Thursday, November 7, 2002
Public Release: 2-Nov-2002
Fiery ice from the sea
Jokes about swamp gas, and cows in warm barns aside, ONR thinks you ought to be thinking about methane hydrates. There are mega-tons of the stuff at the bottom of the ocean and in the permafrost and it is the cleanest and most abundant source of energy in the world. When burned, it releases less carbon dioxide pollution than anything else around.
Office of Naval Research
Contact: Gail Cleere
cleereg@onr.navy.mil
703-696-4987
Office of Naval Research
[Eurekalert - Biology]
OK, this scares me. Methane hydrates are a huge sink for a major green gas. Release of large amounts of methane from these hydrates has been postulated for several prehistoric episodes of climatic changes. Now we want to use them for fuel. Sure, they may produce less CO2 than oil, but they still release greenhouse gases. This will just continue the oncoming global warming. We need to be finding ways to sequester carbon in trees, or methane hydrates, to help reduce CO2 emissions, not finding ways to emit more CO2. This will just come back to haunt us, I am afraid. It will be great for the big power companies but I am not sure it will be so great for individuals. 11:53:30 PM
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The Importance of Grandma. For a growing number of evolutionary biologists and cultural anthropologists, grandmothers represent a key to understanding the human condition. By Natalie Angier. [New York Times: Science]
I know this will generate some emails from my mom but the research seems unequivocal. As one scientist noted, with regard to Gambian toddlers: 'If the grandmother dies, you notice it; if the father does, you don't.' It did not matter whether it was a maternal or paternal grandmother. And their presence increased the fertility of young woman. Great stuff. 11:47:19 PM
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Brain Power: The Search for Origins. Neuroscientists have found an evocative solution to a classic problem: which is more important in shaping the human brain, nature or nurture? By Sandra Blakeslee. [New York Times: Science]
AmI missing something? Children living in poverty or who are malnourished or who are abused often have 'miswired' brains. I remember reading or so years ago where cats were blindfolded for quite some time after birth. after a certain period of time, they acted as if they were blind, even after the blindfolds were removed. The need for environmental stimulus for proper wiring has been known for a long time. The effect of this stimulus on the wiring of neurons is one reason knowling the complete genome will not solve all the medical problems of the world. 11:22:55 PM
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Bloody teeth boost memory. Nature Nov 5 2002 7:37PM ET [Moreover - moreover...]
Okay, watching a bloody tooth extraction increases your ability to remember something 24 hours later. I can understand that but when one of the scientists says that emotion helps us to remember but it doesn't have to be [personally] meaningful', I have to wonder. Most of us would probably take a bloddy dental extraction perssonally. Just thinking about it makes MY teeth hurt. 11:04:00 PM
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Public Release: 5-Nov-2002
CHEST 2002 Annual Meeting
Beating pneumonia by a nose
According to a team of researchers from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, an electronic nose - a relatively new version of a sensor previously used in the food, wine and perfume industries - can quickly and accurately diagnose pneumonia in critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients. The results will be presented at the CHEST 2002 Annual Meeting Tuesday, November 5th in San Diago.
Cyrano Sciences, Inc.
Contact: Olivia Fermano
olivia.fermano@uphs.upenn.edu
215-349-5653
University of Pennsylvania Medical Center
[Eurekalert - Biology]
This could be a much faster procedure than bacterial cultures. Many different types of bacteria give off very distinctive odors. I wonder how many other diseases this artificial nose will owrk with. 10:09:21 PM
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Beyond MP3s: iPod Holds Genome. Wired News Nov 6 2002 7:23AM ET [Moreover - moreover...]
Several scientist said So What? It is so much easier if you access the data over a network. What they miss is that you can combine a Ti Powerbook, and iPod and the BLAST software do the work from anywhere, like places that are not connected to a network. The need to physically be connected is a drawback to some forms of creativity. Some people think better sitting by a river or on the bus. You could use this system to get some important work done. 9:58:48 PM
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Amgen Pays for Its Delay. Motley Fool Nov 6 2002 2:15PM ET [Moreover - moreover...]
UBS Warburg Cuts Amgen to 'Hold'. Business Week Nov 6 2002 12:54PM ET [Moreover - moreover...]
Not a good week for Amgen. Competitors for Enbrel. Aranesp reimbursements lowered. Hard to argue for such a high PE until more news about the Rhode Island plant is available. If this gets done early next year, this will be a big boost, although I believe that it will not be too long before Enbrel supply becomes constrained again. 9:52:24 PM
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NY Times: Tablets Mightier Than the Keyboard? It's the latest expression of a long-running Microsoft fantasy: a future world in which you'll write directly on the screen of your PC with a plastic-tipped pen. You'll take handwritten notes, mark up documents right on the screen and capture doodles on the digital equivalent of cocktail napkins. [Tomalak's Realm]
One important aspect of tablets vs. PC is the method of input. There is some interesting work that examines the effects of using both hands and both sides of the brain when typing that will disappear when using one hand to write. I know that I get the flow going much faster when I am typing, in ways that never occur when I write in longhand. Didn't we invent typewriters to get away from longhand? 2:52:17 PM
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Tech voting: Cheating made simple
Plastic writes about how electronic voting systems with closed-source software and no paper trail, are the new generation of electronic voting machines an invitation to untraceable vote fraud?
The plain fact is that there electronic voting can be manipulated easily, by election officials or hackers. Moreover, the lack of privacy in electronic voting, which ties the voter to the votes cast, eliminates the secrecy of the ballot. This opens the path to not just cheating, but retaliation by the winners of elections, as well. [RatcliffeBlog -- Social and Political]
Voting is not something that should be digitized. We have enough security problems with software as it is. We don't need another voting scandal. If we are going digital, let's make sure it is done right. The software needs to be open, so that anyone can vet it and make sure there are not any problems. Voting software needs to be transparent. 2:43:49 PM
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Open source gloats over leaked Microsoft memo. InfoWorld - OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE advocates have concluded that a leaked Microsoft memorandum detailing a survey it conducted of IT professionals on their views of open source software shows that Microsoft's public relations tactics on ... Microsoft finds belittling Linux is ineffective Geek.com Microsoft: Back off Linux attacks ZDNet The Inquirer - InternetWeek.com - Slashdot - Linux News - and 18 related » [Google Technology News]
Well, the next step in MS standard process is for them to state that they have been open source fomr the beginning. I don't think it will work this time. MS is one of the juggernauts that will have to change, as is Disney, FOx, and most large companies. If their main business is information and not things, they will have to move away from the GE command & control model to an adaptive network. It is the most efficient way to deal with creativity. Unfortunately, the creative types are very seldom in charge of thse companies. Change will come slowly. 2:19:52 PM
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Common Errors in English: "abject, about, absorbtion, accede/exceed, accent marks, access, accessory, accept/except, accidently, acronyms and apostrophes, actual fact/actually, adapt/adopt, adultry, advance/advanced, adverse/averse, advice/advise, adviser/advisor, affect/effect, agreeance/agreement, ahold/hold, ain't, altogether/ all together, all, all goes well/augurs well, alliterate/illiterate, alls, allude/elude, allude/refer, allusion/illusion, alot, almost, alright, altar/alter, alterior, alternate/alternative, alumnus/alumni, amature, ambiguous/ambivalent, ambivalent/indifferent, American, amoral/immoral, amount/number, an historic..." [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson]
This will be useful for my son. I love the explanations, particularly regarding one of my bugaboos: wreaking havoc. I hate to hear people say reeking havoc or wrecking havoc. 1:38:19 PM
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