News:

One of our core values:  "THEY REFILLED MY RITALIN AND BY THE WAY I WANNA EAT YOUR BEAR HEAD."

Main Menu
Menu

Show posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Show posts Menu

Messages - Kai

#7051
Just a note on this thread:

I get an email with this sent from my graduate adviser weekly. Some of the news is fail, but most of it is fairly interesting. I don't know if you all care, but I'm putting it out there anyway.
#7052
The experiment mentioned in the OP is indeed a very interesting one with amazing results, E. coli mutating the ability to metabolize citrate. To see evolution in bacteria is incredibly easy compaired to other organisms due to their high reproductivity, short generation time, horizontal gene transfer and fission reproduction (which is more or less cloning). Whereas these could evolve such a mechanism in short time, vertebrates may take millions of years.

Other items mentioned here (the peppered moth experiment, "missing links") are common strawmen for YECs and IDCs. A reminder that evolutionary biology is a separate study than biogenesis, which is the direction this thread seems to be going. Confusing the two is also a YEC/IDC tactic.

I had something else I wanted to say but I forgot for some reason.
#7053
Techmology and Scientism / Weekly Science Headlines
July 30, 2008, 10:04:06 PM
July 30, 2008

The Nature of Glass Remains Anything but Clear

from the New York Times (Registration Required)

It is well known that panes of stained glass in old European churches are thicker at the bottom because glass is a slow-moving liquid that flows downward over centuries.

Well known, but wrong. Medieval stained glass makers were simply unable to make perfectly flat panes, and the windows were just as unevenly thick when new.

The tale contains a grain of truth about glass resembling a liquid, however. The arrangement of atoms and molecules in glass is indistinguishable from that of a liquid. But how can a liquid be as strikingly hard as glass?

http://snipurl.com/37ch9

AIDS Deaths Down 10 Percent in 2007

from the Los Angeles Times (Registration Required)

The number of AIDS deaths worldwide dropped 10 percent in 2007 because of increasing access to treatment, as did the number of new infections in children, the United Nations reported today.

Condom use and prevention efforts increased in many countries and adolescent sex declined in some of the most heavily affected regions, the report says.

... Despite these gains, however, the overall number of new infections during the year remained constant at about 2.7 million, fueled by increases in countries including China, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Russia and Vietnam.

http://snipurl.com/37cjj

Canadian Arctic Sheds Ice Chunk

from BBC News Online

A large chunk of an Arctic ice shelf has broken free of the northern Canadian coast, scientists say.

Nearly 20 sq km (eight sq miles) of ice from the Ward Hunt shelf has split away from Ellesmere Island, according to satellite pictures. It is thought to be the biggest piece of ice shed in the region since 60 sq km of the nearby Ayles ice shelf broke away in 2005.

Scientists say further splitting could occur during the Arctic summer melt. The polar north is once again experiencing a rapid ice retreat this year, although many scientists doubt the record minimum extent of 4.13 million sq km (1.59 million sq miles) of sea-ice seen in 2007 will be beaten.

http://snipurl.com/37nlt 

When Play Becomes Work

from the Washington Post (Registration Required)

It happens all the time: Two guys in a garage come up with a cool new technology—and dream of making it big. A thousand people take time off work to campaign for a visionary politician because they feel they are doing something to change the world. A million kids hit baseballs—and wonder what it would take to become a pro.

Then the brainiacs, volunteers and Little Leaguers grow up. What they did for fun becomes ... work. Paychecks and bonuses become the reasons to do things. Pink slips and demotions become the reasons not to do other things.

Psychologists have long been interested in what happens when people's internal drives are replaced by external motivations. A host of experiments have shown that when threats and rewards enter the picture, they tend to destroy the inner drives.

http://snipurl.com/37cmj

Experimental Alzheimer's Drug Shows Early Promise

from USA Today

CHICAGO (Associated Press)—For the first time, an experimental drug shows promise for halting the progression of Alzheimer's disease by taking a new approach: breaking up the protein tangles that clog victims' brains.

The encouraging results from the drug called Rember, reported Tuesday at a medical conference in Chicago, electrified a field battered by recent setbacks. The drug was developed by Singapore-based TauRx Therapeutics.

Even if bigger, more rigorous studies show it works, Rember is still several years away from being available, and experts warned against overexuberance. But they were excited.

http://snipurl.com/37cp6

Ancient Ocean Cooling Sparked a Biodiversity Boom

from National Geographic News

More than 400 million years ago, Earth's dramatically warmer sea temperatures plummeted to almost present-day levels, opening the door for a boom in biodiversity, new research shows.

The cooler seas—which occurred during the Ordovician period—created a more hospitable environment for a range of species, researchers say.

The find might also foreshadow a biodiversity crisis if the planet continues to warm due to climate change.

http://snipurl.com/37cub

Bees Help Police Close in on Serial Killers

from New Scientist

You might not think it, but bumblebees and serial killers have something in common: neither like to divulge their address and both tend to stay close to home. Now a study of the habits of one could be used to track down the other.

Geographical profiling (GP) is a technique used by the police to find serial offenders. The search is narrowed down using two common traits: most attacks happen fairly close to the perpetrator's home, but beyond a "buffer zone" that prevents the attacker being recognised or noticed by neighbours.

By mapping out the locations of crime scenes, police aim to identify the buffer zone and prioritise their search in this area.

http://snipurl.com/37cxr

Bracing the Satellite Infrastructure for a Solar Superstorm

from Scientific American

As night was falling across the Americas on Sunday, August 28, 1859, the phantom shapes of the auroras could already be seen overhead. From Maine to the tip of Florida, vivid curtains of light took the skies.

Startled Cubans saw the auroras directly overhead; ships' logs near the equator described crimson lights reaching halfway to the zenith. Many people thought their cities had caught fire. Scientific instruments around the world, patiently recording minute changes in Earth's magnetism, suddenly shot off scale, and spurious electric currents surged into the world's telegraph systems.

... The impact of the 1859 [solar] storm was muted only by the infancy of our technological civilization at that time. Were it to happen today, it could severely damage satellites, disable radio communications and cause continent-wide electrical blackouts that would require weeks or longer to recover from.

http://snipurl.com/37d17

Statins 'May Cut Dementia Risk'

from BBC News Online

Scientists have found further evidence that taking commonly used cholesterol-lowering statins may protect against dementia and memory loss.

The study, published in Neurology, found that statins—normally taken to reduce heart disease risk—may cut the risk of dementia by half.

The five-year project examined 1,674 Mexican Americans aged 60 and over at heightened risk of dementia. The Alzheimer's Research Trust said the research is "encouraging."

http://snipurl.com/37crl

The Web's Best 'Happy Birthday' Cards for NASA

from the Christian Science Monitor

NASA turned 50 yesterday. On July 29, 1958, President Dwight Eisenhower signed his name to the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating the agency that brought man to the moon, satellites to distant planets, and landers to Mars.

No NASA milestone would be complete without tons of multimedia coverage.

So, to help ring in this golden jubilee, the Monitor has brought together some of the best multimedia NASA-birthday coverage from across the web.

http://snipurl.com/37d
#7054
Or Kill Me / Re: Knowing we are Free
July 24, 2008, 04:29:28 PM
I go by they, or sie/hir, actually....


Kai,

Is trying not to spread drama by this though.
#7055
Discordian Recipes / Re: Accidental curry
July 22, 2008, 05:15:02 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 22, 2008, 03:16:06 PM
Protip:  If you "accidentally" put the cayenne in with the seeds on the stove, you will essentially be creating free-flowing mace throughout your kitchen.

Good to know if you're ever at a boring party.

:lulz:

Also, thanks for the curry powder recipie. I know someone who has been wanting to make some for a while now.
#7056
Or Kill Me / Re: War
July 21, 2008, 12:19:27 AM
Pure hate doesn't discriminate.
#7057
Or Kill Me / Re: Life/Death/Life
July 21, 2008, 12:16:00 AM
The Agent also does not discriminate
on basis of form.
Plants, Animals, fungi, protists, and bacteria;
They are all living.

None is more alive than the other.
None has less value than the other.
None is less a part of the Process of Sustaining.

Thus, the Agent of that which sustains
takes what one needs to sustain,
whether it be plant, animal, fungus, protist, or bacteria;
he does not discriminate on basis of form.

-The Process of Sustaining


Its disrespectful any other way.
#7058
Quote from: Thurnez Isa on July 11, 2008, 07:35:17 PM
Quote from: Kai on July 11, 2008, 07:15:23 PM
No one except philosophers and creationists, who don't really /understand/ what they are talking about, call it Darwinism. Okay?


the problem is Kai with the foundies is that the idea of science being in constant change and flux doesnt make sense to them. In their world they have a book that is definate (there is interpretations but definate on its validity) and so they look for the equivalent in the science world. And allthough darwins theories have evolved and developed over the years to a point that reading the "origin of species" as the definate book on evolution would be rediculas, they view that book as they would view their holy book, or as one creationist (can't remember the name) said "the grand creation myth of our society"
if you could put yourself in their shoes this way of looking at evolution as darwinism actually makes sense from their point of view... and then you can understand what we're up against, and if you think of how the 21'st century rolls along it may seem more and more that "reason over superstition" is a losing battle
:sad:

I'm told one of the universal marks of existence is impermanence. If they cling to this static notion, they won't last for much longer. That sort of thinking collapses from the bottom up.

Its only a matter of time.

I just wish these intelligent design people would be more creative with their 'attacks'. It would bring more entertainment, at least. UFO conspiracy theory freaks are so much more funny.
#7059
Quote from: BootyBay on July 08, 2008, 04:59:00 AM
Creationism vs. Darwinism.  They're both too into their own philosophy and fail to see that they too might be wrong.

*brain melting*

Okay, gonna say this once, for your benefit. Evolutionary theory hasn't been called "Darwinism" by any biological scientist since we figured out genetic pathways in the 20th century. Darwins evolutionary theory didn't understand the pathway or mechanisms, only observed the expression. A merging of mendelian genetics with darwinian theory, plus more recent discoveries both molecular and morphological, is what we call modern evolutionary theory. No one except philosophers and creationists, who don't really /understand/ what they are talking about, call it Darwinism. Okay?

Also, must sadness at you not even knowing the scientific method. What do they teach these kids these days? Is our children learning?
#7060
Or Kill Me / Re: all the words get in the way
July 10, 2008, 07:48:04 PM
James Joyce?
#7061
You all make me so proud.  :fap: