Science Etcetera, Saturnday 20080906

September 6th, 2008

Fetus Nebula
Credit: NASA

Proven. 20 minutes of exercise a day improves memory.

Bees, fish, frogs and now fireflies.

Sierra Club has a list of environmental heroes who sacrificed their careers standing up to the Bush Administration’s anti-environmentalism.

Martha Hahn, Environmental Hero
Credit: Sierra Club

Mothers who spank their kids are three times as likely to do worse to them.

Even without the tree-ring data, the controversial Hockey Stick graph remains accurate. Suck it AGW deniers!!!

Creepy. Ants in the Scanner (HT BMF):

4 comments to “Science Etcetera, Saturnday 20080906”

Happy stormy birthday Ryan! Hope Hanna didn’t party too hard at your place.

-BMF
by BMF September 6th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Haha, that is one expensive ant farm. Go nature and go innovation!

One time at my old work a printer came in for service. As I walked by the service area, one of the technicians called out, “Vicky, what do you think the HP Error code is for THIS?!!”

I looked over and the printer was FILLED with old acorn tops which had started to pour out of the printer when the technician unscrewed a side panel.

Some kind of mouse or rodent had been living in it. After they cleaned out all the acorns and poop they discovered the problem — the mouse had chewed through a wire.

Once they replaced the faulty wire– printer was fine and dandy!

One a downside, there was a homeless mouse out there somewhere.
by Vicky September 8th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Re: the Sierra Club article. I was just listening to the author of “The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals” speak about her book on the radio last Friday.

Although her book was about torture and the unpleasantries of human behavior, she reported the project to actually be uplifting.

Why?

She said because every step of the way, she would encounter people who would stand against what they knew to be wrong (”enhanced interrogation”). She was impressed by just how many people put their careers on the line to call it out or express dissent.

I suppose reading all the names highlighted by the Sierra Club should be uplifting as well. I just wish there were a few happy endings in there. A few spots where David triumphs over Goliath. It was a little dampening to see how many tales ended with “retired.”
by Vicky September 8th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Heh…. A printer in my attic was full of fiberglass insulation that had been converted into a nest.
by ClintJCL September 8th, 2008 at 11:58 am