science

Diabetes researchers in Toronto have surprised even themselves by curing diabetes in mice with pain treatments. If this pans out, it will be more than big, it will be Nobel Prize material. "While pain scientists have been receptive to the research, immunologists have voiced skepticism at the idea of the nervous system playing such a… Read more

"Psychopathy rivals any mental disorder in its negative consequences for the person who has it," says psychologist Joseph P. Newman of the University of Wisconsin.  Oh, really?  Try being his victim–that’s a negative consequence.  What a doofus. Read more

The UN* is downgrading the human contribution to global warming to 25%. Their excuse? Some of our polluting aerosols have increased the atmosphere’s reflectivity, and we have more data. My favorite line: "Such a rise would be enough to take average summer temperatures in Britain to those seen during the 2003 heatwave, when August temperatures… Read more

The Aggies at Texas A&M and UC Davis want to make sure everyone gets plenty to eat this Thanksgiving, so they’re developing edible cottonseed and high-nutrient wheat.  The kicker is that neither of these will be what the Euros call genetically modified foods–they’re designed hybrids. Read more

,,,that the Thanksgiving Day Hawaiian quake–5.0 on the Richter Scale–was on the big island.  Pele gets jealous very easily.  Maybe time to throw some boys into the volcano. Read more

Mark it on your calendar: April 13, 2029, a date with Apophis. "If Hollywood can pony up a quarter of a billion in the name of defending our planet, why can’t Congress?" Read the whole thing. After reading this, I’d say we’ve been too lucky too long. Tip from the Instapundit. Update (23 November).   Mark… Read more

The Rev. Sensing spots an article by Michael Polyani, and gives his take on the great science vs. religion debate: we have a culture that is scientistic as well as scientific. Scientism is faith in science. As the dominant world view of of the West, it is considered self-validating. Scientism makes two major claims, neither… Read more

You can read Steven Hawking’s bestseller, A Brief History of Time, online.  You should.   Tip from James Hudnall’s Blog-O-Rama. Read more

OK, global warming fans, explain to me again how I’m a suicidal enviro-pirate for driving my car to work, when the man-made contribution to atmospheric CO2 is only 3.225% Tip from Jonah Goldberg on The Corner at NRO. Update (3 July). OK, this is not my car spewing stuff into the atmosphere.  Tip from my… Read more

…is freely available, online. If you’re a dilettante, read Chapter 0; if you want a quick-and-dirty techincal introduction to linear programming, read Chapter 7; otherwise, read the whole thing. Tip from the Geek Press. Read more