Neat Developments in Science

[Sardondi]

I figured we needed a sticky like this: right now I'm putting posts like this in "Random Stupid Stuff" which I've used as a sort of catch-all. Well, no longer!

So here's an interesting note...although I'm not sure I want to believe it. Scientists say they've determined that Komodo dragons do NOT have toxic saliva like they've been telling us for the last 40 years (in a bitchy aside, let me ask if this wasn't "settled science" which only ignoramuses and flat-earthers questioned?) http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/science-sushi/2013/06/25/here-be-dragons-the-mythic-bite-of-the-komodo/#.UcvARpzqw_x

Komodos mouths are no dirtier than those of any other 150-pound apex predator reptilian. The saliva starts out non-toxic, but with how the remnants of their last meals steam and bubble into filth stews inside the nooks and crannies of the Komodos' mouths, the effect is almost as bad as toxic saliva. I'm not sure I believe them, because anything that evil out to have a poisonous mouth.
_____________________________________________________________________
Well good news and bad news. The good news is that adding silver to certain bacteria can make antibiotics "thousands of times" more effective. http://www.nature.com/news/silver-makes-antibiotics-thousands-of-times-more-effective-1.13232

The bad news is this probably means colloidal silver takers will probably claim a huge hit with this. Does George do the silver thing?

[West of the Rockies]

Well, yes, Sardondi, it is a little dismaying when "settled science" suddenly becomes unsettled.  On the other hand, this does clearly indicate that science is still striving and can put aside its collective/historical ego to say, hey, we were wrong about this....  I haven't heard a lot of fundamentalist/evangelical preachers say the same thing about their belief system.  That whole Noah episode?  Turns out to have been just an instructive story, not real history....

[onan]

what lives in a dragon's mouth is none of my business.




What is settled science is... komodo dragons are real. They bite. Things they bite tend to die. Sepsis does often set in. Is their saliva a festering glop of bacterial poison... well maybe not, but I still ain't drinking it.

[Sardondi]

Well, yes, Sardondi, it is a little dismaying when "settled science" suddenly becomes unsettled.  On the other hand, this does clearly indicate that science is still striving and can put aside its collective/historical ego to say, hey, we were wrong about this....  I haven't heard a lot of fundamentalist/evangelical preachers say the same thing about their belief system.  That whole Noah episode?  Turns out to have been just an instructive story, not real history....

Whoa. I'm sorry - have I unintentionally used a code word or something? Maybe one of those famous "dog whistles"? I didn't feel any trip wire, but then I guess that's the point. I mean, "Fundamentalist/evangelical preachers"...? Huh? Erm, whatever you say.

My point is that we are often either too eager to call something "settled" when it's not, or that we might be a little too reluctant to follow a line of inquiry because of possible upset of "settled" questions (that whole partisanship creeping into science thing: there can be a poisonous side effect of grants and sponsorships by corporations and NGOs). And yes, while the political and cultural has thoroughly tainted what has become the modern business of science, often the culprit in the settled/unsettled debate is as old as science itself: researchers reluctant to explore a particular line of enquiry out of a desire to protect their spot on the pedestal; or attacking another's work for the same reason. 

what lives in a dragon's mouth is none of my business.

What is settled science is... komodo dragons are real. They bite. Things they bite tend to die. Sepsis does often set in. Is their saliva a festering glop of bacterial poison... well maybe not, but I still ain't drinking it.

They creep me the hell out. Those things run, and they chase men...for food. Yeeeeech, my skin is crawling...like a Komodo stalking a man taking a nap in a field.

[onan]

... a desire to protect their spot on the pedestal; or attacking another's work for the same reason.

Ain't being human a bunch of fun?

[Sardondi]

Ain't being human a bunch of fun?

Harumph I mean, they would actually sink to try to protect themselves. The weaklings. The, the...sinners!

(God, I do sound like that, don't I?)

[onan]

Harumph I mean, they would actually sink to try to protect themselves. The weaklings. The, the...sinners!

(God, I do sound like that, don't I?)

I am not one for sucking up (to quote Imus), but no, you don't. There are many here that have brilliant insight into subjects. I would list them but I would most likely miss some and then feel like a derp. Not to mention those not mentioned... it is all too much for me.


But you have my complete respect when it comes to making an argument. You also have a vast knowledge base that is intimidating. Anyhoo enough of the suck up...

[Mind Flayer Monk]

So here's an interesting note...although I'm not sure I want to believe it. Scientists say they've determined that Komodo dragons do NOT have toxic saliva like they've been telling us for the last 40 years (in a bitchy aside, let me ask if this wasn't "settled science" which only ignoramuses and flat-earthers questioned?)

Part 1:

I was actually thinking about this post and I was going to mention that if you go to a scientific conference, there are always a few speakers and poster presentations that challenge some previous science that is accepted. But that is just chatting. Chatting is fine, but in this case I could gather data and show some evidence of this.
So, the next conference I go to, I will take the schedule and mark the presentations that challenge previous science. I will ask another person to mark the same thing (see how much our opinions match on what is a 'challenge'). I can then provide a snapshot of one field for a year of activity. Not the best method, but a method and I think it does have some value.


Part 2:
This information is probably valuable to everyone in the field in some way or another. I think I am going to do this for the next 10 years. Thank you for the inspiration.

[West of the Rockies]

From Sardondi:  "Whoa. I'm sorry - have I unintentionally used a code word or something? Maybe one of those famous "dog whistles"? I didn't feel any trip wire, but then I guess that's the point. I mean, "Fundamentalist/evangelical preachers"...? Huh? Erm, whatever you say."

I'm not sure what your point is here, as you clearly did not get my point.  I'm not suggesting that all scientists are wonderful, ego-free human beings or that they don't have agendas, motives, and a hankering from profit and fame.

I am also saying that I personally do not see much evolving of thought among certain religious preachers (of any stripe, not just the evangelical/fundamentalists I mentioned).  In my personal experience, these people feel everything was decided absolutely and without error hundreds, thousands of years ago.  I don't see a lot of reconsideration of what they determined was "settled theology".  I DO see scientists routinely say, "Hey, we were wrong about things."  That was my point. 

Sometimes this word parsing is exhausting.

[BobGrau]

 

...Sometimes this word parsing is exhausting.

I think you mean tiring. 

[West of the Rockies]

You bastard! 

[Treading Water]

Does George do the silver thing?

Well, crap.  Now I have to subscribe to that .tv thing to watch him turn blue.   

[Sardondi]

...Sometimes this word parsing is exhausting.

God, isn't that the truth. What is the saying? "No explanation is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood." Amen.

I think you mean tiring. 

Heh.

[stevesh]

This thread never got much traction, but this kind of evolutionary stuff fascinates me:

http://bytesizebio.net/index.php/2013/08/03/aphid-attacks-should-be-reported-through-the-fungusphone/

[Sardondi]

This thread never got much traction, but this kind of evolutionary stuff fascinates me:

http://bytesizebio.net/index.php/2013/08/03/aphid-attacks-should-be-reported-through-the-fungusphone/

I get brain dizzy contemplating the staggering complexity of life. And what we still don't know about all the "simple" forms of life.

[stevesh]

Pre-natal ultrasounds I've seen in the past few years looked like vague blobs to me and the baby had to be pointed out by someone used to the technology. My brother's wife had this one done yesterday:



Amazing improvement in technology.

[Sardondi]

Just a neat thing: scientists photo something called "red lightning":




http://www.dailygrail.com/Fresh-Science/2013/8/Scientists-Capture-Rare-Photographs-Red-Lightning-Near-the-Edge-Space


....and also, Solar Wind chimes: http://www.dailygrail.com/Alien-Nation/2013/8/Solar-Wind-Chime-Listening-Real-time-Spacecraft-Data-Here-Earth

Kinda neat, in a mildly spooky, deep space music way.

[Sardondi]

I think stuff lie this is so cool: researchers in England are about to use recreations of Bronze Age weapons in a test of ancient warfare. The point is to see how ancient warriors really fought, what problems they ran into, and whether they might have been able to achieve the heroic battlefield feats we read about in the ancient texts. http://www.historyextra.com/news/researchers-go-battle-test-bronze-age-weapons

[stevesh]

I'd like Art to talk to these guys:

http://www.nature.com/news/did-a-hyper-black-hole-spawn-the-universe-1.13743

[Sardondi]

I noticed on Google's opening page that today is the 194th birthday of Jean Bernard Léon Foucault. He was the French physicist who used a suspended pendulum which lightly touched sand as it passed back and forth to demonstrate the effect of the earth's rotation on its axis.

His name was made known to the general reading public in 1988 with the publication of the book Foucault's Pendulum by Italian writer, critic, philosopher, professor of semiotics...oh, just call him  a polymath...Umberto Eco. Eco's book is the thinking person's The DaVinci Code, covering as it does virtually the entire history of the Knights Templar and the search for the Holy Grail. It is a massive book, but dense (intentionally so IMO) and often academic in tone. But it is also a rousing, heart-pounding mystery and adventure tale; a great, great book. 

[stevesh]

Half an apology to all the cold fusion quacks who have appeared on C2C over the years. OK, it looks like it may be possible, but you didn't do it in your garage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24429621

[bateman]

http://www.core77.com/blog/digital_fabrication/us_army_research_office_backing_4d_printing_with_855000_grant_25690.asp

[Sardondi]

Just so cool: In 2015 two brothers will drive cross country. Big deal, huh? well, yeah. They'll do it in a car they have produced by 3-D printer. And it's made of polymers and will use a total of about 20 gallons of ethanol fuel to complete the trip. http://www.popularmechanics.com/3d-printer-news/urbee-2-the-3d-printed-car-that-will-drive-across-the-country-16119485?click=pm_news



There's just so much neat stuff about this. We're on the cusp of a sea change in manufacturing. And I see no real preparation for the huge training requirements, mostly because there are few or no opportunities for such.

Still, what a glorious time - how can Jetson cars be far behind? I want to live long enough to flit across the skies in a flying car. "♪Meet George Jetson....♫" Ahhhhhhh.

[West of the Rockies]

Is that a three-wheeled vehicle?  Quite an astonishing piece of technology.  I don't see it becoming more popular than the seemingly endless supply of crappy red or primer-gray Camaros still rolling down the roads, but who knows.

[Evil Twin Of Zen]

I think stuff lie this is so cool: researchers in England are about to use recreations of Bronze Age weapons in a test of ancient warfare. The point is to see how ancient warriors really fought, what problems they ran into, and whether they might have been able to achieve the heroic battlefield feats we read about in the ancient texts. http://www.historyextra.com/news/researchers-go-battle-test-bronze-age-weapons

either they had massive issues or really knew how to pin the tail on the donkey. it was always up close and bloody. the only guys that had the real fun of slaughter in that era, where the cultures that said fuck the bronze age. they skipped it and went all iron age and stuff.

here is my tech addition:  http://www.cracked.com/article_20725_6-myths-about-drone-warfare-you-probably-believe.html

[UrbanFool]

Well, crap.  Now I have to subscribe to that .tv thing to watch him turn blue.   

If he DID turn blue, everyone would hear about it again and again!

[Sardondi]

either they had massive issues or really knew how to pin the tail on the donkey. it was always up close and bloody. the only guys that had the real fun of slaughter in that era, where the cultures that said fuck the bronze age. they skipped it and went all iron age and stuff.

here is my tech addition:  http://www.cracked.com/article_20725_6-myths-about-drone-warfare-you-probably-believe.html

Actually both Sir John Keegan in his landmark work, the magisterial Face Of Battle, and genius classicist Victor Davis Hanson, primarily in his Carnage and Culture and The Soul of Battle, have pretty much addressed the realities of ancient combat. Hint: 1) it was incredibly bloody and dirty (both physically and morally), and 2) there were a hell of a lot of deaths by wounds to the genitals and groin.

[Unquenchable Angst]

Argyria,( from Argentium, ancient name for silver) the condition people get when ingesting improperly made colloidal silver ,turning them blue due to the deposit of silver chloride or other silver salt in their flesh then sunlight doing to them what exposing a strip of photo film  to the sun.
Some colloidal silver production protocols have stated adding salt to the batch to create conductivity when making. NEVER USE SALT.
I have been making it since 1997 and taking an ounce a day since. I am not blue.
I use heat and a drop or two of a previous batch to get the conductivity of the distilled water up. I use a 0-30vdc 3amp. regulated power supply. , I use 4 of those Pyrex 'whistler' tea pots,.9999 pure silver wire. I switch my polarity every half hour(keeps the wire from getting a lot of grey on them) I run it for 2 hours at 170 F. sometimes I run for 6 hours and use that as a topical and to wash cuts. I o far, I have not had a cold or flu or any illness caused by virus. I have done other things such as Echinacea augustifolium, vitamins, IP-6, to keep my immune system up, also taking the turmeric and black pepper.I have been doing these things pretty much since the 1970's.

[Agent : Orange]

I'll throw this in the ring for now
http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/meet-badbios-the-mysterious-mac-and-pc-malware-that-jumps-airgaps/

[stevesh]

Actually both Sir John Keegan in his landmark work, the magisterial Face Of Battle

Dammit, now I have to reread The Face Of Battle and (the better, I think) The Mask Of Command, and I really don't have the time.