SuperMegaMonkey: Science: April 2009 Archives

Science

Tips for not giving me your filthy swine flu

Modeled after this AP article:

Cover your damn mouth when you sneeze.
Stay away from me.
Keep spending money. Keep buying pork products. Let's not further destroy the whole economy just because you're sick.
If you get sick, don't go to the hospital. Just stay in your homes and die quietly.

By fnord12 | April 27, 2009, 2:44 PM | Science | Comments (2)| Link

Terrafugia - Yeah, That's Totally Not Dangerous

Flying car

Cause people are so good with handling vehicles that are restricted to the cartesian plane...

By min | April 22, 2009, 2:21 PM | Science | Link

So That's What You Bastards Are For

In the quest for better health, many people turn to doctors, self-help books or herbal supplements. But they overlook a powerful weapon that could help them fight illness and depression, speed recovery, slow aging and prolong life: their friends.

Link

And all this time, i thought your whole purpose was to suck the joy out of existing. So close...

By min | April 21, 2009, 12:41 PM | Science | Comments (1)| Link

I Always Knew You Shouldn't Swallow the Pips

Before doctors opened him up, they were convinced he had lung cancer. Now, they're convinced he inhaled a seed, which sprouted inside him.
Surgeon Vladimir Kamashev at Izhevsk hospital was about to remove a large part of 28-year-old Artyom Sidorkin's lung, when he took a closer look, according to reports. He was stunned to see a 5cm-long spruce inside, the Russian news agency Pravda says.

Link

When we accidentally swallowed a pip from an orange or watermelon or something, my mom would tell us the plant would eventually grow out of our heads. Apparently, she wasn't totally lying.

If you google his name, you can find pics of the tree in his lung. *shudder*

By min | April 17, 2009, 2:06 PM | Science | Link

IQ Not Entirely Genetic

I have been told there might be some who are interested in reading this.

If intelligence were deeply encoded in our genes, that would lead to the depressing conclusion that neither schooling nor antipoverty programs can accomplish much. Yet while this view of I.Q. as overwhelmingly inherited has been widely held, the evidence is growing that it is, at a practical level, profoundly wrong. ... "Bad environments suppress children's I.Q.'s," Professor Turkheimer said.
One gauge of that is that when poor children are adopted into upper-middle-class households, their I.Q.'s rise by 12 to 18 points, depending on the study. For example, a French study showed that children from poor households adopted into upper-middle-class homes averaged an I.Q. of 107 by one test and 111 by another. Their siblings who were not adopted averaged 95 on both tests.
Another indication of malleability is that I.Q. has risen sharply over time. Indeed, the average I.Q. of a person in 1917 would amount to only 73 on today's I.Q. test. Half the population of 1917 would be considered mentally retarded by today's measurements, Professor Nisbett says.

Being subjected to the general populace on an almost daily basis, i would consider half of the population today to be mentally retarded. Fnord12 says i should go back to 1917 so that i can better appreciate the advancements made by retards of today.

By min | April 16, 2009, 2:44 PM | Science | Link

Y The Last Ant-Man

BBC:

An Amazonian ant has dispensed with sex and developed into an all-female species, researchers have found.
The ants reproduce via cloning - the queen ants copy themselves to produce genetically identical daughters.
This species - the first ever to be shown to reproduce entirely without sex - cultivates a garden of fungus, which also reproduces asexually.

By fnord12 | April 15, 2009, 11:23 AM | Comics & Science | Comments (2)| Link

Powerlines are Totally Safe

And clearly super efficient conductors of energy with hardly any excess waste bleeding off.

You are looking at 1301 fluorescent bulbs planted in an English farm, powered entirely by electrical fields generated by the power lines that float in curves over the top of this field.

They should be harnessing the power generated by these electrical fields. Or figure out a better way to insulate the power lines so they act like they have zero voltage and don't create an electrical field.

Wonder what this constant buzz of electricity does to your brain or your heart.

By min | April 13, 2009, 11:51 AM | Liberal Outrage & Science | Link

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