My Blog

Category: Science

  • Illinois lags in science, tech, engineering, math grads

    Bad News:

    Illinois is producing fewer graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering and math than the national average, according to the June release of the Illinois Innovation Index. …

    According to the Illinois Innovation Index, the number of STEM degrees granted to Illinois graduates hit a high-water mark of 20,248 in 2003 before dropping through 2007. The number rose by nearly 5 percent between 2009 and 2010, the most recent year for which data are available. But the 2010 number, 18,400, is well below the 2003 peak. Furthermore, STEM degrees represented 11 percent of all 2010 Illinois degrees, lower than the national average of 14 percent.

    via Chicago Tribune.com.

    This is a problem.

    Illinois generally and Chicago specifically cannot grow out of debt without high tech jobs. Our manufacturing businesses are dying and the city’s not helping. We live in a global economy and on the manufacturing front Chicago’s losing.

    Tech is the future. If you don’t have tech, you’re future’s not very bright. It’s really just that simple.

    CTU looks like it’s going to strike CPS because teachers making $80,000+ for 189 days of work say it’s not enough. I’d be happy to give the teachers more money… when Illinois’ in first place nationally for math and science scores.

     

  • MAP: CTA Trains and Drug Arrests

    This is from Windy Citizen, I wish I could find a story to go with it but someone just sent me the link to the map.

  • Scientists plan $1b Ghost Town

    A scientific ghost town in the heart of southeastern New Mexico oil and gas country will hum with the latest next-generation technology — but no people.

    A $1 billion city without residents will be developed in Lea County near Hobbs, officials said Tuesday, to help researchers test everything from intelligent traffic systems and next-generation wireless networks to automated washing machines and self-flushing toilets.

    via Fox News.

    I can’t help but think of the good we could do in this town with one billion dollars.  Google’s testing self driving cars on public streets.  Self-flushing toilets can be tested anywhere.  I’m skeptical as to why someone — maybe taxpayers — would spend a billion on what is nothing more than a big toy for a few scientists.

  • Governments’ CCTV System Knows You

    It’s 1984 all over again:

    A new camera technology from Hitachi Hokusai Electric can scan days of camera footage instantly, and find any face which has EVER walked past it.

    Its makers boast that it can scan 36 million faces per second.

    The technology raises the spectre of governments – or other organisations – being able to ‘find’ anyone instantly simply using a passport photo or a Facebook profile.

    The software from Hitachi Hokusai electric can scan through 36 million faces a second looking for its ‘target’. The software can scan through days of CCTV footage almost instantly

    The ‘trick’ is that the camera ‘processes’ faces as it records, so that all faces which pass in front of it are recorded and stored instantly.

    Faces are stored as a searchable ‘biometric’ record, storing the unique

    When the police – or anyone else – want to search for a particular individual, they’re searching through a gallery of pre-indexed faces, rather than a messy library of footage.

    ‘We think this system is suitable for customers that have a relatively large-scale surveillance system, such as railways, power companies, law enforcement, and large stores,’ says the company.

    via Daily Mail.

    This is more than a little troubling.  Someone get the ACLU on the phone.

  • » Spike in Autism Linked to High-Fructose Corn Syrup

    A new study published in the journal Clinical Epigenetics reveals that both the Standard American Diet (SAD) and various toxic environmental factors play a definitive and synergistic role in the development of autism.  According to the study, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), mercury in vaccines, and agricultural pesticides are among the many cofactors that contribute to the onset of autism spectrum disorders, all of which deserve more attention from health authorities than they are currently getting.

    Renee Dufault from the Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute (FIHRI) and her colleagues examined how various foods and environmental factors affect the neurodevelopment of children….

    What the team discovered is that HFCS, for instance, which is a highly-processed chemical sweetener used in many processed foods and beverages, depletes the body of the natural mineral zinc.  And zinc, of course, is responsible for cleansing the body of heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, and cadmium, as well as aluminum and other toxins that are known to disrupt proper brain development.  …

    You can view the complete study at the following link:http://www.clinicalepigeneticsjournal.com

    HFCS laden with brain-destroying chemicals, mercury

    Back in 2009, it was revealed that HFCS is actually a source of heavy metal poisoning as well. The heavy processing required to produce HFCS involves the use of caustic soda chemicals and mercury, two brain-destroying chemicals that end up in the final product fed to millions of American children (http://www.naturalnews.com/025442_HFCS_Corn_Refiners_Association.html).

    Ketchup, sodas, juice drinks, breads, crackers, cookies, and many other processed food items are loaded with HFCS, and these items are a staple in many children’s diets, including in the meals fed to them at school. So it is no wonder that children’s bodies are being overwhelmed by mercury and other autism-related toxins, which is only worsened by the onslaught of neurologically damaging vaccines, some of which still contain mercury, most of them received throughout their early childhood developmental years.

    via InfoWars.

    I’m not sure the folks are “Natural News” are the most reliable… however, it appears save to say that eating less HFCS is a good idea.

  • Google’s Brin: Web Faces Greatest Threat Ever

    The principles of openness and universal access that underpinned the creation of the internet three decades ago are under greater threat than ever, according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

    In an interview with the Guardian, Brin warned there were “very powerful forces that have lined up against the open internet on all sides and around the world”.   “I am more worried than I have been in the past,” he said. “It’s scary.”

    The threat to the freedom of the internet comes, he claims, from a combination of governments increasingly trying to control access and communication by their citizens, the entertainment industry’s attempts to crack down on piracy, and the rise of “restrictive” walled gardens such as Facebook and Apple, which tightly control what software can be released on their platforms.

    via The Guardian.

    I’m not actually a big “Brin” or Google fan.  Although I do believe the story is accurate, it may be nothing more than a Google play for more “openness” so that Google kind find out more and more about you… so they can track you.

    We need to face the fact that Google is beyond spooky.  It tracks everything about you and has some undisclosed relationships with the government.  That’s not a good combination.

    Perhaps Brin should do a little spring cleaning in his own house before pointing fingers at Facebook and others.

  • Starbucks’ Bugs … Ya, Bugs!

    Bet’cha didn’t know:

    Starbucks is getting backlash from the vegan community after changing how it colors its Strawberry Frappuccino, reports Bruce Horovitz at USA Today.

    It’s using ground up cochineal beetles.

    Gross, right? Perhaps, but the type of food coloring is government-approved and widely used throughout the food industry.

    via Business Insider.

    To see a slide show of the bug to dye process click here.

    UPDATE:  Oh ya, forgot.  For more gross stuff that you eat everyday — like fish bladders, sand, human hair, and you won’t believe what beaver anal glands — click here.

  • Holding a Gun Gives You a Bias

    I’m not saying the “researchers” (a/k/a ivory tower academics) got it wrong, but they definitely have not thought through all the conclusions.

    A new study from the University of Notre Dame found that if you’re holding a gun, you are more likely to think others are packing heat as well.

    [T]he study was led by Notre Dame’s Associate Professor of Psychology James Brockmole, a specialist in human cognition and how the visual world guides behavior, with a colleague from Purdue University.  The research team conducted five experiments where participants, who either held a toy gun or a neutral object, viewed images of people on a computer screen and were asked to determine if they were holding a gun or another object, such as soda bottle or cellphone:

    The researchers varied the situation in each experiment — such as having the people in the images sometimes wear ski masks, changing the race of the person in the image or changing the reaction subjects were to have when they perceived the person in the image to hold a gun. Regardless of the situation the observers found themselves in, the study showed that responding with a gun biased observers to report “gun present” more than did responding with a ball. Thus, by virtue of affording the subject the opportunity to use a gun, he or she was more likely to classify objects in a scene as a gun and, as a result, to engage in threat-induced behavior, such as raising a firearm to shoot.

    […]

    The researchers showed that the ability to act is a key factor in the effects by showing that simply letting observers see a nearby gun did not influence their behavior; holding and using the gun was important.

    Brockmole said that this study shows that “people have a hard time separating their thoughts about what they perceive and their thoughts about how they can or should act.” Brockmole said in addition to “theoretical implications for event perception and object identification,” this research could also be considered for law enforcement and public safety implications. The infamous shooting of Amadou Diallo by plain clothes New York City police officers in 1999 comes to mind as an example. Diallo was unarmed and when approached by police at his doorstep who asked him to show his hands. Diallo reached into his pocket with his wallet in hand. In the low morning light, police identified this object as a gun and shot Diallo 19 times.

    via TheBlaze.com.

    I say the “researchers” are missing the much bigger picture here.  While unfortunate, it’s far more common for an armed criminal to shoot an unarmed victim than for a police officer to shoot an unarmed uncooperative person.

    Maybe they should apply their research to why criminals shoot first and ask questions later.   Perhaps while the criminal is standing in the convenience store holding the gun, they have a hard time separating their thoughts about what they perceive and their thoughts about how they can or should act.

    Cops kill maybe 100 folks a year nationwide.  Criminals kills 50,000 folks each year with guns.  Which is the bigger picture?

  • Most Bedbug Infested Cities

    Orkin announced its top 50 bed bug cities for the past year and several of them are popular spring break destinations. The following cities are ranked in order of the number of bed bug treatments Orkin performed from January to December 2011.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Thoroughly revolted that we’re number 2.

  • FAA to Allow Unmanned Drones (to kill you)

    The Federal Aviation Administration has taken the first concrete step toward allowing drones to fly alongside passenger airplanes in the United States.

    As required by a law signed by President Obama in February, the FAA is moving forward with a plan to integrate unmanned aircraft into the national airspace by 2015.  …

    Proponents of the plan envision drones being used to help dust crops, fight forest fires, sell houses, shoot movies and assist local police in chasing suspects.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Now that Eric Holder and the FBI Chief are talking about how the U.S. Government has the right to take your life away from you without even giving you a trial, this is really just the next logical step.  What a better way to kill U.S. citizens than with UAVs?

    2012, meet 1984.