‘Scientists have explained mathematically why the famous silly walks of Monty Python’s John Cleese have never caught on in the long history of homo sapiens.
The giant, leg-twirling strides of silly walks may enable an individual to leap around swiftly but are simply too expensive in metabolic energy compared with conventional locomotion, according to a paper published by Britain’s Royal Society. [..]
“Inverted pendulum walking is energetically optimal at low speeds and step lengths, and impulsive running is energetically optimal at higher speeds,” they say.
Silly walks gathered cult status in the British television comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus, when the gangling Cleese, dressed in a pin-stripe suit and bowler hat, cavorted around as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Silly Walks. ‘
‘The enormous difference between male and female sexual behaviour may be explained, in animals at least, by a tiny organ in the nose rather than by any gender difference in brain circuitry. [..]
In a study published by the British journal Nature, the team engineered female lab mice so that the rodents lacked a gene called TRPC2, effectively short-circuiting the so-called vomeronasal organ. [..]
The findings are important, because they amount to a massive blow to those who for decades have looked for underlying differences in brain structure to explain why sexual behaviour between males and females is so dissimilar.
The answer appears to be this: in the mice at least, there is no difference. The hard-wiring of the brains is the same.
“In the big picture, it suggests that the female brain has a perfectly functional male behaviour circuit” which is repressed by signals from the vomeronasal organ, Professor Dulac says.’
‘Australia’s top heart specialists believe they have found a treatment to stop heart disease in its tracks, potentially saving millions of lives worldwide.
Experts from the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital will today unveil the groundbreaking discovery which involves using adult stem cells from patients to repair their own hearts.
The world-first treatment has been shown to generate new blood vessels and repair dead tissue in the heart.
Importantly, the changes appear to be permanent.’
‘An extremely rare “living fossil” caught by a fisherman in Indonesia is being examined by scientists.
The 1.3m-long (4.3ft), 50kg (110lb) coelacanth is only the second ever to have been captured in Asia and has been described as a “significant find”.
An autopsy and genetic tests are now being carried out to determine more about the specimen. [..]
Scientists previously thought the fish group had died out about 70 million years ago, but were shocked when in 1938 they discovered that a specimen had been caught in a fishing net off the east coast of South Africa.’
‘Ever since scientists convicted sunlight of causing skin cancer, many seemingly sensible people have been running around slathered in sunscreen, using hats and long sleeves to hide our skin from the sun as if we were vampires. Now it looks like we may have gone too far: We may be missing out on the benefits of sunshine.
A study (press release) released today in the journal Neurology indicates that children who spend more time in the sun may have a decreased risk of multiple sclerosis. In pairs of twins where one twin had multiple sclerosis, the MS-free sibling had spent more time outside, playing team sports and sun tanning. Scientists theorize that ultraviolet rays in sunlight trigger a protective response that protects the body from this chronic nervous system disorder, either by altering the immune system or by producing vitamin D. Twins that spent more time in the sun decreased their risk of getting MS by almost 50%, despite their genetic predisposition toward the disease.’
‘Researchers at the University of Sydney have found that adolescent rats are more vulnerable to adverse effects of cannabis than adult rats.
Professor Ian McGregor says rats’ brains basically respond to drugs the same way as humans but they are easier to work with because they are not polydrug users.
He says his team gave the rats cannabis then took them off the drug for two weeks before testing their long-term memory.
“We found that the adolescents that had been given cannabis had impaired memory, relative to adolescent rats that hadn’t had cannabis exposure,” he said.
“Then when we compared them to adults we found there was very little memory deficits in the adults rats that had been given cannabis.”‘
‘A new phenomenon in New Zealand is taking the idea of you are what you eat to the extreme.
Vegansexuals are people who do not eat any meat or animal products, and who choose not to be sexually intimate with non-vegan partners whose bodies, they say, are made up of dead animals.
The co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Human and Animal Studies at Canterbury University, Annie Potts, said she coined the term after doing research on the lives of “cruelty-free consumers”.’
‘Orangutan communication resembles a game of charades, a study suggests.
Researchers from St Andrews University have shown that the animals intentionally modify or repeat their signals to get their messages across.
The scientists said they believed all great apes could have this capability, suggesting that the skill may have evolved millions of years ago.
The study, which is published in the journal Current Biology, involved six orangutans living in two zoos.’
‘You know, these days with shows like Lost, Heroes, and Battlestar Galactica, it’s easy to forget how bad we used to have it on television when it came to sci-fi shows. Sure, we remember the Star Treks, the Fireflys, the Babylon 5s, and so on, that managed to crawl their way into our hearts…but lest we forget – Forever Geek is here to remind you just how lucky we are these days. Sci-Fi on TV used to be BAD…real bad.
With that said, we present to you the 10 WORST Sci-Fi Shows of all time. Complete with video of each horrible, horrible, television mistake.’
‘Smoking one cannabis joint is as harmful to a person’s lungs as having up to five cigarettes, according to research published on Tuesday.
Those who smoked cannabis damaged both the lungs’ small fine airways, used for transporting oxygen, and the large airways, which blocked air flow, the researchers said.
It meant cannabis smokers complained of wheezing, coughing, and chest tightness, the study by experts at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand found.’
‘Scientists have jump-started the consciousness of a man with severe brain injury in a world-first procedure in which electrodes were inserted deep into his brain.
The 38-year-old, who had been in a minimally conscious state for six years after an assault, could only move his fingers or eyes occasionally and was fed through a tube.
Now he can chew, swallow and carry out movements like brushing his hair and drinking from a cup, say the US neuroscientists who carried out the procedure, known as deep brain stimulation.
“He regularly uses words and gestures and responds to questions quickly,” said Ali Rezai, of the Cleveland Clinic’s Centre for Neurological Restoration.’
‘Emissions from office laser printers can be as unhealthy as cigarette smoke, according to an Australian professor who is now calling for regulations to limit printer emissions.
Office workers breathing easy since smoking was banned in public places in the United States and the United Kingdom have new reason to worry, according to research from the Queensland University of Technology’s Air Quality and Health Program, led by physics professor Lidia Morawska.
The average printer releases toner particles that can get deep into the lungs and cause respiratory problems and cardiovascular trouble, according to Morawska’s team, part of the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, and specialists in atmospheric particles.
The team tested 62 laser printer models–all relatively new–and found that 17 of them were “high emitters” of toner particles. Despite using similar technology, office photocopiers do not emit particles, the team found. ‘
‘The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way:
Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful attendants of Multivac. As well as any human beings could, they knew what lay behind the cold, clicking, flashing face — miles and miles of face — of that giant computer. They had at least a vague notion of the general plan of relays and circuits that had long since grown past the point where any single human could possibly have a firm grasp of the whole.
Multivac was self-adjusting and self-correcting. It had to be, for nothing human could adjust and correct it quickly enough or even adequately enough — so Adell and Lupov attended the monstrous giant only lightly and superficially, yet as well as any men could. They fed it data, adjusted questions to its needs and translated the answers that were issued. Certainly they, and all others like them, were fully entitled to share In the glory that was Multivac’s.’
‘This colored corn syrup is dropped into a mixture, stirred up, and when the direction is reversed, the drops return their original state.’
(4.7meg Flash video)
‘New research indicates that hacking the atmosphere — pumping microscopic particles into the stratosphere or clouds to block sunlight and offset global warming caused by greenhouse gases — is imminently possible. The problem is we could never, ever stop doing it.
Climate scientists Damon Matthews of Concordia University and Ken Caldeira of Stanford ran the numbers on atmospheric geo-engineering through a climate simulation and found that while cranking out carbon dioxide at business-as-usual rates we can geo-engineer our way back toward pre-industrial temperatures in short order, reaching 1900 levels in about five years. Not only that, it would be fairly cheap and easy to do.
Pumping 20 to 25 liters of aerosols per second to keep enough particles in the stratosphere would cool temperatures, causing the planet’s carbon sinks to suck more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
“That kind of flow rate can be handled by a single fire hose,” said Caldeira. “For something like $100 million a year you could probably keep a hose in the stratosphere suspended by an array of balloons with pumps along the way.”
The problem is what happens if we stop short or screw it up.’
‘Using marijuana increases the risk of one day developing a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia, according to a study that provides some of the strongest evidence yet linking the drug to a mental disorder.
Marijuana is one the most commonly used illegal substances in many countries with up to 20 percent of young people in places like Britain reporting either some use or heavy use, British researchers said, citing government statistics.
Many consider it on par with alcohol or tobacco but the results shows marijuana poses a danger many smokers underestimate, said Stanley Zammit, a psychiatrist at Cardiff University and the University of Bristol, who worked on the study.’
There’s quite a few short, interesting and amusing sci-fi stories on this site. Most of them are pretty good.
The Ed stories are some of my favourites.
I don’t know why this amuses me, but it does.
‘After three years on the ADHD drug Ritalin, kids are about an inch shorter and 4.4 pounds lighter than their peers, a major U.S. study shows.
The symptoms of childhood ADHD — attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — usually get dramatically better soon after kids start taking stimulant drugs. But this benefit may come with a cost, says James Swanson, PhD, director of the Child Development Center at the University of California, Irvine.
“Yes, there is a growth suppression effect with stimulant ADHD medications,” Swanson tells WebMD. “It is going to occur at the age of treatment, and over three years it will accumulate.”‘
‘Russia is sending a mini-submarine to explore the ocean floor below the North Pole and find evidence to support its claims to Arctic territory.
Two parliamentarians, including veteran explorer Artur Chilingarov, are part of a team planning to dive 4,200m (14,000 ft) below the Arctic Ocean on Sunday. [..]
Moscow argued before a UN commission in 2001 that waters off its northern coast were in fact an extension of its maritime territory.
The claim was based on the argument that an underwater feature, known as the Lomonosov Ridge, was an extension of its continental territory. [..]
The team aboard the mini-submarine Mir is expected to carry out scientific experiments and measurements on the sea bed.’
Followup to Russia lays claim to the North Pole.
‘Scientists managed to create an ultrastrong material that has many of the characteristics of the plexiglas, used to make bulletproof glass. The strange thing about this material is the fact that it’s made of a 50-atom-thick layer of gold particles.
Seen under a microscope, the new material, developed by scientists at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory looks like a transparent sheet of closely packed gold nanoparticles separated by organic spacers, placed atop a silicon chip. It consists of gold particles separated by organic “bumpers” to keep them from coming into direct contact.
“It’s an amazing little marvel,” said Heinrich Jaeger, Professor in Physics at the University of Chicago. “This is not a very fragile layer, but rather a robust, resilient membrane.” Some of the properties of this sheet are remarkable, like the fact that it maintains its structural integrity at relatively high temperatures, even when poked with ultrafine tips of metal.’
‘Scientists have genetically modified goats to make a drug in their milk that protects against deadly nerve agents such as sarin and VX.
These poisons are known collectively as organophosphates – a group of chemicals that also includes some pesticides used in farming.
So far, the GM goats have made almost 15kg of a drug which binds to and neutralises organophosphate molecules. [..]
The drug, called recombinant butyrylcholinesterase, could be used as a protective “prophylactic” drug and also to treat people after exposure to nerve gas.’
This actually happened at the university I used to go to. Our lecturers would occasionally tell us stories about stupid experiments that don’t end well.
This was always my favourite. :)
(10.5meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘Two years before its completion, the world’s largest dam is already changing the local weather, say scientists studying the Three Gorges Dam on China’s Yangtze River. Both modeling and actual meteorological data suggest that the reservoir is cooling its valley, which is causing changes in rainfall. [..]
Among the surprise weather changes has been the increase in rainfall between the Daba and Oinling mountains, said Wu.
The rains come from a “lake effect” intensification of precipitation, like that seen around the Great Lakes of North America. The lake effect happens when already moist air picks up more moisture as it crosses over a warm body of water, then rains or snows it out quickly upon reaching the shore.’
‘Scientists have converted an organism into an entirely different species by performing the world’s first genome transplant, a breakthrough that paves the way for the creation of synthetic forms of life.
The team, led by Craig Venter, the man who raced to sequence the human genome, wants to build new microbes to produce environmentally friendly fuels.
The group’s study, details of which were revealed in the US journal Science yesterday, proves it is possible to transplant a complete set of genetic instructions into an organism, in effect turning it into the same species the DNA was taken from.’
‘A parasite common in Asian bees has spread to Europe and the Americas and is behind the mass disappearance of honeybees in many countries, says a Spanish scientist who has been studying the phenomenon for years.
The culprit is a microscopic parasite called nosema ceranae said Mariano Higes, who leads a team of researchers at a government-funded apiculture centre in Guadalajara, the province east of Madrid that is the heartland of Spain’s honey industry.
He and his colleagues have analyzed thousands of samples from stricken hives in many countries.’
Followup to Mystery of the dying bees.
‘Checkers is solved. From the starting position, black to play can only draw against a perfect opponent. This is the largest non-trivial game of skill to be solved — it is more than one million times bigger than Connect Four and Awari (the previously biggest games that have been solved).
To achieve this results, we had to solve 19 of the 3-move openings. We will continue our computations to eventually solve all the 3-move openings.’
‘Chimpanzees scampering on a treadmill have provided support for the notion that ancient human ancestors began walking on two legs because it used less energy than quadrupedal knuckle-walking, scientists said.
Writing on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers said people walking on a treadmill used just a quarter of the energy relative to their size compared to chimpanzees knuckle-walking on four legs.
The scientists equipped five chimpanzees and four people with face masks to track oxygen usage and looked at other measures to assess energy expenditure and biomechanics on a treadmill.’
‘Deep in the Congolese jungle is a band of apes that, according to local legend, kill lions, catch fish and even howl at the moon. Local hunters speak of massive creatures that seem to be some sort of hybrid between a chimp and a gorilla.
Their location at the centre of one of the bloodiest conflicts on the planet, the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has meant that the mystery apes have been little studied by western scientists. Reaching the region means negotiating the shifting fortunes of warring rebel factions, and the heart of the animals’ range is deep in impenetrable forest.
But despite the difficulties, a handful of scientists have succeeded in studying the animals. Early speculation that the apes may be some yeti-like new species or a chimp/gorilla hybrid proved unfounded, but the truth has turned out to be in many ways even more fascinating. They are actually a population of super-sized chimps with a unique culture – and it seems, a taste for big cat flesh.’
‘Brian May, the multimillionaire guitarist who founded the rock group Queen, has finally completed the PhD in astrophysics that he abandoned more than 30 years ago.
The 59-year-old composer of hits such as Fat Bottomed Girls and We Will Rock You turned his back on the stars for international fame with Freddie Mercury and his band. His thesis on interplanetary dust clouds lay gathering dust of its own in the attic of his home in Surrey.
May’s interest in the subject was rekindled last year when he co-authored a children’s science book with the astronomer Sir Patrick Moore. He discovered that remarkably little research had been done in the intervening 33 years.’
