Author Archives: curiouscat

More on the Bee Deaths

Experts may have found what’s bugging the bees (link removed since content not freely available):

A fungus that caused widespread loss of bee colonies in Europe and Asia may be playing a crucial role in the mysterious phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder that is wiping out bees across the United States, UC San Francisco researchers said Wednesday.

Researchers have been struggling for months to explain the disorder, and the new findings provide the first solid evidence pointing to a potential cause. But the results are “highly preliminary” and are from only a few hives from Le Grand in Merced County, UCSF biochemist Joe DeRisi said. “We don’t want to give anybody the impression that this thing has been solved.”

Other researchers said Wednesday that they too had found the fungus, a single-celled parasite called Nosema ceranae, in affected hives from around the country — as well as in some hives where bees had survived. Those researchers have also found two other fungi and half a dozen viruses in the dead bees.

N. ceranae is “one of many pathogens” in the bees, said entomologist Diana Cox-Foster of Pennsylvania State University. “By itself, it is probably not the culprit … but it may be one of the key players.”

Quantum Theory Fails Reality Checks

Reality just got a one-two punch. A new experiment has tried to suss out which of two counterintuitive ingredients is more basic to quantum theory, only to find that they go hand in hand.

Einstein was famously bugged by what are now well-established facts of quantum theory: the randomness of a particle’s choices and the possibility of instantaneous linkages between far-flung light or matter. Experimenters now conclude that Einstein cannot even pick his poison, because allowing for instant links kills any simple notion of reality, too.

Innovative Alarm Clocks

I heard about clocky last year on NPR and again last week. Gauri Nanda, designed clocky while a student at MIT – an alarm clock that runs and hides so you have to get out of bed to turn it off. She has since manufactured them and now you can buy your very own mobile clock.

There is also the April Fools joke, SnÅ«zNLÅ«z – Wifi Donation Alarm Clock, but I think people would really buy it. “Connects via WiFi to your online bank account, and donates YOUR real money to an organization you HATE when you decide to snooze!”

Report on Faculty Salaries

Report on Faculty Salaries:

Law professor’s top the pay charts, full professors averaging $121,301. Engineering full professors come in second averaging $102,954 (Business, management… was third at $98,384). More full professor averages: Computer Science $91,181; Math and Statistics $77,963. See report for more details. If I read the report right Engineering has the 3rd highest rate of full professors (full professors/all professors) at 45% – I find that surprising.

The figures are shown for what the report calls “un-weighted” average. Essentially this is an average by institution. Which are lower than the average for professors (as the big institution who have more professors also pay more on average). For Engineering he “weighted” average is $112,530. Others: Computer Science $102,427; Math and Statistics $87,281; Business $106,828.

Stanford Center for Professional Development Seminars

Free, Stanford Center for Professional Development seminar webcasts

During the autumn, winter and spring quarters, the Stanford Center for Professional Development makes it possible for the public to view a series of thought-provoking seminars on a broad range of topics. The weekly seminars feature presentations by distinguished Stanford faculty, senior researchers and industry experts. They are available for viewing online via streaming video.
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Bioengineering and Biodesign Forum
Statistics for Research
Human-Computer Interaction
Entrepreneurship in Asian High-Tech Industries
Design and Manufacturing Forum
Lessons in Decision Making
Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar
Broadening the Appeal of Engineering to Women

Via: Stanford Engineering Research Seminars

Science Journalism

Don’t dumb me down by Ben Goldacre:

Science stories usually fall into three families: wacky stories, scare stories and “breakthrough” stories.

Last month there was an interesting essay in the journal PLoS Medicine, about how most brand new research findings will turn out to be false. It predictably generated a small flurry of ecstatic pieces from humanities graduates in the media, along the lines of science is made-up, self-aggrandising, hegemony-maintaining, transient fad nonsense; and this is the perfect example of the parody hypothesis that we’ll see later. Scientists know how to read a paper. That’s what they do for a living: read papers, pick them apart, pull out what’s good and bad.

Scientists never said that tenuous small new findings were important headline news – journalists did.

Interesting read, if a bit harsh, it serves to highlight real problems. There are good sources such as: Seed, National Geographic, Knight Science Journalism Tracker, PLoS, Scienceblogs -see more in our science links directory.

$500 Million to Reduce Childhood Obesity in USA

$500-Million Commitment to Reverse Childhood Obesity in U.S.:

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) today announced it will commit at least $500 million over the next five years to tackle one of the most urgent public health threats facing our nation: childhood obesity. This is the largest commitment by any foundation to this issue. The Foundation’s goal is to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States by 2015.

During the past four decades, obesity rates have soared among all age groups, more than quadrupling among children ages 6 to 11. Today, more than 33 percent of children and adolescents—approximately 25 million kids—are overweight or obese.
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In addition to the toll on our nation’s health, obesity also poses a tremendous financial threat to our economy and our health care system. It’s estimated that the obesity epidemic costs our nation $117 billion per year in direct health care costs and lost productivity. Childhood obesity alone carries a huge price tag-up to $14 billion per year in direct health care costs to treat kids.
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The Foundation will focus on improving access to affordable healthy foods and opportunities for safe physical activity in schools and communities.

Drug-resistant Flu Virus

Drug-resistant flu virus emerges in untreated patients:

The emergence of drug-resistant influenza was documented in a study of Japanese patients. It is a clear early warning that flu viruses may be beginning to outwit what are now highly effective drugs, says Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist and the senior author of the new JAMA study.

“There is urgent need to develop new kinds of antivirals,” says Kawaoka, an internationally recognized authority on influenza. “This is the first report that drug-resistant influenza B virus may be transmitting in the community.”

Micro-Wind Turbines for Home Use

Hong Kong Inventors Unveil New Micro-Wind Turbines Suitable for City Dwellers

“Let’s say if you have good conditions, five, six meters [of wind] per second, if you are a family with one kid you need most probably three, four square meters of that then you can most probably cover at least 60, 70 percent of your [energy] needs.” The technology can also help power bigger buildings. Administrators at Hong Kong’s Sea School, a secondary school offering basic seaman training, will install the new micro wind-turbines on its roof in April.

Gambarota says his biggest dream is to see his invention being used in developing countries. He says energy generated by micro wind turbines can be used to pump water, for example, saving women and girls from having to walk for miles to rivers and lakes to fetch it.

Information from Motorwave. Very cool idea though still early (they are meant only to provide electricity for immediate use at this time – no way to sell excess power to the grid or battery backup yet).

More on Disappearing Honeybees

Mysterious deaths of the honeybees

Beekeepers throughout the United States have been losing between 50 and 90 percent of their honeybees over the past six months, perplexing scientists, driving honey prices higher and threatening fruit and vegetable production.

At a House Agricultural Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., today, members of various organizations came together to share their concerns about what they have been calling the “Colony Collapse Disorder,” or CCD. Beginning in October 2006, beekeepers from 24 states reported that hundreds of thousands of their bees were dying and their colonies were being devastated.