This show started with a scene where Dr. Louis Guillette is riding a boat looking for alligators in the night. He started on his research on effects of endocrine disruptors when he saw changes in reproductive system of alligators. He thinks that we could extrapolate the effects of endocrine disruptors on humans by studying wildlife. At a certain level I agree with Dr. Guillette about studying wildlife regarding effects since animal testing is an integral tool of experimentation on the effects of chemicals on our physiology. He found a visible sign of endocrine disruption in affected alligators as the penis length was shorter than those which have not be affected.
Articles in category 'Science'
Isn’t that the million dollar question? I have no idea how to decisively prove to any global warming critic, that green house gases build-up in the atmosphere is bad. Both sides have compelling data disputing claims of each other. Science has not been able to ascertain positively the effects of the gases on world climate. To assert this dichotomy, here is an op-ed by Dr. Lindzen (prof, MIT Atmospheric Science) disputing global warming, and a summary by Dr. Hansen (NASA) claiming that the case on global warming has been closed, and green house gases are the culprits.
Here is my question: Has anyone ever run climate prediction simulations with elevated and normal green house gas levels in the atmosphere?
The reason for this inquiry is that climate modeling has become very sophisticated, and I know for a fact that several projects are running on super computing grids all over the world. The most famous of the climate predication projects is happening in Japan, with NEC’s Earth Simulator. So far, I am yet to find an answer to my query..
Technorati Tags: Science, Global Warming, Green House Gases, Climate
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MetaFilter Music is a site for members to upload their own songs for others to enjoy and share
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SINCE Sept. 11, 2001, newspaper editors have faced excruciating choices in covering the government’s efforts to protect the country from terrorist agents. Each of us has, on a number of occasions, withheld information because we were convinced that publis
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People can be convicted of murder on the basis of overwhelming circumstantial evidence, as the public has been reminded recently. The same is true of three odious, though not odorous, “greenhouse gases”, which have been observed lurking in the Earth’s atm
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Al Gore is wrong. There’s no “consensus” on global warming.
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Slashdot | Is Distributed Computing Being Distributed Badly?
Before I start, I want to impress upon you, that what you run on your computer, is your choice. You can choose to run a certain program versus another. That being said, why are people getting agitated about the SETI@Home using idle CPU cycles? If you don’t like it, run something else. We know what the chances of isolating an alien signal are. We know that the odds are low. However, this is data that has to be processed somewhere. I know that the funding for this project is not sufficient to buy high computing power. Why would tax payers want to pay for SETI if the returns are practically non-existent? I know I wouldn’t want to pay for such a programme. Although, I would gladly donate idle cycles on my CPU for that because it doesn’t cost me as much.
Let me also remind you, that this program brought on the concept of mainstream distributed computing. It is a trend setter which surprisingly is still popular. Since then, there have been other distributed computing projects which more altruistic purposes such as drug molecular modeling for diseases like cancer, and AIDS, run by academic institutions. Now, I might be more likely to run such programs over SETI’s as it has an impact in medicine. These projects are firmly placed on the ground, and we can see useful instantaneous results.
Speaking about funding projects which are expensive and potentially wasteful, are we forgetting DoD’s black hole? Can you imagine how much of our tax-payers’ money goes to projects that are classified, and if it fails, how would be know that it failed? There have been so many reports of billions of dollars going wasted on failed projects. I know it is part of science, but science is about streamlining. If we don’t know something has failed, how would we learn from the mistakes?
Before most of you start spouting increased global warming from used idle cycle, I bet that it pales before any other source. I’m saying that the effect is insignificant. Air-conditioning, and heat from housing probably absorbs majority of the electricity rather than computers. People who say computers running all the time is a waste, look at the cost figures, it’s not a substantial waste.
Distributed computing is ushering in a new era for crunching data. There are bound to be more and more project which use this means, and the projects may get more esoteric as well. For example, astrophysics enthusiasts may rather donate computer cycles to model supernovae, rather than cancer drug model ling. People concerned with national security could donate idle cycles to social network analysis (Wikipedia) of data pooled by intelligence agencies, if there was such a program. The possibilities are endless, and in the end, is totally up to you to choose which one to promote. If there are multiple ones you are interested in, then BOINC is for you.
Technorati Tags: computers, information, Opinion, Research, Science, distributed computing, SETI@Home, BOINC
When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space,they found out that the pens wouldn’t work at zero gravity. (Ink won’t flow down to the writing surface) In order to solve this problem, they hired Andersen Consulting (Accenture today). It took them one decade and 12 million dollars. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, under water, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.
Meanwhile the Russians used a pencil…
This is a popular urban myth trying to show wasteful government spending. However, it is just myth. 12 million dollars was not spent by NASA, or Andersen Consulting. The pen was made by Paul Fischer, of Fisher pen company. Here is the link for more info on the myth.
Ask A ScienceBlogger, Round Four: Justify My Funds?
This is the question posed:
Since they’re funded by taxpayer dollars (through the NIH, NSF, and so on), should scientists have to justify their research agendas to the public, rather than just grant-making bodies?
The blog entry has the ScienceBlogger’s viewpoints on the question.
Here was my response to the question:
I completely agree with your post. I don’t think the common public can be expected to understand the implications and advantages of complicated science, as it usually is with NSF funded research.
I can see asking for public input backfiring, and the scientists getting very agitated about the new policy.
So, I think as you do, that the decision making capacity of science funding should stay with those who actually understand the science.
I guess I think of it more as a democracy chosen by the people, but people not having a direct input into decision making..
The fascination for Dan Brown’s style of thrillers kept me captivated through his earlier works like Angels and Demons (Amazon, Wikipedia), Digital Fortress (Amazon, Wikipedia), and Deception Point (Amazon, Wikipedia). The first two books were thrilling but do not compare to the Robert Langdon books. I hear that Dan Brown is writing the third installment of the Langdon adventures.
I’ll leave it to you to look at the plot from the links listed above, and I really enjoyed the books. It took me less than 10 hours to re-gobble this (night, morning, afternoon). Like I said, captivating.
I’m going to mention a few interesting tidbits I came across that I wanted to share.
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Thumbs-up sign is an ancient phallic symbol for masculine virility.
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The threads between Christianity and Paganism. Sun worship depicted in Christianity with Christmas given as an example as Christ was born in March, yet his birth is celebrated on Dec 25. Dan Brown says that December 25th is the ancient pagan holiday of sol invictus - Unconquered Sun - which coincides with the winter solstice. This also shows us that Christianity is yet another transmutated religion that assimilated different cultures and traditions to form this massive set of ideologies and faith. Even the image of God is akin that of Zeus, the Greek King of Gods.
Apart from that, I suggest visiting the wikipedia article of Angels and Demons for factual inaccuracies. There are a few prominent ones like mistranslation of Novus Ordo Seclorum on the US one-dollar bill. CERN has come up with it’s own facts/fiction about it’s role in Angels and Demons including a large section on Antimatter.
I’ve developed a taste for religion-history based mystery-thrillers. I’ve also read The Rule of Four (Amazon), which is another historical code based thriller.
I await the Robert Langdon’s third book Soloman’s Key with bated breath. It is speculated for release in 2007.
Technorati Tags: Science, Books, Culture, History, Religion, Christianity, Dan Brown, Angels and Demons, Paganism, Wikipedia, Amazon
“Nuclear fusion could become a more viable energy solution with the discovery of way to prevent super-hot gases from causing damage within reactors.” Looks like we are getting closer to a realistic option for practically unlimited, clean energy..
Full article after the jump if the existing hyperlink is dead.
Kevin Vranes from ScienceBlogs talks about policies on NSF funding being pushed through Congress pertaining to scientific and non-scientific reseach..
The headlines are about low-wage illegals, but Mexico is swiftly upgrading its workforce. Another reason that US needs to worry about the outsourcing issue..
