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 Topic: Random Science Posts

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  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #120 - September 30, 2013, 09:05 PM
    Two highly relevant ones, which nobody will give a shit about. whistling2

    IPCC digested: Just leave the fossil fuels underground

    Quote
    Hundreds of thousands of words will be written about the latest report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Here, in 10 words, is the bottom line: we have to leave most fossil fuels in the ground. It really is that simple.

    <snip>

    The story is much the same across the world: no country with fossil fuels has any intention of leaving them untouched. On the contrary, these countries are not only scrabbling to extract every bit of conventional coal, oil and gas they can get their hands on, they're also tapping or planning to tap all kinds of unconventional resources, from tar sands to methane hydrates.


    Climate report: How the science has moved on

    Quote
    "Human influence on the climate system is clear."

    With these words, Thomas Stocker of the University of Bern in Switzerland summed up the new assessment of climate science by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Stocker was one of the report's co-chairs.

    The new report, published last Friday, reaffirms the findings of the previous assessment in 2007: humans are to blame for warming now and in the future.

    But there is always more to learn, and the report's individual chapters contain a lot of new science. New Scientist breaks down the most important new findings.

    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #121 - October 01, 2013, 07:19 AM
    This is very cool. Centipede venom may fight chronic pain

    Quote
    The venom used by a centipede to paralyse prey contains a molecule that new research shows is more effective than morphine in blocking pain.

    <snip>

    The current study targets human proteins known as voltage-gated sodium channels (Nav) that play a critical role in electrical signalling in neurons and other excitable cells.

    King, a research fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, says humans have nine different Nav channels, with earlier studies showing the Nav1.7 channel plays a key role in pain transmission.

    He says people with a mutation of this protein are unable to experience pain.

    Previous research to target this channel has been hindered because of the impact of drug candidates on other Nav channels, which among other things play important roles in heart and muscle function.

    "The difficulty is finding molecules that are selective for this one [Nav1.7] channel," he says.

    <snip>

    King agrees it is counterintuitive that a molecule used for predation could have therapeutic use.

    However he says the key difference in ion channels between insects and humans makes this possible.

    In contrast to humans, insects have only a single Nav channel, which is a common target of peptides in the venom of other arthropod predators such as scorpions and spiders.

    "Centipedes worked out hundreds of millions of years ago the easiest way to catch prey was to paralyse them by blocking their Nav channel," King says.

    "We're just lucky that of the nine Nav channels in humans, it hit the one we were after."

    This could have all sorts of valuable uses.
    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #122 - October 01, 2013, 07:42 AM
    I look forward to your posts here Smiley
    `But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
     `Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad.  You're mad.'
     `How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
     `You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #123 - October 01, 2013, 08:15 AM
    Well since there are over 30,000 of them perhaps you should look backwards. Cheesy
    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #124 - October 01, 2013, 08:30 AM
    Actually I meant specifically this thread. You post some interesting stuff.
    `But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
     `Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad.  You're mad.'
     `How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
     `You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #125 - October 02, 2013, 02:26 PM
    Quote from: osmanthus on September 30, 2013, 09:05 PM
    Two highly relevant ones, which nobody will give a shit about. whistling2

    IPCC digested: Just leave the fossil fuels underground

    Climate report: How the science has moved on



    Hey, I read your posts on this thread all the time. So I give a shit  grin12
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #126 - October 02, 2013, 07:34 PM
     Afro
    `But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
     `Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad.  You're mad.'
     `How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
     `You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #127 - October 02, 2013, 09:56 PM
    Well, people who have the power to implement policy probably wont give a shit. I was more worried about our current gummint over here. Wink
    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #128 - October 02, 2013, 11:03 PM
    This is cool. Afro

    Man controls new prosthetic leg using thought alone
    Quote
    A man missing his lower leg has gained precise control over a prosthetic limb, just by thinking about moving it – all because his unused nerves were preserved during the amputation and rerouted to his thigh where they can be used to communicate with a robotic leg.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nGmIS9YeuuQ
    "Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so." -- Bertrand Russell

    Baloney Detection Kit
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #129 - October 02, 2013, 11:17 PM
    That one is cool. Bring on the cyborg wenches!
    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #130 - October 02, 2013, 11:18 PM
    Sweet.
    `But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
     `Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad.  You're mad.'
     `How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
     `You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #131 - October 03, 2013, 04:26 AM
    Great find. Just think about the application of the technology in other fields.
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #132 - October 03, 2013, 10:14 PM
    Hey I like this: Private data gatekeeper stands between you and the NSA

    Quote
    BIG BROTHER is watching you. But that doesn't mean you can't do something about it – by wresting back control of your data.

    Everything we do online generates information about us. The tacit deal is that we swap this data for free access to services like Gmail. But many people are becoming uncomfortable about companies like Facebook and Google hoarding vast amounts of our personal information – particularly in the wake of revelations about the intrusion of the US National Security Agency (NSA) into what we do online. So computer scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created software that lets users take control.

    OpenPDS was designed in MIT's Media Lab by Sandy Pentland and Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye. They say it disrupts what NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden called the "architecture of oppression", by letting users see and control any third-party requests for their information – whether that's from the NSA or Google.

    Interesting read. I'll be keeping an eye on OpenPDS now. Afro
    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #133 - October 06, 2013, 03:58 AM
    well this is fun to watch...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HgL5OFip-0
    Do not let silence become your legacy.. Question everything   
    I renounced my faith to become a kafir, 
    the beloved betrayed me and turned in to  a Muslim     
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #134 - October 08, 2013, 07:02 PM
    This should probably have it's owe thread, but it's still early days yet:

    Nuclear fusion milestone passed at US lab
    Quote
    Researchers at a US lab have passed a crucial milestone on the way to their ultimate goal of achieving self-sustaining nuclear fusion.

    Harnessing fusion - the process that powers the Sun - could provide an unlimited and cheap source of energy.

    But to be viable, fusion power plants would have to produce more energy than they consume, which has proven elusive.

    Now, a breakthrough by scientists at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) could boost hopes of scaling up fusion.

    [more]

    This is world-changing if it pans out. Cheap sustainable energy is one of the Holy Grails of science.
    Too fucking busy, and vice versa.
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #135 - October 08, 2013, 07:23 PM
    Quote from: Ishina on October 08, 2013, 07:02 PM
    This should probably have it's owe thread, but it's still early days yet:

    Nuclear fusion milestone passed at US labThis is world-changing if it pans out. Cheap sustainable energy is one of the Holy Grails of science.

    well I am not sure world will change with such high cost extreme  tech energy source    but I don't think they have proven it as sustainable  fusion reaction with more output energy than it is taking for firing those giga watt laser beams .

    I think it is more a hype for their  five yearly 100 million dollar grant from department of energy.. basically  It is time  to renew the grant
    Do not let silence become your legacy.. Question everything   
    I renounced my faith to become a kafir, 
    the beloved betrayed me and turned in to  a Muslim     
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #136 - October 08, 2013, 07:29 PM
    The article isn't about the discovery of nuclear fusion. It's about one small step on the long road to potentially achieving nuclear fusion.
    Too fucking busy, and vice versa.
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #137 - October 09, 2013, 09:34 PM
    This one is interesting: The maths that saw the US shutdown coming

    Quote
    ON THE surface it seems inexplicable. The government of the most powerful country on earth has shut down and is dangerously close to defaulting on its debt. Its people and economy are feeling the consequences, and a new global financial crisis might not be far behind. And all this because a minority faction of one house of Congress will not approve a budget unless a healthcare measure that has already been passed into law is suspended.

    But for Peter Turchin, a mathematical ecologist at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, the stand-off was predictable. He is one of a small group of people applying the mathematics of complex systems to political instability. They have been anticipating events just like this – and they say that if we don't find some way to respond to the warning signs and change course, things are bound to get a lot worse before they get better.

    Turchin has found what he believes to be historical cycles, two to three centuries long, of political instability and breakdown affecting states and empires from Rome to Russia. In a book he is finishing, he argues that similar cycles are evident in US history, and that they are playing out to this day. He admits that his theory, built on a model that combines social and economic data, must be tested against real events – but unlike most historical theories, it can be. Meanwhile, he says, it "predicts the long-term conditions that led to this shutdown".

    The whole thing is worth reading. Still a bit of a stretch to say this is definitely the cause of this particular shutdown, but the general ideas seem like they might be very useful, and he seems to be on the mark for the historical trends.

    Also, the part at the end about how the shutdown affects the CDC is a bit of a worry (although not directly related to Turchins' work).
    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #138 - October 09, 2013, 09:37 PM
    And this, which will be totally ignored by our current illustrious bunch of ostriches (aka the Orstrylyan Federal Gummint):

    Terraforming Earth: Geoengineering megaplan starts now

    Quote
    THIS is how we will hold off disaster. To help us avoid dangerous climate change, we will need to create the largest industry in history: to suck greenhouse gases out of the air on a giant scale. For the first time, we can sketch out this future industry – known as geoengineering – and identify where it would operate.

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change now considers geoengineering to be respectable. The reason is simple. Unless our greenhouse gas emissions start falling soon, Earth will probably warm this century by more than 2 °C, at which point things get nasty – because human society might not be able to adapt. But emissions are still rising.

    The upshot is we urgently need ways to suck CO2 out of the air. This was the subject of the Oxford Conference on Negative Emission Technologies, held last month in the UK.

    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #139 - October 13, 2013, 06:52 PM
    Most people have probably seen this (if you have not, have a gander, it's amazeballz):

    Scale of Universe, by Cary Huang.

    I'm posting it again because holy fuck, I didn't realise how truly massive the Large Hadron Collider is.
    Too fucking busy, and vice versa.
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #140 - October 13, 2013, 09:23 PM
    Quote from: Ishina on October 13, 2013, 06:52 PM
    Most people have probably seen this (if you have not, have a gander, it's amazeballz):

    Scale of Universe, by Cary Huang.

    I'm posting it again because holy fuck, I didn't realise how truly massive the Large Hadron Collider is.

     that is a good one ., well let me put "Scale of the Universe and travelling through  Universe" tubes here

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmX5oKpvClA

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnhken4_-A0
    Do not let silence become your legacy.. Question everything   
    I renounced my faith to become a kafir, 
    the beloved betrayed me and turned in to  a Muslim     
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #141 - October 14, 2013, 09:49 PM
    Bring on the velociraptorzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!

    Quote
    Jurassic Park’s iconic image of a fossilized blood-filled mosquito was thought to be fiction — until now. For the first time, researchers have identified a fossil of a female mosquito with traces of blood in its engorged abdomen. A team led by Dale Greenwalt at the US National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC reports the fossil discovery today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    Although scientists have found fossils of suspected blood-sucking insects, the creatures' feeding habits have mostly been inferred from their anatomy or the presence of blood-borne parasites in their guts. But Greenwalt's fossilized mosquito contains molecules that provide strong evidence of blood-feeding among ancient insects back to 46 million years ago. It is a fortunate find. “The abdomen of a blood-engorged mosquito is like a balloon ready to burst. It is very fragile,” says Greenwalt. “The chances that it wouldn’t have disintegrated prior to fossilization were infinitesimally small.”

    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #142 - October 14, 2013, 09:52 PM
    Also, a new form of the botulinum toxin, with no known antidote, has been discovered.

    New botox super-toxin has its details censored

    Quote
    A new type of botulinum toxin – the deadliest substance known – has been discovered. Because it does not yet have an antidote, the DNA sequence behind it has been withheld from public databases. This is the first time a sequence has been kept secret over security concerns.

    <snip>

    Victims are treated with monoclonal antibodies, which are immune proteins produced artificially that react with the seven families of botulinum – named A to G – discovered so far.

    Stephen Arnon and colleagues at the California Department of Public Health in Sacramento report this week that they have found an 8th toxin – type H – in the faeces of a child who had the typical symptoms of botulism.

    Secret sequence

    The team sequenced the bacterial DNA that codes for the toxin, and found it constitutes a separate branch on the botulinum family tree.

    The new toxin only reacted weakly with a few of the standard antibodies supplied by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. None of these antibodies protected mice from the effects of the toxin.

    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #143 - October 26, 2013, 08:40 PM
    Hey this is a nifty plot: Hubble lens to get super boost from nature

    Quote
    Astronomers are attempting to boost the imaging prowess of the Hubble Space Telescope by taking advantage of naturally occurring zoom lenses in space.

    The three-year Hubble Frontier Fields project will make use of the light-bending gravity of six massive galaxy clusters to probe for dimmer, more distant objects behind them.

    "You put a bunch of mass in the way of some distant galaxies and it actually magnifies them and makes them easier to see," says astronomer Steven Finkelstein from the University of Texas at Austin.

    <snippity>

    The gravitational lenses should at least triple Hubble's imaging powers. In some cases, it could bring objects into view that are 10 times beyond what Hubble can see.

    "Over most of the fields that we are looking at, galaxies will appear three or four times brighter than they are intrinsically. And there will be smaller regions where they'll appear 10 times brighter and a subset of galaxies will appear 100 times brighter," says Lotz.

    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #144 - October 26, 2013, 08:44 PM
    Oh cool.
    `But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
     `Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad.  You're mad.'
     `How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
     `You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #145 - October 29, 2013, 02:00 AM
    This looks good. I'm gonna try it out. It probably wont pick up the fucking NSA (nobody expects the NSA!), but should still be useful. Afro

    Firefox plug-in reveals who is tracking your surfing

    Quote
    Do you know who's tracking your movements online? A plug-in for the Firefox web browser called Lightbeam creates an at-a-glance visualisation showing which third parties want to grab your data.

    Every time you access a website, numerous companies – website analytics firms, online advertisers or social media buttons – upload cookies to your computer to log which sites you visit and what you do once you are there.

    Lightbeam is designed to show users exactly what is going on behind the scenes. When you log on to a site, it records every website that your computer is connecting with – often more than just the one you intended to visit. It then creates visualisations, ranging from a list to a clock-like design, displaying the information.

    "Many people don't understand all of the ways the web works – or all of the pieces of the web or interactions that aren't immediately visible," says Alex Fowler, global privacy and public policy leader at Mozilla, the firm that makes Firefox. "Lightbeam helps us educate users, by shining a light on what we couldn't otherwise see."

    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #146 - October 29, 2013, 04:54 AM
    Life on Earth Was Not a Fluke

    Quote
    Regardless of the limitations, Stano’s experiment has shown for the first time that self-assembly of molecular machines into simple cells may be an inevitable physical process. Finding out how exactly this self-assembly happens will mean taking a big step towards understanding how life was formed.


    Read the comments on the article.  They are just as interesting as the article itself.
    "Work without hope draws nectar in a sieve, and hope without an object cannot live." -Coleridge

    http://sinofgreed.wordpress.com/
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #147 - October 29, 2013, 05:44 AM
    Link is fuckered.
    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #148 - October 29, 2013, 05:49 AM
    I think this is it

    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=life-on-earth-was-not-a-fluke
  • Random Science Posts
     Reply #149 - October 29, 2013, 05:53 AM
    Yep. That works. Afro
    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
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