Monthly Archives: August 2010
The Marc Hauser Maneno. Truth Will Out.
A fairly accurate and well done, and more up to date, account of what has gone on with the Marc Hauser investigation is here, in a piece punished in the New York Times by Nicholas Wade: In Harvard Lab Inquiry, a Raid and a 3-Year Wait.
It is very clear that the Fourth Estate is on the verge of a detailed and clear description of events.
Wanted
Wanted: A shortcut key to zip backwards to the last mispelleded word in a text document. (And, forward too would be nice, but backwards is most important.) Next time you are writing stuff, think about how cool this would be.
See the whole “WANTED” list here.
Bringing Science to Kids with Song
Money Harper is a musician who has put to song several actual research projects of University of Oklahoma scientists. He’s raising money to finish the project. Maybe you can help him out. Either way, it is an interesting story, and I’m sure you are going to want a copy of the CD.
Continue reading Bringing Science to Kids with Song
Current Events in Human Evolution
I will be interviewed on Sunday Morning by Lynn Fellman on Minnesota Atheist Radio. We’ll be covering the recent and almost recent news in several areas of human evolution, and discussing “Lucy, Ardi, Frodo, and us: what old bones and new genetics are revealing today”
… but since news from the field comes in so quickly, we may never get to our intended topic, since we can also talk about monkeys and very ancient cut marks on stone tools.
Tune in on Radio 950 KTNF Twin Cities, or catch the Podcast later. I don’t think there is a streaming thingie.
Uncommon Knowledge: Genie Scott vs. Dembski
An episode from KTEH’s Uncommon Knowledge series: “Darwin under the Microscope: Questioning Darwinism”. Dr. Genie Scott goes toe to toe with creationist Dr. William Dembski. Air date: 12/7/2001
Continue reading Uncommon Knowledge: Genie Scott vs. Dembski
Inside a Political Campaign
There was an election in November of 2008, but you probably knew that already. You cast a vote for a presidential candidate, and if you were especially interested, put a bumper sticker on your car and a sign in your yard. If you’re a typical Minnesotan, somewhat more engaged in the process than is usual with Americans, statistically speaking, you also voted for a U.S. Senate candidate, and you remember who it was, even if your candidate didn’t win. That’s already quite a bit going on for one election cycle, but of course there was also an election for the U.S. House of Representatives in your district, and at least two candidates who wanted your attention, badly. Those candidates had plenty of help from staff, interns, and volunteers who wanted your interest and your vote. The technologies used by the campaigns to get your attention are changing rapidly, and so too are the effects of those technologies on a rational, responsible political discourse, or as 2008 often proved, a lack thereof.
Does Cranberry Juice Help Repress or Reduce Urinary Tract Infections? A study in skeptical juice drinking.
After I reported this recent and interesting research paper about urinary tract inflictions, a number of conversations broke out on that post, on my facebook page, and via email, and some of these conversations raised the question of cranberry juice and whether the idea that it prevents, reduces, or shortens the duration of UTIs is real or woo.
Added: After further discussion elsewhere, I would like to clarify what is being asked here: Imagine you are a person who drinks apple juice and cranberry juice as your main hydrating substance. Also, you are are a person who is concerned with UTIs. One day, you ask yourself: “I want to switch to drinking only one kind of juice, apple or cranberry. Should I make it cranberry, with the idea that it could prevent UTIs, to some degree, for me? No biggie if it does not, but is there a reasonable chance that it will?” This is NOT a post about whether or not cranberry juice in any concentration or form can treat a UTI. Obviously.
So, I decided to use Gooogle Scholar (which is a version of Google that you should probably use more often than you currently do) to find out what the peer reviewed literature says. First I entered a few appropriate search terms (bladder infection UTI cranberry, for example) and looked at the first few references provided, then I narrowed the search for the most recent five years. That narrowing gave me a recent review article (which is what I was hoping for).
I came to a conclusion about cranberry juice after just few minutes of looking at abstracts and a couple of full text papers, and then spent considerably more time summarizing my results for you. Here is what I found:
Continue reading Does Cranberry Juice Help Repress or Reduce Urinary Tract Infections? A study in skeptical juice drinking.
Why are some urinary tract infections chronic?
Chronic infection is, in a way, the new emerging infectious disease. Many pathogens are relatively tenacious when they infect elderly individuals or individuals who are otherwise not fully immunocompetent, and such individuals are, thanks to modern medical technology and practice, more common in the population. Resistant bacteria can cause chronic infection. It is interesting to see more research oriented specifically towards the problem of chronic infection as a problem in and of itself, and a paper just out by Hannan, Mysorekar, Hung, Isaacson-Schmit and Hultgren, in PLoS Pathogens, is an interesting and important example of one such research project.
Continue reading Why are some urinary tract infections chronic?
What I know about Marc Hauser, the recently ‘investigated’ Harvard primatologist
I know Marc Hauser, and I trust him. I worked with him for a few years as a colleague on the faculty in the Anthropology department on various administrative matters (such as graduate admission and undergraduate program development) and we taught together. We are very different kinds of people, and did not always see eye to eye (well, we disagreed on one thing, once), but the same can be said of almost any two people from those days and that department, to some degree.
Continue reading What I know about Marc Hauser, the recently ‘investigated’ Harvard primatologist
A good example of appeasement
… can be found here, in this talk by William Phillips speaking at the AAAS:
Galaxies Can Return From the Dead
Did you know that galaxies can die? They are apparently declared dead by astronomers when they stop making new stars. But a recent finding suggests that this kind of death is not the end of the road for at least some galaxies.
Astronomers have found mysterious, giant loops of ultraviolet light in aged, massive galaxies, which seem to have a second lease on life. Somehow these “over-the-hill galaxies” have been infused with fresh gas to form new stars that power these truly gargantuan rings, some of which could encircle several Milky Way galaxies.
The discovery of these rings implies that bloated galaxies presumed “dead” and devoid of star-making can be reignited with star birth, and that galaxy evolution does not proceed straight from the cradle to the grave.
“In a galaxy’s lifetime, it must make the transition from an active, star-forming galaxy to a quiescent galaxy that does not form stars,” said Samir Salim, lead author of a recent study and a research scientist in the department of astronomy at Indiana University, Bloomington. “But it is possible this process goes the other way, too, and that old galaxies can be rejuvenated.”
Women have more sex than men, and iPhone using women have the most sex
… which begs a number of different questions that I will think but not say out loud.
Continue reading Women have more sex than men, and iPhone using women have the most sex
The Earliest Known Use of Flaked Stone Tools by Hominids?
It is possible that a much earlier than previously known date for the use of flaked stone tools has been established in Ethiopia, dating to prior to 3.39 million years ago.
Continue reading The Earliest Known Use of Flaked Stone Tools by Hominids?
New Primate Fossil Informs Us of the Ape-Monkey Split During the Oligocene
The newly reported Saadanius hijazensis may or may not be a “missing link” but in order for this monkey to climb onto the primate family tree, a new branch had to be sprouted. So, not only is Saadanius hijazensis a new species, but it is a member of a new taxonomic Family, Saadaniidae, which in turn is a member of a new Superfamily, Saadanioidea. Why is this important? It’s complicated. But not too complicated.
The fossil was found while University of Michigan paleontologist Iyad Zalmout was busy looking for dinosaur fossils in western Saudi Arabia. He found the monkey, from a much later time period, instead. Ooops.
Continue reading New Primate Fossil Informs Us of the Ape-Monkey Split During the Oligocene