0
POPSEat Organic - But Not For Better Nutrition Go ahead and buy that organic apple if you want. Just don't think you're getting more nutrients out of it than an apple grown with the aid of pesticides. According to a new study by researchers out of the University of Copenhagen organic foods aren't any more nutritious. That may come as a surprise to shoppers worldwide who have grown the organic food and beverage market into a multi-billion dollar industry. Of course, if it's pesticides you're trying to avoid, organic food is the smart way to go. For help determining which foods tend to carry the highest pesticide loads and are your best bets for buying in the organic version, check out the Environmental Working Group's wallet friendly food list: http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php
1
POPSGamers Make Better Surgeons Yet another study, by Fordham University, measured the effect of learning a new video game on problem-solving skills in middle school aged children. It found that "playing video games can improve cognitive and perceptual skills." "Certain types of video games can have beneficial effects improving gamers' dexterity as well as their ability to problem solve - attributes that have proven useful not only to students but to surgeons," the researchers found. There are actually "games" where you perform virtual operations, BTW.
12
POPS'Beer goggles' are real - it's official As well as changing perceptions of attractiveness, alcohol also encourages us to engage in behaviour we would otherwise avoid. In a study by Robert Leeman of Yale University students reported they were more likely to engage in risky sexual acts after drinking - which could be due to alcohol lowering our inhibitions through a direct effect on the brain or by providing a convenient excuse for such behaviour.
20
POPSBig-brained Animals Evolve Faster a substantial body of evidence has confirmed that animals with larger brains, relative to their body size, have more developed skills for changing their behavior through learning and innovation, facilitating the invasion of novel environments and the use of novel resources. Despite the progress, the role of the brain in the adaptive diversification of animals has remained controversial, mostly due to the difficulties to demonstrate that big-brained animals evolve faster. Now, ecologist Daniel Sol of CREAF-Autonomous University of Barcelona and evolutionary biologist Trevor Price of the University of Chicago, provide evidence for such a role in birds in an article in The American Naturalist. Analyzing body size measures of 7,209 species (representing 75% of all avian species), they found that avian families that have experienced the greatest diversification in body size tend to be those with brains larger than expected for their body size.
14
POPSIce Volcanoes of Titan May Habor Life For almost thirty years, scientists have known that complex carbon compounds called tholins exist on comets and in the atmospheres of the outer planets. Theoretically, tholins might interact with water in a process called hydrolysis to produce complex molecules similar to those found on the early Earth. Could tholins formed in Titan's atmosphere react with liquid water temporarily exposed by meteor impacts or ice volcanoes to produce potentially prebiotic complex organic molecules — before the water freezes? Laboratory research by Catherine Neish, a graduate student working on her doctorate in planetary science at the University of Arizona, suggests, not without controversy, however, that, over a period of days, compounds similar to tholins can be react with water at near-freezing temperatures.
2
POPSAffair To Threaten Whatever It Is John Edwards Does For A Living It now seems unlikely that Edwards will reclaim his old Senate seat in January, if that is even possible, and a number of critics have called for his resignation from the honorary university post he likely holds if he is not already chairman of a national committee of some kind. A growing number have even claimed he should retire altogether from either public or private life. "John Edwards needs to step down from or refuse to accept the position immediately," Republican National Committee deputy chairman Frank Donatelli said. "He's in a lot of trouble if he still needs to be elected to something." Added Donatelli, "I just hope our tax dollars aren't going to him somehow." At press time, it was unclear whether Edwards could be impeached, or whether he would have legal grounds to sue someone if he were.
0
POPSComputer Scientists Ask Court to Reconsider Gag Order in DefCon Case
But the students have maintained that they planned to withhold key information from their talk that would have allowed someone to replicate their tests in a manner that could be used to defraud the transit system. (Some of that key information, however, has since become public because the MBTA included it in documents that it submitted to the court.) The EFF called the judge's decision to grant the restraining order an unconstitutional prior restraint of speech. The letter supporting the students is signed by Dave Farber, who holds the title of distinguished career professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and is purveyor of the popular Interesting People mail list as well as a trustee of the EFF; and computer scientists Steve Bellovin from Columbia University; David Wagner from UC Berkeley; Dan Wallach from Rice University; and Matt Blaze from the University of Pennsylvania. Wired.com columnist Bruce Schneier is also a signatory to the letter.
1
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update