Weird news...

There is actually a sub-category with that same title on MSNBC.com. Probably the most descriptive sub-head on the site, you can count on that page for articles that will have you scratching the ol' noggin. As someone with an extremely active imagination, I particularly love that page since it does actually contain things even I couldn't make up - and they're true!

Today's post is an homage of sorts to MSNBC's Weird News. So we'll start with a monkey who has better dental hygiene than me. Which I guess isn't saying much since, to steal a phrase from my friend Sam, I'm an Anti-Dentite. I have gotten much better lately, but Chonpe, a Japanese macaque, may be one of the first primates to discover the art of flossing. She has three methods of cleaning her teeth and appears to be a particularly inventive little girl since she appears to be devising a method of removing splinters according to MSNBC.

Livescience.com joined the rest of the written world with a top ten list from 2009, science style. The website examined the "year's most obvious discoveries." Chiefly among them are that children are affected by their parent(s') depression, lots of meat eating is bad for you, and, drum roll please......high heels cause foot pain later in life.

And finally, Brett Martin at GQ examined the effect of the "gottahaveitnow" syndrome on food. Martin, an apparently wide traveler, decided to test the true limits of immediate availability when it comes to food. He enlisted friends all over the world to FedEx him the foods he craved. The story is three pages long, but it is totally worth it for the wry retelling of Martin's battles with the USDA and dumbfounded food service proprietors.

(Photo courtesy of MSNBC.msn.com)

Thursday roundup...

Today's post is vaguely science-y...I'm not normally a science/math/logic person and do usually confound those who are with my thought processes, but that's another topic for another day. These science stories were easy enough for me to understand and fun to boot.

MSNBC reported on a new strain of super bees. Perhaps not good news for those who are afraid of bees, but this strain should take over the world any time soon. In an effort to root out the parasite suspected of causing the current, massive bee die-off, scientists have bred bees who showed an ability to sniff out the parasite in their hives.

On the non-agricultural side of the discipline, ABC News posted a story on a recent collaboration between American and Cuban scientists. President Barack Obama is trying to improve relations with the nation state to our south, and this delegation - the first in 12 years - is a step toward fostering goodwill.

You can file this last story in the "Duh" category. Today's Idea blog on the New York Times site highlights a story about silly scientific research. For every break-through on cancer treatment, there is a study published on what happens when you give monkeys typewriters. Denise Winterman's article creates two new categories for science journals - "Duh" (for things that should have been obvious in the first place) and "Huh?" (see monkey-typewriter example).

CNN published a story on the benefits of yoga for children who have been diagnosed, perhaps wrongly, with ADHD or depression. An unofficial study has noted these children are more focused and less crazily energetic since starting to practice yoga. Personally when I was little, I think I would have enjoyed a class called "Charlie and the Chakra Factory" too...

(Photo courtesy of MSNBC)

Afraid of flying? There's an app for that...

If I only had an iPhone...It is unlikely I will ever get a smartphone, mainly because I consider then akin to Crackberries when it comes to depth of evil. I am, however, more than likely to get a panic attack while flying. Which means I probably would benefit from the fear iButton. MSNBC reports Virgin Atlantic has launched an iPhone app for its Flying Without Fear course, which possesses a 98 percent success rate... the course, not the iButton (yet). This app purports to help people overcome their fears of flying by explaining how a flight works, giving them mental exercises, and failing all that, a panic button.

Olivia Judson's opinion column in the New York Times was actually what gave me the idea to theme my post today around science and technology. She posed an interesting question in a column about facial expressions' impact on mood. Pleasantly titled, "The Language of Smiles," Judson probes lightly into how language sounds and expressions can influence whether you're happy or sad, including the intriguing point that it might also matter what language you're speaking.

And yes, both times I read that article, I spent a few minutes saying "eeeeee" and giggling.

Finally, an article in the UK's Daily Mail exploring "the virtue of smell" definitely caught my attention. As the article's title - "Cleanliness IS Next to Godliness..." - states, people have been found to be more fair and generous unconsciously when in clean environments. Subjects in lemony-fresh surroundings were more likely to divide an amount of money fairly as well as to contribute to charity.

(Image courtesy of Flickr)

Irony on the intergalactic scale...

I had intended today's post to be entirely about advances in science, but as my radio station host this morning put it best - "It's a bit ironic the day that the President of the United States wins the Nobel Peace prize, we attack the moon."

When I first heard about the award, I immediately thought it must be for former President Carter, forgetting he won in 2002. I am still a bit floored that Pres. Obama won for showing promise (and essentially not being George W. Bush), but I like to think this is a harbinger of all the change he will be able to make in the years to come. Yahoo! News has a surprisingly expansive article on the reasons for Obama's win as well as the world's reaction, which has been (thankfully) mostly positive.

Now, onto attacking the moon, which has also gotten surprisingly positive reaction around the (scientific) world. NASA crashed a spacecraft and it's trusty sidekick into the moon at 7:31 EST this morning in hopes of finding evidence of water ice. Personally I could send them to a pretty good Rita's in Philly and save them the $79 million they wasted going splat in a lunar crater... But this exploration of the lunar south pole - where the sun never shines so we have no idea what's down there - could prove vital if the collisions do kick up some frozen water along with lots and lots of moon dirt.

MSNBC.com has a similar story to the one from Yahoo! News linked above, which is far less technical and has videos and subtitles like "Smackdown!"

On a very prescient this-past-Wednesday, Pres. Obama combined medals, science and astronomy. He handed out the National Medals of Science and of Technology in a ceremony at the White House. Obama honored scientists who mapped the human genome, made GPS systems possible and invented batteries for implanted defibrillators among others. Later that night he hosted over 150 school children in what may be the White House's first skywatching party, held in honor of the 400th anniversary of Galileo's observations of Jupiter and its moons. The first American woman in space, Sally Ride, answered questions from the children and from Internet users. Astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Hubble repairman John Grunsfeld were in attendance.

(Image courtesy of Disney/Pixar)

Mankind's continual leaps forward...

Living with three physicists (and spending time with their equally science-y friends) definitely left a mark.

As outlined in a previous post, I am just not a left-brain person. I rely on gut feelings and intuition and have very little patience for having to examine every little fact before reaching a conclusion. Yes, occasionally this gets me into trouble (hello, my first apartment in Boston), but usually I make out okay.
Still, I suppose daily exposure to the squiggles and letters that make up physics has left with me a lingering attraction for the more technical side of life.

MSNBC reports on the MIT PhDs who created robotic fish, which can look for pollutants and inspect submerged things like pipelines by mimicking the swimming motions of real fish. These fake fish are sleek and easy to maneuver with just 10 parts and one motor; they are much more likely to be able to go places other, more bulky underwater vehicles can't.

Technological advances in healthcare are reported on both MSNBC and CNET; the US and Japan have created robot doctors and nurses, respectively. Last night, I saw a preview for a movie called "Surrogates" where robots take over and seem to basically replace humans in every day living. In the case of Robo-ER here, thankfully only the Japanese seem bent on professional domination.

The "Chungbot," named after Brooke Army Medical Center's Dr. Kevin Chung, has allowed the doctor to check on patients from as far away as Iraq. The doc-bot is a five-foot tall, motorized robot is controlled by a joystick and laptop and wirelessly transmits images between the screen mounted on its "body" and Chung's laptop. This technology allows Chung to be able to see his patients and instruct another medical staff member who is there with the patient to do the hands-on care.

The Japanese have created a robot nurse to lift elderly patients from wheelchairs and beds, and, as CNet's opening paragraph says best, "naturally, it looks like a teddy bear." The bear can lift up to 134 pounds and apparently has a cuddly face to make it look less scary to the patients. It was created to help combat the problem of the workforce shrinking in proportion to the population aging.

The story on Switched.com makes me chuckle just at the premise - six mice boarding the international space station as invited guests. The tone of the Switched blog post is so perfect, I'm not even going to try to compete.

Lastly, Newsweek's website has a photo gallery nearly 100 years in the making. Court photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii traveled all over Mother Russia taking photographs at Czar Nicholas II's behest. Prokudin-Gorskii took three consecutive photos of every subject - one each with separate red, green and blue filters - and melded them through a process of his own devising in a specially fitted railway car. The result were a wide range of photos of Russia's people, architecture, technology and environment in living color. But it took the advent of digital imaging to be able to restore them.

(Photo courtesy of CNET)

Science=Magic...

To me, nearly all science is magical. Not in the sense that I am endlessly fascinated by it, but more in that way most people regard watching someone get sawed in half. It's a "how did they DO that?" feeling. In school up until college, I took all the requisite classes - biology, chemistry, earth science, etc. My college transcript is less than stellar in that category, boasting a single class called "Natural Disasters." So I still regard scientific achievement with a certain degree of mystification. In this way I supposed I'm not that different than people from the Middle Ages or those of a very superstitious culture/religion.

Yesterday was the longest solar eclipse since 1991. It cut a swath across Asia and the Pacific, lasting for up to six minutes and 39 seconds in places. Indian astrologers were making predictions of widespread violence and evil according to their beliefs that what happened during a solar eclipse was that a dragon swallowed the sun. Fortunately for us (and the sun) neither mass panic and crime nor the sun being swallowed actually happened. Instead people had something really cool to look at, while some very confused cows in Japan decided it was dinner time and went to their troughs. 

The Seattle Times had a story a few days ago on something that may be neither science nor magic. This one struck my attention because of my interest in animal behavior. Mary Phillips, a hospice nurse in the state of Washington, credits her co-worker's Maltese Poodle, Jacque Pierre, with saving her life. She arrived at work one day and was struck by a crippling headache. While lying on the floor resting, Jacque Pierre came in and, despite the fact Phillips and Jacque Pierre weren't buddies, licked the size of her head exactly where the pain was the most excruciating. That unlikely gesture convinced Phillips to go to the ER where they found a walnut-sized aneurysm in her head. Phillips had recalled times when hospice patients' pets refused to leave their dying owners' sides at the exact moment of death, and she stated those experiences were what made her finally seek help.

What might quite possibly be magic in the sue-happy American society of today is University of Michigan Health System doctors have found that admitting mistakes and offering compensation up front has actually saved them from malpractice suits. According to Google News, after implementing this "common decency" approach malpractice claims dropped by half from 2001-07, the time to process claims dropped from 20 to eight months and costs per claim were halved. Patients who have been on the receiving end of medical mistakes in the system but who received an immediate apology and compensation have stated their satisfaction with not feeling abandoned. I guess nice guys don't always finish last. 

A day late and dollar short...

Once again, I missed the boat. I did not realize that yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon walk. To be fair to myself, my parents hadn't even met at the time of the moon walk, so there was no chance of me sitting around reminiscing on where I was when it happened. And, as several articles have pointed out, Americans' interest in the space program has plummeted since the 1960s, to the degree I really don't pay attention anymore. 

But, regardless, that was a very important day and exponentially cool when you think about it, so I'm going to do a post today. Besides, now I have the benefit of being able to sift through all the stories about yesterday without missing any unique ones. : ) 

The photo to the left, from CNN.com, is part of a fun story about how a 10 year-old boy played an extremely important role in the landing of Apollo 11. Greg Force, the child of the Guam NASA Tracking Station director, was sitting at home when he was retrieved by a member of his father's staff to perform a task only a child could. The antenna that was supposed to receive the last transmission from the astronauts before they landed had broken, but Greg's father thought it could be fixed with a little grease. However, grown ups' arms were too big to reach into the hole to apply the grease. Enter Greg. 

USAToday.com has a story on Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins' trip to the White House to meet with President Obama on the anniversary of the walk. Reading this article I realized there was a third astronaut up there. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that someone would have to "stay with the ship" as it were, but I just never thought about it. Can you imagine being the one guy who doesn't get famous from the moon walk? Well, yesterday he got his day in the sun as Obama praised the men for being "real American heroes." (Take that, GI Joe...)

Finally, computerworld.com had a fun little slideshow on the technologies we use today that were inspired by 1960's era NASA projects. If it weren't for the space program 40 years ago, we may never have had the Dustbuster...

The Big Bang Theory...

The fact that I live in a five-bedroom apartment initially shocks people. The fact that I live with four guys deepens that astonishment. But the real icing on the cake is the fact three are physicists, well, candidates for their Ph.D.s in the field. 

The picture to the left is my very first attempt at cake decorating with any effort. It is a replication of the issue of "Nature" in which my German roommate was published last year. Do not ask me what that white/red/green blob is. I didn't know then, and I don't know now. But it is faithfully represented in frosting.

I often explain my life as a version of the Penny character in "The Big Bang Theory," which I don't think my roommates appreciate all that much, considering the degree to which stereotypes are exaggerated on that show. It is, however, apt. I'm about as far from science-minded as they come, yet most of my new friends are physicists. I think the best example of this is having gone to a good-bye party for a science friend a few weeks ago and watching, stunned, as someone made ice cream using frozen nitrogen (I think). 

Regardless (or perhaps because) of my lack of aptitude in this area, what my roommates (including the one who recently moved to France for two years to join an experiment) can do amazes me. So today's post is dedicated to cool things in science.

Several of my friends (or their wives) have recently had babies and several more are due in the next few months. So this story on sciencedaily.com caught my eye. A pilot study by the University of Toronto has shown evidence that a redesign in delivery rooms may be in order. By moving the bed to the corner of the room to allow for more space to move around the room as well as adding visually and aurally stimulation, the need for a drug that speeds up slow deliveries was decreased. Some women even reported an overall more connected and pleasant birthing experience. 

Sciencedaily.com also had a story on the other end of the life spectrum. Testing done in mice who are the equivalent of the human age of 60 has shown a compound found in the soil of Easter Island can extend lifespans. Testing done on 20 month-old mice shows a 28-38 percent extension in lifespan. This verges into creepy science fiction a little for me, but apparently the compound can also be used in cancer treatments (yay!) and other drug therapies as well. 

Finally, msnbc.com has a story that I can wrap my head around. Fifteen years and $3 million later, Tim Kehoe has invented colored bubbles. When I was little I used to love blowing bubbles outside. I chased them around the yard and tried to catch them again on the tip of my bubblewand. I remember the spritz I used to get when they burst. Apparently bubbles as entertainment have been around for 400 years, but in all that time, no one had been able to figure out how to dye the bubbles without staining whatever came in contact with the bubbles upon bursting. The guy in this story has a pretty funny sense of humor, at one point likening an experiment with red dye to a scene from "Braveheart." 

The science of entertaining children...

A while back I went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore with my little cousins, and it is one of my favorite memories with them. The boys love animals and wildlife and facts about animals and wildlife, and the aquarium then was hosting an exhibit on seahorses. There were loads of different varieties in all sizes and colors. The boys (and I) were fascinated. 

I was intrigued by a story on the Top 10 New Species of 2008 I found on CNN.com first because I live with three physicists and used to live with one marine biology PhD candidate. I was curious to see what new things were found. But when I saw one was a very tiny seahorse, I got very excited and nostalgic for the day I took my cousins to the aquarium. 

In another fun combination of children and science, I found a review of a show in Malaysia that seems to be the latest incarnation of Mr. Wizard or Bill Nye, the Science Guy - depending on your generation. : ) The Star Online reported Dr. Bunhead (real name: Tom Pringle) kept children entertained with loud explosions and lighting bubbles on fire (among other things) and managed to teach them some basic science as well - delighting both the parents and children in attendance.

Myron Rolle was another child whose interest in science and biology was encouraged, and he turned out to not only be a star safety for the Florida State football team but also a Rhodes Scholar. Yahoo! Sports had a fairly lengthy and good article on Rolle and how his tremendous family influence as well as his personal drive and intelligence propelled him toward a feat as unusual as a shooting star - being an elite student and an elite athlete. As much as the NCAA does not like to admit it, those two things are usually mutually exclusive. But Rolle is a wonderful exception to that, and to him I wish nothing but the best of luck.