That’s My Soul Up There

Dead salmon (not, apparently, frozen in a waterfall) responds to pictures of people. Not.

A dead salmon has become a scientific celebrity after its brain supposedly lit up when shown pictures of humans during a brain scan.

Some bloggers last week reported that the fish was still thinking or that the research is evidence of an ethereal soul. However, the study was done to show that data from an fMRI brain scan can lead to false positives — misleading results — if not carefully analyzed.

Yes, the salmon was dead — bought in a lifeless state at a fish market and scanned an hour later. No, the results are not shocking or miraculous. Like many scientific studies, the study and its results, presented earlier this year in a poster at a conference, are technical and rather bland:

….

In a nutshell, the data reported by Bennett and colleagues in no way suggests the salmon’s brain was functioning, but rather reveal anomalies that can be misleading if you’re not careful.

In other words, sloppy statistics can lead to some really, really silly conclusions. Where have we heard that before?

Oh, yeah. Here.

Hey, Honey! You Married A Mutant!

The New York Times reports on the discovery of a genetic mutation that results in a person only needing six hours of sleep each night instead of the “normal” 8+ hours.

Researchers have found a genetic mutation in two people who need far less sleep than average, a discovery that might open the door to understanding human sleep patterns and lead to treatments for insomnia and other sleep disorders.

The finding, published in the Friday issue of the journal Science, marks the first time scientists have identified a genetic mutation that relates to sleep duration in any animal or human.

Although the mutation has been identified in only two people, the power of the research stems from the fact that the shortened sleep effect was replicated in mouse and fruit-fly studies. As a result, the research now gives scientists a clearer sense of where to look for genetic traits linked to sleep patterns.

…..

The scientists were searching the samples for variations in several genes thought to be related to the sleep cycle. In what amounts to finding a needle in a haystack, they spotted two DNA samples with abnormal copies of a gene called DEC2, which is known to affect circadian rhythms. They then worked back to find out who provided the samples and found a mother and daughter who were naturally short sleepers. The women routinely function on about 6 hours of sleep a night; the average person needs 8 to 8.5 hours of sleep.

For as long as I can remember, I have slept no more than six hours in any night – unless I was sick. That’s the only times I have slept longer. This has always been a source of wonder for others in my family. My mother in law – here for a few weeks – again commented on how I seem to get up awfully early. (She’s made that observation in the past many times). My wife – again – explained that I simply never slept eight hours. My wife is used to it by now. I simply get up and go do whatever until it is time for her to get up.

So I read this article then went out into the living room and announced, “Hey, Honey! You married a mutant.” She immediately replied, “I knew that.”

Before I told her why.

I think I’m insulted.

But this is interesting. Do you realize that people with this mutation have an extra two hours every day that “normal” people do not?

Now, if I can just figure out how to get the retractable metal claws, I’ll be all set.

Warning! Global Warming(tm) Will Cause The Same Weather!

It’s official: Everything is a sign of Anthropogenic Global Warming. Study designed to measure ice storm severity

An electric utility official and a state meteorologist have developed a system to measure the severity of an ice storm that may help people better prepare.

Hmm…makes sense. It could prove to be quite a useful tool. Tell me more, please.

Sid Sperry, an official with the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives, and Steve Piltz, the meteorologist in charge at the Tulsa National Weather Service forecast office, created the “Sperry-Piltz Utility Ice Damage Index.”

Snazzy name, but why not the “Piltz-Sperry Index”? If you say that quickly it sort of sounds like Pillsbury, and name recognition is everything.

Sorry. Please continue telling me about the index and how it works.

Researchers at the Oklahoma Climatological Survey office in Norman found evidence of warming at the surface by studying statewide average winter December through February temperatures since 1896. Another report indicated warming at the surface and lower portions in the atmosphere across most of the nation and in particular the northern hemisphere.

Huh? Warming? Who said anything about warming? I thought you were going to tell me about your new Ice Damage Index.

Maybe that will be in the next paragraph.

The hypothesis that a warming climate could lead to more frequent ice storms meshes with ideas of conditions needed to form freezing rain.

Hmm…still no information on that Index. Instead, we are told warming temperatures will lead to more ice storms. In Oklahoma.

Hmmm….seems to me there are plenty of ice storms in Oklahoma already, and have been for some time. Seems that real warming should result in more ice storms in, oh, I don’t know, South Dakota or Alberta.

Got anything about that Index?

Although there’s no solid proof of a connection between the two, research suggests the possibility that significant ice storms will continue to affect Oklahoma.

Ah, so now we are asked to believe this “never been seen before by human beings” situation will result in the continuation of existing weather patterns. And, hey!, who needs “solid proof” anyway?

Damn you Global Warming! Damn you all to hell!

Damage potential is categorized in five levels by ice thickness, wind speed and direction, and temperatures for the storm period.

“By being able to predict three or four days in advance not only the likely path and footprint of an ice storm, but also accurately estimating the total amount of ice that could potentially accumulate on power lines, and knowing well ahead of time the forecast wind speeds and temperatures, we can better prepare our electric line crews for the potential damage that they may be dealing with,” Sperry said.

He said they can know well ahead of time where to send additional repair crews, where ice accumulations will be the most severe, and predict with a high degree of accuracy the amount of damage to a utility system.

The Sperry-Piltz Index returns! Hallelujah! And, you know what? That actually sounds like a useful tool. Which begs the question as to why we had to put up with all of that Global Warming nonsense in the story. It is almost as if any story about the weather is viewed as a “teaching moment” for all of us among the great unwashed.

Global Colding Update

Heard the hysteria about ice melt in the arctic? Well, it turns out that with the “melting season” officially over there is actually 9% more ice than last year. Hmmm…what do you call it when there is more of something than there was before??? Oh yeah, that’s right, its called an increase.

Of course, this shouldn’t be surprising as we are witnessing a dramatic cooling of the Earth’s climate:

Since just January 2007, the world has cooled so much that ALL the global warming over the past three decades has disappeared! This is confirmed by a plot of actual global average temperatures from the best available source, weather satellite data that shows there has been NO net global warming since the satellites were first launched in 1979.

If you’re a member of the Church of Gorology never fear! Just keep repeating the mantra “All cooling is consistent with AGW…All cooling is consistent with AGW…ohmmmmm.” And don’t forget to tithe!

(Gleaned from QandO)

Clear As Glass

It seems that the expression clear as glass doesn't apply to the nature of glass. There is more than a little disagreement over what glass actually is.

"They’re the thickest and gooiest of liquids and the most disordered and structureless of rigid solids," said Peter Harrowell, a professor of chemistry at the University of Sydney in Australia, speaking of glasses, which can be formed from different raw materials. "They sit right at this really profound sort of puzzle."

Philip W. Anderson, a Nobel Prize -winning physicist at Princeton, wrote in 1995: "The deepest and most interesting unsolved problem in solid state theory is probably the theory of the nature of glass and the glass transition."

He added, "This could be the next breakthrough in the coming decade."

Thirteen years later, scientists still disagree, with some vehemence, about the nature of glass.

Peter G. Wolynes, a professor of chemistry at the University of California, San Diego, thinks he essentially solved the glass problem two decades ago based on ideas of what glass would look like if cooled infinitely slowly. "I think we have a very good constructive theory of that these days," Dr. Wolynes said. "Many people tell me this is very contentious. I disagree violently with them."

(I love that quote from Wolynes.) It is a fascinating article. One of the little blurbs that intrigued me was that glass becomes more stable over a (very) long period of time. Sort of like how concrete cures.

Tired And Shagged Out After A Prolonged Squawk

More about Norwegian Blue Parrots of Monty Python fame…turn out there actual used to be some: Norwegian Blue parrot really DID exist – but now they are all 'stiff, bereft of life and ex-parrots'

Dr David Waterhouse, a fossil expert and Python fan, has found that parrots not only lived in Scandinavia 55million years ago, but probably evolved there before spreading into the southern hemisphere.

His discovery was based on a preserved wing bone of a previously unknown species, given the scientific name Mopsitta Tanta – and now nicknamed the Norwegian Blue.

…

Dr Waterhouse, 29, said of Mopsitta Tanta: "Obviously, we were dealing with a bird that is bereft of life, but the tricky bit was establishing it was a parrot."

He was studying for a PhD at the University of Dublin in 2005 when he visited a museum in Jutland and spotted a fossilised 2in-long humerus – appropriately enough, the funny bone – among bird remains which had been found near an open-cast mine.

Research has now confirmed the bone was part of an upper wing from a bird in the parrot family. Although the mine was in Denmark, the birds would also have lived in what is now Norway.

Dr Waterhouse, now assistant curator of natural history at the Norfolk Museums Service, said: "All that remained was a single upper wing bone, but it contained characteristic features that showed it was clearly from a member of the parrot family, about the size of a yellow-crested cockatoo.

"It isn't as unbelievable as you might think that a parrot was found so far north.

"When Mopsitta was alive, most of northern Europe was experiencing a warm period, with a large shallow tropical lagoon covering much of Germany, South-East England and Denmark.

I've got further dialogue going through my head:

"A parrot? In Scandinavia?"

"Well, it probably escaped from a zoo."

"Isn't very likely…."

(As I clearly stated in an earlier post…I'm a bit of a dork.)

This Isn’t Important

As Gaius seems to have gone off someplace (possibly to help OJ Simpson track down the real killer), I feel I should post something here.  Unfortunately, most of my blogging of late has involved calling people names (I know, I know…I should know better.)

I do have something fun for some people.  If you enjoy irony and bitter sarcasm combined with statistics and an academic free for all (and who doesn't?), then you will enjoy Roger Pielke's devastating take down of a scientific methodology challenged colleague. 

It begins:

In his latest essay on my stupidity, climate modeler James Annan made the helpful suggestion that I consult a "a numerate undergraduate to explain it to [me]." So I looked outside my office, where things are quiet out on the quad this time of year, but as luck would have it, I did find a young lady named Megan, who just happened to be majoring in mathematics who agreed to help me overcome my considerable ignorance.

From there things get hysterical.

 O.K., hysterical if you are a bit of a dork.

White Punks Coats On Dope

No, not the old song by The Tubes, rather the results of a somewhat unscientific poll of scientists. It seems some 20% of respondents to an online poll admitted they use "brain boosting" drugs. 

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN)  — One in five respondents to a new survey in the journal Nature say they've used drugs to boost their brain power.

"We were putting our finger in the air to see what our reader response would be. And it was tremendous," said Brendan Maher, an editor with the widely read scientific publication. "What it's suggesting is there are a high percentage of adults using these drugs."

The informal, nonscientific survey, conducted online, polled 1,400 people in 60 countries. Most of the responders, the majority of whom said they worked in biology, physics, medicine or education, reported taking the drugs to improve their concentration. 

An interesting question for reporters covering the next breathless scientific news release would be to ask the scientists involved when they took their last jolt. Things like this tend to diminish the reputations of the entire field of science in general. Because, as the article points out, these drugs can lead to real problems and real addictions. Not to mention the real questioning of results of studies.  

Oddly enough, the poll was taken as a result of an April Fool's joke that turned out to be somewhat less of a laughing matter, according to Nature. 

The US National Institutes of Health is to crack down on scientists 'brain doping' withperformance-enhancing drugs such as Provigil and Ritalin, a press release declared last week. The release, brainchild of evolutionary biologist Jonathan Eisen of the University of California, Davis, turned out to be an April Fools' prank. And the World Anti-Brain Doping Authority website that it linked to was likewise fake. But with a number of co-conspirators spreading rumours about receiving anti-doping affidavits with their first R01 research grants, the ruse no doubt gave pause to a few of the respondents to Nature 's survey on readers' use of cognition-enhancing drugs.

The survey was triggered by a Commentary by behavioural neuroscientists Barbara Sahakian and Sharon Morein-Zamir of the University of Cambridge, UK, who had surveyed their colleagues on the use of drugs that purportedly enhance focus and attention (Nature 450, 1157–1159 ; 2007). In the article, the two scientists asked readers whether they would consider “boosting their brain power” with drugs. Spurred by the tremendous response, Nature ran its own informal survey. 1,400 people from 60 countries responded to the online poll.

Could the results have been skewed by the people who were in on the joke? Of course. Does that lessen the negative impact here? Not in the least. 

Science For The Masses

From the Telegraph comes this report on amazingly obvious science. That is to say, science that is so obvious that it should be a crime that research money was diverted to fund the studies.

If you give kids more toys they'll play more

Scientists have recently hit upon an extraordinary method for cutting levels of childhood obesity: give kids toys that make them run about.

The US study concluded that supplying infants in childcare centres with balls, skipping ropes and hula hoops can encourage them to exercise more at playtime. Surely this must have crossed someone's mind before?

The researchers from the University of North Carolina went one step further, however, surmising that the best toys for getting children to run around are non-stationary ones. Whilst climbing frames can help 'motor skills', they don't incite children to charge around with gay abandon as much.

Surely the main conclusion from this study is that some childcare centres need to be given a good kick up the backside for not giving their children the opportunity to goof around with a tennis ball.

These days even zoo animals are given toys to play with so that they remain fit and healthy. And since you can't expect a four-year-old to take themselves off on a five mile jog any more than you can a mongoose, surely the provision of toys is a bit of a no-brainer.

The stories in the article are from the website Null Hypothesis, the Journal of Unlikely Science where you can learn about even more insane wastes of money, read spoofs of science and discover the top ten most deadly vegetables. None of which are Brussels  sprouts, however. It's a fun site.

Blue Roses And Whiskey

Songwriters have used the words 'blue roses' to describes sad, lost love or something impossible. All those lyrics are now obsolete. The Suntory company of Japan, a major whiskey distiller, is branching out. They will begin selling blue roses sometime next year in Japan . The US and Australia are also targeted for the genetically modified flowers at a future date yet to be determined. 

TOKYO (AFP) – Think that red roses are predictable? In Japan, gift-givers soon will also have the option of blue roses.

The Japanese company that created the world's first genetically modified blue roses said Monday it will start selling them next year.

Suntory Ltd., also a major whisky distiller, hopes to sell several hundred thousand blue roses a year, company spokesman Kazumasa Nishizaki said.

"As its price may be a bit high, we are targeting demand for luxurious cut flowers, such as for gifts," he said. The exact price and commercial name for the blue rose have not been decided.

The company is also growing the rose experimentally in Australia and the United States to get approval for sales, but no timing has been set for commercial launches in the two countries.

Here's some information on how the roses were created. What we here at Blue Crab Boulevard can't figure out is why a distiller was even interested in this. 

We'd have thought they'd be more interested in pink elephants.

UPDATE: One of the fun things about blogging is finding the huge amount of knowledge that is out there in the world. Via email, I have been informed – by someone who (as a corporate guest) went on a tour of Suntory's original distillary. The place is a garden spot, apparently. It seems that the founder of the company was a huge fan of flowers and that Suntory has been involved in breeding and modifying flowers for some time. I am also informed that their whiskey is very, very good. Thanks for the info, Terry!

Giant Fraud

On February 2, 1870, the Cardiff Giant was finally revealed as a fraud in court. In fact, both of the fakes were declared fake. The original one and the plaster copy that PT Barnum had been showing – while declaring the original fake to be fake. Confused yet?

The Giant was the creation of a New York tobacconist named George Hull. Hull, an atheist, decided to create the giant after an argument with a fundamentalist minister named Mr. Turk about a passage in Genesis that stated that there were giants who once lived on earth.

The idea of the petrified man did not originate with Hull, however. In 1858 the newspaper Alta California had published a bogus letter that claimed that a prospector had been petrified when he had drunk a liquid within a geode. Some other newspapers had also published stories of supposedly petrified people.

Hull hired men to carve out a 10-feet-long, 4.5 inches block of gypsum in Fort Dodge, Iowa, telling them it was intended for a monument of Abraham Lincoln in New York. He shipped the block to Chicago, where he hired a German stonecutter to carve it into the likeness of a man and swore him to secrecy. Various stains and acids were used to make the giant appear to be old and weather beaten, and the giant's surface was beaten with steel knitting needles embedded in a board to simulate pores. Then Hull transported the giant by rail to the farm of William Newell, his cousin, in November 1868. He had by then spent $2,600 on the hoax.

When the giant had been buried for a year, Newell hired two men, Gideon Emmons and Henry Nichols, ostensibly to dig a well. When they found the Giant, one of them has been attributed to saying "I declare, some old Indian has been buried here!".

Between the time the Cardiff Giant was "discovered" and the revelation that it was a fake, many intelligent people fell for the hoax. A man who watched the odd hoax unfold before his eyes,  Andrew Dickson White, wrote:

The current of belief ran more and more strongly, and soon embraced a large number of really thoughtful people. A week or two after my first visit came a deputation of regents of the State University from Albany, including especially Dr. Woolworth, the secretary, a man of large educational experience, and no less a personage in the scientific world than Dr. James Hall, the State geologist, perhaps the most eminent American paleontologist of that period.

On their arrival at Syracuse in the evening, I met them at their hotel and discussed with them the subject which so interested us all, urging them especially to be cautious and stating that a mistake might prove very injurious to the reputation of the regents, and to the proper standing of scientific men and methods in the state, that if the matter should turn out to be a fraud, and such eminent authorities should be found to have committed themselves to it, there would be a guffaw from one end of the country to the other at the expense of the men intrusted by the State with its scientific and educational interests. To this the gentlemen assented, and next day they went to Cardiff. They came; they saw; and they narrowly escaped being conquered. Luckily they did not give their sanction to the idea that the statue was a petrifaction, but Professor Hall was induced to say: "To all appearance, the statue lay upon the gravel when the deposition of the fine silt or soil began, upon the surface of which the forests have grown for succeeding generations. Altogether it is the most remarkable object brought to light in this country, and, although not dating back to the stone age, is, nevertheless, deserving of the attention of archaeologists. [7]

At no period of my life have I ever been more discouraged as regards the possibility of making right reason prevail among men.

As a refrain to every argument there seemed to go jeering and sneering through my brain Schiller's famous line:

"Against stupidity the gods themselves fight in vain." [8]

There seemed no possibility even of suspending the judgment of the great majority who saw the statue. As a rule, they insisted on believing lt a "petrified giant," and those who did not dwelt on its perfections as an ancient statue. They saw in it a whole catalogue of fine qualities; and one writer went into such extreme ecstatics that he suddenly realized the fact, and ended by saying, "but this is rather too high-flown, so I had better conclude." As a matter of fact, the work was wretchedly defective in proportion and features; in every characteristic of sculpture it showed itself the work simply of an inferior stone-carver.

The Cardiff Giant has been called the greatest hoax in American history. Well, that's probably not true any longer if it ever was. There are lessons here for people who have declared that they "understand the science" of a number of subjects.

The "real" Cardiff giant is on display at the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown, New York. I have seen it myself. (Photograph here.)

Behind Blue Eyes

No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes

No one knows what it's like
To be hated
To be fated
To telling only lies
(Pete Townshend, Behind Blue Eyes)

A team of scientists report that they have tracked down the genetic mutation that causes blue eyes in humans. They say that their studies show that everyone with blue eyes can be traced back to a single ancestor who introduced the mutation into the population.

People with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor, according to new research.

A team of scientists has tracked down a genetic mutation that leads to blue eyes. The mutation occurred between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, so before then, there were no blue eyes.

"Originally, we all had brown eyes," said Hans Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Copenhagen.

The mutation affected the so-called OCA2 gene, which is involved in the production of melanin, the pigment that gives color to our hair, eyes and skin.

"A genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a 'switch,' which literally 'turned off' the ability to produce brown eyes," Eiberg said.

The genetic switch is located in the gene adjacent to OCA2 and rather than completely turning off the gene, the switch limits its action, which reduces the production of melanin in the iris. In effect, the turned-down switch diluted brown eyes to blue.

If the OCA2 gene had been completely shut down, our hair, eyes and skin would be melanin-less, a condition known as albinism.

Oh sure, but they don't identify who the rascal was, do they? We here at Blue Crab Boulevard believe the culprit behind blue eyes was one Sheldon B. Ogg, a caveman from what is now Germany.

Rocking The Insect World

A new species of beetle has been named to honor a rock and roll icon and his widow.

A new species of beetle that appears as if wearing a tuxedo has been named in honor of the late rock 'n' roll legend Roy Orbison and his widow Barbara.

Entomologist Quentin Wheeler of Arizona State University announced the discovery and naming of the beetle, now dubbed Orectochilus orbisonorum, during a Roy Orbison Tribute Concert on Jan. 25.

The ending of the species name, "orum," denotes it was named after a couple. If the beetle were just named after Roy it would end in "i," and for just Barbara, the name would end in "ae."

Barbara Orbison, who attended the concert along with Orbison's sons Wesley and Roy Kelton Orbison Jr., remarked on her appreciation for the new species name. "I have never seen an honor like that," she said.

To mark the occasion, Wheeler presented Barbara with an original work of art titled “Whirligig." Completed by ASU scientist and artist Charles J. Kazilek, the painting included nine images of a whirligig beetle on cotton watercolor paper.

Well, it certainly is unusual. One wonders when the first album will be in stores.

Well, They Can’t Make ‘Em Fly Yet

But they can make pigs glow in the dark. A fluorescent pig developed by Chinese Scientists has successfully passed the genetically modified genes that cause the fluorescence to its offspring. They now have second generation glowing bacon.

BEIJING – A cloned pig whose genes were altered to make it glow fluorescent green has passed on the trait to its young, a development that could lead to the future breeding of pigs for human transplant organs, a Chinese university reported.

Two of the 11 piglets glow fluorescent green from their snout, trotters, and tongue under ultraviolet light, according to Northeast Agricultural University, located in the city of Harbin.

Their mother was one of three pigs born with the trait in December 2006 after pig embryos were injected with fluorescent green protein.

"Continued development of this technology can be applied to … the production of special pigs for the production of human organs for transplant," Liu Zhonghua, a professor overseeing the breeding program, said in a news release posted Tuesday on the university's Web site.

I'm not sure I follow the logic here. While one has to admit that there are some people who would look better (or at least funnier) with a glowing pig grafted to them, that market seems limited. On the other hand, you wouldn't need a night light.

Gentlemen, We Can Rebuild Him…

…We have the technology. That comes from the old television show The Six Million Dollar Man, of course. But now, the real world has caught up with that television show that went off the air in 1978. Because they can, indeed, rebuild someone. At least the hands.

The cutting edge headquarters of a Scottish firm behind the world’s first commercially available bionic hand was officially opened today.

Government ministers toured Touch Bionic’s plant in Livingston and met the first recipient of the firm’s pioneering i-LIMB hand.

UK Minister of State for Competitiveness Stephen Timms, and Scotland Office Minister David Cairns, went on to officially open the plant.

More than 70 of the hands are now being used by amputees around the world after the product was launched last July.

About half of these are in the US although there are no plans at the moment to make the hand available on the NHS.

They have pictures of the hand in use. Here’s the Touch Bionics website. It is amazing when the real world catches up with science fiction, isn’t it?