Why We'll Always Fear Snakes

From Live Science:

My daughter has a snake, a tiny 8-inch-long, innocuous corn snake, and I hate that thing.

I have seen it, and once, in the name of pretending to be a good mother, I actually touched it. But I hope to never see or touch it again as long as I live.

As an anthropologist, I know that most people around the globe hate snakes (and yes, I know there are people like my daughter who love these disgusting reptiles, but really, they are freaks, all of them except my daughter). The fear of snakes is called ophidiophobia, which is apparently a subset of herpetophobia, the more inclusive fear of reptiles. Although ophidiophobia might seem like a pathology — how often, really, do we encounter poisonous snakes? — anthropologist Lynn Isbell of the University of California, Davis, suggests in her new book "The Fruit, The Tree, and the Serpent: Why We See So Well" (Harvard University Press, 2009) that this fear is not only part of our nature, it's also a good thing.

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NASA Extends Contract With Russia For Trips To Space Station

ESA Photo Gallery / ISS
Copyright: NASA, ESA and Others

From RIA Novosti:

WASHINGTON, May 29 (RIA Novosti) - NASA has signed a $306 million deal with Russia's Federal Space Agency Roscosmos extending the current contract for transporting crew to the International Space Station.

The deal covers four Soyuz launches - two in spring 2012, and another two in fall 2012. It provides for post-flight rehabilitation of crewmembers, limited cargo transit to the ISS, and trash disposal.

NASA said in a statement on its website on Thursday that the contract modification also includes "comprehensive Soyuz support, including all necessary training and preparation for launch, crew rescue, and landing of a long-duration mission for six individual station crew members."

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US Lab Debuts Super Laser

A US weapons lab pulled back the curtain on a
super laser with the power to burn as hot as a star

From AFP:

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — A US weapons lab on Friday pulled back the curtain on a super laser with the power to burn as hot as a star.

The National Ignition Facility's main purpose is to serve as a tool for gauging the reliability and safety of the US nuclear weapons arsenal but scientists say it could deliver breakthroughs in safe fusion power.

"We have invented the world's largest laser system," actor-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said during a dedication ceremony attended by thousands including state and national officials.

"We can create the stars right here on earth. And I can see already my friends in Hollywood being very upset that their stuff that they show on the big screen is obsolete. We have the real stuff right here."

NIF is touted as the world's highest-energy laser system. It is located inside the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory about an hour's drive from San Francisco.

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Hurricane Barriers Floated To Keep Sea Out Of NYC

From AP:

NEW YORK (AP) — When experts sketch out nightmare hurricane scenarios, a New York strike tends to be high on the list.

Besides shaking skyscrapers, a major hurricane could send the Atlantic Ocean surging into the nation's largest city, flooding Wall Street, subways and densely packed neighborhoods.

As a new hurricane season starts Monday, some scientists and engineers are floating an ambitious solution: Barriers to choke off the surging sea and protect flood-prone areas.

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Six Things Science Has Revealed About The Female Orgasm

From The New Scientist:

This week we report on the continuing debate about female ejaculation: is it real, and if so why does it happen?

See Everything you always wanted to know about female ejaculation (but were afraid to ask)

Ejaculation is just one of the aspects of female sexuality that are being demystified by research. In particular, the female orgasm, the subject of so many myths and folk beliefs, is gradually being understood.

Following some intense field research, here are some of the key facts about the female orgasm, as revealed by modern science.

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Sun Cycle 'Lowest Since 1928'

From NASA:

May 29, 2009: An international panel of experts led by NOAA and sponsored by NASA has released a new prediction for the next solar cycle. Solar Cycle 24 will peak, they say, in May 2013 with a below-average number of sunspots.

"If our prediction is correct, Solar Cycle 24 will have a peak sunspot number of 90, the lowest of any cycle since 1928 when Solar Cycle 16 peaked at 78," says panel chairman Doug Biesecker of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center.

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Flipping The Brain's Addiction Switch Without Drugs

Researchers have found a naturally occurring protein that gets rats addicted with no drugs at all. From left: BYU grad student David Allison, BYU psychology professor Scott Steffensen, and recent graduate Micah Hansen, who co-authored the research as an undergraduate. (Credit: Image courtesy of Brigham Young University)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (May 29, 2009) — When someone becomes dependent on drugs or alcohol, the brain's pleasure center gets hijacked, disrupting the normal functioning of its reward circuitry.

Researchers investigating this addiction "switch" have now implicated a naturally occurring protein, a dose of which allowed them to get rats hooked with no drugs at all.

The research will be published Friday in the journal Science.

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Test Tube Babies On the Rise Worldwide

From Live Science:

More than 200,000 babies were born worldwide with the help of in vitro fertilization and other reproductive technologies in 2002, with a 25 percent increase between 2000 and 2002, according to a new report.

However, the "Octomom" aside, multiple births resulting from assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have been on the decline, with Europe and Australia-New Zealand leading the way in the reduction of multiples, say the scientists responsible for the report published online today in the journal Human Reproduction.

(Multiple births, rather than being seen as a success, are considered a serious medical complication with potentially harmful effects for both babies and mom.)

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Plastic Logic's Touch-Screen E-Reader

Paper thin: Plastic Logic's e-reader is as thick as six credit cards. Credit: Plastic Logic

From Technology Review:

The company hopes to carve out a niche with its touch-based interface.

It's still early days for e-readers, and consumers can only choose between a few chunky-looking models. But by next year, Plastic Logic, based in Cambridge, U.K., will start selling a sleek e-reader that's the size of a standard sheet of paper and as thin as about six credit cards, and weighs less than a pound. The design of the device could help win over some customers, but Steven Glass, head of user experience at Plastic Logic, believes that the user interface developed for the device will play just as crucial a role.

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Ghost Remains After Black Hole Eruption

This is a composite image showing a small region of the Chandra Deep Field North. The diffuse blue object near the center of the image is believed to be a cosmic "ghost" generated by a huge eruption from a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy. This X-ray ghost, a.k.a. HDF 130, remains after powerful radio waves from particles traveling away from the black hole at almost the speed of light, have died off. As the electrons radiate away their energy they produce X-rays by interacting with the pervasive sea of photons remaining from the Big Bang - the cosmic background radiation. (Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/IoA/A.Fabian et al.); Optical (SDSS), Radio (STFC/JBO/MERLIN))

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (May 29, 2009) — NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has found a cosmic "ghost" lurking around a distant supermassive black hole. This is the first detection of such a high-energy apparition, and scientists think it is evidence of a huge eruption produced by the black hole.

This discovery presents astronomers with a valuable opportunity to observe phenomena that occurred when the Universe was very young. The X-ray ghost, so-called because a diffuse X-ray source has remained after other radiation from the outburst has died away, is in the Chandra Deep Field-North, one of the deepest X-ray images ever taken. The source, a.k.a. HDF 130, is over 10 billion light years away and existed at a time 3 billion years after the Big Bang, when galaxies and black holes were forming at a high rate.

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American Diets Getting Worse

From Live Science:

Eat your vegetables. Exercise. Don't drink so much beer. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Even fewer Americans in their middle and later years adhere to this healthy lifestyle advice than they did two decades ago.

Despite the well-known benefits of a lifestyle that includes physical activity, eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, moderate alcohol use and not smoking, only a small proportion of older adults follow this healthy lifestyle pattern, a new survey finds.

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The Arctic's Oil Reserves Mapped

Undiscovered Arctic oil reserves are largely under the ocean

From The BBC:

An estimated 30% of the world's undiscovered gas and 13% of its undiscovered oil may be in the Arctic, according to a map published on Friday.

The map is the culmination of an assessment carried out by the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Writing in the journal Science, its authors say the findings are "important to the interests of Arctic countries".

But, they add, they are unlikely to substantially shift the geographic pattern of world oil production.

According to the new map, the majority of oil is likely to be found underwater, on continental shelves.

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The Most Painful Animal Bite on Earth

Image: nebarnix

From Environmental Graffiti:

Remember how whiny you were when your parents made you get a job or mow the lawn or whatever it was you had to do to “become a man/woman?” Feel like a sissy looking back on how “hard” you had it then? If not, you will.

The Setere-Mawe people of Brazil have found something far worse (albeit less humiliating) than your first job at McDonald’s.

Meet the bullet ant. So named because those unfortunate enough to have been stung by one compare it to a gunshot wound - very unfortunate people; apparently, they have also all been shot. It reportedly has the most painful sting of any insect on Earth.

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Tensions Feared As A THIRD Of World's Gas Reserves Found Beneath The Arctic

Untapped: A third of the world's remaining natural gas and 13 per cent of its oil is trapped beneath the Arctic, a survey shows

From The Daily Mail:

Tensions over the Arctic's untapped energy reserves are expected to build after a survey has found substantial mineral riches under the ice.

The analysis, by researchers at the U.S. Geologic Survey, found that a third of world's remaining natural gas and 13 per cent of its oil are trapped beneath the oceans of the North Pole.

The precious supply has remained largely untouched until now because of the impenetrable ice sheets.

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Freeze-thaw Cycle May Explain Saturn Moon's Odd Activity

Saturn's moon Enceladus spews out watery geysers today, but it can't have done so continuously throughout its lifetime, as there is no heat source to power the activity for so long. A new mechanism has been proposed to explain how the moon may freeze and thaw repeatedly (Image: Cassini Imaging Team/SSI/JPL/ESA/NASA)

From New Scientist:

If there is life on Saturn's bizarre, water-spewing moon Enceladus, it's about to spend a lot of time in the freezer.

So concludes Norman Sleep of Stanford University, who says a perpetual cycle of melting and refreezing may offer the best explanation for why Enceladus seems so active today. In Sleep's scenario, Enceladus is now heading back into a long cold phase after a comparatively brief warm spell.

For any potential life on Enceladus, "it's boom and bust", says Sleep.

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Cocker Spaniel World's Meanest Dog

The reason for any individual dog's aggression may be a combination of genetics and poor training, the scientists say (Source: iStockphoto)

From ABC News Australia:

A floppy-eared, innocent-looking breed may be one of the world's most aggressive dogs, according to a new study.

The Spanish study found that English cocker spaniels tend to be more hostile than other breeds.

The discovery adds to the mounting evidence that aggressiveness is an inherited characteristic, suggesting that genes and breeding practices can both help determine how a dog will behave.

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Neurons Take A Break During Slow-Wave Sleep

From Science News:

The time off prevents interruptions that could wake a person up.

Even neurons need quiet time. A new study shows the brain cells take time out while you sleep, preventing you from waking up at the drop of a hat or other nonthreatening object.

For decades, scientists have been measuring electrical activity in the brain during sleep with electroencephalograms, or EEGs. Researchers easily recognize the hallmark dips and blips of each stage of sleep, but what brain cells are doing to produce the signals hasn’t been apparent.

Now, a new study in the May 22 Science shows that a prominent electrical signal of slow-wave sleep, called the K-complex, indicates downtime for neurons. The quiet periods could help people ignore distractions, such as sounds and touches, and stay asleep, the researchers report.

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Melting Greenland Ice Sheets May Threaten Northeast United States, Canada

This visualization, based on new computer modeling, shows that sea level rise may be an additional 10 centimeters (4 inches) higher by populated areas in northeastern North America than previously thought. Extreme northeastern North America and Greenland may experience even higher sea level rise. (Credit: Graphic courtesy Geophysical Research Letters, modified by UCAR)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (May 28, 2009) — Melting of the Greenland ice sheet this century may drive more water than previously thought toward the already threatened coastlines of New York, Boston, Halifax, and other cities in the northeastern United States and Canada, according to new research led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

The study, which is being published May 29 in Geophysical Research Letters, finds that if Greenland's ice melts at moderate to high rates, ocean circulation by 2100 may shift and cause sea levels off the northeast coast of North America to rise by about 12 to 20 inches (about 30 to 50 centimeters) more than in other coastal areas. The research builds on recent reports that have found that sea level rise associated with global warming could adversely affect North America, and its findings suggest that the situation is more threatening than previously believed.

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New Radar to Provide Better Info On Rain

From Live Science:

The University of Oklahoma’s newest radar, OU-PRIME (Polarimetric Radar for Innovations in Meteorology and Engineering) was completed in January 2009.

The radar serves as a research and development testbed for the university's Atmospheric Radar Research Center (ARRC) and is housed within the National Weather Center on campus.

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Wolfram Co-Founder On Why Wolfram|Alpha Doesn't Need to Kill Google

Theo in Tub: Mike Walker

From Popsci.com:

Gray Matter's own Theodore Gray reports from his day job at Wolfram on how his new "knowledge engine" provides exactly what Google can't

PopSci's Grouse recently reviewed Wolfram|Alpha. I guess that's what happens when you ignore your editors for a week: They let someone else write about your project!

PopSci readers know me as the mad scientist behind the Gray Matter column, and the book based on it, Mad Science, but I actually have what I affectionately refer to as a day job, as co-founder of Wolfram Research, Inc, the company behind Wolfram|Alpha. And the reason I was ignoring my editor asking me to write about Wolfram|Alpha is that I was recovering from the lead up to our public launch of that very service.

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