06/28/2008
Sun, Jupiter, Saturn: spin-orbit coupling?
In this dose of skeptical peer-reviewed literature about the climate, we visit PASA, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. Ian Wilson, Brad Carter, and I.A. Waite propose a new, provoking mechanism that may influence the intensity of sola...
~ published: 06/28 at 23:12 ~ source: The Reference Frame ~ permalink ~ points: 0
A Tapeworm Mystery: Which Way Is Up?
I'm sure you'd like to pretend that you have nothing in common with a tapeworm. A tapeworm starts off as an egg which then develops into a cyst. Inside the cyst is a ball-shaped creature with hooks that it can use to crawl around its host before growing i...
~ published: 06/28 at 22:36 ~ source: The Loom ~ permalink ~ points: 0
A blessed man's formula for holey containers
I love the way derivatives of types tell you about holes in containers. It works the other way too and holes can give insight into derivatives.Suppose S and T are containers so that S(X) and T(X) are containers of elements of type X. Then S(T(X)) is an S-...
~ published: 06/28 at 14:38 ~ source: A Neighborhood of Infinity ~ permalink ~ points: 0
Microcosm in tomorrow's New York Times Book Review
Science writer Peter Dizikes reviews my book Microcosm for the New York Times. It's great to see that he gets it--i.e., he understands what I'm trying to do with E. coli in the book. I actually appreciate that more than a positive review. Fortunately, he ...
~ published: 06/28 at 12:22 ~ source: The Loom ~ permalink ~ points: 0
Passports for penguins
New technology will let biologists identify and monitor large numbers of endangered animals, from butterflies to whales, without capturing them.read more...
~ published: 06/28 at 11:52 ~ source: Science Blog - Think. It's not illegal yet. ~ permalink ~ points: 0
Climate skeptic: Don't panic
The readers of various climate realist blogs may already know this 10-minute video created by Climate-skeptic.com and posted by Coyoteblog - these two websites actually have the same person behind them unless I misunderstand something. ;-)But I found it s...
~ published: 06/28 at 11:07 ~ source: The Reference Frame ~ permalink ~ points: 0
How much data in your genome
Daniel Macarthur, of Genetic Future, reviews the amount of information required to store genomic information. Naturally, you'd probably think it was around 12 billion bits (2 bits per base pair), but sequencing technologies and the availability of referen...
~ published: 06/28 at 09:46 ~ source: John Hawks Anthropology Weblog ~ permalink ~ points: 0
Ancient Earth rocks may be on Moon
Simulations have shown that ejecta from ancient impacts on Earth may have landed safely on the Moon, allowing future astronauts to search for ancient traces of Earth's life forms within meteorites found on the lunar surface. I'm not sure whether I want th...
~ published: 06/28 at 08:51 ~ source: John Hawks Anthropology Weblog ~ permalink ~ points: 0
Higher education and human capital
What good is higher education? The conventional view is that, in addition to producing a well-informed citizenry, it builds important human capital and raises national productivity. But what is the evidence for these assertions? In policy debates we are t...
~ published: 06/28 at 08:51 ~ source: Information Processing ~ permalink ~ points: 0
Ira Flatow interviews Edward Witten
Ira Flatow has interviewed Edward Witten on his Big Ideas (2003):See also the second part of the interview....
~ published: 06/28 at 08:13 ~ source: The Reference Frame ~ permalink ~ points: 0
A Talk With Paul Ehrlich About The State of the World
I'm back on bloggingheads.tv, talking this week with Paul Ehrlich about everything from climate change to Polynesian canoe oars to the origins of human culture to why cars are best for teenagers to make out in. Check it out. Read the comments on this post...
~ published: 06/28 at 08:00 ~ source: The Loom ~ permalink ~ points: 0