Squid Read

Everyone should read the personal story by Kevin Zelnio, a marine biologist and blogger at EvoEcoLab, about his son's recent medical emergency. Having a six-year-old child whose flulike symptoms turn into a struggle to breathe must be scary enough -- but this family's troubles are compounded by not having health insurance. Zelnio is self-employed, and he and has wife have been unable to find affordable insurance for themselves and their two children. He cites uninsurance as one reason why they didn't bring their son to an urgent care facility as soon as his fever reached 103. They did get him to an emergency room the next day, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and admitted to the hopsital. Zelnio writes about how it could've gone differently: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: Inside the Outbreaks on the ScienceBlogs Book Club

Mice with a certain laboratory variant of Alzheimer's disease have been shown to get much better with the use of an existing pharmaceutical. This is only in mice, only with a certain model of the disease, and is only one study, so we must be very cautious, but the results are on the face rather dramatic. Here's the rundown. Read the comments on this post... Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: Inside the Outbreaks on the ScienceBlogs Book Club

This is a feel good story of the day - the world's first human to humanoid robot handshake, in space! The robot even sent out a tweet. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: Inside the Outbreaks on the ScienceBlogs Book Club

Years ago, my friend Rick Bribiescas and I got into a friendly debate about the cause of muscle atrophy and bone loss during space flight. We both felt that a homeostatic mechanism was thrown out of whack by the circumstances of weightlessness. One of us suggested that zero gravity caused to lose their ability to regulate tissue mass because gravity would be part of the mechanism for measuring this variable. The other of us thought the body was reacting as though it was falling, and transforming ingested material into bodily tissue would be forestalled until some time after hitting the ground, but that never happened. I can't remember which of us thought which. But we were probably both wrong. It may be the case that gravity is an expected contextual feature of normal cellular activity, so when there is either not much gravity (as in zero-G of space flight) or even too much gravity, cellular processes to awry more or less randomly, which would ultimately translate into gene expression...

The Fordham Institute recently released their assessment of state science standards with a handy color-coded map—and California was the only state to receive a solid "A," along with the District of Columbia. On Pharyngula, PZ Myers wonders how his state will ever get into college with a lowly "C." He writes, "The Institute does a fairly thorough breakdown, so there are some bright spots: Minnesota is doing a good job in the life sciences, but where we got dinged hard was on the physical sciences, which are 'illogically organized' and contain factual errors." But at least Minnesota wasn't one of the twenty-seven states to get a "D" or an "F." Greg Laden repaints the Institute's map with only two colors, making a "Pass/Fail" version of the assessment. At first glance the blocks of red and blue look electoral, but much of the South is blue with passing grades, while Oregon and half of New England are red for failure. Obviously, the quality of education depends on complexities far...

As much crap as Oklahomans get for being backwards hicks, Oklahoma is a state of many faces. Slowly but surely, the faces of the politicians are starting to represent the diversity of Oklahoma (not just middle-upper-class 'straight' Evangelical white male Oklahomans). To counter the insane, homophobic rhetoric of Sally Kern, we have an openly, happily transgender Brittany Novotny giving the witch a run for her money. To counter the current Republican fad of 'personhood amendments', now taking its turn in Oklahoma, we have Constance Johnson making a political statement by adding an amendment to criminalize male masturbation. To counter dim witted dullards like Oklahoma State Senator Ralph Shortey, who cares more about kidney cells isolated in the 1970s than he cares about the health and well-being of men, women, and children in 2012, we NOW have Oklahoma State Senator Al McAffrey. A man who spends his free time raising money and awareness for HIV/AIDS in Oklahoma. Not just rhetoric...

“There is nothing noble in being superior to some other person. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.” - Indian Proverb (via myheadisweak)

WSJ has an article about the increasing number of pediatricians who fire their patients who refuse to vaccinate: Pediatricians fed up with parents who refuse to vaccinate their children out of concern it can cause autism or other problems increasingly are "firing" such families from their practices, raising questions about a doctor's responsibility to these patients. Medical associations don't recommend such patient bans, but the practice appears to be growing, according to vaccine researchers. In a study of Connecticut pediatricians published last year, some 30% of 133 doctors said they had asked a family to leave their practice for vaccine refusal, and a recent survey of 909 Midwestern pediatricians found that 21% reported discharging families for the same reason. By comparison, in 2001 and 2006 about 6% of physicians said they "routinely" stopped working with families due to parents' continued vaccine refusal and 16% "sometimes" dismissed them, according to surveys conducted then...

The same day he heard about Piri Thomas’ death, photographer Gary Santana began organizing a tribute to the writer and poet from Spanish Harlem. Thomas died in October at 83, leaving behind a unique human and artistic legacy.

There's no business like show business — even for the commander in chief.

NORFOLK, Va., Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebrate your love for each other in a venue unlike any other at Norfolk Waterside Marriott. The hotel in Norfolk, Virginia, just won the "Best of the Knot" award in Virginia and is excited to share all of its special...

Here's the syllabus - I still have a couple of regular spots and one scholarship spot available, so please email me at jewishfarmer@gmail.com if you'd like one. The class runs six weeks starting tomorrow and is asynchronous and online. Cost of the class is $100. Hope some of you can join us! Week 1, - Introduction to Food Storage, How much, where to put it, and how? Can I afford this? Overview of food preservation methods, their energy and economic costs. Storing Water, making space. Food safety, thinking about the food future, recommended reading. Week 2, : Water bath canning 101, Preserving with Salt, Sugar and Honey, Bulk purchasing, sourcing local foods, finding food to preserve, what food storage can and can't do, eating more locally year round. Week 3: Dehydration basics, Tools you need and where to get them, Menu making and how to get people to eat from your pantry, Setting up your kitchen for food storage, Storing herbs and spices, Sourdoughs and grain ferments, Preserving...

Trapped inmates screamed from their cells as a fire swept through a Honduran prison, killing more than 300 inmates, authorities said Wednesday.

Miranda Kerr took to the runway for David Jones last night. She's one of the Australian retailer's brand ambassadors, and she joined a few fellow models in presenting the company's Autumn/Winter collection in Sydney. Miranda had the honor of opening the show, and later wore outfits from designers Willow, Josh Goot, and Zimmermann. Miranda's been Down Under with her family for the past few weeks, mixing promotional duties with some fun alongside Orlando and Fylnn Bloom. Her main men didn't attend the show yesterday, but Miranda's mother and father did. Miranda was apparently happy to don a variety of dresses and suits. Miranda Kerr said of the David Jones presentation, "I'm glad I'm not in another bikini, especially with people this close." View Slideshow ›

US senators, warning of potentially catastrophic cyberattacks, introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at protecting critical infrastructure such as power, water and transportation systems.

Federal officials are effectively killing a private company's plans to start a national high-speed wireless broadband network after concluding it would in some cases jam GPS devices.

US senators, warning of potentially catastrophic cyberattacks, introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at protecting critical infrastructure such as power, water and transportation systems.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found a cluster of young, blue stars encircling the first intermediate-mass black hole ever discovered. The presence of the star cluster suggests that the black hole was once at the core of a now-disintegrated dwarf galaxy. The discovery of the black hole and the star cluster has important implications for understanding the evolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies.

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have discovered a new molecule that could offer the hope of new treatments for people allergic to the house dust mite.

It'll be a compelling show to watch with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. NBC picked up a 13-episode order Tuesday for "Hannibal," based on the serial killer from Thomas Harris' novels that was made famous on screen by Anthony Hopkins in 1991's Academy Award-winning "The Silence of the Lambs," Deadline.com reported.

The Ray Charles Foundation is demanding the return of a $3 million gift given to Albany State University a decade ago because the organization says the college has yet to use the money to build a performing arts center in the late artist’s name.

The Ray Charles Foundation is demanding the return of a $3 million gift given to Albany State University a decade ago because the organization says the college has yet to use the money to build a performing arts center in the late artist’s name.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The conference program at RCA's Competitive Carriers Global Expo 2012, the premier event for the competitive mobile ecosystem, will feature carrier CEOs and industry leaders from the vendor, finance and policy sectors who...