My Own Thoughts

Category: Science

  • Men, Premarital Sex, and Divorce

    National Survey of Family Growth The researchers released information about the effect of having sex before marriage increasing a woman’s divorce rate. Clearly this study doesn’t show causation, but simply correlation. However, the researchers didn’t say anything about men and their relationship to premarital sex. This survey (2006-2010) did not ask men and women the…

  • Something to Watch

    Jan. 4: Quadrantid meteor shower peaks This meteor shower reaches its peak in the predawn hours of Jan. 4 for eastern North America. The Quadrantid meteor shower is a very short-lived meteor display, whose peak rates only last several hours. The phase of the moon is a bright waxing gibbous, normally prohibitive for viewing any…

  • Heavenly Photos

    from astronomers This from Boris Å tromar:

  • Obstetrics and Teaching

    While the post is actually about teaching, the information about the Apgar Scale, its creator and the impetus for its creation, was fascinating. As the student of a pre-Apgar professor whose child was left to die, while the parents were dazed at the doctor’s words and emotionally unable to attempt to intervene, a professor who…

  • Roman Aquarium

    Ancient Roman Shipwreck May Have Held Giant Fish Tank | Archaeology & Shipwrecks | Ancient Trade of Live Fish | LiveScience An ancient Roman shipwreck nearly 2,000 years old may once have held an aquarium onboard capable of carrying live fish, archaeologists suggest. … Curiously, its hull possessed a unique feature — near its keel…

  • Inside the Brain

    Inside the Brain: A Journey Through Time It is beautiful, but not good. Here, an image taken from the brain of a patient who suffered a stroke in the thalamus and midbrain, resulting in damage to certain axons (some are visible at the bottom of the image).

  • Chemistry Books to Read with M

    Dr. Joe Schwarcz has written a number of books that are a lot of fun- The Genie in the Bottle That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles Science, Sense, and Nonsense, and many others. I’ve used all three in my classes with good success. I’ve also used Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks but some students don’t…

  • I was worried about sweet potatoes

    and my nightshade allergy. Then I read this: Sweet potatoes are botanically unrelated to the common potato. Potatoes are part of the nightshade family while Sweet Potatoes are cousins of the morning-glory. Good. Go, sweet potato fries. Brought to you by the European Food Information Council.

  • Plagues from China

    PhsyOrg.com says “The first outbreak of plague occurred in China more than 2,600 years ago before reaching Europe via Central Asia’s “Silk Road” trade route, according to a study of the disease’s DNA signature.” Dielli

  • Eat Dark Chocolate. Save Your Brain.

    Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a compound in dark chocolate may protect the brain after a stroke by increasing cellular signals already known to shield nerve cells from damage. Ninety minutes after feeding mice a single modest dose of epicatechin, a compound found naturally in dark chocolate, the scientists induced an ischemic stroke…

  • Medicines BC

    In 130 BC, a ship fashioned from the wood of walnut trees and bulging with medicines and Syrian glassware sank off the coast of Tuscany, Italy. Archaeologists found its precious load 20 years ago and now, for the first time, archaeobotanists have been able to examine and analyse pills that were prepared by the physicians…

  • Darwin and Ecology

    Two hundred years ago, Ascension Island was a barren volcanic edifice. Today, its peaks are covered by lush tropical “cloud forest”. What happened in the interim is the amazing story of how the architect of evolution, Kew Gardens and the Royal Navy conspired to build a fully functioning, but totally artificial ecosystem. Read more at…

  • Magic Cures

    When I was in first grade, no one would hold my hand when we were supposed to grab hands because both my thumbs were covered in warts. I cried. My folks took me to a doctor and the warts on my right thumb, the lesser covered thumb, with only 23 warts, were burnt off. A…

  • Weapons are coming out of the ice

    Discovery Archaeology says: A treasure trove of ancient weapons has emerged from melting ice patches in the Canadian Arctic, revealing hunting strategies thousands of years old. The weapons, which include a 2,400-year-old spear throwing tools, a 1000-year-old ground squirrel snare, and bows and arrows dating back 850 years, have been found high in the remote…

  • Boys v. Girls: Different

    The Common Room has a post that is exceptional: However, the female response to stress is completely different, and prompts instead a decreased heart rate and blood flow to the brain, dizziness, nausea — all of it triggering a desire to hug and be hugged, he said.

  • AI Killed by Creator? Is that really what this says?

    Is it true? It was here, half a dozen years ago, that Cope put Emmy to sleep. She was just a software program, a jumble of code he’d originally dubbed Experiments in Musical Intelligence (EMI, hence “Emmy”). Still — though Cope struggles not to anthropomorphize her — he speaks of Emmy wistfully, as if she…

  • Bogus Global Warming Claims Were for Political Purposes

    Scientists used and re-used this information without ever checking it. I am guessing part of the reason for the lack of checking (especially since it was never published in a peer-reviewed journal which should have checked it) is that it matched what the scientists were expecting to find and so they accepted it. The scientist…

  • Global Warming Cont’d

    Bishop Hill blog has a run down of potentially or should-be damaging emails. I am only quoting those which offend me as an academic particularly. It all offends me. Reaction to McIntyre’s 2005 paper in GRL. Mann has challenged GRL editor-in-chief over the publication. Mann is concerned about the connections of the paper’s editor James…

  • Global Climate Change

    We have been reading on this in my freshman class. As usual, most of the class is “Yes, global warming is a problem that humans have caused.” Do you think some of those leaked emails would change their minds? The leaked data is real. I don’t think the guy understood what he was admitting. Hockey…

  • Ultrasound and Abortion

    from Fox News comes this: The former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in southeast Texas says she had a “change of heart” after watching an abortion last month — and she quit her job and joined a pro-life group in praying outside the facility. Get Religion has a discussion of local coverage and the…