Science News

Dr. Min Tang-Schomer, Assistant Professor at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and University of Connecticut Health Center, told SelectScience® about the new direction she is taking with the 3D bioengineered brain-like tissue model she created back in 2014. After starting her career in tissue engineering, Dr. Tang-Schomer’s interest in the brain and neurology encouraged her to move into the field of neuroscience; an area in which she felt bioengineering was being underutilized. source: http://www.selectscience.net/editorial-articles/3d-bioengineered-brains--a-new-approach-to-personalized-cancer-therapy/?artID=43099 http://www.creative-bioarray.com/Produ…

According to this article's title, "Science Says We Look So Much Like Our Names, Strangers Could Guess Them". The article discusses the possibility of recognition by name based on a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The article also discusses the implications for computer applications. As to validity, I've was told that I don't look like a "DrmDoc". Enjoy!

I found this quite amusing: Background is that in the European cup there are two games to decide who wins. In the first leg, a French club beat Barcelona 5-0, so the second leg at Barcelona was not expected to be a big deal. Except it was - Barcelona won 6-1 in the last seconds of the game. The crowd, and the whole of Barcelona, went nuts, so nuts that a seismograph registered their celebrations. Here is the article (in Spanish) which shows the graph and spikes each time Barça scored. I didn't realise that these instruments were so sensitive (or that Barcelona is so crazy)

Just announced today Feb 22, 2017 (some earlier) and "just" 39 light years away https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/videos/gallery/largest-gathering-of-earthlike-planets-ever-discovered-see-it/sharevideo/5333090668001 https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/nasa-announcement-exoplanets-atmospheres/79602/ http://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-just-released-travel-posters-for-our-new-sister-solar-system-and-they-re-cool-as-hell As seen from Earth all 7 of the planets in this solar system (3 believed to be in the "zone", rocky and expected to contain water/possible oceans) pass in front of their red dwarf star. (Trappist-1)

According to this New Scientist article, researchers at the University of St. Andrews in the UK found that this "phenomenon" may not involve false memory production as some have speculated. Researchers were able to trigger this phenomenon, through a word association method, during fMRI study of 21 volunteers. Their method involved presenting each volunteer with a series of associated words excluding a keyword linked to that association as a likely trigger. When asked under fMRI whether the volunteers recalled that keyword as part of their word association, which they did, researchers observed activity in the prefrontal cortex rather than the hippocampus. Prior to that…

Donald Trump's longtime personal doctor, Dr. Harold N. Bornstein has revealed that president takes a small dose of drug finasteride also known as Propecia used to treat male baldness. Along with this he also takes other drugs that include rosacea for a common skin problem and a statin to regulate cholesterol and lipids. advertising deleted article trimmed (copyright)

A controversial study that found there has been no slowdown in global warming has been supported by new research. Many researchers had accepted that the rate of global warming had slowed in the first 15 years of this century. But new analysis in the journal Science Advances replicates findings that scientists have underestimated ocean temperatures over the past two decades. With the revised data the apparent pause in temperature rises between 1998 and 2014 disappears. The idea of a pause had gained support in recent years with even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reporting in 2013 that the global surface temperature "has shown a much smaller …

A new study by the researchers of Nevada silent spring institute found potential toxic compounds for cancer in the wrappers used for fast foods in U.S. Fast foods are the not recommended for healthy eating. It is known that they contain saturated fats but the new study throws light about the hidden dangers associated with fast foods. Restaurants use grease proof wrappers for packing fast foods. Now it is learned that toxic compounds present in the wrappers leach into the foods and can lead to cancers, lowers fertility and associated with many other health effects. Read the complete article here http://www.chaprama.com/2017/02/researchers-find-toxic-fluorinated-compoun…

Scientists from CSIRO (Commonwealth scientific and Industrial Research organization), Australia have now found a way to convert the cooking oil into Graphene. The technique also reduces the cost involved in making the nanomaterial. Earlier researchers have succeeded in awakening the hidden superconductivity of graphene in its natural state. Read complete article here http://www.chaprama.com/2017/02/scientists-develop-technology-to-convert-cooking-oil-in-to-graphene.html

The link below is to the Hebrew University's work on how the Milkyway is not just being pulled by the Shapley Super Cluster, but is also being pushed by what has been named the Dipole Repeller. Any thoughts? http://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-016-0036

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qitm5fteL0

Has anyone read "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton? He talks about this theory that used to exist. It said the earth is made of two spheres. One is water. The other is earth. Copernicus had to address this idea. Anyhow, there is a good 3-part discussion of it (not by Wootton) on the Vatican Observatory's blog, called “Copernicus and the High Seas”: http://www.vofoundation.org/blog/copernicus-high-seas/ Follow the links from one part to the next. I want to know if anyone else has read of this.

As a child I made several of these toys, they're good fun. But, I didn't have the genus to make them into a tool. IMO it is as elegant as the space shuttle was an engineering feat. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=stanford+centrafuge

I was just browsing around on YouTube and I found this excellent video about the scientific method that I wanted to share with you all. I haven't really heard of this model before, and I was wondering if any of you have? What do you think of the model? <link removed by mod>

I just watched a 1.50 minute youtube video, Introducing Amazon Go and the worlds most shopping technology. As you walk into a store with this technology, you swipe your card in a reader, go into the store picking up the things you want, and walk out, without having to stop at a register to check out. The system watches you while you shop, and automatically adds things to your virtual cart as you pick them off shelves. No more checkout lines, and many jobs will be lost as the technology spreads from store to store.

I thought some of us might find this interesting, not exactly cold fusion but it could have been what was being detected 27 years ago! https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/its-not-cold-fusion-but-its-something/

There is currently a clinical trial taking place in Europe and Canada in which they test the ASO strategy in patients with Huntingtons disease. When the genetic sequence of a particular gene is known to be causative of a particular disease, it is possible to synthesize a strand of nucleic acid (DNA, RNA or a chemical analogue) that will bind to the messenger RNA (mRNA) produced by that gene and inactivate it, effectively turning that gene "off". (gene silencing) This synthesized nucleic acid is termed an "anti-sense" oligonucleotide.(ASO) Antisense oligonucleotides have been researched as potential drugs for diseases such as cancers, diabetes, Amyotrophic late…

Surgeons in Oxford have used a robot to operate inside the eye - in a world first. A team at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital used the device, controlled via a joystick, to remove a membrane one hundredth of a millimetre thick. Patient Bill Beaver, 70, said it was "a fairytale". Surgeons hope the procedure will pave the way for more complex eye surgery than is currently possible with the human hand.

Recently scientists have been performing experiments on people to test whether the heart plays a role in human thinking and cognition http://us.blastingnews.com/world/2016/12/we-could-be-knowing-by-heart-scientists-say-001305773.html

That's the conclusion reported in this article in the Grauniad I find it hard to believe they can reach this conclusion from ancient measurements, but I haven't read the original article.

Estimating deaths from climate change is a complex process, and bound to be controversial. However, it's being done. Previously the UN estimated 100M deaths by 2030, a new report suggests the number will be much smaller, perhaps 9M. During WWII Nazis killed about 6M Jews, including 1.5M children. The Nuremberg trials convicted a number of Nazis for this genocide. Should there be similar trials for people who are responsible for perpetuating climate change?

Recently there's a lot of hype about the NASA's impossible EM drive thruster that supposedly "breaks" Newtons 3rd law. There's this peer reviewed paper that explains how it works. I lack the propulsion/physics background to judge whats going on here, is there someone competent who can explain what is the deal?

The solar panels are useless during the rainy days. Some researchers of Quingdao, China has developed a new type of solar panel that will generate electricity from rain drop. They have layered a single atom thick coat of graphene. We all know that graphane is a great conductor. The rain water will generate free electrons due to Lewis acids and bases reaction. As a result, the overall efficiency of the system increases manifold.

I haven't read the book. Is this news or undue alarm? I know a few scientists believe we have already gone past the point of no return on climate change, but this book may be more encompassing than climate change.

This type of processing component will power deep learning servers, increase their computing power, and accelerate the use of strong AI. This Toshiba part is similar to a previous component, but uses 1/6 the power.