Physicist John A. Wheeler Dies

Author: James

14 Apr

John A. Wheeler died of pneumonia Sunday at his home in Hightstown, NJ. He was 96 years old. Wheeler was a contemporary of Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr and had been credited with coining the phrase “black hole” in reference to a collapsed star. If it weren’t for Wheeler, the term might have been the less-sexy “gravitationally completely collapsed star,” which would have been sucky.

Wheeler also had a hand in the creation of the atomic bomb. Unlike other people involved with the project, Wheeler’s only regret was that it wasn’t completed sooner to bring a faster end to the European theater of World War II, which claimed the life of his brother Joe in 1944. Wheeler later helped develop the hydrogen bomb.

Receiving his doctorate at just 21 years old, Wheeler also taught at Princeton and the University of Texas at Austin (Hook ‘em Horns!). One of his students was Richard Feynman, who went on to win the Noble Prize in 1965. Wheeler is survived by three children as well as some grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

0 Comments

Filed under: Apocalypse, Science

Crane Flies: “Mosquito Eaters” That Don’t Eat Mosquitoes

Author: some guy

14 Apr

You know those gigantic four-legged freaks that fly in your face and swoop about like drunken B-52 bombers? On the West Coast, they’re referred to as “Mosquito Eaters,” in other areas, “Mosquito Hawks.” In reality these things are called crane flies, and no, they do not eat mosquitoes. In fact, adult crane flies don’t eat at all. They mature only to reproduce and die quickly thereafter. The grubs feed on decaying plant life in the soil. Crane flies carry no venom, and do not bite. Because they don’t eat, they can’t do anything dazzling enough to be considered a pest; except of course in the sense of annoyance. And seeing as summer is the season of this winged nuisance, they should be polluting your home in no time, if they haven’t already.

I for one hate crane flies. I wish they would vanish from the earth. I can’t sleep knowing one is dancing about my room, as I anticipate that it will fly into my mouth at any given moment. The only real purpose they seem to serve is as a food source for certain species of birds. Go figure.

2 Comments

Filed under: Environment, Idiocy, Science, Random

Scientists Now Have the Technology to Clone A Child

Author: ryan

14 Apr

It’s not as if most reasoning humans couldn’t have foreseen the day when science would tamper with the chain of life so drastically, but now there seems to be unmitigated technology to clone a human child.

Scientists used the the procedure to create baby mice from the skin cells of adult animals, and have found it more efficient than the revered “Dolly” technique - the process forged to create the world’s first cloned being, a sheep named Dolly.

Unlike the Dolly technique, however, the procedure is so simple and efficient that it has raised fears that it will be seized on by IVF doctors to help infertile couples who are eager to have their own biological children.

One scientist said this weekend that a maverick attempt to perform the technique on humans is now too real to ignore. “It’s unethical and unsafe, but someone may be doing it today,” said Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer of American biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology.

“Cloning isn’t here now, but with this new technique we have the technology that can actually produce a child. If this was applied to humans it would be enormously important and troublesome,” said Dr Lanza, whose company has pioneered developments in stem cells and cell reprogramming.

“It raises the same issues as reproductive cloning and although the technology for reproductive cloning in humans doesn’t exist, with this breakthrough we now have a working technology whereby anyone, young or old, fertile or infertile, straight or gay can pass on their genes to a child by using just a few skin cells,” he said.

The technique involves the genetic reprogramming of skin cells so they revert to an embryonic-like state. Last year, when the breakthrough was used on human skin cells for the first time, it was lauded by the Catholic Church and President George Bush as a morally acceptable way of producing embryonic stem cells without having to create or destroy human embryos.

However, the same technique has already been used in another way to reproduce offspring of laboratory mice that are either full clones or genetic “chimeras” of the adult mouse whose skin cells were reprogrammed.

Comforting to know that George W. Bush backs yet another potentially cataclysmic moral and ethical can of worms. Either way, this is something that should be scaring the hell out of everyone. I’ve seen Star Wars waaaaay too many times to ignore the threat of an army of clones. Granted, the ones forged by scientists might be more calculus-savvy, and not so much Jengo Fett, but the potential is frightening.

0 Comments

Filed under: Idiocy, Apocalypse, Science, Technology, Culture, Random

Transplanted Hearts and the Ghosts That Live On Inside of Them

Author: Daniel Taylor

9 Apr

It has long been rumored that organ transplants bring with them certain personality traits of their original owners, but two recent cases seem to add credence to the theory. First is the case of Sonny Graham, who after receiving the heart of suicide victim Terry Cottle, went on to not only marry Cottle’s widow, but to also eventually commit suicide in the exact same fashion as Cottle had, 12 years earlier. Even more bizarre is the case of Claire Sylvia, a middle aged mother who received a donated heart from an 18-year-old boy who died in a motorcycle accident. In her new book, Change of Heart, Sylvia notes some of the unexpected side effects of her transplant operation:

Now that I could eat like a normal person, I found, bizarrely, I’d developed a sudden fondness for certain foods I hadn’t liked before: Snickers bars, green peppers, Kentucky Fried Chicken takeaway. As time went on, a strange question crept into my mind. Although I hadn’t thought much about my donor, I was acutely aware that I was living with a man’s heart - and I wondered whether it was conceivable that this male heart might affect me sexually.

Until the transplant, I had spent most of my adult life either in a relationship with a man or hoping to be in one. But after the operation, while I still felt attracted to men, I didn’t feel that same need to have a boyfriend. I was freer and more independent than before - as if I had taken on a more masculine outlook. My personality was changing, too, and becoming more masculine. I was more aggressive and assertive than I used to be, and more confident as well.

I felt tougher, fitter and I stopped getting colds. Even my walk became more manly. “Why are you walking like that?” my teenage daughter Amara asked. “You’re lumbering - like a musclebound football player.” This new masculine energy wasn’t limited to my walk. I felt a new power that I associated with strength and vibrancy.

Both cases, of course, are a long way from proving anything about the theory of cellular memory, but it’s certainly food for thought, eh?

0 Comments

Filed under: Science, Technology, Random

“Hindu Goddess” Born in North India; Baby with Two faces

Author: ryan

8 Apr

In the continuing saga of completely bizarre physiological developments over the course of this year, a baby girl was born in North India recently who has two faces. According to reports, the baby girl has two separate sets of eyes (which she can open and shut at the same time), two mouths (which she can drink milk with at the same time) and two noses (so she can make everyone guffaw with two cute little sneezes at the same time).

She is being heralded in her village, just 25 miles east of New Delhi, as a Hindu Goddess.

2 Comments

Filed under: Science, Culture, Random