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Comment Re:Peh. (Score 1) 754

by thehostiles (#38198822) Attached to: Paper On Super Flu Strain May Be Banned From Publication

but can we really say that any terrorist group (hell, any government) knows enough about science and biology not to do something like this?
Scientists were worried that the first atomic bomb would ignite the atmsophere. They were wrong, but we still tried it out anyway.

I think the issue isn't about targetting or precision, but more about shortseightness and general stupidity.
Education

Submission + - Scientists Take Charles Darwin on the Road

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Craig McClain reports that team of evolutionary scientists recently traveled to the heart of America visiting rural schools and communities in Nebraska, Montana, and Virginia to share their excitement about science on the birthday of Charles Darwin and were overwhelmed with the graciousness, enthusiasm and sincerity of the teachers, school administration and particularly the students that hosted them. "Over the course of our visits, the questions we received from students were thoughtful and founded in sheer curiosity about the science we presented," writes MacClain. "Indeed, the questions were the most exciting part of our collective visits." Another purpose of the trip was to introduce people to the diverse types of research scientists do, open students’ minds to the possibilities of careers in science, and offer an alternative to stereotypes of science and scientists in general. McClain says the end of our visit to Perkins County High School, a 10th-grader told us, “You guys are not what I expected from scientists. You’re more normal.” Some criticize the Darwin Day Road Show for being nothing more than a “Darwinist ministry,” others for it not being more explicit in its discussion of evolution and Darwin, but with this year's success, there will be a Darwin Day Road Show 2012 and the National Center for Science Education is planning to hit all 50 states by 2015. MacClain says the team has found a middle ground that allows scientists to stop communicating at and start communicating with the public. "It reminds us all that interactions between science and society need not be contentious. At its heart, science is about questions, and we all naturally ask them.""

Submission + - Instant Quantum Communication Is Near (popsci.com)

Submitted by fljmayer
fljmayer writes: In this experiment, researchers in Australia and Japan were able to transfer quantum information from one place to another without having to physically move it. It was destroyed in one place and instantly resurrected in another, “alive” again and unchanged. This is a major advance, as previous teleportation experiments were either very slow or caused some information to be lost. See more at http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-04/quantum-teleportation-breakthrough-could-lead-instantanous-computing

Submission + - Scientists aim to improve photosynthesis (cam.ac.uk)

Submitted by
vasanth
vasanth writes: "Two new initiatives at the University of Cambridge aim to address the growing demand on the Earth’s resources for food and fuel by improving the process of photosynthesis.

Four transatlantic research teams – two of which include academics from Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences – will explore ways to overcome limitations in photosynthesis which could then lead to ways of significantly increasing the yield of important crops for food production or sustainable bioenergy.

Despite the fact that photosynthesis is the basis of energy capture from the sun in plants, algae and other organisms, it has some fundamental limitations. There are trade-offs in nature which mean that photosynthesis is not as efficient as it could be – for many important crops such as wheat, barley, potatoes and sugar beet, the theoretical maximum is only 5%, depending on how it is measured. There is scope to improve it for processes useful to us, for example increasing the amount of food crop or energy biomass a plant can produce from the same amount of sunlight."
Idle

Submission + - What Happens If You Get Sucked Out of a Plane? (discovery.com) 2

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "We've all wondered about it. When flying at 30,000ft, you look around the cramped economy class cabin thinking 'I wonder if I'd survive being sucked out of this plane if a hole, say, just opened above my head?' That's probably around the time that you should fasten your seat belt. According to medical experts interviewed by Discovery News in the wake of the Southwest Airlines gaping hole incident, the rapid depressurization, low oxygen levels and freezing cold would render you unconscious very quickly. Assuming you don't get chopped in half as you exit through the hole and hit the tail, you'd be long dead before you hit the ground. Nice."

Comment Re:Wow ... (Score 1) 220

by thehostiles (#35648044) Attached to: Mobile Phone May Rot Your Bones

some are and some aren't. But I definitely think a change in bone makeup would be an easy thing to examine if the researchers had any conviction that it was caused by a change in bone chemistry.

Is a biopsy too much to ask?

Comment Re:Wow ... (Score 1) 220

by thehostiles (#35647478) Attached to: Mobile Phone May Rot Your Bones

so, if I may ask... What exactly do you think causes these "vibrations"
The cell phone's vibration setting? The radio signalling? aliens?

If it is the vibration setting, then I think we'd have more to worry about with ahem, personal massage devices.

Perhaps you should pull yours out so you aren't so distracted while you type your responses.
United States

Submission + - Meet 'Future You.' Like What You See?

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The WSJ reports that computer scientists, economists, neuroscientists and psychologists are teaming up to find innovative ways of turning impulsive spenders into patient savers and one way to shock Americans into saving more for their retirement is software that lets users stare into a camera in a virtual-reality laboratory and see an image staring back of how they will look in the year 2057. By enabling the young to see themselves as they will be when they are old, virtual-reality technology can transform their urge to spend for today into a willingness to save for tomorrow because to the extent that people can more vividly imagine how badly they will feel in the future with little to no retirement savings, they can be motivated to save more money now. In one test experimental subjects who saw a persuasive visual analog of a 70-year old version of themselves by morphing the shape and texture of his avatar to simulate the aging process reported they would save twice as much as those who didn't (PDF). "An employee's ID photo could be age-morphed and placed on the benefits section of the company's website," says Dan Goldstein of London Business School. "From there, we're just a few clicks and a few minutes away from someone making a lasting decision that can be worth thousands [of dollars].""

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