crome.org

Which Dayton? Not Ohio.

Our guppy just had close to 40 baby guppies.   That after she had 19 only 3.5 weeks ago.   Good grief.   Does somebody need some guppies?

You. Yeah, You. You taking Fish Oil for the wonderful Omega-3 fatty acids?  Well, it like so many other supplement fads seems to be worthless.   http://www.badscience.net/2010/06/the-return-of-a-2bn-fishy-friend/

So… If you’re taking fish oil, there are a few reactions you can have:

1. Look at the science, decide that science trumps your current beliefs, and change your belief.
2. Look at the science, but be unconvinced by it (which is okay, especially for smalland/ or poorly conducted studies)
3. Ignore the science, and since this bit of science contradicts your current beliefs, disbelieve all science.

Unfortunately, it seems that Option #3 seems to be the approach people take normally.  Bummer.

All I can say is… Science is the best thing we’ve got to understand the world around us.  It works pretty well, and most importantly, it’s self-correcting.

Try to keep an open mind.  Which, of course, doen’t mean, “believe anything anybody tells you,” but something more like, “be ready to accept new evidence as it comes along and don’t let your preconceived beliefs blind you to the new evidence.”

If you don’t look at ZooBorns regularly, you’re really missing some good stuff.

Touch the snail for more information.

Apparently methanphetamine helps memory in humans and rats (I guess in limited amounts).  But researchers wanted to know if it works on snails, which store there memories in, get this, a 3 neuron network.  That’s 3 neurons!  We’ve got what, a billion?  Or is it a trillion?   I think a trillion.  Snails get by with 3.  That makes it easier to study how the meth works.

Securing your products against copying & compromise is hard.  Not only does your software have to not be broken (almost impossible), your hardware needs to not be exploitable too.

Here’s an interesting article on how key recovery can be done by looking at chip power consumption.

I sure don’t want to be the one designing the next voting machine if it’s not going to be open to public scrutiny.  Yikes.

Tea-party republicans vandalize 8th grade classroom.  Nice job guys.

Hey, remember the plantimal? And the other cross-species gene transfer? Here’s another cross-kingdom gene transfer:  Aphids got their red color by inheriting a gene from some fungus they ate.

You are what you eat—or, at least, you may turn the same color as the things you eat. Flamingos are pink because they eat shrimp, and even humans can turn orange if we consume too many carrots or tomatoes. The agents responsible are pigments known as carotenoids, but scientists have now found that at least one animal doesn't need to eat them to change color. Instead, tiny insects called aphids picked up the genes needed to produce carotenoids from a fungus sometime during their evolutionary history. That makes aphids the first animal known to produce its own carotenoids, researchers report tomorrow in Science. The scientists remark that it is curious that other animals haven't acquired a means to produce carotenoids, given the many important functions they perform, such as strengthening the immune system.