Wow. Just wow. Talk about an amazing job these Finnish scientists have done. They took stem cells, derived from a patient’s fatty tissue, and grew a new jawbone for him. Quite cool. It seems that, due to a benign tumor, he needed a prosthesis just to talk or eat. Now, apparently according to the article, you wouldn’t know he had the original problem from his outward appearance.

• Amazing Stem Cells

continue reading.....

A tear-free onion? Could it be true?

• Tear-Free Onion

continue reading.....

Genealogical studies have exploded over the past 10 years or so, and it seems that you can look for correlations everywhere. Well, that’s what happens when you open the floodgates and the data comes crashing through. So, a new study has analyzed the mitochondrial DNA in the black rat, Rattus rattus, to trace its genetic links and origins, and thereby trace where in the world the six different lineages originated and how they spread out geographically in time. They then compared the episodes of expansion in these lineages with those found in human population dispersal, and found a positive correlation.

continue reading.....

The internet, a subject near and dear to my heart. A recent report from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), i.e. the Bush Administration, that our ‘National Broadband Strategy‘ is working out just fine. Really? The idea that we, as a nation, even have a strategy is a surprise to just about everyone, including the FCC and except the Bushies, of course. Who knew? Read on for a summary from Arstechnica.

• No Broadband Strategy

continue reading.....

A positive correlation between peak workforce and rain may explain why it doesn’t rain on your parade, in the southeast, anyway. Scientists were able to use NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite to follow rain patterns from 1998 to 2005, where they found that it rained more from Tuesday to Thursday than from Saturday through Monday. They then analyzed particulate airborne matter quantities in data from the Environmental Protection Agency, which showed that pollution tends to peak mid-week. The theory that connects them together is that the particles in the air are helping to seed clouds, which then rain on your parade.

continue reading.....

We are currently living in the Holocene epoch, but, if a couple of scientists have their way, we will soon be living in a newly designated epoch, the Anthropocene (anthropo meaning human, cene meaning new). The basis for this change has been urged by scientists studying a large range of geologic changes on earth, including changes in soil deposition, erosion, composition and fertility. These changes, many very dramatic, are human-caused by activities such as farming, building dams, raising cattle, forest destruction, and the distribution of man-made chemicals into the environment.  The study also involves tracking the major change in the carbon cycle, the acidification of the oceans, global warming and changes to plant and animal life.

continue reading.....

NASA has released a new study that concludes that the weight of glacial sediments washed into the Mississippi Delta Valley is causing the coastal shelf to sink between 0.1 to 0.8 centimeters per year. The additional factors of sediment compaction and oxidation, and the pumping of water and oil have added approximately 0.3 centimeters per year to the glacial sediment effect. Add the future rise in the Gulf level due to climate change, and you have a quickly disappearing coastline.

• The Sinking of Coastal Louisiana

continue reading.....