Clipmarks | Science Clips

Black hole now a racist term?

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:39:58 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: cityhallblog.dallasnews.com

A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon.

County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts.

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole."

That prompted Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy.

Mayfield shot back that it was a figure of speech and a science term. A black hole, according to Webster's, is perhaps "the invisible remains of a collapsed star, with an intense gravitational field from which neither light nor matter can escape."

Tags: racism, politics, science, humor, ignorance

Bobby Jindal for VEEP

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:28:56 GMT

clipped by: sillysam

Clip Source: article.nationalreview.com

Louisiana Confounds the Science Thought Police

Neo-Darwinism is no longer a protected orthodoxy in the Bayou State's pedagogy.

To the chagrin of the science thought police, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal has signed into law an act to protect teachers who want to encourage critical thinking about hot-button science issues such as global warming, human cloning, and yes, evolution and the origin of life.

Students need to know about the current scientific consensus on a given issue, but they also need to be able to evaluate critically the evidence on which that consensus rests. They need to learn about competing interpretations of the evidence offered by scientists, as well as anomalies that aren’t well explained by existing theories.

In this environment of politically correct science, thoughtful teachers who want to acquaint their students with dissenting views and conflicting evidence can expect to run afoul of the science thought police.

The pain of beng human....

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:25:20 GMT

clipped by: lystrata
clipper's remarks: another nail in the coffin...

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Mystery of the meat-eaters' molecule

Our inability to produce a chemical present in every other primate may be linked to a series of chronic diseases. Roger Highfield explains more

Tags: news humor science

The Superstitious Right Fights Good Science on Global Warming

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:28:48 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: We could go on and on detailing the ludicrous inanities of American politics in the age of Bush (himself Exhibit A), but really my favorite has to be the case of global warming. In a society devoted like no other to the politics of fear, we have somehow managed to forget the one thing we should probably fear most.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

The Superstitious Right Fights Good Science on Global Warming

We live in the most astonishing of times, politically speaking.

And I don't mean that as a compliment.

There is so much I would hate to try to explain to an alien about our politics. Same with a human five centuries from now -- it's just that I'm not so sure there'll be any.

One president has oral sex in a private consensual relationship and lies about it, so right-wing freaks spend $40 million to investigate this most heinous of crimes and bring impeachment charges against a president for only the second time in American history. Meanwhile, one of their own trashes the Constitution at every turn and isn't even investigated, let alone impeached, let alone removed from office.

Cheney wanted cuts in testimony on Climate Change and Health of Public

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:40:15 GMT

clipped by: TJColatrella
clipper's remarks: That's our Vice President alright...

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Cheney wanted cuts in climate testimony

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney's office pushed for major deletions in congressional testimony on the public health consequences of climate change, fearing the presentation by a leading health official might make it harder to avoid regulating greenhouse gases, a former EPA officials maintains.

When six pages were cut from testimony on climate change and public health by the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last October, the White House insisted the changes were made because of reservations raised by White House advisers about the accuracy of the science.

Tags: cheney, halliburton, kbr, climate change, science, corruption, impeachment, iraq war, co2, bush

Cheney Reportedly Wanted Cuts In Climate Testimony

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:24:42 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: If you don't like it, delete. THAT'S THE SCIENCE OF CHENEY

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney’s office pushed for major deletions in congressional testimony on the public health consequences of climate change, fearing the presentation by a leading health official might make it harder to avoid regulating greenhouse gases, a former EPA officials maintains.

But Jason K. Burnett, until last month the senior adviser on climate change to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson, says that Cheney’s office was deeply involved in getting nearly half of the CDC’s original draft testimony removed.

for months to get e-mail exchanges and other documents to determine the extent of political influence on government scientists, but have been rebuffed.

A War on Science (BBC 2006)

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:11:33 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: video.google.com

[Video]

The Illusion of Reality

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:21:26 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: Science from the BBC.
Last episode in the ATOM series 2007

Clip Source: video.google.com

[Video]

Brain noise is a good thing

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:56:39 GMT

clipped by: A53GG4

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Brain noise is a good thing

Canadian scientists have shown that a noisy brain is a healthy brain.

"Brain noise" is a term that has been used by neuroscientists to describe random brain activity that is not important to mental function. Intuitive notions of brain-behaviour relationships would suggest that this brain noise quiets down as children mature into adults and become more efficient and consistent in their cognitive processing.

But new research from the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, published in the July 4, 2008 issue of the Public Library of Science - Computational Biology, overturns this notion.

"What we discovered is that brain maturation not only leads to more stable and accurate behaviour in the performance of a memory task, but correlates with increased brain signal variability," said lead author, Dr. Randy McIntosh, a senior scientist with the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest.

Source: Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care

Tags: science

TrainingPeaks sponsors USAT's Art & Science of Triathlon Symposium

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:41:58 GMT

clipped by: mpeaksware
clipper's remarks: TrainingPeaks became a supporting sponsor for USAT's Art & Science of Triathlon International Coaching Symposium.

Clip Source: triathlon.usoc.org

USA Triathlon is pleased to announce that Training Peaks

Tags: trainingpeaks, usat, triathlon, multisport

How Prozac sent the science of depression in the wrong direction

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:35:46 GMT

clipped by: Lexica

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Prozac increases the brain's supply of serotonin

inspired an elegant theory, known as the chemical hypothesis: Sadness is simply a lack of chemical happiness

There's only one problem with this theory of depression: it's almost certainly wrong

The effectiveness of Prozac

has little to do with the amount of serotonin in the brain

it helps heal our neurons, allowing them to grow and thrive again

In this sense, Prozac is simply a bottled version of other activities that have a similar effect, such as physical exercise. They aren't happy pills, but healing pills.

"The best way to think about depression is as a mild neurodegenerative disorder

such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's]. The only difference with depression is that it's reversible. The brain can recover."

scientists are now paying increased attention to the frequently neglected symptoms of people suffering from depression

problems with learning and memory

sensory deficits for smell and taste

byproducts of a brain that's literally withering away

Tags: depression, health, brain-science, research

stumb

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:20:22 GMT

clipped by: yatin0777
clipper's remarks: stumc

Clip Source: bloggeryatin.stumbleupon.com

Stumble 'Knowledge' Results - LectureFox

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:03:17 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator
clipper's remarks: LectureFox - free university lectures

Clip Source: lecturefox.com

free university lectures

The Future of Science and Technology in Europe

The City Car

Nanophotonics: Magic of Light in Nanostructures

Ingmar Bergman, Cinematic Philosopher

Input/Output-Algorithms

Mechanical Behavior of Materials

Communication System Design

Polymer Physics

Principles of Microeconomics

Marine Chemistry

Teaching the Second Law

Advancements in Underwater Vehicles

The Second Law and Biophysics

Ideal Language Learning

Open Science and Scientific Publishing

Games and Civic Engagement

Animal Behavior

Foundations of the Second Law

The World is Flat 3.0

Electricity and Magnetism

Explorations in Language Learnability

The Second Law and Cosmology

Bioelectronic Interfaces

Fundamentals of Physics

Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics

Introduction to Psychology

Death

Modern Poetry

Introduction to Political Philosophy

Introduction to the Old Testament

Practical Aspects of Modern Cryptography

Thermodynamics and Kinetics

Microscale Engineering

Marine Organic Geochemistry

The Second Law and Quantum Physics

Tags: stumble, knowledge, lecturefox, experiment

Boeing develops anti-gravity propulsion

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:02:36 GMT

clipped by: A53GG4

Clip Source: current.com

Boeing develops anti-gravity propulsion

added July 8, 2008
44 views
1 response

http://weirdandinteresting.blogspot.co...

Boeing, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer, has admitted it is working on experimental anti-gravity projects that could overturn a century of conventional aerospace propulsion technology if the science underpinning them can be engineered into hardware.

Tags: anti gravity

Are We in the Peak of an Oil Bubble?

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:14:04 GMT

clipped by: A53GG4

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Are We in the Peak of an Oil Bubble?

By Lisa Zyga, Physics / Physics

This figure shows the total world oil demand and supply (left scale) and the oil price (right scale) from 2004 to the first quarter of 2008. Data from: International Energy Agency and US Energy Information Administration (http://www.eia.doe.gov/ emeu/international/ oilother.html). Image credit: D. Sornette, et al.

Since 2003, worldwide oil prices have quadrupled. According to a new study, the price of oil is rising at a faster-than-exponential rate, and cannot be sustained. In other words, we’re in the midst of an oil bubble, say researchers Didier Sornette and Ryan Woodard of ETH Zurich in Switzerland and Wei-Xing Zhou of the East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai, China.

By analyzing oil prices over the past four years, the researchers have demonstrated more support for the hypothesis that the recent oil price run-up has less to do with supply-demand interplay and more to do with speculation.

Tags: science