Archives for the 'science' Category
Birth of an Idiom
Published on 4 May 2008 at 7:38 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under pols, science, linguistics.
How deep is Obama in trouble? Kerry deep. Surber reaches back to the previous known example to describe the process by which dwarf stars implode. I’m beginning to think, even calculating in the hope-change axiom, and correcting for inexperience, we’re looking at grand and terrible example of Blair’s law, a sort of transcendent beclownment that alters the very fabric of the […]
Geek Pride
Published on 25 Apr 2008 at 11:21 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under science.
All of us are in the gutter but Toldjah’s looking at the stars.
Fifth Grader’s Smarter
Published on 4 Apr 2008 at 6:19 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under science, moronocy, kids, prehistory.
Than the Smithsonian Institution. Because the Precambrian isn’t an era. It isn’t actually anything. It just is. You dolt. You didn’t know that? Sheesh. via Herald:
2008: Odyssey Over
Published on 19 Mar 2008 at 7:42 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under science, literary.
I’m sorry, Dave. Mr. Clarke won’t be down for his tube of breakfast. Instapundit with a brief appreciation and reminiscence.
Giant, Armored, Voracious, Sawtooth Frog
Published on 20 Feb 2008 at 9:16 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under science.
Beelzebufo, the Devil Toad, once roamed the Earth. Shown here in artist’s rendering with puny modern ancestor, and pencil. All I have to say is, thank God for evolution.
Read ‘Giant, Armored, Voracious, Sawtooth Frog’
Florida Evolves
Published on 20 Feb 2008 at 9:04 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under science, moronocy, prehistory.
Beyond code speech. School science texts may now use the word “evolution” sted “change over time.” But the epic battle of Adam vs ape goes on. US News:
Hiccups? Hernia? Hemorrhoids?
Published on 20 Feb 2008 at 8:53 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under science, human organs, prehistory.
Blame your inner fish. Your IF may be giving you cancer, too. ChiTrib:
Read ‘Hiccups? Hernia? Hemorrhoids?’
Scientific Enstupidment
Published on 15 Feb 2008 at 10:55 pm.
11 Comments.
Filed under media, science, moronocy.
Is tonight’s dorm room bull session topic. This starts to sound a lot like the way some people report the news and other people react to it. Among other things. Via the superlative John Hawks:
In behavioral studies, an anomalous individual may be identified as an outlier and excluded from statistical analyses so as not to […]
Read ‘Scientific Enstupidment’
Brain Surgery Re Rocket Science
Published on 15 Feb 2008 at 4:57 pm.
6 Comments.
Filed under science, rockets.
Shachtman at Danger Room noodles out the plan, cites dearth of danger from incoming toxic space junk, quotes experts who think that’s a silly excuse for the gullible press and public consumption. Sounds about right. The toxic mess they want to limit the danger of is space-happy China. Demonstrate their prowess, how mighty are their rockets. Or it’s aimed at […]
Read ‘Brain Surgery Re Rocket Science’
Killer Dolphins
Published on 26 Jan 2008 at 10:22 am.
10 Comments.
Filed under science.
Baffle marine experts. I don’t know why. They’ve been telling us for decades they’re intelligent, just like humans. Maybe even superior to humans. What did they think? That meant they were going to be like happy, kite-flying, Kumbayah-singing hippy humans? UK Telegraph:
Variation on the Theme
Published on 25 Jan 2008 at 1:40 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under guns, science, sex.
Taser-hairspray potato gun fired without proper safety gear. That’s pretty heavy gauge PVC, but I wouldn’t recommend trying this at home,* unless home is a trailer park with high-tension wires out back built on top of a Superfund site. In which case, what the heck.
Theme this varies on is this one, by the way.
* Particularly […]
Lancet Botches Another One
Published on 18 Jan 2008 at 10:19 am.
9 Comments.
Filed under science, medicine.
According to Medecins Sans Frontieres, which judges a malnutrition study in Lancet to be deeply, dangerously flawed in its methodology and conclusions. MSF:
Read ‘Lancet Botches Another One’
Unclear on the Concept
Published on 8 Dec 2007 at 10:06 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under science, religion.
Christian biologist canned for refusing to believe in evolution:
Carbon Footprint?
Published on 23 Nov 2007 at 10:43 pm.
8 Comments.
Filed under science.
Don’t make me laugh. You aren’t even in the game if you aren’t shortening the life of the Universe:
How Fast to Australia?
Published on 20 Oct 2007 at 10:50 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under anthronerdism, science, academia, Neanderthals, apes.
And other sci-tems. The superlative anthroblogger John Hawks taps us into the issue of whether the earliest colonization of Oz was a matter of accidental vegetation* or if they strapped bits of wood together and paddled, 60,000-plus years ago. Meanwhile, in Watson news:
Global Warming Will Eat Your Brain
Published on 29 Sep 2007 at 8:16 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under science.
Warmth-loving, waterborne bacteria enters through your nose, feeds on your brain.
Read ‘Global Warming Will Eat Your Brain’
Lonely? Gene Conspiracy.
Published on 15 Sep 2007 at 11:25 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under science.
A study of 22,000 genes has singled out 209 of the loneliest genes in the world. So to speak. Suspiciously, genes seem to have conspired against the lonely.
Read ‘Lonely? Gene Conspiracy.’
Nailing Coffin Nail’s Coffin
Published on 6 Sep 2007 at 10:11 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under science.
Hyscience with your smoking/Alzheimer links. All right, already. We know. It kills. Now it has to drive us crazy, too?
Read ‘Nailing Coffin Nail’s Coffin’
Important UFO Update
Published on 1 Jul 2007 at 9:23 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under military, science, shameless opportunism, UFOs.
Deathbed affidavit proves all. Report includes actual photo of what a real alien might look like. Authenticity of report enhanced by lack of byline, lack of quotes, lack of details about when and where Haut died, or who released the affidavit.
Gut Check on Stem Cells
Published on 21 Jun 2007 at 9:27 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under pols, science.
ABC: Is President Bush bucking the Stem Cell Trend?
Maybe. Either that or he’s on the leading edge of ethical developments in science.
Read ‘Gut Check on Stem Cells’
Chimp Rights
Published on 1 Jun 2007 at 1:40 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under science, different.
As recently argued, examined over at John Hawks’ anthroblog.
Bones of Ancient Heroes
Published on 11 May 2007 at 1:10 am.
No Comments.
Filed under science.
And heroic defense of ancient bones here. Ancient Greeks. Jefferson. Mastodons. All that.
Oh yeah, and Jefferson as public health commissioner.
Read ‘Bones of Ancient Heroes’
Rays Away!
Published on 28 Apr 2007 at 12:20 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under science.
You can laugh if you want.* You wouldn’t be laughing so hard if you knew about the Stupid Ray. It mainly works on stupid people. Like this.** Though sometimes, they started out smart. So what you gotta ask yourself is, are you feeling stupid today, punk? Well, are ya?
Latest in cranial ray-deflection technology here.
*Thanks, reader […]
Tinfoil Helmet?
Published on 27 Apr 2007 at 2:15 pm.
10 Comments.
Filed under science.
What kind of idiot do you think I am? Those things don’t work. I’m getting one of these things.
Let’s Go
Published on 25 Apr 2007 at 8:49 am.
14 Comments.
Filed under science.
Planet X found:
Xavier Delfosse, Grenoble University: “On the treasure map of the universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X.”
Geoffrey Marcy, UC Berkeley: “a marvelous discovery … the best case for a habitable planet.”
Eugene Chiang, UC Berkeley: “This is a step beyond what’s been done. But to say this planet is habitable is a real […]
Beyond Normal
Published on 16 Mar 2007 at 10:16 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under warmglob, science.
U of East Anglia Enviro Sciences Prof Michael Hulme, in the Guardian, points us to the dire need for post-normal science, when science as we know it is not enough to …
… save the human race from destroying itself!
Damn your eyes, man! Can you not see!
God, I love a good Charleton Heston moment. Here’s Mike on […]
Getting Warmer
Published on 12 Mar 2007 at 11:53 pm.
6 Comments.
Filed under pols, media, warmglob, science.
OOPSDATE: Scientific mission to North Pole to prove Global Warming aborted due to frostbite.
First Channel Four’s “Great Global Warming Swindle,” now the New York Times, “hype” and “exaggeration.” The flood waters rising around Gore, warmglob enthusiasts. Oh, the treachery!
Nerd Fight!
Published on 21 Feb 2007 at 10:17 pm.
25 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism, science, geekism.
Inbred Jesus Cultists vs. Monkey-Loving Darwinists is so 1925. Astrophysicists vs. Ptolemists is the happening pop edu-clash!
Highly evolved anthroblogger John Hawks takes umbrage at a proposal to “de-emphasize Darwin” in order to lessen the ideological overtones in the debate over evolutionary science. Chron of Higher Ed:
You Live To Row This Ship …
Published on 18 Feb 2007 at 10:57 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism, science.
… Row well, and live!
— Roman Tribune Quintus Arrius, to the galley slave Judah Ben-Hur.
A Brit researcher claims ancient Greek athletes were superior to modern athletes, based on his study of modern rowers’ metabolic output and what the ancient texts say about the feats of Greek trireme oarsmen. via John Hawks.
Read ‘You Live To Row This Ship …’
Splat Alert!
Published on 18 Feb 2007 at 12:40 pm.
10 Comments.
Filed under warmglob, science, impending doom!.
Betcha asteroids killed off more species quicker than any passing temp shift or human activity did.
New Scientist link re impending doom:
Lion, Dung Beetle Gaming
Published on 7 Feb 2007 at 10:24 am.
No Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism, GWOT, science.
In response to my request for some asymmetrical Game Theory more applicable to today’s conflicts than the Cold War variants, John Hawks says he’ll be posting more on the subject in coming weeks. He offers this in the meantime:
“Asymmetrical contests have been one of the big interests in game theory. Asymmetries not only with respect to strength or […]
Read ‘Lion, Dung Beetle Gaming’
A Brief Overview of the History and Science of Rollercoasters
Published on 7 Feb 2007 at 9:27 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under science.
From the Science Creative Quarterly, which informs us the Russians and the French deserve proto-credit but the rollercoaster as we know it is, of course, an American adaption. And be sure to check in at Just Science, which is hosting a carnival of science. Dare to be geek.
Read ‘A Brief Overview of the History and Science of Rollercoasters’
Math Made Simple
Published on 7 Feb 2007 at 12:15 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under anthronerdism, science, sex.
OK, I’m a math moron. But even I can get this. Bikini calculus.*
Game Theory
Published on 5 Feb 2007 at 12:09 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism, GWOT, science.
John Hawks’ introductory lecture on the subject is relevant. Only problem, the games it describes are all symmetrical. The games we are engaged in are not. Except in strange ways. Our strength of force, their ruthlessness; their weakness of force, our wavering political will. We need asymmetrical game theory. Anyone know any?
Party Town Rocks
Published on 31 Jan 2007 at 1:49 am.
10 Comments.
Filed under beer, science, sex, Britain.
My father-in-law is a mountain of a man, a big gruff old New England fisherman whose people came across from Scotland to Nova Scotia God knows when. He’s got the biggest hands I’ve ever seen. I found him placing stones for a stone wall one day.
“Ever feel like you’ve been doing something for a thousand […]
