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Science

Submission + - Correlating Psychopathy with Speach Patterns (eurekalert.org) 2

florescent_beige writes: Researchers from Cornell and UBC report (here and here) that analysis of speech patterns using Wmatrix along with something called the Dictionary of Affect in Language (see a demo here) shows that psychopaths speak differently from other people, at least statistically. Although they say that these differences are "presumably beyond conscious control" the authors do not say if the method has any predictive use.

Regardless, the popular press has already gone headline nonlinear about it.

Medicine

Submission + - Measles Resurgent Due to Fear of Vaccination (eurekalert.org)

florescent_beige writes: In the September Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Gregory Poland, M.D. writes that "More than 150 cases of measles have been reported in the United States already this year and there have been similar outbreaks in Europe, a sign the disease is making an alarming comeback. The reappearance of the potentially deadly virus is the result of unfounded fears about a link between the measles shot and autism that have turned some parents against childhood vaccination..."

Meanwhile, in spite of Mr. & Mrs. Great Unwashed`s opinions, the search for the true causes of autism goes on in spite of the best efforts of old Playboy bunnies.

Comment Don't Want to Go (Score 3, Insightful) 237

Joy rides don't thrill me...but I think the rich and powerful should all go because...

You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that, you son of a bitch."

~ Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell

Comment Pls Define... (Score 1) 258

"...trapped in the muck like footprints, of where our universe banged into others."

This may be true, depending on the definitions of the (perhaps metaphorically used) words "trapped", "muck", "where", "universe", and "banged".

Also, wasn't the same phenomenon cited as evidence of structure that existed "before" the big bang by someone else recently? Roger Penrose?

Space

New Find Boosts Prospects For Life On Distant Moons 98

sciencehabit writes "Imagine life on an Earth-like moon, one so close to its gas giant host that its landscape is bathed in a dusklike planetary glow. Such places are not only possible but also probable, according to a new study, which finds that as many as 5% of gas giant planets orbiting their stars at Earth-like distances may harbor habitable 'exomoons.' According to simulations, alien gas giants (like our Jupiter and Saturn) could pull in earth-like planets from the interior of their young solar systems. Though many of these planets would crash into the gas giants or later be flung into space, some would evolve stable orbits and stable climates, eventually setting the stage for life."

Comment Re:That's just the beginning of the cycle, John. (Score 1) 422

What doesn't worry me is that Americans won't be able to afford food or will die of ordinary diseases. What worries me is that America's economy has grown by 2/3 over the past 30 years and all of that has gone to the top 10% of the earners.

The "bottom" 90% has seen negligible earnings growth over the past 30 years even though it was their productivity growth (aka "working harder") that grew the economy. This won't go on forever but what scares me is the process by which the trend reverses itself. It may not be pretty.

Government

Submission + - Obama: "We don't have enough engineers' (computerworld.com)

dcblogs writes: President Obama wants to boost engineering graduation rates by 10,000 a year. In 2009, the U.S. produced 126,194 engineering graduates for bachelor's and master's degrees and for Ph.D.s. The U.S. had just over 1.9 million engineers in 2010. The unemployment rate in 2010 for all engineers was 4.5%. "We've made incredible progress on education, helping students to finance their college educations, but we still don't have enough engineers," said Obama. He's counting on the private sector to help expand the number of graduates.

Comment Re:Graphene will never be used for strong material (Score 2) 345

Current carbon fiber gets its strength from carbon "lamellae" which are a micostructural feature of the fiber itself. That is, inside the fiber are regions that are amorphous carbon and regions that are organized into sheets. If you wanted to make a structural material using graphene sheets this might be what you would do. But we already have it. So why isn't it taking over the world?

Beware of grandiose claims about strength. You could accurately say current carbon fiber is 10 times stronger than steel, but you don't see any real-world things made out of cfrp that are 10 times stronger than an equivalent steel part even on a weight basis. That's because going from microstructure to macro-structure is a long and winding road and includes also the weakest parts, not just the strongest parts that everyone likes to talk about.

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