January 2012
26 posts
Neuroskeptic: Take Your Placebos, Or Die →
In the placebo group of 1174 patients, the people who took all of their placebo pills on time (the good adherers), were significantly less likely to die than the patients who missed lots of doses. People who took over 75% as directed were 40% less likely to die than those with less than 75% adherence:
…
But what’s remarkable is that when the authors corrected the statistics for all...
CRACKING THE ENIGMA: The Adventures of DataThief →
Recently, [the other of a blog I read] discovered DataThief - an application that allows you to scan in a graph from a paper and extract the data points. Sometimes, this provides insights that really aren’t obvious from the original paper.
“A $250 billion per year loss would be almost $800 for every man, woman, and...”
– The Freakonomics guys call bullshit on the MPAA’s piracy numbers (via maxistentialist)
Figshare: a new way to publish scientific research... →
Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante? | The... →
Edge.org asks: What scientific concept would... →
Do click. Do read. Includes great pieces from amazing and some very famous scientists.
Octopuses Rewrite Their RNA to Beat the Cold →
An octopus dwelling in the frigid waters of the Antarctic doesn’t wear gloves on its tentacles, but it has found another way to endure the cold. A new study shows that this animal uses a trick called RNA editing to customize crucial nervous system proteins to work at low temperatures. The paper is the first to reveal that RNA editing, not just changes to a specific gene, can lead to...
Elsevier-funded NY Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney... →
This bill would not only end the NIH’s Public Access Policy, but it would forbid any effort on the part of any agency to ensure taxpayer access to work funded by the federal government.
Why, you might ask, would Carolyn Maloney, representing a liberal Democratic district in New York City that is home to many research institutions, sponsor such a reactionary piece of legislation that benefits a...
WatchJon Stewart is surprised about Santorum’s surge.
Thanks to Remy for calling this great clip to my attention.
I want all of these boots →
Dropped into a store today and saw Sorel’s line of women’s boots. They’re so beautiful. I wish my Sorel’s from 3 years ago weren’t still in good shape, so I’d have an excuse to buy new ones…
Check out the shorter ones too. And the artsy video on the homepage.
December 2011
32 posts
Periodic table of videos →
This is super awesome. I wish I had access to this in high school when I was learning chemistry.
Why Amazon Charged $23,698,655.93 for a Genetics... →
As it happened, profnath and bordeebook were both using pricing algorithms to determine the optimum prices for their books. Profnath’s algorithm was designed to have the lowest price possible—but only by a small amount, hence 0.9983—while bordeebook’s was designed to set the highest price—presumably, Eisen writes, because they don’t actually have a copy of the book and would need...
Just discovered Parks & Recreation. I highly recommend it.
Does the calendar really have to be so confusing? →
sciencecenter:
The dates fall on different days of the week every year. The months all have different numbers of days, with no rhyme or reason. There’s plenty of inefficiency built into the modern calendar. But according to Johns Hopkins astronomer Richard Conn Henry, that doesn’t have to be the case. According to his proposed calendar, eight of the months would have 30 days, with 31 days every...
Nice job Colbert →
Wonkblog: Economic experts explain 2011 in charts →
1 tag
Bitcasa is probably the future of data storage →
Sign up for the beta through my link and help me move to the front of the queue
Get $23 off your 23andme genomic profile with this... →
I had my genome profiled a year ago. It was a super fun purchase and I’ve enjoyed watching the information content increase as more studies are published. If you purchase through my link, I have a chance to win a prize, and you get $23 off.
What disease genes might you pass on to your children?
Do you have a genetic sensitivity to certain drugs?
Are you and I related?
Where your...
Bacteria that could pass as X-men: part 1 →
Mundus Vult Decipi: Crazy lady is crazy. →
nique:
Michelle Bachmann: People do find out [in my book] that I did not get asked to my senior prom. Sean Hannity: Well, neither did I. And nobody would go with me. MB: Well, in my time, girls didn’t ask boys to prom. If you didn’t get asked, you didn’t go. SH: Yeah, well let me tell you,…
