http://theiconoclast.info Only the Cool Science... Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:43:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="attachment_314" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="http://toxicopoeia.com/?get=plants&page=&view=expanded&type=medicinal&show=D"][/caption] Chemotherapy sucks. While it can buy the sick time and even produce cures, patients must endure hair loss, nausea and vomiting, weakened immune systems, nerve damage, and even the risk of secondary cancers, cancers that are caused by the very same drugs designed to treat them. ... http://theiconoclast.info/?p=312 [caption id="attachment_302" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="The Mouse I Worked With This Summer (http://jaxmice.jax.org/jaxnotes/archive/489i.html)"][/caption] I spent the last summer at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine as a summer intern. The program is amazing, and I had the chance to work in a lab that studies medulloblastoma, a type of brain cancer. ... http://theiconoclast.info/?p=301 [caption id="attachment_294" align="alignnone" width="298" caption="http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/sep-dec05/cosmo/cygnus.jpg"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_295" align="alignnone" width="290" caption="http://curiousbastard.files.wordpress.com/"][/caption] It’s strange to imagine, but physicists cannot accurately describe nearly three quarters of the matter and energy in the universe. Because as it turns out, nearly 73% of the universe is composed of a mysterious substance called dark energy. In physical terms, ... http://theiconoclast.info/?p=293 [caption id="attachment_291" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Ebola (historyfilms.net)"][/caption] Evolution has created some nasty microbes... Anthrax: Anthrax, caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, is one of the most lethal microorganisms in existence, killing over 80% of those it infects. The antidote doesn’t always work. When your firsts become infected, you’ll just feel like you have ... http://theiconoclast.info/?p=289 [caption id="attachment_287" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="http://hilobrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/seti-cook.jpg"][/caption] If an alien civilization tried to reach out to us, how would they do it? Radio waves are the obvious answer; they travel far and only require a small power input. But what type of radio signal would aliens send? In the early seventies, physicists Phillip Morrison ... http://theiconoclast.info/?p=285 [caption id="attachment_281" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/ e/e5/Clone_Troopers_Phase_I.jpg"][/caption]    Recent advances in the biological sciences have made cloning, the production of a genetically identical copy of an organism, a reality. However, not everyone believes that scientists should attempt to clone human beings. Opponents of human cloning present a compelling case. First, they argue that ... http://theiconoclast.info/?p=280 [caption id="attachment_275" align="alignnone" width="224" caption="http://f00.inventorspot.com/ images/Dividing_Cancer_Cell-small.jpg"][/caption]   You’ve heard of lung cancer… Breast cancer… Brain cancer… Pancreatic cancer… and cancers of almost all parts of the body. But have you ever heard of muscle cancer? Probably not. Although it does exist, muscle cancer is exceedingly rare and accounts for less than 1% ... http://theiconoclast.info/?p=274 [caption id="attachment_267" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Picture of Global Warming "][/caption]   Everyone worries about global warming these days. As a direct result of humans pumping trillions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, global temperatures are predicted to steadily climb, leading to the melting of the polar ice caps by around 2100 ... http://theiconoclast.info/?p=266 [caption id="attachment_264" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&sa=1&q=face+recognition&aq=0&oq=face+rec&aqi=g4&start=0"][/caption] Consider the following: ·         People asked to describe a face after seeing it are worse at recognizing that same face later ·         People that are asked to describe the taste of a wine after drinking it are worse at recognizing that same wine later  In psychology, this effect is ... http://theiconoclast.info/?p=263 [caption id="attachment_259" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="http://hplusbiopolitics.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/why-cant-i-have-wings/"][/caption] “Would you rather be invisible or fly?” That question has become so ubiquitous that it has lost all of its originality. Here’s a better question: how could a person actually be given wings (so that they could fly)? To come up with an answer to this, it ... http://theiconoclast.info/?p=258