Category: Science
It can be difficult to find gifts for one’s loved ones these days. With the increasing emphasis on technology and gadgets, gifts are often just too expensive. The sentiment still holds true though: as long as it comes from the heart.
Speaking of which, if you’re looking for a way to your game loving boy’s heart, keep abreast of what games are coming out this December. Today, the newest addition to the Metal Gear Series hits the stands. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is perhaps the most awaited PSP game of the year. It provides a link between the popular Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and the original game, Metal Gear.
Another game released today is Star Trek: Legacy. For those who’ve always wanted to know how James T. Kirk would fare against the relentless Borg, this is the game to have. The game spans all the generations of the Star Trek TV Series, from Enterprise, to the Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Definitely a game that any Trekkie or Trekker would be looking forward to. Available for PC and XBOX 360.
NASA has given the go for the launch of space shuttle Discovery. The Discovery is now scheduled to launch on December 7 at 2135h PST.
The crew is headed by Commander Mark Polansky. Their pilot is Bill Oefelein. Mission specialists Nicholas Patrick, Bob Curbeam and Joan Higginbotham as well as astronauts Christer Fusglesang and Sunita Williams of the European Space Agency (ESA) will also be on board. Williams will be staying on board the space station for another six months, replacing ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter who came on board the station in July.
The mission of this team is to continue building the international space station. It is a 12 day mission with three space walks. According to NASA’s senior management the team will be installing girder-like truss to form a new segment. They will also be activating the permanent power and cooling systems of the station. They will be in constant communication with NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Its never too early to start thinking about the impending New Years resolutions (to allow for “last hurrah” binges during the party season no doubt), but before you get the usual blues thinking about how 2007 will mean less food, no tobacco and a nicer you, read on to learn about what could be your new New Years Resolutions. All TRUE and based on scientific findings, courtesy of Live Science.com.
Beer quells heart disease and chocolate staves off cancer? Though often tagged with a disclaimer, studies that tell us to eat, inhale and generally indulge in “bad stuff” is music to our ears. So go ahead and enjoy these bad-for-you remedies?everything in moderation, as they say?until the next study inevitably overturns the research.
1. Drink more BEER
The newest bad kid on the block, beer has long been overshadowed by its healthier alcoholic cousins. While no one’s suggesting you switch that glass of antioxidant-rich Pinot Noir for a tall glass of lager?there’s still that beer gut to worry about?new research has suggested that moderate beer intake can actually improve cardiovascular function. Now if only a scientist will discover the health benefits of ballpark franks and chicken wings. Heaven.
2. Get ANGRY more.
If you’re one of those people who tends to bottle things up, only to explode … don’t hold it in so long. Studies show that bursts of anger here and there are good for the health, and can be an even more effective coping mechanism than becoming afraid, irritated or disgusted. Anger, like the consumables in this list, however, is best in moderation: stay angry for long periods of time and you’ll be plagued with a host of health issues, like blood pressure, sleep disorders and lung damage.
3. Drink more COFFEE
Java is one of the most debated substances around. Is it good for you? Is it bad for you? Both? The consensus, now anyways, seems to favor those who enjoy their morning jolt?unrelated studies claim coffee is a major source of antioxidants in our diet and can help lower your risk of diabetes. Something in the beans is also thought to ease the onset of cirrhosis of the liver and pancreatitis, good news for those who like to party hard all night before their morning caffeine boost.
4. LSD is GOOD To Lessen Drinking
We’re definitely not in the business of advocating drug use. But check out this interesting science: In heavy drinkers, small doses of LSD have been thought to help bypass the rock-bottom stage of alcoholism and prevent relapses. These studies?some decades old?were done in closely monitored, clinical settings; many patients haven’t had a drink in the many years since. It’s an interesting finding that needs a lot more investigation, and not a remedy that should ever be tried at home. Meantime?and this may come as no surprise?a recent study of 36 volunteers who took an LSD-like drug in a lab setting had them reporting mystical experiences and behavior changes that lasted for weeks.
5. Get more SUN
Exposure to the sun’s rays is necessary to survive, but can also kill you in gross, cancerous quantities. Asthmatics, at least, could benefit from measured doses of ultraviolet rays, according to scientists. Sunlight suppressed the immune reactions that cause asthma in some lab studies with mice and could be used to treat humans afflicted with the disease in the future. And sunlight?even if indirect, such as on a shaded porch?is known to boost the mood. Extra sunlight can help office workers avoid afternoon drowsiness, a recent study found. There’s still no excuse to head outside and bake, however.
6. Use MAGGOTS On Your Wounds
They’re creepy, slimy and altogether ooky, but maggots can save your life. These squirmy larvae are science’s newest wonder-cure and were approved in 2003 as the Food & Drug Administration’s only live medical device. Placed on serious wounds, maggots mimic their “wild” lifestyle and munch on bacteria and dead tissue, stimulating healing and helping to prevent infection.
7. Light Up a JOINT
It’s medicinal, we swear! Marijuana, often associated with memory loss, is ironically now being hyped as a way to stave off the ultimate form of memory loss?Alzheimer’s. Recent studies on mice suggest that anti-inflammatories found in the drug prevent the clumping of brain proteins, one major cause of the disease. So when should you start preventative therapy? We suggest waiting for the human studies to wrap up.
8. Drink More RED wine
A crucial ingredient in the diets of the world’s heart-healthiest populations?like those Bordeaux-guzzling French?red wine has long been known to have potent anti-cancer and artery-protecting benefits. The key, some studies indicate, is an antioxidant found specifically in the skin of red wine grapes, called resveratrol. The latest studies even link resveratrol to greater endurance, a reduction in gum disease and Alzheimer’s. White wine, which is fermented after the skins are removed, is less beneficial according to some studies.
9. Eat more CHOCOLATE
Chocolate lovers rejoice: study after study lately has touted the magical benefits of the indulgent treat, which is packed with the antioxidant flavonols that prevent certain cancers and keep your arteries from clogging. The most recent news? These powerful chemicals may even increase blood flow to the brain, warding off dementia. Just stick to the highest cocoa content possible?the bars packed with sugar don’t help your health one bit.
10. Have More SEX
Scientists have found that the benefits of sex go beyond immediate, ahem, gratification and satisfying the goal of procreation. Besides the obvious evolutionary purposes, we can all take pleasure in the news that having sex is an easy way to reduce stress, lower cholesterol and improve circulation throughout the body. As if you needed another excuse.
6. Physica (Physics) by Aristotle (circa 330 B.C.)
By contrast, Aristotle placed Earth firmly at the center of the cosmos, and viewed the universe as a neat set of nested spheres. He also mistakenly concluded that things move differently on Earth and in the heavens. Nevertheless, Physica, Aristotle’s treatise on the nature of motion, change, and time, stands out because in it he presented a systematic way of studying the natural world?one that held sway for two millennia and led to modern scientific method.
“Aristotle opened the door to the empirical sciences, in contrast to Platonism’s love of pure reason. You cannot overestimate his influence on the West and the world.” ?bioethicist Arthur Caplan, University of Pennsylvania
7. De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) by Andreas Vesalius (1543)
In 1543, the same year that Copernicus’s De Revolutionibus appeared, anatomist Andreas Vesalius published the world’s first comprehensive illustrated anatomy textbook. For centuries, anatomists had dissected the human body according to instructions spelled out by ancient Greek texts. Vesalius dispensed with that dusty methodology and conducted his own dissections, reporting findings that departed from the ancients’ on numerous points of anatomy. The hundreds of illustrations, many rendered in meticulous detail by students of Titian’s studio, are ravishing.
8. Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein (1916)
Albert Einstein’s theories overturned long-held notions about bodies in motion. Time and space, he showed, are not absolutes. A moving yardstick shrinks in flight; a clock mounted on that yardstick runs slow. Relativity, written for those not acquainted with the underlying math, reveals Einstein as a skillful popularizer of his ideas.
To explain the special theory of relativity, Einstein invites us on board a train filled with rulers and clocks; for the more complex general theory, we career in a cosmic elevator through empty space. As Einstein warns in his preface, however, the book does demand “a fair amount of patience and force of will on the part of the reader.”
9. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (1976)
In this enduring popularization of evolutionary biology, Dawkins argues that our genes do not exist to perpetuate us; instead, we are useful machines that serve to perpetuate them. This unexpected shift in perspective, a “gene’s-eye view of nature,” is an enjoyable ??brainteaser for the uninitiated.
So is a related notion: that altruistic behavior in animals does not evolve for “the good of the species” but is really selfishness in disguise. “Like successful Chicago gangsters,” Dawkins writes, “our genes have survived, in some cases for millions of years, in a highly competitive world.”
10. One Two Three . . . Infinity by George Gamow (1947)
Illustrating these tales with his own charming sketches, renowned Russian-born physicist Gamow covers the gamut of science from the Big Bang to the curvature of space and the amount of mysterious genetic material in our bodies (DNA had not yet been described). No one can read this book and conclude that science is dull. Who but a physicist would analyze the atomic constituents of genetic material and calculate how much all that material, if extracted from every cell in your body, would weigh? (The answer is less than two ounces.)
“Influenced my decision to become a physicist and is part of the reason I write books for the public today.” ?theoretical physicist Lawrence M. Krauss, Case Western Reserve University
If you’ve always wanted to learn about science and our universe, or just read works by some of history’s greatest minds like Albert Einstein, Galileo or Isaac Newton perhaps, check out this list of The Greatest Science Books Of All Time compiled by Discover Magazine.
1. and 2. The Voyage of the Beagle (1845) and The Origin of Species (1859) by Charles Darwin [tie]
One of the most delightful, witty, and beautifully written of all natural histories, The Voyage of the Beagle recounts the young Darwin’s 1831 to 1836 trip to South America, the Gal?pagos Islands, Australia, and back again to England, a journey that transformed his understanding of biology and fed the development of his ideas about evolution. Fossils spring to life on the page as Darwin describes his adventures, which include encounters with “savages” in Tierra del Fuego, an accidental meal of a rare bird in Patagonia (which was then named in Darwin’s honor), and wobbly attempts to ride Gal?pagos tortoises.
Yet Darwin’s masterwork is, undeniably, The Origin of Species, in which he introduced his theory of evolution by natural selection. Prior to its publication, the prevailing view was that each species had existed in its current form since the moment of divine creation and that humans were a privileged form of life, above and apart from nature. Darwin’s theory knocked us from that pedestal.
Wary of a religious backlash, he kept his ideas secret for almost two decades while bolstering them with additional observations and experiments. The result is an avalanche of detail?there seems to be no species he did not contemplate?thankfully delivered in accessible, conversational prose. A century and a half later, Darwin’s paean to evolution still begs to be heard:
“There is grandeur in this view of life,” he wrote, that “from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
3. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) by Isaac Newton (1687)
Dramatic is an unlikely word for a book that devotes half its pages to deconstructions of ellipses, parabolas, and tangents. Yet the cognitive power on display here can trigger chills.
“You don’t have to be a Newton junkie like me to really find it gripping. I mean how amazing is it that this guy was able to figure out that the same force that lets a bird poop on your head governs the motions of planets in the heavens? That is towering genius, no?” ?psychiatrist Richard A. Friedman, Cornell University
4. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo Galilei (1632)
Courtesy of the University of Chicago
Pope Urban VIII sanctioned Galileo to write a neutral treatise on Copernicus’s new, sun-centered view of the solar system. Galileo responded with this cheeky conversation between three characters: a supporter of Copernicus, an educated layman, and an old-fashioned follower of Aristotle. This last one?a dull thinker named Simplicio?represented the church position, and Galileo was soon standing before the Inquisition.
“It’s not only one of the most influential books in the history of the world but a wonderful read. Clear, entertaining, moving, and often hilarious, it showed early on how science writing needn’t be stuffy.” ?cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, Harvard University
5. De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres) by Nicolaus Copernicus (1543)
Copernicus waited until he was on his deathbed to publish this volume, then prefaced it with a ring-kissing letter to Pope Paul III explaining why the work wasn’t really heresy. No furor actually ensued until long after Copernicus’s death, when Galileo’s run-in with the church landed De Revolutionibus on the Inquisition’s index of forbidden books (see #4, above). Copernicus, by arguing that Earth and the other planets move around the sun (rather than everything revolving around Earth), sparked a revolution in which scientific thought first dared to depart from religious dogma. While no longer forbidden, De Revolutionibus is hardly user-friendly. The book’s title page gives fair warning: “Let no one untrained in geometry enter here.”
