Today’s Popular Posts
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Category Archives: Spun
“Behind the Headlines:” A systematic source of science candor
Most of the SPUN posts I write are satirical – a spin on some received wisdom or another. This post is an anti-spin, or perhaps counter-spun. It’s about articles from an unexpected source, the British National Health Service Knowledge Service under the NHS Choices banner, with the sub-head “Behind the Headlines.” Headlines like these: “Cure [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged Behind the Headlines, NHS, research analysis, science reporting Leave a comment
“Gentlemen, engineer your astronauts.”
“I say let’s build better astronauts.” Craggy Windman was serious. He was standing on the dais in a slept-in Armani suit, tie undone, disheveled salt-and-pepper beard and talking to an assembly of rocket scientists. (Yes, you had to be a rocket scientist with a NASA badge to get into the room.) He stabbed his pointer [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged gene modification, genome, human engineering, microbiome, NASA, satire, synthetic biology, tissue engineering Leave a comment
Electric brain boosting good for learning
In a stimulating new study by Voltaire Smith and colleagues at the Technical College of Central Cortex (TCCC) and published in the November 4, 2010 issue of Shocking Biology, the journal that electrifies the field, it was learned that an electrical current administered just above the right ear improves the ability to learn abstract mathematical [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged brain enhancement, brain stimulus, electro-shock, parietal lobe, TTDCS 1 Comment
This is an update: Gliese 581g is a fertile temptress
In case you hadn’t seen the news: A planet has been discovered – Gliese 581g (a bewitching name) – in orbit around a red dwarf (not the UK version) at ‘just the right distance’ (called the Goldilocks Zone because it’s not too hot and not too cold) to support life. [Here’s SciTechStory’s post: Another Gliese [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged alien life, exoplanet, Gliese, Gliese 581, Gliese 581g, Haghighipour, planet, red dwarf, Vogt Leave a comment
No muscle, no Mars
After feeding upon the thrills of Star Trek, Star Wars, Avatar and their ilk, we (that is, people of the entertainment soaked portion of the world) are conditioned to be optimistic about human beings in space. There’s also the reality of landing on the Moon, the International Space Station, and the inspiring history of astronauts [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged bone loss, exercise in space, ISS, muscle loss, muscle mass, NASA, physiology, space exploration Leave a comment
Cell phones and cancer: Another inconclusive round of study
Here we go again. Sometime today (May 18, 2010) a report from a massive study by the Interphone International Study Group of the potential cancer causing effects of using cell phones will be released in the International Journal of Epidemiology. This $24 million United Nations sponsored study spanning a decade and 13 countries was the [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged cancer, cell phone, microwave, mobile phone, radiation, risk, tumors, U.N. Leave a comment
Testing your genetics with a drug store kit
Selling genetic testing kits over-the-counter (OTC) in a drug store (apothecary, chemists, pharmacy)…? People might be inclined to say, “Only in America.” Not really. Like it or not, and I suspect most people at this point are more than a little skeptical, this sort of do-it-yourself (which is actually a spit-in-a-bottle-and-mail-it-in) testing is going to [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged apothecary, DNA, drug store, genetics, over-the-counter, personal genome, pharmacy, test kit Leave a comment
Climate change consensus: An open letter from 255 Scientists
Sometimes…often…many of the scientific rebuttals to climate change deniers amount to pep-talking the base (an Americanism for rallying those who are already loyal to the cause). Well, sometimes the base needs a good pep-talk. Like now, when the voices of global warming denialism are being orchestrated into a general anti-science chorus. That’s what 255 members [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged anti-science, Big Bang, climate change, evolution, global warming, science, scientific method, theory Comments closed
Steven Hawking: Meeting aliens ‘a little too risky’
Steven Hawking, the eminent astrophysicist, declares in a new Discovery Channel series that aliens coming to Earth are not likely to be friendly. “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up [...]
James Lovelock: A climate change pessimist
“I don’t think we’re yet evolved to the point where we’re clever enough to handle a complex a situation as climate change,” said Lovelock in his first in-depth interview since the theft of the UEA emails last November. “The inertia of humans is so huge that you can’t really do anything meaningful.” [Source: The Guardian] [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged acidification, climate change, Gaia, Gaia Hypothesis, global warming, IPCC, James Lovelock Leave a comment
A guide to science as presented by the Media
Are you one of those people who like stories about science? Do you watch the news about volcanoes in Iceland and goggle at the Rings of Saturn? Then you’re one of the consumers of science as presented by the Media – and this is a guide for you. The Media has an awesome task. The [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged Creationism, junk science, Media, neuroscience, science, science narrative, weird science Leave a comment
Should science use spin?
It was late in the day. Most of the lab’s computers were already in screen-saver mode. I had my feet up on the bench, just to let the blood run the other way, you know. In came Jimmy (real name, James) the lab’s one and only intern that summer. We hadn’t talked much, but then [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged marketing, research presentation, science PR, scientific method, spin Leave a comment
Biopunk
Biopunk: Combining biotechnology with punk doesn’t sound very appetizing. It’s a punk in a garage messing around with bacteria genetics to produce the world’s first pet-eating amoeba colony. Something like that. The word isn’t that new. Biopunk is, among other things, already a genre of science fiction that focuses on biotechnology and subversives. It has [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged biohacker, biopunk, biotechnology, DNA, Dyson, garage biotech, gene modification, genetics, hacker 1 Comment
Technology predictions so awful, they’re good
Making predictions about future technology, or even the impact of current technology is tempting fate. That is to say, you’re fated to be wrong, much of the time…at best. I should know; it’s what this blog does a lot. However, I’ve always liked the definition of an expert, attributed to Niels Bohr or Werner Heisenberg [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged 2001, Bohr, futurism, Heisenberg, prediction, science, Stoll, technology 1 Comment
Spaceport America, not far from Truth or Consequences
If you think that U.S. President Obama’s new initiative for space – not only for NASA, but also for the nascent private space industry – is a chimera, well, check out this article in the New York Times: A New Exit to Space Readies for Business. The article, with tongue moving quickly from cheek to [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged entrepreneur, launch, NASA, orbit, private orbiters, rocket, space, Spaceport America Leave a comment
What chatroulette and pleaserobme have in common
If you haven’t heard of the web sites chatroulette or pleaserobme, they’ve not been around long. The worldwide media has sort of picked them up, but haphazardly. They’re both very provocative sites, but in different ways. Pleaserobme.com is deliberately provocative, a message site not especially intended to last long. Chatroulette is by its nature thought [...]
Branson’s no virgin on peak oil
Celebrity endorsements can be a mixed blessing. How do you react when a celebrity such as Richard Branson (that’s SIR Richard Branson, if you please) says something like this: “The next five years will see us face another crunch – the oil crunch. This time, we do have the chance to prepare. The challenge is [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged alternative energy, Branson, CO2, global warming, hydrocarbon use, oil, peak oil, petroleum 2 Comments
The Mind Machine Project
Here’s a rant, for your delectation, or distaste: This month (Jan. 2010) MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. USA) kicks off a five year, five-million dollar (at least) research orgy called the Mind Machine Project (MMP). Machine Mind = Artificial intelligence (AI). Now there’s a concept. Oh wait. We tried that, what? Fifty years [...]
Posted in Spun Tagged AI, artificial intelligence, Mind Machine Project, neuroscience, supercomputing Leave a comment
So much life. So small a space.
One cubic foot is a feature in the National Geographic Magazine. David Liittschwager’s pictures capture all the creatures, big and small, that walked, crawled, squirmed, leaped, hopped, ran, burrowed, or flew into plots of space exactly one cubic foot (roughly .3 cubic meter) in size. David Liitschwager, National Geographic Magazine The pictures are composites of [...]
What if you want to sue a robot?
How long do you think it will be before somebody wants to marry their personal robot? A while, of course; non-experimental personal robots don’t exist yet, and it’s likely to be a good long while before personal robots acquire enough personality to attract marriage proposals. But then people get awfully attached to pets. What about [...]
Roxxxy: Sex robots 1.0 (or is it 0.001?)
You knew plastic sex dolls couldn’t last in the onslaught of technological progress. After all, they’re nothing but windbags. Now sex robots, that’s in the ‘something else’ category. Of course this massive innovation shows up (where else) in Las Vegas during the time of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Actually it showed up at the [...]
An ironic drone killing
Interesting bit of irony, if that’s the word, recorded by William Saletan at Slate. Seems the seven CIA operatives killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan were active in the CIA drone program. Their death was no accident. The drone program – the use of robotic, remote controlled flying machines – is relatively effective in killing [...]
Run robot! Like a cockroach
Scientists, or more specifically institutions that employ scientists, compete for attention. Attention can translate into money, prestige, or…more attention. All considered good things by institutional PR folk. So the PR folk crank out announcements and other ‘informational material.’ Hey, when science or research technology can get some attention, who’s to complain? Smile, maybe. Like a [...]
Russians plan asteroid diversion
Nazdrovia! Nothing like starting off 2010 with a little talk of Armageddon (the movie). Rumors were flying around the Internet just before the New Year that the Russians are planning a mission to divert the asteroid 99942 Apophis away from Earth collision.
When you really gotta go…make a big decision