Job Well Done in Block II, and Happy Holidays to All!

I just wanted to congratulate all of you who did well this block. I appreciate all your hard work and attention to class. I hope you had some fun with our visitors (Liberty Wildlife, Lizards of the World, and Fortis and Everest Colleges) as well as on our field trips (Rio Salado Restoration Park, the Audubon Facility, and Grand Canyon University's Human Anatomy Workshop), and our many labs.

For those of you done with your high school science classes with me, I hope you learned something and can take the rational and objective thinking skills we all worked on to your future lives.

For those that I will see again, as you know, I'll be teaching my Forensic Science course next block (as well as sections of Biology I and II). For those of you into CSI, the medico-legal sciences, or even jurisprudence, I know you'll have a blast, and I look forward to all of us exploring criminilistics together.

For now, enjoy your time off, recharge your little gray cells (your brains), stay safe, and have a good and blessed holiday. If you need me, I'll be on the beach playing with the dogs and snakes, working on my tan, and thinking of new ways to blow your minds.

Peace,

Mr. G

Is there anybody out there?

Hi to all of my shiny, happy students. I'm just writing to see if any of you out there want some easy extra credit as we wrap up the block.

For Biology II students, tell me what the "The Hungry Guinea Pigs" story you read last week was about. For my Anatomy and Physiology students, tell me what the "Surface Tension" story you read last week was about.One paragraph for each description, please.

As always, either email me at jgiacobbe_southpointe@cox.net, or just post a comment below, including your name, of course...

For my Biology students, remember we have field trips to the Audubon Society facility Monday and Tuesday, so dress appropriately (warm with good walking shoes). For my Anatomy students, remember we're dissecting eyes this week, so get your coveralls and anti-eyeball juice gear ready!

peace. jg

The Illustrated Man: How LED Tattoos Could Make Your Skin a Screen

• By Charlie Sorrel from Wired Magazine
  

The title character of Ray Bradbury’s book The Illustrated Man is covered with moving, shifting tattoos. If you look at them, they will tell you a story.
New LED tattoos from the University of Pennsylvania could make the Illustrated Man real (minus the creepy stories, of course). Researchers there are developing silicon-and-silk implantable devices which sit under the skin like a tattoo. Already implanted into mice, these tattoos could carry LEDs, turning your skin into a screen.

The silk substrate onto which the chips are mounted eventually dissolves away inside the body, leaving just the electronics behind. The silicon chips are around the length of a small grain of rice — about 1 millimeter, and just 250 nanometers thick. The sheet of silk will keep them in place, molding to the shape of the skin when saline solution is added.

These displays could be hooked up to any kind of electronic device, also inside the body. Medical uses are being explored, from blood-sugar sensors that show their readouts on the skin itself to neurodevices that tie into the body’s nervous system — hooking chips to particular nerves to control a prosthetic hand, for example.

Chips are already used inside bodies, most notably the tiny RFID tags injected into pets. But the flexible nature of these “tattooed” circuits means they can move elastically with the body, sitting in places that a rigid circuit board couldn’t.

The first displays are sure to be primitive, but likely very useful for the patients that receive them. You won’t be getting the full-color, hi-res images that come with ink, but functional displays. This doesn’t mean that the commercial and artistic possibilities are being ignored. Philips, the electronics giant, is exploring some rather sexual uses:

It’s certainly rather creepy, but we’re sure that the inevitable next stage of playing adult movie clips on your partner’s back will be appealing to some. We, of course, are considering the geekier side of this tech. GPS, with a map readout on the back of the wrist would certainly be useful, as would chips that cover your eyeballs and can darken down when the sun is shining too bright.

And a full-body display will eventually be used for advertising. Combine this with bioluminescent ink, for example, and you could turn yourself into a small, walking version of Times Square. At least, unlike a real tattoo, you can switch this one off.

In fact, if you start to imagine the possible uses, they seems almost endless. Just like the stories that play across the body of the Illustrated Man.

Texas accidentally 'bans' straight-marriage

Way to go Texas! As always, the great state of Texas leads the way in ill-advised notions (George W Bush as Governor, thanks again for that one, cowboys) and irrational prejudices, on top of their long run at leading the nation in executions! Hee Haw!

Nov. 24, 1974: Humanity, Meet Lucy. She’s Your Mom

• By Brandon Keim

1974: Paleonanthropologist Don Johanson and graduate student Tom Gray discover the skeleton of Lucy, the first recognizably human member of the primate family tree.
One morning toward the end of his second field season in Hadar, Ethiopia, Johanson decided to put his paperwork away and go bone-hunting with Gray. After several fruitless hours, they stopped in a gully that had been searched twice before, yielding nothing.
This time, Johanson noticed a fragment of arm bone. Near it were pieces of ribs, legbones, vertebrae and skull — all, amazingly, from the same skeleton. Thus was born specimen AL 288-1, whom the world would eventually know as Lucy.
Johanson’s team found hundreds of fragments, assembling them into the skeleton of a female Australopithecus afarensis who lived 3.2 million years ago and stood 3½ feet tall, with an emphasis on stood. Though Lucy’s long fingers and toes hinted at the arboreal origins of humanity’s ancestors, her pelvis and knees were clearly suited for walking on the ground.
Scientists hailed A. Afarensis as the oldest human primate. To the public, Lucy was the mother of man.
“Lucy captivated people of all ages in a way I don’t remember before her. She was a game-changer in every respect. For much of the public, she brought human evolution into view for the first time,” said William Jungers, a Stony Brook University paleoanthropologist. “Anyone with even a remote interest in human evolution had not just a tooth or a skull to think about, but an entire body.”

More than 40 percent of Lucy’s skeleton was recovered, a remarkable amount in a field accustomed to drawing species-wide conclusions from bone fragments that could fit in the palm of a hand. Even today, Lucy’s one-of-a-kind completeness makes her extraordinarily valuable as a reference frame for other hominid fossils, from 4.4-million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus to the Indonesian hobbits who died out just 13,000 years ago. “Lucy is more relevant than ever now,” said Jungers. “We can compare so many different body parts to hers, and get a sense from her of what’s primitive” and what’s new.
On a cultural level, the leading role played by Ethiopian scientists in excavating and subsequently studying Lucy signaled a shift in the world of anthropology, said Rick Potts, a Smithsonian Institution paleoanthropologist. “It wasn’t just a matter of an American researcher going into some other country and claiming the fame,” said Potts. “Since then, there’s been a great movement towards cooperation.” Humanity’s heritage was shared.
But the greatest cultural effect was among the public. Paleoanthropology had been a dry and esoteric field, but Lucy — named after the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky, With Diamonds,” which was on heavy rotation at camp in Hadar — wasn’t just another skeleton. She was an individual who touched their imaginations, even their hearts. Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind, written by Johanson and Maitland Edey, became an international bestseller, kicking off what sometimes seems like a never-ending parade of books and documentaries about humanity’s origins.
Naming skeletons is now de rigueur among paleoanthropologists, but it’s hard to imagine any finding having as profound an effect as Lucy. It’s not, however, hard to imagine the discovery of earlier human ancestors.
Lucy is now considered “rather more humanlike” than originally thought, with many as-yet-unidentified steps linking her to the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans, said Arizona State University paleoanthropologist William Kimbel, who analyzed Lucy’s bones as a student and continues to gather A. afarensis fossils in Ethiopia.
In October, researchers described Ardipithecus ramidus, or Ardi, a hominid who predates Lucy by more than a million years. It’s not yet clear whether Ardi was a member or an offshoot of the lineage that led to Lucy and ultimately humans. But if not Ardi, then some other fossil will almost certainly take Lucy’s place as the oldest hominid.
“Lucy once represented the beginning of the human story. Now she’s only halfway through it,” said Potts. This, of course, is the nature of science. “In August, I was on a panel with Johanson. He was asked how he felt about Lucy being supplanted. He said, ‘Lucy likes having ancestors.’”
Source: Various
Images: 1) Detail from Lucy’s World, with Lucy in the center holding a child/Viktor Deak and Reuben Negron
2) Wikipedia
Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter. Brandon is currently working on a book about ecosystem and planetary tipping points.
See Also:

• Lucy 2.0: Famous Fossil Hominid Goes Digital
• Nov. 24, 1903: Starting Your Car Gets a Bit Easier
• June 26, 1974: Supermarket Scanner Rings Up Historic Pack of Gum
• Dec. 19, 1974: Altair 8800 Kits Go on Sale

Water On The Moon: LCROSS Kicks Ice!

• By Brian McLaughlin

Image From NASA/LCROSS

Is there water on the Moon?  The NASA LCROSS mission has determined the answer to be a resounding YES! GeekDad has covered the LCROSS mission with an article prior to the LCROSS launch by Lonnie Morgan, a pair of articles on viewing what was hoped to be a visible plume from the impact by Dana Bostic and myself, and finally a follow-up to the impact about the process of data analysis and waiting for results.  If you have missed all the coverage, the LCROSS mission impacted a spent Centaur booster into the Moon and captured data from the impact plume with the goal of finding deposits of frozen water.  Today, the LCROSS team released their preliminary findings:

The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water.

Secrets the moon has been holding, for perhaps billions of years, are now being revealed to the delight of scientists and space enthusiasts alike.

NASA today opened a new chapter in our understanding of the moon. Preliminary data from the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, indicates that the mission successfully uncovered water during the Oct. 9, 2009 impacts into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus c[r]ater near the moon’s south pole.

Congratulations to the entire LCROSS team!

7 Diseases That Big, Juicy Steaks Could Give You

7 Diseases That Big, Juicy Steaks Could Give You
By Sara Novak, Planet Green. Posted November 5, 2009. on Alternet.org 

We know meat isn't necessarily the most healthy dietary choice; it could also be a fatal one.

More and more people are passing on meat for a wide variety of reasons. For starters, it reduces your impact on the planet. Some simply can't bare the despicable factory farming industry in this country. And the third weighing issue on the minds of the more than 2.8 percent of the U.S. population that considers themselves vegetarian, are health issues. And studies show that there are plenty of them.
Sicknesses Associated With Eating Meat

1. Prostate Cancer

According to a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology, researchers examined the dietary habits of 175,313 middle-aged men and followed them for nine years. They discovered that men who ate a diet heavy in red meat and processed meats were diagnosed with prostate cancer more often than men who ate little meat. "HCAs, a family of mutagenic compounds, are produced during the cooking process of many animal products, including chicken, beef, pork, and fish," the article said. And this is not reserved for a well done steak. The mutagens form when meat is cooked at a normal level and it is present in grilling, frying, or broiling. It appears to grow worse as the meat is cooked longer. In the end, the consumption of meat increased the risk of prostate cancer by 12 percent.

2. Heart Disease

More than 864,480 Americans died of heart disease in 2005, according to the American Heart Association. And according to a study at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (a teaching hospital for Harvard), heart disease is directly related to meat consumption. The study involved 617,119 men and women who were 50 to 71 years old at the start of the study. At the beginning of the study, patients filled out diet information surveys and 10 years later deaths from cardiovascular disease were noted.
Results of the Study:

"Compared to people in the lowest levels of red meat consumption (average 0.32 ounces per 1000 calories), men with the highest levels of red meat consumption (average 2.39 ounces per 1000 calories) experienced a 27 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

For women with the highest levels of red meat consumption (average 2.32 ounces per 1000 calories) the results were even more dramatic. They experienced a 50 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease."

3. Osteoporosis

A group of studies done at the Cornell-China-Oxford Project on Nutrition Health and Environment, by nutritional biochemist T. Colin Campbell and his colleagues, links bone density with meat consumption. The less meat that you eat the less you'll experience a loss in bone density as you age. Osteoporosis is a reduction in bone density that occurs as we age and in turn causes bone fractures and breaks in older individuals. The disease impacts 25 million Americans, 80 percent of whom are women. According to Campbell, the study is a great explanation for why Americans, who include more calcium in their diets than Asian cultures, have five times the rate of osteoporosis compared with many Chinese and other Asians. Our much larger meat consumption rate is working against us.

4. Kidney Stones

Kidney stones are deposits that form in your kidneys in varying sizes. They are a common problem, but can be super painful. Kidney stones range in size from that of a grain of sand to the size of a marble or larger. According to Physicians Desktop Reference, foods that are high in protein, such as meat could, "encourage the formation of kidney stones."

5. Food-borne Illnesses

Food-borne illnesses have been swirling through the news all year long and it hasn't been pretty. The New York Times wrote that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, poultry is the number one source of food-borne illness. It doesn't matter how much antibiotics they pump into an abused chicken population because even still up to 60 percent of chickens sold at the supermarket are infected with live salmonella bacteria.

6. Pancreatic Cancer

High intake of dietary fats from red meat and dairy products is associated with a higher risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

"[W]e observed positive associations between pancreatic cancer and intakes of total, saturated, and monounsaturated fat overall, particularly from red meat and dairy food sources," the authors write. "Altogether, these results suggest a role for animal fat in pancreatic carcinogenesis."

7. Type 2 Diabetes in Women

A study done on women by the American Diabetes Association, found that there was a positive relationship between meat consumption and instances of Type 2 Diabetes. The study documented 1,558 recorded cases of Type 2 diabetes. After adjusting for age, BMI, total energy intake, exercise, alcohol intake, cigarette smoking, and family history of diabetes, "our data indicates that higher consumption of total red meat, especially various processed meats, may increase risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in women."
 

October 30, 2009 - New York Times

Swine Flu Hit Millions in Spring, Agency Says

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

There were 1.8 million to 5.7 million cases of swine flu in the country during the epidemic’s first spring wave, according to a new estimate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday.
From 9,000 to 21,000 people were hospitalized as a result, and up to 800 died from April to July, when it largely faded out, according to the estimates, which were conducted by the C.D.C. and the Harvard School of Public Health and published online in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The agency has previously refused to be more specific than to say there were “more than a million” cases. About 44,000 cases during that time were laboratory confirmed, with 5,000 hospitalizations and 302 deaths.
The agency has been working for months on a model that took into account the fact that most flu cases were not tested by doctors and that some people were hospitalized for conditions exacerbated by the flu without the flu ever having been diagnosed.
Also on Thursday, federal officials said nearly 25 million doses of swine flu vaccine were now available. That is enough so they expect many states and cities to hold vaccination clinics as early as this weekend.
“We aren’t where we want to be, but are seeing forward progress,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of immunization and respiratory disease for the disease control agency, said at a news conference.
Many Americans are frustrated because their private doctors have no vaccine and local public health clinics have canceled vaccination days because of the shortages.
Also, many parents of children who have the flu are similarly frustrated because they cannot find the antiviral Tamiflu in pediatric doses, and especially in liquid forms.
Dr. Schuchat said those shortages appeared to be local and spotty. About 300,000 courses of liquid Tamiflu were sent from the national stockpile to the states on Oct. 1 in anticipation of shortages, she said. Her agency is trying to help states move them to where they are needed.
Dr. Schuchat reassured parents who had been given children’s Tamiflu capsules that they could safely open them and mix the powder with chocolate syrup. And, she said, some pharmacy chains were opening adult capsules and mixing them with sweet syrup to make pediatric doses. She warned parents not to try doing that themselves, for fear of miscalculating and giving a child too much or too little.
Also, preliminary results from a study by Yale medical school researchers showed that babies born to women who got flu shots during pregnancy were hospitalized less often than babies whose mothers did not.
The study, which is still under way and followed 387 babies hospitalized at Yale-New Haven Hospital, was presented at a medical conference in Philadelphia.
Babies younger than six months are at serious risk if they catch flu but are still too young for flu shots, so doctors try to protect them by vaccinating their parents and siblings.
Vaccinating mothers was 89 percent effective in preventing hospitalization of infants that young, said the lead researcher, Dr. Marietta Vázquez.
At the same conference, that of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, researchers presented tantalizing preliminary evidence that statins — cholesterol-fighting drugs like Lipitor and Zocor — might help save people at risk of dying from the flu.
Statins reduce inflammation, as well as cholesterol, and much of the lung damage in life-threatening flu infections is caused by the “cytokine storm,” the inflammatory overreaction of the body’s immune system to invasion by the virus.
The study, paid for by the disease control agency, followed 2,800 people hospitalized in many states for regular flu in previous years. Those who were already on statins, presumably for heart problems, were half as likely to die in the next month as those who were not.

First HIV vaccine trial success confirmed

The first HIV vaccine to be called a success has stood up to scrutiny after further analysis of the data was presented today in Paris, France.

However, the new analysis also confirms that the optimistic claims, first made in September and viewed sceptically at the time, are indeed very modest.

Last month's announcement of success (PDF) was made by researchers from the US Military HIV Research Program (MHRP). They reported that their vaccine reduced the risk of infection by about 31 per cent in a trial in Thailand.

But it was not clear that the vaccine offered any protection because the result was based on very few cases: 51 of 8197 vaccinated individuals became infected with HIV compared with 74 of 8198 unvaccinated people, a difference of just 23.

Week 2 Extra Credit...

Exploring the Genetic Differences Between Chimps and Humans

For both Biology II and Human Anatomy classes, click on the link above and read the article, then answer the following questions in either the comments section or by emailing me at jgiacobbe_southpointe@cox.net

Don't forget to include your full name in the postings or email!

1. What is the main topic of the article?

2. Researchers already know that humans and chimpanzees share about how much (percent-wise) of the same genes?

3. The scientist's team looked at a relatively unstudied phenomenon known as copy number variation, or CNV. What does this phenomenon mean?

4. What does it mean to you personally that you are so closely related to Chimpanzees ?

Welcome to Block II!

For new and returning Biology and Human Anatomy students, welcome back for Block II. As we discussed in class, please visit here at least once a week for a selection of interesting articles and video to check out, and of course Extra Credit for your extra efforts.

Each week (and usually more frequently) I will post at least one article or video for you to check out, and all you have to do to earn from 25 to 50 points is to read the article or watch the video, then comment on it with one to two sentences explaining what the story was about (and include your name, so I know who the points go to). You can also email me your comments at jgiacobbe_southpointe@cox.net

For the first week of class, it's easy as pie! Just comment on this post (see the comment link below), or email me, and you get an extra 25 points. Check back next week for more new stuff....JG

The Human Genome in 3 Dimensions

 

10 Best Things We'll Say to Our Grandkids

By Streeter Seidell 09.21.09

1. Back in my day, we only needed 140 characters.
2. There used to be so much snow up here, you could strap a board to your feet and slide all the way down.
3. Televised contests gave cash prizes to whoever could store the most data in their head.
4. Well, the screens were bigger, but they only showed the movies at certain times of day.
5. We all had one, but nobody actually used it. Come to think of it, I bet my LinkedIn profile is still out there on the Web somewhere.
6. *
7. Our bodies were made of meat and supported by little sticks of calcium.
8. You used to keep files right on your computer, and you had to go back to that same computer to access them!
9. Is that the new iPhone 27G? Got multitasking yet?
10. I just can't get used to this darn vat-grown steak. Texture ain't right.
* Translation: "English used to be the dominant language. Crazy, huh?"

read and abstract this article for extra credit. email me your abstract at jgiacobbe_southpointe@cox.net, or print it and turn it in during class.  jg

Zero Gravity for Zero Dollars: Best Student Discount Ever

• By Alexis Madrigal
• September 14, 2009  | 

While the super-rich can pay millions to experience weightlessness at the International Space Station, some college kids have figured out how to experience the thrill of zero gravity for the student-friendly price of $0.

Through NASA’s Microgravity University program, teams of college students get to ride in and conduct experiments on a NASA jet that simulates zero-gravity conditions. Undergrads around the country will be sending their letters of intent to apply to this year’s competition this week, with completed applications due next month.
“It’s really an ‘as only NASA can’ program,” said Sara Malloy, coordinator of the Microgravity University office at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Students spend 10 days preparing for and going on their flights. Though the program’s science doesn’t get piped directly into NASA’s high-profile programs, some of the research can end up in the hands of engineers. And the students themselves get unique training in one of the strangest environments a human can experience.
The Microgravity University program hasn’t been heavily publicized, but it has reached more than 2,800 students at more than 165 colleges and universities since it first began in 1995. The trips on NASA’s Weightless Wonder, known more informally as the Vomit Comet, would cost more than $5,000 per person through the Zero Gravity Corporation.


Justin Nieusma headed up the College of New Jersey’s team, which flew this summer. (Some of Nieusma’s cohorts, though not him, are pictured above.) Their participation grew out of research some students were doing with the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab that required access to microgravity to continue.
“We got amazing scientific data that could never be reproduced on Earth or any other program I know of,” said Nieusma, now a graduate student in astronomy and astrophysics at University of Michigan.
Their experiment looked at how “dusty plasmas” like the ones that compose Saturn’s rings and comet tails react under different conditions. The experiments that College of New Jersey designed and built have been good (and lucky) enough to fly both of the past two years.
“You have to go through a very rigorous application process. These applications are like 50, 60 pages long, full of details that they want out of you,” Nieusma said. “It’s a crazy program, competitive, and we were so happy we got in the second year.”
By flying up, then nosing down, microgravity conditions are obtained for 18 to 25 seconds a time, and engineering students attempt to do science as their feet float above their heads. Conducting research while floating in the main cabin of a McDonnell Douglas C-9B Skytrain II isn’t the easiest thing, as YouTube videos of the microgravity experiments can attest.
Students bolt their experiments to the floor of the plane. When the plane dips, and the pull of the Earth’s gravity is counteracted by the force of the airplane’s descent, they attain weightlessness. Holding on to their experiment boxes, they race to complete whatever tasks they can before the plane levels off.
As the microgravity conditions ease, NASA personnel yell out, “Get down!” and the students bring their bodies out of dangerous positions and closer to the ground before gravity itself puts them there.
They also have time for some fun, floating and spinning in microgravity or doing one-armed pushups in simulated lunar gravity only one-sixth the strength of Earth’s.
“It’s the opportunity of a lifetime,” Niusma said.
Not everyone’s proposals get accepted, unfortunately. Recent budget cuts have made the program, which used to accept about half of the applicants, more competitive.
Sean Currey, a junior at Dartmouth who wants to go into aeronautics, led a dedicated team that wanted to study how IV-fluid–bag preparation works in microgravity. The team went through the entire process, but didn’t get to fly. Still, Currey’s team will try again this year.
“The people who read over the proposal thought it was a great idea, but they wanted more technical writing and background in the proposal,” Currey said. “We’re going to take the comments that NASA gave us last year, and resubmit it.”
Images: NASA. 1. Rachel Sherman in Superman gear flies in between Russell Jones (left) and Chaz Ruggieri (right). 2. The “Weightless Wonder” in microgravity mode.
See Also:

• High-Tech Weights for Space Workout
• NASA Offers $5000 a Month For You to Lie in Bed
• Sex in Space, Why NASA Isn’t Talking
• Microgravity

Week III Extra Credit...

Hi All. Hope you're enjoying our classes.

For some extra credit this week, follow the link below, and read one of the articles on the web page, then email or print out a brief summary (one paragraph) of what the thing is (that science can't yet explain) and how you might go about explaining it, if it was your job to find an answer to these mysteries...



Top Ten Things Science Can't Explain


From The Null Hypothesis - The Journal of Unlikely Science

an excellent and fun site to explore weird science stuff...

jg

Annaleen futurism: three scenarios for the future of romantic love http://bit.ly/1917Xu9 minutes ago from TweetDeck

South Pointe Students - Welcome to Block I!

If you're a returning student, you may have noticed that last year I moved my blog to its new digs here with Blogger, so the posts are just from last year. Old posts are still archived here, if you wanted to look at what brilliant comments I may (or may not) have posted over the last few years.

I hope my new Biology I and Biology II students had an awesome break, and are energized and stoked for our first semester together. Check here every week or so for some awesomely interesting articles and (often brilliant) comments, and of course extra credit assignments. The first one of the block is soooooo simple, dudes!

For both Biology I and II students, just send me an email telling me how cool I am (and that you've checked out our site), and email it to me at jgiacobbe_southpointe@cox.net, for 25 points extra credit. Piece of cake, dudes and dudettes.

It's all good, babies...

See ya' in class...jg

I think, what a joy it is to be alive,

and wonder if I will ever reach inward, to the root of this flesh,
and know myself as I truly am.

The root is there,
whether any act can free me,
that remains tangled in the web that is the future.

It may only take a single word to free me.

Until then, all things a man can do are mine, I but await the word...

The other big bang?

The theory about space rocks wiping out Ice Age species just got another boost: It turns out the first human inhabitants may have also been hit. Rare "nano-sized diamonds" that form under extremely hot fires are evidence that space rocks hit the North American continent about 13,000 years ago. Unfortunately, some pygmy mammoth (a smaller version of the woolly mammoth) and a group called the Clovis people happened to be in the line of fire. The galactic slam, plus "overhunting and climate change," created what one researcher called a "perfect storm" that wiped out the Ice Age population. The findings swelled searches on Yahoo! for the prehistoric "clovis people," so named because of artifacts first found in Clovis, New Mexico. For more on the mastodon hunters and the first Americans, check out this 2007 LiveScience article.

A sad but true story (sorry, Lilly) about the state of our nation. How can we lead the world when we don't have a clue how it works? jg

Survey Shows Gap Between Scientists and the Public

By CORNELIA DEAN, of the New York Times

When it comes to climate change, the teaching of evolution and the state of the nation’s research enterprise, there is a large gap between what scientists think and the views of ordinary Americans, a new survey has found.

On the whole, scientists believe American research leads the world. But only 17 percent of the public agrees, and the proportion who name scientific advances as among the United States’ most important achievements has fallen to 27 percent from nearly 50 percent in 1999, the survey found.

And while almost all of the scientists surveyed accept that human beings evolved by natural processes and that human activity, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels, is causing global warming, general public is far less sure.

Almost a third of ordinary Americans say human beings have existed in their current form since the beginning of time, a view held by only 2 percent of the scientists. Only about half of the public agrees that people are behind climate change, and 11 percent does not believe there is any warming at all.

According to the survey, about a third of Americans think there is lively scientific debate on both topics; in fact, there is no credible scientific challenge to the theory of evolution and there is little doubt that human activity is altering the chemistry of the atmosphere in ways that threaten global climate.

The survey, by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest scientific organization, involved about 2,000 members of the public and 2,500 scientists drawn from the rolls of the science advancement association, which includes teachers, administrators and others involved in science as well as researchers.

The survey, made public Thursday, is available at people-press.org.

It found that at least two-thirds of Americans hold scientists and engineers in high regard, but the feeling is hardly mutual.

The report said 85 percent of science association members surveyed said public ignorance of science was a major problem. And by large margins they deride as only “fair” or “poor” the coverage of science by newspapers and television.

Only 3 percent of the scientists said they “often” spoke to reporters.

In a telephone news conference announcing the survey, Alan I. Leshner, chief executive of the science association, said scientists must find new ways to engage with the public.

“One cannot just exhort ‘we all agree you should agree with us,’ ” Mr. Leshner said. “It’s a much more interactive process that’s involved. It’s time consuming and can be tedious. But it’s very important.”

From the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Public Praises Science; Scientists Fault Public, Media

For the full report (.pdf), click here

For the Topline Questionnaire, click here

From The Onion

Pet Owner Not Bothering To Neuter Loser Cat

CORAL SPRINGS, FL—Mike Oakland, 29, told reporters Monday he is not about to pay $100 to have his 5-month-old cat, Mowgli, neutered, because he has no expectations that the dull, paunchy tabby will ever get laid.

Mowgli

"For all he's going to use those balls, he might as well keep them," said Oakland, adding that he'd bet anyone any amount of money that the striped kitten will die a virgin. "He never leaves the house, and I've seen how the neighbor cat looks at him. Completely platonic." When reached for comment, a spokesperson from the Florida Humane Society reiterated that it's important to have all pets spayed or neutered, even ugly lame-o's who probably couldn't score in a roomful of calicos in heat.

by Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Dish

When Palin Quoted Cronkite

She did, of course, remove the context:

Playboy: Implicit in the Administration's attempts to force the networks to "balance" the news is a conviction that most newscasters are biased against conservatism. Is there some truth in the view that television newsmen tend to be left of center?

Cronkite: Well, certainly liberal, and possibly left of center as well. I would have to accept that.

Playboy: What's the distinction between those two terms?

Cronkite: I think the distinction is both clear and important. I think being a liberal, in the true sense, is being nondoctrinaire, nondogmatic, non-committed to a cause - but examining each case on its merits. Being left of center is another thing; it's a political position. I think most newspapermen by definition have to be liberal; if they're not liberal, by my definition of it, then they can hardly be good newspapermen. If they're preordained dogmatists for a cause, then they can't be very good journalists; that is, if they carry it into their journalism.

Final rules out for government stem cell research

By LAURAN NEERGAARD – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government issued final rules Monday expanding taxpayer-funded research using embryonic stem cells, easing scientists' fears that some of the oldest batches might not qualify and promising a master list of all that do.

President Barack Obama lifted previous restrictions on the field in March, but left it to the National Institutes of Health to decide just what stem cell research was ethically appropriate: Only science that uses cells culled from leftover fertility clinic embryos — ones that otherwise would be thrown away — the agency made clear in draft guidelines.

But the final rules issued Monday settle a big question: Would new ethics requirements disqualify many of the stem cells created over the past decade, even the few funded under the Bush administration's tight limits?

The NIH came up with a compromise, saying it deems those old stem cell lines eligible for government research dollars if scientists can prove they met the spirit of the new ethics standards. Further, NIH will create a registry of qualified stem cells so scientists don't have to second-guess if they're applying to use the right ones.

"We think this is a reasonable compromise to achieve the president's goal of both advancing science while maintaining rigorous ethical standards," acting NIH Director Raynard Kington said Monday. "We believe that judgment is necessary."

He wouldn't speculate on how many old stem cells ultimately would qualify, but scientists welcomed the change.

"I expect that most existing lines will be found to have been ethically derived," said Dr. Sean Morrison, director of the University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell Biology. "This will eventually make hundreds of new stem cell lines available for use."

The issue: Trying to harness embryonic stem cells — master cells that can morph into any cell of the body — to one day create better treatments, maybe even cures, for ailments ranging from diabetes to Parkinson's to spinal cord injury.

Culling those stem cells destroys a days-old embryo, something many strongly oppose on moral grounds. Once created, those cells can propagate indefinitely in lab dishes.

The Bush administration had limited taxpayer-funded research to a small number of stem cell batches, or lines, already in existence as of August 2001. This spring, Obama lifted that restriction, potentially widening the field — there now may be as many as 700 stem cell lines around the world — but letting NIH set its boundaries.

Federal law forbids using taxpayer money to create or destroy an embryo. At issue here are rules for working with cells that initially were created using private money.

NIH sifted through 49,000 comments from the public in finalizing the rules, which take effect Tuesday. The draft changed little: Stem cells created solely for research in whatever manner, including cloning, won't qualify.

Any newly made stem cells must come with documentation that the woman or couple who donated the original embryo gave full informed consent. For example, they must have been told of other options for leftover embryos, such as donating to another infertile woman, and the donation must have been voluntary.

That kind of documentation may not exist for stem cell lines created years ago, Kington said, but "some and perhaps many of those lines might be eligible" on a case-by-case evaluation.

From the awesome Bad Astronomy Blog

Arizona is 6000 years old?

Ian O’Neill at Astroengine posted this stunning bit of video featuring Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen.

It’s not that she says the Earth is 6000 years old — twice, just to make sure — that floors me. It’s the casual way she said it, as if she said "I had a cup of coffee today." From her manner, it’s clear that not only does she believe this complete and utter nonsense, but this is a simple fact woven into her mind just like the Sun is bright or chocolate is tasty.

To her, the Earth being 6000 years old just is.

Now, to be fair, this video is without context, and so we can’t be absolutely sure she’s a creationist. But it sure as heck sounds that way, and given her voting record it fits right in.

The irony, of course — and there’s always irony when creationism is involved — is that she’s talking about uranium mining, and it’s through the radioactive decay of uranium that we know the Earth is billions of years old. And she also praises technological achievements!

AIIIIiiiiieeee!

So while you soak that up I leave you, of course, with this:

comments on the ludicrous recent decision by the Supreme Court regarding the denial of the right to DNA testing of crimes by "convicted" people...the quality of mercy is severely strained...jg From the New York Times, June 21, 200, Letters Section

Unfair Denial of DNA Tests

To the Editor:

At its core, due process of law is about fairness, reasonableness and justice, none of which was served by the Supreme Court’s decision to deny a request for new DNA testing to challenge a rape conviction (“Unparalleled and Denied,” editorial, June 19).

The court wrongly deferred to the other branches of government in supporting its decision, as evidence so potentially overwhelming as DNA testing rises well above any technical legal argument the court’s majority used to support its decision. The court should never shrink from its duty to vigorously enforce due process in whatever context it arises.

Moreover, if the criminal justice system failed, as it may have here, not only was the wrong man jailed but also the guilty have remained free.

Bruce Neuman
Sag Harbor, N.Y., June 19, 2009

•

To the Editor:

Re “Court Rejects Inmate Right to DNA Tests” (front page, June 19):

The five hard-line conservative justices on the Supreme Court have once again acted to curtail justice in our country. There is no reason, if DNA evidence can exonerate an innocent convict, that the simple test ought not be given.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s argument that such a right would overthrow the established criminal justice system makes absolutely no sense, and only reveals his anxiety to uphold the institution of justice rather than its spirit.

The aim of the justice system is to establish the facts of each case. Therefore, the opposite of Justice Roberts’s argument is true: far from overthrowing the system, DNA testing would affirm it, whereas to refuse to examine pertinent DNA evidence would amount to a miscarriage of justice.

William Youmans
New York, June 18, 2009

Anyone else feel that life became more special once leaving religion? (self.atheism)

submitted by HotMustard

When I was religious, Mormon to be precise, I believed that I was created by God and given a this life as a test and an exercise in free will. As soon as I left the Mormon church I had to deal with the idea of life most likely being a pointless event of random chance with no inherent meaning whatsoever. Coming from a belief system which asserted that there was a loving deity purposefully creating everything that I would spend eternity with in infinite bliss, this was a very jarring idea that didn't immediately sit well with me.

That is, until I began to read authors like Carl Sagan and learn more about the unfathomable awesomeness of the universe. It hit me like a supernova that it doesn't matter if there's someone else watching from above and putting some purpose in my time here. I have a truly priceless gift, no matter how infinitesimally short, of life in this amazing universe where I can think and feel and be. I can connect and share experiences with other people who also enjoy this chance existence. Just because my life didn't come prepackaged with a meaning doesn't mean that it's worthless; I don't believe nature has any inherent purpose and yet I feel that it has a beauty nonpareil, untouchable by anything we can create. I can give my life whatever meaning I want it to have, and no matter what happens in it or what I do with it it will be the greatest thing I can be certain that I will ever truly experience.

Hopefully that doesn't sound too corny, but I know there both people out there who struggle with the idea of life not having a religiously-given meaning and people who feel that atheism has nothing positive to offer, and to them and anyone else I just wanted to take a moment to share that my life has never been as special to me as it was once I left religion.

Michael Jackson!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/arts/music/26jackson.html?ref=global-home

Farah Faucet!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/arts/television/26appraisal.html?ref=global-home

jeez, I feel old and feeble, and it really sucks when the icons of your youth start dying

Next, an article suggesting cultural variations within the same species. Not so long ago, we actually debated whether culture even existed in n-human species, now some whales have blown that oldy moldy idea out their blowhole...jg

Hidden Whale Culture Could Be Critical to Species Survival

Though it sounds at first like a marine biologist’s take on political correctness, respecting the cultural diversity of whales may be essential to saving them.

Scientists are accustomed to thinking of whale populations in terms of genetic diversity. But even when they share the same genes, groups of whales can live in very different ways, raising the possibility that species might be saved even while individual cultures vanish. The tragedy of cultural extinction aside, cultural diversity may sustain the long-term health of Earth’s cetaceans.

“We have no idea what’s going on. As we mess up the world, it goes off in all kinds of weird directions,” said biologist Hal Whitehead of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. ”The more diversity that’s out there, both genetic and cultural, the more whales can deal with it.”

That whales could even have culture is a relatively new scientific proposition. It was not unil the late 1960s that recordings of humpback whale songs provided a glimpse of the unexpectedly complicated and beautiful world of cetacean communication. The songs don’t appear — for now — to reach the level of language, but they’re clearly a form of learned communicative behavior common across the cetacean realm. And as researchers spend more time with whales, they’re realizing just how much their learned behaviors differ.

One of the best-known example of marine culture comes from killer whales (which, technically, are dolphins, but they’re mentioned in the same breath as whales by biologists). Pods of killer whales have highly varied dialects and ways of life, even while sharing the same habitat — the aquatic equivalent of a neighborhood populated by two different ethnic groups.

Over the last decade, two pods found off North America’s west coast and known to researchers as the Northern and Southern residents became the focus of an international conservation battle. Scientists showed that the pods had different dialects and feeding habits. The Southern Residents, their numbers at a fraction of historical levels, often ranged south through Puget Sound and into waters off the California coast. They’re more threatened than their Northern counterparts by shipping collisions and depleted salmon populations.

In 2004, Canada’s environmental officials declared the Southern Residents both distinct and endangered, but U.S. officials insisted on treating the two pods as a single, genetically similar and unendangered group. The next year, following outrage among scientists and environmentalists, the United States acknowledged the Southern Residents as unique and endangered.

Their decision was promising, but cultural considerations are otherwise absent from U.S. government conservation plans and the agenda of the International Whaling Commission. To some extent, the absence reflects the state of cetacean science. Most species have not been extensively studied at the cultural level. But with pollution, noise, global warming, overfishing and intermittent hunting threatening the recovery of creatures nearly hunted to extinction by the early 20th century, it might be time to expand the focus.

read the rest of the article here...

Who is Anonymous?

• 
  
  Anonymous is a cultural phenomenon which began on internet image boards. Many such boards require no registration for posting, and every poster remains anonymous. This format of communication is inherently noisy and chaotic. However, the unprecedented openness made possible by such boards has nurtured the appearance of a unique and persistent culture.
  We are a collection of individuals united by ideas. You likely know Anonymous, although you don't know exactly who we are. We are your brothers and sisters, your parents and children, your superiors and your underlings. We are the concerned citizens standing next to you. Anonymous is everywhere, yet nowhere. Our strength lies in our numbers. Our will as a whole is the combined will of individuals. Our greatest advantage is a knowledge of the fundamentals we share as human beings. This knowledge is a fruit of our anonymity.
  Anonymous has left its mark on society more than once. Previous Anonymous projects have resulted in the closing of the white-supremacist radio show produced by Hal Turner, and the criminal prosecution of Canadian pedophile Chris Forcand. Anonymous has been called a "Cyber Vigilante Group" by The Toronto Sun and Global News, though in reality we are much more than that.
  We are Anonymous. You can be Anonymous, too. Together, we can shape society.

(we have no idea who posted this...)

food for thought...no endorsement implied!
...a book review posted on Amazon.com

Customer Review

1,555 of 1,797 people found the following review helpful: Don't Leave It Lying Around the House, October 23, 2008 By Carl Wong This book should never be left where it could fall into the hands of children. Recurrent themes of bloody violence, murder, racism, incest and rape are dealt with extremely irresponsibly. Horrific events are presented as justified by circumstances and as solutions to petty wrongs. Worse than the depictions in the book are actual historic examples of such depictions being used to justify the worst kind of degradation and humiliation that humans have ever been forced to endure. These acts are not just inspired by this book, but characters in the book urge its readers to follow its example. Worst of all, however, is that, despite this book's obvious lack of coherent logic or sense, it inexplicably possesses a following of people that somehow find comfort in its horror. No doubt about it, the horrific images, and lack of intelligent discussion of those images, contained in this book makes it entirely unsuitable for children, or sensible adults. It is very doubtful that a book that meanders so terribly, and contradicts itself so often, is truly inspired by a deity. What you will read in here can be found in other mythologies. There is nothing truly unique about it. Upon close scrutiny, we discover that the content of Bible is a compilation of historically and archaeologically unsupportable Myths such as Noah's ark, Abraham, Joseph, David, Solomon, etc. Item Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible (NASB)

From the Bad Astronomy Blog, Posted to Discover Magazine

Homeopathy kills

[Note: This post may upset some people. It damn sure upset me. If you are easily upset by pediatric medical stories that do not end well, then you might want to skip reading this. The title alone may be all you need to know.]

Homeopathy is the antiscientific belief that infinitely diluted medicine in water can cure various ailments. It’s perhaps the most ridiculous of all "alternative" medicines, since it clearly cannot work, does not work, and has been tested repeatedly and shown to be useless.

And for those who ask, "what’s the harm?", you may direct your question to Thomas Sam and his wife Manju Sam, whose nine-month-old daughter died because of their homeopathic beliefs.

The infant girl, Gloria Thomas, died of complications due to eczema. Eczema. This is an easily-treatable skin condition (the treatments don’t cure eczema but do manage it), but that treatment was withheld from the baby girl by her parents, who rejected the advice of doctors and instead used homeopathic treatments. The baby’s condition got worse, with her skin covered in rashes and open cracks. These cracks let in germs which her tiny body had difficulty fighting off. She became undernourished as she used all her nutrients to fight infections instead of for growth and the other normal body functions of an infant. She was constantly sick and in pain, but her parents stuck with homeopathy. When the baby girl developed an eye infection, her parents finally took her to a hospital, but it was far too late: little Gloria Thomas succumbed to septicemia from the infection.

Thomas and Manju Sam were convicted yesterday of manslaughter in Australian court. As a parent myself I cannot even begin to imagine the pain they are going through, the anguish and the emotional horror. But let us be clear here: their belief in a clearly wrong antiscientific medical practice killed their baby. Homeopathy doesn’t work, but because they were raised in an environment that supports belief in homeopathy, they trusted it. They used it, and they rejected real, science-based medicine. And their daughter suffered the consequences.

And suffer she did. The accounts of the pediatricians who tried too late to help little Gloria Thomas are simply harrowing.

Every time I hear about something like this — a baby dying due to "alternative" medicine, or the lies and disinformation from the antivaccination movement, or some other belief system that flies in the face of reality — a little bit of me dies as well. I held my daughter shortly after she was born, and I would have done anything to protect her, and that included and still includes protecting her against people who fight so adamantly against reality.

The reality is that the antivaxxers’ work will result in babies dying. The reality is that belief in homeopathy will result in more babies dying. The reality is that denying science-based medicine will result in more babies dying.

And I know these words will fall on many deaf ears. And I will guarantee the comments to this post will contain many loud and irrational arguments supporting homeopathy and the antivaxxers. I’ve seen it before, and I know that many of those people are completely immune to reason and logic. And if you wonder what might wake them up, the answer may very well be nothing. Just read what Gloria Thomas’ father — the man just convicted of the manslaughter of his own daughter — had to say:

But even after Gloria died, Thomas Sam adhered to his belief that homeopathy was equally valid to conventional medicine for the treatment of eczema.

He told police: “Conventional medicine would have prolonged her life … with more misery. It’s not going to cure her and that’s what I strongly believe.”

He and his wife face 25 years in jail, where they will have plenty of time to rethink their convictions.

Kung Fu is Dead!

Actor David Carradine found dead

American actor David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok, Thailand, hotel, according to his personal manager, Chuck Binder.

David Carradine became famous in the 1970s after starring in the television series "Kung Fu." Binder said Thursday that the death is being investigated but could provide no other details. Carradine's death was "shocking and sad. He was full of life, always wanting to work ... a great person," Binder said, according to People magazine.

Carradine, who became famous in the 1970s when he starred as traveling Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the television series "Kung Fu," was 72. Modern audiences may best know him as "Bill" in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films. He earned a 2005 Golden Globe nomination for his role in the second movie in the two-part saga. iReport: Share memories of David Carradine

You can read the rest of the obit here

It may be hard for some of you to imagine, but I watched Kung Fu religiously when I was a little kid, and I took it in deeply.

The spiritual side of a Buddhist Monk, with the kick-ass side of an American Wild West hero. I know he was just an actor, but to me he was Kwai Chang Caine.

As mentioned in the article above, he was also Bill in "Kill Bill," but I'll always remember him as the gentle monk who never looked for violence, but when it came his way, he took care of business.

It introduced me to both Buddism and the martial arts, and I started studying Judo right after that, which I practice to this day.

Namaste, David, and I hope your next incarnation brings you a better life. jg

Well, back after a bit of a hiatus, for reasons obvious from my last post. Requiescat in pace et in amore, pater (rest in peace and love, father).

So, to start off again, here's a cool article from Wired Magazine online. Turns out we had a few more cradles of civilization than we thought, and, if you remember that Mesoamericans discovered agriculture all on their own (here is good, and here too, for more info), if not as early as those in the Middle East or Far East, it was still an independent invention...

Science Revises Civilization’s Creation Story By Alexis Madrigal

The Middle East, near where the Tigris meets the Euphrates, has long been considered the “cradle of civilization,” but a series of new studies indicate that Chinese river valleys represent a second spot for the emergence of agriculture.

Genetic studies, using DNA from charred seeds gathered at the world’s first farms, are slowly rewriting the long-told story of how “civilization” began. In an essay in Science this week, Cambridge archaeologists Martin Jones and Xinyi Liu argue that millet spread west long before the Middle Eastern crops (wheat and barley) spread east.

More generally, they say that the Agricultural Revolution took place so slowly that it was probably imperceptible to those humans experiencing the transition. Early farmers continued to harvest wild rice varieties and the percentage of domesticated rice species that they the percentage of domesticated rice harvested versus wild rice increased just a few percent in a human lifespan.

“Rather than a revolutionary shift from hunter-gatherers to farmers in a few human generations, the evidence now suggests that many generations of ‘affluent foragers’ combined the gathering of wild fruits and nuts with the gathering of cultivated cereals,” write co-authors Martin Jones and Xinyi Liu.

Citation: “Origins of Agriculture in East Asia” by Martin K. Jones and Xinyi Liu. Science, Vol. 324, May 8, 2009.

See Also:

• The 2012 Apocalypse — And How to Stop It
• Agricultural Clues of Early North American Civilization
• Could Ants Hold the Key to Sustainable Agriculture?
• Department of Agriculture Official Faces Contempt of Court Charges …
• The Birth of Agriculture: A Prehistoric Global Human Response to …

Image: Millet growing in northern China. flickr/gin_e