http://www.scientific-blogs.com/ Bla, bla, bla,... RSS Aeolus jakub.onderka@gmail.com http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.arsmathematica.net/archives/2008/08/27/rigid-analytic-geometry/ Wikipedia’s article on rigid analytic geometry links to an interesting survey paper by Brian Conrad on the subject. Rigid analytic geometry is the attempt to translate the theory of complex analytic geometry to the p-adics. The theory is surprisin... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:40:42 -0600 http://motls.blogspot.com/2008/08/internet-explorer-8-beta-2.html Download (EN, DE, JP, simplified CN)Install instructions (mostly not needed)IE 8 web page (microsoft.com/ie8)Release notes (KB 949787)IE blog, tour (new features)The new browser can nowre-open closed tabs (when you open a new tab)switch to po/rn mode (&qu... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:48:00 -0600 http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/language/darwin-language-genealogy-2008.html How are languages and genes related to each other? Anthropology is an interdiscipinary subject, and this is probably the topic that pushes that envelope the furthest, in terms of calling on the expertise of many different disciplines in the humanities and... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:42:55 -0600 http://johnhawks.net/node/1625 The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel prints a nice article about the work of my UW colleague, Jenny Boughman. Boughman studies adaptation and mating behavior in sticklebacks -- a model species for much current research on speciation. Either form of cuckoldry un... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:57:35 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/376523448/yellowstone-supervolcano-only-lukewarm-17239.html The geysers of Yellowstone National Park owe their eistence to the "Yellowstone hotspot"--a region of molten rock buried deep beneath Yellowstone, geologists have found. But how hot is this "hotspot," and what's causing it?read more... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:23:40 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/cognitivedaily/~3/376414629/escherthemed_nurseries_even_fo.php "Impossible objects" like the etchings of M.C. Escher have fascinated adults for centuries. You can't help but stare and wonder at a drawing like this, which seems to defy the laws of nature:The drawing seems strange to us because our visual sys... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:30:36 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/376414345/army-personnel-show-increased-risk-migraine-17238.html Two new studies show that migraine headaches are very common among U.S. military personnel, yet the condition is frequently underdiagnosed. The studies examine the incidence among soldiers within 10 days of returning from a 1-year combat tour in Iraq, as ... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:28:02 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/376390159/lizard-pushups-mark-territory-17237.html What does Jack LaLanne have in common with a Jamaican lizard? Like the ageless fitness guru, the lizards greet each new day with vigorous push-ups.read more... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:02:47 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/376390161/collision-galaxy-clusters-captured-astronomers-17235.html Two UC Santa Barbara astronomers are part of a team that has made a stunning discovery using the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, it was announced today by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.read more... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:01:18 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/376390163/trying-satisfy-too-many-agendas-slows-school-reform-17233.html Despite investments, community goodwill and some good ideas, a vexing question remains in the age of school reform: Why has so much hope and effort led to disappointment?read more... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:00:10 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/376349942/mars-rover-climbing-out-crater-17232.html NASA's Mars Exploration rover Opportunity is heading back out to the Red Planet's surrounding plains nearly a year after descending into a large Martian crater to examine exposed ancient rock layers.read more... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:11:07 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/376324478/black-raspberries-slow-cancer-altering-hundreds-genes-17231.html New research strongly suggests that a mix of preventative agents, such as those found in concentrated black raspberries, may more effectively inhibit cancer development than single agents aimed at shutting down a particular gene.read more... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:34:48 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/376324479/framing-technique-can-be-used-public-relations-strategy-cases-sexual-assault-17230.html In Spring 2006, when three White Duke University lacrosse players were charged with raping a Black female student from nearby North Carolina Central University, Duke University officials framed the crisis in terms of institutional reputation rather than t... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:33:47 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/376305426/us-love-them-opioids-17229.html Researchers from Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center have found that in a given week, over 10 million Americans are taking opioids, and more than 4 million are taking them regularly (at least five days per week, for at least four weeks).read mor... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:25:40 -0600 http://johnhawks.net/node/1624 Another review of the evolution exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, this time a long piece by Julia Klein in the Wall Street Journal. ... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:46:53 -0600 http://infoproc.blogspot.com/2008/08/dense-nuclear-matter-intuition-fails.html I usually don't get into detailed physics exposition on this blog, but I thought I would make an exception with regard to the paper 0808.2987 which I recently wrote with my student David Reeb. (See earlier blog post here.) In the paper we conjectured that... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:35:00 -0600 http://johnhawks.net/node/1623 This is too strange: Dr Sabine Begall and colleagues from the University of Duisburg-Essen looked at thousands of images of cattle on Google Earth in Britain, Ireland, India and the USA. They also studied 3,000 deer in the Czech Republic. The deer tended ... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:45:24 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/375637110/nasa-mars-lander-digs-deeper-17225.html The next sample of Martian soil being grabbed for analysis is coming from a trench about three times deeper than any other trench NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has dug.read more... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:48:51 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/375553875/masculinity-study-honor-self-reliance-trump-sexual-prowess-17223.html Contrary to stereotypes about sexual performance and masculinity, men interviewed in a large international study reported that being seen as honorable, self-reliant and respected was more important to their idea of masculinity than being seen as attractiv... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:52:35 -0600 http://rigtriv.wordpress.com/2008/08/26/legalities-question/ Ok, this might be a silly question, but I’m not sure if something I want to do is legal or illegal.So, I’ve got some books in pdf format that are obtained legally (ie, EGA as downloaded from Numdam) which are rather out of print. I’d li... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:45:05 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/375431618/study-points-potential-new-use-viagra-17222.html A “basic science” breakthrough by Queen’s researchers into regulating a single enzyme may lead to new drug therapies that will help prevent heart attacks and strokes.read more... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:01:43 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/375403397/why-do-eyelids-sag-age-ucla-study-answers-mystery-17221.html Many theories have sought to explain what causes the baggy lower eyelids that come with aging, but UCLA researchers have now found that fat expansion in the eye socket is the primary culprit.read more... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:41:08 -0600 http://motls.blogspot.com/2008/08/glast-first-results.html Audio (since 2 p.m. EDT = 8 p.m. Prague Summer Time; RealPlayer needed)A web page of the press conferenceGLAST home pageGLAST prelude (MP3; explanation here)Just two months or so after GLAST was launched, we will be told about the first results. They will... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:36:00 -0600 http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/neandertals/neandertal_dna/how-many-samples-mtdna-2008.html I have an excellent e-mail question about last week’s Neandertal mtDNA paper, which has provoked a lot of commentary.I just skimmed over your comments on the recent paper and I have a couple questions. First, how many Neanderthals did they rece... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:47:07 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/375250660/perfect-pitch-humans-far-more-prevalent-expected-17219.html Researchers at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences have developed a unique test for perfect pitch, and have found surprising results.read more... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:07:15 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/375250661/caesarean-babies-more-likely-develop-diabetes-17218.html Babies delivered by Caesarean section have a 20 per cent higher risk than normal deliveries of developing the most common type of diabetes in childhood, according to a study led by Queen's University Belfast.read more... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:06:41 -0600 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/375250662/fingerprint-analysis-technique-could-be-used-identify-bombmakers-17217.html University of Leicester experts have held discussions with military personnel in Afghanistan following the discovery of new technology to identify fingerprints on metal.read more... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:06:06 -0600 http://motls.blogspot.com/2008/08/glashow-blind-chance-or-intelligent.html Playlist (3/17, an hour in total)Glashow talks about the crucial interplay between unexpected discoveries and planned research in science. He demonstrates the point on many historical examples. Serendipity means to look for a needle in a haystack but to f... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:41:00 -0600 http://johnhawks.net/node/1621 An interesting post from Justin Wolfers about statistical outliers and sprinters, referencing a New York Times story about Usain Bolt, along with a key graphic showing Bolt's and Michael Johnson's records versus the 249 other fastest 200 meter sprint time... Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:30:24 -0600 http://johnhawks.net/node/1620 Newsweek is running a long story with the details behind the latest Bigfoot hoax: [Las Vegas promoter Tom] Biscardi says he and his backers shelled out $50,000 for the body, only to discover days later that—shock!—it was nothing but a costume stuffed ... Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:42:51 -0600