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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Happy Anniversary, Origin!!!
Today is the anniversary of Charles Darwin's publication of "On the Origin of Species." It's rare that such a work of science or literature gets as much attention as this book has since its announcement. Just goes to show, you can't keep a good book down.
In the show this week: So much crazy science it was hard to file down the list of stories, but somehow we managed.
Listen to it all Here!
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Your Brain is Like a Radio...
... that tunes you into the past and the present. How does your brain tell whats a memory and what is happening right now? Researchers have discovered the brain's mechanism for keeping your past and present straight by looking at frequency waves that are carried by the neurons. Gamma waves seem to be the information carrier, using lower frequencies for the past and higher frequencies for the present. Cells synchronize so they can tune in to what is going on and keep reality straight.
What is Scarier than Rampaging Robots? Rampaging Robot Vampires!
Will robots need lawyers? Robots are currently used for a multitude of purposes, which can only be expected to increase as we head into the future. This brings up the question of who we will sue if a robot hurts someone? What if robots are susceptible to being hacked, and are maliciously turned into spies or vandals? The robot industry is expected to exceed 5 billion dollars by 2015, and this problem is expected to grow.
Mutations are a Part of Life
Our cells have repair mechanisms to constantly monitor and fix mistakes, but how do they find that one little mutation among the many? A new theory involves the recognition of the specific electrical signature of DNA that the repair mechanisms tune into, suggesting that this is may be less of a random search than was previously thought. Experimental evidence shows that cancer causing mutations change the electrical signature of DNA in an identifiable way.
Finding the Origin of RNA and DNA
Researchers have reconstructed one of the earliest steps in the formation of RNA using warm water. Ancient molecules called cyclic nucleotides can fuse together in water to create polymers. This counteracts the idea that extreme temperature or acidic conditions are necessary for development of these molecules.
Biophotonic Communication
Evidence in this growing new field of research suggests that biological cells can communicate with each other through the exchange of photons: cells emit light that can somehow be picked up by other cells and cause them to synchronize. They showed that human cells could synchronize when they were separated in every way, except the ability to exchange photons. The suggested mechanism for this involves running the electron transport chain and the photosystem backwards to bump an electron up the chain to emit a photon of light.
Life as a Carrot
A Belgian man thought to be in a coma for the last twenty years is now able to communicate with some sort of system using his foot to type. He has been in a comatose state since a 1983 car accident, it was not until 2006 that doctors began to discover his mental capacities were still there.
Kiki Rants
Hackers broke into a university email server and published many years of correspondence between scientists about climate change research. The hackers claimed that this proved that climate science is a bunch of hogwash, however, these emails actually just show the scientific process at work. The scientific literature suggests that humans are responsible for the runaway greenhouse effect with 90% certainty.
The End of the World
Its not going to matter if we conserve or not: one scientist argues that the rising carbon dioxide conditions won't stabilize unless the global economy collapses or we meet energy demands by building one new nuclear power plant per day. He claims that energy conservation does not really save energy but instead spurs economic growth which in turn uses more energy. He also caluclates that we need to increase non-carbon releasing power sources at a rate of 2.1% per yer.
Also...
... Scientists looking at a massive star in the process of forming suggested that magnetism may be important for star formation. There are bacteria in your cigarettes. Researchers using human embryonic stem cells have created a complete epidermal skin layer. Lockheed-Martin is looking into sending humans to an asteroid. And, the LHC is back up and running. TWIS Book Club is currently reading 1491 by Charles C. Mann-- scientific history of the Americas:
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current science news posted by bob at 11/24/2009 10:56:00 AM
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