Interesting Stuff Thread

kiffer

Two things... unrelated but interesting.


First "Scientific Impotence"
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/05/when-science-clashes-with-belief-make-science-impotent.ars

linked article wrote:

It's hardly a secret that large segments of the population choose not to accept scientific data because it conflicts with their predefined beliefs: economic, political, religious, or otherwise. But many studies have indicated that these same people aren't happy with viewing themselves as anti-science, which can create a state of cognitive dissonance.
...
...
Regardless of whether the information presented confirmed or contradicted the students' existing beliefs, all of them came away from the reading with their beliefs strengthened. As expected, a number of the subjects that had their beliefs challenged chose to indicate that the subject was beyond the ability of science to properly examine. This group then showed a weak tendency to extend that same logic to other areas, like scientific data on astrology and herbal remedies.
...

Second some interesting proto-life/abiogenesis stuff...
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627623.000-dna-replication-without-life.html
Spotted it in New Scientist today... just read "Thermal Trap for DNA Replication, Mast and Braun 2010" and "Formation of Protocell-like Vesicles in a Thermal Diffusion Column" referenced in the article...
My money is still on tidal zones being important but I'm liking the stuff on volcanic vents.

5uspect

kiffer wrote: »

Second some interesting proto-life/abiogenesis stuff...
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627623.000-dna-replication-without-life.html
Spotted it in New Scientist today... just read "Thermal Trap for DNA Replication, Mast and Braun 2010" and "Formation of Protocell-like Vesicles in a Thermal Diffusion Column" referenced in the article...
My money is still on tidal zones being important but I'm liking the stuff on volcanic vents.

The idea that thermal vents allow for DNA amplification is nothing new. A friend of mind did his Ph.D. on natural convection driven PCR. I even helped him with some of the experiments.

Wacker

Sorry for the size of this picture, but... holy sh*t balls!

Coriolanus

Cheers Wacker, that's great!

Wacker

Nevore wrote: »

Cheers Wacker, that's great!

You're welcome.

Galvasean

Not the first time I've seen it but it never ceases to amaze me. That universe is friggin' huge. Kind of makes the idea that we are somhow special on this tiny little planet very laughable.

Niska

All the star names reminded me of playing Frontier (or pouring over star charts for Traveller).

Dave!

Please nobody quote Wacker

Wacker

Dave! wrote: »

Please nobody quote Wacker

Post reported! :pac:

liamw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U

The Mad Hatter

Wacker: I am so making that a poster and putting it on my wall.

Dades

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

Wacker: I am so making that a poster and putting it on my wall.

Will go well with your illuminous ceiling stars.

The Mad Hatter

Dades wrote: »

Will go well with your illuminous ceiling stars.

...

Turtwig

Condensed too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q

FYI : The 19th picture in Wackers monster poster is outdated. VY Canis Majoris is the Largest known star. Funnily enough it states so correctly on the 18th picture.


Here is a condensed slideshow of the second half of wacker's poster. (The first slide contains the same error listed above.)

Dades

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100601-sinkhole-in-guatemala-2010-world-science/



The gods must have been playing swingball.

kiffer

Dades wrote: »

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100601-sinkhole-in-guatemala-2010-world-science/



The gods must have been playing swingball.

I've seen this before! In that documentary about that girl in america... It's the Hellmouth... Well a Hellmouth, there's another one in Cleveland.

Turtwig

kiffer wrote: »

I've seen this before! In that documentary about that girl in america... It's the Hellmouth... Well a Hellmouth, there's another one in Cleveland.

I saw that too! Rumour has it that after she destroyed the one in the US she headed for Scotland. Anyway, there's isn't one under Ireland!!:eek:

kiffer

Malty_T wrote: »

I saw that too! Rumour has it that after she destroyed the one in the US she headed for Scotland. Anyway, there's isn't one under Ireland!!:eek:

Limerick.

Turtwig

Dades wrote: »

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100601-sinkhole-in-guatemala-2010-world-science/



The gods must have been playing swingball.

Lol, I have to admit the first time I saw the pic, I thought it had something to do with the LHC.:o

Dave!

Malty_T wrote: »

Lol, I have to admit the first time I saw the pic, I thought it had something to do with the LHC.:o

LOL

Please don't say that again, there could be a Daily Mail journo lurking in here

Turtwig

How much scientific evidence supports omega 3 claims?

Not a whole lot.

Dades

Nice one. I bought a jar of them once, but stopped taking them after a couple of days because they were the size of small suitcases and gave me fish burps.

I figured fish burps were too high a price to pay for eternal life.

(Secretly I was hoping I'd grow gills like Kevin Costner in Waterworld.)

sponsoredwalk

Malty_T wrote: »

How much scientific evidence supports omega 3 claims?

Not a whole lot.

From the article;

Joseph Hibbeln, a psychiatrist from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, has found a correlation between the amount of fish a country eats and the rate of depression there.

I think this result alone shows the reliability of nitpicking such multivariate factors.

We do know that vegans like me are the most depressed sector of the population after all :rolleyes:

Germans, he found, eat less than 10 kilograms of fish per person per year, and 5 per cent are depressed. By contrast, the Japanese eat around 65 kilograms, and less than 1 per cent of them are depressed. This has led some researchers to suggest that omega-3 supplements could be used to cure depression.

While I don't disagree with a correlation between depression & lack of healthy food I think nitpicking fish as a miracle cure really takes the bait.

What I love is that in this article it's psychiatrists who have been overhyping this correlation, not an unusual thing for psychiatrists/psychologists to do

"These claims take the results much further than the science actually warrants,"

:pac:

Should pregnant women therefore take supplements? Women are better than men at converting ALA to DHA and the fetus is also capable of higher rates of conversion than adults are. Sanders says this means DHA supplements aren't necessary as long as the expectant mother is eating a balanced diet that includes some omega-3 from fish or vegetarian sources.

I think this is important, before the last 100 years people had very little access to junk food compared to modern times & would
generally eat a more balanced diet, (assuming they could afford it).

robindch

Dades wrote: »

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100601-sinkhole-in-guatemala-2010-world-science/

More on this gigahole here:

http://news.discovery.com/earth/dont-call-the-guatemala-sinkhole-a-sinkhole.html

Apparently half the city is built on light pumice.

Ickle Magoo

"Piping feature" just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

MrPudding

Malty_T wrote: »

How much scientific evidence supports omega 3 claims?

Not a whole lot.

Have a read of "Bad Science," in the unlikely event you haven't already.

MrP

Wacker

Hi folks,

Check this out.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdm5he_richard-dawkins-demonstrates-laryng_tech#from=embed

I can't embed it as it's not a youtube clip.

Funglegunk

Wacker wrote: »

Hi folks,

Check this out.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdm5he_richard-dawkins-demonstrates-laryng_tech#from=embed

I can't embed it as it's not a youtube clip.

Great video. Didn't I see that presenter working on a car last week...?

The Mad Hatter

Wacker wrote: »

Hi folks,

Check this out.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdm5he_richard-dawkins-demonstrates-laryng_tech#from=embed

I can't embed it as it's not a youtube clip.

He went through this in The Greatest Show on Earth too, and I think he explained it a bit better there.

I also didn't like the way the commentator seemed to be suggesting that no-one's ever figured out the explanation before, until Richard Dawkins came along and looked inside this giraffe.

"It's one of the great evolutionary enigmas that Richard Dawkins is keen to resolve in the flesh."

token56

Study Confirms E. Coli Evolution Via Natural Selection

http://www.dailytech.com/Study+Confirms+E+Coli+Evolution+Via+Natural+Selection/article18761.htm