http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/science-chat/ en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:48:58 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418592/posts Biggest Misreported/Unreported Stories of 2009   6.  Van Jones ResignationAppointed the Green Jobs Czar by Obama, Van Jones came under attack (mostly by Glen Beck) for being an advocate for Marxism and signing a petition that suggested the US government was involved in the 9-11 terrorist’s attacks.   After several weeks and numerous controversial tapes, Van Jones resigned at midnight on a Saturday.  The mainstream media barely touched the story, which was only a blip on some of the Sunday news shows after his resignation. 5.  ACORN TapesJames O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, investigative journalists, posed as a pimp and a prostitute to... Various http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418592/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:48:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418549/posts What's a Blue Moon? The trendy definition of "blue Moon" as the second full Moon in a month is a mistake. by Roger W. Sinnott, Donald W. Olson, and Richard Tresch Fienberg A rising full Moon lights the scene in The Fishing Party, painted by Fitz Hugh Lane after a visit to the coast of Maine in August 1850. That month contained a Fruit Moon, according to the Maine almanac's rules. Recent decades have seen widespread popular embrace of the idea that when a calendar month contains two full Moons, the second one is called a "Blue Moon." The unusual... Sky & Telescope http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418549/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:29:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418512/posts No, I'm not obsessed with Saturn. OK, I am obsessed with Saturn. But so is Time, who picked this deliciously crispy photo as one of the images of the year, revealing ring bumps as high as the Rocky Mountains. I'm not surprised, because it's a truly unique moment, one that happens at Saturn's equinox, which is an event that only happens twice in 10,179 Earth days. And this time, we had Cassini there to take this amazing photo, just when the sun illuminates the rings edge-on. As Carolyn Porco—Cassini imaging team leader—puts it: The geometry revealed structures and phenomena in... Gizmodo.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418512/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:47:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418453/posts DNA that is left in the remains of long-dead plants, animals, or humans allows a direct look into the history of evolution. So far, studies of this kind on ancestral members of our own species have been hampered by scientists' inability to distinguish the ancient DNA from modern-day human DNA contamination. Now, research by Svante Pääbo from The Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, published online on December 31st in Current Biology — a Cell Press publication — overcomes this hurdle and shows how it is possible to directly analyze DNA from a member of our own species who... Cell Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418453/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:25:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418382/posts You may have seen this morning that CNN picked up a story out of Fort Wayne, Ind., on a new salt being used to melt ice on roadways, in parking lots, and other places where snow and ice pose a hazard. The product, called Magic Salt, is a residue created during – and usually discarded after – the vodka distilling process. The salt is said to be environmentally friendly and more effective than the road salt and other melting products used by municipalities and businesses. Custom Lawn Scapes in North Syracuse is the only local dealer listed on Magic Salt's... syracuse.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418382/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:58:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418216/posts Scientists breed see-through goldfish with visible heart, brain, organs: report BY NICOLE CARTER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Wednesday, December 30th 2009, 2:43 PM A photo released by Mie University shows the see-through 'ryukin' goldfish, whose beating heart can be seen through translucent scales and skin. A see-through goldfish created by Japanese scientists may be a humane alternative to dissection, as well as a unique pet, the London Daily Mail reports. The new transparent breed of fish, whose heart, brain and other organs are visible through its scales and skin, is the first of its kind, according to the Mail. "You... New York Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418216/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:57:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418163/posts Did our Neolithic ancestors turn to agriculture so that they could be sure of a tipple? US Archaeologist Patrick McGovern thinks so. The expert on identifying traces of alcohol in prehistoric sites reckons the thirst for a brew was enough of an incentive to start growing crops... Here is how the story likely began -- a prehistoric human picked up some dropped fruit from the ground and popped it unsuspectingly into his or her mouth. The first effect was nothing more than an agreeably bittersweet flavor spreading across the palate. But as alcohol entered the bloodstream, the brain started sending... Der Spiegel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418163/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:14:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418158/posts Crammed into a single large gallery, the Penn Museum show -- filled with delicate cylinder seals and alabaster pots, and glittering strings of gold, carnelian and lapis lazuli beads -- is at once frustratingly old-fashioned and deliberately retro in its design. Musical selections from the expedition's record collection play in the background. The texts are well-written but long and somewhat dense. They are supplemented by archival and contemporary images of the site and computer terminals displaying the exhibition's Web site and other Web resources and offering visitors a chance to "live blog" about the show. Wall St Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418158/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:01:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418155/posts Experts are studying the first Mayan hieroglyphic script dealing with the life of a high priest, his blood sacrifices and acts of penance, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said. The text consists of 260 glyphs carved into a series of seashell earrings and manta ray stingers found inside a burial urn. The urn, which also contained the remains of an important Maya priest, wrapped in bright red cloth, was uncovered during excavations 11 years ago in Comalcalco, in southeastern Tabasco state, the institute said in a statement. "It is the longest Maya hieroglyphic script ever found to... Yahoo! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418155/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:53:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418080/posts LUCKNOW: Once in a blue moon is not a mere idiom in the English language. It holds celestial significance too. This New Year's eve the sky will Twitter Facebook Share Email Print Save Comment have a blue moon. Though, not literally. Astro-expert with the Indira Gandhi Planetarium, Anil Yadav, terms it's a celestial phenomenon. "This should not prompt one to look for a blue coloured ball in the sky. A blue moon is a thing of folk lore," he said. Instead, blue moon refers to when there are two full moons in a calendar month, informed Yadav. Notably, most calendar... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418080/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:08:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417942/posts Several recent studies have highlighted the possibility that the oceans and terrestrial ecosystems have started loosing part of their ability to sequester a large proportion of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions. > It is shown that with those uncertainties, the trend in the airborne fraction since 1850 has been 0.7 ± 1.4% per decade, i.e. close to and not significantly different from zero. > University of Bristol http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417942/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:38:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417892/posts Last week, someone mentioned the Bisphenol A (BPA) leaching tendencies of canned tomatoes. That was all it took to send me on a tear. First, I looked deeper into the BPA issue. I’ve mentioned it before, and the battles over BPA content in plastics have gotten a lot of publicity, but after looking at the preponderance of evidence derived from recent animal trials, I’m not sure I can recommend using canned food at all anymore. Industry leaders say BPA is crucial for preventing direct contact between food and metal; they also say ditching the stuff would lead to far more... Marksdailyapple.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417892/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:06:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417778/posts MOSCOW (AP) - Russia is considering sending a spacecraft to a large asteroid to knock it off its path and prevent a possible collision with Earth, the head of the country's space agency said Wednesday. Anatoly Perminov said the space agency will hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis, telling Golos Rossii radio that it would invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project once it is finalized. When the 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated the chances of it smashing into Earth in its... Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417778/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:24:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417331/posts And that’s not all, for the week ending Dec 13th, there were 815 new snowfall records set. December 2009 is shaping up to be quite the snowmaker. Here’s a map showing continental USA records: wattsupwiththat.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417331/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:23:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417245/posts CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new study has found that chlorophyll and its derivative chlorophyllin are effective in limiting the absorption of aflatoxin in humans. Aflatoxin is produced by a fungus that is a contaminant of grains including corn, peanuts and soybeans; it is known to cause liver cancer – and can work in concert with other health concerns, such as hepatitis. Levels of aflatoxin are carefully regulated in the United States, but are often found in the food supplies of developing nations, especially those with poor storage facilities. OSU scientist George Bailey, a distinguished professor of environmental and molecular toxicology,... Oregon State University http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417245/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:08:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417002/posts There is increased evidence that the Arctic could face seasonally ice-free conditions and much warmer temperatures in the future. Scientists documented evidence that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas were too warm to support summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene warm period (3.3 to 3 million years ago). This period is characterized by warm temperatures similar to those projected for the end of this century, and is used as an analog to understand future conditions. The U.S. Geological Survey found that summer sea-surface temperatures in the Arctic were between 10 to 18°C (50 to 64°F) during the mid-Pliocene, while current... U.S. Geological Survey http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417002/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:37:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416834/posts TOKYO (AFP) – First came see-through frogs. Now Japanese researchers have succeeded in producing goldfish whose beating hearts can be seen through translucent scales and skin. The transparent creatures are part of efforts to reduce the need for dissections, which have become increasingly controversial, particularly in schools. "You can see a live heart and other organs because the scales and skin have no pigments," said Yutaka Tamaru, an associate professor in the department of life science at Mie University. "You don't have to cut it open. You can see a tiny brain above the goldfish's black eyes." AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416834/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:02:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416785/posts Inventor Le Trung spent Christmas Day with the most important woman in his life - his robot Aiko. The science genius enjoyed a festive dinner with his mum, dad and his £30,000 fembot which he designed and built by hand. Le, 34, from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, even bought gifts for his dream girl, who is so lifelike she speaks fluent English and Japanese, helped cook the turkey and hang up decorations. 'Aiko is like any woman, she enjoys getting new clothes,' he said. 'I loved buying them for her too.' Le, who built his first robot when he was four,... dailymail.co.uk http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416785/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:50:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416691/posts Paul Titze, who somehow finds time to write the excellent Captain InterStellar blog when not preoccupied with his maritime duties in Sydney, passed along a 2009 paper on warp drives yesterday that I want to be sure to consider before the year is over. Warp drives as in Miguel Alcubierre’s notion of a method of reaching speeds that are faster than light. The Star Trek echo in the choice of names was playful and intentional on Alcubierre’s part, and the physicist kicked off a cottage industry in exotic spacetimes and their geometries when he used it in a 1994 paper... Centauri Dreams http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416691/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:40:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416681/posts The new science fiction blockbuster "Avatar" is set on habitable and inhabited moon Pandora, which orbits the fictional gas giant Polyphemus in the real Alpha Centauri system. Although life-bearing moons like Pandora or the Star Wars forest moon of Endor are staples of science fiction, astronomers have yet to discover any moons beyond our solar system. However, they could be science fact, and researchers might soon not only be able to spot them, but also scan their atmospheres for key signs of life as we know it, such as oxygen and water. space.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416681/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:17:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416663/posts Good things come to those who wait, and wait, ... and wait. This may someday be the opening sentence at a press conference at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California to announce mankind's first evidence of intelligent life off the Earth. We've listened for transmissions from alien civilizations for 50 years without any luck. And there isn't the slightest clue when real data -– if ever -– may come. This bores some scientists who scornfully look at SETI as lost purely in "hypothetical-space." Detractors say (1) nobody's out there, (2) we're listening on the wrong medium, (3) it's a... Discovery News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416663/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:52:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416652/posts US researchers have found an antibody that hunts down prostate cancer cells in mice and can destroy the killer disease even in an advanced stage, a study showed Monday.The antibody, called F77, was found to bond more readily with cancerous prostate tissues and cells than with benign tissue and cells, and to promote the death of cancerous tissue, said the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). When injected in mice, F77 bonded with tissue where prostate cancer was the primary cancer in almost all cases (97 percent) and in tissue cores where the cancer... PhysOrg | AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416652/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:35:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416646/posts PARIS — Mobile satellite communications startup OverHorizon of Sweden has selected Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy, and Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Va., to build its first satellite, to be launched in early 2012 under a contract announced by the manufacturers Dec. 23. Space News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416646/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:31:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416642/posts Examine that famous picture very closely, and you may see it: a tiny speck, floating amid the vast, empty nothingness of a bleak and hostile universe. Viewed from six billion kilometres away, it is home. It is Planet Earth. Telegraph Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416642/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:20:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416506/posts Seahorses are truly unique, and not just because of their unusual equine shape. Unlike most other fish, they are monogamous and mate for life. Rarer still, they are among the only animal species on Earth in which the male bears the unborn young. Found in shallow tropical and temperate waters throughout the world, these upright-swimming relatives of the pipefish can range in size from 0.6 inches (1.5 centimeters) to 14 inches (35 centimeters) long. Male seahorses are equipped with a brood pouch on their ventral, or front-facing, side. When mating, the female deposits her eggs into his pouch, and the... nationalgeographic http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416506/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:05:36 GMT