The Big Leonid Show and Tin Foil
Nov 16 at 5:05pm by Aileen
I hope that readers are as eagerly looking forward to the big Leonid meteor shower show as I am. Planning to schlep a lawn chair to the railroad tracks where there is an unemcumbered view of the east/southeast sky and no light pollution to speak of, settle in with a blanket and toast to the solar system’s fireworks display.
It should be quite the spectacle if predictions are correct. It’s a new moon, so that source of light pollution won’t be an issue. They say we’ll only get 20 to 30 an hour, while Asia gets the really big boomers at 200-300 an hour, but I’m hoping they’ve miscalculated a bit. There should still be a few to see tonight. The Leonids put on their show every year as the planet travels through the remains of the Tempel-Tuttle comet. Our pass-through has the incoming debris originating from the direction of the constellation Leo, hence the name. This year, however, Mars is sitting right between us and the constellation, so it should look like our friendly neighborhood Martians are staging the show!
What I will not be doing is wearing a tin foil helmet to prevent those Martians from manipulating my brain waves. According to MIT research conducted in 2005, the metallic fashion statements actually amplify invasive radio frequencies reserved for use by the government in satellite communications rather than protect wearers from what they are most afraid of.
The abstract of On the Effectiveness of Aluminum Foil Helmets reads:
“Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government’s invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason.”
Oh, well. Before some reader out there comes back with the obvious, yes I do know this is mostly tongue-in-cheek from a few undergrad CompSci geeks with way too much time on their hands. But it’s still pretty funny, so enjoy!
Veggie-Spider, Cooperative Mustard, and Hard Boiled Eggs
Oct 22 at 5:05pm by Aileen
In the news this month we’ve learned about a neotropical jumping spider discovered by Christopher Meehan of Villanova University in Mexico and Eric Olson of Brandeis in Costa Rica that is the only species of spider observed to subsist on a primarily vegetarian diet. Previously, spiders had not been known to consume any type of solid food, apart from occasional pollen fed to young in a single species of orb-weaver. The new species has been named Bagheera kiplingi.
And on the subject of vegetation, plant biologists at the University of Delaware and McMaster University in Canada conducted a study of more than 3,000 mustard seedlings and discovered that young plants are capable of On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen explain why fresh eggs are more difficult to peel than older eggs. Bottom line: let your eggs sit for a few days before trying to make deviled eggs!
Big Monopoles, BPA and Autism-DNA Link
Oct 8 at 4:04pm by Aileen
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Kreck
News this week from the rarified realm of science research is both interesting and far-reaching. And no, by far-reaching I’m not talking about discovery that the planet Saturn has a huge, invisible ring nobody noticed before.
In the field of physics, some may have heard of Paul Dirac’s postulated magnetic monopoles – the quantum of the magnetic force, with a single pole instead of two. Dirac postulated that these must exist, and led to his famous ’strings’ (which eventually led to some current GUT models). But nobody has ever actually ’seen’ a monopole, so it’s been an open question of whether such beasties exist. Now, an NIST research team believe they’ve found the next best thing, monopoles the size of molecules!
They of course aren’t real monopoles, but apparently behave the same predicted way. Thus these synthetic compounds could allow scientists to do further research in the lab rather than just on paper napkins. They will be testing monopole predictions with these spin ice molecules, such as whether the postulated particles obey Coulomb’s Law. Stay tuned, this could get fascinating quickly!
Next up is a study about the ubiquitous BPA body burdens 93% of us carry around these days. BPA is a common chemical found in some plastics and epoxy resins. A paper published in Environmental Health Perspectives this week from researchers at Simon Fraser University, UNC-CH and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital linked prenatal BPA exposure to unusually aggressive, hyperactive behavior in 2-year old girls.
Neurodevelopmental disorders – ADD, ADHD, the Autism spectrum, etc. – have been most prevalent in young boys, who represent some 80% of the diagnoses. Further research on this environmental contaminant should be watched, as if the connection is solid, we can expect more and more young girls to suffer the same sorts of problems. BPA has also been linked to fertility problems, growth retardation and learning disorders as well as permanent changes to DNA in mice.
Speaking of Autism’s spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders, researchers from MIT and the Center for Human Genetic Research at Massachusetts General Hospital have discovered that a single letter change in DNA may be indicative of Autism. This is known as a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism [SNP], and researchers tied it to chromosomes 5, 6, 20. The gene on chromosome 5 is associated with neuron development and autistic children showed lower expression.
This is just one piece of what researchers expect is a highly complex genetic puzzle, but it might lead to tests that can identify those at risk of producing autistic children, and identifying it in children very early. It also could help lead to specific treatments in the future. Progress is being made at last in dealing with this spectrum as a real medical condition and not just an indicator of lousy parenting skills. Which has been one of the most hurtful urban myths ever propagated by people who had no idea what they were talking about. That some of them were psychologists and physicians is sad, so we can all be thankful that some real answers are coming in.
Intersex Fish and Water Pollution
Sep 15 at 5:05pm by Aileen
Back in February of 2008 the U.S. Geological Survey [USGS] conducted research on smallmouth bass in the Potomac River basin, finding that 80-100% of the fish collected from the Shenandoah were intersex. Meaning that males of the species had testicular oocytes [TO], or immature female egg cells in the testes.
The USGS researchers also documented that the highest prevalence of TO came attached to areas with the highest human populations and most intensive farming activity. This type of birth defect is connected to environmental exposures to endocrine disrupters (hormone precursors that affect the endocrine system), which are found in most agricultural pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, and in many human/animal drugs. The prevalence of intersex had been at that time documented in other wild fish populations, including spot-tail shiners in the St. Lawrence, white suckers in Colorado, shovelnose sturgeon in the Mississippi, white perch in the Great Lakes, and in several species in the UK, Europe, Africa and Japan.
Intersex associated with endocrine disrupters in wastewater and farm runoff is nothing new, as reproductive anomalies in amphibians has been on the rise especially in farming regions for decades. Now the USGS has published new results of research on intersex in bass in the journal Aquatic Toxicology. They found that a third of all male smallmouth bass and a fifth of all male largemouth bass tested were intersex. The fish came from many different rivers and basins, including the Apalachicola, Colorado, Columbia, Rio Grande, Savannah, Pee Dee and Yukon. The Yukon is the only river basin where researchers found no intersex fish.
The Pee Dee river basin appears to have the biggest problem, though intersex bass are prevalent throughout the agricultural southeast. Relatively high incidence of intersex was also found in the lower Rio Grande basin, the Colorado and Gila in Arizona, and the Colorado basin. Lead author and USGS biologist Jo Ellen Hink suggested that “the widespread occurrence of intersex in fish would be a critical environmental concern.”
Well, duh. Any prognostications on when (or if) EPA and the USDA might get around to being critically concerned about it? Will “Intersex” become the new macho?
There Must Be a Reason…
Aug 24 at 6:06pm by Aileen
Why do people believe lies after being told the truth?
Sociologists from four major research institutions have published a study in the journal Sociological Inquiry examining how we support our false beliefs. They examined the false belief of many voters during the 2004 general election, which held that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was responsible for the primarily Saudi-conducted attacks on September 11, 2001.
The researchers concluded that the false beliefs were not caused by lies told repeatedly by the Bush Administration and some cable news channels, but by the individuals’ own personal need to justify a war that was already being waged. They named their study “There Must Be a Reason: Osama, Saddam and Inferred Justification,” and claim that their findings offer serious challenge to democracy – in that the people cannot be trusted to discern truth from falsehood.
Now, while it is a trivial observation that people tend to believe what they want to believe, and that they will seek out information sources that support and/or confirm their already-held beliefs, this blogger is not convinced that these sociologists should have so pointedly ignored the fact that it was the Bush-Cheney administration that invented the lies, started the war, and was backed up in that false propaganda effort by the mainstream broadcast and cable news media establishments. Seems like giving political liars and media propagandists a free pass on misleading the public does serious damage to the conclusions of the supposedly scientific study itself.
Black Hole Machine, Clever Crows & Parisian Salmon
Aug 12 at 5:05pm by Aileen
In general science news this week there is some good news, some interesting news, and some not-so good news. First off, Alexander Higgins asks whether the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is worth what’s been poured into it. For the $10 billion it has cost so far, it has operated for a grand total of nine days and has yet to smash a single atom.
There were concerns as it neared completion over whether or not it might create a black hole that would eventually swallow the earth, but scientists are still insisting they MUST have this machine in order for them to understand the nature of the universe. Or to destroy it, whichever point of view one cares to hold. Since the dramatic failure of its superconducting supermagnets last September, 53 of them had to be dismantled, cleaned and repaired. Tons of supercold helium escaped from the system, and soot covered the vacuum tubes.
CERN has estimated repairs and expanded safety systems to cost another $37 million over several years, if nothing else goes wrong when the collider goes to half power in November. Just before being shut down again for the winter, so as not to irradiate the skiers. And despite doubts expressed by opponents, scientists still maintain that the LHC is perfectly safe. So long as it’s not operating while you’re on ski vacation, and you aren’t a particle physicist in the tunnel.
In other news, Atlantic salmon have returned to the Seine river in France, even though nobody’s done anything to extend a formal invitation. Hundreds of salmon have been reported swimming past the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame this year, after being entirely absent for nearly a century due to industrial pollution, agricultural pollution and dams.
The Atlantic salmon is listed as an endangered species throughout Europe, so their return can be considered a significant milestone in anti-pollution efforts – at least, in France. In addition to the salmon, at least 27 other species of fish have recently moved back into the river after a long absence.
Last but not least in the lineup, researchers studying the corvid bird species – that’s crows, ravens and jays – have managed to determine that their use of tools and ability to solve problems logically makes them at least the equal of great apes in intelligence. Of course, since ravens are known to quite readily learn to speak human languages and can put word-concepts together in novel ways to express themselves, some might argue that they’re quite a bit smarter than great apes.
One of these days we’re going to have to rid our store of epithets of the insult “bird brain,” as even though bird’s brains are not very much like mammalian brains, they do appear to be quite adept at all the things we human mammals consider signs of functional intelligence. Researcher Nathan Emery isn’t even very sure that young humans could accomplish one of the feats he and fellow researchers observed in crows – the dropping of stones into a bowl of water to raise the water level so they could easily drink…
“It’s not clear to me that even humans could do this without any knowledge of the properties of water or stones,” Emery said. “We will therefore be giving the task to young [human] infants.”
Global Cooling, Global Warming
Aug 8 at 2:02pm by Aileen
Researchers from Oregon State University and other institutions have published an article in the journal Science that they say puts to rest a long scientific debate on the causes of periodic ice ages in the history of our planet. The conclusion? Earth Wobbles.
The last major ice age reached its peak about 26,000 years ago, held steady for about 7,000 years, then began melting 19,000 years ago. The melting was caused by an increase in solar radiation, the researchers say, and not by carbon dioxide’s “greenhouse” effect, or any changes in ocean temperatures. These mechanisms have been cited recently by some scientists trying to understand what appears to be happening now with the increase in global temperatures termed “Global Warming” and said to be caused primarily by pollution from human activities.
The researchers analyzed 6,000 dates and locations of ice sheets to define when they started to melt. This confirmed a theory developed more than fifty years ago that held small but definable changes in Earth’s rotation as the trigger for both the accumulation of ice and its melting cycle. Putting that together with changes in the Earth’s axis and rotation going back 50 million years, they found that the gravitational influences of the larger planets – primarily Saturn and Jupiter – leads to predictable cycles.
Right about now, the scientists say, we should be changing from an interglacial period toward conditions that will ultimately lead to another ice age. That is, if human contributions to Global Warming don’t thwart the process. Meanwhile, a close look at plans to mitigate global warming with ‘Geoengineering’ suggests that such plans may well do more harm than good.
Research presented at a symposium at the Ecological Society of America’s annual meeting concludes that geoengineering is potentially dangerous, and that the risks outweigh the benefits. Plans such as limited nuclear detonations and subsequent fires to release lots of carbon into the atmosphere, seeding the atmosphere with light colored sulfur particles to mimic gigantic volcanic eruptions, and seeding the oceans with iron to increase carbon uptake all come with side-effects that could be disastrous, ecologists say.
Indeed, if we are starting to ‘wobble’ to the gravitational tune of our giant planetary neighbors toward another ice age, taking big efforts to cool the planet right now could actually speed up the process! Perhaps we should put off the big projects until we know more about all this, eh?
Jupiter Takes Another Hit
Jul 27 at 4:04pm by Aileen
Last week an amateur astronomer in Australia named Anthony Wesley discovered a ‘hole’ very nearly the size of Earth in the banded atmosphere of Jupiter, indicating that the largest of our solar system’s planets had once again been hit by a cosmic billiard ball of some kind. Space Daily reports that The Hubble Space Telescope was re-tasked after recent calibration to take a look at the expanding hole.
The sky-watchers don’t know if the billiard ball in question was an asteroid or a comet, as apparently no one saw it coming. The telescopes of both amateur and professional astronomers have been trained on the hole. They estimate the object was the size of several football fields, and the force of the explosion caused when it entered the atmosphere was thousands of times more powerful than whatever exploded over Tunguska in Siberia in 1908. This initiates what astronomers call “shock chemistry,” where rare and unexpected chemical reactions occur. Some of these can be measured from earth-based telescopes.
So if you happen to have a good-sized telescope in the attic or garage put away when you or your kids grew up, now is a great time to get it out, find a nice, dark viewing area, and take a look!
Forest Management vs. Carbon Sequestration
Jul 13 at 3:03pm by Aileen
If you or someone you know has chosen to live in or surrounded by forest – or just maintains a vacation cabin in such a setting – you are probably aware of the threat that wildfires present to property in those settings. And as the population has spread in many states out into more forested regions, many states and the federal government have undertaken forest fire prevention efforts to lessen the impact of such fires.
In the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere plans for fire prevention have included the idea of fuel reduction. This means thinning the forests and eliminating much of the understory growth. A recent study from Oregon State University sought to quantify the carbon sequestration and CO2 impacts of such a plan, and how these things affect global climate change.
Forest Fire Prevention Efforts Could Lessen Carbon Sequestration, Add to Global Warming details the issues and the report. The report’s authors came to a somewhat surprising conclusion:
“If fuel reduction treatments are effective in reducing fire severities in the western hamlock, Douglas-fir forests of the west Cascades and the western hemlock, Sitka spruce forests of the Coast Range, it will come at the cost of long-term carbon storage, even if harvested material are used as biofuels.”
The idea of using the plants and trees removed from the forest to lessen fire severity as raw material for biofuels was previously thought to offset the carbon sequestration costs of taking those trees. But it turns out that the production of biofuels isn’t very fossil fuel efficient and that the amount of energy returned doesn’t add up to the amount of energy used.
The kind of material at issue that would be harvested from the forests doesn’t produce good biodiesel fuel, which is better produced from oil-crops and such. Woody trees and shrubs are best used to make ethanol, but that process isn’t yet efficient enough to offset itself.
Another recent OSU study concluded that if the old forests of the Pacific Northwest were left alone or managed exclusively to promote carbon sequestration, they could double the amount of sequestration in many areas, even triple it in some other areas.
Bottom line then appears to be that if you build your house or vacation cabin in the old growth forests of the PNW, you shouldn’t expect to have the state or feds manage that forest so your property isn’t at risk from forest fires. Still, to many people the time spent in such abundant natural surroundings is worth the risk.
Your Mama Was Right!
Jul 10 at 7:07pm by Aileen
If your Mama was anything like mine, you no doubt grew up with the constant admonition that “you are what you eat.” And despite the silly position of the AMA back in the early 1980s that there was no evidence to support the idea that diet has any direct relationship with health, almost all mothers know better. Thus it’s not entirely unexpected that medical science should be learning about the many ways that diet does indeed affect health, but it is welcome to wise Moms everywhere.
First up, a paper published in the journal Science by a research team at the University of Wisconsin demonstrates that simply reducing the amount of food eaten works to blunt the effects of aging and significantly delay onset of age-relatted conditions like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and brain atrophy. The research was conducted over 20 years on Rhesus monkeys at the National Primate Research Center at UW-Madison.
Conclusion? A restricted calorie diet will help you live longer and stay healthier.
The American Dietetic Association has also released an updated position paper on vegetarian diets that concludes a well-planned meatless diet is both healthful and nutritionally adequate and can help prevent or even treat chronic conditions like diabetes, obesity, cancer and heart disease.
Vegetarian diets have long been associated with lower blood cholesterol levels, lower risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. Because such diets are low-fat and generally provide more vitamins and minerals than a meat-based diet, the ADA has concluded that a meatless diet is appropriate for all stages of the human life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy and for athletes.
With ever increasing evidence that fewer calories, less meat and more fruits and vegetables can lead to a longer and healthier life, the number of vegetarians or semi-vegetarians among the population is expected to increase significantly over the next decade. Perhaps the most important take-away lesson from the evidence and research is that indulging in high-calorie processed foods and fatty meats to the point where a majority of the population weighs twice what they should weigh causes a huge chunk of the medical issues people suffer in the U.S.
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