Science
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
A Potato a Day Keeps the Hepatitis Away
Scientific American has a fun article: Potatoes Deliver Hepatitis Vaccine in Human Trials
The concept alone can wind up leading to a much different grocery store than the ones we’re used to today: have an illness, grab the right food. Imagine the flu could be cured with a carrot, and maybe a Mac & Cheese version for kids.
Of course, the idea behind this is to help poorer countries have easier ways to treat disease, but that doesn’t mean it won’t turn into some odd form of capitalization and marketing over here.
Friday, January 21, 2005
Escape from the Universe
If you can get past the gloominess of the end of the universe, Prospect magazine has a very interesting article about how a possible future advanced civilization could Escape from the Universe before it ends. It relies on the theory that other universes, or parallel universes, exist, and that current physics and scientific theories allow for some sort of travel between here and there, wherever that is. Bon voyage.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Day Moving Too Fast
Just when you thought you could be imagining things, Wired is reporting that a NASA scientist says the devastating Dec. 26 earthquake off Sumatra may have caused the planet to spin 3 millionths of a second faster and wobble about an inch on its axis. Ok, so it’s not an excuse for not getting something done, but it’s an interesting fact nonetheless. The article also notes that scientists don’t think such tiny shifts will have long-term effects, but planetary scientists must add a “leap second” to the end of the year, something that has not been done in many years.
Friday, December 31, 2004
Remembering Einstein’s “Smart Streak”
From The Economist: Miraculous visions - A century after Einstein’s miracle year, most people still do not understand exactly what it was he did. Here, we attempt to elucidate.
A good piece about Albert Einstein, his place among the recent science timeline and what/how he was thinking.
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Life Expectancy
Life expectancy is always a fun statistic for the media to throw out of nowhere to either scare you or make you feel safe. After all - what’s more reassuring than hearing your life expectancy is 76 when you’re 25? However, when you’re past “middle aged” they can give you a scenario that paints a very bleak picture.
Here’s a life expectancy calculator on MSN. But how accurate is that? An article on WebMD asks “Is Life Expectancy Overestimated?” The article is about a year old, but still relevant.
You don’t need me to tell you that you can live the healthiest life possible, and see a nice high life expectancy and then be hit by a bus.
Like the WebMD article mentions most of the numbers you see come from a “mortality life table”. That is, it’s not exactly the same formula they use to figure out life expectancy from birth, something I learned many moons ago in a statistics class in college that can return quite odd results as you get older. For example, you can receive a negative number once you reach a certain (very high) age.
Is there a point to any of this? Well, just try and live well, good or bad society-related numbers mean nothing to you, the individual.
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Go to Mars Damnit
James Cameron writes an article for Wired Magazine about exploration and why we should not just be going into space, but to Mars and beyond.
I’m not one for heights, so I’ll probably stay here, but I would love some pictures and maybe a shotglass from the spaceport.