Think positive to live longer

A study in the August issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that older people who have a more positive view of aging live up to 7.5 years longer. The data were collected in a longitudinal study over 23 years. A will to live contributes part of this extra lifespan.

9:28:23 AM    

Fear not the "armageddon" asteroid

Now that scientists have had a chance to look twice at asteroid 2002 NT7, they have concluded that it is not a risk to Earth, as some of us expected.

The new data was announced over the weekend and the risk summary appears at NASA and NeoDys.

Some of the key numbers to look at in those tables are the distance and width. If the distance is greater than the width, we are essentially safe. The probability for impact in 2060 is about 3 in a million. Probabilities like this are notoriously difficult to interpret in a meaningful way so let's just say that's a pretty small number.

You have to wonder how smart it is for people to blow this story up out of all proportion. Is it the fault of the original scientists who noticed there could be a close call? Perhaps the press officers at their institutions seeking publicity... Or maybe it was mentioned as a relatively minor point but the media took it and ran. In any case, it doesn't seem very responsible to announce what some people may find is frightening and disturbing when a few extra days (over a timescale of 60 years!) makes all the difference.

9:28:10 AM    

Anti-gravity schemes persist

How is it that the Podkletnov anti-gravity scheme is still being discussed? There is no theoretical foundation for it, no experimental evidence for it, some tests that have shown it not to exist... What else do we need?

But now Phantom Works in Seattle (which handles Boeing's sensitive programs) is researching it again and they seem to believe it is plausible, reports the BBC.

There's a sucker company born every minute... (and we wonder why the dot-com market crashed...)

9:27:54 AM