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Image of the Day: Haunting Bok Globules in a Spectacular Stellar Nursery
This new view of a spectacular stellar nursery reveals thick clumps of dust silhouetted against the pink glowing gas cloud known to astronomers as IC 2944. The image celebrates an important anniversary for the Very Large Telescope— the world's most...
Future Desires Do Not Count
Future desires do not count. This is not to say that future desires do not matter. They matter to some people. In fact, they happen to matter to many of us. When I say that future desires do not count, this is to be taken as reporting the real-world fact that a future desire is not a reason for action that exists. Show More Summary
Key find for early bladder cancer treatment
Aggressive forms of bladder cancer involve the protein PODXL – a discovery that could hold the key to improved treatment, according to new research.
Validation of Software for Bayesian Models Using Posterior Quantiles
Every once in awhile I get a question that I can directly answer from my published research. When that happens it makes me so happy. Here’s an example. Patrick Lam wrote, Suppose one develops a Bayesian model to estimate a parameter theta. Now suppose one wants to evaluate the model via simulation by generating fake [...]Show More Summary
Fujimori’s Health is Failing
Via the BBC: Peru ex-President Alberto Fujimori’s health ‘worsening’ Alejandro Aguinaga said the former president had a condition that was eating away his stomach. Mr Fujimori is serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses, but his family says he … Continue reading ?
A Fort from 1779, a Redcoat from 1799
Here are a couple of eighteenth-century archeology stories from the past month. The Associated Press reported on a dig in Georgia that located Carr’s Fort, site of a skirmish in February 1779. The article explains:Robert Carr was a cattle...Show More Summary
Ecuadorian Satellite Crashes with Space Debris
Via the BBC: Ecuador Pegasus satellite fears over space debris crash The nano-satellite, called Pegasus, was launched from the Jiuquan spaceport in China less than a month ago. It is Ecuador’s first and only satellite in orbit. Experts said Pegasus … Continue reading ?
NASA ships sensors for seafaring satellite to France
Three NASA-built instruments that are integral components of the next in a series of U.S./European ocean altimetry satellites have arrived in France for integration with their spacecraft in preparation for a 2015 launch. Jason-3 will...Show More Summary
Venezuela’s National Nightmare is Over
Via the BBC: Venezuela aims to end toilet paper shortage Venezuela’s National Assembly has backed plans to import 39 million rolls of toilet paper, in an effort to relieve a chronic shortage. Lawmakers voted to approve a $79m credit for … Continue reading ?
Boosting body's natural flu killers as way to offset virus mutation problem
The known difficulty in fighting influenza (flu) is the ability of the flu viruses to mutate and thus evade various medications that were previously found to be effective. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have shown recently that another, more promising, approach is to focus on improving drugs that boost the body’s natural flu killer system.
Breakthrough on Huntington's disease
Researchers have succeeded in preventing very early symptoms of Huntington’s disease, depression and anxiety, by deactivating the mutated huntingtin protein in the brains of mice.
The Regression to the Primitive
Northrop Frye, discussing the arc of Shakespeare’s plays, says something very profound about Shakespeare’s late “Romances,” like A Winter’s Tale and Pericles, Prince of Tyre. …as a dramatist, he [Shakespeare] reflects the priority of mythology to ideology…. Further,… Continue reading ?
How do cold ions slide?
Things not always run smoothly. It may happen, actually, that when an object slides on another, the advancement may occur through a ‘stop and go’ series in the characteristic manner which scientists call “stick-slip”, a pervasive phenomenon at every scale, from earthquakes to daily-life objects, up to the “nano” dimension.
Quest for quantum computing advanced
Scientistst investigating the properties of ultra-thin films of new materials are helping bring quantum computing one step closer to reality.
Who are the Illuminati?
From Wikipedia: “Illuminati” refers to various organizations … links to the original Bavarian Illuminati or similar secret societies, and often … conspire to control world affairs by masterminding events and planting agents in government and corporations to establish a New World Order and gain further political power and influence. … the Illuminati … lurk… in…
The Anchoring Effect: How The Mind is Biased by First Impressions
A psychological bias that illuminates how we negotiate, predict our emotions, agree a price and much more...
Making Habits, Breaking Habits
In his new book, Jeremy Dean--psychologist and author of PsyBlog--looks at how habits work, why...Show More Summary
Pay attention: How we focus and concentrate
Publishing in Neuron, the team reveal the interplay of brain chemicals which help us pay attention in work funded by the Wellcome Trust and BBSRC. By changing the way neurons respond to external stimuli we improve our perceptual abilities. While these changes can affect the strength of a neuronal response, they can also affect the fidelity of that response. read more
London Beheading
I heard there was a beheading in London. At first I thought the perpetrator had to have been a Catholic nun or maybe a Buddhist monk. Imagine my shock when I learned that a practitioner of the Religion of Peace...
Newsbytes: EU Leaders Back Shale Revolution, Roll Back Climate Policy
From the GWPF and Dr. Benny Peiser, one graph that changed everything EU Energy Summit Turns Climate Agenda Upside Down Europe’s heads of State and government want to promote shale gas and to reduce energy prices. They would rather promote … Continue reading ?
NASA's SDO observes another mid-level solar flare
An image, captured at 11:06 a.m. EDT on May 22, 2013, from the ESA/NASA Solar Heliospheric Observatory shows the conjunction of two coronal mass ejections streaming away from the sun. This image is what's known as a coronagraph, in which the light of the sun is blocked in order to make its dimmer atmosphere, the corona, visible. read more
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