Interesting Stuff Thread

Sarky

Oh yeah, a lot of marine bacteria do that biofilm thing, creating sticky compounds to bind them together so they don't get washed away too easily by currents. Sometimes it's made up of different species, competing for space. Some bacteria would release chemicals that break up certain biofilms, allowing them to colonise the places original taken by other species. I'm assuming it's one of those molecules they're talking about there. Could have something to do with quorum sensing, I did some brief work on that.

Marine microbiology is seriously awesome.

robindch

Sarky wrote: »

Marine microbiology [...]

Party pooper!

Dades

fitz0 wrote: »

http://io9.com/5923170/stop-calling-it-the-god-particle

Gregor Samsa

My brother just sent me this text:

A woman at work, in reference to the day's Higgsness, just said "I see they proved that God exists!". And she wasn't joking.

Delirium

Scientists create artificial vascular networks using sugar

For a great number of people, the idea of being able to use a patient’s own cells to create lab-grown replacement organs is very appealing. Already, researchers have had success growing urethras (which are essentially hollow tubes), and miniature human livers. Before large, solid, three-dimensional organs can be grown, however, scientists must figure out a reliable way of incorporating blood vessels into them – if the lab-grown organs simply take the form of a block of cells, the cells on the inside won’t be able to receive any nutrients, and will die. Now, a team from the University of Pennsylvania and MIT has devised a way of building such vessels, using sugar.

The scientists use a relatively inexpensive open-source RepRap 3D printer, which extrudes molten sugar – a mixture of sucrose, glucose and dextran is used, as that formulation offers strength (once the sugar hardens), plus biocompatibility with a wide range of cell types. That sugar is used to create a three-dimensional solid-sided mold that has a network of thin filaments of sugar running back and forth within it, from one side of its interior to the other. Those filaments are coated with a thin layer of a corn-derived polymer.

Sarky

F*CK YEAH 3D PRINTERS

Nodin

Sarky wrote: »

F*CK YEAH 3D PRINTERS

I know what you're thinking....you dirty man....

ShooterSF

2042:

"Mr. ShooterSF,

I have bad news. You see your excessive intake of alcohol and fatty foods has left your heart and liver in a rapidly increasing state of failure which is why you're in so much pain and I'm sorry but you're going to, *dramatic pause*, have to wait 20 minutes while Steve nips down for some more toner for the printer and we get your new ones printed."

Go science!

CerebralCortex

Is there a biological limit to longevity?

recedite

Lobsters live forever.

Dave!

Bill Gates is a big fan of Steven Pinker's latest tome, 'The Better Angels of Our Nature', describing it as "one of the most important books I’ve read – not just this year, but ever."

Gbear

Saying that people come to believe religious ideas because they engage more intuitive reasoning over logical reasoning isn't particularly surprising but I read about an interesting experiment discussed in Scientific American (July 2012, p8).

In another experiment, the investigators used an even more subtle way of activating analytic thinking: by having participants fill out a survey measuring their religious beliefs that was printed either in a clear font or in one that was difficult to read.
Prior research has shown that a difficult-to-read font promotes analytic thinking by forcing volunteers to slow down and deliberate more carefully about the meaning of what they are reading.
The researchers found that participants who completed a survey that was printed in an unclear font expressed less belief as compared with those who filled out the same survey in the clear font.

So, with some people; maybe those who are a bit on the line of being religious, if they're primed beforehand by forcing them to think analytically they'll be less likely to say they're religious.

Gbear

Dave! wrote: »

Bill Gates is a big fan of Steven Pinker's latest tome, 'The Better Angels of Our Nature', describing it as "one of the most important books I’ve read – not just this year, but ever."

I've still only read about half of it but it's very good.
It's more or less an argument that despite the 2 world wars and a perception of increasing violence in society, we're becoming far less violent.

One interesting thing he looks at is the adjusted death toll as a percentage of world populations.

The idea is that it's misleading to only look at absolute numbers in comparing wars. WW2 shouldn't be seen as the most deadly war because if there are so many more people in the world then it's easier to kill lots of them.

I think the adjusted figure for the Mongol invasions would be something like 400m deaths if they were to occur on the same scale today.

Dave!

Plus the weapons technology has come on quite a bit since swords and bow and arrows!

The Mad Hatter

Pinker's Ted Talk on the same subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ramBFRt1Uzk

Delirium

Studies refute arsenic bug claim

The discovery of a bacterium that could substitute arsenic for phosphorus to survive is refuted by new research.

Six elements are considered essential for life - oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur - so the announcement in 2010 implied one of biology's golden rules had been broken.

The findings provoked an immediate backlash and now two new scientific papers suggest the bacterium needs phosphorus to grow after all.

The studies appear in Science journal.

Delirium

Giant ice telescope hunts for secrets

Scientists are using the world's biggest telescope, buried deep under the South Pole, to try to unravel the mysteries of tiny particles known as neutrinos, hoping to shed light on how the universe was made.

The mega-detector, called IceCube, took 10 years to build 2 400m below the Antarctic ice. At 1km³, it is bigger than the Empire State building, the Chicago Sears Tower - now known as Willis Tower - and Shanghai's World Financial Centre combined.

seamus

This is about as close as I can get to an "off topic" thread, though it might be interesting to some around here.

Most of my estate has no front gardens and very little grass. In front of most of the houses and in other areas where you'd expect there to be grass is this crappy shrubbery stuff, like little 12 inch high bushes which don't flower.

When it rains as it does in Ireland, snails and slugs come slurping out of the shrubs in their hundreds of thousands (might be an estimate). I don't know where they think they're going. Since they come sliming across footpaths, they get squashed. Most days there are a series of dead snails across the footpaths. Not that many mind, I assume most people make an effort to avoid them.

One section of footpath for various reasons is quite poorly lit. A combination of the placement of the street lamps, parked cars and the slope of the road mean that for about 40m you can't really see the footpath at night, just the vague outline of it.
I noticed when I first moved in four years ago, that on this section of footpath there were a curious little snail that I didn't see anywhere else in the estate. A pure yellow shell or yellow with black stripes. They were also much smaller than the usual greyish-brownish monsters. There were only a few though, scattered around, the majority were still your common or garden snail. But they only existed on this section of path.

They all disappear over winter, but the following year I noticed that there were more of the little yellow guys and less of the big guys on this section of path. No change elsewhere in the estate. And the same again the next year. This year it's virtually all little yellow guys on this section and very few garden snails.

The only conculsion I can come to is that the yellow guys with their brighter shells, stand less chance of being stood on than their dark-shelled cousins. If it was a matter of being better foragers or something, then they would spread out across the estate. But they don't. So the only conclusion I can come to is that the dark guys get killed more prolificly than the yellow guys, resulting in less dark guys each year and more yellow guys.
A microhabitat, with natural selection in active, observable action.

If I was more driven, I would be inclined to start taking samples and see if there's any noticeable change in the actual yellow guys - are their shells getting brighter as the years go by, or perhaps the colours get more complex. Maybe they're getting slightly smaller because smaller snails stand less chance of being stood on...

Genghiz Cohen

In a similar vein. (I.E. personal scienceness)

Walking back from the water cooler in work and I was just struck by how much more enjoyable a cool drink of water is from a warm one.
Everything we do is based on some evolutionary advantage (IMO), why is liking cool water and advantage over warm water?

Thinking about it it seems to me that water fresh from a spring will be cool and have a very low chance of being infected with bad things, compared to ponds and such.
So how likely is it that one of our ancestors broke away from the pack (who were dying from all sorts of nastyness) and found he liked cool spring water far more than the abundant pond/lake water? He lives longer and passes the liking of cool water onto his children and so on.

Thoughts?

Girlfriend thinks it could be an advertising thing, we are conditioned to see cool drinks as a luxury and ice used to be very hard to obtain and a very standout item of power and wealth. I think it's the other way around, it became a luxury because it's the best.

kylith

I think it's cos we tend to drink cool drinks when we're hot, so we associate the coolness of the drink with the pleasurable feeling of relief from heat. Maybe if you only gave a child warm drinks they'd hate cold ones.

I like drinks at room temperature.

Opinicus

Deleted User wrote: »

I like drinks at room temperature.

ewwww

Opinicus

Opinicus wrote: »

ewwww

I could understand the reaction if I'd said body temperature.

robindch

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

Girlfriend thinks it could be an advertising thing, we are conditioned to see cool drinks as a luxury and ice used to be very hard to obtain and a very standout item of power and wealth.

No offense, but I'd go with your gf -- lots of things are acquired and consumed for no other reason than they demonstrate power and wealth. And at the risk of getting myself clobbered, I should point out that in my experience, women tend to be better at noticing that than men. Research also suggests that women tend to approve of men and ideas which the same women know or believe are approved of by other women...

On a separate topic, here in Siberia, cold things are associated with acquiring coughs, so in the interests of public safety, 19th-century style, it's surprisingly tricky to lay one's lips on a really ice-cold beer, a chilly fruit-juice, or even just a glass of water with ice without at least one set of raised eyebrows.

Genghiz Cohen

robindch wrote: »

No offense, but I'd go with your gf -- lots of things are acquired and consumed for no other reason than they demonstrate power and wealth. And at the risk of getting myself clobbered, I should point out that in my experience, women tend to be better at noticing that than men. Research also suggests that women tend to approve of men and ideas which the same women know or believe are approved of by other women...

Well I'm very offended that someone would have a differing opinion to myself!
WITHDRAW!

Hotblack Desiato

robindch wrote: »

lots of things are acquired and consumed for no other reason than they demonstrate power and wealth

They don't even need to be consumed - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_(behavior)

Sinking of champagne is the act of pouring out champagne in the sink. Sinking probably started in Sweden as "a reaction to the ban on spraying champagne in many bars" and the sinking is usually done by a person ordering two bottles of champagne and asking the bartender to pour out (sink) one of them. The term "sinking" is a translation of the Swedish "vaskning," derived from "vask," which means "sink."

muppeteer

ninja900 wrote: »

They don't even need to be consumed - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_(behavior)

Tut Tut, what about all the kids in Africa with no champaign!!!

joseph brand

http://www.sci-news.com/biology/article00458.html. Evolution in action. New flower found in Scotland.

joseph brand

Melinda Gates pledges $560 million for contraception.

LONDON (Reuters) - Melinda Gates has pledged $560 million as part of a campaign to expand access to contraception for women in some of the poorest countries in the world.

The funding commitment was unveiled on Wednesday at the London Summit on Family Planning alongside pledges totaling $4.3 billion from the British government and leaders from African nations wrestling with the health and social problems brought on by high rates of unplanned pregnancy.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-rt-us-contraception-gates-melindabre86a1du-20120711,0,2461524.story

Hotblack Desiato

I wish Bill Gates had pledged himself to contraception before it was too late.