Via geekdad

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Edible Flying Spaghetti Monster

X-Wing Fighter paper airplane

Molly's Robot

I just finished a draft on global warming and how it affects storms (and why I couldn't post anything yesterday [no power, trees down, fences down]) and ... lost it all ..., and I don't have time to redo it so I'm going to the backup plan on the biomechanics of skating, and how skating is much more efficient than running

Skating through the Ages

Skaters have been speeding up over the centuries, thanks to better footwear that allows longer strides for maximum efficiency.

By Adam Summers ~ Illustrations by Tom Moore (www.artsi.org)

My little brother and I grew up on Rollerblades, the terrestrial version of ice skates. We raced on the rumpled streets of New York City, from Greenwich Village north to Central Park, ecstatic not to be circling a small oval of ice. In those days I held two major misconceptions about skating: I imagined that we were pioneering a new form of long-distance transport, and I thought skating was easier than running because of its gliding phase. In neither case was I close to the truth.

As far back as the Bronze Age, 3,000 years ago, skates helped people travel more widely. And it turns out that skating is extremely efficient, taking advantage of biomechanical properties of the muscles throughout the movement cycle—not only during the glide.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

New Test for Cancer Cells in Blood

An inexpensive microfluidics chip could lead to earlier cancer detection and treatment.

By Emily Singer

A novel technique to detect very low levels of cancer cells in blood could provide an easier and more effective way to monitor progression of the disease. The inexpensive microfluidics device, designed by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), in Boston, might eventually be used to tailor cancer treatments to individual patients by monitoring cancer cell counts and by identifying the molecular attributes of an individual's cancer.

Malignant tumors continually shed cancer cells into the bloodstream, and these cells can spread the disease to other tissues. This process, known as metastasis, is the deadliest aspect of cancer: it is the culprit in nine out of ten cancer deaths. But the circulating tumor cells are so rare--with a concentration of only one in a billion cells in the bloodstream--that scientists haven't been able to detect them easily or accurately enough to be clinically useful. Now Mehmet Toner, a bioengineer at MGH and Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues have designed a microfluidics device that can analyze whole blood in large enough volumes to detect these scarce cells.

Since it's Winter, and the weather isn't always so nice, you should be prepared for anything.

The word of the day is SURVIVE

First the 25 survival skills any man person should know -- I know it's from Popular Mechanix, the same magazine that is edited by Michael Chertoff's cousin, but anyway -- and no it shouldn't be gender specific; then some blizzard survival skills; then some earthquake survival skills; then some general survival skills.

Ready? Here we go ...

Genome Study Places Modern Humans In Evolutionary Fast Lane

ScienceDaily (Dec. 11, 2007) — Countering a common theory that human evolution has slowed to a crawl or even stopped in modern humans, a new study examining data from an international genomics project describes the past 40,000 years as a time of supercharged evolutionary change, driven by exponential population growth and cultural shifts.

In a study published in the Dec. 10 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a team led by University of Wisconsin-Madison anthropologist John Hawks estimates that positive selection just in the past 5,000 years alone -- around the period of the Stone Age -- has occurred at a rate roughly 100 times higher than any other period of human evolution. Many of the new genetic adjustments are occurring around changes in the human diet brought on by the advent of agriculture, and resistance to epidemic diseases that became major killers after the growth of human civilizations.

"In evolutionary terms, cultures that grow slowly are at a disadvantage, but the massive growth of human populations has led to far more genetic mutations," says Hawks. "And every mutation that is advantageous to people has a chance of being selected and driven toward fixation. What we are catching is an exceptional time."

The findings may lead to a very broad rethinking of human evolution, Hawks says, especially in the view that modern culture has essentially relaxed the need for physical genetic changes in humans to improve survival. Adds Hawks: "We are more different genetically from people living 5,000 years ago than they were different from Neanderthals."

While the correlation between population size and natural selection is nothing new -- it was a core premise of Charles Darwin, Hawks says -- the ability to bring quantifiable evidence to the table is a new and exciting outgrowth of the Human Genome Project.

Along with co-author Gregory Cochran, an anthropologist at the University of Utah; and Eric Wang of Affymetrix, Inc., in Santa Clara, Cal.; Hawks analyzed data from the International HapMap Project, short for haplotype mapping. This project is working to catalog genetic similarities and differences in human beings by studying genes from distinct sample populations around the globe. While the HapMap will ultimately be used to identify genes that affect human health, it can also provide a road map of genetic variation from the ancestral human population.

Click for video of the first day of the 2007/2008 contest

Picture by Kevin German from Sac Bee's photo series of the 2006/2007 contest

[Make sure you scroll down for a really cool animation showing the path the waves take when going over the reef formed by earthquakes and the approach into the bay]

... Over the last decade, the Mavericks surf break has captured international attention. An interesting question is, "Why do such big waves break here?"

This is a map of shaded bathymetry with wave lines on it. The blue lines show hypothetical large wave crests propagating in to shore from the west. As the waves move into shallow water, they begin to interact with the seafloor ("shoal") and their crests slowly bend to try to maintain their roughly parallel orientation to the bottom contours. The more the waves interact with the seafloor, the more they slow down and bunch up. Wave "rays", or the pathways of wave energy, move perpendicular to the wave crests. In areas where the wave rays, and hence wave energy, diverges, the wave height decreases. Conversely, in areas where the wave rays, and hence wave energy, converges, the wave height increases. Due to the steep topography of the bedrock reef at Mavericks, the wave energy rapidly converges and the wave height rapidly increases, creating a huge wave compared to the adjacent areas.

The dominant wave direction off the central coast of California during most of the year is from the northwest. These waves propagate over the much gentler topography to the northwest of Sail Rock and are generally too small to shoal and break at Mavericks. Sometimes during the winter months, however, strong North Pacific storms generate large, long-period waves from more westerly directions that shoal and break over the bedrock reef just to the east of Sail Rock. The abrupt topography of the bedrock reef causes wave energy to converge over the reef, causing the wave to rapidly slow down, shorten in length and substantially increase in height relative to the areas just to the north and south of the east-west trending reef. This interaction of the geology and oceanography is what makes the wave at Mavericks so spectacular compared to many other locations along central California.

The pic is time lapse photography ... not real time ;-)

The Moving Rocks of the Racetrack Playa

A strange case of the creepy crawlies.

There are some things in nature that you can't argue with. Rocks are heavy. Rocks are inanimate. Rocks are just plain stone-dead.

Yet, there is a place in the world where the rocks seem to just get up and move when no one is looking.

If you wish to visit this strange place you better be well prepared. These rocks with legs are located on the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California. Yes, you read it right. Death Valley. At nearly 300 feet below sea level, Death Valley has the honor of being the lowest, hottest, and driest point in the United States. Downright deadly.

Racetrack Playa is actually a three-mile long dried up lake. Surrounding the lakebed are fairly rugged mountains, which help to channel the winds at high speeds through the valley below.

Okay, I can hear your brain screaming all the way over here - What about those moving rocks?

Since I'll be busy for a few days, this post is going up today ...

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http://www.householdhacker.com/

The first article is how the Cetaceans won in the Ninth Circuit Court against the Navy this week.

The second is how they lost where the Ninth Circuit has no jurisdiction (Persian Gulf) about a month ago; the picture below is of some of the striped dolphins that beached themselves -- look at the blood in the water.

The third article will briefly explain what causes the bleeding.

Ruling restores sonar ban off coast

Navy is told to devise new safeguards for marine mammals for its next training missions.

By Kenneth R. Weiss, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 14, 2007

A federal appeals court Tuesday restored a ban on the U.S. Navy's use of submarine-hunting sonar in upcoming training missions off Southern California until it adopts better safeguards for whales, dolphins and other marine mammals.

The order allows the Navy to continue its current exercises, but will force the Pentagon to devise ways to ensure that marine mammals are not harassed or injured by powerful sonic blasts during a series of training missions slated to begin in January.

Football Frenzy: Dangers in the Locker Room

Careful Hygiene Can Ward Off Staph Infections

November 1, 2006 — Drug-resistant staph infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus have become more common outside prisons and hospitals, and have been known to spread among athletes in the locker room. Athletes can develop aggressive skin infections when small cuts or scratches come into contact with MRSA through contaminated equipments, clothing, or towels. Preventative measures, such as ultraviolet light filters in the locker room Jacuzzi, and adjustments in the players' behaviors are crucial steps to preventing the spread of MRSA.

Killing Germs

In Hospitals, Air Ducts with Silver-Based Coating Stay Germ-Free

September 1, 2005 — Preventing hospital infections -- from such stubborn bugs as Staphylococcus aureus -- could get a little easier with a new non-toxic, silver-based material. Used in coating, it helps keep hospital air ducts bacterium- and fungus-free. The material is also used in a number of products including athletic footwear, door hardware, pens and business supplies.

DUARTE, Calif.--For more than 6,000 years, humans have used silver to fight germs, also known as microbes. Now, some hospitals are using a silver compound to reduce hospital infections.

You can't see them, but millions of microorganisms are living quietly among us, in places where we least expect them.

Click the pic for some Sinatra

Couple a' stories: the first on a comet you've probably never heard of; the second is on what some say is Earth's second moon. What???

Ever hear of Comet Holmes?

Watch this

No, it's not the name of a band, but it got you to click didn't it? ;-) [Corpus Hypercubus, by Salvador Dali, below]

Are we missing a dimension of time?

Last Updated: 6:01pm BST 10/10/2007

Could "hypertime" help develop a theory of everything?
Roger Highfield reports

A scientist has put forward the bizarre suggestion that there are two dimensions of time, not the one that we are all familiar with, and even proposed a way to test his heretical idea next year.

Time is no longer a simple line from the past to the future, in a four dimensional world consisting of three dimensions of space and one of time. Instead, the physicist envisages the passage of history as curves embedded in a six dimensions, with four of space and two of time.

"There isn't just one dimension of time," Itzhak Bars of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles tells New Scientist. "There are two. One whole dimension of time and another of space have until now gone entirely unnoticed by us."

Bars claims his theory of "two time physics", which he has developed over more than a decade, can help solve problems with current theories of the cosmos and, crucially, has true predictive power that can be tested in a forthcoming particle physics experiment.

If it is confirmed, it could point the way to a "theory of everything" that unites all the physical laws of the universe into one, notably general relativity that governs gravity and the large scale structure of the universe, and quantum theory that rules the subatomic world.

In the quest for that all embracing theory, scientists have been adding extra dimensions of space to their equations for decades. As early as the 1920s, mathematicians found that moving up to four dimensions of space, instead of the three we experience, helped in their quest to reconcile theories of electromagnetism and gravity.

I've always wondered why sheet music seemed to resemble sine waves

It seems it's really because they are pretty much the same thing; both are represented in waves where one type (the musical waves) are audible and pleasing to the ears and the other represents the frequency measured in hertz.

Watch these cool videos to see how alike they are as they are represented visually; the first two are on Ruben's Flame Tube experiment, and the last is how salt reacts to sound waves

PS Don't try replicating the Ruben's Flame Tube experiment without taking several fire safety precautions

What's Inside: Colgate Whitening Oxygen Bubbles Brisk Mint Toothpaste

By Patrick Di Justo Email 09.25.07 | 2:00 AM

Sodium Monofluorophosphate
A type of fluoride. Tooth enamel — made mostly of the mineral hydroxyapatite — is vulnerable to the acids in food, plaque bacteria, and saliva. Fluoride's job is to bind with the existing enamel to form a new compound, fluora patite, which is more resistant to these acids. Brushing with a fluoride toothpaste (or drinking fluoridated tap water) actually re engineers your teeth. Is it safe? Yes: The only bodily fluid contaminated by fluoridation is urine.

Hydrated Silica
You know those packets of silica gel that come with electronic gear? The ones that are clearly labeled DO NOT EAT? Same stuff. Here it's used as a gentle abrasive to scrub food and plaque stains from the teeth. Turns out it's not really poisonous.

Propylene Glycol
Remember the headlines about contaminated Chinese toothpaste? Bootleggers were using cheaper diethylene glycol, which, like its propylene cousin, is a syrupy liquid that acts as a thickener and moisturizer. Of course, DEG is toxic and sometimes used as antifreeze.

First history, then scroll down for the fun

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With Fear and Wonder in Its Wake, Sputnik Lifted Us Into the Future

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Published: September 25, 2007

Fifty years ago, before most people living today were born, the beep-beep-beep of Sputnik was heard round the world. It was the sound of wonder and foreboding. Nothing would ever be quite the same again — in geopolitics, in science and technology, in everyday life and the capacity of the human species.

Birds Can "See" Earth's Magnetic Field

John Roach
for National Geographic News
September 27, 2007

To find north, humans look to a compass. But birds may just need to open their eyes, a new study says.

Scientists already suspected birds' eyes contain molecules that are thought to sense Earth's magnetic field. In a new study, German researchers found that these molecules are linked to an area of the brain known to process visual information.

In that sense, "birds may see the magnetic field," said study lead author Dominik Heyers, a biologist at the University of Oldenburg.

Please Join
Lieutenant Governor
JOHN GARAMENDI
In partnership with Educators, Students, Business and Labor Leaders, & Community Members
For A Listening Tour of California’s State Universities

Focus: California’s Education System
Preparing for the Future
Meeting the Community’s Needs
Workforce Development
1:00 – 2:30 pm

Special Policy Round Table
2:30 – 3:30 pm

Thursday, September 27th
Sacramento State
6000 J Street Sacramento, California 95819
Alumni Center,
Parking: Lot 8 Parking Structure 3
Time: Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 2:00pm PST

CSUS Forum to explore The Crisis of Democracy
Sacramento Progressive Forum
9 Am- 4 PM.
October 4, 2007. CSU-Sacramento. University Union

The Progressive Forum will bring together scholars, students, social justice and union activists, and policy makers. The forum is created to nurture a new kind of conversation from within the campus and the social movements.
The key thematic areas for the Fall 2007 Forum will include:

Immigration
The War
Democratic Party
Media and democracy
An Economic Justice Agenda: Crisis in public education
Race/ ethnicity and the political organizing .
Corporatization of University/ decline of public universities
New Fronts in the Feminist Struggle
Working class life and culture
The state of our unions
Time: Thursday, October 4, 2007 - 10:00am PST

Stem Cell video [click]

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Lung-Cancer Blood Test

A pharmaceutical company is developing a highly sensitive test that could catch the deadly disease in its early stages.

By Katherine Bourzac

Lung cancer kills more Americans than any other cancer. Doctors know that smokers and former smokers are at much greater risk than the rest of the population, yet there's no safe way to screen them, and lung tumors are rarely discovered in early, more curable stages.

Now researchers at a Gaithersburg, MD, pharmaceutical company say they have found that 99 percent of patients with all stages of lung cancer have detectable levels of a particular protein in their blood that healthy individuals do not. The company, Panacea Pharmaceuticals, is reporting encouraging preliminary results for its test for the protein this week at a conference of the American Association for Cancer Research. The company is working toward federal approval to market the test for high-risk patients.

"Lung cancer is the only major cancer with no approved screening procedure," points out David Carbone, director of Vanderbilt University's Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center's research program in lung cancer. Smokers and former smokers have a ten- to fiftyfold greater risk of developing lung cancer. But "there's no way to detect [lung cancer] before they're coughing up blood and suffering shoulder pain," signs of advanced cancer, says Carbone.

Quicktime video
Here's the story behind the picture:

Through the viewfinder of his camera, Ensign John Gay could see the fighter plane drop from the sky heading toward the port side of the aircraft carrier Constellation. At 1,000 feet, the pilot drops the F/A-18C Hornet to increase his speed to 750 mph, vapor flickering off the curved surface of the plane. In the precise moment a cloud in the shape of a farm-fresh egg forms around the Hornet 200 yards from the carrier, its engines rippling the Pacific Ocean just 75 feet below, Gay hears an explosion and snaps his camera shutter once.

"I clicked the same time I heard the boom, and I knew I had it," Gay said. What he had was a technically meticulous depiction of the sound barrier being broken July 7, 1999, somewhere on the Pacific between Hawaii and Japan.