http://www.realclearscience.com/ en Copyright 2010 Fri, 24 May 2013 14:39:49 -0400 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.33 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Fri, 24 May 2013 06:52:56 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 Did you ever have breast milk or spinach? You might as well start shooting up heroin.If dihydrogen monoxide doesn't scare you enough, food activists have been rehashing an old term - opiates. ]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/scare_journalism_everything_you_eat_is_a_drug_253175.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://www.science20.com/science_20/everything_you_eat_drug-113000http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.science20.com/science_20/everything_you_eat_drug-113000 100253175 PM Update Hank Campbell, S2.0 Scare Journalism: Everything You Eat Is a Drug Fri, 24 May 2013 06:38:36 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 As suicide rates climb steeply in the US a growing number of psychiatrists are arguing that suicidal behaviour should be considered as a disease in its own right, rather than as a behaviour resulting from a mood disorder.They base their argument on mounting evidence showing that the brains of people who have committed suicide have striking similarities, quite distinct from what is seen in the brains of people who have similar mood disorders but who died of natural causes.]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/is_suicidal_behavior_its_own_disease_253174.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23566-suicidal-behaviour-is-a-disease-psychiatrists-argue.html?full=truehttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23566-suicidal-behaviour-is-a-disease-psychiatrists-argue.html?full=true 100253174 PM Update Sara Reardon, NewScientist Is Suicidal Behavior Its Own Disease? Fri, 24 May 2013 06:07:14 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 Recently, physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) "“ the world's most powerful particle accelerator, located near Geneva at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) "“ announced that the celebrated discovery in 2012 of the Higgs boson was indeed the Higgs boson. Now, the standard model of particle physics is complete, except for one important thing: black holes.]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/apocalypse_later_black_holes_won039t_kill_you_253169.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-damaging-impact-of-apocalyptic-prophecies-on-science-by-tony-rothmanhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-damaging-impact-of-apocalyptic-prophecies-on-science-by-tony-rothman 100253169 PM Update Tony Rothman, Proj. Syn. Apocalypse Later: Black Holes Won't Kill You Fri, 24 May 2013 07:04:35 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 A pregnant moment in intellectual history occurs when H.G. Wells’s Time Traveller (“for so it will be convenient to speak of him”) gathers his friends around the drawing room fire to explain that everything they know about time is wrong. This after-dinner conversation marked something of a watershed, more telling than young Wells, who had never even published a book before The Time Machine, imagined just before the turn of the twentieth century.]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/the_return_of_father_time_253176.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/jun/06/time-regained/http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/jun/06/time-regained/ 200253176 PM Update James Gleick, New York Review of Books The Return of Father Time Fri, 24 May 2013 06:21:03 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 A team of researchers in the Canadian Arctic is reporting on an interesting find: bacteria that thrive at "“15 degrees Celsius. That is the coldest environment bacteria have ever been found to grow in.The McGill University researchers traveled to Ellesmere Island in (far, far) north Canada. There they collected and later cultured about 200 microbes, putting the organisms in a simulation of their native environment to find the one best-suited for living in extreme conditions.]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/bacteria_found_growing_in_subzero_arctic_frost_253168.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-05/researchers-find-bacteria-freezing-arctic-ice-which-good-news-mars-toohttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-05/researchers-find-bacteria-freezing-arctic-ice-which-good-news-mars-too 100253168 PM Update Colin Lecher, PopSci Bacteria Found Growing in Subzero Arctic Frost Fri, 24 May 2013 07:25:25 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 One hundred and eighteen miles north of London, in the town of Boston, England, there lives a retired newspaperman named John Richards who is experiencing an unusually rotten spring. Richards is the founder and chairman of something called the Apostrophe Protection Society. His world, at least as related to the tiny mark that denotes possessives and the omission of letters from certain words, appears to be crashing down around him.]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/ban_apostrophes_who_needs_em_anyway_253177.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2013/05/apostrophes_and_when_to_use_them_punctuation_necessary_at_all_not_really.single.htmlhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2013/05/apostrophes_and_when_to_use_them_punctuation_necessary_at_all_not_really.single.html 200253177 PM Update Matthew Malady, Slate Ban Apostrophes: Who Needs Em, Anyway? Fri, 24 May 2013 06:21:29 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 US officials are investigating the safety of caffeine in snacks and energy drinks, worried about the "cumulative impact" of the stimulant - which is added to a growing number of products. Is our tea and coffee-fuelled society too dependent on the world's favourite drug?]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/are_we_drinking_way_too_much_caffeine_253173.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22530625http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22530625 100253173 AM Update Jon Kelly, BBC News Are We Drinking Way Too Much Caffeine? Fri, 24 May 2013 00:05:44 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 Kidney stones cause the sort of pain that people rate as highly as childbirth. They also cost the U.S. about $2 billion per year, caring for them and in terms of the missed work they cause. Ounces of prevention being worth ounces of stone-free urine, what are the best things to drink to keep kidney stones from forming?]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/another_reason_to_drink_wine_every_day_253170.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/05/another-reason-for-daily-wine/276148/http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/05/another-reason-for-daily-wine/276148/ 100253170 AM Update James Hamblin, The Atlantic Another Reason to Drink Wine Every Day Thu, 23 May 2013 23:36:28 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 Twice a day, seven days a week, a tractor trailer carrying 8,000 gallons of watery, cloudy slop rolls past the bucolic countryside, finally arriving at Neil Rejman’s dairy farm in upstate New York. The trucks are coming from the Chobani plant two hours east of Rejman’s Sunnyside Farms, and they’re hauling a distinctive byproduct of the Greek yogurt making process—acid whey.]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/greek_yogurt039s_big_wasteful_secret_253166.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://modernfarmer.com/2013/05/whey-too-much-greek-yogurts-dark-side/http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://modernfarmer.com/2013/05/whey-too-much-greek-yogurts-dark-side/ 100253166 AM Update Justin Elliott, Modern Farmer Greek Yogurt's Big, Wasteful Secret Thu, 23 May 2013 16:38:41 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 The 17 tribes of Nagaland are united, historically, by an enthusiasm for heads. The Nagas: Hill Peoples of Northeast India"”my reading matter on the two-hour drive from Dimapur to Kohima, in the state of Nagaland "”contains dozens of references to head-taking but only one mention of the item that has brought me here: the Naga King Chili (a.k.a. Bhut Jolokia), often ranked the world's hottest.]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/the_searing_science_behind_the_hottest_peppers_253158.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Gut-Wrenching-Science-Behind-the-Worlds-Hottest-Peppers-208350211.html?c=y&story=fullstory#Burning-Desire-peppers-1.jpghttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Gut-Wrenching-Science-Behind-the-Worlds-Hottest-Peppers-208350211.html?c=y&story=fullstory#Burning-Desire-peppers-1.jpg 100253158 AM Update Mary Roach, S'sonian The Searing Science Behind the Hottest Peppers Thu, 23 May 2013 23:57:49 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 Sir, look at me—did you have any shoes on?" asked the emergency medical tech. "Were you wearing shoes when you were struck?""Huh?" I wondered, a little dazed. "What's with the shoe obsession?"Let me back up. My family and I moved from Chicago to Asheville, North Carolina last autumn, ostensibly to get closer to nature.]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/i_was_just_struck_by_lightning_amp_boy_am_i_sore_253163.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://arstechnica.com/science/2013/05/i-was-struck-by-lightning-yesterday-and-boy-am-i-sore/http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/05/i-was-struck-by-lightning-yesterday-and-boy-am-i-sore/ 100253163 AM Update Jason Marlin, Ars Tech I Was Just Struck by Lightning & Boy Am I Sore Thu, 23 May 2013 23:12:46 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 Language is so deeply embedded in almost every aspect of the way we interact with the world that it's hard to imagine what it would be like not to have it. What if we didn't have names for things? What if we didn't have experience making statements, asking questions, or talking about things that hadn't actually happened? Would we be able to think?]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/is_it_possible_to_think_without_language_253164.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://www.mentalfloss.com/article/50684/it-possible-think-without-languagehttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.mentalfloss.com/article/50684/it-possible-think-without-language 100253164 AM Update Arika Okrent, Mental Floss Is It Possible to Think Without Language? Thu, 23 May 2013 23:45:08 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 Last year, while traveling in Arizona, I visited an old copper mining town called Jerome, a small flowerbed of a community clinging to the edge of a red-burnished hillside. While there I drifted irresistibly into a rock and mineral store.The store was an Aladdin’s cave of gleaming stones and metals. I bought my son a gold-banded slice of petrified wood and myself a handful of rough blue-green crystals, which the store owner promised would help me channel positive energy.]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/fluoride_isn039t_industrial_waste_it039s_very_natural_253167.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/a-natural-history-of-fluoride/http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/a-natural-history-of-fluoride/ 100253167 AM Update Deborah Blum, Wired Fluoride Isn't Industrial Waste; It's Very Natural Fri, 24 May 2013 00:12:08 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 The first direct observation of the orbital structure of an excited hydrogen atom has been made by an international team of researchers. The observation was made using a newly developed "quantum microscope", which uses photoionization microscopy to visualize the structure directly.]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/hydrogen_like_we039ve_never_seen_it_before_253171.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2013/may/23/quantum-microscope-peers-into-the-hydrogen-atomhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2013/may/23/quantum-microscope-peers-into-the-hydrogen-atom 100253171 AM Update T. Commissariat, Phys World Hydrogen: Like We've Never Seen It Before Fri, 24 May 2013 00:15:06 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 In the ongoing battle between humans and cockroaches, the insects have a leg up. A new study finds that roaches evolved their taste buds to make sweet insecticide baits taste bitter. As a result, the roaches avoid the baits and thrive, to the frustration of homeowners everywhere.Plenty of insects evolve resistance to pesticides; they gain the ability to break down poisons without dying.]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/how_cockroaches_evolved_not_to_take_the_bait_253165.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://www.livescience.com/34647-cockroaches-evolved-avoid-baits.htmlhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.livescience.com/34647-cockroaches-evolved-avoid-baits.html 100253165 AM Update Stephanie Pappas, LiveSci How Cockroaches Evolved Not to Take the Bait Fri, 24 May 2013 00:17:08 -0400 05/24/2013/00/00/00 In case you were worried you'd ever get a good night's sleep again, here are some stuffed animals that go way beyond wrong.]]>http://www.realclearscience.com/2013/05/24/the_world039s_most_awkward_taxidermy_253172.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rsshttp://io9.com/the-worlds-most-awkward-taxidermy-509470092http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://io9.com/the-worlds-most-awkward-taxidermy-509470092 100253172 AM Update Vincze Miklos, io9 The World's Most Awkward Taxidermy