This piece in The New York Times goes through the A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s, and F’s, of Rick Perry’s transcript. Two questions which come to mind: 1) If we know this about Perry, why shouldn’t we know this about all the candidates? I don’t know what getting a B in business law and a D [...]
Monthly Archives: September 2011
US Doctors Infected Hundreds of Guatemalans with Syphilis–And Concealed the Evidence | 80beats
Last fall, it came to light that researchers had infected 700 Guatemalan soldiers, prisoners, and mental patients with syphilis in a US Public Health Service study between 1946 and 1948. The American government apologized for these “abhorrent” practices, and promised to investigate what had happened. A White House bioethics commission released its report on the study this [...]
How Human Are You? A New Turing Test Relies on Spatial Relations | 80beats
Where is the cup? THERE IS NO CUP. What’s the News: Ever since Alan Turing, the father of modern computers, proposed that sufficiently advanced computers could pass as human in a conversation, the classic Turing test has involved what’s essentially instant messaging. Computers designed to imitate human conversational patterns are often entered by their [...]
Personal genomics & rare populations notes | Gene Expression
I’m going to address two points in this post. The next possible target for getting an undersampled population, and the Malagasy results. First, lots of great submissions in regards to populations which are undersampled. Some of them are actually already in the data sets. For example, the Burusho and Kalash are in the HGDP. There [...]
Percy, Percy, me | Bad Astronomy
So I went to a Greek festival last weekend, and ate a ton of really good food. It was outside, with lots of tents set up with different cuisine, and one of them made me smile. I took the picture here, and tweeted this: "At a Greek festival, where they’re serving spicy grilled astrophysicist," linking [...]
Lonely sentinel of the galaxy | Bad Astronomy
I’ve posted lots of pictures of globular clusters in the past, but this new one is something special. And not just because it’s stunningly beautiful… which it is: [Click to spheroidenate, or grab the massively embiggened 3850x3850 pixel version.] This is Hubble’s view of NGC 7006, a relatively faint cluster of a hundred or so [...]
Beetles turn eggs into shields to protect their young from body-snatchers | Not Exactly Rocket Science
Some parents give their children a head start in life by lavishing them with money or opportunities. The mother seed beetle (Mimosestes amicus) does so by providing her children with shields to defend them from body-snatchers. A female seed beetle abandons her eggs after laying them. Until they hatch, they are vulnerable to body-snatching parasites, [...]
Facts Don’t Persuade Climate Skeptics–So What Does? | The Intersection
The answer, according to a new study, is making them feel better about themselves. As I report:
…the contested issues under examination were whether the 2007 troop “Surge” decreased insurgent attacks in Iraq (it did), whether the U.S. economy added jobs during 2010 under President Obama (it did), and whether global average temperatures have risen since 1940 (they have). Those who opposed the Iraq war and supported troop withdrawals were disinclined to credit George W. Bush’s surge with having worked. Those who oppose President Obama are disinclined to credit him on the economy, or to generally believe in global warming—especially that it is human caused.
Nyhan and Reifler once again confronted partisans with information on these subjects that (presumably) contradicted their beliefs—but there was a twist. This time, the contradictory information was sometimes presented in the form of a convincing graph, showing a clear trend (in attacks, jobs, or temperatures). And second, sometimes the individuals went into the manipulation after having undergone a “self-affirmation” exercise, in which they were asked to describe a positive character attribute or value that they possessed, and a situation in which showing that attribute or trait made them feel good about themselves.
And in both cases, the manipulation worked—although by different means.
Presenting an unequivocal graph was powerful enough to change people’s views, even as presenting technical text (at least in the rising temperatures case) was not. Meanwhile, getting people to affirm their values and sense of self also decreased their resistance, presumably because they felt less threatened by challenging information after having had their egos reinforced and their identities bolstered.
Read on here. Huge implications for effective science communication.
Happy first day of spring… Mars! | Bad Astronomy
Today, September 14, 2011, is the vernal equinox for the northern hemisphere of Mars! If you want to be technical, it’s the time when the axis of Martian rotation is perpendicular to the direction of the Sun, and the northern hemisphere is headed into summer (making it the autumnal equinox for the southern hemisphere). When [...]
Nile crocodile is actually two species (and the Egyptians knew it) | Not Exactly Rocket Science
The Nile crocodile is a truly iconic animal. Or, more accurately, two iconic animals. As I’ve just written over at Nature News: The iconic Nile crocodile actually comprises two different species — and they are only distantly related. The large east African Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) is in fact more closely related to four species [...]
Knowledgeable individuals protect the wisdom of crowds | Not Exactly Rocket Science
If you ask someone to guess the number of sweets in a jar, the odds that they’ll land upon the right number are low – fairground raffles rely on that inaccuracy. But if you ask many people to take guesses, something odd happens. Even though their individual answers can be wildly off, the average of [...]
Washington Post rave for A Planet of Viruses | The Loom
Here’s a gratifying review of A Planet of Viruses, just out in the Washington Post: In A Planet of Viruses (Univ. of Chicago, $20), science writer Carl Zimmer accomplishes in a mere 100 pages what other authors struggle to do in 500: He reshapes our understanding of the hidden realities at the core of everyday [...]
Space Commerce: NASA Changes Its Mind – Again
NASA commercial crew program shifts contracting strategy, Florida Today
"NASA today told industry partners it would abandon the use of Space Act Agreements in the next phase of the program developing commercial crew taxis, despite many companies' preference for them. "We've made our decision and we recognize that not everyone will agree with it, but we're at the point where we had to make one and move forward," Brent Jett, deputy director of the Commercial Crew Program office, said during a meeting at Kennedy Space Center."
Keith's note: I love it when people with no apparent commercial experience in the real world make decisions like this regarding commercial partnerships. And then they wonder why companies are increasingly wary of entering into new ways of doing "business" with NASA when NASA is constantly changing the rules.
You can download slides from the NASA Commercial Crew Program Forum presentations here. There will be a Commercial Crew Transportation Technical Requirements Workshop on 4 October 2011 and an Industry Day on 5 October. Location TBA.
UARS Headed For Earth’s Surface On/around 23 Sep.
Space Satellite UARS Adrift and Heading for Earth, ABC
"A nearly 6-ton satellite is heading toward Earth and could crash into the planet as early as Sept. 23, NASA officials said."
Keep Sept. 23 open: A satellite is heading our way, CBS
"NASA has been watching the 6-ton satellite closely. On Friday officials moved up their prediction for its arrival to Sept. 23, give or take a day. Scientists have calculated that the satellite, named the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, will break into 26 pieces as it gets closer to Earth. The agency will offer the public more detailed information early next week."
NASA Studying Shuttle Retrieval of Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) (2001)
"EVA Project Office personnel supported a concept review for the possible Space Shuttle retrieval of the UARS on May 3, 2001. At this point, several different options are still under consideration. The mission would require at least one scheduled EVA to secure various deployable components on the spacecraft. UARS was originally designed to be compatible with EVA operations, so most of the tasks appear to be feasible. An EVA splinter meeting is scheduled for May 10, 2001, to further discuss the EVA requirements for this proposed mission."
"What’s Next?" In Space Exploration Video Contest
"What's Next?" in space exploration - Coalition for Space Exploration announces video contest
"During this historic time of change within the space industry, the Coalition for Space Exploration (Coalition) wants to hear from the American public about what they envision for the future of space exploration. The Coalition is launching a contest based on a simple question, "What's Next?" Participants are encouraged to share their ideas for the future direction of America's space program in a video. The creator of the winning video entry wins an iPad2."
Another Stealth Bolden Appearance
In the 21st Century, How Do You Show What You Know?, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
"... the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, HASTAC and Mozilla today announced a $2 million Digital Media and Learning Competition for leading organizations, learning and assessment specialists, designers and technologists to create and test badges and badge systems. The competition will explore ways digital badges can be used to help people learn; demonstrate their skills and knowledge; unlock job, educational and civic opportunities; and open new pipelines to talent. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and high-level business, technology, civic engagement, philanthropic and other leaders participated in the announcement at the Hirshhorn Museum this morning."
Keith's note: There was yet another stealth Bolden appearance yesterday. They just beam him in and then out of these events. NASA PAO made no advance notice, there is nothing posted on NASA.gov - or on NASA's education webpage. Nothing as to what Charlie Bolden said either. Charlie, why do even bother attending these events if you do not let anyone know you were there - or what your agency will be doing inconnection with what was being announced?
Bullseye – But Sideways – in Kazakhstan
Space Station Trio Lands Safely In Kazakhstan
"NASA's Ron Garan, Expedition 28 commander Andrey Borisenko and flight engineer Alexander Samokutyaev, both of the Russian Federal Space Agency, landed their Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan at midnight EDT (10 a.m. in Kazakhstan). The trio, which arrived at the station on April 6, had been scheduled to land on Sept. 8, but that was postponed because of the Aug. 24 loss of the Progress 44 cargo ship."
Bill Muehlberger
Memorial: Bill Muehlberger, University of Teaxs Austin
"The Jackson School community mourns the loss of Bill Muehlberger and extend their condolences to his family. He died of natural causes on Wednesday, September 14. An emeritus professor in geology, he taught at the University of Texas at Austin for nearly 40 years before officially retiring in 1992. He also taught geology to multiple generations of NASA astronauts beginning with Apollo."
Senate Action on CCDev Budget
Statement by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Senate Funding to Restore American Human Spaceflight Capability
"NASA's Commercial Crew Development Program is the most fiscally responsible means to rapidly advance human spaceflight. It has protected taxpayer dollars with fixed-price, pay-for-performance contracts. It fosters competition that forces companies to compete on reliability, capability and cost. And it leverages private investment - making taxpayer dollars go further. "SpaceX applauds Chairwoman Mikulski, Ranking Member Hutchison and the Members of the Subcommittee for recognizing the value of the program. With the support of Congress, American companies will soon be able to end the flow of tax dollars to Russia and instead invest in high-tech American jobs."
NASA Spinoffs You Never Heard Of
10 Weirdest Consumer Products Based on NASA Technology, io9
"NASA may not have spent its own money to develop the million dollar space pen, but the space agency did change your life in countless other ways. Over the years, NASA's technology has led to countless innovative products that you use every day. Some you'd expect, and some you... definitely wouldn't. With NASA's funding under the gun, it's a great time to remember all of the ways the agency's innovations have enriched us -- including some surprising examples. Here are 10 off-the-wall products that resulted from NASA missions."
