Paltrow Seized With Stupidity

Gwyneth is worried. Apparently your shampoo will kill you and your children:

Gwyneth Paltrow has been branded ‘loopy’ by scientists after warning that products such as shampoo could be linked to cancer.

The actress and wife of Coldplay singer Chris Martin says she was ‘seized with fear’ after reading research about what she calls ‘environmental toxins’ – chemicals which are present in everyday items. [...]

She made the claims on her website goop.com, where she usually airs her views on her favourite restaurants and organic food recipes.

She said: "A couple of years ago I was asked to give a quote for a book concerning environmental toxins and their effects on our children. While reading up on the subject, I was seized with fear about what the research said. Foetuses, infants and toddlers are basically unable to metabolize toxins the way that adults are, and we are constantly filling our environments with chemicals that may or may not be safe."

Unfortunately not everyone (and by everyone I mean knowledgeable people) agree with her. Loopy Goopy Gwyneth's warnings are "rubbish" say scientists:

"It does annoy me when celebrities use their position to spout nonsense. They have a perfect right to their views, even if they are loopy, but they do hold a position of influence. You may as well ask someone on the Underground."

So said Dr. Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University.

Oh, and Gwyneth? Dear, if you plan to continue this affected "British-ness" with your speech and spelling at least be consistent. If you spell "fetus" as "foetus" - then spell "metabolize" as "metabolise". The expert conclusion? Don't drink your shampoo by the gallon (sorry - "litre") and you'll be fine, Gwyneth.

Shampoo - It Isn't A Beverage

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This Has All Happened Before, And It Will All Happen Again

Robot Achieves Scientific First

A laboratory robot called Adam has been hailed as the first machine in history to have discovered new scientific knowledge independently of its human creators.

Adam formed a hypothesis on the genetics of bakers’ yeast and carried out experiments to test its predictions, without intervention from its makers at Aberystwyth University. [...]

The team has just completed a successor robot called Eve, which is about to work with Adam on a series of experiments designed to find new drugs to treat tropical diseases such as malaria and schistosomiasis.

And Humans created machine in Their own image, in the image of Humans They created them; male and female They created them.

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Hot & Fast

That's how a planet HD80606b lives:

In just six hours, this planet four times the size of Jupiter heats up by more than 1,200 degrees, according to a study published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

"It's the first observation of changing weather" on a planet outside our solar system, said study author Gregory Laughlin, an astronomy professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz. [...]

When it comes closest to its star, it becomes one giant "brewing storm" complete with shock waves, Laughlin said. The radiation bombarding the planet is 800 times stronger than when it is farthest away.

Then just as quickly, the planet slingshots away and radiates the heat to the cool vacuum of space. It glows cherry red and the temperature plummets, Laughlin said.

"Utterly bizarre," he said. "It is thoroughly completely uninhabitable. In a galaxy of uninhabitable planets, this one stands out as being completely inhospitable to life."

Hmmmm... For some reason it struck me as a bit arrogant to call a world "thoroughly completely uninhabitable" just because it isn't comfy and cozy for any life form we're familiar with. What was the line from Jurassic Park?

Henry Wu: You're implying that a group composed entirely of female animals will... breed?

Dr. Ian Malcolm: No, I'm simply saying that life, uh... finds a way.

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Stupid Hippies

English Hippies Want Local Wi-Fi Network Turned Off

Turn off that Wi-Fi network — it's disturbing our chakras.

That's what many residents of Glastonbury, a lovely medieval town turned New Age hub in southwestern England, are demanding the local government do.

Ever since the town's free municipal wireless broadband network went online in May, people have been complaining of, as an online petition puts it, "headaches, dizziness, nausea, severe tiredness, brain fog, disorientation and loss of appetite, loss of balance, inability to concentrate, loss of creativity" — all ailments an examining physician would find it difficult to prove or disprove.

"This place is not appropriate for a Wi-Fi trial," resident Linda Taylor tells the local Fosse Way magazine. "People are complaining of headaches, tingling skin among other symptoms. This makes me wonder what is it doing to the children." [...]

One man has even begun making orgone generators, which use crystals, semi-precious stones and gold to purportedly put out positive energy to combat the negative vibes flooding the town from the Wi-Fi base stations.

"I have given a number of generators to shops in the High Street and hidden others in bushes in the immediate vicinity of the antennae. That way you can bring back the balance," Matt Todd told the Telegraph. "The science hasn't really got into the mainstream because the government won't make decisions which will affect big business, even if it concerns everyone's health."

I'll tell you what's it doing to the children, it's giving them a chance to access real health and science information that might be able to counteract some of the bullsh-t you're feeding into their soft little brains. If the wi-fi network isn't being used then take it down; but please don't turn it off just because these jello brained loonies think it's messing up their chakras. Sheesh!

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Ignorant A--holes Perhaps?

Is "Black Hole" A Racially Insensitive Term?

A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon.

County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts.

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole."

That prompted Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy.

Mayfield shot back that it was a figure of speech and a science term.

So let me get this straight (oops! was that homophobic?) two elected officials in one of the largest metro areas in the nation don't know what the term "black hole" means when used as a figure of speech for things that disappear without a trace? Those two idiots should have to publicly apologize for their stupidity.

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Cool!

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Artificial Life

I Am Creating Artificial Life, Declares US Gene Pioneer

Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.

The announcement, which is expected within weeks and could come as early as Monday at the annual meeting of his scientific institute in San Diego, California, will herald a giant leap forward in the development of designer genomes. It is certain to provoke heated debate about the ethics of creating new species and could unlock the door to new energy sources and techniques to combat global warming.

Mr Venter told the Guardian he thought this landmark would be "a very important philosophical step in the history of our species. We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before."

As God said, "nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them." Of course He didn't think that was such a good idea...

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Everything That Can Happen...Does Happen

The parallel universe theory (or the idea of a "multi-verse") has always fascinated me. Maybe because it provides a little hope (there's a universe where everything is much, much better), and feeds a little morbid curiosity (there's a universe where things are much, much worse) at the same time. Now we have further evidence that the theory may be true according to a study at Oxford University:

Parallel Universes Exist Says Mathematical Study

Parallel universes really do exist, according to a mathematical discovery by Oxford scientists described by one expert as "one of the most important developments in the history of science".

The parallel universe theory, first proposed in 1950 by the US physicist Hugh Everett, helps explain mysteries of quantum mechanics that have baffled scientists for decades, it is claimed.

In Everett's "many worlds" universe, every time a new physical possibility is explored, the universe splits. Given a number of possible alternative outcomes, each one is played out - in its own universe.

A motorist who has a near miss, for instance, might feel relieved at his lucky escape. But in a parallel universe, another version of the same driver will have been killed. Yet another universe will see the motorist recover after treatment in hospital. The number of alternative scenarios is endless.

According to quantum mechanics, nothing at the subatomic scale can really be said to exist until it is observed. Until then, particles occupy nebulous "superposition" states, in which they can have simultaneous "up" and "down" spins, or appear to be in different places at the same time.

Observation appears to "nail down" a particular state of reality, in the same way as a spinning coin can only be said to be in a "heads" or "tails" state once it is caught.

According to quantum mechanics, unobserved particles are described by "wave functions" representing a set of multiple "probable" states. When an observer makes a measurement, the particle then settles down into one of these multiple options.

So that means there's a universe out there where Jerry O'Connell came to his senses and realized we're meant to be together. Of course there's also one out there where I'm dead...or worse. Hmmm... I think I'll stick with the universe I've got.

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Those Clever, Clever, Germans!

We Have Broken The Speed Of Light

A pair of German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light - an achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time.

According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, it would require an infinite amount of energy to propel an object at more than 186,000 miles per second.

However, Dr Gunter Nimtz and Dr Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say they may have breached a key tenet of that theory.
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The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons - energetic packets of light - travelled "instantaneously" between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart.

Being able to travel faster than the speed of light would lead to a wide variety of bizarre consequences.

For instance, an astronaut moving faster than it would theoretically arrive at a destination before leaving.

As if the Blitzkrieg wasn't bad enough, now they can invade your country so fast they don't even have to leave the Fatherland!

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