Tiny Animals on Fingers

from Yahoo!Picks:

Tiny Animals on Fingers Page through the hundreds of photos in this remarkableFlickr pool, and you start to get the feeling that many of the Earth's smallest beasties just want to get a good look at their human neighbors. Image after image reveals insect, mammal, reptile, and bird in an inquisitive position, griping some person's index finger and gazing intently at the enormous creature that has hoisted it upwards. Big-eyed hamsters, bigger-eyed moths, and five (count 'em, five) red eyed tree frogs all appear to say, "Just let me take you in!" In some cases, though, the wee ones are too new or too busy to peek at their many-fingered photographer. And, of course, not everyone likes being handled in such a manner. We wouldn't want to meet this guy in a dark alley. Many of the insect portraits are worth special notice for their amazing Technicolor dream coats. These moths, ladybugs, and worms come dressed to the nines.

evolution vs politics

From Arts & Letters Daily Charles Darwin's theory of evolution can be linked, some say, to such diverse evils as communism, fascism, and terrorism...

is it biology, chemisty, physics, or philosophy?

from Arts & Letters Daily:

Can biology be reduced to chemistry and physics? And whose problem is it? Does it belong to philosophy or biology?... more

why war? no, why peace?

from SciTech daily:

Instead of asking, "Why is there war?", Steven Pinker asks "Why is there peace?" ... [more]

how'd they do that?

from SciTech Daily:

Birds in Chernobyl choose to nest in sites with lower levels of background radioactivity, but how they can tell? ... [more]

alternative for video gaming

more thoughts on my video gaming addicted son:

from SciTech Daily:
Why not channel all the time and energy people spend on computer games into useful work to solve large-scale computational problems and thus make computers more intelligent? ... [more]

mind-reading not a hoax?

This article was so cool to read. Visions of Johnny Carson in a turban came to mind as I switched over to the article's URL (SciTech daily pointed to it). Turns out there's some MRI research that's been done to see where in the brain simple decisions are made, and they've gotten results. They seem to be able to tell what choice has been made in a decision.

'Infomania' worse than marijuana

Many workers are always on standby to react to incoming messages. Workers distracted by email and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers, new research has claimed.
[read the article]

video game junkie

My son is a video game junkie. Maybe I should start a group called MADVG (Mothers Against Driven Video Gamers - I wanted the MAD of MADD to stay in there, but don't know if it makes for a lame acronym).

For four (?) years, he has played Runescape during nearly every bit of his free time at home, and who knows how much time he gets on it when he's at a friend's house. The RuneHQ site has lots of info about Runescape. He may even have access in the library when he stays after school (hey, maybe I could get the librarians to ban access . . .).

When I'm home (which isn't often these days, since I work full time 1000 miles away :-( and get home on weekends), I try to force him off after an hour or two straight, to go read, do a chore, hang out with me, run around outside, play his instrument, do scouts homework, etc (note, his physique hasn't suffered from this addiction, since he is also a soccer monster - at least we have that).

So, as I read this article, I am, yet again, seeking ways to have him get less interested. I don't know if we'll fix it while he and Husband are still in Rochester, NY. There's only one boy his age in our "neighborhood" (term used loosely because we live on a direct-line road into the city from a major highway, and most of the residents on our block are young professional renters). I have hopes that, when they join me in Melbourne, FL, the neighborhood we've chosen will provide him with lots of choices of kids to hang out with.

excerpt from the article:
The research found that games can provide opportunities for achievement, freedom, and even a connection to other players. Those benefits trumped a shallow sense of fun, which doesn't keep players as interested.

world's stinkiest flower

this is so strange. looking kinda like a fungus, it smells like rotting flesh (yuck!), and it's also considered world's largest flower

as my sister would say, "eww, weird!"



more pictures of this flower
Wikipedia article

google earth

Just before (I think) the map search engines started including satellite pictures in their sites, Google Earth came out. You have to download an engine to run it. (and remember: double-clicking on the plus or minus sign zooms in or out as long as you don't click again, so it can be frustrating if you're not sure what the heck it is doing)

Anyway, I was just prompted to reload the engine yesterday (I'd loaded it when it was new, but the hard drive died and I had to get a new one, etc, etc) when Wikipedia showed me that it has a Google Earth link for a town that I was curious to know about (actually, curious to know if there was any more info that I didn't already know about it - it's a small place).

Well, as coincidences show, there is an interesting article I just found today. It talks about how scientific research is being doing on Google Earth. Pretty cool.

Google Earth Embraced by Geologists

Can men marry if they have ovaries?

By Faye Flam
Inquirer Staff Writer

Recent efforts to pass amendments that define marriage as a union between a "man" and a "woman" are going to run into more than just political opposition.

Scientists are contending there's no clear definition of the gender divide.

There are at least seven definitions, but not everyone qualifies as male or female across the board, says Galdino Pranzarone, a psychologist at Roanoke College who has argued against marriage amendments on the editorial pages of the Roanoke Times. [more]

aging brain has emotional benefits

It is certainly encouraging to have stumbled across this headline in one of my many email newsletters. Gives you a good thing to look forward to.

Older but Mellower: Aging brain shifts gears to emotional advantage

Given all the bad news that science has delivered about brain cells withering and memory waning as the years mount, older people have a right to be cranky. But, instead, the over-50 crowd handles life's rotten realities and finds life's bright side more effectively than whippersnappers do. In no small part, that's because the aging brain makes critical emotional adjustments, a new study indicates.

benefits of virtual reality

from the "Anxiety and Stress Management" blog:


Benefits of Virtual Reality
Exercise has been seen as a valuable addition to our lives not only because it promotes physical health, but because it keeps our mental health. The question of whether outdoor exercise or virtual reality exercise is better. Read on.

The February 2006 issue of the International Journal of Stress Management carries a report of just such a study. Evaluating the results from 112 psychology students who were put in one of three situations: taking a brisk outdoor walk, walking on a laboratory treadmill while viewing a virtual reality video of the same outdoor walk or viewing the video without exercise. The psychologists measured mood and "enjoyment" measures before and after the trials and guess what they found?

The students who were on the laboratory treadmill with the virtual reality video were more relaxed and "experienced the least tension of the three conditions". So, it seems that indoor exercise with a component that provides a bit of the great outdoors is beneficial to your mental and physical health.

the end of "aging eyes"?

Just in:

from SciTech Daily:
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060422/fob2.asp
A new type of eyeglasses with electrically adjustable focus might someday render bifocals and reading glasses obsolete

Getting to break the 40-something age barrier, my eyes have started "the change". It really is a milestone when someone who has had 20:20 vision (or better) all their life finds they can no longer read what was previously taken for granted. Yet another reminder of being human . . .

continuing human evolution

Scientists report finding more than 700 genetic variants that evolution may have favored in the past 10,000 years.

[the article]

Pollution Information Site

A few months ago I visited Denver, CO. The sky was so clear it was amazing. Especially compared to my hometown, Rochester, NY, which can be compared to Great Britain in its sunniness (or lack thereof). Well, the whole time I had trouble breathing (fortunately it was a business trip where I could stay in the same hotel the whole time if I felt like it - I did get out, but not for strolls, that's for sure). Turns out, Denver was on code red for air pollution the whole time. I was amazed. Because it was so bright I guess I assumed that the air should be fine.

So, when I fell upon this article, I just HAD to look. Only thing is, I don't know the zipcode for Denver & most other places. So I recommend gathering the zipcode from an online mapping service, such as Yahoo! Maps, first.

Update: I looked up both Denver and Rochester. Apparently Rochester is in much worse shape. Perhaps I became alarmed just because there is an air quality report on the Denver news every day? There isn't one in Rochester. Maybe there should be.



from Utne Web Watch:

Scorecard: The Pollution Information Site
By Staff, Scorecard
Curious about what's going into your air and water? Just plug your Zip code into Scorecard.org -- a website that identifies the major polluters in your neighborhood. The site also contains valuable information on chemicals, watersheds, superfund sites, and animal waste. -- Nick Rose
http://www.scorecard.org/

science vs religion: they don't have to be at odds

The article on page one of this newsletter provides one person's thoughts at how science and religion can be considered complementary to each other, and that it is fundamentalists on both sides who continue to embrace a schism.

How I got here: SciTech daily / Closer To The Truth / Resources / Metanexus / Newsletters

fido's first cell phone

from Wired:

A bone-shaped, slobber-proof cell phone for dogs will hit the market next year. Has the world gone barking mad? You'd be surprised by the bone-fide applications. [the story]

careful where you put that tree

from Wired:

Think you're doing the Earth a favor by planting a tree? Not so fast -- new research shows forest locations could make or break efforts to combat global warming. [the story]