Jeber’s

Lefties: Intelligent, forgetful and doomed

Left-handers more ‘creative but forgetful’

An American scientist has gathered new evidence on the link between left-handedness and intellectual creativity, confirming that “true left-handers” tend to be more intelligent and eloquent than right-handers, and better at solving problems.

Dr Alan Searleman, from St Lawrence University, New York, presenting his findings to the American Psychological Association’s annual conference, said: “Left-handers have a higher ‘fluid’ intelligence and better vocabulary than the majority of the population. This is perhaps why there are more of them in creative professions, such as music, art and writing.”

Dr Searleman says that people who throw balls with their left hands, use their left eyes to look through peepholes and place their left ears against the wall to eavesdrop on conversations are twice as good at problem-solving and have wider vocabularies than their right-handed peers.

He enlisted 1,200 people formemory, vocabulary and problem-solving tests. They were asked questions including: Do you hold a match while striking it with your right or left hand? Which ear do you use to listen to another person’s heartbeat?Which eye do you use to look into a dark bottle to see how full it is? He found that people who were “true left-handers”, who did everything on their left side, from kicking a football to picking up a glass of water, scored one-third more highly on vocabulary tests and twice as well on problem-solving tasks.

The research also found that more left-handed people were intellectually gifted, with IQs over 140, Dr Searleman said.

On the downside, left-handers were not so good at remembering things. “Although left-handed people had poorer memories they were twice as good at all the problem-solving tasks,” he said.

Despite the fact that one in 10 people is left-handed, it was once seen as a sign of the devil. The word “sinister” means “left” in Latin. Youngsters used to have their left hands tied behind their backs by teachers to force them to write with their right hands. Left-handed people have struggled for years in a world of right-handed sports equipment and items such as steak knives, cheque books and pairs of scissors.

Previous research has suggested that left-handed people are less ticklish than right-handed people, are more clumsy, and have a shorter lifespan. (The Independent)

Cna yuo raed tihs?

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

This text circulated on the internet in September 2003. I first became aware of it when a journalist contacted a my colleague Sian Miller on 16th September, trying to track down the original source. It’s been passed on many times, and in the way of most internet memes has mutated along the way. It struck me as interesting – especially when I received a version that mentioned Cambridge University! I work at Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, in Cambridge, UK, a Medical Research Council unit that includes a large group investigating how the brain processes language. If there’s a new piece of research on reading that’s been conducted in Cambridge, I thought I should have heard of it before…

I’ve written this page, to try to explain the science behind this meme. There are elements of truth in this, but also some things which scientists studying the psychology of language (psycholinguists) know to be incorrect.

(Read More…)

Tap your foot if you’re human

It’s ironic to hear about the death of Cyd Charisse on the same day I came across the following article.

Is there anything that differentiates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom? Tool use? Nope. The ability to communicate? No. Possessing a social order? Not even close.

We can dance.

So You Think You Can Dance?: PET Scans Reveal Your Brain’s Inner Choreography

So natural is our capacity for rhythm that most of us take it for granted: when we hear music, we tap our feet to the beat or rock and sway, often unaware that we are even moving. But this instinct is, for all intents and purposes, an evolutionary novelty among humans. Nothing comparable occurs in other mammals nor probably elsewhere in the animal kingdom. Our talent for unconscious entrainment lies at the core of dance, a confluence of movement, rhythm and gestural representation. By far the most synchronized group practice, dance demands a type of interpersonal coordination in space and time that is almost nonexistent in other social contexts.

Even though dance is a fundamental form of human expression, neuroscientists have given it relatively little consideration. Recently, however, researchers have conducted the first brain-imaging studies of both amateur and professional dancers. These investigations address such questions as, How do dancers navigate though space? How do they pace their steps? How do people learn complex series of patterned movements? The results offer an intriguing glimpse into the complicated mental coordination required to execute even the most basic dance steps.

Neuroscientists have long studied isolated movements such as ankle rotations or finger tapping. From this work we know the basics of how the brain orchestrates simple actions. To hop on one foot—never mind patting your head at the same time—requires calculations relating to spatial awareness, balance, intention and timing, among other things, in the brain’s sensorimotor system. In a simplified version of the story, a region called the posterior parietal cortex (toward the back of the brain) translates visual information into motor commands, sending signals forward to motion-planning areas in the premotor cortex and supplementary motor area. These instructions then project to the primary motor cortex, which generates neural impulses that travel to the spinal cord and on to the muscles to make them contract.

At the same time, sensory organs in the muscles provide feedback to the brain, giving the body’s exact orientation in space via nerves that pass through the spinal cord to the cerebral cortex. Subcortical circuits in the cerebellum at the back of the brain and in the basal ganglia at the brain’s core also help to update motor commands based on sensory feedback and to refine our actual motions. What has remained unclear is whether these same neural mechanisms scale up to enable maneuvers as graceful as, say, a pirouette.

Creationism ≠ science

Christians cannot make up their minds. One day they insist that their god is beyond the reach of modern science and all one needs is faith to understand. The next they’re attempting to meld their creation story with science, which only produces a bastardized version of both that appeals to no one.

“The Quest for Right” is another attempt to sneak religious nonsense into the classroom disguised as serious science.

From the site:

THERE IS A NEW DISCIPLINE:

The Quest for Right, a series of 7 textbooks created for the public schools, represents the ultimate marriage between an in-depth knowledge of biblical phenomena and natural and physical sciences. The several volumes have accomplished that which, heretofore, was deemed impossible: to level the playing field between those who desire a return to physical science in the classroom and those who embrace the theory of evolution. The Quest for Right turns the tide by providing an authoritative and enlightening scientific explanation of natural phenomena which will ultimately dethrone the unprofitable Darwinian view.

The backbone of Darwinism is not biological evolution per se, but electronic interpretation, the tenet that all physical, chemical, and biological processes result from a change in the electron structure of the atom which, in turn, may be deciphered through the orderly application of mathematics, as outlined in quantum mechanics. A few of the supporting theories are: degrading stars, neutron stars, black holes, extraterrestrial water, antimatter, the absolute dating systems, and the big bang, the explosion of a singularity infinitely smaller than the dot of an “i” from which space, time, and the massive stellar bodies supposedly sprang into being.

The philosophy rejects any divine intervention. Therefore, let the philosophy of Darwinism be judged on these specifics: electron interpretation and quantum mechanics. Conversely, the view that God is both responsible for and rules all the phenomena of the universe will stand or fall when the facts are applied. The view will not hinge on faith alone, but will be tested by the weightier principle of verifiable truths – the new discipline.

The Quest for Right is not only better at explaining natural phenomena, but also may be verified through testing. As a consequence, the material in the several volumes will not violate the so-called constitutional separation of church and state. Physical science, the old science of cause and effect, will have a long-term sustainability, replacing irresponsible doctrines based on whim. Teachers and students will rejoice in the simplicity of earthly phenomena when entertained by the new discipline.

The Quest for Right is not only an academic resource designed for the public schools, but also contains a wealth of information on pertinent subjects that seminarians need to know to be effective: geology, biology, geography, astronomy, chemistry, paleontology, and in-depth Biblical studies. The nuggets from the pages of Biblical history alone will give seminarians literally hundreds of fresh ideas for sermons and teachings. The ministry resources contained in The Quest for Right serve as invaluable aids that will enrich graduates beyond their highest expectations.

You will not want to miss the adventure of a lifetime which awaits you in Volume 1 of The Quest for Right.

Visit the official website for additional information and to purchase a copy: http://questforright.com/

“A book that will change the world.” – Wayne Lin, Editor, Tate Publishing LLC

As usual, creationists cannot grasp the very simple fact that evolution does not address the development of the universe. Cosmology and physics, being poorly understood by them, get all muddled together with biological evolution. They don’t really care. It’s all science, and all the sciences are a big scary evil. If you believe all the evidence that nature provides, you’re left with little reason to shoehorn a god into the process.

Please note, Christians: disguising your ideas so as to make them resemble real science isn’t going to work. It’s too obvious. We’re aware of your tricks and will expose them for what they are at every opportunity. Stick to your faith. At least no atheist is going to challenge your right to believe anything you wish, no matter how ignorant of science it may be. But we will object to your frequent attempts to inject your 2000 year old mythology into school science classes.

And a geek-ish note to the author, C. David Parsons:  no serious author has an AOL email address.  That’s just another sign of your lack of credibility.  You have a domain, use an email address attached to it.  At least try to appear like you know what you’re doing.

Muslims, eat your heart out…

just don’t grab a Snickers bar.

Many religious dietary laws, like the vast majority of other religious precepts, served a practical purpose hundreds of years ago when sanitation, microbiology, proper food preparation and handling were unknown. Even in our modern world, strict vegetarians may find reason to agree with Muslims about many of the items listed below. Whatever the reason to observe dietary laws, we should acknowledge that their observance in the 21st century is due to philosophical considerations and no longer mandated by medical reasons. And for that we have science to thank.

Here’s a list of other products that Muslims have to be careful to avoid to comply with the dietary requirements of Islam.

Nutella Hazelnut Chocolate Spread, Ferrero Rocher Chocolates, Bounty Milk Miniatures; Celebration; Funsize – Mars, Milky Way, Snickers; Galaxy Caramel Swirls and M&M’s Peanut, Milky Way Crispy Rolls, Milky Way; Twix Kingsize, Aero – Milk chocolate, Orange, Peppermint; Animal Bar; Black Magic – Caramel, Hazel Cluster, Hazel in Caramel; Blue Ribband; Breakaway – Milk Camarac and Milk Chocolate; Caramac; Dairy Box – Almond Fayre, Autumn Hazelnut, Caramel Classic, Country Fudge, Nut Swirl, Strawberry Fool, Toffee Cup, Turkish Delight, Vanilla Truffle, Wafer Sandwich; Golden Cup; Kit Kat; Lion Bar; Matchmakers – Coconut, Mint, Orange; Milkybar White Chocolate Mini Eggs; Munchies; Quality Street – Caramel Cup, Coconut Éclair, Dairy Fudge, Fruit & Nut Delight, Hazelnut Éclair, Hazelnut in Caramel, Milk chocolate Hazelnut, Noisette Triangle, Toffee Deluxe, Toffee Fingers, Vanilla Octagon; Rolo Bar; Rolo; Smarties – orange only; Walnut whip – Vanilla; Yorkie – Milk Chocolate, Nutter, Raisin & Biscuit. Kraft Singles Cheese Food Slices

Cheese Quavers; Cheesy Monster Munch; Savoury Cheese Snaps; Walkers – Cheese & Onion Crisps, Cheese & Onion Lites, Tomato Ketchup Crisps, MAX Hard Cheese & Onion, Kettle Chips Yoghurt and Green Onion.

More surprisingly perhaps these products from The Body Shop are alleged to contain by-products from the meat industry: Bath Beads – all varieties, Bath Bubbles – Cola, Forest Jelly, Ice Cream, Satsuma, Strawberry; Hawthorn Hand Cream; Shampoo – Mint & Thyme, Orange Oat, Seaweed & Peony; Tea Tree Oil Facial Wash

And finally Kellogg’s Pop Tarts which quite frankly should be haram (forbidden) for everyone.

The products listed contain Gelatine (derived from skin, tendon, ligaments, and bones of animals which may not have been slaughtered according to halal practice) or Rennet, derived from calves stomachs and used in cheese making. Whey powder is produced when cheese is made using rennet. If rennet is taken from animals slaughted according to Islamic law it is halal, but abstinence from rennet is often advised to be on the safe side. (Source)

Enjoy that salad.

Florida, still scientifically illiterate

I suggest if anyone wants to disprove evolution they use as an example the members of Florida school boards.

 Board Opposes Evolution Being Taught As Fact

Four of five members of the School Board of Highlands County oppose the proposed change in the state’s science standards that would present evolution as fact to students.

Some school board members across the state have opposed the proposed revisions to the science curriculum that specifies that evolution be taught as “fact” as opposed to a “theory,” School Board Attorney John McClure said at a recent school board meeting. School Board Chairman J. Ned Hancock said Thursday he would support the resolution to encourage the state not to approve the science standard of evolution as fact.

School Board Vice Chairman Andy Tuck said Thursday, “as a person of faith, I strongly oppose any study of evolution as fact at all. I’m purely in favor of it staying a theory and only a theory. “I won’t support any evolution being taught as fact at all in any of our schools.”(Source)

North Florida weighing in against evolution

A growing number of North Florida superintendents and school boards are objecting to the state’s proposed new science standards, saying the standards give too much credence to evolution and leave no room for alternative theories.

Evolution is “going to be taught as fact, and everyone knows it’s not fact,” said Dennis Bennett, the superintendent in Dixie County, west of Gainesville. “There’s holes in it you can drive a truck through.”

At least seven of Florida’s 67 school boards – all north of Ocala – have passed opposition resolutions, according to the Florida Citizens for Science, a group that supports the standards and has been methodically searching board minutes.

That number could double by the time the state Board of Education votes on the standards Feb. 19, said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association.

Dominated by Baptist churches and dotted with military bases, most of North Florida makes no bones about its political and cultural conservatism. Throw an election year into the mix, Blanton said, and it’s no surprise that school officials in places like Bonifay and Macclenny are “going to try to do some things their constituents want.”

“We just wanted to get it on the record that we’re a Judeo-Christian community, and we believe in academic freedom,” Bennett said.

“I’m a Christian. And I believe I was created by God, and that I didn’t come from an amoeba or a monkey,” said Ken Hall, a School Board member in Madison County, east of Tallahassee.

The St. John’s resolution says the standards should “allow for balanced, objective and intellectually open instruction” that doesn’t treat evolution as “dogmatic fact.”

“Anybody with half a brain can see that natural selection takes place,” said Beverly Slough, a St. John’s board member who is president-elect of the Florida School Boards Association. “But to make great leaps from a fish to a man … the fossil record doesn’t support all that.”(Source)

Half-a-brain indeed. That seems to be the only requirement to be a Florida Board of Education member.

A lonely voice of reason:

 Schools Should Teach Evolution

Florida children may soon be the laughingstock of the nation, especially if they have a public school education.

There’s a move afoot to include the Bible story of creation as part of our science classes — you know the one: God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh?

Instead, Florida children should be learning about evolution in science class. The theory of evolution is just that, a scientific theory, with facts and fossils and proven timelines and carbon dating.

I’m sorry. The Bible story, the fable of creationism, has no place in official science class. No place in public school altogether, unless you’re taking some sort of comparative religion class. What’s next? Jonah and the whale instead of marine biology?

Teaching fables as real science does our children a disservice when they get out in the real world. Save the religious stories for Sunday school and let our Florida science teachers use real science to educate our students. (Source)

New Alzheimer’s treatment works in minutes

Posted at Ars Technica:

 Alzheimer’s disease is a growing concern among our aging populations. As people live longer lives, diseases of old age become increasingly common. Perhaps, as with obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and other common modern maladies, there are also lifestyle or environmental factors at play. Alzheimer’s, unlike those ailments of the body, has had little in the way of useful therapeutics, instead only offering the promise of an inevitable mental decline.

More recently, neuroscientists have been looking not at the neurons, but the cells that surround them as an important component of the disease. Glial cells are most of the cells in the brain that aren’t neurons, and they fulfill a range of specialized functions from forming myelin to housekeeping in the brain. Some glia envelope neuronal synapses, the junctions between nerves where neurotransmitters signal from one to another, and it’s these cells that are now increasingly thought to be critical in Alzheimer’s.

What’s surprising is the involvement of a molecule we thought we knew quite well. Most scientists working in biomedical research would be familiar with a cytokine called Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-α. TNFα is a signaling protein that is deeply involved in inflammation, and drugs that act on the TNFα pathway are increasingly being used as treatments for autoimmune diseases. But as it turns out, in the brain TNFα is used by glial cells as a gliotransmitter, and increased levels of TNFα in the brain, outside of the normal physiological levels, results in impairment of synaptic function.

And that appears to provide a therapeutic avenue, thanks to those new TNFα drugs we have developed. The Journal of Neuroinflammation carries a case report of the rapid mental improvement of an Alzheimer’s patient following spinal infusion of a drug called etanercept. Etanercept is a protein drug that binds to TNFα and neutralizes it. Within just two hours of initial treatment with the drug, the patient showed marked improvement on a range of cognitive tests, and following a short series of repeat treatments, continued to improve. The authors of the study have been using this treatment for several years now, and have published other case studies also showing a remarkable mental improvement.

While this case report gives cause for optimism, it must be noted that the research is still preliminary; double-blind trials have not been performed, and the case reports don’t examine biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease. Nevertheless, given the possibility of reversing this terrible disease, it seems a foregone conclusion those double-blind trials are in the works.

Journal of Neuroinflammation 2008. DOI:10.1186/1742-2094-5-2

Let’s hope this offers a release from the effects of this insidious disease for those afflicted.

Scientists find missing evolutionary link using tiny fungus crystal

Creationists like to latch on to minor points to try and make major claims. One of the more popular latch points for them is the transition from single cell, or simple, lifeforms to the more complex, multicellular forms. Since up until now science has not had a ready explanation for that jump, creationists and the ID crowd want to assume that god must have been responsible. It does no good to tell these people that just because we don’t have an answer to the “how” in many of nature’s processes this does not lead logically to a conclusion that “god did it”.

Well, now we are a bit closer to understanding that change from simple to complex life, and there’s still no sign of a god’s involvement.

The crystal structure of a molecule from a primitive fungus has served as a time machine to show researchers more about the evolution of life from the simple to the complex.

By studying the three-dimensional version of the fungus protein bound to an RNA molecule, scientists from Purdue University and the University of Texas at Austin have been able to visualize how life progressed from an early self-replicating molecule that also performed chemical reactions to one in which proteins assumed some of the work.

“Now we can see how RNA progressed to share functions with proteins,” said Alan Lambowitz, director of the University of Texas Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology. “This was a critical missing step.”

Results of the study were published in Thursday’s (Jan. 3) issue of the journal Nature.

“It’s thought that RNA, or a molecule like it, may have been among the first molecules of life, both carrying genetic code that can be transmitted from generation to generation and folding into structures so these molecules could work inside cells,” said Purdue structural biologist Barbara Golden. “At some point, RNA evolved and became capable of making proteins. At that point, proteins started taking over roles that RNA played previously – acting as catalysts and building structures in cells.”

In order to show this and learn more about the evolution from RNA to more complex life forms, Lambowitz and Paul Paukstelis, lead author and a research scientist at the Texas institute, needed to be able to see how the fungus’ protein worked. That’s where Golden’s team joined the effort and crystallized the molecule at Purdue’s macromolecular crystallization facility.

“Obviously, we can’t see the process of moving from RNA to RNA and proteins and then to DNA, without a time machine,” Golden said. “But by using this fungus protein, we can see this process occurring in modern life.”

Looking at the crystal, the scientists saw two things, Golden said. One was that this protein uses two completely different molecular surfaces to perform its two roles. The second is that the protein seems to perform the same job that RNA performed in other simple organisms.

“The crystal structure provides a snapshot of how, during evolution, protein molecules came to assist RNA molecules in their biological functions and ultimately assumed roles previously played by RNA,” Golden said.

The rest of the article, and a cool animation of the crystal, at: http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2008a/080102GoldenEnzyme.html

ID, it deserves to be Expelled

Writing on the ScienceBlogs, pharyngula is someone I read daily. A while ago he posted this video, which he describes better than I ever could, and attempts to correct a few of the glaring misconceptions spouted by O’Reilly and Stein.

Two people vying to out-stupid each other

*

Evolution (or as he called it, “Darwinism”) is a weak theory with many gaps that was fit for the 19th century, but not the 21st. This is a ludicrous statement; Darwin would scarcely recognize what we were talking about if he attended an evolutionary biology conference today. We’ve added genetics, population genetics, molecular biology, and developmental biology to the heart of the theory.
*

ID is an effort to fill in the gaps, and is a sincere effort to add new knowledge to the theory. That’s false. Look at the books written by IDists: from Darwin’s Black Box to Icons of Evolution to The Edge of Evolution, they are all about complaining about evolution while providing no new useful suggestions for research.
*

This is a free speech issue, we just want to be able to express our side of the story. I don’t see anyone rushing to censor Fox News, or shutting down the printing presses that dare to publish Behe’s or Gonzalez’s books. This is not about free speech, and no one’s speech is being restricted. It is about quality education: will we have our kids taught baseless nonsense because some people want to smuggle their idiosyncratic religious beliefs into the classroom? It’s about quality research: shall we fund and support unproductive and scientifically indefensible ideas because a third-rate character actor likes them? It’s about defending what science is: science is not about wishing something were true and inventing excuse for it; it’s about serious self-criticism and substantial work going into testing ideas. ID simply isn’t science.

I think we get a good glimpse of the dogmatic and dishonest tack Expelled is going to take. It’s going to be one solid wall of lies, insisting that we must privilege the hypothesis that “a deity created life” with the same seriousness that we do population genetics or the biochemistry of abiogenesis.

Has anyone who doesn’t buy into the whole Intelligent Design nonsense seen this movie yet? I’d love to read an objective review.

Tied Up in Knots

From ScienceNewsOnline:

Call it Murphy’s Law of knots: If something can get tangled up, it will. “Anything that’s long and flexible seems to somehow end up knotted,” says Andrew Belmonte, an applied mathematician at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. Belmonte has plenty of alarming anecdotal evidence. “It certainly happens in my house, with the cords of the venetian blind.” But the knot scourge is a global one, as anyone who owns a desktop computer can confirm after peeking at the mess of connection cables and power cords behind the desk.

Now, scientists think they may have found out how and why things find their way into knotty arrangements. By tumbling a string of rope inside a box, biophysicists Dorian Raymer and Douglas Smith have discovered that knots—even complex knots—form surprisingly fast and often. The string first coils up, and then its free ends swivel around the other coils, tracing a random path among them. That essentially makes the coils into a braid, producing knots, the scientists say.

The results’ relevance may go well beyond explaining the epidemic of tangled venetian blind cords. That’s because spontaneous knots seem to be prevalent in nature, especially in biological molecules. For example, knottiness may be crucial to the workings of certain proteins (see “Knots in Proteins”). And knots can randomly form in DNA, hampering duplication or gene expression—so much so that living cells deploy special knot-chopping enzymes.

But even if Raymer and Smith’s results don’t prove to be directly relevant to the molecules of life, they are “a very good beginning” for a general study of physical knots, according to Belmonte. “Now we can at least ask these questions: Are there universal laws of knots?”

I find knots fascinating.  Chaotic systems tend to boggle the mind, and having your mind boggled now and then keeps it well exercised.  Another chaotic state that often frustrates scientists is turbulence.

A report from USA Today:

Turbulence does more than toss around luggage on airplanes and spill coffee on traveler’s laps — it confuses the heck out of scientists. A new experiment may suggest why — fluid dynamicists may have been missing something fundamental about turbulence for a good long time.

Renowned physicist Richard Feynman called turbulence the most important unsolved problem of classical physics, the body of engineering knowledge stretching roughly from Archimedes to Einstein. No one really understands precisely how the flow of gas or liquids transitions from smooth flow to choppy turbulence (not even something as simple as the point at which water from your tap goes from a smooth, or laminar, translucence to burbling foam.)

This drives engineers nuts (I can attest to this as a former engineer) because turbulence disrupts and drags air, gas and liquids that flow in and on everything from pipelines to airplane wings to artificial heart valves — all the apparatus of an industrial society — in ways both costly and unpredictable. To take just one example, turbulence costs U.S. airlines an annual $100 million due to injuries and delays, according to the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s estimates.

Naturally, we do know some things about turbulence, observations that pertain to air, gas and liquids alike. “Generally, the motion of fluids is smooth and laminar at low speeds but becomes highly disordered and turbulent as the velocity increases,” notes a paper by a physics team led by Bjorn Hof of the United Kingdom’s University of Manchester in the current Nature. After making the full-fledged transition from smooth to turbulent flow, the paper adds, “it is generally assumed that, under steady conditions, the turbulent state will persist indefinitely.”

Whoops, maybe not. Experiments described by Hof’s team suggests that assumption may be wrong. The finding in fact suggests that turbulence may be reversible, contradicting decades of engineering dogma, and offering unexpected insight into how turbulence works.

The team looked at turbulence in an pipe nearly 100 feet long with an internal diameter of about 0.16 inches, allowing for turbulence observation times about 10 times longer than those undertaken by any other lab facility, the team contends. By injecting water into water flowing down the pipe to create “turbulent puffs,” the team attempted to measure whether turbulence persisted under different flow conditions. Turbulence cuts the speed of the water flowing out of the center of the pipe about 30% while increasing flow speed on the pipe’s walls, so that water flowing smoothly out of the pipe emerges with a differently-shaped jet than turbulent flow, making the measurements easy.

“In contrast to previous findings,” the team found that turbulence in the pipe always returned to smooth flows, if one waited long enough. The finding suggests that rather than turbulence obliterating smooth flow, fluids somehow retain the ability to reorganize themselves back into a regular pattern.

“This is a conceptual shift and a very intriguing one,” says mechanical engineer Charles Meneveau of the Turbulence Research Group at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “There are big implications for control of pipe flow,” he says, cautioning that the results must now be confirmed by other researchers.

Let’s focus on that last sentence for a moment.  This is what separates scientific inquiry from religious belief; postulations in science are either confirmed or dismissed by other scientists conducting their own experiments, and those findings are tested, as are those findings.  Contrary evidence can derail a promising hypothesis.  In religion, evidence is “faith” based and purely personal.  Lack of evidence is dismissed, and nothing is presented that can be verified empirically.

I hope these articles get your new year started with an exercised brain.

2008 National High School Essay Contest

From Alliance for Science:
2008 National High School Essay Contest
For our second annual National High School Essay Contest we invite students to submit essays of not more than 1,000 words on one of two topics — “Climate and Evolution” or “Agriculture and Evolution.”

Submission deadline is February 29, 2008.

Student prizes start with $300 for first place, and includes incentives for sponsoring teachers. Watch those word counts! Several essays among our early submissions have no word count on the registration form, or the word count is over 1,000. Read the Official Rules – essays must be no longer than 1,000 words!

Eligibility:

All students in grade twelve or below in the United States or U.S. territories. Eligible students must be attending a public, private, parochial school, home school or participating in a high school correspondence program. Eligibility of
prospective winners will be verified before the award of any prizes. Alliance for Science members and their families are not eligible. Essay contest judges and their families are also not eligible.

Essay Ideas:

Throughout the ages, the earth has undergone major climate change. Some present-day cities were once covered in sheets of ice and some temperate zones were once lush tropics. These changes had a significant effect on the types of animals that thrived and the species that became extinct. If climate change speeds up, what will happen to the environments where endangered animals now live? How do the latest scientific projections of the rate of climate change compare with the spans of time over which evolution has occurred? Will new species of plants and animals arise with the characteristics needed to adapt to an altered climate, or will many forms of life simply become extinct?
When considering this issue, think about how evolution has shaped the variation in animal characteristics like fur and insulating features like the down feathers of geese that protect against the cold. “Warm blooded” animals such as mammals are generally more able to cope with temperature variation than reptiles. Are changes in global climate pattern likely to affect the distribution of these different animal types? Consider migratory animals – will changes in the weather disrupt the timing or destinations of migratory birds or animal herds?
Even the human body may not be immune to the impact of climate. Will this alter the future evolution of the human species, or will technological factors completely compensate for any potential change in climate?

Modern times causing human evolution to accelerate

Human evolution is speeding up. Around 40,000 years ago our genes began to evolve much faster. By 5000 years ago they were evolving 30 to 40 times faster than ever before and it seems highly likely that we continue to evolve at this super speed today.

Our population explosion and rapidly changing lifestyles seem to be the drivers of this acceleration, the discovery of which contradicts the widely held notion that our technological and medical advances have removed most of the selection pressures acting upon us. (Source, subscription required)

Genetically we’re evolving faster, while mentally and philosophically we’re still mired in the Dark Ages.  In too many ways we’re nothing more than 1st century nomads with technology.