By Joshua Hill Sunday, May 4, 2008
The history of science is no less filled with idiocy and insanity than any other field of endeavor, if not more so. From bizarre DARPA mind-control experiments to nuking the crap out of atolls, science has done it all. And, lucky for us the climate sciences aren’t immune from this either.
Taking a Look Inside a Tsunami FactoryBy Joshua Hill Saturday, May 3, 2008
known as the Nankai Trough, the 500-mile-long boundary between a pair of tectonic plantes off the southwestern coast of Japan is now the focus of scientific attention. For a long time, the Nankai Trough has produced tsunami after tsunami, and now scientists involved in the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment hope to find out just what makes it work.
Tracking Down the Brain’s Power RequirementsBy Joshua Hill Saturday, May 3, 2008
The brain has been, more often than not, a source of quandary for scientists. The sheer level of sophistication is, pardon the ironic pun, mind boggling. And naturally, a lot of energy needs to go towards powering this major organ of ours; 20% of the body’s energy use to be exact.
A Misguided Faith in EvolutionBy Daniel Greenfield Saturday, May 3, 2008
Faith is at the heart of any belief system which fits a particular worldview, whether it be a Creator designed world or one that was produced as a result of a multi-billion year game of evolutionary solitaire. Now there’s no doubt that animals adapt to their environment and that such adaptation can be favorable in the genetic lottery but the full scope of earth’s biological diversity was not produced as a result of a genetic lottery that is the equivalent of putting a billion monkeys in a room with a billion typewriters and waiting a billion years until they produce Shakespeare.
Memory Limit Discovered: You Only Know Four ThingsBy Joshua Hill Monday, April 28, 2008
New research in to our mind’s capabilities to retain knowledge has shed light on a question that has been discussed for many years; how much, can our mind remember, at a time?
Is Math Discovered or InventedBy Joshua Hill Monday, April 28, 2008
There isn’t anything quite like a philosophical debate involving scientists. It’s like asking a high school jock to participate in… well, anything academic! They are so far out of their depth, but still carrying all that good old fashioned tons of knowledge and arrogance that come with being a scientist.
Grand Canyon Older than Originally ThoughtBy Joshua Hill Wednesday, April 16, 2008
One of the most remarkable landscapes in the world, the Grand Canyon in the U.S. state of Arizona has long been the focus of tourists the world over. The prevailing theory for the creation of the Grand Canyon is that the Colorado River carved its way through some six million years ago.
The Evolutionary Story of the PlacentaBy Joshua Hill Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Whenever you hear of the placenta, it’s usually because some hippie mum decided to serve it as pâté at a party she hosted to honor the birth of her baby. More often than not, people hear the word placenta and immediately tune out. To those of you still reading, this is not about eating placentas.
Archaeology to Help Broker Middle East PeaceBy Joshua Hill Monday, April 14, 2008
Archaeology is often seen as the dusty realm of old men in libraries, occasionally venturing outside with their wide brimmed hats and brushes. However archaeology is much more than that, always has been, and is now proving to be a massive help in the Middle East peace project.
Possible Stonehenge Discovery MadeBy Joshua Hill Friday, April 11, 2008
The first archaeological dig since 1964 was begun last week at one of England’s most treasured sites, Stonehenge, and already a discovery has been made which has validated the scientists desire to dig in the first place.
Meteorite Bombardment Responsible for Earth Life CharacteristicsBy Joshua Hill Monday, April 7, 2008
There is nothing quite as exhilarating for me than to learn something new. And thanks to a Columbia University professor, it looks as though the latest factoid to implant itself in to my brain is the possibility that the almost exclusive left-handed amino acid trait in human life could have come from outer-space.
A Warmer World Could Be A More Explosive OneBy Joshua Hill Friday, April 4, 2008
Much of the focus on global warming is always directed towards the obvious; food, water levels, animals. What makes the whole subject even more interesting though is the unexpected consequences of a warming planet. And if new research is to be believed, global warming may have an impact on volcanic eruptions.
Asteroid Impact Mystery Solved by Ancient Clay TabletBy Joshua Hill Thursday, April 3, 2008
For those of us who enjoy the studies of the past – geology, archaeology, history, etc – there is nothing quite as intriguing as seeing one help solve the other. This is just the case in a recent revelation that has helped explain a mystery dating back to the 19th century.
Stonehenge visited by ArchaeologistsBy Joshua Hill Thursday, April 3, 2008
Located about 8 miles north of Salisbury, in the English county of Wiltshire, one of the most famous prehistoric sites exists. Stonehenge has been the subject of so much study, and so little in the way of answers, that it is really an archaeologists dream; maybe they will be the ones to solve the mystery of why, how and who!
No Estimate of Planet Population by 2050By Joshua Hill Wednesday, March 19, 2008
On a planet that is so markedly divided between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have not’s’ population growth is often seen as a massive problem. At the end of 2007 it was announced that the planet’s population had reached approximately 6.7 billion people. A common estimate also suggested that by 2050 the planet’s population would reach 9 billion people.
Confirmation Finally Achieved for Earth’s Inner, inner, coreBy Joshua Hill Tuesday, March 11, 2008
One of my favorite disaster movies has got to be ‘The Core.’ It has a suitably large amount of big visual scenes to get you in, some unfathomably – and thus probably inaccurate – science and the majority of the rescue crew die.
Supercomputers Predicting MegaquakesBy Joshua Hill Saturday, March 1, 2008
As the years go by, you can become more and more certain that no matter what natural phenomenon is thrown our way, someone, somewhere, has run a simulation on how to deal with it.
The Big Flood that Cooled the EarthBy Joshua Hill Friday, February 29, 2008
From the outset, let’s just make it clear; this has nothing to do with Noah, fig branches or doves. What we’re discussing here is just how it was that the glacial lake Agassiz-Ojibway managed to break its way through to open sea-water and cause a mini ice-age for Europe.
Do Animals Think Like Autistic Savants?By Joshua Hill Thursday, February 21, 2008
It is an interesting question that was most popularly raised in Temple Grandin’s book, Animals in Translation. Suffering from autism herself, Grandin believed that animals exhibited a similar approach to life as she did. “If you want to understand animals, you have to get away from language,” she says.
Humanities Culture Evolving Through Natural SelectionBy Joshua Hill Wednesday, February 20, 2008
A study soon to be published in the online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on February 19, has presented the possibility that human culture suffers from the same natural selection that our own species has endured over time. A revolutionary study, it will either cause strife or further understanding in the world of anthropology.
Now I Know Why I’m an Elitist Snob; it’s NeurologicalBy Joshua Hill Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Science is one of those things that, unless you live in a particular field (and I don’t mean agricultural field) you are going to be one of the last to hear something new.
Toddlers Learn Language Through Data MiningBy Joshua Hill Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Data mining, according to Wikipedia, ‘is the principle of sorting through large amounts of data and picking out relevant information.’ Until now though data mining has been the playground of business intelligence and financial analysts, and even science is beginning to make use of the ability in extracting information from enormous data sets.
The Master Race Result of Mutation?By Joshua Hill Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Hitler’s vision of a blue-eyed/blonde-haired master race may have been a little off the mark, according to new research. Apparently, all of us with those blue eyes that made Frank Sinatra so popular (or was it his voice and acting?) owe our darling blues to a genetic mutation.
Archaeological Evidence Belies Attack of the Australian TsunamiBy Joshua Hill Tuesday, February 5, 2008
In a press release that seems to cry “please listen to us, oh please”, Australian archaeologists from the Australian National University have suggested that coral and shell deposits found deep inland on the Australian mainland are not evidence of tsunamis.
Possible Breakthrough for Sufferers of Huntington’sBy Joshua Hill Tuesday, February 5, 2008
I don’t often get the chance to take a long hard look at medical news, but with the new year has brought the chance to write more and more for CFP. So it was with great anticipation that I looked at the news that two Indiana University Bloomington scientists had made progress in the cause to cure Huntington’s disease.
Were the Indians Noble Savages?By OnTheWeb Monday, February 4, 2008
The Indians in North America were sleeping peacefully in their hogans, wigwams, and long houses during the early hours of October 12, 1492. They were dreaming as they had for centuries, of flashing salmon, thundering herds of bison, an arrow striking a deer, and the sound of corn rustling in the evening breeze, with no idea of the events that would happen that day when Europeans would step out of a small boat into the pounding surf.
Kitty Cat Traced to Middle EastBy Joshua Hill Sunday, February 3, 2008
A new genetic study published in this month’s Genomics journal shows that our favorite furry felines, from purebreds, mutts and feral, all can date their domestication back to those living in the Middle East. Tracked via genetic markers, through many twists and turns, they all hail from the same location.
Males Now Unnecessary; Women Create Their Own SpermBy Joshua Hill Sunday, February 3, 2008
British scientists at the Newcastle University have announced that they are ready to turn female bone marrow into sperm. This type of research has been a high priority, using cells that theoretically can turn into any other type of cell. Naturally, a chorus of concerns and arguments has been raised almost immediately.
Dinosaurs Big Goodbye Wetter than Previously ThoughtBy Joshua Hill Tuesday, January 29, 2008
When people think of the dinosaurs their minds will predominantly conjure up two thoughts; one regarding their lives – a fairly basic, and popular, Jurassic Park view – and one on the end of their lives. Many people are fascinated by just what it was that did in the dinosaurs. And though now the Alvarez hypothesis – the position that a large asteroid impacted the Yucatan Peninsula sixty-five million years ago – holds sway as lead theory, there is more to it than just “big asteroid go kablooie!”
By Joshua Hill Monday, January 21, 2008
A recent report from the University of Bristol, and published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B this week, focuses on just what it takes for real recovery to take place after a mass extinction. The study, conducted by Sarda Sahney and Professor Michael Benton focused upon the mass extinction at the end of the Permian era, known as the end-Permian mass extinction.
