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Comment by doone on March 18, 2011 at 7:12pm

I have a blog with links to two children's books on the Big Bang and Evolution http://atheistuniverse.net/profiles/blogs/bang-the-universe-verse-b... you can see the small PDF versions of the two books there.  Enjoy and comment if you care!

Comment by Neal on March 18, 2011 at 10:24am

I like.

Comment by Adriana on March 18, 2011 at 10:12am

That video should be posted on the main page

Comment by doone on March 18, 2011 at 10:07am

A beautiful video, Hope, I never get tired of seeing the images and hearing the music.

Comment by Hope on March 18, 2011 at 10:04am

The Inner Life of the Cell

Comment by doone on March 18, 2011 at 9:11am

Comment by doone on March 18, 2011 at 8:18am

THE WORST CASE: WHAT IF THE WATER RAN DRY IN THE JAPANESE REACTORS?

From Science:

What if cooling in one or more of the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant were lost? Richard Lester, chair of the department of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, emphasizes the "very, very" unlikely possibility of that scenario. But if it were to occur, the inherent heat of the radionuclides would cause the fuel in the reactors to melt. Here's what would happen next. In the event of a meltdown, the fuel could melt through and flow out of the primary pressure vessel, falling into the so-called core capture chamber which sits below the reactor for this very purpose. That vessel has water that would hopefully cool the molten fuel down, eventually ending the crisis. If this didn't happen, however, a steam explosion could blow out the primary containment vessel, spewing massive quantities of radioactive aerosols as well as particulates. With towns evacuated at a perimeter of 30 kilometers, the lethality of that release "would depend on the winds," says Lester.

How would this compare to the disaster at Chernobyl? As noted in the New Scientist:

At Chernobyl the pressure vessel was breached and the reactor had no containment. There, the core itself burned fiercely, largely because it was made of graphite - which was used as the moderator… once the reactor exploded the graphite made the situation worse, because it burned so readily. The fires carried radioactive material from the reactor core high into the atmosphere, where it spread far and wide. This could not happen at Fukushima Daiichi, as it does not use graphite as the moderator.

More here.

Comment by doone on March 17, 2011 at 8:07pm

Which is more Important Old Genes or New Genes?  This answer is found here http://sciblogs.co.nz/southern-genes/2011/03/18/are-newly-evolved-g...

Some scientists at the University of Chicago examined the dispensability of newly evolved genes in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. By comparing the genome of D. melanogaster with those of other closely related fruit flies, they identified a bunch of newly evolved genes. They then knocked down the functions of these genes one by one, and  observed the effect these knockdowns had on the flies, and whether they survived and were normal.

The somewhat surprising result was that a whopping 30% of newly evolved genes were essential for the flies’ viability. What do I mean by viability? If the genes were knocked out, the flies died.

How does this compare to ‘old’ genes? The researchers performed the same experiment using ancient genes, and found that 35% were essential. That’s not much different from 30%, suggesting that new genes are just as important as old genes for survival!

Comment by doone on March 17, 2011 at 5:10am

Ancient 'Hyperthermals' Serve as Guide to Anticipated Climate Changes; Sudden Global Warming Events More Frequent?

ScienceDaily (Mar. 16, 2011) — Bursts of intense global warming that have lasted tens of thousands of years have taken place more frequently throughout Earth's history than previously believe, according to evidence gathered by a team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110316152941.htm

Comment by doone on March 16, 2011 at 10:05pm

This collection of AIRS images of Ireland positioned in the shape of a clover include visible (left), infrared (center) and microwave (right). They were captured from the AIRS instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite on March 3, 2011 and revealed a land surface temperature near 50F 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110316171233.htm?utm_s...

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