Submission + - Michael Jackson Finally Gets His Own Computer Viru (scientificblogging.com)
TaeKwonDood writes: "Interested in Michael Jackson now that he is dead? So are cyber criminals who are exploiting public interest in his death with spam messages that infect computers with a virus able to steal bank account numbers and passwords."
Bookmark Michael Jackson Finally Gets His Own Computer Virus (scientificblogging.com)
Submission + - Thinking plants? Social recognition uncovered (sciencecodex.com)
TaeKwonDood writes: ""To thine own self be true" may take on a new meaning not with people or animal behavior but with plant behavior. Plants engage in self-recognition and can communicate danger to their "clones" or genetically identical cuttings planted nearby.
That means plants may be a lot more sophisticated than previously believed — we just don't understand how they think."
Submission + - Origin Of Life: Cycling To Complexity (scientificblogging.com)
TaeKwonDood writes: "There must have been an abundant source of free energy on the early Earth that could produce the polymers required for natural experiments leading to the origin of life.
What was it?
Legendary biologist Dave Deamer tackles the biggest question we have; the origin of life and how close we are to discovering how it happened."
Submission + - Using math to cure jet lag (sciencecodex.com) 1
TaeKwonDood writes: "Travel across time zones causes our internal time clocks to be out of sync with environmental cues. A group of researchers say they can cut jet lag in half, using nothing but a computer program that will compute the best jet lag strateg for you."
Submission + - What Darwin Missed In Sexual Selection (scientificblogging.com)
TaeKwonDood writes: "Singing genitalia? Exploding sex organs? Darwin didn't miss much, I think we all agree, and came up with a lot given the limited science of his day. One thing he missed, that by this time tomorrow will be the source of outrageous titles from every schlock science publication in existence, was that sexual selection that goes on even after actual sex."
Submission + - JAST - a robot that can anticipate your actions (scientificblogging.com)
TaeKwonDood writes: "We're still a long way off from the age of robot companions but robotics researchers in Europe are inching closer with technology that uses 'mirror neurons' in robots similar to the way the human brain does when watching an activity. Like in humans, the robotic neurons resonate as if they were mimicking what they see.
If it's something the robot has already learned how to do, and you do it wrong, it can even question you about it. Yes, a robot that can replace your dad. It can even know what you are going to do next by seeing how you hold the tool and the object.
Let's just hope they remember to build in those Three Laws of Robotics."
Comment Now that's irony (Score 1) 60
They hate plagiarizers.
But they are plagiarizers.
And they hate irony!
Submission + - What Tetris Teaches Us About Self-Assembly (scientificblogging.com) 1
TaeKwonDood writes: "Tetris stole hundreds of hours of our lives. Its about time it starts giving back. Researchers at the Washington University of St. Louis have built a computer simulation that uses a modified Tetris game to explore self-assembly. Their take on the classic puzzle game confirms what Tetris junkies have always known: The T-shaped tetromino is insanely versatile, and the L and Z tetrominoes just cant get along."
Submission + - The genome that solved global warming (sciencecodex.com)
TaeKwonDood writes: "If you could solve the global warming problem for a dollar, would do you do it? Sure.
Biomass has a bad rap now because politicians spent 20 years on the dopey notion that using food as fuel was smart, but that doesn't mean the entire renewable idea is bad. Switchgrass would be ideal but which phenotype is best for each region? A genome sequence would help optimize switchgrass for different areas and researchers say they are close to being able to do it for a buck."
Submission + - Limb regeneration - magical pig extract powder? (scientificblogging.com)
TaeKwonDood writes: "Regeneration — it's all fun and games even if someone loses a limb. An insect can grow back appendages successfully if the amputated portion is uncomplicated and the insect is young. So why not people? Turns out we can, it just helps to also have 'magical pig extract powder' but the powder isn't all that necessary ..."
Submission + - Killer app for stem cells - breasts (scientificblogging.com)
TaeKwonDood writes: "Sure, stem cells have value, both real (adult) and potential (embryonic) but it's the killer app that puts technology on the map and stem cells have incurred something of a public relations problem finding one, just trying to cure diseases and such. A cosmetic surgeon in Austria has the solution for stem cell woes, namely giving them appeal throughout the civilized world by allowing women (and men) to have smaller butts and bigger breasts — at the same time.
DDr. Karl-Georg Heinrich uses the patients own stem cell enriched fat from the big areas and injects it into the areas that need some bulk. Then the stem cells grow into new, living tissue, he says. In a few hours all of your body woes get eliminated so you can be objectified like you always wanted thanks to the amazing advances of science."
Submission + - Biblical History Redux? King Of Canaan Was A She (sciencecodex.com)
TaeKwonDood writes: "Before the Bible, Canaanites were all ignorant pagans, it is said — or not. And Kings were males — or not. Turns out the pre-Biblical people had an elaborate religious system and the "mistress of the lionesses" may not have been just a queen ruler, as previously thought, but rather the actual king of an important city, something unseen in the area.
If so, she sure made someone angry. "The city had been violently destroyed, in a way we rarely see in archaeology," says archaeologist Shlomo Bunimovitz."
Submission + - Finally, Sadomasochism Gets Its Own Science Study (scientificblogging.com)
TaeKwonDood writes: "You might think throwing out the occasional titillating article title is part of some grand media strategy. Discover is famous for whoring themselves out for page views with articles like Bizarre Aquatic Creatures Are Secretly Lesbian Necrophiliacs and Scientific American gets into the act with Rough Sex at 40,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which got them additionally ridiculed because that is about 30X greater than the radius of the Earth, but there are occasionally real articles that aren't all tramped up and just happen to deal with sex; some of it even kinky. All of it involving cortisol.
The difficulty? Kinky people are okay with being monitored and they don't always realize what 'control' means in a scientific context, but they sure don't like to stick within the study parameters."
