Yahoo CEO says company is not 'under siege'Yang and Yahoo President Susan Decker said the company was reorganizing around four pillars: home page, search, mail and mobile services."The essence of Yahoo is being defined today," Yang said. "We have to...
This is infotainment
Japanese scientists create microscopic noodle bowlJapanese scientists say they have used cutting-edge technology to create a noodle bowl so small it can be seen only through a microscope.Mechanical engineering professor Masayuki Nakao said Thursday he...
Prolonging Landfill Life
Landfills only have a finite amount of space to hold trash and that means they can only last so long. One thing cities are trying to do is prolong the life of landfills. Traditional landfills compact the trash to get more trash in a limited amount of...
What's The Difference Between A Human And A Fruit Fly?
Not a whole lot, by objective standards. Wait... is this a trick question? Maybe. Turns out you can tell the difference by looking at protein interactions. (Technically, this is part of the "interactome".)What's The Difference Between A Human And A Fruit...
Filling up Landfills
Days ago, I introduced you to Landfills – what they are and how they work. Landfills are essentially big holes in the ground that are filled with our daily trash. But think about it. Americans generate millions of tons of trash every year. Wouldn’t we...
In Memorium - Dr. Jerry O. Wolff
Dr. Jerry Wolff, of St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, recently passed away. He entered the Canyonlands National Park in Utah on Sunday, May 11, 2008 and did not return. For the last week, the National Park Service has mounted an intense and thorough...
Whales wash up on Senegal Beach
Okay, it's a break from the landfill and waste water theme. Here is some breaking biology and environmental news from Africa.Bodies of at least 20 whales wash up on coast of SenegalThanks to the Sister #1 from the People Could Fly Project for passing...
Make your own model Landfill
Yesterday, I introduced you to landfills and how they are made. As trash breaks down a dangerous byproduct is produced - leacheate. Landfills not only must take care of trash, but it also must not pose other health and environmental threats, too.Here...
Throw it Away. Where is Away? Landfills.
What happens to you trash when you throw it away?”Trash does not simply go away. Trash is taken to municipal landfills or dumps. Each day landfills receive trash, spread it out, and cover it with a layer of soil. Sometimes, the soil is mixed with sludge...
Moral choice: fairness, utility, and the insula
We continue to learn more about the neuropsychological basis of moral thinking and moral emotions in humans:Justice In The Brain: Equity And Efficiency Are Encoded Differently (5/8/08)Which is better, giving more food to a few hungry people or letting...
Cancer stem cells II
Since we've just had a discussion of generalities about cancer stem cells (here), it seems like it would be fun to have a summary of research on CSCs that was presented at the recent meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in San Diego,...
What Pinker said
The Stupidity of DignityTo understand the source of this topsy-turvy value system, one has to look more deeply at the currents that underlie the Council. Although the Dignity report presents itself as a scholarly deliberation of universal moral concerns,...
Quick Tutorial in Urban Sewage Facilities
A great deal of our municipal taxes is dedicated to waste removal – garbage and sewage. And let’s be appreciative, it is one the most important technologies ever is municipal sewage facilities. Municipal sewage handling dates back to the Roman Empire....
Dealing with Waste & Sewage - the cost of "civilized" living
I'll dedicate the rest of the posts this month to how we deal with waste and how societies, particularly cities, deal with disposal and recycling of waste. Of special interest will be how we handle our own digestive waste and how digestive waste is also...
What do we do with all of that Doo Doo?
There are many names for it – poop, manure, sludge, biosolids, compost, or humus, but all of it is the organic waste that’s left over. Especially important for the theme of my page is how do people live and interact with our environment and how do human...
Cancer stem cells
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been mentioned here before in passing – recently here, for example. But it's now time to direct particular attention to them.One reason is that a number of new experimental results concerning CSCs were presented last month...
More problems with alternative energy
It's certainly not encouraging to find research that casts doubt on the economic or technological viability of energy sources other than fossil fuels. There are two compelling reasons the whole world needs to transition away from fossil fuels: (1) To...
Is DNA Repair A Substitute For Sex?
Yeah, it's a trick question. The answer is clearly "no" – unless you're a bdelloid rotifer.What's interesting, of course, about these minute but multi-cellular animals is that they are completely asexual, and apparently have been for millions of years....
Precycling - Keeping Waste Outputs Low
Purchasing power is Power. A few weeks ago I was formally introduced to this concept of PRECYCLING by Ebony Mommy. In other words, thinking about our choices (food, shopping, travel, etc) before using them. Deciding what we will do and use so as NOT...
Suburban Ecology as a Discipline of Study
The MRGP Center for Applied Suburban Ecology is a project of the Nature Conservancy in the State of New York.Looks like the fields of Ecology and Conservation are really taking notice of the importance of studying human-ecology interactions in an entirely...
The amino acid chirality mystery
If the analysis here is correct, it solves one of the more puzzling mysteries of life on Earth – namely, the fact that all 20 amino acids found in biological proteins are "left-handed".Meteorites Delivered The 'Seeds' Of Earth's Left-hand Life, Experts...
Searching for dark energy... at the South Pole
Not all experimental astrophysical studies require elaborate, incredibly expensive equipment deployed at the L2 Sun-Earth Lagrangian point, like WMAP. A lot can be done with a microwave antenna just 10 meters across... if it's located at the South Pole.Cosmologists...
Trading sex for resources
The title really says it all. Not much further commentary needed. Care for another example? How about bower birds?Just Like Penguins And Other Primates, People Trade Sex For ResourcesFemale penguins mate with males who bring them pebbles to build egg...
Finding The Higgs Boson
Continuing this theme of stuff that attracts skeptics, how about the Higgs boson? As of right now, it really is just hypothetical. There's no observational evidence for it – but check back in a year or so.In the meantime, here's a good short summary...
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