The 6 Most Badass Stunts Ever Pulled in the Name of Science
May 31st, 2008 ecoliAnother great list from cracked.com
a science and medicine related weblog from scienceforums.net
EcoliHub
May 31st, 2008 ecoliHere’s a neat site for those of you who, like me, use Escherichia coli as a model for research. It appears to be a search portal for all things E. coli related, including a genebank and a wiki. I’ll certainly be making use of it in the future.
Thanks to Carl Zimmer at The Loom for the plug.
Isolated S. American Tribes
May 29th, 2008 ecoliIt’s hard to imagine, in our world of internet and cell phones, that there could be any people unconnected and unplugged from the ‘modern world.’ Yet, these photographs show that there are still some tribes in South America, this one is in Brazil, that remains isolated from the Western world and modern government. Who knows how much they know about the world outside their tribe? This group still uses bow and arrows.
Now here’s the question. Should we make contact with these tribes, to study them. There is much we can learn from isolated tribes about human behavior and evolution. On the other hand, would it not be better for them to leave them be? Especially because, in the past, western diseases have been known to decimate tribal populations.
Animal control over robots
May 29th, 2008 ecoliAs if we didn’t have to worry about with just a robot revolution, now the animals and robots will be teaming up against us. Now, all we need is to throw some zombies in the mixed, and we’re screwed for sure.
I blog for the dopamine
May 28th, 2008 ecoliA new study, discussed in Scientific American explains some of the positive biochemical and physiological affects of blogging.
Scientists now hope to explore the neurological underpinnings at play, especially considering the explosion of blogs. According to Alice Flaherty, a neuroscientist at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, the placebo theory of suffering is one window through which to view blogging. As social creatures, humans have a range of pain-related behaviors, such as complaining, which acts as a “placebo for getting satisfied,” Flaherty says. Blogging about stressful experiences might work similarly.
They suggest it may stimulate dopamine release, or involve the limbic system or the front and temporal lobes.
Whatever the underlying causes may be, people coping with cancer diagnoses and other serious conditions are increasingly seeking—and finding—solace in the blogosphere. “Blogging undoubtedly affords similar benefits” to expressive writing, says Morgan, who wants to incorporate writing programs into supportive care for cancer patients.
I wonder if there’s something unique to scientific blogging that attracts a lot of scientists to it. (just look at the activity that scienceblogs.com gets).
At any rate, now that I have the doctor’s permission to continue blogging, there’s just no stopping me.
Quacks and Cranks
May 28th, 2008 ecoliOrac at respectful insolence writes
If there’s one thing that quacks and cranks share in common, it’s that they do not like scrutiny, particularly by people with some scientific knowledge. Indeed, when confronted with scientists or educated lay people who can challenge their crankery, it’s amazing how they react the same way almost every time; they try to silence or–if you will–expel the person who challenges their world view. That’s because they want to control their message and operate within the confines of their cozy world, where never is heard a discouraging–and especially never critical–word. Most of all, they never, ever want their true agenda to see the light of day.
It’s about the the vaccination-autism people, but applies equally to creationists, 9/11 truthers and holocaust denialists just as readily.
Antimicrobial Pencils (a response from Microban)
May 27th, 2008 ecoliA few days ago, I blogged about a company that put a wide range of long-lasting antimicrobial products into a wide range of products. I wrote the company to complain about their practices, especially in regards to the evolution of antimicrobial resistance, due to the overuse of antimicrobial products.
To my surprise, I actually got a response from Microban International, Ltd. to the email I sent:
Dear Mr. [ecoli]
I appreciate your concern, and applaud your going to the effort of expressing an opinion on an major issue; but I also must point out that this issue shows the need for applying critical thinking to what is published, particularly on science and health in the mass media, and to be sure that you study primary sources of information before forming your opinions.
Resistant strains, such as MRSA, are an issue in the medical use of antibiotics, a subset of antimicrobials with particular modes of action and patterns of use. Microban uses general purpose biocides, another subset of antimicrobials, with multiple modes of action, which do not cause resistant strains as demonstrated in both clinical studies and in over a century of use. Triclosan is one of the antimicrobials that we use, is probably one of the most studied of the antimicrobials, and despite all of the hysteria around it has been shown in something like 6-7 clinical studies, including one by the guy who started the whole thing, and 30 years of use to not cause resistant strains. In addition, our mode of use of antimicrobials, incorporating them into products so that there is always a greater than inhibitory concentration of antimicrobial available, would minimize the likelihood of development of resistant strains; whereas the use of disinfectants and general purpose antimicrobials, common in medical, public spaces, and the home, continually cycles through substantial periods of sub-inhibitory concentrations, a situation far more likely to result in resistant strains but doesn’t. The focus on triclosan and other general purpose antimicrobials is just a red herring that distracts from the real issues concerning the use of antibiotics.
I have attached a white paper that reviews the science behind this issue with regard to general purpose antimicrobials and lists the key papers reporting on the research in this area. I hope that you will take the time to study them.
Sincerely,
Dr. Wayne Swofford
VP, Research & Development
Microban International
I’ve made the paper they gave me available as a Google Doc. I’m going to read the paper in detail over the next several days, but I’m sure at least some of the technical aspects are going to be above my head. So I appeal to the masses to give me a hand in reviewing the paper, to attempt to falsify their work. I don’t want Microban to win out in a simple ‘Appeal to Authority’ if their study is, in fact, bunk.
I urge people who are interested in this issue, to take part. I’ve posted a thread at ScienceForums.net (my home base), which anyone can and should take part in. And, bloggers, feel free to write about this in your own blogs.
D&D 4.0 and D&D Stormreach
May 27th, 2008 ecoliTim, at CAD Comics news (great comic, by the way) writes about the new Dungeons and Dragons system that’s coming out, known as D&D 4.0.
I, myself, am still playing (when I get the chance) D&D 3.0 having refused to take part in the debacle/ marketing scam that was D&D 3.5. I use my own house rules to cover the week points in the system and therefore bypass the need to give another 60+ dollars to Wizards of the Coast.
As a primarily pc/console gaming site, Tim says:
A few times I tried to get into the whole DnD roleplaying thing the best I could with both Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, but it never really stuck, and I know it wouldn’t have been like real DnD anyway.
Hopefully someday they’ll successfully translate the DnD experience to something that can be played online.
I guess, and it seems odd to think this is true, Tim has never heard of the MMORPG that WotC released some time ago; D&D Online: Stormreach. I played that one for a while, being one of the only MMOs I’ve gotten into (that and Runescape). It’s a slightly inferior game than World of Warcraft, but its more genetically related to D&D, which I like better than WoW. The races, weapons and magic systems are more familiar to me, as a D&D player. I would much like to read to review of that game by Tim.
And one more thing:
In the meantime, the closest I get is my miniature wargaming, with Warmachine, which I absolutely love.
I never got into Warmachine, but I played Warhammer 40k for a while. I could spend any more money on table top wargaming systems; the models were getting too expensive. Plus, they kept changing the rules and mini designs. I still have all my models though. I can’t bring myself to part with them.
Well that’s all on that matter for now. I’m going to get back to that episode of Doctor Who that I was watching.
Indiana Jones Reveiw
May 26th, 2008 ecoliI haven’t seen it yet, but these reviews give a pretty good idea about the overall quality of the movie, without giving away anything important. Also, it reinforces the notion that I can rely on science blogs for the vast majority of my news, political or entertainment.
Memorial Day, NYC
May 26th, 2008 ecoli
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