September 1, 2008
Links 33
1. Surf like a Bushman - I just noticed this great article in my bookmarks list (which is finally shrinking to a more manageable size after 33 entries). I thought I would never find it again, so I'm pleased to be able to share it. Foraging theory is a useful, powerful way to investigate and explain animal behavior -- and (though some might disagree) a wide variety of human behaviors as well. Most humans now live in environments remarkably different from the one(s) in which we evolved, but it is reasonable to assume our brains still use the machinery and 'rules' shaped throughout our evolutionary history. Many of us now spend time browsing through text and images on the web rather than browsing through the woods looking for a particular plant or food source, but might modern humans 'forage' on the web in the same way we would forage for food as hunters & gatherers? From the article:
Imagine you're a financial analyst looking for data about an investment company. You've found a useful site on the Web, but it's starting to feel a bit stale. You'd like to move on, but you know that a search will take time and there's no guarantee that other sites will be any more useful. When should you abandon the dwindling supply? This, Pirolli and Card argue, is analogous to the problem faced by hunter-gatherers. And it can be solved in the same way.
The article (originally published in New Scientist) is a great read. This sort of research could have a significant impact on how we design information retrieval systems, although the authors note there are some limitations:
The analogy between food and information looks like being a big help to Web designers. But at some point, Pirolli says, it's likely to break down. For one thing, there's the question of evaluating costs and benefits. Biologists and anthropologists can always draw up an energy balance sheet for a foraging behaviour in joules. The value of information isn't so easy to measure.
2. How It All Ends - You've probably seen this guy before. If not, take some time to watch this video. It's slightly obnoxious (more so than his previous videos), but his arguments regarding global warming are very well-reasoned. If you really get into it, you can visit an enormous list of related videos in the 'More Info' box of the YouTube page.
3. Aboriginal archive offers new DRM - Short but intriguing article from the BBC (via John Hawks). It's difficult to overstate the importance of preserving the history and culture of indigenous groups, especially given that they are increasingly being subsumed by cultures around them and disappearing. Providing access to the information can be complicated by cultural rules, a lack of computer skills, and the like. For example, the archivist in the article encountered the following issue when displaying a slideshow of preserved photographs:
After loading them onto her laptop, she took them back to Tennant Creek and set up a slideshow - where she noticed that people turned away when certain images came up on screen.
For example, men cannot view women's rituals, and people from one community cannot view material from another without first seeking permission. Meanwhile images of the deceased cannot be viewed by their families.
These are issues we might not immediately think about. (I wonder how well some of our 'social software' might translate to other cultures.) The solution to this particular problem was to design a system that restricted access by requiring individuals to input name, age, sex, and standing within their community -- what the article describes as "a new take on DRM." Interesting stuff.
4. Did You Know - a video on globalization and the information age. Interesting, but long... and I'm not sure I trust their numbers. It would probably be better as a web page with proper citations.
5. Google to Host Terabytes of Open-Source Science Data
6. MIT Entrance Exam, 1869-70 - from the MIT Archives & Special Collections. Take the exam and see how well you do. You can also try your hand at the 1876 exam.
01 Sep 13:40 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Libraries & Digital Information, Link Dump '08, Science, Technology & Computing
August 31, 2008
Links 31 - Gonna Be a LOOONG Two Months
1. For anyone who missed the speech in its entirety, here's Barack Obama at the 2008 DNC:
(Someone call Neil Young and let him know we've found the leader he's been looking for. It even turned out to a "black man after all".)
2. Most of the traits I once appreciated in John McCain have disappeared during this election. Read (or better, listen to) a recent interview. I wonder if it occurred on the Straight Talk Express. Heh. I know candidates often feel they must practically sell their souls to win a presidential election, but come on... (And, yes, I've previously noted some of Obama's recent shifts, so please relax your e-mail trigger-finger.)
3. On to Sen. McCain's VP choice. Wow. I know VPs are often chosen to help win an election without any regard to what might happen after winning the election, but this was an incredibly transparent and downright poor choice. My first thoughts echoed this Salon article: McCain's Palin pick is the epitome of tokenism. Or this quote from the less sanctimonious McCain's Baked Alaska: "This year, Hillary Clinton took things to a whole new level. She didn’t run for president as a symbol but as the best-prepared candidate in the Democratic pack. Whether you liked her or not, she convinced the nation that a women could be qualified to both run the country and be commander in chief. That was an enormous breakthrough, and Palin’s nomination feels, in comparison, like a step back." So if the McCain campaign calculated that they simply needed someone who was Sen. Clinton's 'gynecological twin,' as Samantha Bee hilariously put it, why not Condoleezza Rice or Kay Bailey Hutchison or Carly Fiorina or Elizabeth Dole or Olympia Snowe? Over at electoral-vote.com, The Veep: A Short Play in One Act sums up how the process might've led to Palin. Funny. And Sad. Anyway. For a slew of other links, see Ghost In The Machine.
4. There are so many things I'd like to discuss with regard to Palin, but I should use my limited time to explore other topics. So let's just take one of my pet issues, creationism in public schools. Over at Thoughts from Kansas, Josh looks at the candidates' views. Palin, like Bush and McCain and plenty of reasonable but woefully scientifically-illiterate people, spouts "teach both" nonsense. Ugh. (Let's just teach our children a variety of creation myths and label everything 'science', then.) Obama tends to discuss the issue in a very thoughtful, diplomatic way, with wise conclusions like "I think it's a mistake to try to cloud the teaching of science with theories that frankly don't hold up to scientific inquiry." Joe Biden comes through with the more acerbic remark (one that will certainly cost votes but tickles me nontheless): "This is reversible, man. This is reversible. We don't have to go down this road. I refuse to believe the majority of people believe this malarkey!"
Malarkey, indeed, Joe. But I'm afraid the majority of people do believe it. Not only are Americans scientifically illiterate, but they are historically and politically illiterate (and, increasingly, 'just plain' illiterate). Most do not research issues or examine candidates' records and statements through non-partisan resources (such as FactCheck.org or OnTheIssues.org). I constantly receive anti-Obama e-mails from conservative family & friends that are downright false. And not just the wacky "He's a muslim terrorist" ones. The other day I got one full of tax numbers that looked reasonable enough at first glance but were completely false. If the last two elections (particularly 2004) are any indication, there's no reason to believe the majority of Americans voters won't be easily influenced by propaganda, vote from the gut, and fall for gimmicks like the Palin choice. If they do, they deserve what they get. Too bad the rest of us will be stuck with it, too.
5. Finally (to lighten the mood a bit), here's something to spice up next week's GOP convention: McCain Bingo. I wish it had more "My Friends" spaces but I suppose that would make it too easy. Also, if you think the "Get Out of Gaffe Free" card is unfair, consider the McCain campaign's response to the criticism over McCain's inability to specify how many houses he owned: "'This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison,' referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War." Oh, OK.
31 Aug 12:54 | Link | Category: Link Dump '08, Politics, Science
August 26, 2008
Links 29
1. Walk Score - "Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc." - This is a clever tool that calculates how walkable your neighborhood is and displays results using a Google Maps mashup. I'm pleased to say my new neighborhood gets a "very walkable" score of 89 / 100. (Of course, that was one of my primary reasons for choosing this spot.) The site does a good job of showing what businesses, parks, and other facilities are within walking distance (for my neighborhood, at least... I'm not sure what their data source is, so your mileage may vary). Two limitations are the wide definition of what constitutes, say, a grocery store or restaurant, and the limited list of eight items per category.
2. Where the Hell is Matt? - This video has been floating around for months, but apparently I've never linked it to it. Hmm. This link is for any of you who somehow missed it. (There's a larger Vimeo vid at APotD.) The guy's site is here.
3. An anthropological introduction to YouTube - I'm fascinated by the intersection of technology and culture (beyond just the hype of the 'social web'), so I thought this video was worth sharing. It's a lecture by Michael Wesch, "a cultural anthropologist exploring the impact of new media on human interaction (and the impact of human interaction on new media)." He's currently working on an ethnography of YouTube.
4. Brain Scanners Can See Your Decisions Before You Make Them - If you take some time to study research on human behavior, you will find ample evidence supporting the interesting and unsettling fact that your 'conscious brain' doesn't always make decisions for you. (Libet's experiments are probably a good start.) Instead, you unconsciously make a decision and act, after which you consciously feel like you're making a decision and usually come up with some rationale for the decision you made (post hoc). It's strange, but there are all sorts of weird and fascinating experiments that demonstrate the phenomenon. (They tend to involve simple, quick sorts of decisions, so for now let's avoid deep, thorny philosophical discussions about whether or not free will is an illusion. Still, it should give you pause to realize you're not as 'in control' as you believe.)
5. Presidential Election Already Decided ... In Voters' Minds - Continuing in the same thread, an article in the current issue of Science (you'll need a subscription to read past the abstract) demonstrates how people often have their mind made up at an unconscious level based on mental associations, even when they consciously believe themselves to be undecided. The Wired article explores what this could mean for, say, politics. Creating negative associations in the unconscious minds of voters would, sadly, seem to be the best (or at least easiest) strategy for winning elections. And... when we think we're basing our votes on rational, informed judgement, are we really just going with our gut and coming up with post hoc justifications for supporting one candidate or another? (Our 'gut' having been influenced by negative association, dominance displays, assessment of sexual attractiveness, etc.) As depressing as that thought is, it would explain much about politics. (Once again, the great Stephen T. Colbert was on to something with his notion of truthiness that comes "from the gut".)
26 Aug 17:56 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Libraries & Digital Information, Link Dump '08, Politics, Science
August 25, 2008
Jamaican athletes and the 'sprinting gene'
In my new apartment, I've opted to go with a handful of fuzzy over-the-air TV channels. (Cable is both expensive and distracting, but oh, how I will miss it!) So I actually spent quite a bit of time watching NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics. I can't remember why I missed most of the '04 and '06 games, but it was somehow comforting to watch Bob Costas and the NBC crew covering the events in their usual, distorted way.
In sprinting, the Jamaicans were simply unbelievable. Usain Bolt's performances were superhuman and his teammates racked up a number of medals, too. Assuming they're not doping (a reasonably safe bet since they've apparently been tested frequently), why is it that Jamaicans are such great sprinters? Further, why do New Worlders of West African ancestry make up such a disproportionate number of champions in short-track events? Is it genetic?
Clearly, genes are a very significant factor in creating an Olympian. Olympic champions are probably all at the very far end of the bell curve for some trait or combination of traits. (Michael Phelps, for example, has disproportionately large hands, feet, and torso.) But of course there's much more to it. We all know phenotype isn't determined entirely by genotype, yet we hear about a "sprinting gene" and immediately forget about countless environmental factors (like culture, nutrition, scouts, trainers, etc. -- it's quite belittling to Jamaica's culture and running programs).
The popular press, in particular, loves to latch on to some piece of data from the very complicated and nonintuitive field of genetics and run with it. A number of simplistic stories have been circulating in the press declaring ACTN3 as the Jamaican sprinting gene. Some articles (like Slate's 'Jamaican Me Speedy'), to their credit, did try to point out that it's rather more complicated than figuring out who does or doesn't have one or two copies of a particular gene variant (allele) in their genome. There are, of course, countless interacting genes involved as well as countless environmental & cultural factors. (Read this article to learn about some of the social reasons Jamaica has such a great track program.)
The best explanation I've seen is over at the Genetic Future blog. Take a minute to read The gene for Jamaican sprinting success? No, not really. Some highlights:
So, how good is this scientific evidence? Does the "Actinen A" gene (whatever that is) actually influence sprinting performance? And if so, does it explain the difference in explosive power between Jamaicans and the rest of the world? The answers, as it turns out, are "probably" and "not really."
...
So the absence of α-actinin-3 means very little to most of us, but to a young athlete craving 100 metre Olympic superstardom it could make all the difference in the world. The same could be said of many other genetic variants, of course; Olympic sprinters, essentially, are those unlikely individuals at the vanishing edge of the probability distribution for whom nearly every genetic coin has come up heads.
...
It is almost certainly true that Usain Bolt carries at least one of the "sprint" variants of the ACTN3 gene, but then so do I (along with around five billion other humans worldwide). Indeed, I'm fortunate enough to be lugging around two "sprint" copies - but that doesn't mean you'll see me in the 100 metre final in London in 2012. Unfortunately for me, it takes a lot more than one lucky gene to create an Olympian.
None of this rules out the possibility that some genetic edge does play a significant role in Jamaican sprinting success. Maybe there really is a difference in the Jamaican gene pool (and it wouldn't have to be much because it would be magnified when you're looking at Olympics-level athletes). It could be stochastic, or it could be the result of something like artificial selection resulting from the slave trade. (I doubt this, but you never know...) More explanation can be found at Weird lands of the tails from the Gene Expression blog.
The bottom line is that we simply don't know. It's complicated and there are probably multiple explanations for the trends we see. It would behoove the press (and us, as individuals) to stop speculating and making simplified assumptions. (In this wild new 'genetic world' we're living in, I'm not sure that's going to happen. Frankly, I'm a little worried. But we'll see...)
25 Aug 13:31 | Link | Category: Current Events, Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Science
June 28, 2008
Phoenix uncovers ice!
This news is more than a week old, but still worth commenting on. I mean, how cool is it that Phoenix uncovered clear evidence of water ice not very long after reaching the landing site? I'm very skeptical that life exists on Mars (and quite skeptical that it ever existed there), but regardless, it's nice to travel to another planet and find visible evidence of that special water molecule.
For those of you wondering how they know it's water (instead of, say, CO2), check out the Mars Ice FAQ.
28 Jun 23:34 | Link | Category: Science
May 15, 2008
Links 14 (Primates)
Sorry for the silence. It's been a strange week. I've also been busy with work-related web stuff which means I wanted to get away from the computer, not spend more time in front of it. This may continue for a while.
Anyway, let's get back to emptying my overflowing bookmarks list. Today I have a bunch of primate links. I had lots more but I narrowed them down to ten, which are hopefully the most interesting or attention-grabbing. I also tried to choose links that weren't too lengthy or scholarly (read: journal articles that would bore most readers of this blog), so most of the links are to articles from New Scientist. New Scientist often veers into oversimplification and tabloid science (see 'A Plea to Save New Scientist'), but longtime readers know I routinely link to their articles because they're usually good for casual readers but always cite primary sources if something piques your interest. Without further ado:
1. Girrrrl power - "Females were persistently attacked by adult males, during this time. But, between October and December 2003, he noticed the females were starting to organise themselves into retaliation coalitions." - This is quite an interesting observation because it's not what one would expect based on conventional wisdom about chimpanzees. Bonobo females band together to combat male aggression, but as far as I know, this is the first observation of the behavior among chimpanzees, at least in East Africa. It has long been hypothesized that ecology is largely responsible for this interspecific difference. (Briefly, different food sources allow for different foraging patterns, which keep females from being alone and allow for more female bonding, etc.) But perhaps ecological and demographic conditions affect intraspecific and even intercommunity differences. I would love to see more research done on this. (And every other aspect of ape behavior, before they're gone in the wild. Our closest relatives can tell us much about human behavior, past and present.)
If you have access to the International Journal of Primatology you can read the journal article. Also look at this research brief.
2. New monkey species is already endangered (see also).
It's a new species of uakari. (The most well-known, or at least the most visually striking, uakari is the bald-headed uakari.)
3. 'Altruistic' chimps act for the benefit of others - The journal article is available from PLoS. The evolutionary origins of so-called "altruistic" behaviors are fascinating (and contentious). Studying the behavior of living species isn't the only way of approaching the question, but it is a very useful one. Chimpanzee behavior is of interest for human altruism simply because we are so closely related.
Primate characteristics satisfy many prerequisites for reciprocal altruism (long lifespans, large brains, long-term social relationships, etc.). Still, it may be that reciprocity explains only a small slice (if any) of altruistic behavior, even among big-brained apes. I would highlight de Waal's quote in the article:
"Animals don't know much about genetic kinship or future return favours," de Waal says, arguing that altruism could still be a self-serving trait, helping to win the "altruist" a good reputation and higher status.
4. Bonobos join forces to outdo chimps
5. Killings of mountain gorillas in Congo prompt U.N. probe - I may have mentioned this story last year, but I don't think I linked to these disturbing, heartbreaking photos.
Such a shame... this species, like so many primate species, is doomed to imminent extinction.
6. Chimps keep busy to control their urges - "In the experiment, the primates distracted themselves by playing with toys in order to avoid giving in to the temptation of eating instantly available candy so they could obtain even more treats at a later time."
7. Menopause sets humans apart from chimps - and, really, from all our ape cousins. It's an obvious, glaring difference that begs for explanation. There are several hypotheses and much intriguing research. One hypothesis for the adaptiveness of human menopuase is briefly discussed in one of article's links: Caring grandmas explain evolutionary role of menopause.
8. 5-year-old chimp beats college kids in computer game - "Japanese researchers pitted young chimps against human adults in two tests of short-term memory, and overall, the chimps won."
Even with six months of training, the college students couldn't catch up to the chimps. Tetsuro Matsuzawa's explanation? "He thinks two factors gave his chimps the edge. For one thing, he believes human ancestors gave up much of this skill over evolutionary time to make room in the brain for gaining language abilities." Maybe.
9. So college students are worse than chimps at short-term memory games. What about arithmetic? Turns out they're at about the same level as macaques: Monkeys perform arithmetic as well as college students.
10. New World monkeys are also clever. Here's an article about an interesting study on capuchin monkeys: Monkeys learn to do arithmetic for peanuts
I tried to hold the list to ten, but I just noticed this link in my bookmarks list and I have to share:
11. Did we learn to walk in the trees? (and more comment from the author's blog)
Conventional wisdom holds that apes developed bipedal locomotion after (or, more accurately, as) they descended from the trees. (Why and exactly how remain hotly debated.) A year or two ago, I started to very seriously consider a different possibility - that the bipedal locomotion of hominids actually started in the trees. Although heretical, the idea is attractive for a variety of reasons. (I don't have time to expound, but suffice it to say I think it matches some evidence in ways other hypotheses do not). Perhaps the knuckle-walking of gorillas and chimpanzees is derived and bipedal locomotion is ancestral (not, as traditionally thought, the other way 'round). You will need a subscription to read the full article from the first link, but I have a copy of the entire article. E-mail me if you're interested. I can also point you to some more reading on the topic.
15 May 22:02 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Link Dump '08, Science
April 23, 2008
Links 3 (Biofuels)
1. How the rich starved the world - an article about grain shortages and the role of biofuels.
2. (Some) biofuels aren't very environmentally friendly, either. From last year: Corn biofuel 'dangerously oversold' as green energy. A couple of excerpts:
The report concludes that the rapidly growing and heavily subsidised corn ethanol industry in the US will cause significant environmental damage without significantly reducing the country's dependence on fossil fuels.
Even if all corn grown in the US was used for fuel, it would only offset 15% of the country's gasoline use, according to the study. The same reduction could be achieved by a 3.5-mile-per-gallon increase in fuel efficiency standards for all cars and light trucks, according to federal figures cited in the report.
3. Forget biofuels - burn oil and plant forests instead. Planting forests doesn't necessarily compensate for burning oil, and not all biofuels are bad, but this link does a nice job of briefly explaining why biofuels can be bad for the environment. An excerpt:
Burning oil and planting forests to compensate is more environmentally friendly than burning biofuel. So say scientists who have calculated the difference in net emissions between using land to produce biofuel and the alternative: fuelling cars with gasoline and replanting forests on the land instead.
They recommend governments steer away from biofuel and focus on reforestation and maximising the efficiency of fossil fuels instead.
The reason is that producing biofuel is not a "green process". It requires tractors and fertilisers and land, all of which means burning fossil fuels to make "green" fuel. In the case of bioethanol produced from corn - an alternative to oil - "it's essentially a zero-sums game," says Ghislaine Kieffer.
What is more, environmentalists have expressed concerns that the growing political backing that biofuel is enjoying will mean forests will be chopped down to make room for biofuel crops such as maize and sugarcane. "When you do this, you immediately release between 100 and 200 tonnes of carbon [per hectare]," says Renton Righelato of the World Land Trust, UK, a conservation agency that seeks to preserve rainforests.
23 Apr 21:11 | Link | Category: Current Events, Link Dump '08, Science
March 26, 2008
Elephant snapshots
From the Daily Mail:
We revealed the amazing story of how four tiger cubs were captured on special cameras in logs carried by elephants - giving the most intimate insight into their early lives ever recorded.
Now, we show for the first time other creatures of the jungle caught in this extraordinary - and pioneering - way.
Cheeky langur monkeys, a rare sloth bear, spotted deer and a leopard with her cub are just some of the other animals that film-maker John Downer came across in his fascinating experiment.
He fixed webcams to four elephants. One carried a "trunk-cam" - a device resembling a huge log concealing a camera which could be held in its trunk and dangled close to the ground.
Another had a "tusk-cam" hooked over its tusk. The elephants moved so steadily that the images are pin-sharp. Other log-cams were left on the forest floor.
26 Mar 18:12 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits, Photography, Science
The Big Thaw (continues)
From National Geographic (and nearly every other news source) via the Associated Press:
Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started February 28.
You can see the photos & video footage at the British Antarctic Survey site and this Nat. Geographic page.
Perhaps not as momentous as the breakup of Larsen B, but still unsettling.
(Which reminds me... if British Sea Power's song about Larsen B is not in your collection, it should be. As love songs / laments about ice shelves go, it's the tops.)
26 Mar 17:09 | Link | Category: Current Events, Science
March 19, 2008
Water & Air
If you could take all the water and air on Earth and put it in spheres, you would end up with something like this:
This is from Adam Nieman at the Science Photo Library. A larger view is available on the site.
Interesting perspective, no?
More info. on the image from the Telegraph.
(via Boing Boing)
19 Mar 21:32 | Link | Category: Science
February 14, 2008
Will the West dry up?
Photo by Michael Righi
Here in Utah, we've been slammed by an endless string of winter storms this year. So the timing of National Geographic's Drying of the West story couldn't be worse, at least in this state. Still, it will take a number of wet years before we recover from the recent drought. Plus, records of the past indicate that water shortages will very likely pose a significant challenge at some point in the future.
Predicting climate is troublesome for a variety of reasons (particularly when it's necessary to factor in the unpredictable short- and long-term effects of global warming), but looking to the past, a large body of evidence demonstrates that relatively long, severe periods of drought have been the norm for the West during the last several thousand years.
I'm reminded of a 1998 paper about drought in the central U.S. that I read last year in a biogeography class I took. Below is an excerpt from the paper's abstract. (For the full paper, see Woodhouse and Overpeck 1998 - '2000 Years of Drought Variability in the Central United States' - 1.5 MB PDF.)
Historical documents, tree rings, archaeological remains, lake sediment, and geomorphic data make it clear that the droughts of the twentieth century, including those of the 1930s and 1950s, were eclipsed several times by droughts earlier in the last 2000 years, and as recently as the late sixteenth century. In general, some droughts prior to 1600 appear to be characterized by longer duration (i.e., multidecadal) and greater spatial extent than those of the twentieth century. The authors’ assessment of the full range of past natural drought variability, deduced from a comprehensive review of the paleoclimatic literature, suggests that droughts more severe than those of the 1930s and 1950s are likely to occur in the future, a likelihood that might be exacerbated by greenhouse warming in the next century.
More specific to the West, here's an excerpt from the recent National Geographic article:
In Harmon Canyon in eastern Utah, Meko found one Douglas fir log that had laid down its first ring as a sapling in 323 B.C. That was an extreme case, but the scientists still collected enough old wood to push their estimates of annual variations in the flow of the Colorado back deep into the Middle Ages. The results came out last spring. They showed that the Colorado has not always been as generous as it was throughout the 20th century.
...
In fact, the tree rings testified that in the centuries before Europeans settled the Southwest, the Colorado basin repeatedly experienced droughts more severe and protracted than any since then. During one 13-year megadrought in the 12th century, the flow in the river averaged around 12 million acre-feet, 80 percent of the average flow during the 20th century and considerably less than is taken out of it for human use today. Such a flow today would mean serious shortages, and serious water wars. "The Colorado River at 12 million acre-feet would be real ugly," says one water manager.
Clearly, serious droughts - more serious than those recorded historically - have afflicted the western and central regions of North America. But what can we expect in the future, especially when we consider the effects of anthropogenic climate change? It's hard to say, but some recent studies indicate that global warming might exacerbate Western droughts, at least in the short term. An analysis by Richard Seager and colleagues (orig. article in Science) "suggests the region is in the early stages of a profound shift in climate that may last for decades". Another recent study (abstract from Science Express) concluded that sixty percent of the changes in the West's water cycle are due to increased atmospheric greenhouse gases. The same group of scientists estimate a fifty percent chance that Lakes Mead and Powell will be dry by 2021, and a ten percent chance they'll be dry by 2014 (see the Scripps press release). I'm not worried about 2014 (those are very good odds), but a fifty percent chance of them drying up by 2021 is unnerving.
It's easy to be skeptical of climate prediction studies, but when they all start predicting the same (dire) things, it would be wise to pay attention to them. Besides, even if we set aside the issue of global warming, there's much reason for concern based simply on the far less disputable historical record.
But who listens to scientists?
(For further reading: NYT: The Future Is Drying Up. Also check out the Nat. Geo. Drying of the West Photo Gallery.)
14 Feb 23:23 | Link | Category: Science
January 8, 2008
More evidence against autism-thimerosal link
Autism cases in California continued to climb even after a mercury-based vaccine preservative that some people blame for the neurological disorder was removed from routine childhood shots, a new study found.
I wonder if this will satisfy any of those who still insist on a causal connection between thimerosal (thiomersal) and autism. Back in June, Arthur Allen wrote an article in Slate about why there's no dispelling the myth that vaccines cause autism.
08 Jan 20:21 | Link | Category: Science
January 4, 2008
Oceans of Plastic
A recent post at The Daily Galaxy reminded me of a topic I've been meaning to write about. Unfortunately, I don't have time today, so I'll just point you to the post and several related articles:
Are There Really 'Continents' of Floating Garbage? - The Daily Galaxy
The Plastic Killing Fields - The Sydney Morning Herald
Oceans of Waste - The Seattle Times
Fact: 46,000 pieces of plastic float on each square mile of sea - Telegraph opinion piece
"It was just filled with things like furniture, fridges, plastic containers, cigarette lighters, plastic bottles, light globes, televisions and fishing nets," Kiernan says. "It's all so durable it floats. It's just a major problem."
Kiernan says it’s killing wildlife in a vicious cycle. Holding an ashtray filled with colorful pieces of plastic he told The Sydney Morning Herald, "this is the contents of a fleshy-footed shearwater's stomach. They go to the ocean to fish but there ain't no fish - there's plastic. They then regurgitate it down the necks of their fledglings and it kills them. After the birds decompose, the plastic gets washed back into the ocean where it can kill again. It's a form of ghost fishing, where it goes on and on."
...
"The most menacing part is those little bits of plastic start looking like food for certain animals, or the filter feeders don't have any choice, they just pick them up," noted Connacher.
Perhaps an even bigger problem is hiding beneath the surface of the islands of garbage. Greenpeace reports that about 70 per cent of the plastic that makes it to the ocean sinks to the bottom, where it then smothers marine life on the ocean floor. Dutch scientists have found 600,000 tons of discarded plastic on the bottom of the North Sea alone.
National Geographic ran a story on Hawaii's outer islands a few years back that included some sobering photographs. I can't find the original article anywhere, but this PDF includes some of the photos (scroll down a bit). Here are smaller versions (I don't want to get in copyright trouble with Nat. Geo., but they should really make it easier to access their old articles!):
04 Jan 11:12 | Link | Category: Science
December 21, 2007
Mystery Whale
From Kuro5hin:
For the last 12 years, a single solitary whale whose vocalizations match no known living species has been tracked across the Northeast Pacific. Its wanderings match no known migratory patterns of any living whale species. Its vocalizations have also subtly deepened over the years, indicating that the whale is maturing and ageing. And, during the entire 12 year span that it has been tracked, it has been calling out for contact from others of its own kind. It has received no answer
Read more: The Loneliest Mystery of the Deep
21 Dec 12:04 | Link | Category: Science
December 4, 2007
A Stunning View
Yet more proof that watching 'The View' will rot your brain:
Wait... which came first: the brain rot, or 'The View'?
UPDATE: It gets worse. Someone just made me aware of an older clip containing all sorts of wonderful dialogue, including the following:
"Is the world flat?" "I don't know. I've never thought about it."
04 Dec 21:48 | Link | Category: Humor, Science, Video
December 1, 2007
Pope: Atheists behind greatest cruelty
An item about Pope Benedict XVI caught my eye at the J-Walk Blog. In a 76 page encyclical letter, Ratzinger lays into atheism, saying that it has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice.
The document is erudite and eloquent, and I share the concern about technology, wealth, and ideology (though I would add religious ideology). But like so many scholarly books and writings, it feels like a studiously crafted bit of clever but essentially empty wordplay. And it confirms that the Roman Catholic Church still hasn't come to grips with any of the intellectual and political changes that have occurred over the last 300+ years. (Of course, it took them until 1992 to make up with Galileo.) So they fall back on the pain and suffering caused by Marxist regimes.
Contrary to popular opinion, Marxist political ideology is not synonymous with atheism. And the argument that atheists are evil and single-handedly responsible for all the horrors of the 20th century is really tired. (I might expect it from a second-rate high school debate squad, but surely the Vatican can do better.)
I certainly suspect it's easier for Ratzinger to point the papal finger at the atrocities committed in the name of Soviet nationalism than at the atrocities committed in the name of German and Italian nationalism, in which the Catholic Church and its adherents were totally complicit.
Really, though, there's not much point in spending too much time attacking or defending any political ideology or religion. It seems they've all caused plenty of pain and suffering. (Actually, the best defense can be mounted for atheism since it's not a political ideology or a religion, but I'll leave that to others.)
When it comes down to it, I think ideology - religious and political - is essentially icing on the cake. If you're really interested in the ultimate roots of human behavior, biology provides the most satisfying answers. Human tendencies toward ingroup bias and coalitional behavior, for example, make more sense from an evolutionary perspective than any other. And as far as sweeping statements about what group of people causes the most violence, warfare, and "cruelty", here's one that actually holds: Across human societies in both time and space, it's men.
Why? Look into it and you'll find it's not because they're all atheists, Marxists, or even Catholics.
01 Dec 14:45 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Opinion & Thoughts, Science
November 8, 2007
Mythbusters (or Science on the Boob Tube)
About a year ago, the NY Times ran this story: Is Mythbusters the Best Science Show on Television? (The link is still in my bookmarks list, which is now to 622 items, thank you very much.)
If you have cable or satellite, you've probably chanced across Mythbusters (since Discovery airs it constantly). Basically, a team led by Adam Savage and the crazily mustached Jamie Hyneman test various urban legends and popular myths. It's definitely meant as entertainment. Every show invariably involves an explosion, crash, or some sort of mayhem or gross-out. But what's really cool about the goofy program (to a science nerd like me) is the scientific methodology they employ to test their hypotheses (folk myths, Hollywood conventions, and the like). The questions they explore are usually completely trivial (though entertaining), but their methods are usually solid. It's getting harder and harder to find decent science-related programming anywhere on TV (with the exception of the Science Channel and the occasional PBS, Discovery, or Animal Planet show), so I say hats off to the Mythbusters.
Here's a clip of them testing whether it's possible to drive a car into a moving semi-trailer like Hasselhoff did in Knight Rider (and there are many more YouTube; this is just the first that came up):
According to a more recent story, this season the Mythbusters will be tackling the famous question about the airplane taking off on a conveyor belt. Should be interesting.
For a complete list of their results (confirmed, plausible, or busted?), check out mythbustersresults.com.
There - I got rid of three bookmarks in one post. Only 619 to go!
08 Nov 18:25 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Science, Video
October 11, 2007
British accents by Peter Sellers
This video, shot between takes on Dr. Strangelove, features Peter Sellers running through a variety of British accents (and of course the American Midwestern accent he used for President Muffley) -- all in less than ninety seconds. Pretty cool.
While I'm on the topic of accents, have you ever heard of Foreign Accent Syndrome? Very rarely, after stroke or brain injury, a subject will suddenly speak with a foreign accent. What actually happens is that certain aspects of speech (like pronunciation, pitch, and rhythm) are altered in such a way that it sounds to others as if the subject has an accent. From this article on FAS: "For instance, one of our patients, a native New Yorker, was so often mistaken for being Swedish that her doctor jokingly suggested she call herself 'Olga.'"
Here's a BBC story (and video) about an English woman who had a stroke and now sounds like she's Jamaican or maybe French Canadian.
11 Oct 23:36 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Misc. Tidbits, Science, Video
How much did you pay for 'In Rainbows'?
I've been listening to In Rainbows, the new Radiohead album, for the last couple of days. It's a slow-grower that'll take a while to digest, so I'll refrain from reviewing the record. (I'm a lousy reviewer anyway, so turn to someone who can actually do it decently. Here's a glowing review to start with...) I will say that I'm currently digging "Jigsaw Falling Into Place", "Nude", "Reckoner," and - perhaps surprisingly, given others' comments - the lovely "House of Cards".
Anyway, what really prompted me to mention the album is the novel marketing/distribution/payment strategy. You've surely read about it by now. You can download the album now for whatever amount you'd like (including nothing). You can also wait a few months and get an expensive super-deluxe version with vinyl, CDs, booklet, etc. And so on.
Everyone's atwitter over what the band's move says about the state of the music industry, the value of music, the future of music distribution, and more. All interesting questions, and there's plenty of lively debate. I don't have time to elaborate on those topics, but I would like to take a moment to focus on perhaps the most interesting aspect of Radiohead's approach - the variable pricing scheme - and specifically, the fact that you can legally choose to pay nothing at all.
Cheap, effortless digital distribution has turned recorded music into a public good (much like public television & radio), subject to the problem of free/easy riding. The rational thing to do (and I'm using "rational" in the game theoretic sense) is to pay nothing to download Radiohead's new album. But what did you pay? I think Radiohead are correctly banking on the likelihood that you'll pay something for their music.
I paid for the album, and judging from other people I've talked to, I'm willing to bet you put something into the honesty box. The following statement will betray my geekiness (like so much on this site does), but I would absolutely love to get my hands on detailed payment data, because (as Jonny Greenwood himself has said) Radiohead are conducting an interesting experiment. (Not a strictly scientific experiment, mind you, but an interesting one nonetheless.) We are getting a few hints of how many copies have sold thus far and some speculation as to the average price paid (£1), but I would really like to see the price distribution, geographical variation, etc.
It's like a real-world variant of some of the games used to examine human behavior and figure out the hows and whys of sociality's evolution. The long and the short of it is that, contrary to what one might expect (given the so-called "selfishness" of genes), we have been shaped by natural selection such that we don't play these games as a rational agent would - that is, we tend to be quite altruistic. For example, in the prisoner's dilemma, people cooperate more than expected (a rational agent will always defect), and in the ultimatum and dictator games, they offer more than expected.
Anonymity does have an effect, and it will certainly play a role in Radiohead's little experiment. But we're very sensitive to anonymity. For example, even in the comments section of the review I linked to above (which is almost totally anonymous), a commenter who wrote about downloading the album for free from a BitTorrent server was roundly castigated by the other commenters, leading another commenter to wonder: "Hmmmm.... should it be £2, should it be £4 do I dare do the £0 thing - all this handwringing from you guys!" Another wished for Radiohead to "publish the names and emails of those who paid nothing to download the album."
Anyway. This post is getting too long. I'm curious to see how Radiohead's experiment plays out and if it has any lasting effect on popular music. In the meantime, just out of curiosity I'd love to find out what you paid (or didn't pay) for the album. E-mail me.
Update: I was just informed that one of the Nature Network blogs already explained this angle far better than I did. See Fiona Jordan's post '"In Rainbows" in anthropological context'. I particularly like what she writes concerning the emotional aspect:
Importantly, the "music business" is not just a business. It transacts not only in the tangible product but in intense amounts of emotion. The social contracts between an artist and their audience are multiple and complicated, and they do not produce agents who play their economic games in a rational manner.
11 Oct 17:18 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Music, Science
September 23, 2007
More amazing cephalopod tricks
As I've mentioned before, cephalopods can do some pretty remarkable things.
Here's video of an octopus escaping from a box through a one-inch hole:
Octopuses (octopi/octopodes?) are not just masters of camouflage and escape. Some have even taken up the art of bipedal locomotion:
(Abstract and article from Science, for those of you with access.)
23 Sep 13:07 | Link | Category: Science, Video
June 5, 2007
"I'm not planning on writing the curriculum for an eighth-grade science book"
No playlist for May.
Don't panic.
(There'll be one for June. Maybe even a week or two early.)
Silence will now resume.
But first, a lovely quote I just saw as I was perusing news stories...
"If anybody wants to believe that they are the descendants of a primate, they are certainly welcome to do it." - Mike Huckabee, candidate for President of the United States. (Video clip here or below.)
I guess I should be glad that I'm "welcome to do it." Listen, Mike... I hate to break it to you, but not only are you a descendant of primates (pl.), you are a primate. Your children, your wife, your constituents... they're all primates, as dirty and scary as that might sound to you. And if your god made you in his image, he must be a primate too. I mean, seriously. Have you looked in a mirror lately??? (We all know "even the president of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked.") Maybe he's never been to a zoo.
And the quote in the title of this post is also absurd. (As if the essence of what we are matters only in some inconsequential eighth-grade science book, but not to arguably the most powerful man primate on the planet.)
Fools.
05 Jun 21:32 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Opinion & Thoughts, Politics, Science, Video
October 26, 2006
Living Without The Sun
Nature never ceases to amaze:
The first known organisms that live totally independently of the sun have been discovered deep in a South African gold mine.
The bacteria exist without the benefit of photosynthesis by harvesting the energy of natural radioactivity to create food for themselves. Similar life forms may exist on other planets, experts speculate.
Uranium and other radioactive elements in the rock emit radiation that shatters water molecules, producing high-energy hydrogen gas that is able to cleave chemical bonds.
The bacteria exploit this hydrogen gas to turn sulphate (SO4) molecules from the rock into hydrogen sulphide (H2S). It is the energy-trapping equivalent of photosynthesis. The energy of radiation, which makes hydrogen gas energetic enough to form these bonds, replaces the energy of the Sun.
As Bill Nye might say, "Isn't that wild?!"
26 Oct 15:41 | Link | Category: Science
August 3, 2006
Your United States Senators in Action
Aside from lamenting Bush's impending use of his first-ever veto on a stem cell bill a few weeks ago, I've been silent on the issue. So much has been said since then that I don't really think I can add anything. But I do feel the need to share a short video clip with you.
To see how low political discourse has fallen (and the depths to which intelligence and common sense have dropped) in the U.S. Senate, watch this utterly depressing video of Senator Sam Brownback discussing the issue. The video speaks for itself, so I'll keep most of my comments to myself. I'll just say that while I might excuse his astounding ignorance of biology (he's from Kansas, after all), I can't excuse what I consider his insulting, tasteless sensationalism.
(via Cynical-C)
03 Aug 1:15 | Link | Category: Current Events, Science, Video
17 years and the oil's still there
It has been seventeen years since the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, but there is still plenty of oil just below the surface of beaches. Watch this video, in which high school students dig a shallow hole, pour water, and get oil:
In part two, they dig a hole just inches below the surface of a supposedly clean beach, dip cotton in the hole, and completely cover it with oil:
03 Aug 0:43 | Link | Category: Science, Video
Hope, maybe
I noticed this news item earlier today:
Conservative Republicans who pushed anti-evolution standards back into Kansas schools last year have lost control of the state Board of Education once again.
03 Aug 0:39 | Link | Category: Current Events, Science
August 2, 2006
Are you happy?
Back in December of '04, I mentioned an article from Wired in which Daniel H. Pink argued that along with metrics such as GDP, happiness should be considered an economic indicator. It was an interesting argument. (Read it if you haven't.)
Recently, I've noticed a couple of related stories. One was from last week, about research that created the "first world map of happiness." According to this study, Denmark is the happiest country in the world. The U.S. came in 23rd, Britain 41st, and France 62nd. The D.R. of Congo, Zimbabwe, and Burundi were at the bottom of the list.
However, according to another national happiness index (by Nef), Denmark is 99 and the U.S. is 150th. The tiny south Pacific island nation of Vanuatu rates highest in that list. (The Nef study is interesting because it takes consumption of planetary resources into account and shows that "well-being [does] not have to be linked to high levels of consumption.")
It's not really surprising that there are such widely divergent views of how to calculate so-called 'gross national happiness'. (This quote is telling: "He admitted collecting data based on well-being was not an exact science, but said the measures used were very reliable in predicting health and welfare outcomes.")
How do you define happiness? (Or worse, quantify it?) Ask anyone what happiness is, and you'll usually find that they don't have a very simple answer. Plus, answers will vary from person to person and culture to culture. (It usually involves comfort, health, love, family, environment, etc., but the relative importance of each seems to vary quite a bit.)
Despite the difficulty (or impossibility?) of measuring happiness, I think "how happy are we?" is a crucial question for humanity, and this sort of inquiry seems useful and important. When you look around at.... well, everything we do, all the frenetic economic activity, all the resource extraction and energy consumption, all the airplanes and barbie dolls and newspapers and pets and electronics and grocery stores and pipelines and multinational corporate mergers and media conglomerates and refrigerators and junk mail... it only makes sense to ask what the end purpose is or should be (or if indeed there should even be an end purpose in mind, but that's a topic for another day).
Humans are in the interesting position of feeling like we should be driving for something more than mere survival & reproduction. Much like the answer to what happiness is, I'm sure the answer to what the end purpose of our activities should be varies greatly from individual to individual, culture to culture. But I think most people would say that part of the purpose for all of this hectic high-energy human activity should be happiness... whatever it is. My general view is that humanity should have at least three major long-term ambitions and goals. The primary one should still be simple survival, which is far trickier than it sounds. If we can manage to stick around, we should aim for increased happiness and increased understanding of ourselves and our universe. Survival, happiness, knowledge, wisdom. No doubt it's difficult to balance all those things and find an equation in which they all fit correctly. With some care, and perhaps some thoughtful tradeoffs, the hope is that ultimately they can all go hand in hand.
02 Aug 0:45 | Link | Category: Current Events, Opinion & Thoughts, Science
July 19, 2006
Giant yellow jacket nests / Giant Asian hornets
If you think you have large yellow jacket nests in your yard, consider what folks in Alabama have been finding:
To the bafflement of insect experts, gigantic yellow jacket nests have started turning up in old barns, unoccupied houses, cars and underground cavities across the southern two-thirds of Alabama.
Specialists say it could be the result of a mild winter and drought conditions, or multiple queens forcing worker yellow jackets to enlarge their quarters so the queens will be in separate areas. But experts haven't determined exactly what's behind the surprisingly large nests.
Just how big are the nests?
At one site in Barbour County, the nest was as large as a Volkswagen Beetle, said Andy McLean, an Orkin pesticide service manager in Dothan who helped remove it from an abandoned barn about a month ago.
Another one "filled the interior of a weathered 1955 Chevrolet parked in a rural Elmore County barn. That nest was about the size of a tire in the rear floor seven weeks ago, but quickly spread to fill the entire vehicle." Here's a photo:
While I'm on the topic of freaky things concerning yellow & black insects, check out this video (12 MB QuickTime) of Asian giant hornets attacking European honeybees. 30 hornets vs. 30,000 honeybees. Guess who wins? Gotta love the dramatic narration & music, too... heh. (Video also available in Windows Media.)
19 Jul 2:06 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits, Science, Video
July 15, 2006
Population : One
I've linked to scrollable scale models of the solar system, a hydrogen atom, and the timeline of life. Here's yet another one. I'm sorry that I keep linking to these so often, but I think they're amazingly effective at putting things into proper perspective.
This one, called Population : One, represents each human as one pixel. Look at the tiny pixel that represents you and then scroll through the other 6.5 billion to see what a tiny, tiny part of the human population you make up. Very cool.
(It doesn't work very well in Opera or Safari.)
15 Jul 0:34 | Link | Category: Cool Links, Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Science
July 13, 2006
Cassini photos
Cassini has returned some of the best photographs (in aesthetic terms) of any space probe. I've mentioned this before, but now I've found a great site for browsing and downloading the pictures. It's CICLOPS.org, the public site of the Cassini imaging team. Check out the Imaging Diary for a huge collection of spectacular images. It's still being updated with new images as Cassini sends them. Most of them are hi-res so they make great desktop backgrounds.
Another great site I think I've mentioned before is HubbleSite.
13 Jul 2:48 | Link | Category: Photography, Science
The stem cell madness continues
Just when I was about to praise the Bush administration for creating an enormous marine sanctuary (see also), they do something boneheaded.
According to Karl Rove, President Bush would veto a bill to expand federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research if it passes the Senate. His first veto. Ever. I've long found it odd that he's never felt the need to veto anything (even considering his party controls the legislative branch). But it's quite outrageous he would use his first veto on this bill.
Meanwhile, the Vatican is saying that researchers who work on embryonic stem cell research should be subject to excommunication.
Oh... and in semi-related news of crazy Catholics, Rev. Thomas Euteneuer called Warren Buffett "the Dr. Mengele of philanthropists" because of Buffett's very sizable donation to the Gates Foundation. See, among many other commendable programs, the Gates Foundation promotes reproductive health, helping fund research on new contraceptive technologies and initiatives to improve access to birth control. You know, exactly like Josef Mengele.
Sheesh.
13 Jul 2:02 | Link | Category: Current Events, Science
July 10, 2006
Evolutionary Timeline to Scale
Recently, I've linked to web page scale models of the solar system and a hydrogen atom.
If you liked those, this might interest you: Evolutionary Timeline. It stretches life's history (from the earliest life on Earth through the present) across 135 feet of scrolling web page.
Like the other pages, this one provides useful perspective. It takes a lot of scrolling just to get to the first eukaryotic cells, after which it takes a lot more scrolling to get to the Cambrian explosion. The history of the genus Homo fits in the last inch or so.
It's a pretty effective approach for illustrating the depth of time. I'd like to see it expanded to include the history of the universe.... but that would increase the scrolling immensely.
One approach that has often been used is to condense the history of life (or the universe) into a 24-hour period, or a year. (In fact, the author of this timeline has a chart of a 'one year' timeline of life here.)
In Cosmos, Carl Sagan used a 12-month calendar to represent the history of the known universe. In this analogy, Earth doesn't form until the year's half over, the Cambrian explosion occurs on December 15th, Dinosaurs show up on the 24th, humans on the evening of the 31st, and all of written history takes up the last ten seconds of the year. As with the cephalopod video yesterday, I've taken the liberty of ripping an 8½ minute clip for you (15 MB, this time in MPEG-4, but QuickTime or VLC will still work). The information in the simplified story is a bit dated for nitpickers like me, but it's remarkably accurate considering its nearly thirty-year age.
Update: Here's an interactive Flash timeline of evolution. (It's a cool idea and has lots of good biology info., but the presentation is slightly confusing and far too busy.)
10 Jul 23:32 | Link | Category: Cool Links, Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Science, Video
July 9, 2006
I ♥ Cephalopods
Cephalopods are fascinating creatures, especially the coleoids (like the squid, octopus, and cuttlefish), which are characterized by large brains and chromatophores, skin cells that they use for communication and camouflage.
Using chromatophores and muscles, these cephalopods can blend in to the color pattern and texture of their environment like no other animal. I saw this Google Video clip over at the Cynical-C Blog:
I knew I had seen that clip somewhere before, and soon remembered where - on a DVD I own called Origins. I took the liberty of ripping a 3½ minute clip for your viewing pleasure (11.5 MB .MOV - you'll need something like QuickTime or VLC). It has some other really cool examples of camouflaging in it:
If you haven't had enough, check out The Octopus Show from Nature for some other cool videos. Don't miss this one, where an octopus, a "mere invertebrate," kills a shark. (RealPlayer required.)
And of course don't forget your Welcome Squid Overlords t-shirt:
IPod owners may be interested in the Cephal-iPod case:
09 Jul 0:30 | Link | Category: Science, Video
July 6, 2006
Creationism and evolution tackled on 'The Simpsons'
I came across a brilliant clip from an episode of 'The Simpsons' that ran a few months ago. Sadly, only about 13 minutes of the show are included in the clip... but there are still some classic moments:
- Lisa's clandestine meeting in the school's "Single Purpose Room" where she has written 'Viva La Evolución' on the blackboard
- Homer, upon hearing that according to creationism, there were no cavemen: "Good riddance! Their drawings suck and they look like hippies."
- Ned Flanders declaring under oath that he is as sure that man and ape are not related as he is that "Jesus hates hip-hop"
- Ralph Wiggum saying "The George Will?!"
My favorite moment of all, though, is when Reverend Lovejoy and Ned Flanders tell Principal Skinner they want the school to teach alternatives to Darwinian evolution. Skinner replies, "You mean, Lamarckian evolution?" Classic.
[The biology geek in me would like to note that Darwin himself never ruled out Lamarckism since he was unaware of Mendel's work (or was he?) and its significance... but when most people talk about "Darwinian evolution", they're referring to the modern synthesis.] Just as a sidenote while I'm talking about Lamarckian evolution (something I never thought I'd be doing on this blog), some scientists feel that cultural evolution is very Lamarckian... that is, in species with culture (a group whose size is heavily debated), cultural changes are acquired during an organism's lifetime and passed on to offspring -- Lamarckism (of a sort)! In fact, I just finished reading a recent book by Eric Chaisson ("Epic of Evolution") in which he writes:
. . . in the recent history of humankind, Lamarckian evolution has clearly dominated Darwinian evolution. Cultural acquisitions spread much faster than genetic modifications. Our gene pool differs little from that of the Cro-Magnons some twenty thousand years ago, yet our cultural heritage is a good deal more robust in the knowledge, arts, traditions, beliefs, and technologies acquired and transmitted during the past thousand or so generations.
If you have trouble getting the Simpsons video from the site I linked to, try here (11.3 MB QuickTime).
For another very cool Simpsons video, check out the best Simpsons couch gag ever (10.3 MB QuickTime).
06 Jul 23:44 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Current Events, Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Humor, Science, Video
July 2, 2006
"We are all phantoms"
Some of you might remember when I linked to a web page that was a scrollable scale model of the solar system. It was a pretty good way to show just how large the solar system is and how much empty space there is in it. (And the solar system is densely packed compared to interstellar or intergalactic space).
Now they've done the same kind of thing for an atom: Hydrogen Atom Scale Model.
The page is scaled so that the smallest thing on it, the electron, is one pixel. That makes the proton, this big ball right next to us, a thousand pixels across, and the distance between them is... yep, fifty million pixels. If your monitor displays 72 pixels to the inch, then that works out to eleven miles - making this possibly the biggest page you've ever seen.
I recommend trying to scroll from here to the right a screen at a time, just to see how long it takes the little thumb in the scrollbar to move visibly. True masochists can try to scroll through the whole eleven miles - but the scenery along the way is pretty bleak.
I used to think that things like rocks and buildings and my own skeleton were fairly solid. But they're made up of atoms, and atoms, as you can see here, contain so little actual material that they can barely be said to exist.
We are all phantoms.
02 Jul 1:00 | Link | Category: Science
Bat-eating centipede
I should be posting an earwig video since the ugly little critters seem determined to be part of my life lately. I have the windows open every night to try and cool this place down -- and every night, hosts of friendly earwig visitors from the hatch outside make their way in. I'm usually sitting at the computer when I feel something crawling on (or pinching) my leg or foot. I look down to see five more on the floor. Ech.
But tonight it's centipedes... again. Back in April, I linked to a video showing a giant centipede eating a mouse. I guess I'm a 'classist' (i.e., partial to my own taxonomic class, Mammalia) so I found it uncomfortable watching the mouse being eaten by the damned centipede. Now there's a video (from David Attenborough - who else?) of a giant centipede eating a bat:
So it's giant centipedes 2, mammals 0. Someone must stop them! :)
02 Jul 0:26 | Link | Category: Science, Video
June 12, 2006
Last week's best quote
From June 8th's Late Show with David Letterman monologue (listen here) comes this:
Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi was the world's most unhinged lunatic. He's dead now, so that moves Ann Coulter up to first place.
Right on, Dave. When I worked at the library, patrons checking in/out books by right-wing pundits and demagogues like Coulter, Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly et al. seemed to have an urge to share their excitement over the material. (I always had to smile approvingly because it was my job to be nice to everyone, even the spaced-out woman with five screaming children whose appearance made the entire staff run to the back room and hide in terror.)
I read a few of the books to see what the fuss was about. Most caused lots of eye-rolling and head-shaking but were still readable. Coulter's, though, were nearly unreadable, leaving me incredulous and disturbed. I think the best policy with someone like that is to ignore they exist. I've generally adhered to that policy (only two mentions in the history of this blog, one to point out the awesome Ann Coulter action figure), but Dave's joke was so on target I had to share it.
Update:I'm giving in to bad desires and continuing to mention Coulter when I know I shouldn't, but for an example of why I consider her an ugly figurehead of stupidity and ignorance, read this interview to see how she claims knowledge about subjects in which she clearly knows nothing, blaming everything on her favorite expletive liberals (and what exactly she means by that generic term I'm not sure even she knows):
Cybercast News Service: Most people consider evolution to be a branch of science, or at least a scientific theory, yet in "Godless," you refer to it as a "cult" and a "fetish." What is your basis for calling it that?
Ann Coulter: There is no evidence that it is true. The fossil record contradicts it, and it is a theory that cannot be disproved. Whatever happens is said to "prove" evolution. This is the very definition of a pseudoscience, like astrology. (Of course, I would say that. I'm just a Capricorn, aren't I?)
No evidence?! Contradicted by the fossil record?! It can't be disproved?! Amazing. What the hell is she smoking? All I can say is that it must be interesting to experience the marvelous beauty and diversity of life with your eyes closed and your head up your ass, Ann. (Sorry. It's very hard for me to see someone so ignorantly dismiss the theory that holds all of biology together, shapes life in such seemingly miraculous ways, and is supported by such a wealth of evidence.) She goes on to describe evolution as "the official state religion" used by "the liberal clergy to force small school children to believe in a discredited mystery religion from the 19th century -- evolution -- in order to prepare them to believe in the nonexistence of God, one of the main goals of the American public education system."
I've listened to raving madmen on the street who are not only far more entertaining, but far more insightful than Ms. Coulter. Why are they homeless and she makes millions? There's the real shame.
In an e-mail, a friend compared Ann Coulter to an Internet troll ("someone who comes into an established community such as an online discussion forum, and posts inflammatory, rude or offensive messages designed intentionally to annoy and antagonize the existing members or disrupt the flow of discussion"). I thought that was the perfect description.
Unfortunately, it seems no one really knows or agrees on the best strategy for dealing with trolls. Meaning we'll probably be stuck with the lovely Ann Coulter seeking attention for years to come. Bleh. Let's hope I don't revisit this topic for a very long while.
12 Jun 23:21 | Link | Category: Opinion & Thoughts, Science
June 8, 2006
Isolated subterranean ecosystem
An interesting recent tidbit from the worlds of spelunking and evolutionary biology: A caver exploring an area exposed by drilling at a quarry in Israel discovered a wholly unknown subterranean ecosystem:
The 1.5-mile-long cave network, apparently hermetically sealed for millions of years, boasted its own lake, no light whatsoever, and at least eight species of invertebrate completely new to science.
Other caves are home to unusual varieties of life. Why is this one so cool? Hanan Dimentman explains, "This is the first discovery of terrestrial animals found only in a cave and not on the surface. Ecologically, this is a unique cave unparalleled anywhere else in the world" (emphasis mine). Sean O'Neill writes:
With no sunlight to supply energy for photosynthesis, no plants could grow in the caves, so the smaller creatures probably derived their energy from the slow oxidisation of minerals in the cave. The bigger beasts – the biggest of all being the 2-inch scorpion-esque critter pictured – will have munched on the little 'uns. Give nature half a dozen animals, and she'll give you a food chain.
08 Jun 0:31 | Link | Category: Science
May 11, 2006
Space Colony Art
As a kid, I spent altogether too much time reading anything in the library that had to do with space. My favorite books were the ones that included ideas and predictions about the future of space exploration (like 'Spacefarers' and 'Starbound' from the 'Voyage Through the Universe' series). I loved sci-fi and I was sure I'd be living in space by the time I was an adult, so this stuff completely sucked me in.
I was excited to recently find a link to a page at NASA with space colony artwork from the 70s. I spent lots of childhood moments looking at images like this one and this one, imagining how cool life in the future would be.
11 May 20:01 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Science
April 24, 2006
No more Biosphere 2
It sounds like Biosphere 2 will be torn down soon. According to the Tucson Weekly:
Looks like Biosphere 2, the world's largest terrarium, may soon be history. Reporter Joseph Barrios of the morning daily broke the news last week that Fairfield Homes is making a deal to buy the Biosphere's spectacular 1,600 acres to develop a master-planned community. Evidently, a three-acre simulation of the planet isn't a selling point for buyers of luxury homes these days.
It'd be a shame if they tore it down. I visited Biosphere 2 a few years back, and not only was it in a beautiful spot, but the building itself seemed like quite an engineering marvel. Much more interesting than a master-planned community.
Such is life in the sprawling West.
(via J-Walk)
24 Apr 19:37 | Link | Category: Current Events, Science
Geologic Evolution of North America
Dr. Ron Blakey, a professor of geology at Northern Arizona University, has posted all sorts of cool paleogeographic maps on his web site. Check out Global Paleogeographic Views of Earth History or Paleogeography of the Southwestern US. One of the coolest sets of images is Paleogeography and Geologic Evolution of North America.
(Michal Migurski combined the images to create a movie.)
24 Apr 19:15 | Link | Category: Science
April 8, 2006
Video of giant centipede eating mouse
I generally don't have any problem with insects, spiders, and the like. But one arthropod I've always had a visceral feeling of revulsion towards is the centipede. This video doesn't help. You've probably already seen it since it's been buzzing around the web for a while. But if not... check it out.
08 Apr 19:32 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits, Science, Video
April 7, 2006
Should we talk about the weather? (Hi... hi, hi)
Today, it's 60° F and sunny. Yesterday, we got slammed by biggest spring storm in more than thirty years. This isn't terribly unusual... springtime in Utah is often an adventure in extremes.
But it seems like everyone I talk to thinks the weather is increasingly baffling. Even the old-timers who have seen it all. Are we actually beginning to experience the symptoms of global warming as climates begin to shift? Or are we just using global warming as a convenient way to explain weather we don't like?
I first started gobbling up information on global warming about eight years ago, after reading two essays by Carl Sagan entitled "Ambush: The Warming of the World" and "Escape from Ambush". (You can find copies in his final book, Billions & Billions.) It didn't take much digging to convince me of the reality and ramifications of increasing global temperature.
More than ten years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that "the balance of evidence suggests there is a discernible human influence on climate." (Even without all the evidence that has piled up in the last ten years, scientists in 1995 stated that there was a 90 - 95 percent chance the observed warming was not caused by natural climactic variability.)
A few weeks ago, Time Magazine published a cover story about global warming that was... well, old news to anyone who has done even cursory research into global warming. The reactions to this "news" item were pretty interesting. George F. Will, for example, wrote an article blaming "big crusading journalism" for calculating to produce anxiety among Americans. In it, he recalls how scientists and media in the 60s and 70s warned of the 'coming ice age', essentially arguing that we should dismiss their current warnings because they're just chicken littles trying to scare us. He mentions a one degree temperature rise, but conveniently fails to mention so much else (for example, the fact that at the current rate that Earth's temperature is rising, by 2100 it will probably