Seeing Red

 Red coloration is a known, testosterone-dependent signal of male quality, in a variety of animals.  

A statistical study of  ‘Association Football’  (Soccer) teams in England over a 55 year period and showed that red teams had the best home record, with significant differences in percentage of maximum points achieved. The researchers, Russell Hill and Robert Barton, had  previously shown that in the 2004 summer Olympic games for four events (Boxing, Tae kwon do, Greco-Roman wrestling and Freestyle Wrestling) competitors randomly assigned a red uniform had a 55% win percentage.

Other studies found that referees scoring video bouts gave competitors higher scores when uniforms were digitally altered to be red.

Found at Der Spiegel.  Abstract of Soccer study.  Summary of Olympic study.

Secrets of the Stradivarius

No modern violin maker or ‘Luthier’ has been able to match the qualities of the classical Cremonese violin-making families of Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri who flourished from c. 1600 to 1750. Only about seven hundred Stradivarius violins still exist from these times and they are the most sought after musical instruments in the world.  

Enthusiasm for these instruments is not merely for the instrument’s antique or novelty value; the sound of these violins is universally accepted as far superior to modern violins, in terms of quality of expressiveness and projection.

A new study by Berend C. Stoel and Terry M. Borman of Leiden University Medical Center in the The Netherlands & Borman Violins, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, has found that one of the key factors may be original raw material properties of the Maple and Spruce woods that were used.  In particular, the density, or more specifically the variability of wood density at the growth ring level throughout the violin.

The consistency of growth ring density is related to consistency of the tree growth rates from the Spring through Autumn and modern woods do not seem to match the evenness of growth found in the 17^th century wood.

If the density consistency is a major factor, then the reason for it, is as yet, not fully explained; variation in density may reflect differences in stiffness distributions, which could impact vibrational efficacy or may modify sound radiation via altered sound damping properties of the wood.

A part of the mystery of the Cremonese masterpieces may have revealed itself but don’t expect modern violin makers to be reproducing this effect any time soon.  The climatic reasons for subtle variations in growth ring density are not properly understood and would be practically impossible to replicate.

See Original Paper

Found at Yahoo News

FDA Issues Belated Health Warning on Mercury Fillings

After decades of insisting that mercury amalgam fillings are perfectly safe, the US FDA makes a U-turn and issues a health warning. 

The FDA web site has dropped its reassuring language from its website, substituting: “Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses.” It adds that when amalgam fillings are “placed in teeth or removed they release mercury vapor”, and that the same thing happens when chewing.

The new warning means that despite consumer suspicions, millions of people have previously been erroneously reassured  into accepting health risks from the amalgam.  These potentially include: heart conditions, Alzheimer’s, high blood pressure, infertility, fatigue disorders and neurotoxic effects on developing children and fetuses.

Found at The Independant

 

Fossils Found of Scandinavian Ex-Parrot

Paleontologists have discovered fossil remains of parrots on the Isle of Mors in the northwest of Denmark.

Could this be a sub-species of the Norwegian Blue? anticipated in the 70s by Cleese and Palin.  Certainly deceased, bereft of life and possibly ‘pinin for the fjords’ which hadn’t yet formed.  

 See article

or Dead Parrot Sketch at YouTube

Biologist Analyzes Whale Fin; redesigns foils to gain 20% increase in efficiency

Professor Frank Fish became intrigued with the curious bumps or tubercles on the pectoral flipper of the Humpback Whale, and decided to investigate .

Fish, of West Chester University of Pennsylvania, discovered through use of wind tunnels, that the irregular serrations were no anomaly.  The flipper exhibited a much steeper stall angle compared to a smooth shape.  Each tubercle apparently redirects and channels fluid over the flipper, creating vortexes that improve lift.

Fish has formed a company called WhalePower, which recently licensed the design for a new line of fans and wind turbines.  The blades realize 20 percent decreases in energy use and a significant drop in noise levels.

It just shows what 30 million years of evolutionary field testing can provide.

See Christian Science Monitor article.

Found at Sailing Anarchy

Link to abstract of paper  

Flaw Found in Smoothness of Universe

According to ‘the standard model’, the universe is isotropic or, allowing for random granularity, the same consistency in all directions. Three new separate studies are now indicating an uneven pattern.  If this is confirmed, it would need a major change to current theory of the Universe and its early formation.

Initially Kate Land and João Magueijo of Imperial College London noticed an uneven pattern in the distribution of cosmic microwave background radiation, ( the cosmic hiss left over from, and providing evidence for, the big bang ).  Land & Magueijo have named this pattern, somewhat geekishly, ‘the evil axis’.

 Subsequently, Damien Hutsemékers of the University of Liège in Belgium analyzed 355 quasars and found that randomness of the polarization of their light becomes more ordered than expected near the proposed axis.

More recently, Michael Longo of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor analyzed 1660 spiral galaxies and found that the rotation of most galaxies near the proposed axis, is also extremely unlikely to be random.

Ideas for the cause of this phenomenon are already being mooted, including the possibility that the early period of ‘inflation‘ - a now widely accepted theory of super accelerated expansion soon after the big bang, may have involved an uneven bulge.

Article found at New Scientist

MicroBling & Quantum Computing

 Scientists have made the world’s smallest diamond ring (5 millionths of a meter across), which could play a key role in the future of computing.

The ring was laser carved from diamond crystal by Phyicists at the University of Melbourne, and will help researchers build quantum computers.  Apparently it also comes in a nice, circular presentation holder.

Quantum computing is an exciting new computing concept, still in its infancy that will e.g. theoretically be able to crack ciphers requiring astronomical numbers of guesses, in seconds rather than years.

Presented at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Found at Australian Broadcasting Co

Archaeologists unearth ivory carving showing Whaling, thought to be c. 1000 BC

The 50-centimetre-long carving shows hunters in traditional Eskimo boats, along with whales and harpoons.

Russian Research Institute for Cultural and Natural Heritage in Moscow says the newfound ivory carving was determined to be 3,000 years old by radiocarbon dates on the soil in which it was embedded. The previous oldest solid evidence for whaling is some 2,000 years old.  The same site also yielded heavy stone blades, and remains from a number of dead whales.

Reported last week, at a meeting of the Society for American Archeology in Vancouver, Canada.

See Original ‘Nature’ article

Scientists genetically modify onions for no tears

 

Scientists in New Zealand and Japan have created a “tear-free” onion using biotechnology to switch off the gene behind the enzyme that makes us cry, one of the leading researchers said Friday.

The discovery could signal an end to one of cooking’s eternal puzzles: why does cutting up a simple onion sting the eyes and trigger teardrops?

The research institute in New Zealand, Crop and Food, used gene-silencing technology to make the breakthrough which it hopes could lead to a prototype onion hitting the market in a decade’s time.

Colin Eady, the institute’s senior scientist, said the project started in 2002 after Japanese scientists located the gene responsible for producing the agent behind the tears.

Found at Breitbart.com

Premium Gas is not ‘Best’

 I came across this answer in Slate.com to the question ” is high-octane gas bad for the environment?” I occasionally get into this argument and never fail to be amazed that most people refuse to believe that the three grades of gas and their octane ratings are entirely a technical requirement, mostly a function of  the compression ratio of your engine. There is absolutely no benefit to using a grade higher than specified in your car manual; it is simply throwing money away.  All that spiel about better detergents and additives in Premium is complete marketing baloney. So is the disproportionate price difference.

See complete answer plus discussion posts.