Archive for March, 2008
Saturday, March 29th, 2008
As the baby-boomer generation comes of age, conditions affecting vision seem to be getting more attention in doctor’s offices around the country. Roughly 200,000 cases of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) get diagnosed each year, a disease that affects women more frequently than men.
Age-related macular degeneration is the number one cause ...
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Saturday, March 29th, 2008
Long known for its role in preventing anemia in expectant mothers and spinal birth defects in newborns, the B vitamin folate, found in leafy green vegetables, beans and nuts has now been shown to blunt the damaging effects of heart attack when given in short-term, high doses to test animals.
In ...
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Saturday, March 29th, 2008
Polar body diagnosis can make artificial fertilization more successful, according to Katrin and Hans van der Ven and Markus Montag of Bonn University Clinic, writing in the current edition of Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105[11]: 190-6).
If the two polar bodies in an egg cell are examined, it ...
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Friday, March 28th, 2008
Florida did it: their ridiculous "academic freedom" bill that promoted creationism has been approved by their senate committee.
Here's the cast of characters:
Chair: Senator Don Gaetz
...
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Friday, March 28th, 2008
Traditionally, the use of tools was believed to be restricted to humans and several other primate species, and, like language, was argued to be a major driving force behind the evolution of the human brain. However, this view is now being challenged. For example, in recent years it has become ...
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Friday, March 28th, 2008
In keeping with our nautically themed posts (perhaps a teaser for April's upcoming "Carnival of the Blue," hosted by none other than yours truly the Fabulous Flying Bleiman Brothers), we bring you this story: Scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) at Wood's Hole are attempting to train fish to ...
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Friday, March 28th, 2008
France's National Museum of Natural History displayed its prize centerpiece today for an exhibit on biodiversity, a plastinated, 21+ foot-long, giant squid named Wheke. The squid was hauled in by a fisherman in New Zealand in 2001 and was plastinated in Italy by a company called VisDocta Research. The ...
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Friday, March 28th, 2008
tags: tree, Konza Prairie, Manhattan, Kansas, nature, Image of the Day
Trunk from what is probably a Black Locust, Robinia pseudoacacia, [study]
on the Konza Prairie, near Manhattan Kansas. March 2008.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [larger view].
Read the comments on this post...
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Friday, March 28th, 2008
Would you gamble on a safe bet for the promise of something more? Would you risk losing everything for the possibility of greater rewards? In psychological experiments, humans tend to play it safe when we stand to gain something - we're more likely to choose a certain reward over a ...
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Friday, March 28th, 2008
An investigation is underway into how a gun carried by a US Airways pilot was discharged during a flight.
No-one was hurt when the gun went off as the plane was preparing to land at Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday.
A hole in a cockpit wall apparently caused by the shot is ...
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