Tag Archives: Science

‘The U.S. effect’: Researchers encouraged to report exaggerated or eye-catching results

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“Scientists who study human behaviour are more likely than average to report exaggerated or eye-catching results if they are based in the United States, according to an analysis of more than 1,000 research papers in psychiatry and genetics. This bias could be due to the research culture in the US, authors of the analysis said, which tends to preferentially reward scientists for the novelty and immediate impact of a piece of work over the quality or its long-term contribution to the field.  One of the authors said that there was intense competition in the US for research funds and, subsequently, pressure to report novel findings in prestigious, high-impact scientific journals.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/26/the-u-s-effect-researchers-encouraged-to-report-exaggerated-or-eye-catching-results/

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Indiscriminate surveillance fosters distrust, conformity and mediocrity: research

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“Science, alone, can lay claim to a wealth of empirical evidence on the psychological effects of surveillance. Studying that evidence leads to a clear conclusion and a warning: indiscriminate intelligence-gathering presents a grave risk to our mental health, productivity, social cohesion, and ultimately our future.  Surveillance impairs mental health and performance.  Surveillance promotes distrust between the public and the state.  Surveillance breeds conformity.  Surveillance can actually undermine the influence of authority. Surveillance paves the way to a pedestrian future.  We ignore this evidence at our peril.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/26/indiscriminate-surveillance-fosters-distrust-conformity-and-mediocrity-research/

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UK’s former top drug official: Coke-head bankers caused financial crisis

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“The former top drugs adviser to Britain’s parliament told UK newspaper The Telegraph on Sunday that risk-taking behaviors behind the financial crisis of 2008 were driven by excessive cocaine consumption by the world’s banking elite. Nutt was fired from his post as Britain’s top drugs adviser in 2009, after he criticized the government’s drug policies for inhibiting research into Schedule I substances like psilocybin, which Nutt has studies for its potential to alleviate symptoms of depression. At the time he’d said that consuming the unadulterated, pure form of the drug ecstasy is safer than riding a horse. Nutt was ordered to apologize for his statement on ecstasy.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/14/uks-former-top-drug-official-coke-head-bankers-caused-financial-crisis/

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Breakthrough study claims cannabis could be used to help treat depression

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“It’s well-known that marijuana will get you high, but a lesser known side-effect is that it can alter our response to negative emotions and images. The European Neuropsychopharmacology journal has published a study that has confirmed the positive effect of THC to negative stimuli. The study, which was undertaken at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, claims that THC activates the endocannabinoid system naturally found in the brain to alter our response to negative images or emotions.  With this discovery, the study argues that marijuana may now be touted as a cure to depression and other mental ilnesses.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2400032/Could-marijuana-GOOD-mental-health-Breakthrough-study-claims-drug-used-help-treat-depression.html

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Plants use underground fungus network to send ‘distress signals’ to each other

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“The scientists isolated the plants from each other above ground, covering them with bags and thereby preventing airborne chemicals (one form of plant communication) from traveling from one plant to the other. Then, the team introduced the aphids. In the plants that were connected by fungi, when a single plant was infected with aphids, the other two plants began to mount their chemical defenses, secreting aphid-repelling substances that also attract the wasps that feed on aphid larvae. The plants that were not connected by mycorrhizae were apparently not warned of the attack on the single plant in their group because they secreted no defensive chemicals.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/10/plants-use-underground-fungus-network-send-distress-signals-to-each-other/

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Scientists: Plants communicate with one another through ‘nanomechanical vibrations’

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“A study reveals that plants are able to communicate with each other even when light, scent and touch have been removed from the equation, leading scientists to speculate that there’s a wholly different mechanism they use to encourage each other’s growth. It’s long been known that planting basil near other species can tend to encourage its neighbor’s growth, and it’s not new that plants communicate with each other through shade, chemical smells, root structures and other forms of touch.  By planting chili pepper next to basil, then separating them from all known methods of plant interaction, the chili plant still grew as if it knew the basil was there.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/08/scientists-plants-communicate-with-one-another-through-microscopic-sound-waves/

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Egyptian iron artifacts, earliest ever found, made from meteorite

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“The earliest iron artefacts ever found — funeral beads strung around bodies in a 5,000-year-old Egyptian cemetery — were made from a meteorite, archaeologists said on Monday. The nine small beads come from two burial sites dated to around 3,200 BC, where they were found in necklaces along with exotic terrestrial minerals such as lapis lazuli, agate and gold. X-ray scanners, meanwhile, showed that the meteorite iron had been repeatedly heated and hammered to make the precious jewels for the afterlife. This shows that in the fourth millennium BC, the Egyptians were already advanced in the art in smithing, say the researchers.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/19/the-earliest-iron-artifact-ever-found-was-made-from-a-meteorite/

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Scientists release test to combat counterfeiting of legendary ‘cat poop’ coffee

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“The Asian palm civet eats coffee cherries, the fruit of the coffee plant. They digest the soft fruit and excrete the seeds in their feces, which, according to connoisseurs, gives the coffee a flavor unlike any other in the world. The fact that people will pay exorbitant amounts for real Kopi Luwak has led to a thriving black market in fake Kopi Luwak. Some people sell regular coffee beans and claim they are the famous civet coffee. Others adulterate Kopi Luwak beans with regular coffee beans, hoping drinkers won’t notice the inferior quality. Scientists have developed a test that checks for the unique chemical fingerprint on Kopi Luwak.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/21/scientists-release-test-to-combat-counterfeiting-of-legendary-cat-poop-coffee/

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Can You 3-D Print An Airplane?

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“It’s a new phase in the 3-D printing revolution. ‘We’re transitioning now to a stage where not only can the machine make something, but the machine can actually make its own parts,’ said Gershefeld. Rather than laying down materials flatly, layer after layer, it will be possible to print stronger, interlocking parts that build into huge structures. Just as pixels of different colors come together to form a picture, 3-D pixels will come in different ‘colors’ or shapes.  It’s incredible. If a simple ‘Can you 3-D print an airplane?’ leads down the road to such innovation, imagine what other inventions are stemming from other questions.”

http://dailyreckoning.com/can-you-3-d-print-an-airplane/

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3-D Print Your Own Invisibility Cloak, And More!

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“The invisibility cloak that makes you undetectable to radar was the height of metamaterial capability back in 2006. Now, according to the same researchers, you can print that cloak using an off-the-shelf 3-D printer in your living room… That gives you a good idea of how long an optical invisibility cloak could follow suit.  And you will be able to make it from home. Not a bad Christmas present for the kids, eh?  What once was the sole domain of science labs and military bases will have the letters DIY slapped on it.  This is but one example of how the Click, Print, Anything Revolution will change the world.”

http://dailyreckoning.com/3-d-print-your-own-invisibility-cloak-and-more/

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