11.26.10
Posted in science at 8:49 am by site admin
Check out this article about ESP hitting mainstream.
Psi is psychology’s equivalent of the perpetual motion machine in physics. Claims in favor of telepathy, clairvoyance, premonitions or other extra-sensory perceptions were always considered the realm of looney-tunes who write to professors with no margins and lots of fanciful diagrams. Or worse, the realm of con artists and a target forprofessional debunkers. What to make, then, of this paper (pdf), to be published in next month’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology? Here, a social psychologist with impeccable credentials reports evidence for several `psi’ phenomena. All I can say is: I did not see that coming.
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07.15.10
Posted in science at 10:55 am by site admin
Check out this wired.com article about a semi-natural biotech hack that makes bones heal 3 times faster.
The experiment, published April 28 in Science Translational Medicine, is rooted in two decades of research on Wnt genes and proteins, which play a variety of regenerative roles. They help embryonic stem cells make copies of themselves, keeping a body’s supply fresh, and guide the maturation of stem cells into specific cell types.
Wnt proteins are found throughout the animal kingdom, from sponges and flatworms to mice and humans, and their function seems to be consistent. When tissues are injured, Wnt genes in surrounding cells become more active, pumping out extra Wnt proteins. Arriving repair cells divide faster and grow more rapidly.
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02.26.10
Posted in science, society at 5:36 pm by site admin
Check out this short promo for a book called the Essential Engineer.
At its heart, and beyond the grudging tone and sometimes confounding structure, “The Essential Engineer” does strike a point that lies deep and solid as bedrock. The times we live in now call not so much for scientists to measure daintily the likelihood of the next pending disaster as for men and women of action — informed by science, certainly, but also by common sense, economic reality and the social good — to roll up their sleeves and start figuring out how to avoid that disaster. To an engineer like Petroski, that means that it is time to build. And to a very large degree, he’s right. From clean energy and sound roads to safe food and effective medicines, the domain of the engineer is vast, and the need for productive optimism has perhaps never been greater.
Petroski reminds us, quite rightly, that while scientists may ring the warning when it comes to potential disasters, “warnings are not solutions — nor are they necessarily a death knell. It will be the optimistic engineers who hear the warnings not as doomsday scenarios but as calls to tackle significant problems.” The warning bells are ringing clear and loud. One hopes that Petroski’s own alarm, calling engineers to creative arms, is heard as clearly as a klaxon.
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02.18.10
Posted in health, science at 12:11 pm by site admin
Check out this article about extreme breath holding.
A Swiss freediver held his breath underwater for 19 minutes and 21 seconds, according to news reports this week. The gasp-inducing feat beat the previous world record by 19 seconds, and blew away the record of 17 minutes and four seconds that magician David Blaine set on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show in 2008.
Extreme breath holders rely on a combination of techniques and training. They train their body to slow down the heart and circulatory system. In comparison to traditional methods, this new wave of breath holders leverage modern technology and train in hyperbaric chambers.
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01.10.10
Posted in science at 10:13 pm by site admin
Check out this article about how cell phone radiation may help protect against alzheimer’s disease.
The authors say previous studies have linked a possible increased risk of Alzheimer’s with “low-frequency” electro-magnetic exposure like the energy waves generated by power and telephone lines.
They say mobile phones emit “high frequency” electro-magnetic waves that are very different because they can have beneficial effects on brain function, such as increasing brain cell activity.
So the questions is would you rather die of brain cancer from prolonged cell phone usage, or live a demented final years of your life having alzheimer’s?
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07.30.09
Posted in science at 7:19 am by site admin
Check out this article about human emit visible light.
Past research has shown that the body emits visible light, 1,000 times less intense than the levels to which our naked eyes are sensitive. In fact, virtually all living creatures emit very weak light, which is thought to be a byproduct of biochemical reactions involving free radicals.
and also:
The researchers found the body glow rose and fell over the day, with its lowest point at 10 a.m. and its peak at 4 p.m., dropping gradually after that. These findings suggest there is light emission linked to our body clocks, most likely due to how our metabolic rhythms fluctuate over the course of the day.
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