Tag: Science

How Close Is A Jurassic Park?

It is the weekend and I do love me some sciencey stuff.  I know you have seen Jurassic Park 1-33 or ever how many spinoffs there have been but just how possible is the premise of the movie?

I found this and thought I was just too cool to ignore…….

In 1983, a genuine freak of nature was lost to science. The gastric-brooding frog – Rheobatrachus silus – was native to the rainforests of Queensland, Australia and best known for giving birth through its mouth, having incubated its offspring in its stomach. But habitat loss and disease saw the species officially declared extinct.

Until now. Scientists in Australia have announced that they have brought the frog’s genome “back to life”. Employing a cloning technology called somatic cell nuclear transfer, they used tissue obtained from samples of a frog kept in a freezer since the 1970s to implant a “dead” cell nucleus into a fresh egg from a similar species.

None of the embryos created survived for more than a few days, but the “Lazarus Project” team believe their work is a landmark moment for the new science of “de-extinction” – the artificial recreation of lost species that featured fictionally in the Jurassic Park films. “Now we have fresh cryo-preserved cells of the extinct frog to use in future cloning experiments,” says team leader Professor Mike Archer of the University of New South Wales, in Sydney. “We’re increasingly confident that the hurdles ahead are technological and not biological, and that we will succeed. Importantly, we’ve demonstrated already the great promise this technology has as a conservation tool when hundreds of the world’s amphibian species are in catastrophic decline.”

Last week, scientists and conservationists met in Washington DC to thrash out the ethical, moral and technical questions of, as they admit, “playing God”. A central question is whether such cloning techniques “bring back” an extinct species, or just create a new one that looks exactly like the old one.

“That remains to be seen,” said the conference organisers. “It is one reason to do the research: is the genome the species? The answer will vary from species to species. De-extincted plants should flourish as if they’d never left, if suitable pollinators are still around. But if California condors had gone extinct, it’s unclear if they could be brought back fully, because the young rely on parental training.”

Archer says his focus is now on cloning the extinct Australian thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger. However, at the conference talk was already moving on to targeting other extinct species, such as the woolly mammoth and dodo.

Okay, I know someone has got to have something to say about this……thoughts?

GOD Is Found!

First, I did not know he was missing…….Well at least the particle has been found…..

It is the weekend (again) and time to indulge my relief valve and post on something besides the politics du jour……this weekend it will be good sciencey stuff…..

Found while reading “talking Points Memo or TPM………

GENEVA (AP) — The search is all but over for a subatomic particle that is a crucial building block of the universe.

Physicists announced Thursday they believe they have discovered the subatomic particle predicted nearly a half-century ago, which will go a long way toward explaining what gives electrons and all matter in the universe size and shape.

The elusive particle, called a Higgs boson, was predicted in 1964 to help fill in our understanding of the creation of the universe, which many theorize occurred in a massive explosion known as the Big Bang. The particle was named for Peter Higgs, one of the physicists who proposed its existence, but it later became popularly known as the “God particle.”

Last July, scientists at CERN, the Geneva-based European Organization for Nuclear Research, announced finding a particle they described as Higgs-like, but they stopped short of saying conclusively that it was the same particle or some version of it.

Scientists have now finished going through the entire set of data year and announced the results in a statement and at a physics conference in the Italian Alps.

“To me it is clear that we are dealing with a Higgs boson, though we still have a long way to go to know what kind of Higgs boson it is,” said Joe Incandela, a physicist who heads one of the two main teams at CERN that each involve about 3,000 scientists.

But, it remains an “open question,” CERN said in a statement, whether this is the Higgs boson that was expected in the original formulation, or possibly the lightest of several predicted in some theories that go beyond that model.

But for now, it said, there can be little doubt that a Higgs boson does exist, in some form.

Whether or not it is a Higgs boson is demonstrated by how it interacts with other particles and its quantum properties, CERN said in the statement. The data “strongly indicates that it is a Higgs boson,” it said.

The discovery would be a strong contender for the Nobel Prize, though it remains unclear whether that might go to Higgs and the others who first proposed the theory or to the thousands of scientists who found it, or to all of them.

The hunt for the Higgs entailed the use of CERN’s atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider, which cost some $10 billion to build and run in a 17-mile (27-kilometer) tunnel beneath the Swiss-French border.

It has been creating high-energy collisions to smash protons and then study the collisions and determine how subatomic particles acquire mass — without which the particles would fail to stick together.

If so I smell a Nobel for some lucky person…….but what will this mean to humanity?  Thoughts?

Wanker Here, Wanker Gone

Time for some news and info that does not have anything to do with the circus we called American politics…….we all know just how wrapped up in our wankers we males are….how size matter, shape is good…….but there seems to be a more interesting wanker story…..

Newser) – The Chromodoris reticulata has a peculiar way of mating: After the deed is done, the sea slug sheds its penis … and then grows a new one within 24 hours and does the whole thing again. “I haven’t seen anything like this before,” says one expert. A team of Japanese researchers discovered the surprising behavior in the species, which lives in the Pacific Ocean, the BBC reports. Chromodoris reticulata is the first creature known to have what they’re calling a “disposable penis.” Other creatures discard their sex organ post-copulation, but they don’t re-grow it. The researchers called the slug’s behavior “extremely peculiar.”

A large part of the slug’s penis is actually an internal one that’s coiled inside its body; this is what regenerates the detached portion after sex. The studied slugs were seen to mate three times in a row, 24 hours apart each time; it’s not clear if the penis could regenerate once again, perhaps months later. The evolutionary purpose? Scientists aren’t quite sure, but they say the purpose of the first sex act may be to remove any sperm left by a previous partner. The disposable penis is far from the slugs’ only sexual quirk: The penises are equipped with spines that could help with the removal of prior sperm, AFP reports. The creatures are also “simultaneous hermaphrodites,” which means they have male and female sexual organs that can be used simultaneously.

There was a time in my life when this would have been a desirable trait to have…..

Puke It Up!

Have you heard the old rock n roll yell…..”Party to you puke”?

This guy and his dog will party because of the puke………

Newser) – One British man is poised to become $68,000 richer thanks to his dog’s interest in stinky garbage—which, in this case, turned out to be a soccer ball-sized lump of whale vomit, reports the AP. Ken Wilman was walking his dog Madge along a beach in northern England when the canine started sniffing what Wilman thought was a rock. But when a piece broke off, he realized it was something else, and when he got home he did a bit of Googling.

Wilman soon realized his dog had actually discovered ambergris, the waxy and not-so-fragrant byproduct of sperm whale digestion. Used in perfumes, spices, and medicines, ambergris commands big bucks, so Wilman returned to the beach and took it home; he has since been offered $68,000 for it. His advice? “If your dog pays an interest in something, you pay an interest in something,” he says. “Because you never know.” (This actually isn’t the first tale of whale vomit wealth we’ve covered…)

It is a shame that human’s vomit was not used…..for a couple of bottles of tequila and you would be a millionaire!

Good News For Everybody

Weekend and my small attempt to distance myself from emotional bullsh*t and post on things sciencey…….

This could be good news for climate change proponents!  Wait!  This could be to climate deniers!  Wait!~

(Newser) – One of the most infamous symbols of man’s assault on the planet is actually diminishing: The ozone hole over Antarctica was smaller in 2012 than it has been in 10 years, reports LiveScience. Scientists credit the improvement to the worldwide ban on chlorofluorocarbons, which cause the hole to appear each September through November. Experts believe the hole should close altogether within a few decades. (In other ozone news, drones are now studying the ozone layer.)

No matter which side of the climate debate you choose to embrace….this is good news……

The Quadruple Helix

More sciencey stuff….and I wish I was more versed in this type of science but but fortunately I will stick to politics and economics….stuff I am comfortable with….for now……

(Newser) – Scientists have spotted four-stranded DNA in humans for the first time and say it could provide a key to fighting cancer, the BBC reports. A Cambridge University team revealed the find to Nature Chemistry last year, saying the “quadruple helix” may arise when a cell is unstable or in a dysfunctional state—like one that leads to cancer. “We need to prove that; but if that is the case, targeting them with synthetic molecules could be an interesting way of selectively targeting those cells that have this dysfunction,” said Cambridge chemist Shankar Balasubramanian.

They found that four-stranded DNA occurred most often when a cell is copying its DNA right before dividing. That could link the quadruple helix to cancers, which are often caused by genes that mutate to boost DNA replication. Perhaps synthetic molecules could curb the out-of-control cell proliferation that leads to tumors: “I’m hoping now that the pharmaceutical companies will bring this on to their radar,” said Balasubramanian. Some 60 years ago, two other Cambridge scientists burst into a pub and announced their discovery of the “secret to life”: the DNA double helix.

Hopefully this could be the key to solving the cancer cure problem……but then I ask…..who will control the cure?  My bet is on big Pharma…..and they will be allowed to make up for their R&D…….in other words….lots of cash in profits.

We Need Warp Speed, Scotty

Remember all the times that James T. Kirk made that statement?  But what would it look like if Scotty could give us warp speed?

(Newser) – Sorry, Trekkies and Star Wars fans: People traveling at warp speed wouldn’t see stars morph into those cool beams of light. British physics students say it would look more like a general bright glow caused by the background radiation of the universe, LiveScience reports. That’s because of the Doppler Effect, which would move starlight from the visible spectrum into the X-ray range, while shifting microwave radiation from the Big Bang into the visible spectrum.

And it would be bright: “If the Millennium Falcon existed and really could travel that fast, sunglasses would certainly be advisable,” says a member of the University of Leicester team. “On top of this, the ship would need something to protect the crew from harmful X-ray radiation.” In fact, the extra X-ray radiation would hinder the ship’s progress and require extra energy to overcome. Says another team member: “Perhaps Disney should take the physical implications of such high speed travel into account in their forthcoming films.”

I am sure that some scientist somewhere is working on warp speed or impulse power or Ion drive…….do dah……..whatcha think will we ever see warp speed or something similar?

Mining A New Frontier

The weekend and sciencey stuff runs rampant……..as we deplete our natural resources    what will we do?

(Newser) – Asteroid mining is just a few years away, according to a US company, but there won’t be any jobs for pickaxe-wielding spacemen just yet: The first probes will only be the size of laptops. Deep Space Industries plans to send the probes on prospecting trips to some of the 1,700 near-Earth asteroids in 2015, the CBC reports. Larger spacecraft will follow to extract valuable metals and gases from the asteroids, says the company, which aims to sell the resources to Mars missions and to the builders of orbiting space platforms.

Asteroids “can be like the Iron Range of Minnesota was for the Detroit car industry last century—a key resource located near where it was needed,” the company’s CEO says. “In this case, metals and fuel from asteroids can expand the in-space industries of this century.” Director James Cameron has announced a similar venture, but experts aren’t sure if asteroid mining is ready to get off the ground, the Guardian notes. “Is the prospect of using asteroid resources crazy? No, it’s not. Is it difficult? Yes, it is,” says the editor of NasaWatch.com. “Can you make a business case for it? People are trying, and making progress.”

But now the question is……AT WHAT PRICE?  Sorry but I do not trust corporations to do the right thing…..I understand the need for profit……….but once again…..At What Price?

Water, Water Everywhere

The weekend and time for some sciencey stuff……..we have learned that water is essential for the development of life forms……and now we have a report from Mars……

(Newser) – Photos of an enormous crater on Mars indicate possible underground water—water that could have supported life, and could still be doing so. Images taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show the 57-mile-wide McLaughlin Crater, which is now dry. It’s one of the planet’s deepest spots at 1.3 miles, and minerals there indicate upwelled groundwater may have formed a lake on the spot some 4 billion years ago. One other sign of a former lake, per Space.com: channels that climb 1,650 feet up the walls of the crater’s eastern side.

Because the surface of the planet is inhospitably cold, scientists have focused on lower layers in a search for possible life. Earth’s underground is home to almost half its living matter, in the form of microbes, and in like fashion, “the deep crust has always been the most habitable place on Mars,” says the study’s head author. His work began as an attempt to disprove that water had flowed to Mars’ surface. But “lo and behold, there was strong evidence for that process in this crater,” he notes. “Science is special because we are allowed to change our minds.”

Are we talking about H2O or some liquified substance?  Thoughts?

The War On Science

I am sure by now you have heard the accusations that the Right is having a war on women, a war on minorities and a war on science…….but you know the Right is not by itself…….liberals are just as bad and as hard on science……I know….what the Hell?

(Newser) – Conventional wisdom holds that Republicans, not Democrats, are waging a war on science. But “there’s a liberal war on science” too, writes Michael Shermer in Scientific American. Yes, it’s true that 58% of conservatives believe humans were created, by God, in the past 10,000 years. But 41% of liberals hold that same belief. Similarly, 51% of Republicans doubt the Earth is heating up, but 19% of Democrats feel the same way. “These numbers do not exactly bolster the common belief that liberals are the people of the science book,” Shermer writes.

And there’s more: Liberals tend to be against nuclear energy (waste disposal issues), hydroelectric energy (dams in rivers interfere with ecosystems), fossil fuels (climate change), and wind power (bird deaths). And then there’s the fight against genetically modified foods, even though GMOs are really the only way we can feed the planet. “The underlying current is ‘everything natural is good’ and ‘everything unnatural is bad,'” Shermer writes. The truth is that both sides treat science just about equally, they just feel strongly about different issues. It’s time to encourage moderation on both sides. Click for Shermer’s full column.

Hypocrites!  Any thoughts?