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Amazing Facts

A Dozen Leftovers
October 18, 2010
Here’s a rapid-fire list of links to science stories that looked interesting, but were filling up our backlog.  Thinkers, bloggers and reporters might want to do what they want with them. Baby born after 20 years as a frozen embryo: PhysOrg. Where dinosaurs died reveals how they lived: Live Science. Clues included in diamonds: PhysOrg; […]
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Amazing Facts

Babbage’s Computer May Be Built
October 15, 2010
The “Analytical Engine,” a 19th-century computer conceived by Charles Babbage, may finally be built 140 years after his death.  The remarkable contraption was to be powered by steam and would fill a warehouse, but the eccentric old man could not get the Royal Society to back it.  His idea, 100 years ahead of its time, […]
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Amazing Facts

Migrating Whales Fertilize the Sea
October 15, 2010
Two recent discoveries about whales show them to be not only benign but beneficial.  PhysOrg reported on work at the University of Vermont that indicates whale waste carries nitrogen nutrients to the depths of the ocean, fertilizing the food chain and increasing the production of ocean fisheries.     In another article on PhysOrg, a […]
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Cosmology

Living Fossils Found in Space
October 13, 2010
A type of galaxy that should have only existed long ago is alive and well nearby, astronomers from Swinburne University are claiming.  “The Swinburne researchers have likened the galaxies to the ‘living dinosaurs’ or Wollemi Pines of space – galaxies you just wouldn’t expect to find in today’s world,” said Science Daily.     Very […]
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Amazing Facts

Hairy Bacteria Walk and Talk
October 12, 2010
Little hair-like projections on some bacteria, nearly invisible with light microscopes, are not just for decoration.  They do amazing things – as a pair of recent discoveries brought to light.  They help bacteria walk and talk. But can they dance?  Bacteria swim, but they also land on surfaces – and when they do, they put […]
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Amazing Facts

Brain Rewires for Lost Senses
October 11, 2010
Born without vision or hearing?  The brain can apparently rewire itself to accommodate the loss, reported the BBC News.  Dr Stephen Lomber, who led research published in Nature Neuroscience, said: The brain is very efficient, and doesn’t let unused space go to waste.     The brain wants to compensate for the lost sense with […]
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Amazing Facts

DNA Performs the Linking Rings Trick
October 11, 2010
Those who love a good magic show should be aware of a world-famous trick going on inside their own bodies.  The “Chinese linking rings” trick is done by a team of protein magicians in the cell – but it’s not for entertainment, it’s to repair damage that could lead to cancer.     PhysOrg echoed […]
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Darwin and Evolution

Life: Do Ingredients Imply Emergence?
October 8, 2010
Science articles continue to push the idea that if water is found somewhere, life is certain to emerge.  Other articles look for so-called “building blocks of life” or “ingredients for life,” implying or even plainly stating that life simply emerges from its parts.  While many have complained that this kind of thinking is as ridiculous […]
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Amazing Facts

More DNA Repair Wonders Found
October 7, 2010
One of the most phenomenal discoveries since the structure of DNA was revealed must surely be the discovery of multitudes of protein machines that repair DNA (01/04/2002).  The repair machines are themselves coded by DNA, but DNA would quickly decay into nonsense without them.  Another “fundamentally new” repair mechanism was discovered by researchers at Vanderbilt […]
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Cell Biology

Cosmic Accidents Are Not Scientific Explanations
October 3, 2010
Sunday Meditation Oct 3, 2010 — The classic understanding of science is that it explains things with reference to natural laws, makes predictions, is testable, quantifiable, and falsifiable.  Depending on the branch of science, many researchers still attempt to hold to those ideals.  Eugenie Scott put it this way: “modern science operates under a rule […]
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Darwin and Evolution

Morphogenesis: Evolution of Form Solved?
September 28, 2010
The body plans of organisms are hard to account for in linear strands of DNA.  How do you get a backbone, vertebrae, and ribs out of a chain of nucleotides?  Recognizing the mystery of morphogenesis (the origin of form), the director of the Synthetic Life Lab in New York, Stuart Pivar, has published an “Innovative […]
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Amazing Facts

Mere Biochemistry: Cell Division Involves Thousands of Complex, Interacting Parts
September 25, 2010
In biochemistry, the stem -mere means “part” (as in centromere, telomere) and -some means “body” (as in chromosome, ribosome).  Biochemists are learning that these cell organelles are not -mere bit parts, but -some fit bodies. Telomeres and chromosomes:  PhysOrg reported that the chemical “caps” on the end of chromosomes, called telomeres, have a special code […]
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Birds

Evolutionists Promise Without Delivering
September 22, 2010
Some science news reports lead the reader to think that some major new understanding into evolution is under the headline, but they often fail to deliver.  Darwinian abomination:  Science Daily promised, “Toward Resolving Darwin’s ‘Abominable Mystery’: Patterns of Flower Biodiversity Point to the Importance of Having ‘Room to Grow’.”  The article was accompanied by a […]
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Amazing Facts

Piston Engine Joins Rotary Engine in Cells
September 22, 2010
The rotary engine ATP synthase has been discussed frequently in these pages (e.g., 12/22/2003, 08/10/2004, 08/04/2010) as an exquisite “molecular machine” that produces the cell’s energy pellets (ATP) with a rotary, turbine-like mechanism.  Now, a piston-driven engine has been found at work in every cell’s energy factory.     ATP synthase operates at the end […]
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Amazing Facts

Synonymous Codons: Another Gene Expression Regulation Mechanism
September 19, 2010
Some words in English have alternate spellings, but sound the same.  If the sound is the same, how would a recording device tell them apart?  Would it make any difference?  It shouldn’t, but now scientists are realizing that genetic codons spelled differently can influence the protein formed – even when the spellings, called “synonymous codons”, […]
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