In a video clip taken from Scientific American's Instant Egghead, we can learn why papercuts hurt so much.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Maybe I'll take the train...
This Discover magazine article identifies that a pandemic could spread very easily through airports. They used computer modeling of millions of flight itineraries and crunched the numbers. The listed the top/worst 10 airports. Most of the worst carried a large number of international passengers, since that would spread disease most easily.
The 1918 flu pandemic was also spread by mass transit, although it was certainly a slower version. There were more cases of the flu also rail lines at that time.
If an infectious disease were to suddenly break out, what could be done to stop or slow it using this information?
The 1918 flu pandemic was also spread by mass transit, although it was certainly a slower version. There were more cases of the flu also rail lines at that time.
If an infectious disease were to suddenly break out, what could be done to stop or slow it using this information?
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
It's all in your mind.
There have been several studies conducted about the effect of wind generators. With the close proximity of the wind farms in the area, there have been some in the area to bring up these symptoms. This article identifies the lack of scientific basis for many of these claims and goes so far as to identify that most of them are of a psychological root, not physiological
What do you think? Do you agree that most of these symptoms are psychological or could there be a possible physiological mechanism for them?
What do you think? Do you agree that most of these symptoms are psychological or could there be a possible physiological mechanism for them?
Monday, October 8, 2012
Greatest American Hero!
Several years ago when I was teaching General Science I came across some video footage (actually a music video by a group called Boards of Canada, and only the first two minutes are of any consequence) of Joseph Kittinger's record setting skydive. Note that as he falls the sky is actually mostly black, not the blue that we're used to! He is actually falling at a speed close to the speed of sound, although he felt no wind due to the fact that there's almost no atmosphere where he was at.
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I was so taken by the bravery shown by this man that I looked up a little more about him. His story is incredible. He not only was a test pilot, and was a part of the first testing for the space program (that's where is skydive jump came in), he also fought three tours in Vietnam and flew 483 missions. He was captured and spent 11 months as a POW.
His name is back in the news as his freefall record is about to be broken (Update: it was shattered on October, 14, 2012) by Felix Baumgartner. You can read about Joseph Kittinger and his record setting skydive in a National Geographic article. Some more pictures of him in preparation and as he fell can be found here.
Read the articles and comment about what science gained from his experience. Also comment upon what science is learning from Felix Baumgartner's freefall.
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I was so taken by the bravery shown by this man that I looked up a little more about him. His story is incredible. He not only was a test pilot, and was a part of the first testing for the space program (that's where is skydive jump came in), he also fought three tours in Vietnam and flew 483 missions. He was captured and spent 11 months as a POW.
His name is back in the news as his freefall record is about to be broken (Update: it was shattered on October, 14, 2012) by Felix Baumgartner. You can read about Joseph Kittinger and his record setting skydive in a National Geographic article. Some more pictures of him in preparation and as he fell can be found here.
Read the articles and comment about what science gained from his experience. Also comment upon what science is learning from Felix Baumgartner's freefall.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Stopping influenza epidemics?
Each year the flu kills approximately 36,000 people (mostly elderly) and accounts for an unbelievable amount of work and school absences. In 1918-1919 a flu pandemic (and epidemic of global scale) traveled the world and killed an estimated 50 million people.
Obviously the influenza virus is an important one for scientists to work on limiting its effect. Scientists and medical professionals have focused on making sure the elderly have been given their yearly flu shots (not a vaccine, but as good as can be done with a virus as variable as the flu virus).
A new look at the problem identifies that the elderly, while most often affected, are not the main problem in spreading the epidemics. Children and schools are and should be the target says new research based on computer models.
Computer-modeling studies suggest that immunizing 20 percent of children in a community is more effective at protecting those older than 65 than immunizing 90 percent of the elderly. Another study suggests that immunizing 70 percent of schoolchildren may protect an entire community (including the elderly) from flu. Schools are virus exchange systems, and children are “super-spreaders”—they “shed” more of the virus for longer periods than adults.
Read the whole article. What do you think? Should we have school wide vaccinations? Are there any ethical issues associated with this?
Obviously the influenza virus is an important one for scientists to work on limiting its effect. Scientists and medical professionals have focused on making sure the elderly have been given their yearly flu shots (not a vaccine, but as good as can be done with a virus as variable as the flu virus).
A new look at the problem identifies that the elderly, while most often affected, are not the main problem in spreading the epidemics. Children and schools are and should be the target says new research based on computer models.
Computer-modeling studies suggest that immunizing 20 percent of children in a community is more effective at protecting those older than 65 than immunizing 90 percent of the elderly. Another study suggests that immunizing 70 percent of schoolchildren may protect an entire community (including the elderly) from flu. Schools are virus exchange systems, and children are “super-spreaders”—they “shed” more of the virus for longer periods than adults.
Read the whole article. What do you think? Should we have school wide vaccinations? Are there any ethical issues associated with this?
Got gas?
I've always wanted to have a million dollar idea, or even a billion dollar idea. I think this Cuban farmer has a great idea to gather the methane that comes from his pigs' feces for use in his house and his neighbors' houses. If someone were to take this one the large scale of the confinement farms in the United States, it definitely could be a billion dollar idea!
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