Category: Science

How to avoid the cold & flu . . . and how to treat them once you’ve got them.

Myths vs. facts.

GET THE STORY.

Courtesy of the folks at Kleenex.

Be sure and tell Mr. Monk.

That’s a question the boys at the Pentagon have been pondering.

SEEMS THEY HAVE AN ANSWER.

Later this year they’re going to be deploying non-lethal microwave weapons that can microwave a whole crowd of people at once, making their skin heat up and causing them to disperse.

The aptly-named Active Denial System (ADS) has a range of one kilometer and is useful both for crowd control and for denying insurgents the ability to launch attacks while hiding in crowds.

One of a wide range of new-fangled non-lethal weapons the boys at the Pentagon have in development.

That’s a question the boys at the Pentagon have been pondering.

SEEMS THEY HAVE AN ANSWER.

Later this year they’re going to be deploying non-lethal microwave weapons that can microwave a whole crowd of people at once, making their skin heat up and causing them to disperse.

The aptly-named Active Denial System (ADS) has a range of one kilometer and is useful both for crowd control and for denying insurgents the ability to launch attacks while hiding in crowds.

One of a wide range of new-fangled non-lethal weapons the boys at the Pentagon have in development.

Not certain this is the same creature as got shot dead in Texas, but . . .

GET THE STORY.

(If gun laws were more reasonable in California, we might find out if it’s the same or not.)

Y’know how your auto insurance cost a lot more before you were 25 (even if your parents paid it at the time)?

And how you can’t rent a car until you’re 25?

Well, this is because folks under that age have way more car crashes than afterwards.

Teenagers are four times as likely as older
drivers to be involved in a crash and three times as likely to die in
one, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

This likely has a biological basis–in the brain.

Contrary to the initial expectations of some (obviously clueless) NIH researchers, brain development does not peak by age 18.

"We’d thought the highest levels of physical and brain maturity were
reached by age 18, maybe earlier — so this threw us," said Jay Giedd,
a pediatric psychiatrist leading the study, which released its first
results in April. That makes adolescence "a dangerous time, when it
should be the best."

I don’t know what kind of pediatric psychiatry idealization-of-youth rhetoric this guy has been smoking, but he’s clearly out of touch.

People as far back as Aristotle (and before!) have pointed out that young people are reckless and like to have fun, and that’s a dangerous combination.

In any event, Dr. Giedd has to be given credit for being willing to recognize what their new neurological data showed them: A part of the brain that inhibits risk-taking behavior ain’t fully formed until age 25; hence, your auto insurance rates don’t got down until that age and you don’t get to rent a car until that age.

In a related study, young people of different ages were asked to play a simulated driving video game in which the goal was to get through a particular course as quickly as possible while not hitting anything. They also brought friends to the event and were tested both with and without their friends present.

The study showed that, with the presence of youthful companions, the young people were more responsible as they had others’ lives riding (virtually) of what they did as drivers, and so they took more precautions, right?

Ha!

Of course not! They were worse drivers with friends present.

An interesting aspect of all this is the gap between the onset of puberty and the maturing of the brain’s risk-inhibiting functions:

Temple’s Steinberg said the NIH/UCLA research supports his theory that
teen recklessness is partly the result of a critical gap in time —
starting with the thrill-seeking that comes in puberty and ending when
the brain learns to temper such behavior. Since children today reach
puberty earlier than previously, about age 13, and the brain’s
reasoning center doesn’t reach maturity until the mid-twenties,
Steinberg said, "This period of recklessness has never been as long as
it is now."

GET THE STORY.

 

THE FIRST GOOD NEWS:

Scientists have found a key trigger for type 2 Diabetes (a.k.a. adult-onset diabetes): Something happens in your liver as a result of obesity triggers a low-level inflammation that causes the body to develop insulin resistance, leading to type 2 diabetes (in fact, obesity and type 2 diabetes are so closely linked that some have described them as two stages of the same disease).

THE SECOND GOOD NEWS:

They’ve found a way to shut off this phenomenon: Administer aspirin-like drugs called salicylates.

THE FIRST BAD NEWS:

Aspirin itself won’t work for this: You’d have to take more than 20 aspirins a day, which would cause massive internal bleeding. (*DON’T* try this at home!!!)

THE THIRD GOOD NEWS:

We have other salicylates that are likely to fix the problem without the side effects a diabetes-therapeutic dose of aspirin would cause: The prescription drug salsalate, in particular.

THE SECOND BAD NEWS:

Scientists want to test this more before they recommend that people start pestering their doctors for prescriptions for salsalate or other salicylates.

STILL, AT THREE GOOD NEWSES AND ONLY TWO BAD NEWSES, WE’RE ONE UP!

YEE-HAW!

GET THE STORY.

Michio Kaku is a Japanese American physicist. Educated at Harvard and Berkeley. Taught at Princeton. Teaches at City Univeristy of New York.

HERE’S AN INTERESTING (IF LONG) ARTICLE BY HIM.

In the article, he says a number of interesting things (excerpts):

The universe is out of control, in a runaway acceleration. Eventually
all intelligent life will face the final doom—the big freeze.

In 1998, astronomers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and
the Australian National University calculated the expansion rate by
studying dozens of powerful supernova explosions within distant
galaxies, which can light up the entire universe. They could not
believe their own data. Some unknown force was pushing the galaxies
apart, causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. Brian
Schmidt, one of the group leaders, said, "I was still shaking my head,
but we had checked everything… I was very reluctant to tell people,
because I truly thought that we were going to get massacred."

Physicists
went scrambling back to their blackboards and realised that some "dark
energy" of unknown origin, akin to Einstein’s "cosmological constant,"
was acting as an anti-gravity force. Apparently, empty space itself
contains enough repulsive dark energy to blow the universe apart. The
more the universe expands, the more dark energy there is to make it
expand even faster, leading to an exponential runaway mode.

In
2003, this astonishing result was confirmed by the WMAP (Wilkinson
microwave anisotropy probe) satellite. Orbiting at a million miles from
earth, this satellite contains two telescopes capable of detecting the
faint microwave radiation which bathes the universe. It is so sensitive
that it is able to photograph in exquisite detail the afterglow of the
microwave radiation left over from the big bang, which is still
circulating the universe. The WMAP satellite, in effect, gave us "baby
pictures" of the universe when it was a mere 380,000 years old.

The
WMAP satellite settled the long-standing question of the age of the
universe: it is officially 13.7bn years old (to within 1 per cent
accuracy). But more remarkably, the data showed that dark energy is not
a fluke, but makes up 73 per cent of the matter and energy of the
entire universe. To deepen the mystery, the data showed that 23 per
cent of the universe consists of "dark matter," a bizarre form of
matter which is invisible but still has weight. Hydrogen and helium
make up 4 per cent, while the higher elements, you and I included, make
up just 0.03 per cent. Dark energy and most of dark matter do not
consist of atoms, which means that, contrary to what the ancient Greeks
believed and what is taught in every chemistry course, most of the
universe is not made of atoms at all.

At the University of Colorado in Denver, the first experiment was
conducted to search for the presence of a parallel universe, perhaps
only a millimetre away.

Other avenues are also being explored. In 2007, the large hadron
collider (LHC), capable of blasting subatomic particles with a colossal
energy of 14 trillion electron volts (10 trillion times the energy
found in a typical chemical reaction) will be turned on outside Geneva.
The world’s largest atom smasher, this huge machine, 27km in
circumference, straddling the French-Swiss border, will probe into
places 10,000 times smaller than a proton. Physicists expect to find an
entire zoo of new subatomic particles not seen since the big bang.

Physicists
predict that the LHC may create exotic particles like mini-black holes
and supersymmetric particles, dubbed "sparticles," which would provide
indirect evidence for string theory. In string theory, every particle
has a super-partner. The partner of the electron is the "selectron,"
the partner of the quark is the "squark," and so on.

Furthermore,
around 2012, the space-based gravity wave detector Lisa (laser
interferometer space antenna) will be sent into orbit. Lisa will be
able to detect the gravitational shockwaves emitted less than a
trillionth of a second after the big bang. It will consist of three
satellites circling the sun, connected by laser beams, making a huge
triangle in space 5m km on each side. Any gravitational wave which
strikes Lisa will disturb the lasers, and this tiny distortion will be
picked up by instruments, signalling the collision of two black holes
or the big bang aftershock itself. Lisa is so sensitive—it can measure
distortions a tenth the diameter of an atom—that it may be able to test
many of the scenarios being proposed for the pre-big bang universe,
including string theory.

Why is Kaku mentioning all these things?

Because our universe is doomed.

The main subject of his article is how–in a way consistent with the currently known laws of physics and biology–a civilization might be able to escape this universe before the Big Freeze and go to a new universe, finding a new heaven and a new earth.

Of course, Christians are already planning on this.

God just won’t be using technological means to do it.

(THEOLOGICAL NOTE: Technically, the prophecy of the eschatological new heaven and a new earth might not refer to a literally new universe but to a massive renovation of the present universe such that it is able to exist indefinitely.)

Still, Kaku’s article has a lot of neat sci-fi ideas that no earthlings besides sci-fi authors will be able to fully follow up on.

GET THE STORIES.

Michio Kaku is a Japanese American physicist. Educated at Harvard and Berkeley. Taught at Princeton. Teaches at City Univeristy of New York.

HERE’S AN INTERESTING (IF LONG) ARTICLE BY HIM.

In the article, he says a number of interesting things (excerpts):

The universe is out of control, in a runaway acceleration. Eventually

all intelligent life will face the final doom—the big freeze.

In 1998, astronomers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and

the Australian National University calculated the expansion rate by

studying dozens of powerful supernova explosions within distant

galaxies, which can light up the entire universe. They could not

believe their own data. Some unknown force was pushing the galaxies

apart, causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. Brian

Schmidt, one of the group leaders, said, "I was still shaking my head,

but we had checked everything… I was very reluctant to tell people,

because I truly thought that we were going to get massacred."

Physicists

went scrambling back to their blackboards and realised that some "dark

energy" of unknown origin, akin to Einstein’s "cosmological constant,"

was acting as an anti-gravity force. Apparently, empty space itself

contains enough repulsive dark energy to blow the universe apart. The

more the universe expands, the more dark energy there is to make it

expand even faster, leading to an exponential runaway mode.

In

2003, this astonishing result was confirmed by the WMAP (Wilkinson

microwave anisotropy probe) satellite. Orbiting at a million miles from

earth, this satellite contains two telescopes capable of detecting the

faint microwave radiation which bathes the universe. It is so sensitive

that it is able to photograph in exquisite detail the afterglow of the

microwave radiation left over from the big bang, which is still

circulating the universe. The WMAP satellite, in effect, gave us "baby

pictures" of the universe when it was a mere 380,000 years old.

The

WMAP satellite settled the long-standing question of the age of the

universe: it is officially 13.7bn years old (to within 1 per cent

accuracy). But more remarkably, the data showed that dark energy is not

a fluke, but makes up 73 per cent of the matter and energy of the

entire universe. To deepen the mystery, the data showed that 23 per

cent of the universe consists of "dark matter," a bizarre form of

matter which is invisible but still has weight. Hydrogen and helium

make up 4 per cent, while the higher elements, you and I included, make

up just 0.03 per cent. Dark energy and most of dark matter do not

consist of atoms, which means that, contrary to what the ancient Greeks

believed and what is taught in every chemistry course, most of the

universe is not made of atoms at all.

At the University of Colorado in Denver, the first experiment was

conducted to search for the presence of a parallel universe, perhaps

only a millimetre away.

Other avenues are also being explored. In 2007, the large hadron

collider (LHC), capable of blasting subatomic particles with a colossal

energy of 14 trillion electron volts (10 trillion times the energy

found in a typical chemical reaction) will be turned on outside Geneva.

The world’s largest atom smasher, this huge machine, 27km in

circumference, straddling the French-Swiss border, will probe into

places 10,000 times smaller than a proton. Physicists expect to find an

entire zoo of new subatomic particles not seen since the big bang.

Physicists

predict that the LHC may create exotic particles like mini-black holes

and supersymmetric particles, dubbed "sparticles," which would provide

indirect evidence for string theory. In string theory, every particle

has a super-partner. The partner of the electron is the "selectron,"

the partner of the quark is the "squark," and so on.

Furthermore,

around 2012, the space-based gravity wave detector Lisa (laser

interferometer space antenna) will be sent into orbit. Lisa will be

able to detect the gravitational shockwaves emitted less than a

trillionth of a second after the big bang. It will consist of three

satellites circling the sun, connected by laser beams, making a huge

triangle in space 5m km on each side. Any gravitational wave which

strikes Lisa will disturb the lasers, and this tiny distortion will be

picked up by instruments, signalling the collision of two black holes

or the big bang aftershock itself. Lisa is so sensitive—it can measure

distortions a tenth the diameter of an atom—that it may be able to test

many of the scenarios being proposed for the pre-big bang universe,

including string theory.

Why is Kaku mentioning all these things?

Because our universe is doomed.

The main subject of his article is how–in a way consistent with the currently known laws of physics and biology–a civilization might be able to escape this universe before the Big Freeze and go to a new universe, finding a new heaven and a new earth.

Of course, Christians are already planning on this.

God just won’t be using technological means to do it.

(THEOLOGICAL NOTE: Technically, the prophecy of the eschatological new heaven and a new earth might not refer to a literally new universe but to a massive renovation of the present universe such that it is able to exist indefinitely.)

Still, Kaku’s article has a lot of neat sci-fi ideas that no earthlings besides sci-fi authors will be able to fully follow up on.

GET THE STORIES.

On the other hand, there are no barriers to creating animal-animal hybrids . . .

This is a picture of a liger–a cross between a lion and a tiger.

Here’s a story about ligers from the Moscow News:

Tiger Mates With Lion, Gives Birth to “Liger” Cub in Siberian Zoo

Created: 06.12.2004 14:19 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 10:48 MSK

MosNews

In what local zoologists are calling a miracle, a Bengalese tiger has given birth to a healthy tiger-lion cub at a Novosibirsk zoo.

The cub is a cross between the female Bengalese tiger and an African lion. The animal resembled a lion cub except that it had stripes, and has been dubbed a “liger”, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reported.

“This was not the result of a scientific experiment,” Novosti quoted zoo director Rostislav Shilo as saying. “It’s just that the lion and the tiger live in neighboring caves in the Novosibirsk zoo, and got used to each other. It’s practically impossible in the wild.”

Shilo said that the “miracle cub” was christened Zita, and will remain in the zoo. But what will happen to the cub in the future, “no one can say”.

HERE’S A STORY ABOUT SCIENTISTS CREATING ANIMAL-HUMAN HYBRIDS KNOWN AS CHIMERAS.

One of the planned experiments is to create a mouse with a brain made entirely of human neurons.

The scientist who wants to do it plans to abort the mouse before it is born, dissect it, and look for traces of human cognitive behavior.

And that’s only one of the freaky chimeras that’s been made or is on the drawing board!

Surprisingly, Canada has banned the creation of animal human chimeras!

Kudos to Canada for not rushing willy-nilly into this brave new world.

(NOTE: Catholic moral theology would not–as yet–say that all experimentation with combining human and animal cells or genes is automatically wrong, but it would caution that one needs to proceed carefully in this area and with a far more discretion than has been the norm among many experimenters.)