Archive for the ‘Miscellany’ Category

informatics

• The effects of gold-medal hockey on Edmonton, Canada water usage
  I feel a great disturbance in the public utility, as if millions of bladders cried out, and were suddenly silenced. Pats Papers: What If Everybody in Canada Flushed at Once? (Thanks, Christina!)
• Behavioral problems in childhood doubles the risk of chronic widespread pain in adult life
  Bad behavior in childhood is associated with long-term, chronic widespread pain in adult life, according to the findings of a study following nearly 20,000 people from birth in 1958 to the present day. The research, published online in the journal Rheumatology on Wednesday March 10, found that children with severe behavior disturbances had approximately doub […]
• ARS study provides a better understanding of how mosquitoes find a host
  The potentially deadly yellow-fever-transmitting Aedes aegypti mosquito detects the specific chemical structure of a compound called octenol as one way to find a mammalian host for a blood meal.
• Chronic fatigue syndrome and human retrovirus XMRV
• MIT researchers discover new way of producing electricity
  A team of scientists at MIT have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes. The discovery could lead to a new way of producing electricity, the researchers say.
• Poll reveals sleep differences among ethnic groups
  The 2010 Sleep in America poll released today by the National Sleep Foundation reveals significant differences in the sleep habits and attitudes of Asians, African-Americans, Hispanics and whites. It is the first poll to examine sleep among these four ethnic groups.
• The Growing Power Of The Sugar Pill
  Placebos play a useful role in drug testing: They help scientists determine just how effective a drug is. But a comparison of studies of antidepressants finds that patients find placebos twice as effective today as they did in the 1980s. Researchers aren't entirely sure why this is happening, but they say these findings could complicate medicine.» E-Mai […]
• Hannibal mugshot enquiry could close Libya row
  As the diplomatic row with Libya continues, attention is being focused on the Geneva investigation into the leak of police mugshots of Hannibal Gaddafi.
• Col. James Sabow: Pentagon shooter was obsessed with 1991 case
  Pentagon shooter John Patrick Bedell was drawn to the 1991 case of Marine Corps Col. James Sabow. Investigators said the officer committed suicide, but others – including his brother – are sure he was murdered.
• China's Human Flesh Search Engine
  Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times has an interesting article about Human-flesh search engines — renrou sousuo yinqing — that have become a phenomenon in China: they are a form of online vigilante justice in which Internet users hunt down and punish people who have attracted their wrath. The goal is to get the targets of a search fired from their jobs, s […]
• From 2-trillion-degree heat, researchers create new matter -- and new questions
  A worldwide team of researchers, including 10 from Texas A&M University, have for the first time created a particle that is believed to have been in existence immediately after the creation of the universe -- the so-called "Big Bang" -- and it could lead to new questions and answers about some of the basic laws of physics because in essence, it […]