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I’m always eager to know more about my environment and how it’s affecting my body. Dealing with health is usually a micro-environmental sort of topic, but sometimes it pays to see the big-picture. In any case, knowledge is never a bad thing: Here is a very cool, scale model of the universe from The Smoot Group. It’s in “4-D”. Meaning that time is a parameter you can “see”.
Professor George Smoot’s group conducts research on the early Universe (cosmology) using the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) and other astrophysical sources. These investigations are directed towards realizing a variety of science goals regarding cosmology.
Now, that guy that cut you off on the way in, this morning, doesn’t seem like such a big deal anymore, does he? Thinking about stuff like this actually helps melt my silly little problems away. Which is always a good thing, considering stress can kill you.
This thing is awful. You don’t think so? Now consider the fact that London taxpayers paid £400,000 for this Microsoft Paint-worthy junk. It looks like something that was on my “jams” in the late eighties. Those were uber-cool board shorts for the uninitiated or the too young to remember. Unfortunately they weren’t uber-cool enough to keep me from being one of the fat kids at the pool, but I digress…
The internet has labeled this design as everything from Lisa Simpson in a rather, uh, compromising position, to crappy graffiti, to something that would be more at home in a Bayside “Zach for Class President” campaign. I tend to agree with all of the above.
OMG! It’s so good… when it touches my lips!11!!11!!1
Seriously, folks. Blue Bunny Root Beer Float bars rock my socks. I consider my self a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to root beer. (A&W, please, and thank-you.) So, my endorsement of these is something special. They’re cold, root beer-y, ice-creamy and they’re only 80 calories. What’s not to love?
(No I don’t own any Blue Bunny stock, nor I am being paid to gush about this product. In fact, no one will pay me to gush about they’re products, despite my best efforts. (*sad face* (Look ma, nested parentheticals!)))
Anyway, they’re good. Summertime is quickly approaching, go get some cool heaven on a stick.
Morning all. I’ll be doing a short radio interview tonight on Dr. Fitness and The fat Guy at 7:15pm EDT (GMT -4)/ 5:15pm CST (GMT -6). Listen in and, afterwards, in the comments, tell me how sexy my voice is.
Since June 2005 members of Visual Resistance have been creating small memorials to fallen bikers in New York City. When a biker has been killed in an auto-related accident a bike is painted all-white and locked down at the scene with a small plaque attached.
The installations are meant as reminders of the tragedy that took place on an otherwise anonymous street corner, and as quiet statements in support of bikers’ right to safe travel. It was inspired by Ghost Bike Pittsburgh, which was in turn inspired by a similar effort in St. Louis. In recent months, Ghost Bikes have appeared in cities across the country, as well as in the UK.
Creating and installing ghost bikes is a sad and moving process. The death of a fellow bicyclist hits home, since we travel the same unsafe streets and face the same risks; it could just as easily be one of us.
Each time we say we hope to never have to do it again — but we remain comitted to making these memorials as long as they are needed.
Americans love their dogs, and proof exists that cuddling a pup is good for your health and well-being. Our pets can do everything from lowering cholesterol and blood pressure to promoting quicker recovery from serious problems like heart attack. Smart folks who want to steal your money are taking advantage of our pooch love affair with the latest scam to take the name of Nigeria in vain. The American Kennel Club reports that fraudulent websites and MySpace postings tout ads for folks who must move quickly or have become “stuck” in Nigeria and other countries and need loving homes for their pups. Adorable puppy faces accompany these ads as you, tears in eyes, are asked to help. While the ads may offer the doggies for free, various “fees” eventually build into the thousands of dollars, and the pup never appears at your doorstep. One variation offers a purebred highly expensive pup, such as an English bulldog, at a huge discount.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck . . . you know the rest. Come on, people, wake up! Stuck in Nigeria? What did that poor country do to have become the butt of all rip-off scandals?
An even more important question is why one would pay mountains of moolah to adopt a dog they can’t even see when local animal shelters offer dozens of these adorable creatures? And they won’t make you take out a bank loan to cover their modest fees. If you don’t know the location of your local shelter, visit the ASPCA’s shelter finder. I can guarantee you won’t have to drive to Nigeria.
And yes, that’s a Pomeranian pirate. (From Cute Overload)
Maker defends diabetes drug; Others call for FDA warning - Newsday As GlaxoSmithKline’s medical director defended the embattled diabetes drug Avandia Wednesday, a leading consumer advocate reiterated his stance that the drug is inherently unsafe. Dr. Ronald Krall, medical director of the pharmaceutical giant, posted a letter in the online version of The Lancet medical journal saying data from long-term, large-scale clinical trials has shown Avandia to be safe.
Man Eluded Attempts to Control Deadly TB Strain - NPR (Audio & Copy) An American man with a highly dangerous form of tuberculosis is under guard in an Atlanta hospital while health officials in many countries try to track down people he may have exposed to the disease on his way to Europe and back.
Women warned on iron ‘overdose’ - BBC Healthy pregnant women who take iron supplements may increase blood pressure risks, a study claims.
Molecular Motors May Speed Nutrient Processing - Science Daily Intestinal microvilli, finger-like protrusions on the cell surface, are packed with the motor protein myosin-1a. This myosin was thought to serve a purely structural role, but now Vanderbilt cell…
China scientists shed new light on male infertility - Reuters Scientists in Hong Kong and China have identified for the first time a protein in sperm from humans and from mice that could be responsible for many unexplained cases of male infertility.
The Center for Studies in Physics and Biology and Laboratory of Microbiology at Cornell in Ithaca is doing something revolutionary. They’ve tracked the evolution of a Staphylococcus aureus bacterial infection by periodically isolating it from the subjects body and fully sequencing its genome as they administer antibiotic treatment. They found 35 mutations as the bacteria’s resistance rose throughout the experiment.
From the abstract of the paper published in Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences:
The spread of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains in the clinical environment has begun to pose serious limits to treatment options. Yet virtually nothing is known about how resistance traits are acquired in vivo. Here, we apply the power of whole-genome sequencing to identify steps in the evolution of multidrug resistance in isogenic S. aureus isolates recovered periodically from the bloodstream of a patient undergoing chemotherapy with vancomycin and other antibiotics. After extensive therapy, the bacterium developed resistance, and treatment failed.
