MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'science'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:47:18 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181796&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fis-ut-austin-finally-getting-its-long-awaited-medical-school%2F2011.09.02 The headline is disingenuous: yes, there’s a Med School headed for Austin. Congrats, Brackendridge! Kinda amusing tale after the quote: Lawmakers and local leaders are hopeful a plan unanimously adopted at Thursday’s University of Texas System Board of Regents meeting means they could finally get what they’ve long been waiting for: a new medical school. One of the elements of the plan outlined by Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa is to “advance medical education and research in Austin.” Even before Thursday’s meeting ended, state Sen. Kirk Watson issued a press release reading between the lines, calling for the creation of a flagship health science center and medical school in Austin. “Within the next 30 days, I plan to offer a path – and a challenge for our community – to bu... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181796 Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:00:10 +0100 5181796 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5182161&cid=t_91944_131_f&fid=35008&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscienceroll.com%2F2011%2F09%2F02%2Ffrom-self-reported-patient-data-to-mobile-predictions%2F E-Health 3.0: How Can The Semantic Web Change The World Of Internet Health Information? TEDxOverlake – Dr. H. Jack West – Self-Educated Patients and The Future of Cancer Care A beginner’s guide to digital pharma: part 15 – implementation “Don’t believe those that say you can’t measure the return on investment (ROI) of digital and social media programs – if you can’t measure it you shouldn’t be doing it…” NHS medical director urges GPs to use Skype for consultations He said some GPs already offer consultations via Skype and may interest many others. ‘Then I find myself thinking that’s the sort of thing that will appeal to some people. It would appeal to me,’ he said. He argued it would be much more convenient for patients and GPs. How Do Genera... ScienceRoll blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5182161 Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:04:38 +0100 5182161 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181881&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fnot-slippery-when-wet.html – Can our pruney bath fingers help us make safer tyres? Car tyres have rain treads. Shoes have rain treads. So, why don’t animals have rain treads? Here evolutionary neurobiologist Mark Changizi – and author of the new book having nothing whatever to do with rain treads, Harnessed: How Language and Music Mimicked Nature and Transformed Ape to Man – describes his team's new research suggesting that we do have rain treads. They are our pruney fingers. Better than what’s on our shoes and tyres, they may allow us to build better treads in the future. Look out Pirelli, Goodyear and Firestone, pruney tyres are on the way! Related Posts:The real reason for pruney fingersPromise of a Rain GardenListening to digitized vinylSix science snippetsOh Purleese!Not slip... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181881 Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:41:19 +0100 5181881 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181899&cid=t_91944_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F31%2F3-fascinating-facts-about-our-brilliant-brains%2F Our brains do a lot of work behind the scenes to help us function and thrive. But we largely know this already. What might surprise you are the details of this work. For instance, as neuroscientist David Eagleman writes in his book Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain: Your brain is built of cells called neurons and glia—hundreds of billions of them. Each one of these cells is as complicated as a city. And each one contains the entire human genome and traffics billions of molecules in intricate economies. Each cell sends electrical pulses to other cells, up to hundred of times per second. If you represented each of these trillions and trillions of pulses in your brain by a single photon of light, the combined output would be blinding. The cells are connected to one another in a netw... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181899 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:57:59 +0100 5181899 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181816&cid=t_91944_88_f&fid=39185&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedwinleap.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D1837 I think a lot about the slow, certain dissolution of medicine as we know it.  Mental health issues crowd emergency departments, as few mental health clinics are available.  Psychiatrists are in short supply.  Drug abuse overwhelms the medical system, with either patients seeking pills or patients families hoping to get them off of pills. Persons with little interest in their own health continue to smoke and drink, use Meth and eat poorly.  Disability claims are skyrocketing as younger and younger individuals confabulate their misery in hopes of attaining a check, paid for by someone else. The poor, with genuine medical problems, have increasing difficulty finding care as jobs, and insurance, fade away.  Politicians, eager to be re-elected, eager to be loved, promise more and supply le... edwinleap.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181816 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:14:08 +0100 5181816 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5182060&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.772.13 A nice song with a really cool little video: (Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net) bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5182060 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:42:16 +0100 5182060 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181882&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fcatching-up-with-the-alchemist.html – Ancient oxygen levels were higher than The Alchemist thought, but they existed in submarine oxygen oases rather than in the atmosphere. We also learn this week that a sweet solution to modulating pharmaceutical activity is possible, that micro-onions could serve as magnetic ink for digital displays, that there is more sulfur involved in the nitrogen cycle than we thought and how cat litter has the key to a productive sex life for the Toxoplasma parasite that infects rats. Finally, NIH is funding new research to protect us from viral-based bioweapons. Related Posts:Nervous, Monopolar, SolventsThis week’s happenings on The AlchemistCarbon Tet and Paradigm ShiftsAlchemist Checks Oxy Cholesterol LevelsExplosive sex, coral killers, room for shrooms and moreCatching up with The Al... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181882 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 07:53:45 +0100 5181882 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181871&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F08%2F31%2Fmundane-design-vs-fine-sci-art-as-two-realms-of-aesthetic-practice-in-science-communication%2F Here’s my abstract for a panel on the role of the humanities in science communication that Joan Leach in the Science Communication programme, U Queensland, is putting together for the PCST-12 meeting in Florence next spring: Mundane Design vs. Fine Sci-Art: Two Realms of Aesthetic Practice in Science Communication Sci-art has become an increasingly important dimension of science communication through printed media, museums, science centers and the web. Ranging from beautiful images on scientific journal covers to tissue-engineered wet-art installations, sci-art has become a recognised subgenre of the contemporary fine arts; it has entered art schools and caught the interest of gallery owners and art reviewers. It has also drawn the attention of major funding agencies, like the Well... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181871 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 05:38:14 +0100 5181871 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181701&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=34698&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthyconcerns.com%2F2011%2F08%2Finterviewed-kathy-freston-for-blogher-shes-awesome-httpwwwbloghercominterview-talking-health-oprah-and-veganism-au.html Interviewed Kathy Freston for BlogHer. She's awesome: http://www.blogher.com/interview-talking-health-oprah-and-veganism-author-kathy-freston (Source: HealthyConcerns.com) HealthyConcerns.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181701 Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5181701 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5174612&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fchinese-study-compares-flu-treatments-prescription-drug-vs-herbal-remedy%2F2011.08.29 During the early days of the 2009 H1N1 influenza A pandemic, the popular herbal formula maxingshigan–yinqiaosan was used widely by TCM practitioners to reduce symptoms. (It’s hard to pronounce and spell, so I’ll refer to it as M-Y.) A new study was done to test whether M-Y worked and to compare it to the prescription drug oseltamivir. It showed that M-Y did not work for the purpose it was being used for: it did not reduce symptoms, although it did reduce the duration of one sign, fever, allowing researchers to claim they had proved that it works as well as oseltamivir. “Oseltamivir Compared With the Chinese Traditional Therapy: Maxingshigan–Yinqiaosan in the Treatment of H1N1 Influenza” by Wang et al. was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine earlier this month. The stu... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5174612 Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:00:51 +0100 5174612 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5169581&cid=t_91944_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F08%2F27%2Fthe-science-of-evil%2F Following up on my review of Jon Ronson’s The Psychopath Test, I just finished reading the other new offering in the world of “psychopath studies”: Simone Baron-Cohen’s The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty. Baron-Cohen’s central theory is that evil is critically tied to lack of empathy.  It’s a thought-provoking notion and I was very intrigued by the connections that he made between various “empathy deficient” conditions from psychopaths, to narcissists, to borderlines, to those on the autism spectrum. At points, I think he gets so carried away considering the particular dispositions of his “zero negatives” (those, like psychopaths, whose lack of empathy brings about “unequivocally bad” results) and “zero positives” (those, like Asperger�... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5169581 Sat, 27 Aug 2011 04:01:29 +0100 5169581 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159432&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.770.3 The second Drosophila talk at this summer school of the International Society for Neurochemistry covered both associative and nonassociative learning. Makis started out by outlining the problem all animals face of finding out which component of the sensory stream is relevant and which isn't, a problem related to selective attention.The paradigm within which Makis addresses these problems is that of habituation: presenting a stimulus until it doesn't elicit a response anymore. How does an habituated stimulus interact with associative conditioning with that stimulus?His experiment works as follows: he repeatedly shocks animals with mild electric shocks until the animals don't avoid the shock any more. This habituation takes about 10-12 shock presentations. After ten minutes the animals recov... bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159432 Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:06:53 +0100 5159432 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159433&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.769.3 Bertram was the first speaker after the student presentations at the summer school of the International Society for Neurochemistry. He started out with an attempt to convince people that there are cognitive processes in animals. He argued mainly from evolution, trying to pick a simple enough process in his model system, the fruit fly Drosophila, that we can understand, yet complicated enough to be interesting. Whithout explaining what is 'cognitive' about the process of Pavlovian (or classical) conditioning, he explained how groups of flies are conditioned to prefer different odors: the flies are presented with one odor and receive shock with this presentation. Then, they are presented with another odor without shock. After such training, the flies are placed in a choice chamber where t... bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159433 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:20:11 +0100 5159433 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159154&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Frise-in-top-grades-boosts-gcse-record.html – My son just returned with his GCSE results to a very proud Mum and Dad, and sister, with a clutch of excellent passes in his exams. Very pleased he got an excellent grade in chemistry, although he claims to hate "my" subject. One thing I will say, is that despite the mathering of the O-level generation, these teenage trials are not easy, they're not dumbed down, and the effort the students have to put in to get the grades is just as much as we did for ours back in the day. Only difference seems to be they waste far less time writing up notes than we ever did! I'll spare his blushes and not list all 11 pass grades ;-) As you can probably guess, we’re all very proud of the grades achieved. But, on a wider, more philosophical note: Shouldn’t they scrap... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159154 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:25:18 +0100 5159154 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5154187&cid=t_91944_58_f&fid=36507&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.nature.com%2F%7Er%2Fnature%2Fpodcast%2Fcurrent%2F%7E5%2FwQ-ej9dkP8k%2Fnature-2011-08-25.mp3 How higher temperatures make tempers run high, the downside of antibiotics, and the link between cosmic rays and climate. Plus, highlights from elsewhere in Nature. (Source: Nature Podcast) Nature Podcast blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5154187 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:46:49 +0100 5154187 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159566&cid=t_91944_131_f&fid=35008&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscienceroll.com%2F2011%2F08%2F24%2Fiphone-preventing-er-visits-and-other-stories-this-week%2F Google Hand Holding Brings Pharma to YouTube As Facebook prepares to force pharma marketers to include comments on most pages, Google is actively courting the highly-regulated industry. Working directly with extremely risk-averse drug makers, the company developed a new YouTube feature for them that also can be applied for other marketers. For AstraZeneca’s Medimmune, the change was the difference between having a YouTube channel and scrapping the project all together. AstraZeneca has a new blog! Patients Get Social About Their Health In its April 2011 survey, Deloitte Center for Health Solutions found that 11% of US healthcare consumers use social networks to find or share health information and 8% use blogs. The respondents who use blogs and social networks for health purposes... ScienceRoll blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159566 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 21:02:45 +0100 5159566 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159155&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fmore-chemical-wonders.html – Yet more chemical wonders fall under the gaze of The Alchemist this week. First up, spray on radiators coming to a home near you to help cut heating bills by a third while ethanol-imbibing bacteria offer an important clue to preventing biofuel pipeline cracks. In the analytical world a beetle that feasts on the dead offers volatile clues about time-since-death for forensic investigators, and porous compounds that can gulp down radioactive iodine emerge from Sandia National Laboratory. Chemistry, once again, gives advertisers materials to help beer drinkers. Finally, yet another award for a young Thai chemist. Related Posts:Alchemical HappeningsAlchemist Checks Oxy Cholesterol LevelsAlchemist Goes GreenToxic hairdos, titanic smog, and paradoxical polymersAlchemy and InfamyMore chem... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159155 Tue, 23 Aug 2011 22:20:05 +0100 5159155 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159156&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fchanging-your-environmental-mind.html There are many educational and ethical issues regarding the environment and environmentalism that are generally not addressed, especially when it comes to teaching non-science students. Independent environmental services professional and college professor Chyrisse P. Tabone, who is based in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida has spent several years attempting to find a way to remedy this situation. Sciencebase covered her work on teaching environmental science some time ago, now in this post we put a few questions to Professor Tabone about her follow-up paper in which she examines a new approach to teaching environmental issues and the responses of a group of students confronted with those problems. What is the basis of your approach? I have honed and perfected my non-traditional teaching inst... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159156 Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:14:41 +0100 5159156 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5158914&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=35049&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nakedmedicine.com%2Fcan-pharma-really-afford-to-be-more-human The recent hullabaloo with some pharma companies pulling out of Facebook got me thinking about whether it is even probable for pharma companies to come across as “more human” and therefore viewed as willing to connect with consumers/patients beyond the PR and marketing scripts. For example, can pharma companies — whether on Twitter or Facebook [...] (Source: NAKEDMEDICINE.COM) NAKEDMEDICINE.COM blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5158914 Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:12:25 +0100 5158914 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5140016&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.766.11 Thomson Reuters' Impact Factor (IF) is supposed to provide a measure for how often the average publication in a scientific journal is cited and thus a quantitative basis for ranking journals. However, there are (at least) three major problems with the IF:The IF is negotiable and doesn't reflect actual citation counts (source)The IF cannot be reproduced, even if it reflected actual citations (source)The IF is not statistically sound, even if it were reproducible and reflected actual citations (source)Thus, it is not surprising that there is very little correlation between the IF and what it is supposed to measure: actual citations to scientific articles:Fig. 1: Four examples of publications from individual researchers. Plotted are the actual citations of the publications against the Impa... bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5140016 Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:38:21 +0100 5140016 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5160766&cid=t_91944_4_f&fid=38622&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffdatransparencyblog.fda.gov%2F2011%2F08%2F17%2Ffostering-innovation-through-better-science%2F Science is the backbone of everything we do at FDA.  Which is why today’s release of the agency’s Strategic Plan for Regulatory Science is a significant next step in the agency’s Regulatory Science Initiative, originally announced in October, 2010.  We are releasing the plan along with a podcast and a consumer article to make it easier for everyone to join this conversation about regulatory science and understand what this plan really means. “As new discoveries yield increasingly complex products,” says FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “this strategic plan ensures that our experts are equipped to make science-based decisions resulting in sound regulatory policy.  It positions us to foster innovation through better science without compromising our high safety standa... FDA Transparency Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5160766 Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:30:15 +0100 5160766 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139861&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fred-red-red-wine-and-more.html My four latest science news stories now live on SpectroscopyNOW, kicking off with an item about adulteration and red wine – Various approaches to statistical analysis of spectroscopic data can reveal whether red wine has been adulterated with anthocyanins to artificially improve, “correct”, its red colour. We also have an item on how to use an inexpensive digital camera to test water samples rather than having to fork out for an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Researchers in Spain are hoping that a standard digital camera is the perfect alternative to expensive and sophisticated laboratory instrumentation for some analytical applications. They have demonstrated how it can be used to determined potassium and magnesium concentrations and water hardness and validated th... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139861 Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:02:40 +0100 5139861 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5154188&cid=t_91944_58_f&fid=36507&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.nature.com%2F%7Er%2Fnature%2Fpodcast%2Fcurrent%2F%7E5%2F9jQzS5SBHKE%2Fnature-2011-08-18.mp3 This week, the ethics of memory manipulation, the spread of immunity in the body and explaining the coffee-ring effect. Plus, the best of the rest from this week's Nature. (Source: Nature Podcast) Nature Podcast blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5154188 Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:14:36 +0100 5154188 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5140018&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.764.11 I've already mentioned the correlation between the declining number of tenured positions in science and the increasing rate of retractions:Clearly, correlation doesn't necessarily imply causation, but the conclusion is tempting that increased pressure for reaching that coveted tenured spot drives an increasing number of scientists to fudge their data to be able to publish them in more prestigious journals. A prediction of that hypothesis is that higher-ranking journals should have a larger rate of retractions compared to lower-ranking journals. In other words, there should be a correlation between journal-rank (i.e., Impact Factor) and a measure of retractions.Now, in a paper just published in Infection and Immunity (Infect. Immun. doi:10.1128/IAI.05661-11), this correlation has been... bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5140018 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:51:03 +0100 5140018 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125800&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fdiluting-homeopathic-advertising-ht-silvianaj.html HT @SilvianaJ – The Advertising Standards Authority has ordered online homeopathy advertisers to stop making claims that their treatments work. [Because they don't!] The ASA’s remit was extended to regulating websites in March 2011, since when it says it has received more than 150 complaints about claims for the efficacy of homeopathy. While it carries out a “wider investigation” the ASA has told advertisers to delete content that “claims directly or indirectly that homeopathy and homeopathic products can diagnose/treat/help health conditions”. Related Posts:Listening to digitized vinylHomeopathic Flu RemedyHomeopathy really doesn’t workYou are not full of *%$!Homeopathy – Cure or NotDiluting homeopathic advertising is a post from: Scie... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125800 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:15:19 +0100 5125800 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125896&cid=t_91944_131_f&fid=34989&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FGeneticsHealth%2F%7E3%2F6LuBfLqR9WU%2F Many of us have known women (and men) who seem addicted to tanning—no matter how glaring the health risks, you’ll still find them hitting the tanning beds. Is it just a desire for that bronze (or orange) glow that gets ‘em? Or is there something about the process of tanning itself that keeps folks coming back? New research leans toward the latter, showing that tanning bed users exhibit brain changes during a tanning session that mirror those seen in drug addicts. “Using tanning beds has rewarding effects in the brain so people may feel compelled to persist … even though it’s bad for them,” said Dr. Bryon Adinoff, a psychiatry professor and author of the tanning study, published in the journal Addiction Biology. Tanning bed usage has continued to grow in recent years, desp... Genetics and Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125896 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:01:29 +0100 5125896 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125801&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fbillions-upon-billions.html Back in the day, we Brits had big billions. A billion was a million millions. Obviously, the “bi” doubling up the “illion” from million. What else would it be? Well…of course…the Americans wanted to talk bigger still and so made their billion a mere 1000 million. Back then, it was hard to be a millionaire (these days, you just go on TV), but becoming a billionaire was not unthinkable and there are more and more multi-1000-millionaires around these days. Given that financial institutions throw billions around like it’s nobody’s business and national debts amount to trillions (just millions of millions as opposed to millions of millions of millions) and there are hints that quadrillions will soon hit tabloid financial pages. While musing on the... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125801 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:55:52 +0100 5125801 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125898&cid=t_91944_131_f&fid=35008&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscienceroll.com%2F2011%2F08%2F12%2Fwhat%25e2%2580%2599s-the-most-iconic-scientific-image%2F There is a very interesting thread on Quora. Users want to find the most iconic scientific image ever. It might sound like an easy job but it’s truly not. My vote is for the Watson-Crick DNA double helix photo. What is yours? (Source: ScienceRoll) ScienceRoll blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125898 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:07:19 +0100 5125898 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125743&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fer-nurse-explains-what-its-really-like-to-be-an-rn%2F2011.08.12 You want to be a registered nurse? Let’s cut through the B.S. and get real about it. Put a hold on all this soft-focus “I live to care!” or “It gives my life meaning…” Here’s the reality. *** You will study your butt off. Nursing science is based on biology, chemistry, microbiology, anatomy, physiology, psychology, sociology and philosophy. Yeah, every single one of them. You will incorporate those into every decision you make in your practice. It’s called critical thinking. You master it and become a professional, or you don’t and you become a robotic technician. Bottom line. Your choice. Oh, and the studying doesn’t stop after you graduate. Nursing school is just the warm-up. *** The work is physically exhausting and emotionally demanding. (more…) *... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125743 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:00:35 +0100 5125743 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118640&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdrlindagalloway.files.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F08%2Fbreastfeeding.jpg Could breastfeeding kill a newborn?  That is the question a California district attorney will ask a jury at the trial of a breastfeeding mother. Most women do not intend to harm their children but substance abuse and addiction comes with a heavy price. Such was the case of Maggie Jean Wortman, who has been charged with second degree murder after medical tests revealed that her newborn son died from methamphetamine intoxication obtained through her breast milk. Wortman’s 19-month-old daughter also tested positive for methamphetamine and was placed in protective custody. How could this happen? The transfer of drugs from the mother’s blood to human milk depends on the chemical composition of the drug. Antibiotics such as penicillin will remain in the mother’s blood for long periods of ... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118640 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:00:00 +0100 5118640 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118887&cid=t_91944_131_f&fid=34999&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marymeetsdolly.com%2Fblog%2Findex.php%3F%2Farchives%2F1053-Looking-for-great-Catholic-fiction-Try-Fatherless%2C-Motherless%2C-and-Childless.html Fiction is as instructive as non-fiction, maybe even more so.  The best fiction catches us up in a world outside our own all the while teaching us truths about ourselves and humanity.  The pleasure of reading a great story cements those truths into the deepest corners of our mind.  Dean Koontz has been quietly reeducating the masses for years.  Now there is Brian J. Gail and his trilogy Fatherless, Motherless, and Childless.  I have just finished Fatherless and Motherless and am eagerly awaiting the release of Childless scheduled for this fall.Brian J. Gail's trilogy is uniquely Catholic taking on the American sacred cows of contraception in Fatherless and IVF and embryo destructive research in Motherless.  Through Father John Sweeney, the reader discovers the... Mary Meets Dolly blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118887 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:52:49 +0100 5118887 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5116158&cid=t_91944_58_f&fid=36507&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.nature.com%2F%7Er%2Fnature%2Fpodcast%2Fcurrent%2F%7E5%2Fu83OSP4ez5c%2Fnature-2011-08-11.mp3 This week, hydrothermal vents, backwards chemistry and sham brain surgery. Plus, the best of the rest from this week's Nature. (Source: Nature Podcast) Nature Podcast blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5116158 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:14:25 +0100 5116158 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159029&cid=t_91944_90_f&fid=36413&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcscience.net%2F%3Fp%3D4683%26utm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dprofessor-geoffrey-petts-of-the-university-of-westminster-says-they-are-not-teaching-pseudo-science-the-facts-show-this-is-not-true Jump to follow-up On 23rd May 2008 a letter was sent to the vice-chancellor of the University of Westminster, Professor Geoffrey Petts Dear Professor Petts   You may be aware an article by Zoe Corbyn, published in Times Higher Education 24 April 2008, with the title Experts criticise ‘pseudo-scientific’ complementary medicine degrees.   The subtitle of the article was Vice-chancellors should re-examine courses, say campaigners.  In the light of that, we wondered whether you had anything to add to the comments made by David Peters in todays THE.  We are preparing a response to that, and it seems fair to ask your view before we proceed. (In order to save you time, copies of the two articles are attached.)   As an expert on... DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159029 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:37:57 +0100 5159029 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118658&cid=t_91944_88_f&fid=39185&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedwinleap.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D1789 In following the stories out of the UK, I am saddened by the violence and senseless destruction in the nation that so many of us look to as kindred.  Many of us have a deep, almost genetic, reverence for the land of so many of our ancestors.  I certainly wish we could once again unite and rise up, standing for freedom and the greatness of the West.  Alas, not yet. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/11/london-police-raiding-houses-over-uk-riots/?test=latestnews It is, of course, like all such violence in places where a perfect storm of ideology brews. Closing the trough First, young poor people, told for decades it was the duty of the government and taxpayers to care for them, become animal-like when their feed-trough is threatened.  And, animal-like, brutal in nature, ‘red in t... edwinleap.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118658 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:54:36 +0100 5118658 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118692&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F08%2F10%2Fscience-communication-after-information%2F Even more thoughts after reading How We Became Posthuman (other posts are here and here). I think part of my fascination with the book is that it inadvertently articulates what I see to be a watershed change that has happened in the past ten years or so – the change from an informational paradigm to a new, more material one. And working with science communication now, the need to articulate the contours of this change seems urgent. One of the key elements in Hayles’ book is the detailed analysis of how information lost its body. Information, she argues, gained an almost transcendental status, as something that could move more or less unaffected through different media. It was as if the world was given a new realm of being, a pure digital substratum where information cascaded throug... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118692 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:17:01 +0100 5118692 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107581&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fwi-fi-by-led-light.html Forget Fanny by Gaslight…an LED light went on for German physicist Harald Haas who suggests that we could utilise LED lightbulbs as an alternative route for connecting to the Internet without disrupting the use of those LEDs for simple illumination. You can dim the lights so that they no longer shine but the data transmission is uninterrupted. 10,000 times more bandwidth, infrastructure already in place. Energy savings. Smartphones usually have an LED flashlight function so they can be a transmitter too. Data through illumination! Of course, light doesn’t pass through walls so security is ensured. Applications are beyond imagination at the moment says Haas.   Related articles Harald Haas: Wireless data from every light bulb (ted.com) Using Light to Send Data Across the Ro... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107581 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 08:53:34 +0100 5107581 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107582&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fimages%2Fuchihashi-atpase-movie.mov Researchers in Japan have used high-speed atomic force microscopy (AFM) to shoot an action movie of the biological molecular motor ATPase. ATPase, an enzyme embedded in cell membranes, produces the cellular fuel molecule ATP. the enzyme has two rotating components, but until now only X-ray crystallography and similar “still” imaging techniques had been used to visualise how it works. The microscopy work provides more evidence of how changes in conformation of the subunits of the enzyme generate the required rotation to produce ATP. I covered this scientific discovery for the RSC magazine Chemistry World this week and quoted AFM expert Cindy Berrie of Kansas University. Having asked for her detailed opinion on the work, I thought Sciencebase readers would be interested to see w... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107582 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:44:03 +0100 5107582 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107574&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F08%2F08%2Fare-science-and-society-frenemies-and-what-if-anything-does-this-mean-for-sci-med-tech-communication%2F Sometimes conference announcements only become interesting in the very last sentence. Like this one for “Frenemies: The love-hate relationsship between science and society”, taking place at Universiteit Twente on 14 September. Science is put in the dock, so it seems. Experts are under attack, there is public agitation on the internet. Yet we cherish expertise as never before, and cite expert sources whenever they suit us. Are we friends, or enemies, or both? [...] This symposium looks at the dynamic role of expertise in our society. How should we understand the notion of expertise? What operates as credible expertise, and when? Is scientific expertise overrated, and are other forms of expertise too easily dismissed? Or is it precisely the other way around? Seems like any othe... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107574 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:03:04 +0100 5107574 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5103349&cid=t_91944_88_f&fid=39185&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedwinleap.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D1780 Texas Governor Rick Perry suggests that we pray for our nation.  I read the article, then began reading the comments.  Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/3sasw88.  Fascinating, really. America wants leaders who live by a high standard of ethics, who seek the best for their citizens, and for the world at large.  America wants leaders who believe in honesty and truth. So Gov. Perry, who may be the Republican presidential candidate, says it’s important to pray.  Not to a God who calls for child sacrifice, or asks us to wage war for our faith.  Not to a God who is hateful.  Not to a God who accepts lies. Gov. Perry asks America to pray for help in hard times.  Not to smite his enemies.  (He said we should pray for our president as well.)  Not to let him win the election.... edwinleap.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5103349 Sat, 06 Aug 2011 22:12:14 +0100 5103349 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5103468&cid=t_91944_131_f&fid=35008&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscienceroll.com%2F2011%2F08%2F06%2Fcrowdsourcing-science%2F Al Jazeera made an interview with me about using crowdsourcing in medicine via Twitter a few months ago and now Dr. Victor Henning, founder of Mendeley gave a presentation dedicated to the same issue but in science. (Source: ScienceRoll) ScienceRoll blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5103468 Sat, 06 Aug 2011 09:42:41 +0100 5103468 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096316&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fsciencebase-social-media.html For those who hadn’t gathered yet, sciencebase is almost everywhere on teh internets, from trunk.ly to Tumblr from LinkedIn to YouTube. The four main places you can get updates from the site are through the site’s RSS newsfeed, on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. The Periodic Table icons I created for each of those destinations should be visible at the top of the site’s left-hand sidebar and will take you directly to the RSS feed (for pure, unadulterated Sciencebase updates via your Reader or Email), to my Twitter page where you can follow science and tech discussions as well as get links from the Sciencebase and its sibling sites (Sciencetext, Reactive Reports, Chemspy, SciScoop, and Imaging Storm). Google+ gets you the stuff I’ve “plusoned” +1 and updat... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096316 Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:28:49 +0100 5096316 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096317&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fchocoholism-good-or-bad-for-health.html Chocoholism – good or bad for health? – For chocoholics there are many fair warnings regarding cholesterol, fat etc., but many have devised their own justifications and there is a growing number of research studies pointing to supposed health benefits and even endowing cocoa beans, from which chocolate is derived, as being a "superfruit". Strictly speaking, cocoa beans are the seeds from the fruit of Theobroma cacao rather than the fruit itself. Intriguingly, however, much of the research currently being touted by public relations companies, rather than academic scientists, has the financial support of well-known chocolate manufacturers behind it. To my mind, that does not bode well for impartiality, regardless of the integrity of the independent scientists involved. ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096317 Fri, 05 Aug 2011 12:00:56 +0100 5096317 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096318&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fcan-youtube-save-us-from-climate-change.html New media has rapidly become the mechanism by which information is spread quickly in many walks of life from alerting the public to local traffic incidents, terrorist attacks, earthquakes and celebrity deaths. The likes of Twitter and Facebook have become the first responders to almost every event the world over as well as creating the means by which to bring about political change through activist and rebel groups in the Middle East and elsewhere, for instance. Tina Askanius of Lund University, Sweden and Julie Uldam of Richmond the American International University in London, explain that one area in which new media could become rather powerful is in activism against the causes of climate change. They explain that in protesting against climate change, online video, available via popular ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096318 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:45:23 +0100 5096318 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5093558&cid=t_91944_58_f&fid=36507&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.nature.com%2F%7Er%2Fnature%2Fpodcast%2Fcurrent%2F%7E5%2FTfJZgRsMR14%2Fnature-2011-08-04.mp3 This week, the landscapes enjoyed by our ancestors, a possible new branch on the tree of life, and a crash course on Moon mountains. Plus, the best of the rest from this week's Nature. (Source: Nature Podcast) Nature Podcast blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5093558 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:37:52 +0100 5093558 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096207&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fliquid-material-may-someday-be-used-to-restore-damaged-soft-tissue%2F2011.08.04 Yesterday, I came across this press release from Johns Hopkins regarding a new composite material which may someday be used to restore damaged soft tissue.  (photo credit) The liquid material is a composite of biological and synthetic molecules which is injected under the skin.  Transdermal light is then used to “set” the material into a more solid structure. The results of the early experiments in rats and humans has been reported in the July 27 issue of Science Translational Medicine (full reference below). It is hoped that the new liquid material is a biosynthetic soft tissue replacement composed of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and hyaluronic acid (HA). From the press release (more…) *This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living* (Source: B... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096207 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5096207 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096319&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fjohn-cleese-does-chemistry.html The Case of the Sulphuric Acid plant was an educational short movie from 1976 aimed at schools and has as its narrator, Monty Python cast member John Cleese, who also features in animated form thanks to the late, great Tony Hart (of Vision On, Take Hart fame). The movie clip was posted on Youtube by the Royal Society of Chemistry recently after a long-lost reel was tracked down by Eton College and with the permission of ccopyrihht holder Akzo Nobel with legal lubrication by Wendy Warr, apparently. As the title would suggest it tells the tale of a sulfuric acid plant (current IUPAC spelling has f not ph, by the way). Yes, sadly, I am old enough to recall seeing this short movie in school some time in the 1970s (I would have still been in junior school when it was first released, so I suspec... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096319 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:10:28 +0100 5096319 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096320&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fthe-heat-is-on-for-thermal-imaging.html The heat is on – Designer and thermal photographer Joseph Giacomin of Brunel University contacted me about his book – Seeing the World Through 21st Century Eyes. “The book,” he told me, “provides a visual journey through the world around us through the medium of thermal photography, hopefully stimulating questions about both the effect of man’s activity on the environment and the nature of our perceptual relationship with the environment.” The book is at once both scientific and artistic. Not only does it hook into one of the most compelling discoveries – that what we see, what we perceive, is all in our heads, not “out there”, it also shows how modern techniques such as thermography can bridge the divide between scientific constr... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096320 Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:30:51 +0100 5096320 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096286&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F08%2F02%2Fthe-medical-history-background-for-the-oslo-terrorist-action%2F One of the inspirational sources of Oslo terrorist Anders Behring Breivik’s peculiar manifesto ’2083: A European Declaration of Independence’ is the anonymous blogger Fjordman, who has been a leading intellectual in the international anti-Jihad movement for almost a decade. In a recent circular mail, Oslo historian of science Vidar Enebakk draws the attention of his Scandinavian colleagues to the fact that Fjordman has not only written about history, religion and politics in general, but also quite a lot about the history of science and medicine to ‘prove’ that modern science and medicine could only have emerged under the umbrella of European Christendom, and definitely not in Islamic cultures. I’ve now read a few of his many articles (originally pub... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096286 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:00:56 +0100 5096286 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096345&cid=t_91944_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F02%2Fthe-critical-thinking-coach-interview-with-stephen-haggerty-part-2%2F This is part 2 of an interview with Stephen Haggerty (read part 1 here), a Critical Thinking Teacher of the Year award winner at Eastern Kentucky University. Does one need to be highly intelligent to be a good critical thinker? Highly intelligent…what does that mean?  Does that term imply book intelligence? Street smarts?  I would argue anyone could engage in higher-level thinking if they are trained in the terminology and how to apply it. It takes a lot of practice to be a critical and creative thinker who communicates effectively, but I do believe if one is dedicated to being more successful in life, then they can learn to apply the principles of critical and creative thinking through effective communication. It seems some critical thinking advocates view critical thinking as nothin... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096345 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:10:16 +0100 5096345 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086240&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fgenetics-at-a-snp.html – There are genetic variants, SNPs, associated with a tendency to have almost any physical trait such as baldness, athleticisim, green eyes, red hair, obesity, alcohol dependence, type 2 diabetes and many other diseases, even the amount of earwax one produces. There are also SNPs associated with the presence of metabolic enzymes or the lack thereof that mean an individual is more or less responsive to a given pharmaceutical or other therapeutic agent. There are often variations between human populations, so a SNP that is common in one geographical or ethnic group may be much rarer in another. Now, UK researchers have developed a very simple technique for finding SNPs that could revolutionise testing for genetic disease markers and more… Related Posts:Top Ten MutantsSpectroscop... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086240 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:36:38 +0100 5086240 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086167&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fwhat-we-want-in-health-news-is-often-not-what-we-need%2F2011.08.01 News of the World wasn’t read by 15 percent of the British public because it told people what they should know. It got there by giving them what they wanted: stories about the peccadilloes of the rich and famous, accounts of the gross incompetence of government and of course, pictures of naked ladies. Setting aside the fact that News of the World is no more, its publishers and editors knew how to sell the “news.”  As free online news replaces print, every click, every page view, every second of viewing per page is tracked in the fierce competition for ad dollars, and so the selling of news increasingly influences its reporting.  Titles, format and content are tweaked by editors to “optimize the metrics.” Reporters succeed and fail based on their ability to write articles that a... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086167 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:00:46 +0100 5086167 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5085584&cid=t_91944_139_f&fid=38879&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FVirologyBlog%2F%7E3%2Fsa2sstw4H7s%2F Eugenie Samuel Reich speculates about the effect on US science should the debt ceiling not be raised by 2 August 2011: Republicans have made it clear that they will not cut defence spending, and Democrats are keen to protect social security and health-care programmes such as Medicare and Medicaid. Thus, the cuts are likely to fall on the roughly $600-billion discretionary, domestic budget, which includes funding for scientific agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. A reduction of $100 billion, applied across the board, would result in a 17% cut to such agencies. Excellent discussion of best- and worst-case scenarios and their effect on science, ‘an investment in future p... virology blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5085584 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:35:04 +0100 5085584 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086234&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F08%2F01%2Fwe-never-were-posthuman%2F Part of my summer reading has been N. Katherine Hayles very interesting and stimulating book, How We Became Posthuman – Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics. The book details the rise of the informational logic of life from the rise of the cybernetic paradigm in the late 1940s and onwards. Hayles writes the book in order to caution against a disembodied and anti-material view of information. She details how an informational mode of thinking came to foreground pattern and randomness over presence and absence, and gave way to a systematic devaluation of materiality and embodiment. As she notes in the introduction: “A defining characteristic of the present cultural moment is the belief that information can circulate unchanged among different material substrates. It is... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086234 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:19:53 +0100 5086234 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086444&cid=t_91944_131_f&fid=35008&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscienceroll.com%2F2011%2F08%2F01%2Ffrom-lady-gaga-and-facebook-to-md-celebs-and-twitter%2F A great post about how to get Beyond Bullet Points in Medical Education Although the British Medical Association has recently warned against patient Facebook requests, here is a story about how Facebook saved a boy’s life  Slate has a dramatic story of how a mother’s Facebook network helped spot – rapidly – Kawasaki Disease, a rare auto-immune disease that the family’s doctors had initially missed. Her social network contains some medically knowledgeable people. (Do you have any docs, nurses, etc in your Facebook circle?) Note that friends’ availability is sometimes far greater than a doctor’s office. Interviews about Pharmaceutical communication in a multi-regulatory world An interesting analysis with an astonishing finding: But what’s crazy is that number of... ScienceRoll blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086444 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 07:50:41 +0100 5086444 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5075466&cid=t_91944_58_f&fid=36507&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.nature.com%2F%7Er%2Fnature%2Fpodcast%2Fcurrent%2F%7E5%2F5B0Z3xge4VE%2Fnature-2011-07-28.mp3 This week, rescuing old monkeys from memory loss, a new fossil ruffles feathers in the bird family tree, and why we're hanging up on the aliens. (Source: Nature Podcast) Nature Podcast blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5075466 Sat, 30 Jul 2011 00:04:05 +0100 5075466 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077759&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fheadless-zombie-squid-and-dead-frogs-dancing.html It is possible to re-animate dead appendages with a little salt, either table salt or in solution form as soy sauce. Be warned, this may put you off your breakfast. In the first video (which seems to have first appeared on the web a couple of years ago but a variant of which went viral this week), the dish – Ika Odori Don* – served raw is made to dance by pouring on soy sauce. The sodium ions stimulates still active neurones in the just-dead sea creature. In the second, the frogs’ legs are made to twitch by application of salt, with a similar effect. I am not sure of the translation here. Squid is “ika” and octopus is “tako”. “Odori” is a traditional dance. Does “don” mean rice bowl? Either way, most sites say that “Ik... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077759 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:24:03 +0100 5077759 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069472&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fmed-school-applicants-is-the-interview-becoming-as-influential-as-the-grades%2F2011.07.27 This week the Times ran a leading story on a new med school admission process, with multiple, mini-interviews, like speed dating. The idea is to assess applicants’ social, communication and ethical thinking (?) skills: …It is called the multiple mini interview, or M.M.I., and its use is spreading. At least eight medical schools in the United States — including those at Stanford, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Cincinnati — and 13 in Canada are using it. At Virginia Tech Carilion, 26 candidates showed up on a Saturday in March and stood with their backs to the doors of 26 small rooms. When a bell sounded, the applicants spun around and read a sheet of paper taped to the door that described an ethical conundrum. Two minutes later, the bell sounded aga... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069472 Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:00:31 +0100 5069472 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5068925&cid=t_91944_139_f&fid=38879&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FVirologyBlog%2F%7E3%2FDpMblRHWuB8%2F Last week I attended the 30th annual meeting of the American Society for Virology in Minneapolis, Minnesota. During the morning symposia, which consist of formal 35-minute talks, I decided to post ongoing summaries of each talk on Twitter, a process known as ‘live tweeting’ or ‘live blogging’. Some individuals were skeptical about this activity, because many of the speakers presented unpublished data which they might not want circulated. I continued to live tweet the rest of the meeting, but wondered about the future of this practice. Live blogging is often done at tech conferences (MacWorld Expo, South by Southwest, to name just two). My efforts at the ASV meeting were inspired by Jonathan Eisen, a microbiologist who frequently live blogs from a variety of scientif... virology blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5068925 Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:33:11 +0100 5068925 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062279&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fwear-sunscreen.html Remember that speech that led to that Baz Luhrmann hit, “Everybody’s free to wear sunscreen“? It was good advice and still is. Here, my friend Kat Arney, blogger, broadcaster, cancer expert and harpist, explains the ins and outs of sun protection. It perhaps should also be mentioned that you can burn on cloudy summer days, especially if it’s windy and you’re near water, because UV is reflected by choppy water. “Wind burn” and the “weathered”, or “rosy cheek” look are actually just sunburn. In terms of sunscreen choice, cheap is fine but make sure you use factor 15 minimum for UVB protection and at least four-star UVA protection, otherwise it’s not going to be effective. Olive oil is not a good sunscreen despite what th... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062279 Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:30:00 +0100 5062279 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062280&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fhiggs-glimpse.html – Lots of hype going on around the possibility of having spotted a glimpse of the Higgs boson that, in theory, endows matter with mass. Of course, despite the press conferences and hype, the physicists are still stressing that it is far too early to know whether the signals they have are due to the elusive particle or nothing more than statistical fluctuations, flaws in their computer models or some other glitch. We'll see. Whatever the outcome, you can bet fellow Segedunumite Peter Higgs will be embarassed by the renown given that the theory that bears his name was developed with five colleagues. Related Posts:Large Hadron Collider at CERNOhpurleese.com – latest issueFive more science storiesScience sightings from sciencebaseNo Periodic Tables at CERNHiggs glimpse? is a ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062280 Mon, 25 Jul 2011 08:41:17 +0100 5062280 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062281&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Frosalind-franklin-google-doodle.html Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was a British X-ray crystallographer who made pioneering contributions to the understanding of the detailed molecular structures of the genetic code with her data from DNA and RNA as well as viruses, coal and graphite. She died prematurely at the age of 37 from ovarian cancer and so missed out on Nobel recognition. The Nobel committee does not make its awards posthumously and the 1962 Prize for Medicine or Physiology famously went to her colleague Maurice Wilkins and to Francis Crick and James Watson with whom the structure of DNA is somehow now synonymous. Franklin would’ve been 91 today but as far as I can see she has not had a Google Doodle to celebrate her life. So here’s a simple montage I put together in lieu of suc... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062281 Mon, 25 Jul 2011 08:08:01 +0100 5062281 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062246&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fhow-effective-are-antidepressants%2F2011.07.24 Antidepressant drugs have been getting a bad rap in the media. I’ll just give 3 examples: On the Today show, prominent medical expert Tom Cruise told us Brooke Shields shouldn’t have taken these drugs for her postpartum depression. In Natural News, “Health Ranger” Mike Adams accused pharmaceutical companies and the FDA of covering up negative information about antidepressants, saying it would be considered criminal activity in any other industry. And an article in Newsweek said  “Studies suggest that the popular drugs are no more effective than a placebo. In fact, they may be worse.” Yet psychiatrists are convinced that antidepressants work and are still routinely prescribing them for their patients. Is it all a Big Pharma plot? Who ya gonna believe? Inquiring minds want ... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062246 Sun, 24 Jul 2011 16:00:36 +0100 5062246 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050909&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.761.11 Scholarly publishing is FUBAR. Everyone knows and and everyone I know and talk to is extremely frustrated with it. Hardly a day goes by without someone complaining, cursing or shaking a fist. In the last two or three years, things have gotten so bad, that the word 'revolution' was uttered seriously, not in jest. News in the last 24h are starting to look like some people may have started to try and kick off just that.As briefly mentioned before, I support Aaron Swartz in his struggle against the US federal government after his 'Robin Hood'action of liberating 4.8 million scholarly articles for the tax-payer. In addition to the campaign started by his own organization, Demand Progress, now a person who calls himself Greg Maxwell has launched his own paper libreation in support of Aa... bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050909 Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:58:47 +0100 5050909 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050672&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fperiodic-table-of-rock-and-metal.html What if the whole of the Periodic Table were all rocks and metal? And what if it were created in 1987 by Jesus, he of the Roadside as a tribute to Guns ‘n Roses? It is obviously a concept whose time has come, because there are several others around that attempt to knock out the non-metals and the non-rock: Periodic Metal Classic Rock Periods Periodic Table of Rock Music Chinese Periodic Table of Rock Metal Chart Related Posts:A periodic table of periodic table songsPeriodic Table of Science BloggersPeriodic PostPeriodic Table of Google ElementsPeriodic table of science blogsPeriodic table of rock and metal is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog (Source: Sciencebase Science Blog) Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050672 Fri, 22 Jul 2011 07:06:52 +0100 5050672 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5047217&cid=t_91944_58_f&fid=36507&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.nature.com%2F%7Er%2Fnature%2Fpodcast%2Fcurrent%2F%7E5%2Fq1iKgUsKBYE%2Fnature-2011-07-21.mp3 This week, catching cheating cyclists, making tiny brains from DNA and sharing in chimps and children. Plus, the best of the rest from Nature. (Source: Nature Podcast) Nature Podcast blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5047217 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:37:40 +0100 5047217 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050673&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fnetworking-talent-spotting.html It’s not what you know, but who you know. It is something of a cliché, but in a world where the social context of knowledge is becoming increasingly important. Think Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, Mendeley etc. The data, the information, seems only relevant if we have some kind of peer review, the “+1″, “like”, or “thumbs-up” from our friends and acquaintances. Nowhere is the social content more pertinent than in organisations where knowledge and talent are the currencies of every transaction from the research group to the stock market. Writing in the EJIM (full reference below), information management expert Eoin Whelan of the University of Limerick, Ireland, explains how social network analysis can support talent management initiatives in knowledge-... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050673 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:00:13 +0100 5050673 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050910&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.760.11 Aaron Swartz (blog), internet activist and former Harvard Scholar (Harvard Ethics Center Lab on Institutional Corruption) has been indicted by the federal government of the USA. Recent resports in a number of outlets (New Scientist, International Business Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times) suggest that he is being charged with stealing almost 5 million journal articles from JSTOR. The charges could result in up to 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Allegedly, Aaaron Swartz broke into an MIT network to fdownload the documents from JSTOR. The charges filed against Mr. Swartz include wire fraud, computer fraud, obtaining information from a protected computer and criminal forfeiture.One of Mr. Swartz's organizations, Demand Progress, is raising a cam... bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050910 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:12:23 +0100 5050910 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050911&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.759.13 Robert Etchingham contacted me to have a look at the trailer he cut to promote a project aimed at educating children in an interesting and informative way about evolution: “The Origin of Species – The Animated series”. Have a look at the trailer and spread the word if you think it's cool:I think it looks well done and seems to be in the spirit and tone of some of the animated series I watched and learned from as a kid, such as "Once upon a time... Man" and its sequels: (Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net) bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050911 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 07:54:30 +0100 5050911 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050674&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fgregor-mendel-on-google.html Today’s Google Doodle honours the birthday in 1822 of the most famous friar in science Gregor Mendel (July 20, 1822 – January 6, 1884). Mendel gained posthumous fame as the founder of what would ultimately evolve into the science of genetics. He studied the inheritance traits of pea plants and demonstrated that inheritance followed particular rules, later known as Mendel’s laws. As I wrote many years ago for a booklet for UK TV station, Channel 4, the significance of Mendel’s work was not recognized until the turn of the 20th century, when his “laws” were rediscovered by Hugo de Vries, Carl Corrensby and Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg. %%% Related articles Early history of genetics revised Related Posts:60 million chemicalsSix signs your wine stinksWhat&#8... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050674 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 07:06:43 +0100 5050674 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050752&cid=t_91944_109_f&fid=38953&url=http%3A%2F%2Frileyjennifer.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F07%2Ffear-stem-cells-and-emotional-memory.html This summary is from Science Daily which also has the link to the actual article.Fear Boosts Activation of Immature Brain Cells: Adult Neural Stem Cells Play Role in Creating Emotional Context of MemoryScientists have long known that fear and other highly emotional experiences lead to incredibly strong memories. In a study appearing online in advance of publication in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, UC Berkeley's Daniela Kaufer and colleagues report a new way for emotions to affect memory: The brain's emotional center, the amygdala, induces the hippocampus, a relay hub for memory, to generate new neurons.In a fearful situation, these newborn neurons get activated by the amygdala and may provide a "blank slate" to strongly imprint the new fearful memory, she said. In evolutionary terms, i... Psych Scamp blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050752 Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:17:00 +0100 5050752 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050675&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fdaylight-video-of-the-iss-and-atlantis-from-the-ground.html According to Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy you can see details when the ISS flies overhead with a decent pair of binoculars, but with an 8-inch reflector telescope and a decent video camera set up for astrophotography you can grab yourself a Youtube clip…in broad daylight: I’ve seen the ISS fly over a couple of times on a clear, dark night, it’s quite an astounding site, especially knowing that it’s only 350 km above you when at it’s at its closest. Bizarrely, the second time I saw it I was on a camping trip with family and friends and remarking on what a fascinating sight it is, when it appeared. Happened again the third time I saw it from a pub garden. I wonder…is it alcohol induced? Related Posts:The Elements Song – Periodic Table of VideosUse a ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050675 Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:50:11 +0100 5050675 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050676&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Flatest-alchemist-from-chemweb.html – Some unusual chemical news this week, beginning with the discovery of hydrogen peroxide in interstellar space by European astronomers, while British chemists hint that organic life might have had a start in an inorganic shell. German analysts are hoping to track down the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls and US researchers suggest that children are chemically either doves or hawks for evolutionary advantage. In pharmaceutical news, the discovery that a chemokine causes the pain of sunburn might lead to new ways to treat this often self-inflicted problem as well as representing a novel lead for analgesic drug discovery. And, this week's personal news reports that chemist Marye Anne Fox is to step down from the role of chancellor at UCSD. Related Posts:Total alchemistAlchemy and ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050676 Tue, 19 Jul 2011 07:30:09 +0100 5050676 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050677&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fuk-cancer-trends.html – The media has been all over the Cancer Research UK announcements on cancer rates. Specifically, the focus was on middle-aged people and the increases seen between 1979 and 2008. NHS Choices, as ever, provides some rational words following the media frenzy and cites a few of the stats to which I’ve added percentages of diagnoses for comparison): The highest rate of new diagnoses is among people aged 75 and over; the rate of new diagnoses in over-75s increased from 1,808 per 100,000 to 2,319 per 100,000. (That’s 1.8% in 1979; 2.3% in 2008). In people aged 60 to 74, new diagnoses rose from 1075.9 per 100,000 to 1,370 per 100,000. (1.1% in 1979; 1.4% in 2008). In people aged 40 to 59, new diagnoses rose from 329.1 per 100,000 in 1979 and 388.1 per 100,000 in 2008 (an 18% r... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050677 Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:00:41 +0100 5050677 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050678&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fcaricatures-and-face-recognition.html – The “Ugly, pretty girls” post and video I blogged the other day got lots of interest. It seems face recognition and perception of faces is a fascinating subject for many people. Not surprising, really. Even in this digital age, face to face still beats any electronic interaction. Anyway, Wired have taken up this face recognition issue and report some interesting facts about how and why caricatures are so much more recognisable than the original face. Our brains are incredibly agile machines, says Ben Austen, and it’s hard to think of anything they do more efficiently than recognize faces. Within hours of our birth, we can recognise face-like patterns. It takes the adult brain just 100 milliseconds to recognise such a pattern as a face. Neuroscientists now believe... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050678 Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:16:43 +0100 5050678 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050679&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fedible-cat-litter-for-drug-delivery.html – Having published a bog about bulldogs and cats, seems quite apt that I was also writing recently about kitty litter the main component of which is the absorbant mineral sepiolite. Sepiolite has been known since Roman times when it was used to filter and purify wine, today it's commonly found in cat litter trays. It absorbs huge amounts of liquid as it is so porous although a detailed understanding was missing. Now, an X-ray study could help explain why and perhaps lead to more technological applications, such as the development of food binders and drug-delivery agents. Related Posts:Composting Chitosan Cat-litter CompositeSpectroscopic science newsCurious X-shooter AntibioticsTuberculosis Waste Disposal Defeats Immune SystemCanned heavy metal and moreEdible cat litter for dru... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050679 Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:41:16 +0100 5050679 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5034892&cid=t_91944_58_f&fid=36507&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.nature.com%2F%7Er%2Fnature%2Fpodcast%2Fcurrent%2F%7E5%2F3nNO83ZAApY%2Fnature-2011-07-14.mp3 This week, we learn how old mathematical theories apply to the modern world, hear of a gentle way to mend a broken heart and find out how tiny ancestors gave rise to the biggest creatures ever to have walked the Earth. (Source: Nature Podcast) Nature Podcast blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5034892 Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:18:34 +0100 5034892 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5036269&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Ffacts-about-rainbows.html I am currently reading the most excellent “The Sun’s Heartbeat” by astronomy writer Bob Berman. It’s the kind of book I’d love to be able to write, informative, entertaining, engaging and witty. In it, Berman explains the solar things you may always have wondered about from total eclipses (far more astounding than any partial) and sun spots to the inner sun and the secrets of rainbows. Rainbows you will remember are formed by the refraction of sunlight through water droplets in the sky, what is more they don’t exist…without you. Every rainbow that ever there was was there because someone glanced up and saw it. But, rainbows are even more strange and weird than that cynical glance might suggest. Here are Berman’s 10 things you probably didn&#8... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5036269 Sat, 16 Jul 2011 09:17:50 +0100 5036269 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028406&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fnew-nuclear-power-stations.html – The UK government is/has approved the building of 8 nuclear power stations in the UK at Hartlepool; Sellafield, Cumbria; Heysham, Lancashire; Wylfa, Isle of Anglesey; Sizewell, Suffolk; Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex; Oldbury, Gloucestershire and Hinkley Point in Somerset. Presumably, the'll produce a lot of gigawatts without contributing directly to CO2 emissions. So…why are we also still messing around with wind, wave and solar? Will the total additional capacity of those 8 nuclear generators (even when older stations close) far outstrip all demand without our having to pepper the countryside with windfarms and frighten the fish? Just curious. I've not done the sums, but I also wonder how we'd cope on cloudy, windless days when the tide is out…thoughts? Relate... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028406 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 08:41:19 +0100 5028406 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028407&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fuse-a-bulldog-to-put-your-cat-in-standby-mode.html Cat lovers everywhere might baulk at this veterinarian’s approach to putting cats in “standby” mode, but it’s not painful and simply hooks into the reflex that makes kittens go entirely limp when they are grabbed by the she cat by the scruff of their neck. It’s probably not advisable to do this to your own cat. It’s really for the cat’s safety and teh safety of the vet while it undergoes treatment. There is some debate as to whether that is indeed a reflex or whether it’s a conditioned response. I suspect it’s far too important that a kitten submits to its mother’s lifting it up in this way for it to be conditioned, it’s an innate reflex, I think. Feel free to argue that point, but in the meantime watch the kitteh being put ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028407 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:04:03 +0100 5028407 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028408&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fmore-pretty-ugly-people.html On Monday I posted a Youtube clip revealing a weird perception phenomenon in which even the prettiest girl seems to appear, fleetingly, as if she were an ogre or a troll. Take a look at the ugly pretty girl phenomenon here. I’m never satisfied to simply echo what others have said, so contacted co-discoverer of the effect Jason Tangen and asked him about whether the effect works for males and females and whether or not it might somehow be linked to the origin of monster myths and alien imagery… “Indeed, the effect works for male and female faces,” he told Sciencebase. Indeed, apparently it is even more weird: “It seems to be a low level perceptual phenomenon, and I doubt it’s unique to faces,” he added. The monstrous faces idea had also occurred to ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028408 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:51:48 +0100 5028408 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028702&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.756.13 (Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net) bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028702 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:55:12 +0100 5028702 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028703&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.755.11 Peter Murray-Rust asks "Why should [scholarly] journals exist?" I answer: they don't have to:Inspired by PMR. Click for larger version. For free distribution and reuse. (Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net) bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028703 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:17:07 +0100 5028703 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028387&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F07%2F11%2Fhistory-of-science-blogs-and-twitter-accounts%2F Last year Michael D. Barton published a list of blogs and twitter accounts that “focus on or dabble in the history of science, science and technology studies, etc.” that he was aware of. He’s just posted a link to it on his FB wall, so this must be the latest updated version. Great work! But did he miss any? Seems like the list below doesn’t include much history of medical science (after all much of medicine is medical science), so hopefully someone with good link collecting instincts could make a similar list for HoMS. Advances in the History of Psychology (@AHPblog) Adventures of a Post-Doc Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project Alfred Russel Wallace News & Views (@ARWallace) AlunSalt AmericanScience: A Team Blog (@henrycowles, @danbouk) Anita Gu... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028387 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:00:42 +0100 5028387 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028409&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fugly-pretty-girls.html We describe a novel face distortion effect resulting from the fast-paced presentation of eye-aligned faces. When cycling through the faces on a computer screen, each face seems to become a caricature of itself and some faces appear highly deformed, even grotesque. The degree of distortion is greatest for faces that deviate from the others in the set on a particular dimension (eg if a person has a large forehead, it looks particularly large). This new method of image presentation, based on alignment and speed, could provide a useful tool for investigating contrastive distortion effects and face adaptation.” I wonder whether it works for people who have not seen caracatures or grotesques of any kind, is it an evolutionary adaption for spotting people with whom your body would prefer yo... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028409 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:38:07 +0100 5028409 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028410&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fred-bull-formula-1-car-manual.html – This book, an advance copy of which just pulled into the pits at Sciencebase Central, describes itself as “An insight into the technology, engineering, maintenance and operation of Red Bull racing. It’s the Haynes manual for the F1 car, the owner’s workshop manual, in the style of the classic Haynes manuals generations of British drivers have turned to when they wanted to change their spark plugs or adjust their tappets in pre-computerised driving days. After the closest-fought season in F1 history, Sebastian Vettel became the youngest-ever World Champion. His car, the Red Bull RB6, the work of a team led by legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey, was the envy of the paddock, proving to be consistently faster than its rivals over the season. In this fascinating book,... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028410 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 09:42:24 +0100 5028410 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008447&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.754.11 Apparently, as discussed just last month, the predicted pinch for the smaller journals in the wake of the success of PLoS One can already be felt. An editorial ("Why would you pay to get published?"; subscription required) at the European Journal of Neuroscience (EJN) is attacking open access journals, raising the suspicion that submissions may have been dwindeling, or at least are expected to dwindle in the near future. Otherwise, there would be only few rational explanations left for this crude hit-piece which either recycles some rather outdated arguments or distorts by omission.Let's correct a few things in this editorial - or at least put them in context:As some OA journals publish several thousand papers a year, and taking into account the relatively low production costs for s... bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008447 Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:37:00 +0100 5008447 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008276&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fcan-you-blame-the-environment-for-your-bad-habits.html Live fast, die young. You’re a long time gone. Sleep when you’re dead. The hedonists mantras. Lifestyle choices whether in terms of food consumption, alcohol and drugs or sexual activity are down to the individual. Nannying by governments, who have their own mantras: Smoking Kills, Know your limits, Get your five-a-day, Use protection, etc, all costs money, is apparently ignored by most people, and probably has little effect on those lifestyle choices. But, some researchers believe that the concept of freewill when it comes to smoking, drinking, poor eating habits and other health risks is not entirely independent of external forces. Claudio Ricciardi of the Department of Environment and Primary Prevention, at the Italian National Institute of Health, in Rome, goes so far as to... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008276 Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:18:30 +0100 5008276 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008277&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fwatch-the-last-shuttle-launch-live.html UPDATE: The Orbiter made it into orbit, the live stream is now ended. I’ll replace the video embed with a Youtube clip to re-run the launch… A group of us skipped a high school physical education class to watch the very first shuttle launch way back when. At the time, we assumed they’d be launching a couple of Orbiters every week thereafter (that was the plan, apparently). But, that wasn’t to be. Now, you can watch the last ever Shuttle launch, live with Sciencebase courtesy of NASA’s Ustream, assuming the weather holds… Related Posts:K Barry Sharpless LiveNobel Prize for Chemistry 2010You Are a MonkeyParty tricks for scientistsReal chemistry at the periodic table partyWatch the last Shuttle launch live is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog (Source: ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008277 Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:15:55 +0100 5008277 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028399&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36584&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotech-weblog.com%2F39444424%2Fharvard_bioscience_buys_preclinical_unit_of_cma_microdialysis.php © Idaho National LaboratoryHarvard Bioscience has taken over CMA Microdialysis' preclinical unit. Harvard Bioscience, also known as HBIO is the producer, marketer and developer of scientific apparatus and other specialized goods. They took over the preclinical unit of the company by way of purchasing assets. CMA Microdialysis is a Swedish company- founded in 1984- which is a market leader in the manufacture of microdialysis products. Since Harvard Bioscience is a market leader when it comes to providing tools for research and other such purposes, this ... (Source: The Biotech Weblog) The Biotech Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028399 Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:25:18 +0100 5028399 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5005218&cid=t_91944_58_f&fid=36507&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.nature.com%2F%7Er%2Fnature%2Fpodcast%2Fcurrent%2F%7E5%2FRIbTFctOB0w%2Fnature-2011-07-07.mp3 This week, Saturn's storm, the link between alcohol and DNA damage, and the vitamin D debate. Plus, the best of the rest from this week's Nature. (Source: Nature Podcast) Nature Podcast blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5005218 Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:44:34 +0100 5005218 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008278&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fperiodic-table-of-qr-codes.html – QR codes are those little black and white boxes that look like a messed up barcode, which is essentially what they are, 2D barcodes. They’re becoming almost ubiquitous. Every event you attend, every restaurant you pass, almost every site you visit seems to have a QR code. You can embed all kinds of information and even add logos without breaking their functionality. But, best of all you can use them to visit a website with your smartphone by simply aiming its camera at the QR (either on a screen or printed in a shop window, for instance) and up pops the appropriate page. I’ve added a QR to Sciencebase and re-enabled the QR for Sciencetext. You can thank Brady Haran of PToV fame for inspiring me to do so. He emailed me earlier today to alert me to the Periodic Table of ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008278 Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:38:42 +0100 5008278 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028401&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36584&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotech-weblog.com%2F39444424%2Fchina_to_put_in_funds_on_biotechnology.php © Idaho National LaboratoryChinese State Councilor Liu Yandong has announced major funding of the biotechnology sector in the next 5 years. The announcement was made at the International Conference for Bio-Economy to spend $308.5 billion on developing biotechnology. This funding of biotechnology will be to enhance the standard of living of people as well as economic development. The five year plan also envisages strong strides in bio-pharmacy, bio-agriculture, bio-manufacturing and bio-engineering. The plan is to use biotechnology to alleviate problems like natural disasters, protect the ... (Source: The Biotech Weblog) The Biotech Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028401 Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:34:40 +0100 5028401 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028402&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36584&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotech-weblog.com%2F39444424%2Fbiotechnology_a_solution_to_global_problems.php © Idaho National LaboratorySteve Burrill, CEO of Burrill & Companies, gave a short retrospective of his experience of 25 years in the biotechnology industry and his views about the current state of biotechnology industry at BIO 2011 in Washington, D.C. last Tuesday, The program started with the representation of the 25 former annual reports (of Mr. Burrill describing his involvement in financing biotechnology companies. He mentioned the early stages of commercial biotechnology with the making of ALZA as a spinout from Syntex, but very soon, ... (Source: The Biotech Weblog) The Biotech Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028402 Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:44:20 +0100 5028402 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008279&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fbleached-in-space.html – Great news for cosmic hairdressers. ESO has discovered hydrogen peroxide in space. If you look at the photo, there’s a little red ring, that’s the stuff right there. On Earth, hydrogen peroxide plays a key role in the chemistry of water and ozone in our planet’s atmosphere, but is familiar in solution form for its use as hair bleach and as a disinfectant. Oh, and in high school science labs when you add it to slices of liver to make them froth with enzymic activity. Seriously though, detecting molecules of hydrogen peroxide in the space between the stars could offer clues about the chemical link between two molecules critical for life: water and oxygen. The discovery adds this important chemical to the growing list of small molecules, both inorganic and organic, that... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008279 Wed, 06 Jul 2011 10:16:54 +0100 5008279 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008052&cid=t_91944_83_f&fid=34690&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Finsolence%2F%7E3%2FMsKenEeCKrM%2Flets_hope_they_dont_find_out_about_tam.php Darn it all! I knew they'd find us out. I just knew it: Actually, I'm happy. Our diversion has worked. While the conspiracy loons will be protesting the lesser of two meetings, the real work in crushing conspiracies and ensuring our world domination will be some 600 miles away in Las Vegas at The Amaz!ng Meeting 9. A pity, though, that I and my fellow skeptical conspirators can't be two places at once. The discussions of toxic murder meters, mandated vaccines, aerial toxins, and starting perpetual wars in order to assure progress towards a World Government and Hitlerian New World Order sound most tempting. I guess I'll have to miss it and the protesters in favor of hobnobbing with fellow skeptics, angling to get my picture taken with the bigwigs of the skeptical movement, and meetin... Respectful Insolence blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008052 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:00:51 +0100 5008052 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008280&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fbrain-tumours-and-mobile-phones.html UPDATE: 8 July 2011 This update isn’t anything new, but something I should’ve pointed out and that is always ignored/overlookd in popular and sensationalist discussions about the health risks of electromagnetic radiation is that everything beyond the violet end of the spectrum – UV, X-rays, gamma rays – are high-energy and “ionising” forms of radiation. Everything below the red end of the spectrum – infrared, microwaves, radio waves – are much lower in energy and do not ionise molecules or atoms. They can heat things up (infra-red makes molecules vibrate, which heats them up, microwaves make polar molecules spin, the energy of which is transferred to other molecules as vibrations (heat). The WHO’s verdict is one based on the precautiona... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008280 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:08:12 +0100 5008280 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4997586&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F07%2F04%2Fcollection-impossible-distributed-curatorship-as-an-alternative-to-centralised-acquisitioning%2F I thought of sending this abstract to the Artefacts meeting in the Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, 25-27 September (this year’s theme is ‘Conceptualizing, Collecting and Presenting Recent Science and Technology’): COLLECTION IMPOSSIBLE: Distributed curatorship as an alternative to centralised acquisitioning Centralised collecting of the artefacts from contemporary science, technology and medical (STM) visual and material culture seems to have rather bleak prospects. The looming financial and social global crisis is not conducive to centralized efforts by big museums to save the contemporary STM heritage, not least because the modern state-subsidised museum institution is running out of funding (at least in the West). What can curators then do to uphold their professional obligation to ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4997586 Mon, 04 Jul 2011 10:00:04 +0100 4997586 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028403&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36584&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotech-weblog.com%2F39444424%2Fnow_showing_british_bioinformatics_researches_in_australia.php © tmaioliUniversity of Queensland in Brisbane launched its mirror facility last month which will give Australian Scientists access to the British arm of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute. EMBL Australia's chairman Richard Larkins believes that the mirror facility will make downloading bioinformatics faster and less time consuming. Nadia Rosenthal, scientific head of EMBL Australia, holds that the facility will play a crucial role in the development of personalised medicine. The Australian Academy of Science's secretary for science policy, geneticist Bob Williamson thinks ... (Source: The Biotech Weblog) The Biotech Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028403 Mon, 04 Jul 2011 06:09:59 +0100 5028403 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159031&cid=t_91944_90_f&fid=36413&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcscience.net%2F%3Fp%3D4582%26utm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dapologists-for-andrew-wakefield-at-southampton-university-a-russell-group-university-teaching-some-dangerous-nonsense Conclusion Electrodermal testing cannot be used to diagnose environmental allergies", published in the BMJ .[download reprint]. In 2003 he published "A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled proving trial of Belladonna 30C” [download reprint] that showed homeopathic pills with no active ingredients had no effects: The conclusion was "”Ultramolecular homeopathy has no observable clinical effects" (the word ultramolecular, in this context, means that the belladonna pills contained no belladonna). In 2010 he again concluded that homeopathic pills were no more than placebos, as described in Despite the spin, Lewith’s paper surely signals the end of homeopathy (again). [download reprint] What i cannot understand is that, despite his own findings, his pri... DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159031 Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:10:30 +0100 5159031 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4997525&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fomega-3-fatty-acids-the-science-behind-their-potential-heart-health-benefits%2F2011.07.03 The Biology of Omega-3 fatty acids: (Just a little science:) When fish, flax-seeds or Brussels sprouts pass through the intestine, pancreatic enzymes transform the fat to free fatty acids. These acids are quickly taken up by the cells. Once in the cell, these fatty acids enter the mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and cytosol–places that you might recall because your mom helped you make a Cell sponge cake in 7th grade Biology. In the cells, the Omega-3 fatty acids (ALA, DHA and EPA) exert their healthy influence in three major ways: in the control of chemical messengers; in the flux of ions—cell electricity; in the smoothness and health of the cell membrane. That’s enough about cells. How do these (good) fats help our bodies? Omega-3 fatty acids reduce Inflammation: –Omega-3s ... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4997525 Sun, 03 Jul 2011 16:00:49 +0100 4997525 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4992686&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fexaggerated-claims-can-be-found-in-respected-medical-journals%2F2011.07.02 e-Patients who want to collaborate with their physicians, and be responsible for their medical decisions, need to clearly understand what constitutes good evidence. It’s not always easy. Now Richard Smith, a 25 year editor of the British Medical Journal, has written another piece for the BMJ blog, citing a JAMA study showing “that of the 49 most highly cited papers on medical interventions published in high profile journals between 1990 and 2004 a quarter of the randomised trials and five of six non-randomised studies had been contradicted or found to be exaggerated by 2005.” What’s an e-patient to do?? Especially when we “patients who google” are so often sneered at by physicians who rely on these same journals. Well, we need to educate ourselves, and learn to speak calmly, ... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4992686 Sat, 02 Jul 2011 12:00:37 +0100 4992686 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4992742&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F07%2F02%2Frepresenting-the-contentious%2F I found this interesting – consider it in light of museum materialities and aestethics: “The symposium will also consider why academic and artistic projects are subject to different degrees of ethical oversight and how the final outputs of such projects are shaped by their prospective consumption in the public domain.” See below for the full call ——————————————————————————————————– Representing the Contentious:  A Symposium Dr Bronwyn Parry and Ania Dabrowska, Artist Mind Over Matter, Wellcome Trust People Award Call for papers. 14th October, 2011 10 am – 4 p... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4992742 Sat, 02 Jul 2011 09:20:23 +0100 4992742 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4992743&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F07%2F01%2Fhouse-wrapped-in-dolls-hair-artist-meta-comment-on-entire-museum%2F Just saw this on Danny’s blog. Artist meta-comment on entire museum:  The former London home of Sigmund and Anna Freud, now the Freud Museum, is enveloped in a cats cradle of rope made of dolls’ hair. Standing as it does on a prosperous suburban street of imposing redbrick villas, the bound house looks like a scene from a dream itself, a dream of home denied. Such dreams are typically untangled on a therapeutic descendant of the very couch that sits inside the museum; the fairytale Rapunzel tress-ropes also suggest the kind of psychological decoding of myth and culture that Freud indulged in. It’s interesting how an entire exhibition can transform and be experienced in a whole new way through one persons art-work derived from subjective associations. She hasn’t changed... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4992743 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:38:09 +0100 4992743 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4992747&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fscanning-for-juvenile-delinquency.html – Impulsiveness in youth is not a criminal offence, although if it reaches into the realm of delinquency it can quickly become so. Researchers in the US are using functional magnetic resonance imaging to see whether the brains of young offenders differ in some behavioural way from those of non-criminals. Seemingly, they do in terms of the communication between regions associated with motor control and self control. I asked lead researcher Benjamin Shannon of WUSTL to explain the findings. “We scanned 107 incarcerated juveniles, between the ages of 14-18,” he told me. “We then compared the results in that population to a group of 95 individuals from the community between the ages of 7 and 31. We saw that the pattern of brain activity associated with impulsivity in t... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4992747 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 07:10:11 +0100 4992747 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4993017&cid=t_91944_165_f&fid=37959&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhealthskills.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F07%2F01%2Fwhat-is-this-thing-called-pain%2F As I’m busy writing up research papers for publications to “count” towards my research productivity, I’m reminded of one reason I keep on blogging – and it’s this: blogs are open to anyone.  People can comment on what I write.  When someone comments, whether they agree, disagree, or simply pose a question, it’s an opportunity for dialogue and reflection. That’s not nearly as easy to do in a peer-reviewed journal! As a result of comments from my post yesterday, I’m musing on ways to explain the distinction between acute and chronic pain that will make sense to someone who experiences fluctuations in pain intensity. I think I’m clear in my own mind between the two, but perhaps things are not as distinct as I’ve made them &#8... HealthSkills Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4993017 Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:04:56 +0100 4993017 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4981716&cid=t_91944_58_f&fid=36507&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.nature.com%2F%7Er%2Fnature%2Fpodcast%2Fcurrent%2F%7E5%2FdjQP4P2OJF4%2Fnature-2011-06-30.mp3 This week, we tackle a plant plague and talk about higher education as part of our Africa special. Plus, a new method that could make gene therapy better. (Source: Nature Podcast) Nature Podcast blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4981716 Thu, 30 Jun 2011 04:40:44 +0100 4981716 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4984617&cid=t_91944_131_f&fid=35008&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscienceroll.com%2F2011%2F06%2F29%2Fnatalie-portman-published-a-paper%2F Did you know that Natalie Portman (under the name, Natalie Hershlag) published a paper in a scientific journal in 2002 while being at Harvard? Frontal lobe activation during object permanence: data from near-infrared spectroscopy. The ability to create and hold a mental schema of an object is one of the milestones in cognitive development. Developmental scientists have named the behavioral manifestation of this competence object permanence. Convergent evidence indicates that frontal lobe maturation plays a critical role in the display of object permanence, but methodological and ethical constrains have made it difficult to collect neurophysiological evidence from awake, behaving infants. Near-infrared spectroscopy provides a noninvasive assessment of changes in oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin and... ScienceRoll blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4984617 Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:40:03 +0100 4984617 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4984451&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fdoes-accutane-cause-inflammatory-bowel-disease-the-evidence-is-weak%2F2011.06.29 At home the kids’ current TV show of choice is How I Met Your Mother, supplanting Scrubs as the veg out show in the evening. Both shows are always on a cable channel somewhere and are often broadcast late at night. Late night commercials can be curious, and as I work on projects, I watch the shows and commercials out of the corner of my eye. Law firms trolling for business seem common. If you or a family member has had a serious stroke, heart attack or death from Avandia, call now. The non-serious deaths? I suppose do not bother. One ad in particular caught my eye: anyone who developed ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease (collectively referred to inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD) after using Accutane, call now. Millions have been awarded. My eye may have been caught because of ... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4984451 Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:00:47 +0100 4984451 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4984612&cid=t_91944_131_f&fid=34999&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marymeetsdolly.com%2Fblog%2Findex.php%3F%2Farchives%2F1037-Only-1-in-5-Catholics-defer-to-Church-on-stem-cell-issues.html When I started Mary Meets Dolly nearly 6 years ago, I was one of the uneducated masses that unconsciously believed the stereotype that my Church was stuck in the past; that the Catholic Church was behind the times.  In the months of research that it took me to get up to speed on biotechnology and the Church's teaching, I discovered something that changed my life.  I discovered that my Church was not backward at all.  In fact it was more forward thinking that any another institution I had ever encountered.  (And having performed DNA sequencing for Nobel Prize winning labs, that is saying something.)  The writings of Pope Paul VI's Humane Vitae back in 1968 spoke directly to the moral conundrums we face today with stem cell research and cloning.  If society had listened, we would not h... Mary Meets Dolly blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4984612 Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:02:08 +0100 4984612 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4976238&cid=t_91944_165_f&fid=37959&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhealthskills.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F06%2F29%2Fblack-and-white-thinking-must-be-abolished%2F Black and white thinking, for those readers unfamiliar with cognitive distortions, refers to the tendency to reduce complex ideas and situations into simple, dichotomous, and mutually exclusive categories. Think of good or bad, yes or no, all correct or all wrong, acute pain or chronic pain, neuromatrix or peripheral mechanisms, cure the pain or manage the pain. It’s a way of simplifying arguments or decisions that can work well when the situation requires very fast decision-making, or where the options are very limited. It doesn’t work at all in the messy and complicated worlds of clinical reasoning, theory development, or in discussions to broaden understanding. I’m pondering this because of the way various aspects of pain management and the science of pain are misrepre... HealthSkills Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4976238 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:15:22 +0100 4976238 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975932&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fthe-real-reason-for-pruney-fingers.html – Sit in a bath too long and your fingers will wrinkle up. Everyone from 5 to 95 knows that. The scientific explanation was always that the skin absorbs water and the underlying layer buckles. That’s as may be, but writing in Nature News, Ed Yong explains an explanation from Mark Changizi and colleagues that suggests pruney fingers have an evolutionary advantage in that they allow us to get a grip when we’ve been in the water. Changizi, an evolutionary neurobiologist at 2AI Labs in Boise, Idaho, and his colleagues think that the formation of wrinkles on the pads of our fingers when we swim or bathe act like tyre treads in wet conditions expelling water when conditions are slippery. It’s possible, just don’t rely on a theory to save your glass if you enjoy lon... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975932 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:24:20 +0100 4975932 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968694&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=36506&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBrainSciencePodcastBlog%2F%7E3%2FXjSCPI9gHS0%2Fwhy-neuroscience-matters.html On May 11, 2011 Ginger Campbell, MD gave a talk entitled "Why Neuroscience Matters" at the London Skeptics in the Pub. Episode 42 of Books and Ideas is an edited version of that talk, including the lively Q and A with the audience. Listen to Episode 42 of Books and Ideas Free Episode Transcript (Download PDF)     Subscribe to Books and Ideas Podcast:   References  Bayes, A., Grant, S., et al. "Characterization of the proteome, diseases and evolution of the human postsynaptic density." Nature Neuroscience 14, 19–21 (2011) (Published online 12/23/2010). Libet, B. "Do We Have Free Will?" Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6. No. 8-9, 1999, pp. 47-57. On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not (2008) by Robert Burton; p 127. Philosophy in t... the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968694 Sat, 25 Jun 2011 12:00:30 +0100 4968694 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968542&cid=t_91944_105_f&fid=36987&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FIvorKovicMd%2F%7E3%2Fv_fF9FquzRA%2F Just recently my colleague and I have published two research papers. I am very proud of the first one titled “Mobile phone in the Chain of Survival”, which was published after a lot of research in the Resuscitation journal. This short paper gives an overview of vast possibilities possessed by mobile phones to be of assistance in medical emergencies. It represents a continuation of my work with CPR mobile applications. I have also now published a video of the lecture I gave during the Resuscitation 2010 congress about the same subject. You can watch my 10 minute lecture here, and read our paper at the Resuscitation website. The second paper we wrote appeared in the Croatian journal Lijecnicki Vjesnik (in English this would be something like Physician’s Newsletter). It i... Ivor Kovic, M.D. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968542 Sat, 25 Jun 2011 09:54:12 +0100 4968542 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968908&cid=t_91944_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FoxxvlqvSqOs%2F Hired someone new and exciting? Promoted a rising star? Finally solved that hard-to-fill spot? Share the news with us and we’ll share with it others. That’s right. Send us your announcements and we’ll find a home for them. Don’t be shy. Everyone wants to know who is coming and going, especially with all the layoffs. Despite the downsizing, there is movement. Here are some of the latest changes. Recognize anyone? And here is our regular feature. Send us a photo and we will spotlight a different person each week. This time around, we note that Health Market Science hired John Schultz, as executive vp of sales for all HMS business units, including life sciences and pharmacy. Previously, he was senior vp of sales and marketing at MedAssurant. And before that, he led sales and marketing... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968908 Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:00:22 +0100 4968908 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968559&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fthe-blind-spot-science-and-the-crisis-of-uncertainty.html – “In today’s unpredictable and chaotic world, we look to science to provide certainty and answers–and often blame it when things go wrong. The Blind Spot reveals why our faith in scientific certainty is a dangerous illusion, and how only by embracing science’s inherent ambiguities and paradoxes can we truly appreciate its beauty and harness its potential.” So says the blurb on Byers latest book. I’m not so sure, there are many scientists out there, who while recognising that there is uncertainty and subjectivity in observations, particularly thanks to those bastions of 20th Century physics, quantum mechanics and relativity, still maintain that we could eventually explain everything. Perhaps, there’s actually a middle ground, with a universe... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968559 Fri, 24 Jun 2011 07:42:06 +0100 4968559 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968582&cid=t_91944_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F23%2Ffrustrated-by-devices-read-the-manual%2F Handsome, well-made tools are a joy to use; confusing devices are a drain. So often, I find, things once easy to operate — TVs, irons, dishwashers, alarm clocks, washing machines — are now humiliatingly challenging. Cognitive-science professor Donald Norman points out that when we expect a device — like a toaster or video camera — will be fairly simple to operate, and it’s not, we assume we’re at fault, instead of holding the object responsible. One Sunday afternoon, when I was frantically trying to synchronize the data on my laptop with my desktop, I kept getting strange error messages. In desperation, I asked my husband to take a look. “Oh. Our internet service isn’t working,” he announced after fifteen seconds on the computer. I’d assumed I was doing ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968582 Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:22:03 +0100 4968582 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968424&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F06%2Fim-talking-at-glastonbury-saturday-130pm-free-university-in-the-park%2F Hi all, just to say, I’m doing a talk in the Free University of Glastonbury, 1:30pm (or thereabouts) on Saturday. Free University is the literarature tent in The Park field, based inside HMS Sweet Charity, which sounds like it’s probably a big silly boat. www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news/the-free-university-of-glastonbury-returns I’m also talking at Secret Garden Party (speakers tent, no [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968424 Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:19:18 +0100 4968424 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968425&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F06%2Ftheres-something-magical-about-watching-patterns-emerge-from-data%2F Ben Goldacre The Guardian Saturday 11 June 2011 We all know one atom of experience isn’t enough to spot a pattern: but when you put lots of experiences together and process that data, you get new knowledge. This might sound obvious, but following it through – watching patterns emerge from the noise – still gives me [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968425 Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:29:09 +0100 4968425 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968560&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fscience-goes-mobile-scimobileapps.html Science goes mobile #SciMobileApps – ChemConnector Tony Williams nudged me towards a relatively new initiative to help science "get" mobile. Mobile apps for science are expanding in scope and capability very quickly, yet there is no easy way to source information regarding what is available, what the community thinks of these apps (in terms of general reviews) and clustering of these apps into functional groupings. This wiki aims to remedy that situation. It is a community resource for developers and users to share information about the various science apps that are available. All users are encouraged to participate by adding your comments and adding new pages. Related Posts:Mobile Climbing WallMobile Phones and CancerAwards, PTs, and green phonesSciencebase on an iPhoneMob... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968560 Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:21:26 +0100 4968560 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960201&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.752.3 This comic strip is absolutely amazing! It manages to fit a lot of information and concepts into nicely drawn pictures. Pure genius, go and read the whole story!(via Pharyngula) (Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net) bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960201 Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:07:12 +0100 4960201 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4958819&cid=t_91944_58_f&fid=36507&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.nature.com%2F%7Er%2Fnature%2Fpodcast%2Fcurrent%2F%7E5%2F0RxeSzxyrW8%2Fnature-2011-06-23.mp3 This week, cluster-flocking pigeons, biofuels of the future and the impact on mental health of living in the city. Plus, the best of the rest from Nature. (Source: Nature Podcast) Nature Podcast blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4958819 Thu, 23 Jun 2011 04:41:38 +0100 4958819 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960123&cid=t_91944_109_f&fid=34760&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkolber.typepad.com%2Fethics_law_blog%2F2011%2F06%2Faltering-moral-judgments-with-magnetism-davenport.html "Research of the last couple decades has shown that injuries to a part of the brain called the right temporoparietal junction (RTPJ), located at the brain’s surface above and behind the right ear, can change a patient’s moral judgments. When... (Source: Neuroethics and Law Blog) Neuroethics and Law Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960123 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 09:32:37 +0100 4960123 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953129&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.751.11 In a recent report on German public TV, a sad but tragically very commonplace procedure is being described as the latest, most extreme case of worker exploitation: scientists continuing to do science while being officially unemployed. On the face of it, the report seems to be correct in claiming that people who are working despite being paid unemployment benefits are incriminating themselves - which is what people colloquially call social parasites. However, the idea of paying these benefits is to enable people to look for jobs, maybe even to go and learn a new, more promising trade. In short, to give the candidate the leeway to do everything possible to secure a new job as soon as possible. Now what is the best way to secure a job in science? To do more science, get more papers, get more ... bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953129 Tue, 21 Jun 2011 21:43:43 +0100 4953129 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953393&cid=t_91944_160_f&fid=36189&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skinmdblog.com%2F517%2Fprotect-your-skin-this-summer%2F It’s the summer and while you proceed to spend some fun in the sun with your family and friends, it’s important that you properly protect your skin from overexposure—too much sun can lead not only to painful sunburns, but skin cancer and early skin aging such as unattractive wrinkles and sun spots as well. But when it comes to selecting the best sunscreen for you and/or your family, sometimes it’s confusing. So confusing in fact, that the Food and Drug Administration has mandated new sun screen regulations so that consumers can better understand labels and get the protection they need. Under the new regulations, which will take effect next summer, sunscreens will now have to pass a “broad spectrum” test before they can be placed on the market. This test will... Skin MD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953393 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:31:52 +0100 4953393 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953008&cid=t_91944_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F06%2F20%2Fthe-situation-of-the-vancouver-riot-kiss%2F From the Ottawa Citizen (article written by Sheril Kirshenbaum, a research scientist at the University of Texas and author of The Science of Kissing): The man and woman appear oblivious of the chaos swirling around them. When anarchy erupted on the streets of Vancouver last week, the couple exchanged an ephemeral kiss that will last forever on our cultural landscape. Photographer Richard Lam inadvertently captured the embrace on his camera, and the image quickly made headlines around the world. It’s a striking contrast of furious energy and tender pause that will be analyzed, criticized, and admired for decades to come. Scott Jones and Alex Thomas were the calm in the eye of a storm. Many wonder whether the scene has been photo-shopped or staged. Who are these people and what would ... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953008 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:41:22 +0100 4953008 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952929&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F06%2F20%2Fmuseum-objects-and-poetry%2F I spend much time reading and absorbing good initiatives that other science, technology and medical museums around the world are taking. It’s dizzying. Take for example, our sister (brother?) museum in Cambridge, the Whipple Museum, who has had a writer-in-residence Kelley Swain (right) running workshops and events to encourage visitors, among them poet Lesley Saunders (below), writing poems inspired by objects in the museum’s collections. Wish I could be in Cambridge on Tuesday 26 July at 3 pm, to hear Kelley and Lesley read from their poems and discuss how Whipple’s collections have inspired their writings. The reading will be held in the museum’s newly refurbished Main Gallery. You don’t need to pay anything, but make sure you book ahead throug... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952929 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 08:00:39 +0100 4952929 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952950&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fnegative-science.html – Often the "eureka moment" occurs not in the sense of "I've found it", but more as a "WTF?" Indeed, it's been estimated that more than two-thirds of scientific experiments fail to produce the results anticipated and in one way might be considered failed experiments, or negative results. But, such results are not worthless, they are critical to progress as they contain a high level of knowledge despite appearances. Unfortunately, in the climate of scientific publishing in peer-reviewed journals, such knowledge is mostly lost. The All Results Journals hope to recover negative results and reveal the valuable pieces of information in science from so-called "failed" experiments. Browse the journals here. Related Posts:Scientists are know... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952950 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 08:00:09 +0100 4952950 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952772&cid=t_91944_87_f&fid=35049&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nakedmedicine.com%2Fentrepreneurs-please-disrupt-healthcare I was inspired to write this post to answer a question on Quora: “Can a consumer internet entrepreneur cross over into the healthcare space with limited domain expertise?” Absolutely. But you will need – A compelling motive. I know of a CEO who was trained as a lawyer. Her child had a rare disease and [...] (Source: NAKEDMEDICINE.COM) NAKEDMEDICINE.COM blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952772 Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:28:12 +0100 4952772 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952996&cid=t_91944_109_f&fid=34760&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkolber.typepad.com%2Fethics_law_blog%2F2011%2F06%2Frisk-assessment-and-the-limits-of-neurolaw-davenport.html "In my view, neuroscience does not offer us anything new that cannot be responsibly incorporated into existing substantive criminal law doctrine," says Steven K. Erickson in a new paper that largely questions fellow law professor, Adam Lamparello's effort in promoting... (Source: Neuroethics and Law Blog) Neuroethics and Law Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952996 Sat, 18 Jun 2011 22:58:27 +0100 4952996 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952930&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F06%2F18%2Fimpatient-discovery-vs-mature-understanding-revisiting-ragnar-granits-view-of-the-goal-of-scientific-work%2F Prompted by a recent guest blog post on the Scientific American site, I’ve just revisited an almost 40 year old essay titled “Discovery and understanding” by the Finland-Swedish neurophysiologist and Nobel Prize Winner Ragnar Granit. Growing out of a talk (see video here) that Granit gave at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in 1972, the essay was published in the Annual Review of Physiology later the same year. I remember dimly having read it when I was a PhD student a few years after it was published, but apparently I didn’t really appreciate it then — and didn’t understand the deeper significance of the message either. But now I think I’ve got it. And it’s quite interesting for discussions about the culture of sc... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952930 Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:22:49 +0100 4952930 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952951&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fchemistry-news-round-up-for-this-week.html – This week, The Alchemist is intrigued by a molecular optical illusion and learns of a new catalyst for making aromatic compounds from their unsaturated hydrocarbon counterparts. A new gel has been developed by chemists in China for delivering anticancer drugs while bubbles could be key to remediating oil spills at sea even in stormy conditions. A spot of modern alchemy reveals how steel can be toughened without adding weight by 7 percent in just a few seconds. Finally, Canadian chemists sweep the board when it comes to awards. Related Posts:Copper Tone AlchemistChemWeb AlchemistAlchemical ChemWebThis week’s alchemical newsCarbon Tet and Paradigm ShiftsChemistry news round-up for this week is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog (Source: Sciencebase Science Blog) Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952951 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:53:24 +0100 4952951 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953230&cid=t_91944_131_f&fid=35008&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscienceroll.com%2F2011%2F06%2F17%2Fwikiproject-medicine-in-the-british-medical-journal%2F With plenty of medical editors in Wikipedia, we have recently published a paper on how Wikipedia could be a key tool for global public health promotion. A new paper published in BMJ describes how WikiProject Medicine works. That community is the HQ for medicine-related information and editing activities in Wikipedia. Here is the abstract: In January 2011, members of WikiProject Medicine published an article about the intricacies, strengths, and weaknesses of Wikipedia as a source of health information and compared it with other medical wikis. 1 The article poses some interesting challenges and opportunities for the global community as Wikipedia’s seven year old WikiProject Medicine reaches an estimated 150 million viewers every month. The claimed usage of Wikiproject Medicine is just un... ScienceRoll blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953230 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:55:41 +0100 4953230 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952952&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fscience-across-the-spectrum.html Penrose, Escher, back – M.C. Escher‘s famously paradoxical illustration of 1960 depicting a stairway atop an “impossible” building, and made famous recently in a dreamscape of the Hollywood movie “Inception“, that seems to ascend or descend interminably is a good example of how projecting our 3D world into two dimensions in artwork can be exploited to manipulate our perceptions. The stairway was originally conceived by father and son team Lionel and Roger Penrose in 1959. Now, Japanese chemists have reconstructed the illusion using a single molecule. Yet another source of antioxidants, in the trees – Researchers in France explain how several species of poplar tree have been used in traditional medicine for their anti-inflammatory properties. They h... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952952 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 07:16:06 +0100 4952952 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952932&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F06%2F17%2Ffluttering-brains%2F I’m not sure if Suzanne Anker‘s “Biota” (Porcelain, rapid prototype figurines, 2011) is fun, imaginative, engaging or plainly irritating (the fluttering movements are not kind to my overstimulated synapses): Anyway, it’s an illustration to a talk titled “Fundamentally Human: Contemporary Art and Neuroscience”, which Suzanne Anker is giving at the Suna Kıraç Conferences on Neurodegeneration in Istanbul on 25 June. In addition to scientific value, neuroscientific images, concepts and theories reflect shifts in perception and expression. In part, brought about by technological intervention, what was once thought to be the stuff of science fiction is now actually real. Fundamentally Human: Contemporary Art and Neuroscience, explores the ways in whi... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952932 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:00:00 +0100 4952932 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4931024&cid=t_91944_58_f&fid=36507&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.nature.com%2F%7Er%2Fnature%2Fpodcast%2Fcurrent%2F%7E5%2FGo0r5YYr_t4%2Fnature-2011-06-16.mp3 This week, results from the Voyager 1 spacecraft, the cause of the March earthquake in Japan and a 'rap guide' to evolution. Plus, the best of the rest from this week's Nature. (Source: Nature Podcast) Nature Podcast blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4931024 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:32:02 +0100 4931024 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934302&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fsharing-on-the-global-scale.html There are obvious differences in quality of life in terms of food availability, access to fresh water, disease prevalence and medicine across many parts of the world. Until recently, the notion of the Third World had a far greater poignancy than the politically correct term “developing world”. While labelling the poorer nations as somehow separate from the West (the First World) and the old communist bloc (Second World) may have somehow eased the consciences of some, the term developing belies the true nature of life across the globe for billions of people. For those of us in Europe, the potential for surplus food production (cucumbers and bean sprouts aside), compared with current production and trade volumes as well as our well-off society ‘s desire to use land for non-... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934302 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 16:00:21 +0100 4934302 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934303&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fthe-return-of-the-arsenic-munching-microbes.html – ChemBark sums up what he sees as the state of S(s)cience with respect to the infamous arsenic-exploiting bacteria reported by Wolfe-Simon et al: "…a study as flawed as Wolfe-Simon’s should never had been published in Science in the first place. The most obvious problems and omissions should have been ironed out by peer review. For a paper as manifestly flawed (or incomplete—take your pick) as Wolfe-Simon’s to be published in a top-tier journal, something went wrong. But I’ll agree that once such a mistake has been made, the (informal) backlash and (formal) technical comments are probably the best way to mitigate the damage." Pretty much says it all. He also criticises the team for their every response being a riposte, as if they couldn'... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934303 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:17:45 +0100 4934303 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934278&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F06%2F16%2Fthe-untouchable-and-the-unseeable%2F How to display artefacts that cannot be touched or sometimes even seen, is an issue that has cropped up frequently in museums, particularly in medical museums wanting to exhibit molecular, chemical and genomic items. Thinking about this was part of the inspiration for the Sensuous Object Workshop in September here at Medical Museion. So it was good timing that in the space of one day I received two emails. The first was about The Museum of Non-Visible Art and the second was a call to submit work for an exhibition at the Manifest Gallery called Go Ahead…Touch Me! Both events are held in New York City: The Museum of Non-Visible Art (MONA) comprises of artworks that are not visible but only conceptualized. The work is in the form of ideas that are described. It is through the description a... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934278 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:04:59 +0100 4934278 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934304&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fearth-alerts-for-natural-disasters.html – Earth Alerts is a Windows-based application that allows you to keep a weather eye on natural disasters as they occur across the globe. Alert notifications, reports, and imagery gleaned from National Weather Service, U.S. Geological Survey and Smithsonian Institution and elsewhere as they happen and before the media even know about them, give you a convenient way to view natural phenomenon as they occur. The app has been around for some time, but more recently they have developed a Google Maps version, which is currently in beta – http://earthalerts.manyjourneys.com/web/ Related Posts:Natural Disasters and HazardsScience News AlertsVideo Lecture Search and Natural LanguageThree-parent embryoWelcome to Earth 2.0 (beta)Earth Alerts for natural disasters is a post from: Scienceb... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934304 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 10:17:45 +0100 4934304 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934305&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fscoop-the-gloop.html – Japanese technology known as "SWITL" uses a hydrophobic (water hating) material to scoop up gels and other semi-liquids on to a motorized conveyor-belt system without disturbing the material’s shape. Watch the video, it looks like a trick, but seemingly is just great tech. This first did the rounds in March, but the demo video is beginning to stick now. The applications for automated food processing and packing are endless, but for parents everywhere the possibility of a de-toddlerizing spill reversal gadget is perhaps too good to be true. Related Posts:New Harry Potter TrailerThree touches of scienceViscosity Corn Syrup Science TrickListening to digitized vinylVideo Lecture Search and Natural LanguageScoop the gloop is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog (Source... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934305 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 07:17:45 +0100 4934305 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4933990&cid=t_91944_83_f&fid=34690&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Finsolence%2F%7E3%2F6hvCsaMuZOA%2Fchoprawoo_returns_this_time_with_help_fr.php Remember Deepak Chopra? He's the physician (yes, physician) whose grasp on real science is so tenuous and whose ability to abuse multiple scientific disciplines, ranging from quantum physics to astronomy to genetics to medicine, simultaneously in the service of woo is so amazing that a few years ago I once coined a term representing the only word you ever need to use to refer to Chopra's blather: Choprawoo. Yes, I realize that the term "Choprawoo" is completely redundant if you're a skeptic and realize just how full of pseudoscientific nonsense Chopra's blather is. On the other hand, for the folks out there who have yet to encounter Chopra or who aren't familiar enough with him to realize that what Chopra says and what real science says are related only by coincidence or when the science ... Respectful Insolence blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4933990 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:00:18 +0100 4933990 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934349&cid=t_91944_109_f&fid=34760&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkolber.typepad.com%2Fethics_law_blog%2F2011%2F06%2Fcriminal-minds-adrian-raine-thinks-brain-scans-can-identify-children-who-may-become-killers-davenpor.html In this article, Adrian Raine, Professor and Chair of the Department of Criminology at University of Pennsylvania, says brain scans may predict antisocial behavior before it happens, thereby possibly identify killers before they kill. When they are children. He is... (Source: Neuroethics and Law Blog) Neuroethics and Law Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934349 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:05:19 +0100 4934349 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952998&cid=t_91944_109_f&fid=34760&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkolber.typepad.com%2Fethics_law_blog%2F2011%2F06%2Fdisentangling-structural-brain-alterations-associated-with-violent-behavior-from-those-associated-wi.html Boris Schiffer, PhD; Bernhard W. Müller, PhD; Norbert Scherbaum, MD; Sheilagh Hodgins, PhD; Michael Forsting, MD; Jens Wiltfang, MD; Elke R. Gizewski, MD;Norbert Leygraf, MD - 2011 Jun 6. [Epub ahead of print] Arch Gen Psychiatry. Summary via. Context Studies... (Source: Neuroethics and Law Blog) Neuroethics and Law Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952998 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 21:49:38 +0100 4952998 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934654&cid=t_91944_131_f&fid=34999&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marymeetsdolly.com%2Fblog%2Findex.php%3F%2Farchives%2F1028-Happy-Birthday-to-Jerome-Lejeune.html Today in 1926, premier geneticist Jérôme Lejeune was born.  Lejeune found the genetic cause of Down Syndrome.  He was a ardent Catholic and spent his life trying to protect the many innocent lives with Trisomy 21.  He died on April 3, 1994.  In honor of Jérôme Lejeune, I am going to repost the story of the day my own father met this great and influential Catholic scientist.  The following is my father's recollections of a man who was not only a great man of science, but also a man of great faith:        Conversing with Jérôme Lejeune        In June 1978, I drove Dr. Jérôme Lejeune from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport to St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, where he was to give a major address at an international conference.  I knew Dr. Lejeune only ... Mary Meets Dolly blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934654 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 21:20:17 +0100 4934654 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934542&cid=t_91944_122_f&fid=34737&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbjoern.brembs.net%2Fnews.php%3Fitem.749.3 Most neuroscientists would subscribe to the sensorimotor hypothesis, according to which brains mainly evaluate sensory input to compute motor output. For instance, Mike Mauk wrote now over ten years ago: “brain function is ultimately best understood in terms of input/output transformations and how they are produced” [1]. Tony Dickinson recognized already in 1985 that “Indeed, so pervasive is the basic assumption of this model that it is common to refer to any behaviour as a ‘response’ and thus by implication […] assume that there must be an eliciting stimulus.” [2]. Textbooks to this day mostly begin with a graph showing sensory input entering the brain (usually via the eyes) and then motor-output leaving it.However, more and more information is now accumulating that to the e... bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934542 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:27:37 +0100 4934542 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934306&cid=t_91944_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fsix-signs-your-wine-stinks.html Mary Orlin gave a run down on how to spot tainted, corked or just plain bad wine. I’ve distilled down her article to reveal the six chemical signatures that tell you your wine stinks: Oxidized – The wine will smell stale, burnt marshmallows, nutty, sherry-like or of stewed fruit. The ethanol in the wine has probably been exposed to air for a prolonged period and is heading towards ethanoic (acetic) acid, better known as vinegar. Volatile acidity – If your wine’s bouquet smells of nail-polish remover (acetone) or vinegar it has “volatile acidity” caused by bacterial spoilage. It’s off. Spit it out. Sulfur – Wine makers often use sulfites as preservatives (which can be irritating to asthma sufferers and others) but if your wine smells of rotten... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934306 Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:25:04 +0100 4934306