Predictions of Global Malthusian Collapse have been proven wrong repeatedly, but only because many intelligent and hardworking humans have labored to prevent it. We defer a certain amount of gratification now, to invest in technologies, infrastructure, and institutions; we use our foresight to plan and avoid inauspicious outcomes.

My fear is that at some point, society as a whole will come to take all these things for granted. We'll pat ourselves on the back and say, "Malthus was and always is wrong because, uhh -- reasons", and we'll stop investing in the future. Because hey, I really need more shinies right now, and my voters are going to the polls right now, and the boss wants better numbers right now. And that's when tomorrow gets Fucked.

Malthusianism is only wrong because we work hard to make it wrong.

And ironically enough, we're now at the point where further developments in technology have meant that DC is now superior for high-power transmission over long distances, thanks to lower power losses and the ability to run high-voltage cables underground/underwater (no capacitive coupling losses).

That's because USB connectors have a quantum spin of 1/2!

Oh, and http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id...

Right, it's the sort of schmaltzy emotion-based argument I expect from some politician or tabloid rag. Timothy, I am disappoint.

Professor Bob Nagele (from the med school I'm attending now) has had a blood-based Alzheimer's test since 2011: http://www.plosone.org/article...

I didn't understand the seemingly poor cost-benefit trade-off either, until I realized it was the European Union that pushed for this. In Europe, they incinerate a much larger portion of their trash than we do -- thus, the lead in the garbage stream was actually a big problem for them.

Although, there's been quite a push in recent times to increase consumption of dairy products, coming from several different directions. From the government, who would like to introduce a new revenue source to farming (the urban-rural income gap is an increasing problem), as well as a new protein source to their citizens; from consumers with increasing exposure to Western influences (and the advertisers that would like to sell to them); from parents wishing their children would grow up taller than the previous generation. Even from young girls hoping to grow bigger boobs.

The most successful cheeses thus far seem to be the milder-tasting types. Things like mozzarellas, or soft cheeses suitable for desserts and cheesecakes. Unfortunately, these are also the cheeses highest in lactose -- the great majority of Chinese are lactose intolerant.

Definitely. Get a cheap Bluetooth OBD reader, pair it with a smartphone, then add one of several OBD Smartphone Apps out there -- I use Torque Pro for Android -- and you have a decent reader that will also do logging, although the information that you can get out of it varies with your reader, and the make and model of car.

I recently made emergency use of my reader just a few months ago, when my light came on. Some idiot-light problems can be post-poned for later, while others would have destroyed the the engine if I had kept driving. With a reader in the car, I was able to just pull over to the side of the road and make a quick determination that it was safe to finish my trip.

Mostly correct. Instead of only absorbing "only enough to maintain the normal level", what you will actually get is absorption of a bit more than enough to maintain the normal level, coupled with increased elimination (mostly via urine) to maintain that normal level. Either way there is no difference -- there is no long-term storage of Potassium in the body, it is all present as the soluble, highly-mobile aqueous ion. So any increased level of from a radioactive source will relatively rapidly come back down to equilibrium levels of radioactivity, once you return to your intake from your regular Potassium sources.

Anyway, the ratio of radioactive Potassium (to non-radioactive Potassium) in your body will be equal to the average level of radioactive Potassium in Bananas (and other dietary sources, mostly plant-derived materials); the Potassium-40 isotope to non-radioactive isotopes is mostly at equilibrium concentration in the environment. For a 70kg human this means approximately 160g of total Potassium in the body, with 0.0187 grams of 40K, producing 4,900 disintegrations per second (becquerels).

Partially correct. Like Potassium, Calcium is regulated at a "normal" level, and the body will reduce absorption (from the gut), and increase elimination (mostly through urine) to eliminate excess. Accumulation happens if there is a deficit, or with active deposition of osseous material. However, due to constant turn-over of bone Calcium, at any given time a small amount of material is simultaneously being both absorbed and released from long-term storage. So this means a small amount of the ingested material will go into long-term storage, even when your body is not actively increasing Calcium stores.

However, note that while Potassium-40 and non-radioactive Potassium are chemically identical (well, almost identical -- some tiny kinetic effects may be present, negligible), Calcium and Strontium are not. They are grossly handled the same by the body, but there may be some differences in absorption / retention / excretion rates between the two substances -- so the radioactive Strontium will not be a straightforward constant fraction of the Calcium pool as it moves around in the body.

I'm not disappointed; I never had any expectations to begin with :)

Thanks to the magic of bio-accumulation, trace concentrations can be increased by many orders of magnitude:

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0...

Researcher A: This... This c-can't be right!

Researcher B: What's not right?

Researcher A: Apparently, 4chan really is populated by little girls.

Researcher C: *posting anonymously on /a/* See guys, I told you -- wearing a skirt makes it work. Also, Check'Em.

They could at least make things a little bit challenging by hiring Wizard developers over 30.

Although I'm not sure what the point is of hiring employees that obviously have no experience with forking :p

I received the Flublok vaccine several months ago, having sought it out due to a egg allergy. Paid around ~$30 at my local pharmacy, and had to wait a few days after my initial inquiry, for them to get it in stock. While my allergy is mild, the traditional flu vaccine still leaves me with mild muscle aches and malaise that lasts for several days.

As a medical student, I am required receive the flu vaccination each year (exemptions for certain severe reactions only). This year's flu vaccination was the easiest ever -- over the next few days, there were no noticeable adverse reaction at all.

We eat more insect bits in our breakfast cereal than most people realize.

I wouldn't be surprised if a proportion of the population were allergic to grasshoppers but -- given how ubiquitous exposure to insect proteins is -- drop-dead anaphylactic reactions are going to be unlikely to be revealed for the first time with a flu shot.

Being mildly allergic to eggs, this was my first thought.

Although, it doesn't look like this product is capable of mimicking foods containing macro amounts of egg -- it's intended to function in products where a tiny amount is used for the special mechanical properties that eggs have (which is still a great accomplishment, since that covers quite a large range of foods out there).