Christiana Talks About Stuff
http://christianastuff.powerblogs.com/
Basically, just a forum for me to report on any of the wide variety of shiny things that get caught in the cobweb that is my brainen-us2006-04-24T19:04+00:00Taste the future... <I>Taste it!</I>
http://christianastuff.powerblogs.com/posts/1145906381.shtml
...Christiana2006-04-24T19:04+00:00
In the realm of scientific weirdness, researchers are always on the lookout for ways to make your life better in unexpected ways.
For example, a device that can let you see a 360° field of vision in total darkness... with your tongue!
I actually posted about this some time ago, but they've moved on since then.
According to this article, they're going to start testing it out on Navy SEALS for night diving.
Raj has carried out research using Navy divers. A narrow strip of red plastic from the Brain Port is connected to the diver's tongue, where some 144 microelectrodes transmit information through nerve fibers to the brain. It was established during the tests that the divers could process information through their tongues instead of looking at compasses and other bulky devices.
Raj explained the whole objective is to keep the Navy divers' hands and eyes free. As the eyes will be freed, they will be able to do what they really want to -- may be look for mines and see shapes that are coming out of the muck.
I think it's only a matter of time before they bridge the technological gap to provide the ultimate super-soldier!
.
]]>Holy cow, you mean the bird flu is NOT the apocalypse?
http://christianastuff.powerblogs.com/posts/1144874599.shtml
...Christiana2006-04-12T20:04+00:00Top Scientist tries to calm bird flu fears
“It is entirely conceivable that this virus is inherently programmed that it will never be able to go efficiently from human to human,” Fauci said. “Hopefully the epidemic (in birds) will burn itself out, which epidemics do, before the virus evolves the capability of being more efficient in going from human to human.”
...
“It won’t be what you see in countries in which there is no regulation, in which there is no incentive to compensate farmers, in which the people, who are so poor, when they see their chickens are getting infected they immediately sell them or they don’t tell anybody because they don’t want them culled. That is a critical issue that is fundamentally different than what we see in Western Europe and that we will see in the United States,” Fauci said.
Thank you, thank you for finally injecting some sense into this whole issue which has been so ridiculously out of proportion.
Yes, it's a potential risk, and it could kill a lot of people, but we're hardly talking the end of civilization here, and it may not happen at all!
.]]>Newsflash: Daytime TV tied to poorer mental scores in elderly
http://christianastuff.powerblogs.com/posts/1142999328.shtml
...Christiana2006-03-22T03:03+00:00Check it out.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older women who say talk shows and soap operas are their favorite TV programs tend to score more poorly on tests of memory, attention and other cognitive skills, researchers reported Monday.
...
He said it's not possible to tell whether the programs somehow contribute to cognitive decline or whether women in the early stages of decline gravitate toward those shows. Preferences for daytime TV could also be a marker of a sedentary, homebound lifestyle, and research suggests that staying physically and socially active can help stave off mental decline.
But regardless of the reasons, a preference for talk shows and soaps "is a marker of something suspicious," Fogel said.
...
"This doesn't mean 'Oprah' is bad for you," Fogel said. However, an older woman's fondness for the show could signal a possible problem, according to the researcher.
Read that again. Basically it's saying: Daytime TV doesn't rot your brain, but if you like it, your brain might be rotten.
.]]>Surreal Technology News of the Month
http://christianastuff.powerblogs.com/posts/1141681964.shtml
...Christiana2006-03-06T21:03+00:00
Check this out... o_O
A nimble, four-legged robot is so surefooted it can recover its balance even after being given a hefty kick. The machine, which moves like a cross between a goat and a pantomime horse, is being developed as a robotic pack mule for the US military.
BigDog is described by its developers Boston Dynamics as “the most advanced quadruped robot on Earth”. The company have released a new video of the robot negotiating steep slopes, crossing rocky ground and dealing with the sharp kick. View the impressive clip here (28MB Windows media file).
It's been a banner season for unproven influenza remedies. Each fall and winter, the Internet abounds with offers of face masks, creams and pills - all touted as effective flu fighters - that have escaped the notice of mainstream science. This season, miraculous, anti-flu nostrums seem to have proliferated even more wildly.
Small wonder. Bird flu has been a mainstay in headlines, but not a single case has been reported in the United States. The seasonal flu arrived earlier than usual in some spots. And "pandemic" has become one of the top words looked up by readers of online dictionaries.
So irritated has the Food and Drug Administration grown that it decided to clamp down on some of the flu claims. Last month, the agency warned PRB Pharmaceuticals, Vitacost, Bodestore and six other companies to stop making claims about avian flu and other forms of influenza or face possible seizure of their products.
Now, I'm a big skeptic when it comes to "all-natural" supplements or treatments. By skeptical, I mean that they could work, but that the only evidence that they actually do work is sketchy or anectdotal.
So when they were interviewing Dr. Schaffner, the chairman of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University, he was essentially pointing out both that there are virtually no scientific studies to show the effectiveness of these supplements, and also that many of these supplement manufacturers have serious quality control issues.
So that makes me like him, but why is he my hero? Well because he ended his statements with this:
"All of us would like to believe that there is a nostrum, a miracle ingredient that would either prevent everything or cure everything," he said. "In God we trust. All others must provide data."
.]]>Frito Lay Sued over Light Potato Chips
http://christianastuff.powerblogs.com/posts/1136573736.shtml
...Christiana2006-01-06T18:01+00:00
Hey, remember Olestra? That fat substitute that everyone joked about because it could potentially cause diarrhea?
Well, the reason we haven't heard about it in a while is not because it went away, but rather because the FDA decided that the side-effects were sufficiently minor that food manufacturers don't have to label their products as containing it anymore. They ruled that, although it causes "minor increase in bowel movement frequency" when compared to regular fat, the effects were not any worse than those created by eating fruit or fiber. Essentially, it turned out to be a total non-story, so people forgot about it.
Snack firm Frito Lay is to face a law suit for deceptively marketing its ‘Light’ potato chip range in order to trick consumers into believing the products do not contain the controversial fat substitute olestra, said the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).
Except here's the thing. Frito Lay followed all the FDA rules for product labeling and then some. They even kept the Olean logo on the bag for crying out loud! That was more than they were legally required to do anyway.
So basically, this woman was either just not paying attention when she bought the chips or she DID notice and just didn't care until she got sick.
And because the effects of the olestra have been shown to be pretty mild compared to other foods, the fact that this woman got as sick as she did suggests that she probably ate the whole bag in a single sitting, if not more. In fact, nearly all the complaints that have been made about olestra can be traced back to overconsumption.
This is my opinion everybody. Olestra is a fairly tasty fat alternative that can produce lower-fat snack foods, but that doesn't make them good for you. Clearly you should still be eating them in moderation.
If someone buys a bag of "light" potato chips thinking that it means they can sit and eat the whole bag in one afternoon with no repercussions, then they are just stupid. I won't say that they deserve to get sick, because I don't want to wish that on anybody, but still, how about taking some personal responsibility?
Frito Lay markets and sells a product that people want and follows all the FDA's rules and regulations for doing so. Olestra has been extensively studied, (more than any other food additive in history, believe it or not,) and it is safe unless you overdose on it. Clearly the problem here is a woman made herself sick, wants someone to blame for it, and there's Frito-Lay with their deep pockets.
This reminds me of the people who assume that anything with the words "all natural" on the label are automatically good for you, whereas anything that is has manmade compounds in it is automatically bad.
.]]>Am I the only one who doesn't think that this face transplant thing is a big deal?
http://christianastuff.powerblogs.com/posts/1134663582.shtml
...Christiana2005-12-15T16:12+00:00
Oh, I don't mean that it isn't a significant medical advance, just that this whole "controversy" about it just seems pretty stupid to me.
Okay, so according to this article, the primary issues of controversy are that one or both of the people involved (donor and recipient,) may have tried to commit suicide.
The reason that this is (apparently) a big deal is because some doctors have expressed concern that such a "psychologically challenging" operation was being done on a woman who may have questionable emotional stability.
But that just makes me think, oh, so leaving her with a terribly disfigured face with no lips or nose and you can see her teeth and jaw moving when she talks, that's better? Gosh, that wouldn't be a problem at all.
Think about it, whether or not the initial injury was the result of a suicide attempt, who WOULDN'T be unstable after having their freaking lips chewed off? If the transplant can help, then what's the problem?
I think that what this really all boils down to is that a lot of people are very squeamish about their faces, and there is somehow this perception that changing part of her face will give her problems with her self-identity, but frankly I don't see how it would.
After all, how we look can have an impact on how we see ourselves, but is anyone really going to have a serious psychological identity crisis because now their nose and lips look a little bit different? You don't even see it unless you look in a mirror. It's not like a brain transplant or something, it's not like she's an identical twin of the other woman now. The facial features are largely determined by the bones behind the skin anyway, so even if she had received a full-face transplant, she wouldn't look just like the other woman.
Okay, so rant over, it just irritates me that people who claim to be "expressing concern for the mental stability" of the patient are doing that by turning the whole thing into a circus.
A computer has been used to decipher the enigmatic smile of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, concluding that she was mainly happy.
The painting was analysed by a University of Amsterdam computer using "emotion recognition" software.
It concluded that the subject was 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% fearful and 2% angry, journal New Scientist was told.
You know, I hear they also used a sophisticated computer model to determine that, before the arms broke off, the Venus de Milo was actually flipping the bird.
.]]>Well, that was money well spent...
http://christianastuff.powerblogs.com/posts/1133479631.shtml
...Christiana2005-12-01T23:12+00:00
.]]>Uh oh... Good thing all my medications are oral
http://christianastuff.powerblogs.com/posts/1133211513.shtml
...Christiana2005-11-28T20:11+00:00
Check this out: Jabs don't work on big-bummed girls
Injections may not work on some people because their bottoms are too big, researchers have said.
Many vaccines and other medications are administered by a jab in the rear, but doctors have found that needles cannot penetrate the excess bottom fat of many patients, particularly women. To be effective, the drug has to be injected into the underlying muscle.
Boy, those British headline-writers aren't subtle, are they?