the poor state of psychology, a lot of psychologists themselves are too. What they are pissed of about is bluntness of the scientific method in studying the human mind, and about null hypothesis testing in particular. Because of an arbitrary number in science (> 5% correlation == insignificant), psychology has been bogged down in "ritualistic, mindless use of statistics" and has virtually grinded to a halt. Almost all statistics that are locally very significant become insignificant during global peer review, very likely because human behaviour is much influenced by local conditions such as culture (implicating you can't treat an australian aboriginy for agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) the same way you would treat a chinese urbanite, for instance).

This guy put a lot of thought into the "leaving a buffer" theory. His links page has some really cool links.

Why the MSN article gets choosed for /., with it's lame analysis of subject titles and physical attributes of the contestants, is beyond me.

Play around with cubanes. But be very careful. octanitrocubane is considered the most powerful non-nuclear explosive yet sythesized. And it's shock-insensitive.

Here are some links.

Well, this article seems to indicate that fears like PTSD don't ever get totally "unlearned"; one has to learn how to suppress or overide the fear:

Such relapses are among the evidence indicating that even though extinction training suppresses the original fear conditioning, the fear memory remains within an animal's brain... Quirk's group and other researchers have made the case that a brain area called the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) provides a home for the fear-inhibiting memories created by extinction training. It has the right connections to shut off the fear response... Several brain-imaging studies have suggested that people with posttraumatic stress disorder have an abnormally small or inactive mPFC.

Around 1995 scientists extracted bacteria from an insect's stomach, that had been trapped in amber for 125 million years, and they lived.
A few years later, scientists revived bacteria that had been dormant inside a crystal of common table salt for 250 million years!
Even so, Mars has been geologically dead for 1.5 billion years, so I don't know how how these paltry 8 million years are suddenly so significant.

The Dec 6 Science News reported a natural mosquito born virus that kills tumor cells without harming normal cells. It is a near magic cure for cancer - except that it only works once (after that, the immune system prevents it from being effective). In 2001, Science News reported a genetically engineered polio virus that kills brain tumor cells without harming normal cells or causing polio. Again, it only works once.

Though it's no doubt an interesting experiment that might lead to further research, it's a long way off from modeling real avalanches.

Ice and snow crystals vaprorize, recrystalize, and form bonds in enormously complex systems, unlike ping pong balls, which just bounce off each other.

An article documenting some of the research being done on avalanche snow's state changes and shifts in stability can be found here.

No plate tectonics?

Science News Online and others may disagree.

Tracking vehicles is a great way to detect traffic jams. If the vehicles moving past one sensor do not reach the next sensor in a reasonable amount of time, you know you have a problem. The linked research suggests that tracking vehicles through the network enables a faster detection time for problems (faster than waiting for the traffic to clog and backup to where the sensor is located.)

I do... but I'm afraid its not much help for the question you ask. Here is all the Science article says on the subject:

"The Hawaiian bobtail squid Euprymna scolopes (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) (Fig. 1A) is similar to other cephalopod species that have been studied (6-9) in having both variably reflective tissues, such as the skin of the mantle, and statically reflective tissues, such as those associated with the eye, digestive gland, and light organ. The reflector of the bilobed light organ is a particularly well-developed tissue (Fig. 1, A to D) that modulates the luminescence produced by a population of the symbiotic bacterium Vibrio fischeri (10, 11). On each side of the adult light organ, symbiont-containing epithelial tissue comprises a core that is surrounded by the thick silvery reflector. Together with a muscle-derived lens, these dioptrics function to direct the bacterial luminescence ventrally (11). "

However, a quick Internet search turned up this old article, which seems to support the camouflage use of the organ. But it also sounds like we don't really know how the squid uses its light organ. Its not like we can just ask it! Like many things, it may have more than one use.

And here is Dr. McFall-Ngai's webpage, which summarizes her research and lists her other publications.

They were fully functional prototypes and they let them use them in the movie in exchange for advertising.

I have seen the actual power loader at a display of film props. It is not a functional device.

As others have mentioned, it was a hollow suit with a man inside providing the movement.

FWIW, I've heard people make similar claims about the Navy using "real" power loaders.

The only prototype of a power loader type device (other than the Enryu) was GE's Hardiman, which they never got working properly.

I'm no climate scientist, or climate engineer, but it seems to me that dark |= cold. A greenhouse can be dark but hot. The gasses keep in the heat, yet keep out the light. Venus springs to mind.

Scientists have been debating this one quite a bit -- whether cloud's reflection of the sun light creates more cooling than the cloud's night-time heat-trapping abilities. The suspension of airtravel around 9-11 gave scientists a chance to study this. They found that the absence of contrails created pronounced higher daytime highs and slightly lower nighttime lows. At least for contrails, the net effect seems to be a reduction in average temperture.

Admittedly, this is only a single study. The point is that intuitions about clouds reflecting energy vs. greenhouses retaining energy only provide insight into potential qualititive outcomes. The real quantitative answer may be different depending on the numerical balance of all the effects.

- Gregg

More detailed articles about the research can be found here or here.

Larkin's article itself is here.

Any physics nerds want to explain it to us?

• most people don't realize that most medicines pass through the kidneys unmetabolized
• water treatment doesn't remove these chemicals
• micro-pollution such as estrogens are known to affect fertility and fetal development of everything from fish to mammals, and probably also humans

• Caffeine levels in freshwater rivers and lakes followed diurnal cycles peaking in sewage plants after mid-morninng bathroom breaks, and hours later rising in processed effluent in open water - caffeine is passed almost entirely unmetabolized.
• synthetic estrogen and progesterone from oral contraceptive have been found in water supplies and may be factors in amphibian and fish population declines - perhaps also a factor, combined with pseudo-estrogens like phthalates (you like "new car smell"?), etc., in the 50-year decline in human sperm count levels in industrialized nations
• many drugs are synthetic with persistence comparable to DDT or Chlordane - they do not breakdown
• if micro-pollutants are bioactive in other species or in humans, they may well be affecting us already - what happens when we are all receiving active doses of heart medicine, etc., all our lives from our own water supply?

Personally, I wish the general public (i.e. big media) would give some more attention to the way votes are cast. I don't mean paper vs. computer. I mean whether you cast a single vote or multiple for a single candidate/issue, and so forth.

Science News Online has an article on a some grounbreaking research done at Sandia National Labs that has a very real possibility of leading to much more efficient solar cells and lightbulbs. The researchers have created a crystalline microstructure in tungsten that has much higher emissions at certain frequencies in the infrared when heated than Planck's Law can account for. A number of explanations have been proposed for this, but insufficient data exists as to which is correct. The phenomenon has been confirmed numerous times in over 100 different "photonic crystals", although no independent confirmation is mentioned. The researchers are currently attempting to locate another material with the necessary characteristics to duplicate the effect with visible light. If they are successful, we may soon see much more efficient lightbulbs and solar cells in our homes, obviating the need for hydrocarbon fuels.

The abstract is available here, while the article can be read here.

I really wish people would expend as much energy attempting to understant election science as they do attempting to capitalize on people's by-and-large unjustified fears of paper ballots engendered by the last presidential election. That would actually make the world a better place, rather than simply making a few people a litte richer and the rest of us a little poorer.

Theres lots of room for improvement in the election process.

A study on dogs showed a 16% increase in life span for a calorie restricted diet -- thats a couple of extra dog years or perhaps decade or two of more life for a person. Sounds good, right? The problem was that the dogs had to eat 25% less than normal to get 16% more life than normal.

As someone who enjoys his kibble, I would argue that less chow = lower quality of life. So for 25% less quality of life, I get 16% more quantity of life. Sounds like a bad deal to me.

Moreover, the report said nothing about the energy levels of these poor long-starving mutts -- do starved creatures have any energy for fun and games? Due to the realities of physiology, I'd bet that a 25% reduction in energy input leads to a more that 25% reduction in energy available for discretionary, fun activities. On a restricted diet, a greater fraction of the meager intake is diverted to basic maintenance of the body.

I'm not saying that obesity is not a real killer of both quantity and quality of life. I'm only saying that restricted calorie diets come with tradeoffs.

I first read about this in a 1996 Science News article. This article mentions work by Philip H. Kass and his colleagues at the University of California, Carl A. Batt of Cornell University and his colleagues, and Dean O. Cliver. Sorry, but I don't have any citations for articles in more scholarly journals.

Most importantly, it appears that even if you cut up another food on a previously contaminated (by now dry) wooden cutting board, the likelihood of contamination is low. Wood apparently pulls the bacteria fairly deeply into the board (about 1 mm down), out of reach of subsequent activities. By contrast, bacteria can survive in the knife-cuts of plastic cutting boards and spread during subsequent uses.

Maybe the accuracy would improve if a lamprey's brain were integrated into the hardware, like this one here.

Has anyone else noticed that Scientific American seems to be going downhill? It's getting less and less scientific. What was that recent cover article, "Are You a Hologram?". Please.

On the other hand, Science News is going pretty strong. Let's hear it for good science!

They are also probably responsible for more life on this planet than anything else combined. I've heard estimates that about 50% of Earth's biomass is made up of bacteria. And this article includes a couple of interesting statistics. It is estimated that there are 10^30 bacteria on Earth. However, it's also estimated that there are 10^31 (note that extra zero) bacteriophages (viruses that prey on bacteria). So, remember, your role in life is as a bacteria culturing medium. And the bacteria serve as munchies for the phages. I, for one, welcome our new viral overlords (sorry, couldn't resist).

While this is a single magazine and not a portal, the nature of Science News is that each article is a summary of some interesting piece of research. The articles on the web site have links and references to the source material, in case you want to read the orginal papers that the article was based on.

While you have to be a magazine subscriber to see the full text of all the articles (non-subscribers get the full text to some articles), anybody can read the references to get the original sources.

Meth

This is slightly off topic but Science News has an article on a significant improvement in carbon nanotube strand fabrication.

They've figured out how to make strands of nanotube fibers that are as thick as a human hair and more importantly, 120-200 meters long. The article focuses on the use of the fibers in textiles but to me, they make fabricating a space elevator cable more feasible than before. Carbon nanotube fabrication still constrain the cost issues but at least we now know how to make useable length fibers.

If we can figure out to make carbon tubes in bulk quantities it'll be time to start seriously looking at building a space elevator and we can forget about the tether altogether.

Tm

Tm

While you can easily do this sort of research yourself with an obscure tool known as "Google", I'll help you.

http://www.nature.com/nsu/011004/011004-8.html
http://www.sciencenews.org/20020323/bob9.asp
http://www.aip.org/enews/physnews/2001/split/558-2 .html
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/blackhole-01b.html

These reputable enough? They're all on the first page of results when searching for "large hadron collider" "black hole".

You shouldn't judge a newspaper by its name; the Christian Science Monitor is actually one of the best English language papers there is, and in my experience, their science reporting is much better than average.

Subsequent research has shown (links in other people's answers above) that the presumed conditions never existed.

Of course, they don't have to form on earth.. They can form in space. They can also form on earth without the lightning/UV requirement.

Taking the next step is more than a little harder, as is coming up with a source for those necessary aminos which don't ever form under simple conditions.

That depends on what you think the next step is. After all, a specific-sequence protein, even if it manages to form by chance, is useless; only when a transcription mechanism exists which can generate the protein will it be useful.

However, a simple peptide coat for an Fe/Ni-S reaction center would be a useful early step, as both would arise spontaneously. Proteins matching such a description are shared amongst *every* organism (ferrodoxins), which suggests a very early origin.

The Fujita scale categories are listed with both wind speed and typical damage produced. The 'official' Fujita rating of a given cyclone is still determined by damage assessment. With modern Doppler radar providing accurate wind speed measurements from a distance, the 'F' rating can be estimated for locations where damage measurements are problematic (open farmland, etc.).

Related note: the record-setting May 1999 Bridge Creek/Moore/Del City/Midwest City tornado had the most accurate wind speed measurement to date, thanks to special portable Doppler units.

Moore High School, Class of 1988 -- Go Lions!

IAJAP, I am just a programmer, but

If this living material is present at that level, do we think it can precipitate out ? and if so, what impact do you think this would have on projects that analyse the minute traces of life in remote areas ? Actually, what impact might that have on umbrella sales ??? ;)

The Japanese do it any time a quake hits Yokohama. Yokohama's Landmark Tower, 70 stories, has a fully suspended base, computer controlled, that reacts to earthquakes by countering movements in order to offset jolts that would bring ordinary buildings down. Why raise the bridge, when you can just as easily lower the water.

If an active base works for something this large, it can be scaled down, I'm sure.

There are bacteria living in the tiny cracks of rock strata kilometres below the earth that are much older.

old stuff
"... Melanie R. Mormile of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., who herself described 97,000-year-old salt-derived microbes at the ASM meeting, ..."

I don't think there was a conspiracy, but I do think that our plurality voting system is terribly flawed, and can account for a 5% margin of error. Here's an article about why our voting system sucks mathematically.

Basically it's because two candidates on "side one" of the fence will lose to one candidate on "side two" even if a substantial majority prefers the first side of the fence.

Plurality vote tallying doesn't work with more than two candidates. Enforcing only two candidates doesn't make much sense. This hurt the republicans when Perot ran, and it hurt the democats when Nader ran.

Read the article. Things could be a lot better.

Cheers.

I don't think there was a conspiracy, but I do think that our plurality voting system is terribly flawed, and can account for a 5% margin of error. Here's an article about why our voting system sucks mathematically.

Basically it's because two candidates on "side one" of the fence will lose to one candidate on "side two" even if a substantial majority prefers the first side of the fence.

Plurality vote tallying doesn't work with more than two candidates. Enforcing only two candidates doesn't make much sense. This hurt the republicans when Perot ran, and it hurt the democats when Nader ran.

Read the article. Things could be a lot better.

Cheers.

I've heard that the Colloseum used lead pins between blocks to resist earthquake damage. And it worked great too -- until people started stealing the pins for the lead content, around the Middle Ages. Now look at it.

That's the answer, my friend: reinforcing bars! That's one thing that distinguishes a well-engineered concrete structure. They didn't use quite enough of them in Turkey, around where one of the recent big earthquakes hit...

In the future, perhaps steel bars won't be necessary: just mix in a bunch of extra-long carbon nanotubes! We have a ways to go yet on the nanotube length, but that would make for an interesting material!

It is an amazing, but true fact, that you are wrong. That is, topology and geometry do have something to do with one another. If you are interested you should look at a copy of Jeff Week's book "The Shape of Space".

Long story short, if space is positively curved or flat then the universe can only be one of finitely many topological shapes (but it will be very difficult to tell which one it is). On the other hand, if space is negatively curved then space could be any one of an infinite number of shapes, called by mathematicians "hyperbolic manifolds". (And in this case, it should be easy to decide which shape the universe is!)

For a readable article which explains some of this stuff read this.

But our knowledge of the timeline of planet formation is far from complete. So this way classifying may not be feasible for now.

It would be cool though, because then it be similar to the biological classification, where "relatedness" of two species (in terms of similar DNA) is strongly correlated with how early they diverged from one another.

Interesting anecdotes. There's some bad news out there for cell phone addicts:

Hold the Phone? Radiation from cell phones hurts rats' brains

i prefer the glossy wow-factor of scientific american, but yeah, science news is really good too. i've never met anyone else who's even heard of it! my dad's been reading that magazine for as long as i can remember, and is constantly sending me copies of their articles.

he works for the fish and wildlife department of a big power supplier. SN's level of reporting is very appropriate for someone like him: not a professional scientist, but with a lot of scientific background.

Could this be a stepping-stone to one day being able to create simple life forms from scratch?

Few viruses jump species, and by that I assume that the genetically altered machine wouldn't be the same as you or me.

Of course one of the few cases of Ebola in the US came from monkeys. Then again Ebola is one helluvan exception. It's method of entry isn't even fully understood Folate gates perhaps?

I didn't mean to imply that bacteria was now spreading across the moon, just that bacteria was carried within our equipment and could live for years under very extreme conditions. Contamination that doesn't spread can still be a real problem if it invalidates an expensive mission because it can't be proven that the life forms weren't brought along. Here's a better article that gives more detail on the moon bacteria.

Perhaps the Murchison Meteorite was ejected from the Earth billions of years ago, in an asteroid strike, before left-handed amino acids had been eliminated? On the other hand, scientists have already simulated conditions in space to produce various amino acids showing that they can form 'spontaneously' space. So, instead of this meteorite showing that life exists elsewhere, maybe it just validates the latest theories.

Actually, that does work, if your random seed is truly random.

Some bright people use a digital camera pointed at lava lamps for a nicely random seed.

Wasn't that on Slashdot some time ago?

Ciao,
Klaus

Despite carbon nanotubes suddenly making the space elevator more than a pipe dream, many still feel that it's still at least 50 years away. Not everyone though. In this article, physicist Bradley C. Edwards, who left the Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory to work on the elevator design for a private company, Eureka Scientific, says that the elevator could be a reality in just 15 years. And once it's been running for a few years, a round ticket might cost as little as $20,000, thus enabling space tourism.

More importantly though, it would totally change the face of space exploration. Not only would it be cheaper to get vehicles into space (as well as not harming our upper atmosphere) but it would allow for the assembly of much larger space stations and spacecraft. And the huge centrifugal force at the end of the ribbon could be use to inexpensively fling spacecraft to planets such as Venus and Mars. And then we could build an elevator on Mars.

I find this endeavour to be incredibly exciting. It just feels achievable. And according to Edwards' estimates, it could be done for under $10 billion. Considering the potential return on investment for this project, and how feasible it's become, I'm very surprised that they've found it so difficult to find the funding. I expect that in the wake of the Columbia tragedy, that won't be the case.

More info on space elevators can be found here.

Drog