Humanity – Page 114

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Venom for Health

May 7, 2011

Remember when botulinum toxin, one of the most potent poisons known to man, entered medical science for good? Now fashion models brag about how “botox” improved their good looks, and sufferers of excess sweating or migraines find relief with the neurotoxin. The search for good in bad substances has not stopped; other venomous organisms, once […]

Amazing Facts

The Eyes Have It: Pro Software

May 5, 2011

You have a biological version of Photoshop in your eyes. That’s what Richard Robinson, a freelance science writer from Massachusetts, said in PLoS Biology.1 The eye is not a camera, and the retina is not a piece of film. Indeed, the retina might be better likened to a computer running Photoshop, given the extent of […]

Cell Biology

Embryonic Stem Cell Decision Overturned

April 30, 2011

Judge Lamberth’s decision to block federal funding of embryonic stem cell (ESC) research last fall (09/03/2010) has been overturned by a 2-1 vote in a federal appeals court. PhysOrg called this a “major victory to President Barack Obama’s administration.” Theistic evolutionist Francis Collins, head of the NIH, expressed delight at the reversal. The earlier decision […]

Cell Biology

More Complexity in Simplicity Found

April 28, 2011

Primitive things aren’t. That seems to be a common thread in some recent stories that found more complexity in simple living things. Box jellyfish eyes: Jellyfish are among the simplest of animals, so why do box jellyfish have two dozen eyes but no brain? Some of these eyes have now been found to detect features […]

Bible and Theology

Humans As Guinea Pigs

April 27, 2011

Some scientists like to examine everything except themselves. Human beings are natural objects, they think; why not apply the scientific method to the study of other human beings? It’s a perfectly natural inclination; the question is whether the findings have scientific validity, or result in understanding of human nature better than the explanations offered by […]

Bible and Theology

Scientists Invade Religion

April 21, 2011

Science and religion, those uneasy combatants in turf wars, do not get equal treatment in the media. The referees in the science news media frequently overlook invasions by science into religious territory, but fail to heed calls of foul by the invaded. World religion: Last month in New Scientist, Kate Douglas theorized about what an […]

Bible and Theology

Who Should Teach Self-Control?

April 15, 2011

A symposium at Massey University in New Zealand has come up with a profound thought: self-control is a key to a happier life. Academics have helped themselves to an ancient notion that teaching self-control to children leads to happier outcomes as adults. Did the world need science to reach this conclusion? Self-control is […]

Cell Biology

Adult Stem Cell Advances Continue

April 7, 2011

The momentum for stem cell therapy is still on the side of adult stem cells (ASC), not embryonic stem cell (ESC) research. Here are some recent findings: Blood vessel repair: A press release from King’s College London says, “Scientists from King’s College London have uncovered the first genetic evidence that shows cells found on the […]

Amazing Facts

Seeing Is Believing, or v.v.

April 4, 2011

What you see is not what is out there in the world – not exactly, at least. Scientists have shown that your brain is tweaking the light coming in from your eyes and making predictions about what you expect to see. The “blind spot” experiment is well known to students. That’s where it […]

Fossils

Science Discovers the Unexpected and the Obvious

March 30, 2011

Young’s Law jokes, “All great discoveries are made by mistake.” Here are some recent examples. Arch-istan: Think the world’s natural features are all well known? “Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society have stumbled upon a geological colossus in a remote corner of Afghanistan: a natural stone arch spanning more than 200 feet across its base,” […]

Biomimetics

Plagiarizing Nature

March 28, 2011

Copying someone else’s invention is a crime, but researchers in biomimetics are doing it with impunity and getting away with it. Leaf power: “Why come up with new ways to generate clean energy, when we can copy what plants have been doing for millennia?” That’s what led Daniel Nocera and colleagues at MIT to develop […]

Amazing Facts

Neurons Know What to Do

March 27, 2011

Neurons are among the most vital cells in the body: after all, your brain is largely composed of neurons. Neurons are transmission lines of information that keep a body in touch with itself and the world. None of the other body organs would work without neurons. The increasingly powerful tools of microscopy are allowing neuroscientists […]

Cell Biology

We Are Filled with Viruses

March 26, 2011

Viruses have a bad connotation. We immediately think of the ones that cause disease: “I’ve got a virus,” you say when feeling under the weather. Actually, you have trillions of them all the time, even in the best of health. A single gram of stool sample can have 10 billion of them! What does that […]

Amazing Facts

Sensing the World Requires Intelligent Design

March 24, 2011

How do our bodies make sense of the external world? Through our senses, of course; at least they are the entry points of data into the mind. Behind those senses are remarkable mechanisms that we use but do not actively operate. The design in their automatic operations is slowly being revealed with better observing techniques. […]

Mind and Brain

If Pigs Have Wings, SETI Could Be Robots

March 11, 2011

The SETI program is still waiting to catch a sentient signal from deep space, but in the absence of data, people are free to speculate. Michael Dyer, a computer science professor at UCLA, is certain that the first aliens to visit Earth will be robots. He even attached a probability to it, according to Adam […]

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