Science Blogs

Scientists love to blow things up. Throw in dramatic music, an atomic blast, and a Father-Knows-Best narrator, and you have all the makings of a Cold War propaganda film. The House in the Middle, a 1954 film by the National Clean Up-Paint Up-Fix Up Bureau (who knew?) set in the Nevada Test Site, is designed to show how to guard your home against the heat of an atomic explosion. The film shows how houses surrounded by litter and made of unpainted wood catch fire more easily than tidy houses with a fresh coat of paint. The film is fun for its camp value and atomic bomb footage. You wonder whether the people behind the film really believe that a fresh coat of paint stands between you and your own personal nuclear holocaust. Then you find out that the film was co-sponsored by the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association, and it all makes sense--it's simply marketing disguised as government propaganda disguised as civil defense preparedness. What better way to get the Joneses to paint their house and Johnny to clean up his room than by scaring the hell out of them? The truly scary part is watching scientists touch the houses with their bare hands after the nuclear blast. The film is hosted by the Internet Archive.

You can tell Christmas is in the air with all the cool science gifts we're finding lately. What better way to express your passion for science than with hip What's Your Poison? coasters from London-based design studio Frank. From the Frank website, "Based on the standard periodic table this set of 8 elemental drinkmats allows you to send coded messages to your guests - arsenic for your love rival, gold for the object of your desire." They'll make great stocking stuffers or gifts for the office Secret Santa party. (via inkycircus)

Early this year a group of student researchers from MIT posted the results of a study on the effectiveness of aluminum helmets to protect against unwanted mind-reading or mind-control from nefarious elements (i.e., the gub'ment). Quoting from their abstract: "Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government's invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason." Thankfully, the researchers offer improved design suggestions for protecting your brain against The Man. But according to self-described paranoid Lyle Zapato in a report published Nov. 11, "there are serious flaws in this study." Zapato suggests that the MIT study is "NWO propaganda designed to spread FUD against deflector beanie technology, and aluminum shielding in general, in order to disembeanie paranoids, leaving them open to mind control." Now the question is, should teachers be required to present both sides of the debate to schoolkids?

News from the open access movement: Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature on the internet. Making it available free of charge and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. Removing the barriers to serious research.

The science blog world has been abuzz ever since the Royal Academy, UK's national academy of science, released a statement on Nov. 24 regarding distribution of research results funded by the Research Councils UK (RC UK). Essentially, the RC UK proposes that effective October 1, 2005 "a copy of any published journal articles or conference proceedings resulting from Research Council funded research should be deposited in an appropriate e-print repository (either institutional or subject-based) wherever such a repository is available to the award-holder." Sounds reasonable, no? The Royal Society, however, is afraid that the new proposals will divert funds and readership away from their publications, namely the Philosophical Transactions, one of the world's oldest journals, and "has written to RC UK proposing that a study be commissioned to assess the relative merits of the various models that have been proposed under the rather broad banner of open access, including that outlined by RC UK in its consultation document" (read: delay tactic). Nevermind that such journals are rapidly being sidelined by online open access scientfic journals such as Public Library of Science and arXiv.org. If the Royal Society were savvy enough, they'd make their articles open over the web (i.e., be the repository) and include Google ads or the like on the webpages for revenue. Alas, they're behaving like another dinosaur, slow to adapt to a changing environment.

Despite what Intelligent Design proponents would have you believe, biological evolution is in fact very efficient at creating complex individuals that are uniquely suited to a large, complex, and even poorly understood environment. The basic principals of evolution--selection and mating between highly fit individuals over many generations to create more fit offspring with the occasional mutation--are used today by computer scientists to create genetic algorithms, which find numerical solutions to problems with many variables quickly and efficiently. The basic idea is that more fit parents selected from a random starting population produce more fit offspring to find the global optimum in a large array of possible solutions to a given problem. Occasional mutations prevent the overall population from falling into a local optimum, of which Darwin's Galapagos Islands might be an example. Genetic algorithms have been applied to many different types of problems from a range of fields including economics, ecology, networking, finance, and others. Contrary to the assertion that the universe is too complex to have been designed randomly without a creator, evolution is in fact quite good at creating a well functioning universe without anyone's help.

New Scientist reports that a new type of computer disc that stores 300 gigabytes of data will be released in 2006 by InPhase Technologies and Hitachi Maxell. The discs, known as holographic-memory discs, store information through light interference and are written to with a single flash of light, allowing for very high data transfer rates compared to current discs. The discs are slightly wider and thicker than DVDs and will require new specialized drives for reading and writing. According New Science "the technique could theoretically be used to store up to 1.6 terabytes of data on the same size of disc and to read data at 120 megabits per second. This is 340 times the capacity of an ordinary DVD and 20 times the data rate."

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found a non-invasive way to map areas of the brain that are affected by psychological stress. The method involves using magnetically "tagged" water in the subjects blood, which flows to the brain and is detected with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Dr. John A. Detre and his team found "an increase in blood flow to the prefrontal cortex in individuals subjected to stress... [which] remained when the stressor was removed, suggesting the effects of stress are more persistent than once thought." This may give new insight into a person's inability to 'get over' a traumatic event. The results of the study were published on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online edition.

Cool stuff from around the globe.

Steve Rubel explores how new technologies are transforming marketing, media, and public relations.

Charles Darwin can't get any rest. Nearly a century and a half after his death, some people are still trying to poke holes into his theory of evolution. Now the American Museum of Natural History has created an exhibit and accompanying website that examines Darwin's life and work and takes issue with creationists' opposing "theories." The AMNH website takes on creationists' opposition to evolution, saying "Creationism, including Intelligent Design, does not offer a scientific alternative to the theory of evolution.... For 150 years since the publication of Darwin's "Origins of Species", the theory of evolution by natural selection has not been seriously challenged by any other scientific explanation." The exhibit reveals some interesting facts about the famous naturalist: Darwin was sent to Cambridge by his father to study to be a doctor then a clergyman. Darwin's idea of "survival of the fittest," often applied to economic theories, was in fact inspired in part by political economist Reverend Thomas Malthus' "Essay on Population." And he was not the first person to think up the idea of evolution--his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, once speculated about it, among others. In fact, the idea of evolution was speculated upon by many scientists at the time, but it took someone like Darwin, and his fortunate opportunity to sail on the H.M.S. Beagle, to gather up the data needed to support it. According to a Telegraph report, the AMNH could not find a single corporate sponsor to cover the cost of the $3 million exhibit and relied on private donors instead.

Since this seems to be National Bash Bush Week, we thought we'd join in the fun and take a look at the Bush administration's record on science. In 2004 the Union of Concerned Scientists published a report entitled "Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: An Investigation into the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science." This report has been adapted for an online exhibit by Michael Douma and IDEA. It examines the Bushies' record of suppressing or doctoring research findings from federal agencies, particularly NOAA and the EPA, and selecting senior agency appointees on the basis of ideology and loyalty rather than their qualifications to comprehend and report on the science. According to the report, "William Ruckelshaus, the first EPA administrator under President Nixon, and his successor, Russell Train, have spoken out about the matter. Specifically, Ruckelshaus told the press, "Is the analysis flawed? That is a legitimate reason for not releasing [a science-based analysis]. But if you dont like the outcome that might result from the analysis, that is not a legitimate reason.'" Now if only someone would teach Bush how to pronounce "nuclear."

Has the Bush administration systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals on the environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weapons at home and abroad? Continue to read a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists in this multimedia exhibit.

The famous Ig Nobel Prizes will be announced tonight from Harvard University's Sanders Theatre at 7:30 PM eastern time. The prizes, which are a humorous spoof of the Nobel Prizes, are awarded to people who have "done something that first makes people laugh, then makes them think" by the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research. The prizes are awarded by genuine Nobel Laureates in front of an audience of 1200 spectators. You can watch a QuickTime internet broadcast of the event tonight beginning at 7:15 PM. Pictured right: 2004 Ig Nobel Peace Prize winner Daisuke Inoue -- the inventor of karaoke -- is serenaded by Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach (left), Richard Roberts and William Lipscomb, and by Karen Hopkin. Dr. Hopkin is, among other things, famed for creating the Studmuffins of Science Calendar. [Ed. note: The event is archived on the website for those who missed the live broadcast.]

This site created by Spencer Weart supplements his much shorter book, which tells the history of climate change research as a single connected narrative. Serious readers will find the full history on this site (about 250,000 words). Or see what critics say about the book and then order it from Harvard University Press or Amazon.com.

New York City is a magnet for practically everyone, but who knew that New York City was a magnet for scientists? If you're tired of the usual art and theatre fare in New York City, check out the New York Academy of Sciences' Science & The City website, which lists dozens of science lectures, exhibits, conferences, and family events around the city each week. There are over 60 events listed for this week alone, including a talk on green roofs at the Center for Architecture, a lecture on understanding global warming forecasts at Columbia University, and a garden workshop on terrariums in the Bronx. The NYAS even put together a neat little Flash video filled with interviews of everyday New Yorkers and prominent local scientists and intellectuals, including James Watson, Jeffrey Sachs, and Neil deGrasse Tyson (pictured right) talking about science and why scientists like to call NYC home.

The USGS has taken a major step toward creating the earthquake equivalent of a real-time weather map for California, the most seismically active state in the US. The Real-time Forecast of Earthquake Hazard map for California shows the probability of a "strong shaking" at locations throughout the state within the next 24 hours. The average statewide estimated probability is between 1 in 10,000 and 1 in 100,000, while the highest probabilities of strong shaking are found at point around Los Angeles and San Francisco along the San Andreas Fault and are estimated to be 1 in 10,000 per day. To give a relative feel for these probability estimates, the USGS website notes that the probability of being in a car accident is much higher at 1 in 2,500. The map, which has been developed by the Swiss Seismological Service and the USGS Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS), is updated every hour based on known fault locations and recorded up-to-the-minute earthquake history.

Some enterprising graduate students at MIT with too much time on their hands have created SCIgen, an automatic computer science paper generator. Motivated by frequent e-mail requests (i.e., spam) for papers to dubious international science conferences with no real scientific affiliation, mission, or - it appears - standards, the students created SCIgen to produce equally dubious conference papers. The randomly generated papers include all of the essential elements of an academic research paper including graphs, figures, and citations. In fact, a SCIgen paper was recently accepted to the WMSCI 2005 conference, which "is a forum for focusing into specific disciplinary research, as well as for multi, inter and trans-disciplinary studies and projects. One of its aims is to relate disciplines fostering analogical thinking and, hence, producing input to the logical thinking," which is another way of saying that the conference isn't about anything in particular. Lacking travel funds to attend the conference, the students raised a little over $2000 in donations in 72 hours over the internet.

Jack Sheldon, the vocalist of the popular Schoolhouse Rock cartoons, "Conjunction Junction" and "I'm Just A Bill", has a website dedicated to his oldies. "Conjunction Junction" first aired in 1973 and "I'm Just A Bill" aired in 1975. Schoolhouse Rock cartoons have been revived on ABC and play on Saturday mornings at approximately 10:56am and 11:26am. According to Sheldon's website, the Schoolhouse Rock series was created by the co-owner of the advertising agency Phil Kimmelman and Associates "to help his son overcome school difficulties in a new and fun way." The site has links to the songs and Quicktime videos.