Daily Plus 2013-05-17
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Science Circle Daily Circle on 17. May. 2013
Circle has 300
members -- published 2013-05-17 with 88 participants and 299 postings
Statistics for 2013-05-17 -- 535 comments 421 reshares and 1680 +1's
3 min video on the possibility of Physical Immortality :) Google Director of Engineering Kurzweil wrote a book about Immortality. :) Billionaire Itskov wants Immortality by 2045 ► 2045.com.
#immortality #health #science
Alex P
In pictures: Raw power of the Sun
Sam Wilson
It Goes to Eleven
A few years ago a research team measured the force of gravity over very small distances (http://arxiv.org/abs/0802.2350). Their result places very stringent constraints on the space-time structure of our universe. Either the universe consists of only the four dimensions we see around us, or else all dimensions beyond those four must be very small, no more than about 10 microns, roughly one-tenth the width of a human hair. What, you might ask, does proving Newton right (yet again!) have to do with hyperdimensional physics? Quite a lot, it turns out.
We look around and see the usual dimensions of length, width and depth as we move forward through the dimension of time at the rate of one second per second, and it all makes sense to us. However string theory (or more properly its offspring, M-theory) says that although we may seem to live in these four dimensions, we actually live in a universe of eleven dimensions. According to string theory the universe only appears 4-dimensional because, like Abbott's flatlanders, we are trapped on a "plane" of four dimensions.
The reason we are trapped is that all the strings we are made of -- the electron neutron and proton strings -- are open strings. The ends of these strings can't flop around freely, but instead must be fixed to a membrane surface or "brane", and are thus only able to move freely along this brane, specifically our usual four dimensions. Closed strings on the other hand can flow freely through higher-dimensional space. In string theory gravity is made of such strings, which would explain why gravity is so much weaker than other forces such as electromagnetism. The basic idea is that all the other forces are trapped on the brane, and are thus very concentrated, whereas gravity is spread throughout all eleven dimensions, and so seems much weaker in our regular space-time.
Still, other than mathematical elegance, why invoke higher dimensions in the first place? If we can't see them, and physical objects can't travel through them, then aren't they superfluous? Not quite. It turns out that even though we can't see higher dimensions directly, might be able to detect them indirectly.
To see how this might work, consider Newton's theory of gravity. In three spatial dimensions, Newtonian gravity near a mass is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the mass. In two spatial dimensions, gravity is inversely dependent on the distance. In general, the number of spatial dimensions determines the power (1, 2, 3) at which gravity is inversely dependent.
It would seem we have a simple rule of observation. By determining the value of of that power for gravity, we can determine the dimension of space. Since we observe that power is 2 (inverse-squared), we must live in a universe of 3 spatial dimensions. However, this only works if space is simple, flat and infinite. If some of the dimensions are compact -- that is they loop back on themselves rather than spreading out forever -- then all bets are off.
Consider our flatland physicists, who live on the surface of a 2-dimensional plane. They look around and see that gravity behaves as it should for two dimensions, and thus they observe the power of gravity is 1 (inverse linear). If their plane existed in three dimensions, their gravity would be like ours.
But suppose that in their universe, the third dimension isn't flat and open as it is in our universe, but instead loops back on itself. If they could travel in this third dimension, they would find that after a short journey they would find themselves back where they started. Their universe would be 3-dimensional, just very thin. Put another way, if they assumed the third dimension was flat, they would see images of their universe over and over again.
In such a universe, the force of gravity would be inverse-square, but they would only notice it at small distances. Since the third dimension is compact, all the images of a mass would have the same gravitational attraction as real masses. This is complicated in general, but basically if the size of the compact dimension is really large compared with their distance from the mass, then the result is standard Newtonian gravity in three dimensions. On the other hand, compact dimension is very, very small, then it is almost 2-dimensional gravity.
Our 2-dimensional physicists would see 2-dimensional gravity in their everyday world, but they might detect the third dimension if they take a closer look at gravity on either very large or very small scales. We can apply the same idea to our universe, and what we find is that if all the "extra" dimensions are compact we would never notice their presence unless we look very closely at things small scale, such as the strength of gravity.
As this latest experiment shows, we seem to live in a four-dimensional world. Either that or the “higher dimensions” are smaller than some string models presumed.
#stringtheory #gravity #astrophysics
Brian Koberlein
Sam Harris takes something that most of us take for granted and which brings us comfort -- burning wood in a fireplace or backyard party fire -- and shows us how psychologically resistant we are, and what rationalizations we make, when we are emotionally staked on something that is irrational. The article isn't about not burning wood; it's about how we cling to irrational habits and beliefs, and how much resistance we create to avoid cognitive dissonance and discount or avoid unpleasant facts about them. It's a rather brilliant, compelling essay.
From: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-fireplace-delusion
It seems to me that many nonbelievers have forgotten—or never knew—what it is like to suffer an unhappy collision with scientific rationality. We are open to good evidence and sound argument as a matter of principle, and are generally willing to follow wherever they may lead. Certain of us have made careers out of bemoaning the failure of religious people to adopt this same attitude.
However, I recently stumbled upon an example of secular intransigence that may give readers a sense of how religious people feel when their beliefs are criticized. It’s not a perfect analogy, as you will see, but the rigorous research I’ve conducted at dinner parties suggests that it is worth thinking about. We can call the phenomenon “the fireplace delusion.”
On a cold night, most people consider a well-tended fire to be one of the more wholesome pleasures that humanity has produced. A fire, burning safely within the confines of a fireplace or a woodstove, is a visible and tangible source of comfort to us. We love everything about it: the warmth, the beauty of its flames, and—unless one is allergic to smoke—the smell that it imparts to the surrounding air.
I am sorry to say that if you feel this way about a wood fire, you are not only wrong but dangerously misguided. I mean to seriously convince you of this—so you can consider it in part a public service announcement—but please keep in mind that I am drawing an analogy. I want you to be sensitive to how you feel, and to notice the resistance you begin to muster as you consider what I have to say.
Because wood is among the most natural substances on earth, and its use as a fuel is universal, most people imagine that burning wood must be a perfectly benign thing to do. Breathing winter air scented by wood smoke seems utterly unlike puffing on a cigarette or inhaling the exhaust from a passing truck. But this is an illusion.
Here is what we know from a scientific point of view: There is no amount of wood smoke that is good to breathe. It is at least as bad for you as cigarette smoke, and probably much worse. (One study found it to be 30 times more potent a carcinogen.) The smoke from an ordinary wood fire contains hundreds of compounds known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, and irritating to the respiratory system. Most of the particles generated by burning wood are smaller than one micron—a size believed to be most damaging to our lungs. In fact, these particles are so fine that they can evade our mucociliary defenses and travel directly into the bloodstream, posing a risk to the heart. Particles this size also resist gravitational settling, remaining airborne for weeks at a time.
Once they have exited your chimney, the toxic gases (e.g. benzene) and particles that make up smoke freely pass back into your home and into the homes of others. (Research shows that nearly 70 percent of chimney smoke reenters nearby buildings.) Children who live in homes with active fireplaces or woodstoves, or in areas where wood burning is common, suffer a higher incidence of asthma, cough, bronchitis, nocturnal awakening, and compromised lung function. Among adults, wood burning is associated with more-frequent emergency room visits and hospital admissions for respiratory illness, along with increased mortality from heart attacks. The inhalation of wood smoke, even at relatively low levels, alters pulmonary immune function, leading to a greater susceptibility to colds, flus, and other respiratory infections. All these effects are borne disproportionately by children and the elderly.
The unhappy truth about burning wood has been scientifically established to a moral certainty: That nice, cozy fire in your fireplace is bad for you. It is bad for your children. It is bad for your neighbors and their children. Burning wood is also completely unnecessary, because in the developed world we invariably have better and cleaner alternatives for heating our homes. If you are burning wood in the United States, Europe, Australia, or any other developed nation, you are most likely doing so recreationally—and the persistence of this habit is a major source of air pollution in cities throughout the world. In fact, wood smoke often contributes more harmful particulates to urban air than any other source.
In the developing world, the burning of solid fuel in the home is a genuine scourge, second only to poor sanitation as an environmental health risk. In 2000, the World Health Organization estimated that it caused nearly 2 million premature deaths each year—considerably more than were caused by traffic accidents.
I suspect that many of you have already begun to marshal counterarguments of a sort that will be familiar to anyone who has debated the validity and usefulness of religion. Here is one: Human beings have warmed themselves around fires for tens of thousands of years, and this practice was instrumental in our survival as a species. Without fire there would be no material culture. Nothing is more natural to us than burning wood to stay warm.
True enough. But many other things are just as natural—such as dying at the ripe old age of thirty. Dying in childbirth is eminently natural, as is premature death from scores of diseases that are now preventable. Getting eaten by a lion or a bear is also your birthright—or would be, but for the protective artifice of civilization—and becoming a meal for a larger carnivore would connect you to the deep history of our species as surely as the pleasures of the hearth ever could. For nearly two centuries the divide between what is natural—and all the needless misery that entails—and what is good has been growing. Breathing the fumes issuing from your neighbor’s chimney, or from your own, now falls on the wrong side of that divide.
The case against burning wood is every bit as clear as the case against smoking cigarettes. Indeed, it is even clearer, because when you light a fire, you needlessly poison the air that everyone around you for miles must breathe. Even if you reject every intrusion of the “nanny state,” you should agree that the recreational burning of wood is unethical and should be illegal, especially in urban areas. By lighting a fire, you are creating pollution that you cannot dispose. It might be the clearest day of the year, but burn a sufficient quantity of wood and the air in the vicinity of your home will resemble a bad day in Beijing. Your neighbors should not have to pay the cost of this archaic behavior of yours. And there is no way they can transfer this cost to you in a way that would preserve their interests. Therefore, even libertarians should be willing to pass a law prohibiting the recreational burning of wood in favor of cleaner alternatives (like gas).
I have discovered that when I make this case, even to highly intelligent and health-conscious men and women, a psychological truth quickly becomes as visible as a pair of clenched fists: They do not want to believe any of it. Most people I meet want to live in a world in which wood smoke is harmless. Indeed, they seem committed to living in such a world, regardless of the facts. To try to convince them that burning wood is harmful—and has always been so—is somehow offensive. The ritual of burning wood is simply too comforting and too familiar to be reconsidered, its consolation so ancient and ubiquitous that it has to be benign. The alternative—burning gas over fake logs—seems a sacrilege.
And yet, the reality of our situation is scientifically unambiguous: If you care about your family’s health and that of your neighbors, the sight of a glowing hearth should be about as comforting as the sight of a diesel engine idling in your living room. It is time to break the spell and burn gas—or burn nothing at all.
Of course, if you are anything like my friends, you will refuse to believe this. And that should give you some sense of what we are up against whenever we confront religion.
Tom Eigelsbach
I posted about Kiera Wilmot earlier this week, but +Maggie Koerth-Baker provided updated information in a recent article. *TL;DR:* The felony charges against Kiera have been dropped!
I'm very happy to see that things are working out for Kiera, and with any luck, her love for science won't be diminished by this experience.
#scienceeveryday #scienceisnotcrime
Ray Sanders
I found this anigif hilarious!
Matt Uebel
Congratulations to +Leanne Smith, no sorry, Dr Leanne Smith :D
Leanne has just successfully defended her thesis on "Modelling Emergency Medical Services" which employed location theory, optimisation methods and computer simulations, working with the Welsh Ambulance Service, supervised by myself, +Vincent Knight and +Janet Williams. I can't begin to describe how proud I am of Leanne. She has overcome various issues to get to this point. It's been a real blessing to have played a role in her supervision. She was absolutely awesome in the viva. Now Leanne is off to Boston for a post-doc and we wish her all the best in this new venture :D
Paul Harper
"A group of US lawmakers has asked Google to answer questions on the privacy implications and possible "misuse of information" of its Google Glass project.
Eight lawmakers in the Congressional Privacy Caucus sent a letter Thursday saying they are "curious whether this new technology could infringe on the privacy of the average American.""
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-05-lawmakers-google-glass-privacy.html#jCp
Ciro Villa
OK - I know it is a bit gross. But this is why I have been a bit slow on the draw (i.e., computer) recently. Trigger finger surgery. Fun.
Jonathan Eisen
Bright Explosion on the Moon
For the past 8 years, NASA astronomers have been monitoring the Moon for signs of explosions caused by meteoroids hitting the lunar surface. "Lunar meteor showers" have turned out to be more common than anyone expected, with hundreds of detectable impacts occurring every year.
They've just seen the biggest explosion in the history of the program.
"On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before."
Read More: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/16may_lunarimpact/?utm_source=feedly
Sam Wilson
"You can compare a modèle with reality (...), but you can never prove it wrong. A modèle is true as long as it is logically consistent, irrespective of reality.
Computer scientists love their modèles!"
Daniel Lemire
OK, this made me smile.
Happy Friday!
Ciro Villa
I picked up this set of little cacti, along with the wood stand, while taking a drive near our place last weekend.
Thomas Kang
Soooo I don't know what the everloving fuck I was thinking 2 months ago when I volunteered to help with Field Day at Kayleigh's school today.
Field Day: a day of playground games and tests of speed, agility, jumping, hopping, and general silliness.
I am still at the mercy of the pollen and not feeling great. BUT this is pretty much the last year she will do stuff like this, so I will go and bring my camera and sunscreen and hope for the best.
If you don't hear from me tonight, I died nobly on the Field of Trials, and should be remembered as The Mother Who Should Have Known Better.
mary Zeman
We just can't get enough of FalconCam!
Here's mama Helen feeding her two Peregrine chicks this morning on the live stream around 9:15am. What are they up to now? Click and see!
http://1130falcon.click2stream.com/
Thomas Kang
Holding a (tiny) bit of a glacier in my hand (and yes, I did taste it too). This was from Mendenhall glacier in Juneau, Alaska.
Karyn Traphagen
+20 - 9 shares - 2 comments
+Carol Messenger .... I thought you might appreciate this :0)
Ciro Villa
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. Jim Ryun
Ward Plunet
Blow away dandelion. . . .
As I was trying to figure out the answer to +nomad dimitri's picture riddle (http://goo.gl/TkU90), I thought I would take a pic of these dried dandelion flower heads, which sit in a jar in our cupboard awaiting their next incarnation as tea.
Earlier this morning (actually late last night), I did a quick post on Adam Johnson's 2013 Pulitzer Prize winning The Orphan Master's Son, an adventurous, sad, rollicking tale set in North Korea (http://goo.gl/mqaPL). In it, there is a famous North Korean actress named Sun Moon, who is so pure that she doesn't even know that some people eat flowers for food. Jun Do, the tunnel-digging, kidnapping and murdering protagonist, has a tattoo of Sun Moon on his chest. He eventually becomes Sun Moon's replacement husband, and at one point he forces her to eat a flower, presumably in hopes of foisting a kind of epiphany upon her.
Dried dandelion is not really my cup of tea, but now that I'm nearing the end of the story, I thought I would eat one of the flower buds in Jun Do's and Sun Moon's honor (knowing that this does not suffice in recognizing the plight of hungry and oppressed North Koreans).
As I was uploading the pic, I noticed that the flower petals and heads are reminiscent of Van Gogh's brushstrokes. Now that I think of it, for a Paul Bunyon type dried sunflower heads would be the equivalent of dried dandelion heads for me.
Here are a few other interesting findings along the way:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxacum
The Latin name Taraxacum originates in medieval Persian writings on pharmacy. The Persian scientist Al-Razi around 900 (A.D.) wrote "the tarashaquq is like chicory". The Persian scientist and philosopher Ibn Sīnā around 1000 (A.D.) wrote a book chapter on Taraxacum. Gerard of Cremona, in translating Arabic to Latin around 1170, spelled it tarasacon.
The English name, dandelion, is a corruption of the French dent de lion, meaning "lion's tooth", referring to the coarsely toothed leaves. The plant is also known as . . . . other common names include . . . white endive, and wild endive.
In Turkish, the dandelion is called karahindiba meaning "black endive or chicory".
Thomas Kang
Wow, this could be really helpful....
Paul Minda
Go nerds.
hat tip via twitter:
RT @_inundata: The #xckd R package is finally out. http://t.co/NoadYvECGp let the nerdiness ensue. #rstats
http://t.co/sAeQNcbaeA
Jan Moren
This sets a dangerous precedent.
What do you think, should game houses stake content royalty claims on YouTube videos of "let's play" users that already legally own their copy of a game?
In other words sharing/distributing a video showing yourself playing a video game be treated the same as sharing a c.righted movie or song?
I say No, it is not the same.
Ciro Villa
Anja Austermann
Google says 'there's a real opportunity for Glass to be mainstream'
"There's a real opportunity for Glass to become mainstream," product director Steve Lee said today at Google I/O. "We were surprised at how quickly there was a positive reaction."
#googleglass
Ward Plunet
Bach to the blues, our emotions match music to colors
Whether we're listening to Bach or the blues, our brains are wired to make music-color connections depending on how the melodies make us feel, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. For instance, Mozart's jaunty Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major is most often associated with bright yellow and orange, whereas his dour Requiem in D minor is more likely to be linked to dark, bluish gray.
Ward Plunet
T minus two minutes to field day.....
mary Zeman
Just felt a mild earthquake in Toronto.
Weeeeeee!
Filippo Salustri
+17 - 3 shares - 4 comments
My neighbor chose lovely tulips to plant.
#floralfriday
#inmyyard
mary Zeman
Well, I tried to take a nap, but I was pretty uncomfortable. So I'm up again. maybe I need more meds.
Sometimes when this happens, all I can do is get up and really exhaust myself so I can sleep. stupid #fibromyalgia I m tired already!!!
What are your weekend plans? We actually have plans tomorrow to double date with another couple and see the new Star Trek Movie! She hired a sitter and everything! I'll have to endure the 3D showing, but I expect it will be so exciting I won't notice it much.
mary Zeman
Option 3 is fair, but the reality is that Universities value the prestige that comes from securing NIH grants. Perhaps more than that, they value the huge indirects!
I have to go with Option 1 - and I'd like to know how Faculty member B is so productive without any grants :)
Marc Steinberg
#CURMUDGEON
1. Miser
2. A crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old man.
It was interesting to hear +Larry Page reference geeky old curmudgeons and the perception of negativity as a hindrance within the same brief few moments.
.
Jonathan Langdale
Oh Gallifreyans It’s funny, because as I was watching this scene I found myself wondering how many times I’d told people a story very much like this. via - goo.gl/B3uyE
Rich Pollett
Still no Hangouts app for Tablets. GOOD JOB GOOGLE. 0_o
Matt Uebel
Open source is just so awesome.
I'm probably a bit late to the party but how awesome is matplotlib?
Playing around with it doing some basic analysis and keep on thinking, "oh I'll have to hack that a bit to make this happen" but NOOO someone's already done it. So cool.
Vincent Knight
A new poll is out:
A clear majority of adults say they are familiar with the terms DNA and "genetically modified", but half of all adults and young people have never heard of the "human genome".
I weep.
hat tip +GenomeWeb for this story: http://www.genomeweb.com//node/1231411?hq_e=el&hq_m=1583979&hq_l=3&hq_v=42b419f306
Poll itself page below.
Mary Mangan
Mars rover Opportunity beats 40 year old driving distance record!
"While Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited Earth's moon for three days in December 1972, they drove their mission's Lunar Roving Vehicle 19.3 nautical miles (22.210 statute miles or 35.744 kilometers). That was the farthest total distance for any NASA vehicle driving on a world other than Earth until yesterday.
The team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity received confirmation in a transmission from Mars today that the rover drove 263 feet (80 meters) on Thursday, bringing Opportunity's total odometry since landing on Mars in January 2004 to 22.220 statute miles (35.760 kilometers)."
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-05-nine-year-old-mars-rover-year-old.html#jCp
Image: "This chart illustrates comparisons among the distances driven by various wheeled vehicles on the surface of Earth's moon and Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech"
Ciro Villa
Go nerds.
hat tip via twitter:
RT @_inundata: The #xckd R package is finally out. http://t.co/NoadYvECGp let the nerdiness ensue. #rstats
http://t.co/sAeQNcbaeA
Mary Mangan
TGIF Humor!
(Thank God It's Friday Humor)
courtesy of Jeff Stahler
http://www.gocomics.com/jeffstahler/2013/05/15
Brad Acker
E. Zaiser
Yeah, but still a lot higher than other industrialized countries, so let's not pat ourselves on the back too soon.
Betsy McCall
The science behind the Dambusters raid - 70th anniversary of Operation Chastity
May 16 marked 70 years since the daring Dambusters raid of World War II, in which RAF pilots used bouncing bomb to breach two German dams. This has been recreated by a Cambridge-led team (Dr Hugh Hunt et al) to demonstrate how the amazing feat was achieved.
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (1887-1979). Wallis was the engineer and inventor behind the science of the bouncing bombs (http://www.sirbarneswallis.com/)
Cambridge Research:
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/bombs-away-the-dambusters-bounce-back
http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~hemh/
Source of video at: http://goo.gl/hNbgy
Paul Harper
Is Gamification Just a Fad?
Gamification refers to systems and processes that engage and motivate.
Ward Plunet
www.all-about-psychology.com
As promised the kindle version of my new Psychology book is available for free for the next 5 days (May 17-21) See following links.
www.amazon.com/dp/B00CR1DX22 (Main Link)
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CR1DX22 (UK Link)
If you have any problems with these links, just go the Amazon website in your country and type "Incredibly Interesting Psychology" into the search box.
No kindle? No problem. Just download Amazon's free Kindle reading app. See following link for details.
www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=dig_arl_box?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771
Really hope you enjoy the book, I started writing it over 2 years ago! Please let me know what you think and also please feel free to share this post with anybody interested in psychology.
Have a great weekend.
All the very best,
David
David Webb
Are you a left-brain thinker, or right? What ear you use for your phone might give us a hint
Not sure if I fully buy into this study - but kind of fun.
If you're a left-brain thinker, chances are you use your right hand to hold your cell phone up to your right ear, according to a newly published study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
Ward Plunet
Mercè Gamell
Go nerds.
hat tip via twitter:
RT @_inundata: The #xckd R package is finally out. http://t.co/NoadYvECGp let the nerdiness ensue. #rstats
http://t.co/sAeQNcbaeA
Vincent Knight
‘Star Trek’ Spaceship Model Soars Into Stratosphere
It was billed as the U.S. S. Enterprise’s first “real” flight in space, but the spaceship didn’t get quite that far.
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/102213/star-trek-spaceship-model-soars-into-stratosphere/
Brad Snowder
The science behind the Dambusters raid - 70th anniversary of Operation Chastity
May 16 marked 70 years since the daring Dambusters raid of World War II, in which RAF pilots used bouncing bomb to breach two German dams. This has been recreated by a Cambridge-led team (Dr Hugh Hunt et al) to demonstrate how the amazing feat was achieved.
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (1887-1979). Wallis was the engineer and inventor behind the science of the bouncing bombs (http://www.sirbarneswallis.com/)
Cambridge Research:
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/bombs-away-the-dambusters-bounce-back
http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~hemh/
Source of video at: http://goo.gl/hNbgy
Vincent Knight
Maryland ranked worst in cursing, next only to Ohio, but also ranked at the top of the 'courteous' list. Ohio was the only state to find itself in the “Sailor” and “Least Courteous” categories. Ohioans curse more than twice the rate of Washingtonians, according to the data. Washingtonians curse about every 300 conversations. Ohioans, on the other hand, swore about every 150 conversations.
Ranking behind Ohio in the “Sailors” category – states where people are most likely to curse – were: Maryland (2nd place), New Jersey (3rd place), Louisiana (4th place), Illinois (5th place).
The Top 5 “Most Courteous” states, who says “please” and “thank you” the most, were: South Carolina (1st place), North Carolina (2nd place), Maryland (3rd place), Louisiana (4th place), and Georgia (5th place).
(Anyone else sense a Southern hospitality theme here?)
The data also found that:
66% of curses come from men
The calls that contain the most cursing are more than 10 minutes long. So the longer someone is on the phone, the more likely that call is to devolve.
Calls in the morning are twice as likely to produce cursing as calls in the afternoon or evening.
The Top 5 “Least Courteous” states were: Wisconsin (1st place), Massachusetts (2nd place), Indiana (3rd place), Tennessee (4th place), and Ohio (5th place).
From: http://blog.marchex.com/2013/05/15/marchex-data-reveals-ohioans-curse-the-most-in-the-country-washingtonians-the-least/
Tom Eigelsbach
I've been searching and I think I already know the answer. Does anyone know if you can change settings so that photos/videos in your stream stay in one column, so they don't span the entire screen?
I'm using two columns right now (3 is just information overload for me) and I like it. But the giant photos/videos spoil the layout for me. It would be nice to have the option to select the large displays if desired or keep posts limited to the confines of their respective column.
And +Google+ Developers, I really liked the old feature of hovering over the Communities icon and getting a preview of new posts in my Communities. Please work that feature into the new layout.
#settings #layout
Granite Rawson
#earthquake was a 5.0 - 25km NNE of Shawville, Canada according to the US Geologic Survey t.co/IBsRtGHs2h
Allison Sekuler
Bright Explosion on the Moon
NASA researchers who monitor the Moon for meteoroid impacts have detected the brightest explosion in the history of their program.
#science #astronomy
Cristian Lorenzutti
Since several people have asked me, here's how you switch from the current G+ two or three column look to a single column interface. Please note that this does not take you back to the old interface.
https://www.google.com/settings/plus
scroll down to Accessibility
and check "Change the presentation of some pages to work better with screen readers and other assistive tools."
And you'll have the new one column look.
Personally, I'm getting to like the new look, but I admit it does take getting used to.
Brad Acker
Just say no to impact factors http://gu.com/p/3fqza/tw via @guardian re Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)
Jonathan Eisen
#DIY homes from kits.
Cool idea, especially since it involves many societal elements rather than a single silver bullet type of solution.
#sustainability #design #architecture
Filippo Salustri
My reaction to seeing the new G+ Layout!!
Abhay Tiwari
OK, someone 'splain to me what's going on with Talk/Hangouts vs. Messenger. They are still separate apps that do nearly the same thing, but messenger is only on mobile in the G+ app? what's the point of still having 2 of these types of service? And do the rumored easter eggs in hangouts only work in video chat?
Charles Carrigan
"Problem with Google Glass is , Google fanboys prom[o]ting it to Google fanboys. Ignoring the pitfalls that might hinder it."
–Michael Jefferson
#Glass
Jonathan Langdale
The Womb as a Weapon
The Quiverfull: The evangelical Christians opposed to contraception
Oh dear. Seems we've exported this to the UK. I'm so sorry.
Mary Mangan
Wow, this could be really helpful....
Paul Minda
There it is! On the 24th of May 2013 the eLISA consortium will submit their science theme to the European Space Agency.
In "The Gravitational Universe" they describe how a mission to detect gravitational waves in space will allow us to revolutionize astronomy, and you are invited to be part of it.
Join the science theme and this ground breaking mission at www.support.elisascience.org – let us make history together.
The Gravitational Universe (abstract from www.elisascience.org)
Gravity is the dominant force in the universe. We propose the first ever mission to survey the entire universe directly with gravitational waves, to tell us about the formation of structure and galaxies, stellar evolution, the early universe, and the structure and nature of spacetime itself. Most importantly, there will be enormous potential for discovering the parts of the universe that are invisible by other means, such as black holes, the Big Bang, and other, as yet other unknown objects.
The European Space Agency has recently launched the process for choosing candidates for the next large mission launch slots. The first step in this process is the submission of white papers advocating science themes. The eLISA team will submit a compelling science case, which will be addressed by our eLISA mission concept in 2028.
Denise Case
Friday Weird Science! What's your Farting Frequency? http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/2013/05/17/friday-weird-science-whats-your-farting-frequency/ Ever wondered what volume you fart? And would you wear an assgass bag for SCIENCE?!
Jan Moren
Sam Harris takes something that most of us take for granted and which brings us comfort -- burning wood in a fireplace or backyard party fire -- and shows us how psychologically resistant we are, and what rationalizations we make, when we are emotionally staked on something that is irrational. The article isn't about not burning wood; it's about how we cling to irrational habits and beliefs, and how much resistance we create to avoid cognitive dissonance and discount or avoid unpleasant facts about them. It's a rather brilliant, compelling essay.
From: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-fireplace-delusion
It seems to me that many nonbelievers have forgotten—or never knew—what it is like to suffer an unhappy collision with scientific rationality. We are open to good evidence and sound argument as a matter of principle, and are generally willing to follow wherever they may lead. Certain of us have made careers out of bemoaning the failure of religious people to adopt this same attitude.
However, I recently stumbled upon an example of secular intransigence that may give readers a sense of how religious people feel when their beliefs are criticized. It’s not a perfect analogy, as you will see, but the rigorous research I’ve conducted at dinner parties suggests that it is worth thinking about. We can call the phenomenon “the fireplace delusion.”
On a cold night, most people consider a well-tended fire to be one of the more wholesome pleasures that humanity has produced. A fire, burning safely within the confines of a fireplace or a woodstove, is a visible and tangible source of comfort to us. We love everything about it: the warmth, the beauty of its flames, and—unless one is allergic to smoke—the smell that it imparts to the surrounding air.
I am sorry to say that if you feel this way about a wood fire, you are not only wrong but dangerously misguided. I mean to seriously convince you of this—so you can consider it in part a public service announcement—but please keep in mind that I am drawing an analogy. I want you to be sensitive to how you feel, and to notice the resistance you begin to muster as you consider what I have to say.
Because wood is among the most natural substances on earth, and its use as a fuel is universal, most people imagine that burning wood must be a perfectly benign thing to do. Breathing winter air scented by wood smoke seems utterly unlike puffing on a cigarette or inhaling the exhaust from a passing truck. But this is an illusion.
Here is what we know from a scientific point of view: There is no amount of wood smoke that is good to breathe. It is at least as bad for you as cigarette smoke, and probably much worse. (One study found it to be 30 times more potent a carcinogen.) The smoke from an ordinary wood fire contains hundreds of compounds known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, and irritating to the respiratory system. Most of the particles generated by burning wood are smaller than one micron—a size believed to be most damaging to our lungs. In fact, these particles are so fine that they can evade our mucociliary defenses and travel directly into the bloodstream, posing a risk to the heart. Particles this size also resist gravitational settling, remaining airborne for weeks at a time.
Once they have exited your chimney, the toxic gases (e.g. benzene) and particles that make up smoke freely pass back into your home and into the homes of others. (Research shows that nearly 70 percent of chimney smoke reenters nearby buildings.) Children who live in homes with active fireplaces or woodstoves, or in areas where wood burning is common, suffer a higher incidence of asthma, cough, bronchitis, nocturnal awakening, and compromised lung function. Among adults, wood burning is associated with more-frequent emergency room visits and hospital admissions for respiratory illness, along with increased mortality from heart attacks. The inhalation of wood smoke, even at relatively low levels, alters pulmonary immune function, leading to a greater susceptibility to colds, flus, and other respiratory infections. All these effects are borne disproportionately by children and the elderly.
The unhappy truth about burning wood has been scientifically established to a moral certainty: That nice, cozy fire in your fireplace is bad for you. It is bad for your children. It is bad for your neighbors and their children. Burning wood is also completely unnecessary, because in the developed world we invariably have better and cleaner alternatives for heating our homes. If you are burning wood in the United States, Europe, Australia, or any other developed nation, you are most likely doing so recreationally—and the persistence of this habit is a major source of air pollution in cities throughout the world. In fact, wood smoke often contributes more harmful particulates to urban air than any other source.
In the developing world, the burning of solid fuel in the home is a genuine scourge, second only to poor sanitation as an environmental health risk. In 2000, the World Health Organization estimated that it caused nearly 2 million premature deaths each year—considerably more than were caused by traffic accidents.
I suspect that many of you have already begun to marshal counterarguments of a sort that will be familiar to anyone who has debated the validity and usefulness of religion. Here is one: Human beings have warmed themselves around fires for tens of thousands of years, and this practice was instrumental in our survival as a species. Without fire there would be no material culture. Nothing is more natural to us than burning wood to stay warm.
True enough. But many other things are just as natural—such as dying at the ripe old age of thirty. Dying in childbirth is eminently natural, as is premature death from scores of diseases that are now preventable. Getting eaten by a lion or a bear is also your birthright—or would be, but for the protective artifice of civilization—and becoming a meal for a larger carnivore would connect you to the deep history of our species as surely as the pleasures of the hearth ever could. For nearly two centuries the divide between what is natural—and all the needless misery that entails—and what is good has been growing. Breathing the fumes issuing from your neighbor’s chimney, or from your own, now falls on the wrong side of that divide.
The case against burning wood is every bit as clear as the case against smoking cigarettes. Indeed, it is even clearer, because when you light a fire, you needlessly poison the air that everyone around you for miles must breathe. Even if you reject every intrusion of the “nanny state,” you should agree that the recreational burning of wood is unethical and should be illegal, especially in urban areas. By lighting a fire, you are creating pollution that you cannot dispose. It might be the clearest day of the year, but burn a sufficient quantity of wood and the air in the vicinity of your home will resemble a bad day in Beijing. Your neighbors should not have to pay the cost of this archaic behavior of yours. And there is no way they can transfer this cost to you in a way that would preserve their interests. Therefore, even libertarians should be willing to pass a law prohibiting the recreational burning of wood in favor of cleaner alternatives (like gas).
I have discovered that when I make this case, even to highly intelligent and health-conscious men and women, a psychological truth quickly becomes as visible as a pair of clenched fists: They do not want to believe any of it. Most people I meet want to live in a world in which wood smoke is harmless. Indeed, they seem committed to living in such a world, regardless of the facts. To try to convince them that burning wood is harmful—and has always been so—is somehow offensive. The ritual of burning wood is simply too comforting and too familiar to be reconsidered, its consolation so ancient and ubiquitous that it has to be benign. The alternative—burning gas over fake logs—seems a sacrilege.
And yet, the reality of our situation is scientifically unambiguous: If you care about your family’s health and that of your neighbors, the sight of a glowing hearth should be about as comforting as the sight of a diesel engine idling in your living room. It is time to break the spell and burn gas—or burn nothing at all.
Of course, if you are anything like my friends, you will refuse to believe this. And that should give you some sense of what we are up against whenever we confront religion.
Praveen Kulkarni
This video won first place in the inaugural Math-O-Vision contest, which invites high school students to make math-themed videos. A great contest, and a great video!
Paul Harper
"(Phys.org) —In a new study, a European research team suggests that the average intelligence level of Victorian-era people was higher than that of modern-day people. They base their controversial assertion on reaction times (RT) to visual stimuli given as tests to people from the late 1800s to modern times—the faster the reaction time, they say, the smarter the person."
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-05-victorian-era-people-intelligent-modern-day-counterparts.html#jCp
Ciro Villa
In another life....
#elementary #gameofthrones #ireneadler #margaerytyrell #got #nataliedormer
Paul Drinnon
Great idea!
#US #politics #economics
Filippo Salustri
*Biden wants to tax violent video games! *
Joe Biden is saying he sees no problem with taxing violent video games. Wait, aside from the fact that games are protected by free speech, have not shown to be the cause of real world violence, and the fact that taxing them would do little to solve real-world violence issues? Ana Kasparian, Dave Rubin & Kim Horcher discuss: http://bit.ly/11KUJk4
--
Check out “The Young Turks” on YouTube for daily political news and social commentary. Cenk Uygur & Ana Kasparian hosts live on YouTube weeknights at 9E/6P - bit.ly/TYTlive
Jonathan Langdale
New Google Maps - An Overview
The new Google Maps have been redesigned to be fully interactive and tailored to the individual user.
The maps are rich with ever-increasing data to be more useful and include 4 layers of data:
(1) Local Data that you and your circles enter when reviewing local businesses, including already 40 million precise geocodes for local businesses, 50 billion kilometers of turn-by-turn directions, more than 1 million transit stops.
(2) Imagery Data that is crowd-sourced by Google Maps users and Google Earth satellite imagery. 3D rendering is provided based on all the inputs.
(3) Street View that we are familiar with, but the views are being continually updated.
(4) Base Maps covering over 200 counties, including North Korea, built by North Koreans using Google's Map Maker tool.
New Google Maps Video (2:32):
Meet the new Google Maps
PCWorld:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2038823/google-maps-gets-stunning-makeover-for-web-enhancements-to-mobile.html
Brad Acker
Stem-cell-based strategy boosts immune system in mice
Raising hopes for cell-based therapies, UC San Francisco researchers have created the first functioning human thymus tissue from embryonic stem cells in the laboratory. The researchers showed that, in mice, the tissue can be used to foster the development of white blood cells the body needs to mount healthy immune responses and to prevent harmful autoimmune reactions.
Ward Plunet
Mel's Drive-In here in San Francisco. Here's another quick shot through Glass.
I love the wide-angle lens on this thing. I don't actually know what it is. It feels like a 28mm or so? Maybe 30? I can't figure it out. I haven't actually checked the specs on it...I'm just going by feel. Still experimenting and having fun! #throughglass
Matt Uebel
Mathematicians analyze social divisions using cell phone data
Differences divide us. Human society fractures along lines defined by politics, religion, ethnicity, and perhaps most fundamentally, language. Although these differences contribute to the great variety of human lives, the partitions they create can lead to conflict and strife, impeding efforts toward social justice and economic development.
Read more : http://urlc.fr/t5GCSW
Squares mark each cell-phone antenna with colors corresponding to communities defined by high volumes of calls between towers.
Omar Loisel
Interesting post doing some analysis on the use of statistical packages
"Forecast Update: Will 2014 be the Beginning of the End for SAS and SPSS?" http://feedly.com/k/105Xia9
Vincent Knight
Sadly one of the unintended consequences of the new Google Plus being so visually appealing, is the ease of spread of posting of pictures and artwork by some that fail to properly credit and attribute such work.
People, let's not fall in the same trap of some other social networks and other sites out there:
If you share a picture or artwork, article's text or otherwise something where you are not the author of, always make sure to credit/mention and provide a proper link to the source, wherever permitted by law and licensing standards
Ciro Villa
Well. _That's_ depressing.
#evolution
Filippo Salustri
2011 Census summary about religion in England & Wales
New data released 16 May shows some interesting changes since 2001.
Number of Christians down 12%
Number of "non religious" up 10%
Number of Muslims up 2%
Most Muslims and non-religious people are relatively young, whereas Christians are pretty evenly distributed across the age groups.
The country of birth data suggests most Muslims are from outside #UK (compared to Christians and non-religious).
I also note this site (http://humanism.org.uk/2013/05/17/new-2011-english-and-welsh-census-figures-on-religion-released/) from which:
At the same time, the number ticking ‘no religion’ increased from 15% to 25%. This change followed on from the BHA’s Census Campaign, which encouraged the non-religious to tick the ‘no religion’ box in order to help counteract the leading nature of the question – which assumed that respondents have a religion and (in its position on the form) encouraged respondents to record people to respond based on their upbringing, not belief or practice.
#humanism
Filippo Salustri
Rome celebrates its birth once a year, I forgot it was happening and walked outside and almost got run over by these guys.
Life in Rome is interesting...
http://www.blog.owenphillips.com/
Owen Phillips
A mushroom family for #fungusfriday
#inmyyard
#mushroom
mary Zeman
Narew - beautiful river in Poland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narew
View from the hotel terrace.
Renata Davidson
How convenient... Google leased over 40 acres of land next to NASA Ames 5 years ago. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2008/08_51AR.html
Of course, Google has been in the neighborhood since its beginning.
Charles Daney
Inching ever closer to a proper distinction between religious people and religulous people.
#humanism #psychology
Filippo Salustri
Clonage thérapeutique : les premières cellules souches humaines créées
Pour la première fois, des cellules souches embryonnaires humaines ont été créées par une technique de clonage. L’idée n’est pas de faire naître des individus génétiquement identiques, mais d’utiliser ces cellules dans des thérapies pour soigner diverses pathologies.
Plus d'info : http://urlc.fr/UtChrq
Les cellules souches embryonnaires humaines créées par clonage pourraient intégrer des protocoles de thérapie cellulaire si elles s'avèrent sans danger. © Annie Cavanagh, Wellcome Images, Flickr, cc by nc nd 2.0
Omar Loisel
Oh I just opened my etsy store.
mary Zeman
#sciencesunday Berkeley Lab Researchers Report First Fully Integrated Artificial Photosynthesis Nanosystem
Marianna Limas
One of the brightest explosions observed on the Moon on March 17, 2013
"For the past 8 years, NASA astronomers have been monitoring the Moon for signs of explosions caused by meteoroids hitting the lunar surface. "Lunar meteor showers" have turned out to be more common than anyone expected, with hundreds of detectable impacts occurring every year.
They've just seen the biggest explosion in the history of the program.
"On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before."
Anyone looking at the Moon at the moment of impact could have seen the explosion—no telescope required. For about one second, the impact site was glowing like a 4th magnitude star."
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-05-bright-explosion-moon.html#jCp
Image: "NASA's lunar monitoring program has detected hundreds of meteoroid impacts. The brightest, detected on March 17, 2013, in Mare Imbrium, is marked by the red square."
Ciro Villa
Depression Linked to Almost Doubled Stroke Risk in Middle-Aged Women
Ward Plunet
Number of people killed in the U.S. by terrorists since 9/11: 4
Number of people killed by guns in the U.S. since 9/11: >300,000
Matt Uebel
Yeah right. #gameofthrones CC: +The Night's Watch.
Matt Uebel
Moïse, arrête tes bêtises et prends ton bain !
Omar Loisel
Me every morning...
mary Zeman
So, it took me 5 seconds...I was "how come I see the same Google Plus posts on the screen after one hour returning to the pc ?" ...
Of course the blue thing has a nice 416 posts in it...Duh!!!!!!!!
#MassiveFacePalm
Ciro Villa
A large-scale analysis in the latest Journal of Personality and Social Psychology on the relationship between life satisfaction and the weather.
Art Markman
Keeping chat windows out of G+ tabs
Edit: Silly me, I missed the dropdown within the Hangouts dropdown (green double quote button in the upper right, then the triangle dropdown next to "New Hangout") - you can sign out of hangouts there. Thanks +Scott Anderson!
Of course, this means that you can't participate in hangouts without having every G+ tab flooded with replica chat windows, regardless of whether you've popped them out elsewhere . . . but at least you can still use chat without too much clutter when not in an actual hangout.
---------
Anyone know how to sign out of chats (I guess now it has to be out of hangouts entirely, thanks to the big merge) on G+?
It used to be that you could have your gmail tab signed in to chat, and sign out in G+, thus avoiding replicas of every active chat in every G+tab (and the associated performance hit for the browser); I can't figure out how to sign out / turn off chat now, and it's getting really irritating really quickly.
Brendan Walters
Agriculture in China Predates Domesticated Rice: New Discovery of Ancient Diet Shatters Conventional Ideas of How Agriculture Emerged
Ward Plunet
transcranial direct current brain stimulation could speed up mental math ability
This non-invasive procedure could help children with learning difficulties, or be used in the rehabilitation of people after a stroke. It might even be able to help other people improve their mental athleticism.
Ward Plunet
Ermagerd!
Jonathan Langdale
Oh, and by the way Mad Brew, tell A. Ron to stop complaining about G+'s unfriendly profile strings.... instead, he should recommend just searching for +The Night's Watch.
Matt Uebel
Blueprints of Flowers
The worlds of architecture and scientific illustration collided when Macoto Murayama was studying at Miyagi University in Japan. In a project he calls “Inorganic flora,” the 29-year-old Japanese artist diagrams flowers. He buys his specimens—sweetpeas (Lathyrus odoratus L. , Asiatic dayflowers (Commelina communis L.) and sulfur cosmos (Cosmos sulphureus Cav.), to name a few—from flower stands or collects them from the roadside.
Murayama carefully dissects each flower, removing its petals, anther, stigma and ovaries with a scalpel. He studies the separate parts of the flower under a magnifying glass and then sketches and photographs them.
Using 3D computer graphics software, the artist then creates models of the full blossom as well as of the stigma, sepals and other parts of the bloom. He cleans up his composition in Photoshop and adds measurements and annotations in Illustrator, so that in the end, he has created nothing short of a botanical blueprint.
Article Link: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/artscience/2013/05/macoto-murayamas-intricate-blueprints-of-flowers/
#science #scienceeveryday #art #scienceart #flowers #blueprints #architecture #illustration
mary Zeman
Finally same-sex adoption is legal in Portugal (marriage has been since 2010). You know, I'm a right wing catholic, but in this particular matter - love, marriage and families - I always said that the more, the merrier. It has been a long struggle, so I wish to give heartfelt congratulations to all that fought it.
Oh, the song bellow is intended to mock the typical conservative stereotypes, in case the irony is not clear. Quoting wikipedia:
Most of the songs on [this] album deal with stereotypes associated with homosexuality, especially negative ones used by social conservatives. The lyrics are highly satirical and portray stereotypes in an absurdly over-the-top manner.
João Figueiredo
Waking up, to a happy day ahead with a smile. 17-May-2013 :) :) :)
Our small friends are happy to start their adventure. :)
A lovely bunch. :)
You're up and ready for today's adventure ? ;)
Hoping to have your happy smile, for them and also for the new day running over there. :) :) :)
Image via http://goo.gl/mIQ2w
Denise Case
WELCOME TO THE FUTURE.
Bug G. Membracid
Attack of the Google Snarkers
I hadn't planned on writing anything about this, but watching the continuing stream of obnoxious snarking -- both in blogs and some mainstream media -- following Larry Page's appearance at the end of Wednesday's Google I/O keynote, my irritation level has risen to the point where some comment seems apropos.
Let's get the disclaimer out of the way. I've never met Larry. I am currently consulting to Google. Everything I say here represents my thoughts only, and any blame for them should be attributed to me alone. OK, let's move on.
Regular readers know that I am not a fan of snark in general. In fact, snarky comments are one of the easiest ways to get bounced from my Google+ threads. As far as I'm concerned, they're almost always cheap shots aimed at minimizing real issues, to try get a quick gee, ain't I clever laugh. Some folks love that stuff. That's their choice, of course. Personally, I feel they usually detract from serious and useful discussion.
I dare say I wasn't the only one surprised when Larry walked on stage Wednesday. There was no obvious reason why he had to do that, not to mention his extended Q&A with the audience.
In the wake of this, we've seen pundits and writers attempting to characterize his remarks in a variety of snarky ways. I'm not going to provide those venues with link juice here.
And in fact, that kind of snarking is painfully representative of the kinds of attitudes that have driven our political system into toxic paralysis, making it so difficult for so many creative people to ponder the big questions, to consider the tough what ifs?, without being mercilessly attacked by the champions of the status quo.
My interpretation of Larry's remarks is that he wasn't revealing a specific business plan, he was exploring a philosophy bigger than the limitations and constraints that encumber us today -- not just at the nexus of government vs. technology but in many other ways as well.
It is incredibly important that such thinking be encouraged, not attacked or ridiculed.
To ponder what could be achieved with different legal constraints than exist today is both valid and valuable, because we don't live in a static world at all -- much as some people would prefer as little change as possible.
Well within the lifetimes of many of you reading this, it was illicit to plug your own equipment -- even the simplest of phones -- into a telephone line. This seems inconceivable today, but imagine if nobody back then had pondered the question of what might be accomplished if we could legally hook our own data and other devices to the telephone network. Very likely, the Internet as we know it today might not exist at all.
Google is large and influential, and there are many venues for reasoned discussion about Google-related issues.
But snarking -- especially aimed at an individual like Larry who voluntarily chose to share some personal and philosophical thoughts very much worth pondering -- yes, especially the snarking we've heard over the last few days, is counterproductive, disgraceful, and -- to the detriment of us all -- very much calculated to discourage honest consideration of our complex and mutable futures.
The purveyors of such poison should not only be shunned, but should be utterly ashamed of themselves.
-- Lauren --
Matt Uebel
A serendipitous observation of tiny rocks in Jupiter's orbit by Galileo
Amalthea is a funny-looking moon that circles Jupiter in a regular orbit (meaning that it's circular and aligned with Jupiter's equator). It is twice as long as it is wide, 262 by 146 by 124 kilometers, similar in proportions to Prometheus at Saturn, though Amalthea is a bit bigger, comparable to Saturn's moon Janus in mass.
Read more : http://urlc.fr/4SJd6y
Michael Carroll and NASA
Galileo at Amalthea
__
An artist's concept of Galileo passing near Jupiter's small inner moon Amalthea. Galileo flew past the tiny moon in November 2002.
Omar Loisel
Kyle Crider
Bora Zivkovic
Nano "Flowers" Created in Lab
Getting structures to self-assemble or grow from a solution of chemicals is relatively straightforward: Confectioners have done this for years when growing rock candy. *
Love the way they make it sound all so easy over at National Geographic...
Quoting the author of the nano structures:
To create the flower structures, Noorduin and his colleagues dissolve barium chloride (a salt) and sodium silicate (also known as waterglass) into a beaker of water. Carbon dioxide from air naturally dissolves in the water, setting off a reaction which precipitates barium carbonate crystals. As a byproduct, it also lowers the pH of the solution immediately surrounding the crystals, which then triggers a reaction with the dissolved waterglass. This second reaction adds a layer of silica to the growing structures, uses up the acid from the solution, and allows the formation of barium carbonate crystals to continue.
"You can really collaborate with the self-assembly process," says Noorduin. "The precipitation happens spontaneously, but if you want to change something then you can just manipulate the conditions of the reaction and sculpt the forms while they're growing."
Increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide, for instance, helps to create 'broad-leafed' structures. Reversing the pH gradient at the right moment can create curved, ruffled structures. **
* from here:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/05/pictures/130516-microscopic-flowers-building-nanoscale-chemistry-science/#/scientists-make-nano-flowers-red_67528_600x450.jpg
** and here:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/hu-bs051613.php
via http://science-junkie.tumblr.com/
João Figueiredo
I love this show. It made our Netflix subscription worthwhile.
"The IT Crowd – box set review" http://feedly.com/k/17CImb2
Mark Fortner
Too cute
Dan Knudsen
Malaria parasite may "zombify" mosquitoes.
Which, of course, opens new avenues for fighting malaria.
#science #biology
Filippo Salustri
Mark Hahnel
Research published online May 14 in Social Psychological and Personality Science has uncovered that marijuana buffers people from experiencing social pain.
“Prior work has shown that the analgesic acetaminophen, which acts indirectly through CB1 receptors, reduces the pain of social exclusion. The current research provides the first evidence that marijuana also dampens the negative emotional consequences of social exclusion on negative emotional outcomes,” Timothy Deckman of the University of Kentucky and his colleagues wrote in the study.
The four-part study, which included a total of 7040 participants and three methodologies, was based on previous research that found an overlap between physical and social pain. Acetaminophen, which is used in over-the-counter medications like Tylenol, has been found to reduce physical and social pain.
Aceteminophen and marijuana both affect cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptors in the brain and both drugs are used to treat physical pain.
#scienceeveryday #sciencesunday
Tom Eigelsbach
The Emergence of Hierarchy
http://arxiv.org/abs/1305.3282
> One of the most important features of spatial networks such as transportation networks, power grids, Internet, neural networks, is the existence of a cost associated with the length of links. Such a cost has a profound influence on the global structure of these networks which usually display a hierarchical spatial organization. The link between local constraints and large-scale structure is however not elucidated and we introduce here a generic model for the growth of spatial networks based on the general concept of cost benefit analysis. This model depends essentially on one single scale and produces a family of networks which range from the star-graph to the minimum spanning tree and which are characterised by a continuously varying exponent.
> We show that spatial hierarchy emerges naturally, with structures composed of various hubs controlling geographically separated service areas, and appears as a large-scale consequence of local cost-benefit considerations. Our model thus provides the first building blocks for a better understanding of the evolution of spatial networks and their properties. We also find that, surprisingly, the average detour is minimal in the intermediate regime, as a result of a large diversity in link lengths. Finally, we estimate the important parameters for various world railway networks and find that -remarkably- they all fall in this intermediate regime, suggesting that spatial hierarchy is a crucial feature for these systems and probably possesses an important evolutionary advantage.
#space #hierarchy #organization #emergence #complexity #selforganization
via +Bruno Gonçalves http://goo.gl/XaKYl
Omar Loisel
"Archaeologists have made a discovery in southern subtropical China which could revolutionise thinking about how ancient humans lived in the region.
They have uncovered evidence for the first time that people living in Xincun 5,000 years ago may have practised agriculture –before the arrival of domesticated rice in the region."
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-05-discovery-ancient-diet-shatters-conventional.html#jCp
Ciro Villa
Freezer burn happens when the ice sublomates, and changes from a solid to a gas without melting and evaporating. The freezer burn happens from the water in the food itself, so food with freezer burn tastes more dry.
Jeanne Garbarino
Daily Circles check it out
| Name | Author | Members |
|---|---|---|
Austrian Photographers |
54 | |
Finnish active people and Pages circle |
111 | |
Google Developers GTUG |
152 | |
Super Science Circle |
220 | |
Photography Newbies |
100 | |
Food, Beer, and Wine Circle |
165 | |
Social SEO |
25 | |
Google+ Pages and interesting people |
241 | |
Android Pages |
31 | |
Banken und Finanzen |
170 | |
Think different: the interaction circle |
200 | |
Play Ball! Baseball |
31 | |
some great people |
501 | |
experts in social business |
90 | |
Writer's Circle |
99 | |
Science Circle |
300 | |
Google Services |
48 | |
Daily Fine Art |
199 |
Rznag Rmrod
Jaana Nyström
Nils Hitze (Kojote)
Fraser Cain
Dante Duphorne
Chris Robinson
Mark Traphagen
Thomas Morffew
Daniel Bödger
Max Huijgen
Google+
Thomas Power
Meg Tufano
Gideon Rosenblatt
Siegfried Hirsch
Charles Lupica