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cortex | May 27, 2008In the past year, I've spent a small fortune at the dentist. Between wisdom teeth removal, a few routine cleanings and the replacement of an old cavity, my tab has come to several thousand dollars. (Needless to say, I don't have dental insurance: I'm a freelance writer. But I do have a dental plan.) After my last trip to the dentist, I left the office with two thoughts: 1) novocaine just might be the most effective medication neuroscience will ever invent and 2) do those cleanings by the dental hygienist (an extra $65 in my case) really do anything? I use one of those fancy toothbrushes, and…
cortex | May 27, 2008At first glance, "mindfulness" meditation practices seem completely counterintuitive. If people are suffering from pain, shouldn't they learn ways to not focus on their pain? Isn't it better to block out the negative sensations? (Repression isn't always such a bad thing...)
And yet, there's some tantalizing evidence (much of it anecdotal) that aspects of mindfulness mediation can help people deal with chronic pain and various mental illnesses, such as depression. The virtue of being acutely aware of every sensation, even negative sensations, is that people become better able to modulate them…
cmcclain | May 27, 2008Via Kevin's Other Blog, which I thought we had assimilated, I see that Te Papa has made the lectures from the Colossal Squid event earlier this month available.
Dr. Steve O'Shea (asx)
Dr. Eric Warrant and Dr. Dan-Eric Nilsson (asx)
Dr. O'Shea on Science Express (mp3)
The last hours of the webcast from the squid dissection
cmcclain | May 27, 2008
Because of my previous trumpeting many of you may believe I scoff at anything non-mollusca. Untrue! I say! Indeed, I am friend of all invertebrate. My favorite books on my shelf is Barnes and Brusca & Brusca.
Just to prove I love all those squishy, squiggly, and slimey, I provide a link to the Sea Cucumber Expedition Blog (hat tip Jeff Ives). Tim Werner from the New England Aquarium is on a three week biodiversity trip to Madagascar. After your done loathing Tim for this, you should check out all of his recent discoveries inlcuding six foot sea cucumbers, two-foot sea stars, and "…
pharyngula | May 27, 2008
There is a famous statue of a seated Charles Darwin in a strange place in the Natural History Museum in London — it's tucked into a basement cafeteria. I visited it while I was there, and more unfortunately, Ben Stein posed with it in his awful movie.
It's been moved!
Now it's in a much more prominent place on a landing on a central stair, where you can't miss it if you visit the museum. As you should.
cortex | May 27, 2008The body control on this guy is utterly insane:
While there have been some interesting studies of dance and the brain, most of this research focuses on the learning of motor movements. (Not surprisingly, expert dancers exhibit increased activity in the cortical "action observation network" when watching dances "in the movement style of which they were expert". In other words, a ballet dancer shows increased activity in the brain when watching ballet, but not when watching cheerleaders, or Merce Cunningham.)
But I couldn't find any research that would explain the bizarre, and seemingly…
cortex | May 27, 2008Last Sunday, I had an article in the Boston Globe Ideas section on the underlying causes of home field advantage.
The Celtics are an extreme example of a sporting phenomenon known as home-field advantage: teams playing on their home field, or court, are significantly more likely to win. The advantage plays a role in every major sport. Home teams in the NBA have a 62 percent chance of winning, while those in Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have a 53 percent chance of winning. (Football teams are somewhere in between, with annual ranges typically between 54 and 64 percent…
cmcclain | May 26, 2008
...just kidding. The latest Giant Squid catch measures in at 6m and 230kg. Bert Tober's trawler, Zeehan, was approximately 40km off the coast of Portland, Australia when it netted the monster on Sunday at a depth of 500m. Apparently, it took ten men to put the squid in the freezer.
kevin z | May 25, 2008
Congratulations to the Phoenix landing team for an absolutely best-scenario landing! I tuned in for the landing on NASA TV online. Seeing all the tension and excitement at Mission Control got me positively bouncing in my desk chair. I was just amazed that everything happened exactly how it should. We now have 3 active robots on Mars providing us scientific data. Did you ever in your wildest dreams imagine this? Additionally, this was the first propulsion landing since the Viking lander, over 30 years ago.
cmcclain | May 25, 2008One of most dynamic people I met at Cooking For Solutions was Paul Johnson who is the founder and president of the Monterey Fish Market. He is former chef, author of two books, and sets on the advisory board for the Seafood Watch Program. I like Paul most for his passion and no nonsense way of telling it like it is.
Paul mentioned during the panel discussion that he viewed the commercial extinction of many species directly related to the loss of small-boat fishing. In case your unaware, commercial fishing is no longer dominated by the "mom & pop" fishers but rather commercial factory…
cmcclain | May 25, 2008A week ago I had the oppurtunity to attend the Cooking For Solutions Event held at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The discussions Thursday were insightful and provided much to contemplate. Over the next few weeks, as I find time, I will post on numerous topics that arose at the event.
One of the interesting concepts, and one that I was unfamiliar with, was 'green washing'. We are familiar with the act even if we do not know it by name. It was discussed by Gene Kahn, currently VP and Global Sustainability Officer for General MIlls. He is a pioneer of the organic food and farming movement…
pharyngula | May 24, 2008There's a Wilkins/Myers conversation up on Bloggingheads. The quality of the recording is horrible, and I have to apologize — we did a little experimentation and deviated from the usual bloggingheads recording proocol, and it's clear now that we shouldn't have done that. I recommend not watching it, just listen, if you must.
kevin z | May 23, 2008One of my favorite group of musicians, known as MMW, released their next big idea - Viva la Evolution. This is an innovative concert/record idea. First they will write the songs, then tour instead of making a CD. During their tour they will use that opportunity to fine tune their notes and experiment with different audiences. They will conduct 3 tours resulting in 3 separate albums, each with unique material. Hence, their music will evolve throughout this summer. This may even be a cooler idea than their funky children's CD Let's Go Everywhere (with such great songs like "Pirates Don't Take…
gregladen | May 23, 2008Carnival of the Liberals #65: Skepticism and Politics is at Neural Gourmet
The Boneyard XX is at Laelaps.
Carnival of Space #55 is at Catholic Sensibility
Medicine 2.0 Carnival # 24 is at My M.D. Journey
esiegel | May 23, 2008We need one of those propaganda videos, like the Marines had when I was a kid:
Seriously, I remember watching that and actually thinking it would be awesome to be a Marine! (And for those of you who don't know me that well, I loathe armed conflict.)
Well, I'm a scientist. Can't we do anything cool to attract people to be interested in it, or help support it? Baby steps, folks, baby steps. And Duncan Forbes at Swinburne in Australia (where I almost moved when I was offered a position with them last February) has composed a how-to guide entitled:
So You Want To Be A Professional Astronomer!
It…
kevin z | May 23, 2008Seriously, who wouldn't want to hug the wearer of this totally awesome sucker-free shirt?
Get yours at Snorg Tees today!
chaoticutopia | May 23, 2008I know you’ve probably come here looking for a new fractal. Unfortunately, the only thing fractalish around here is my frustrations with home remodeling. I suppose any project can do it--grow madly out of control: each small problem cascading into another, until the whole thing seems overwhelming. Sometimes, it can cause a nervous breakdown. I reached that point over spring break, when we tried to paint and renovate our entire house in a few days. (Hey, they make it look easy on TV!) At that point, I gave up, and said it would have to be done on the weekends. Then, of course, came finals and…
cmcclain | May 22, 2008
I see that some are still trying to claim echinoderms are cooler. I see the evil order now even has their own blog. Thankfully we still have a tiny little magazine you might have heard of-National Geographic. Photographer David Doubilet has a series on nudibranchs with some of the best photography of any organism ever. The shot above Halgerda batangas is my favorite. Just keep in mind that molluscs lost their shells in at least three independent evolutionary events (and some of these may also represent multiple trajectories): octopods & squids, land slugs, and sea slugs. More…
esiegel | May 22, 2008The laws of physics are the same forwards in time as they are backwards, right?
At least, that's what some physicists will tell you. They have (some) good reasons for saying this. After all, if you watch the planets orbit the Sun, they look like they obey the same laws of physics whether you watch them orbit clockwise (forwards in time) or counterclockwise (backwards in time):
But is everything time symmetrical? Well, no, of course not. There are certain things that are easy to do moving forwards in time, like to take a raw egg or two (left) and fry them (right). Well, that's pretty easy.…