March 2010
35 posts
Personality may influence brain shrinkage in aging
Studying MRI images of 79 volunteers between the ages of 44 and 88 — who also had provided personality and demographic data — the researchers found lower volumes of gray matter in the frontal and medial temporal brain regions of volunteers who ranked high in neuroticism traits, compared with higher volumes of gray matter in those who ranked high in conscientious traits. “This is a first step in...
Behavioural targeting works, claims US study
Behavioural advertising is more than twice as good at getting ad-viewers to make a purchase compared to non-targeted internet advertising, but costs more than twice as much, a survey has found.
US advertising network trade body the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) commissioned the study, which was based on data provided by advertising networks. It was carried out by former US consumer...
Bee-Sniffing Technology More Advanced, Much...
As far back as 1999, the Defense Projects Agency (DARPA) Controlled Biological Systems Program funded a bee-training program to detect buried landmines, so that many thousands of acres of the world’s land could be productively farmed without encountering landmines the ugly way.A bee’s natural instinct is to extend its proboscis when it encounters a desirable odor, anticipating the taste of a...
Genome mapping technique speeds process of finding...
A Purdue University scientist was part of a global team that has
demonstrated a specialized mapping technique that could speed work in genomic
fields by quickly finding genetic associations that shape an organism’s
observable characteristics.
Using plants from 93 different Arabidopsis thaliana populations, a
team led by the Gregor Mendel Institute of Plant Biology in Austria was
able...
FBI cyber cop says 'very existence' of US under...
Cyber attacks threaten the “very existence” of the US, according to a top FBI official charged with worrying about such things. “The cyber threat can be an existential threat - meaning it can challenge our country’s very existence, or significantly alter our nation’s potential,” Steven Chabinsky was quoted by Computerworld as telling a gathering of...
Audit the Fed: Good News, Bad News
First, some good news!
An Appeals Court ruled that the Federal Reserve must
provide details of the $2 trillion bank bailout.
This is a big step forward for Fed transparency,
but it’s not a victory …
* the Fed may take the case to the Supreme Court
* and this ruling covers only a portion of the Fed’s activities
* only Congress can force a full audit of the Fed
And now,...
Social bees have bigger brain area for learning,...
Who’s in charge? Who’s got food? The brain region responsible for learning and memory is bigger in social bee queens who may have to address these questions than in solitary queens, report scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute who study the tropical sweat bee species, Megalopta genalis in Panama. Their study is the first comparison of the brain sizes of social and...
How to think about the coming healthcare vote
To put you in the proper frame of mind, consider the following bits
of history …
* American Revolution: The British won all the early battles, but
lost the war
* Napoleon: He won battles for years and years, but he ended up
imprisoned on a rock in the Atlantic ocean
* American Civil War: The Confederates won constantly in the early
years, but they lost the war
* World War II: The...
Website spotlights misdeeds of the rich and...
The Vile Plutocrat gathers news about the misdeeds of “the entitled
class,” mixes in scathing editorial commentary and then links stories to
biographies of the purported villains.
“The idea was born out of the Bernie Madoff scandal,” Paul Burton of
16 Toads Design told AFP late Saturday at a South By South West
Interactive gathering here.
“In a nutshell, we are...
Parliamentarian in Role as Health Bill Referee
In the fall of 1968, a serious dark-haired young man arrived in the
capital to do what serious young men here do: study law. Alan S. Frumin
was calm, analytical and possessed of a dry wit. To his classmates, one
trait stood out. He was a whiz at mastering the mind-numbing rules of
civil procedure.
Today, Mr. Frumin puts his procedural acumen to use as the
parliamentarian of the United...
IBM makes Earth-friendly plastic from plants
IBM researchers on Tuesday said they have discovered a way to make Earth-friendly plastic from plants that could replace petroleum-based products tough on the environment. The breakthrough promises biodegradable plastics made in a way that saves on energy, according to Chandrasekhar “Spike” Narayan, a manager of science and technology at IBM’s Almaden...
Computer algorithm able to predict human memories
To explore how memories are recorded, researchers showed volunteers three short films and asked them to memorize what they saw. The films were very simple, sharing a number of similar features — all included a woman carrying out an everyday task in a typical urban street, and each film was the same length, seven seconds long. For example, one film showed a woman posting a letter. Computer...
Michael Casey Taking the Census, Russell Hunting,...
'JihadJane' suspect dropped out before high...
The Pennsylvania woman who allegedly used the Internet alias JihadJane to recruit people for violent jihad had dropped out before reaching high school and was married at age 16, the start of a bumpy life that might have left her vulnerable to radical beliefs, according to federal sources and public records.
While caring for an ailing man in a suburban community where she had few friends, Colleen...
Sushi restaurant raided after Hollywood sting
Ewen Callaway, reporter
It’s been a good couple days for the producers of The Cove, an exposé on
illegal dolphin hunting in Japan. Their documentary earned an Oscar on
Sunday night and now they’ve landed a posh California restaurant in hot
water for serving what authorities say is whale meat.
After hearing rumours that the Santa Monica sushi joint the Hump was
serving...
Dollar Bond Sales Surge in Asia as Borrowers Tap...
By Katrina NicholasMarch 10 (Bloomberg) — The lowest relative borrowing costs in more than two years and demand from international investors is driving Asian companies to sell record amounts of dollar- denominated bonds.BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Ltd., the Hong Kong unit of Bank of China Ltd., and Chinese developer Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd. led Asia-Pacific borrowers selling $38.4...
Do you want more unelected lawmakers?
Congress wants to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) that will regulate everything from credit cards to mortgages.
House Democrats want the CFPA to be an independent agency, but Republicans are opposed. As a result, Senators Chris Dodd and Bob Corker are thinking of making it an arm of … the Federal Reserve!
Both Democrats AND Republicans are missing the point....
Watchthe future of games and reality and weirdness and points and things like that
The Newest Hybrid Model
INDIANTOWN, Fla. — In former swamplands teeming with otters and wild
hogs, one of the nation’s biggest utilities is running an experiment in
the future of renewable power.
Across 500 acres north of West Palm Beach, the FPL Group utility is
assembling a life-size Erector Set of 190,000 shimmering mirrors and
thousands of steel pylons that stretch as far as the eye can see. When
it is...
Mental Illness Multiplied in Children
What are the odds of being mentally ill if both your parents have bipolar illness or schizophrenia? Extremely high, according to the results of a new long-term study. The find may help scientists better understand patterns of transmission of psychiatric illness.
No one knows what genes predispose people to schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, which each afflict about one in 100 people. There...
Methane seen as growing climate risk
Methane, a potent global warming gas, is bubbling out of the frozen Arctic faster than had been expected.
Methane had become trapped in the permafrost over time and a warming climate is now resulting in its release, researchers report in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.
“The amount of methane currently coming out of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is comparable to the...
WatchCool opitcal illusion painting
Temblor Tilts Earth by Inches
The earthquake that struck Chile was so powerful it shifted the planet’s axis enough to make it spin slightly faster, meaning our days will be shorter by 1.26 millionths of a second, according to preliminary calculations by scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
“This is an esoteric effect that physics says has to happen,” notes David Kerridge,...
US burg renames self 'Google'
Google is looking for US locations to test its own ultra-high-speed fibre optic networks, and there’s no city more eager to be chosen than Google, Kansas. Bill Bunten, mayor of the state capital formally known as Topeka, Kansas signed a proclamation on Monday temporarily renaming the city “Google” in an effort to convince the internet search giant to invest in its broadband...
The strange things Congress did to extend the...
Last week, Congress voted to extend three
provisions of the so-called U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T Act (aka Patriot Act)
for another year.
You can see how your Representative voted here: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll067.xml
But if you do that you’ll think we’ve sent you to
the wrong link. You’ll see that the title on the bill is “Medicare
Physician Payment Reform...
Women and children first? Maybe
By Thomas H. Maugh II Whether it is “Women and children first” or “Every man for himself” in a
shipwreck may depend on how long it takes the ship to sink, researchers
said Monday.
When the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1915, it sank in
18 minutes and the bulk of...