Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:03 — 37.6MB)
A Malaria Vaccine, Gypsy King Ancestors, A Near Miss?, Carbonated Rivers, Not So Faster Than Light?, High On Depression, Math Anxiety, No TV For Baby, New Planets, An Artistic Challenge, And Much More…
Disclaimer disclaimer disclaimer!
In the following hour you will hear stories that are neither true nor false
Neither fact nor fiction
Neither six of this nor half dozen of the other
Neither concrete, nor abstract nor a hazy concoction of the two as agreed upon by anonymous vote…
What you will hear instead is the absolute best guess of what reality has taken place in the past, and what realities we are likely to undergo in the future…
This system of gathering from past observations to predict the future is called science
And while nothing in science is ever as certain as the whimsical beliefs of mankind…
Certainly it has its place as a backup plan for when our ideal world fails to materialize…
Though occasionally our whimsical nature is rewarded as we see when we faithfully tune into another episode and find…
This Week in Science… coming up next
A Malaria Vaccine
On Course to Eradication
Gypsy King Ancestors
A Kraken of a comet
Carbonated Rivers
Get a free audiobook at Audible.com!
High Praise for Depression
Turn Off Your TV – http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/10/its-official-to-protect-babys-brain-turn-off-the-tv.ars
And, Greedy, Party Crashing Stars
An Artistic Challenge
If you love TWIS, please support us by donating below:
I'm the host of this little science show. 
3:25 Malaria is a bacteria-based disease…
Oops! Malaria is caused by a Parasite, not a bacterium.
39:02 [Neutrinos] could be just re-confirming Einstein’s theory of relativity.
While the Glashow paper is very important, the Elburg paper is worthless.
Relativistic corrections are already taken account by the GPS system!
The OPERA experimentalists aren’t idiots, as Elburg would have us believe.
44:18 [Felicia Simon-Wolf] lost her job.
No, she didn’t.
According to her CV, she still holds her NASA Astrobiology Research Fellowship.
Wolfe-Simon left the USGS in May to pursue her research elsewhere, she was NOT fired.
Stop spreading internet rumor, man!
Yup! That was an error on my part, unfortunately realized after I said it. Once again the trouble with live, unscripted shows… Anyhow, malaria is a single-celled protozoan parasite, NOT a bacterium. Thanks for the catch, Gendou!
I don’t think the Elburg paper is “worthless”, it is part of a tapestry of ideas put forth by members of the scientific community to help figure out the FTL result. But, thanks for the blog link in the last sentence of that paragraph. We do need to remember that these are professionals.
Finally, re: Felisa Wolfe-Simon – “In June, Science reported that Wolfe-Simon had left Oremland’s USGS laboratory to look for a location with better molecular and genetic research facilities. “Actually,” Wolfe-Simon says, “I didn’t leave out of choice. Ron basically evicted me from the group. It was a political decision on his part that I don’t understand, and I didn’t see it coming.” Although she received a NASA fellowship in 2010 that provides support through 2013, she is still seeking a new home for her work.:
Kirsten, good find in the Tom Clynes article! I missed that part entirely.
It sucks when politics impacts a person’s job.
I hope she finds a new home for her work, soon!
I edited her Wikipedia page to include:
Wolfe-Simon claims she did not leave voluntarily, but was “effectively evicted” from the USGS group.
Elburg’s paper is, indeed, “worthless” because it is full of holes!
Hole #1: The GPS satellite is the NOT the experimental clock.
Elburg misunderstands how GPS works.
The OPERA team used the GPS to synchronize Earth-based XLi IEEE 1588 Grandmaster clocks.
Once synchronized, these clocks are used to calculate the neutrino time-of-flight.
The reference frame of the GPS satellite is not important beyond its use in synchronization.
Elburg calculates the time correction in the GPS satellite reference frame.
Since the experiment is performed in the Earth reference frame, this correction is irrelevant!
Hole #2: The GPS already accounts for relativistic effects.
Just read about it: http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Unit5/gps.html
The GPS is accurate. We can trust it a LOT more than we can trust Elburg!
Hole #3: His worst-case scenario is impossible.
Even if hole #2 weren’t the case, to measure time with GPS you need 4+ satellites.
The time is calculated from the data and relative motion of all these satellites.
Elburg assumes only two satellites were used, one at each end of the experiment.
He then assigns a 32ns error to the derived UTC with opposite signs for each end.
This result is IMPOSSIBLE to produce, even intentionally, using the GPS!
As for Elburg’s being a “professional”, you can read on his personal website:
My work focuses on neuroscience derived computational principles for cognitive functions.
His “Brief Professional History” does not indicate he has ever practiced experimental physics.
Though, he does have a PhD from Institute for Theoretical Physics Amsterdam.
In any case, his education and profession aren’t the point, Kirsten.
The argument presented in his paper fails all on it’s own.
Oh, never mind that last paragraph, I misunderstood your comment about “professionals”.
Sorry for spamming many posts, but I just noticed this:
http://home.kpn.nl/vanelburg30/Publications.html
Elburg seems to have acknowledged and made an attempt to close hole #2.
He also seems to understand hole #1, but is unsure of the OPERA setup.
Perhaps he failed to understand or never read the OPERA paper.
His revision does not address hole #3 at all.
There was an article in the most recent SciAm about mosquito eradication. There are a couple concurrent experiments going on that seed populations with genetically modified males. Those males breed with females, who produce modified offspring. Here’s the kicker: the modified females do not grow flight muscles. The males do, but they don’t bite. Thus the biters die off and the non-biters live to breed with more females.
The article mentioned two experiments going on: one in a controlled environment, and another that simply released modified mosquitoes into the environment. Apparently there’s some political and legal gray-area that doesn’t necessitate engaging and receiving permission from the local population.
I believe Kalassin (and the researchers working on the project?) overlooks a major fact here: if the females can” t fly, they cannot feed. If they cannot feed, I doubt if they can produce viable offspring.
Or don’t females feed during their adult life? I suddenly had a faint notion they don’t, but maybe I’m mixing different things up… 😉