It's time for some science news
Oct. 14th, 2006 05:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunrabI was feeling too low-energy today to go down to Washington DC for the Green Festival (which was sorta vaguely what I had in mind for today) but so that this won't be a complete waste of a day, let me get some of the stack of science thingies off the desk here.
Natural History's October issue has an article about great white sharks. They are apparently sociable creatures. They occasionally leap into the air like dolphins. And they have splash fights with each other: when they're arguing over who gets a piece of food, rather than the attacks you might imagine, they splash each other with their tails several times, and the one who splashes the greatest volume of water wins.
Yesterday's Baltimore Sun science section (yes, you Austinites stuck with the Statesman, I'm in a city that has a regular entire section of the paper devoted to science! It's not quite the New York Times but hey) has another of those articles about finger length. Apparently, women with long ring fingers compared to index fingers are more likely to be athletic, and better athletes in the sports they participate in, than other women. ::SNORT:: (Quick poll: those of you who know me: would "athletic" ever be in the first 100 words you might think of to describe me? The first 1000 words?)
However, far more interesting, the Sun has an article about a new invention: a way to give elephants vasectomies. Apparently, Africa has an elephant overpopulation problem... as do some American zoos. Oh-kaaaay...
New Scientist of 23 September has "qiviut" as their word of the week. Those of us who knit have known about qiviut long since, but apparently your average science reader hasn't. The column does discuss the dangers to animals of refusing to become domesticated, and the near-extinction of the guanaco, compared to their cousins the vicuña and alpaca which have had the good sense to allow themselves to become domesticated.
Same issue also has an article pointing out that conservation journals which are supposed to be scientific in orientation in fact are very short of evidence-based research, and lacking in systematic reviews, analysis, and meta-analysis.
Oh, and the benefits of using ethanol (partly or wholly in place of gasoline/petrol) are offset by the hazards of using ever more agricultural land to produce cheap corn, something those of us who have been reading Omnivore's Dilemma already suspected. More intensive cultivation of corn means more chemical inputs (fertilizer) and increasing energy consumption and greenhouse emissions per ton of corn. Also, clearing and plowing hitherto unused land to plant more corn will release farm more CO2, further increasing greenhouse emissions.
Onward. Prevention magazine (which ranges from flaky New Age alternative "medicine" to sensible stuff) for October has an article about the hype and the truth of various food fear factors - foods where there's been some huge scare that it's bad for you. Eggs, for example, and cholesterol. Fish and mercury pollution. Pertinent here is the reference to "How Many Meals of This Can I Safely Eat Per Month?," a list produced at http://www.oceansalive.org - check it out.
There, that gets several things clear to go into the paper recycling bin. Happy weekend!
Natural History's October issue has an article about great white sharks. They are apparently sociable creatures. They occasionally leap into the air like dolphins. And they have splash fights with each other: when they're arguing over who gets a piece of food, rather than the attacks you might imagine, they splash each other with their tails several times, and the one who splashes the greatest volume of water wins.
Yesterday's Baltimore Sun science section (yes, you Austinites stuck with the Statesman, I'm in a city that has a regular entire section of the paper devoted to science! It's not quite the New York Times but hey) has another of those articles about finger length. Apparently, women with long ring fingers compared to index fingers are more likely to be athletic, and better athletes in the sports they participate in, than other women. ::SNORT:: (Quick poll: those of you who know me: would "athletic" ever be in the first 100 words you might think of to describe me? The first 1000 words?)
However, far more interesting, the Sun has an article about a new invention: a way to give elephants vasectomies. Apparently, Africa has an elephant overpopulation problem... as do some American zoos. Oh-kaaaay...
New Scientist of 23 September has "qiviut" as their word of the week. Those of us who knit have known about qiviut long since, but apparently your average science reader hasn't. The column does discuss the dangers to animals of refusing to become domesticated, and the near-extinction of the guanaco, compared to their cousins the vicuña and alpaca which have had the good sense to allow themselves to become domesticated.
Same issue also has an article pointing out that conservation journals which are supposed to be scientific in orientation in fact are very short of evidence-based research, and lacking in systematic reviews, analysis, and meta-analysis.
Oh, and the benefits of using ethanol (partly or wholly in place of gasoline/petrol) are offset by the hazards of using ever more agricultural land to produce cheap corn, something those of us who have been reading Omnivore's Dilemma already suspected. More intensive cultivation of corn means more chemical inputs (fertilizer) and increasing energy consumption and greenhouse emissions per ton of corn. Also, clearing and plowing hitherto unused land to plant more corn will release farm more CO2, further increasing greenhouse emissions.
Onward. Prevention magazine (which ranges from flaky New Age alternative "medicine" to sensible stuff) for October has an article about the hype and the truth of various food fear factors - foods where there's been some huge scare that it's bad for you. Eggs, for example, and cholesterol. Fish and mercury pollution. Pertinent here is the reference to "How Many Meals of This Can I Safely Eat Per Month?," a list produced at http://www.oceansalive.org - check it out.
There, that gets several things clear to go into the paper recycling bin. Happy weekend!
