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Woomyse

Science

Wellcome Awards: The Most Stunning Medical Images of 2009

By Sandeep Ravindran Posted on 10.16.2009 7 Comments
Every year, a panel of judges at London's Wellcome Collection of medical photographs selects the best of the year's acquisitions. This striking collection, reproduced here, represents the best medical images of the year. The 19 images cover a wide variety of subjects and techniques, from the above picture of aspirin crystals to a picture of a seed taken with an electron microscope.

10.17.2009 at 11:55am - Comment by Woomyse

I agree with Khayman... there were a couple of images I thought were well done like the hair follicle axons, but come on,,, the mechanical heart? Based on whether or not I would forward the link to my blog or facebook, I would say not interesting medical pictures.
Science

Gold's Hidden Value

By Sam Barrett Posted on 8.22.2008 1 Comments
When most people think of gold, they think of Fort Knox, or a phat set of grillz. The exceptionally nerdy -- like some people at popsci.com -- automatically recall gold's atomic number of 79. But no one suspected gold's role as nature's nanotechnological answer for purifying air, except for a team of researchers from the Queensland University of Technology.

7.5.2009 at 10:48pm - Comment by Woomyse

Amazing! No wonder the Inca's and others worshiped gold...
Science

Mind-Reading Tech May Not Be Far Off

By Brooke Borel Posted on 6.12.2009 13 Comments
Neuroscientists are already able to read some basic thoughts, like whether an individual test subject is looking at a picture of a cat or an image with a specific left or right orientation. They can even read pictures that you're simply imagining in your mind's eye. Even leaders in the field are shocked by how far we've come in our ability to peer into people's minds. Will brain scans of the future be able to tell if a person is lying or telling the truth?

7.2.2009 at 05:48pm - Comment by Woomyse

Flying is great. Carpet bombing made possible by flying is not. As usual, we are at the mercy of the weakest links in society i.e., those that would use mind reading for the worse...
The Environment

House Passes Landmark Greenhouse Gas Bill

By Stuart Fox Posted on 7.1.2009 31 Comments
Now that every scientist who isn't part of the lunatic fringe agrees that human greenhouse gas emissions significantly alter the world's climate, the debate on Capitol Hill has shifted from science to policy. And that debate has proved even more complex than Congressional fights over the stimulus package, car company bailouts, and the decision to invade Iraq. On Friday, the House of Representatives passed HR 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, by a margin of 219 to 212, with three abstentions. The bill is the first legislative attempt to regulate carbon emissions, and the first bill to directly finger humans as the cause of climate change.

7.2.2009 at 05:29pm - Comment by Woomyse

So the dissent is now either treasonous or relegated to 'the lunatic fringe'. Great. And screw you too! Cap and trade is the same tired old kind of market system that brought us the 'stunning performance' in the financials in the form of the credit/banking crisis and is brought to us by the same old, tired, dogmatic, stinking old white haired business men and politicians that brought us all the other crap in our lives, including higher taxes and higher costs for just about everything we pay for. 'Climate Change' or if you prefer, 'global warming' is what it is; an excuse to beat the 'fear drum' and chant 'If you don't do this, terrible things will happen...'. A familiar refrain these past years; 'If we don't go to war, terrible things will happen...', 'If we don't save the Banks, terrible things will happen...' and of course, now we have to save the world. I think they've (the Establishment) cried wolf too many times and this why we (the populace) are apathetic. That and seeing malfeasance and downright thievery rewarded in the credit crunch, why can't those on the 'pro save the planet' side see that I'm just not ready to swallow that boulder salt? But no, I'm the lunatic fringe... The world will be changed by our actions and continues to be changed by our actions in it. Isn't this obvious? Kill the bufalo, cut down all the trees, dig up all the coal, smelt the steel, and on and on.... So now, that they 'realize the error of their ways' the powers that be want us to pay for 'the real cost' of the lives we live? THEY have based the economies of the world on 'the most for the least' and that other one 'without growth, we die' and now when I'm trying to carve out my niche, they want to change rules to it all? The businesses that will benefit from the supposed windfall of green businesses are the same that have behaved so badly in the past. and in many cases, their 'greeness' is anything but; I give you the compact flourescent light bulb. No. A thousand times no. It's time that business and politicians REALLY started acting in my best interests. I have the ring and It's going to melt in Mount Doom. PS; If someone brings up the issue of the science and the data thereof, the data is suspect. On both sides of the argument.
The Environment

Global Warming Better, Worse Than We Thought

By Stuart Fox Posted on 5.14.2009 11 Comments
This is going to be a different kind of global warming post, because there's actually some good news to go along with the bad news. Well, not GOOD, but better than previously expected. Unfortunately, the bad news is just as bad as always.

5.17.2009 at 10:52am - Comment by Woomyse

F.U.D. (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt)Sells Advertising Space. We have nothing to fear, except becoming fearful ourselves. Global Warming and then the name change to 'Climate Change' indicated to me that the science was dodgy at best and at its worst, a social engineering tool by governments to control behaviour and eventually attempt physical control of populations. I like the way kyleb2112 is thinking. Official channels are all suspect. Including Pop Sci. I can die from exposure right now... I don't need extreme weather to confirm that...
Science

Today's Flu News

By Posted on 4.28.2009 5 Comments
It's been three days since swine flu made it to the front page of most newspapers, and I'd like to thank all the readers who have chosen to follow PopSci's coverage, instead of retreating to their basements with ammo and clean water. Here are some highlights from the ongoing media frenzy.

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4.28.2009 at 10:57pm - Comment by Woomyse

Wash your hands with soap and don't touch your face. And please don't use that 'anti bacterial' stuff; it breads medically resistant strains of bugs. There's probably at least one or two deadly viruses or bacteria being dealt a deathblow by your auto immune system right now! So you just dodged a bullet and didn't even realize it. Rule by fear only breeds more fear... Don't panic. It's interesting that the outbreak has occurred so late in the flu season.
Science

Islam Is Good

By M. Farbman Posted on 4.21.2009 33 Comments
British government officials are planning to deploy search-engine optimization in their war on terror, working with certain Muslim groups to push "positive" depictions of Islam up in the Google rankings. Also in today's links: watching your kids like a hawk, living like a pig, and more.

4.22.2009 at 10:46pm - Comment by Woomyse

How can they hope to create good feelings about anything, let alone Islam, when it is being artificially driven by people with an agenda pushing up google rankings? I fail to see how this will prevent the radicalization of marginalized people, even here in North America, where we are marginalized and most people don't even realize it, covered by the luxury of our surroundings or circumstances. Food. Shelter. Personal Safety. Those are the things that prevent radicalization. Humans are the problem, regardless of the religion and at the same time the answer. The power that humans wield economically, politically and in religious terms has been abused, misused and used against humans. Until every single last one of us is convinced we need to be nice to each other, and take the power back from those who would enslave us, it will all repeat over and over again.
Cars

Do The Locomotion: 207 Tons and 4,400 hp

By Posted on 1.16.2008 1 Comments
They sit on a spur of test track outside General Electric’s locomotive factory in Erie, Pennsylvania, panting and grumbling like two old lions half asleep. The ominous, muttering rumble is the sound of 8,800 horsepower at idle—24 cylinders with pistons big as buckets, turbochargers the size of washing machines, two V12 engines direct-driving alternators five feet in diameter.

2.27.2009 at 10:27pm - Comment by Woomyse

I guess people find trains boring.
Science

Oh, Mama Mia!

By Posted on 2.20.2009 15 Comments
The Swedes revere their beloved ABBA the same way Americans do the Boss. So it comes as no surprise one former band member is weighing in on the music copyright trial of the century currently taking place in the land of IKEA. On Tuesday, Björn Ulvaeus slammed supporters of the defendants in the case (The Pirate Bay), who “speak with trembling voices about their 'freedom' on the internet."

2.26.2009 at 02:33pm - Comment by Woomyse

When I can pay a reasonable price for a song online, somehwhere between five and 10 cents per song, directly from the artist without a hedgemony or monopoly intervening, I'll gladly buy your songs. I have stopped buying CD's altogether; The last one was a used CD copy and I refuse to buy new. I don't buy the piracy argument and I certain don't support techology embedded in the media designed to control or feed information back, especially if it is on MY hard drive. I won't buy your music online. I won't buy any Metallica music after their rant about piracy. If you want to lose potential customers, keep going in this vein. Vote with your Wallets and Your feet.
Technology

What's Happening to the Sun?

By Laurie J. Schmidt Posted on 1.27.2009 24 Comments
For about 50 years from roughly 1650 to 1700, the Sun took a break from its typical sunspot activity. That phase of solar rest coincided with what we now refer to as "The Little Ice Age" -- a period of cooling on the Earth that resulted in bitterly cold winters, particularly in Europe and North America. Scientists attribute the Little Ice Age to two main causes: increased volcanic activity and reduced solar activity. Could it happen again? And are we headed there now?

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1.27.2009 at 11:48am - Comment by Woomyse

The impacts of the sun's weather are far reaching; I was in the Quebec blackout of 1989, that was supposedly caused by the suns weather and I remember how amazed I was that such a 'weak' force could have such a large effect. The sun affects us in ways we do not fully understand. Fabulous article. The sun. Worship it. It's the only one we have...