UPDATE:  SOLVED at 1:49 CDT by Alejandro

Look at us, starting a new riddle cycle off with a bang.  As Tom mentioned in this post, we are able to offer a really cool prize from A&E to the person who solves this riddle.  Here’s a link to the Amazon page, along with the one in the side bar, if you want to check it out.  Don’t spend too much time looking it over – the winner is the first person who solves the riddle!

For clarification, this special prize riddle will work exactly like the weekly riddles.  The riddle is open to everybody; I will be in the comments for feedback; the winner gets his/her name on the list for the next bonus riddle; the winner chooses the subject of my next blog post (Monday’s); the winner is the first person who solves the riddle; and Tom has the final say in any controversy.

Are you ready to riddle?  Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines:

The answer to today’s riddle is a thing.

It exists in the real world.

This thing really lives up to its name.

In order not to “understate” an important characteristic of this thing, you have to learn to compensate.

Sometimes it’s visible to the unaided eye; usually it’s not.

All things considered, today’s answer is on the chilly side.

Today’s answer fits into several categories, one of which is quite rare.

It appears ready to move on to its next incarnation.

…

Finis!  I know you have the answer, so hurry over to the comments and claim that amazing prize.

Everybody is eligible to win, so good luck.

The art of intimidation.

My latest hosted episode of Point of Inquiry is now up, and you can download it to your podcast player or stream it here. The show is an interview with Alexander Zaitchik, author of the new book Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance.

Here’s the show write-up:

This week, the scope of Point of Inquiry expands to include politics and more particularly, the fount of misinformation that is Glenn Beck of Fox News. This TV and radio personality is ushering in a new reign of ignorance in our national discourse—and even has the gall to liken his efforts to those of Martin Luther King, Jr.

But investigative journalist Alexander Zaitchick has pinned Beck to a wall with his new book Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance. He’s even provoked Beck into denouncing him for practicing “despicable, yellow journalism.” Coming from Beck, that’s a compliment.

So tune in to learn more about how Beck has become a new icon of American irrationality—and just general cluelessness.

Alex Zaitchik is a freelance journalist living in Brooklyn, New York. He’s contributed to Salon.com, The Nation, Wired, and many other distinguished publications. In the course of his career he has reported from locations ranging from Miami to Moscow, from Prague to Mexico City—and Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance is his first book.

Again, you can stream the show here, and the website is here.

David Dobbs has a link roundup and commentary on what’s been going down with l’affaire Hauser. It doesn’t look good for Hauser et al., though it seems that the downfall was precipitated ultimately from within if press reports are to be believed. Part of the issue here seems to be that there’s a level of opacity in the scientific process, and you have to trust the scientists themselves over the short term. Over the long term the system of science and its general culture tends to self-correct, at least in the natural sciences, but over the long term careers can rise and fall, and science is produced by human beings. We know that science is possible, it’s been done for at least a few centuries even with the most constrained definitions, but we also know that it isn’t necessarily entailed by the existence of any complex society. A particular set of contingent conditions need to come together to allow for its emergence and perpetuation. So it’s all fine and good to observe that science as a system self-corrects, but without the individual incentives and institutional checks & balances it may never have a chance to flower.

This brings me to Dobbs’ comment about more “open science”:

One worry about more open review — which I can relate to as a journalist — is that one’s ideas get opened up and spread around before publication. This raises worries about ownership and priority and credit, worries that are reasonable, or at least hard to resist, in a culture that especially prizes and rewards these things, and which bases tenure, not to mention fame and prestige and all the accompanying goodies, on breaking the big theory or story. Science in that way closely parallels journalism.

Others argue that our emphasis on individual credit overlooks the collaborative nature of science to start with, and that a more honest approach (in a couple sense of the term) is to share data far earlier in the process. Such open science, the argument goes, would a) let many eyes mine the data so we get more out of it, b) reduce duplication of efforts, and c) serve as a constant check against everything from misreading data to fabricating it.

As the production and transmission of information becomes more “transparent” due to the nature of communication technology I wonder if concerns about ownership will abate, simply because transparency will allow for better reconstruction of the chain of creation and so implied ownership. This may not suffice for patents, but when it comes to scientific glory where reputation and not money is at stake, it may be good enough.

I love this by film from Will Hoffman and Daniel Mercadante for WNYC’s Radiolab to accompany this week’s segment entitled Words:

News

Can autism be diagnosed with a brain scan? The lead author tells the Guardian that the test will be 90% accurate. No, says Carl Heneghan later in the Guardian – the actual chances that someone with a positive result would have autism is 4.5%, or around 1 in 22. The authors reply in the comments, and Heneghan replies back. Meanwhile, Dorothy Bishop discusses why it’s actually very difficult to set up a screening test.

Resistance to resistance is futile. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria carrying a gene called NDM-1 can shrug off all but two of our antibiotics, leading some scientists to warn about the end of the antibiotic era. Maryn McKenna has the best analysis at Superbug, while Sarah Boseley reports in the Guardian.

Harvard psychologist Marc Hauser is taking a year’s leave, amid talk of possible scientific misconduct. David Dobbs has the best overview of the events with tons of great links to other pieces. Nature, however, nailed the headline: Harvard morality researcher investigated for scientific misconduct

“Orangutans use mime to make themselves understood,” writes Ian Sample in the Guardian. 80 Beats sums up the story with some of the messages you can expect.

This is incredible. Photosynthetic algae have been found inside the cells of a “solar salamander”. Anna Petherick has the news at Nature.

Just… what? Virology Journal retracts a paper “speculating that a woman described in the Bible as being “cured by our Lord Jesus Christ” had flu”. Ivan Oransky’s post on the subject is pure gold, from the line “The authors of the original source material — Mark, Matthew and Luke — could not be reached” to the gripe from the paper’s author saying that he’s appalled that “so many comments were made outside the scope of the journal” rather than in letters to the editors. Heaven forfend.

More after the jump…

Russians are more likely to brood than Americans but less likely to get depressed as result. Jonah Lehrer explains why. Hint: it’s not because they’re secretly happy at inflicting the world’s most depressing literature on everyone else…

Knock out an anti-cancer gene in mice; gain the ability to regenerate limbs. Tina Hesman Saey reports in Wired.

I can’t believe the journalist didn’t pick this up: “Researchers report that a spinal fluid test can be 100 percent accurate in identifying patients with significant memory loss who are on their way to developing Alzheimer’s disease.” Paul Raeburn calls the NYT out on the Knight Science Journalism Tracker.

The Splintered Mind has a great post on Cotard delusion, an endlessly fascinating condition where people believe that they are dead.

The H1N1 pandemic is officially over as the WHO downgrades from Phase 6. Surely everyone will be happy, right? Right?

“Hanging is a frighteningly efficient way of ending a life, as executioners can attest and suicides cannot, but surprisingly, we’re still not sure how it causes death,” says Vaughan Bell.

Bristol scientists are developing software to fingerprint (finprint, surely) every great white shark in the world.

In Zoologger, Michael Marshall discusses the world’s most fecund vertebrate. No, it’s not Kerry Katona.

“As warming intensifies, scientists warn, the oxygen content of oceans across the planet could be more and more diminished, with serious consequences for the future of fish and other sea life.” Carl Zimmer talks about the doom that awaits as the oceans run out of oxygen.

Impala, tsessebe, zebra and wildebeest all respond to the alarm calls of baboons, says Matt Soniak

A thoughtful post by PalMD on a healthier attitude towards medical mistakes has spurred some equally thoughtful comments

The latest search for genetic variants that underlie personality differences has come up empty. The Neurocritic dissects the study while the ever-erudite Jonah Lehrer discusses the results in the context of Hamlet.

Guantanamo Bay: torture camp and, er, ecological research centre? A really nice photo-feature from Discover explains the biological allure of the site.

“Ruff” means “Hands off my bone” while “Ruff” means “Get away from me”. Jason Goldman blogs about the meaning of dog growls.

Is the mind like a spreadsheet or a search engine? Melody Dye answers over at Child’s Play.

Stepping away from your computer? Why not help to find a pulsar? These folks did.

Hey, good news! Gray wolves aren’t endangered any mor… oh never mind.

The top 10 lost amphibians, featured in the Guardian. They’re probably extinct. Or behind the sofa.

Heh/wow

“Warning: This article is basically just a press release, copied and pasted.” These journalism warning labels by Tom Scott are incredible.

Life speeded up: the BBC has put together a collection of timelapse videos from its natural history collection.

A diver gets mugged by an octopus, who steals its camera. He gives chase and then takes the octopus for a ride on the end of his speargun. All of it gets captured on video.

The Fastest Claw in the West is probably my favourite David Attenborough documentary of all time. I remember tuning in expecting to watch something about cheetahs. I got something far better – mantis shrimps. The whole thing is now on YouTube.

New monkey species already looks scared. It has every right to.

Carl Zimmer, via John Pavlus, captions every New Yorker cartoon for all time.

Vaughan Bell diagnoses Miley Cyrus’s ex with borderline personality disorder based on her song lyrics

Pollinators in action – great photography by Alex Wild.

The curious case of Wanky Balls.

The electric vaccine gun safeguards health, while allowing you to be macho. Unsurprisingly, the military likes it.

“Well, it’s not cancer. It’s a pea plant.”

This may be the worst pun I’ve ever written…

Journalism/blogging/internet

At the National Association of Science Writers, Tabitha Powledge asks if the future of science publishing depends on the future of science blogging? She deftly sums up various recent developments in the science blogosphere and charmingly credits Discover’s bloggers as “the most universally praised group of science bloggers”

Bora Zivkovic has another epic overview of the emerging suite of science blogging networks

Do open blogging networks threaten brands? John Rennie explores the question in two excellent posts and makes great points about the value of selective recruitment and the problems that remain.

Colin Schultz covers a new study about how science bloggers diversify the news rather than create an echo-chamber, while David Dobbs expands on the theme by looking at the Marc Hauser case.

Apparently the BBC has a strategy for linking out to more external sites, and plans to do more of this by 2013. They’re just not getting it, but it’s nice to see them flirting with relevance.

Razor-sharp commentary from Alice Bell on the myth of scientific literacy, and why it’s meaningless to just call for more of it.

Four reasons why young journalists should blog – this is old news but worth repeating

“The social network of a reader is quickly becoming their personalized news wire; fact, 75% of news consumed online is through shared news from social networking sites or e-mail.” Vadim Lavrusik reports in Mashable.

“Just like reading a novel.” Vivienne Raper lets a “member of the public” loose on my blog and 4 others

Sean Carroll has a diva moment and storms off the set of a bunk “science” show: a warning to all those with starry-eyed visions of a TV career.

Delene Beeland discusses life as a freelancer

Last Caturday, I posted a picture of my cat relaxing a little too well.

This shows a slightly different side to her:

That picture, taken by my brother-in-law Chris, is somewhat more accurate. For some reason, she hates him (and his son Derek even more). She rears back, spits, hisses, and generally makes terrifying guttural noises. It’s really funny.

Chris is an amazing photographer. You should take a look at his stuff!

One of the podcasts I subscribe to is Thinking Allowed from Radio 4. The most recent one was on the role which robots are envisaged to play in the future of Japan:

Also, the rise of the ‘fembot’. The Japanese government is investing billions in the development of robotic technology. They think the robot will do for the 21st century economy what the automobile did for the 20th. However, Jennifer Robertson thinks that as female robots are developed to perform some of the functions traditionally performed by women, it bodes ill for the future of Japanese society.

The guest was very negative about Japan’s plan to substitute robots for immigrants. Basically, she perceived that there was a risk that the Japanese were going to turn into technologically enabled inward-looking xenophobes, closing themselves off to the rest of the world and interacting only with their robot minions. If so, it’s their right as a nation to do so, and I don’t see why all nations should adopt the same policies in regards to globalization. It isn’t as if Japan’s Human Development Index was similar to that of North Korea.

Though science fiction has a generally bad track record as prediction, I couldn’t help but think of Isaac Asimov’s Spacer society of Solaria, from his Robot Series. There’s already a fair amount of media reports about antisocial personality disorders becoming very common in Japan, the sort of stuff that Asimov describes as normal on Solaria. Here is Wikipedia description of the Spacer worlds, of which Solaria was the most extreme case:

In Isaac Asimov’s Foundation/Empire/Robot series, the Spacers were the first humans to emigrate to space. About a millennium thereafter, they severed political ties with Earth, and embraced low population growth and extreme longevity (with lifespans reaching 400 years) as a means for a high standard of living, in combination with using large numbers of robots as servants. At the same time, they also became militarily dominant over Earth.

In many ways the Spacers, and what Japan aims to become, seems to be the realization of what the ZPG movement was pushing for in the 1970s. I’m moderately skeptical that they can pull it off as a practical matter, projections of the feasibility of humanoid robots have been overly optimistic for decades, but it would be an interesting development for a nation which prides itself on its peculiar distinctiveness to be the first to “merge” man and machine into a social ecology.

Image Credit: Wikimedia

Most readers of this weblog are aware that the United States is in a mission of “nation building” in Afghanistan. I know that we probably deny that, but that’s what it is. Going through Google data explorer I’m struck by what an exceptional nation we’ve decided to intervene in. Below is a chart which has infant mortality rate on the y-axis and life expectancy on the x-axis. I’ve allowed the bubbles to be defined by their regions in terms of color, and labelled the South & Central Asian nations to give a sense of the change in vital statistics for the “peers” of Afghanistan over the past generation. Observe that Sub-Saharan Africa is pulling away from Afghanistan in the last 10 years!