Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Argentina: World’s largest dinosaur found

No, not this one,


Cristinasaurus Kirchnerus

this one:


Thigh bone connected to the hip bone
Hip bone connected to the back bone

Fossilised bones of a dinosaur believed to be the largest creature ever to walk the Earth have been unearthed in Argentina, palaeontologists say. Bigger than Argentinosaurus,

Scientists believe it is a new species of titanosaur – an enormous herbivore dating from the Late Cretaceous period.

A local farm worker first stumbled on the remains in the desert near La Flecha, about 250km (135 miles) west of Trelew, Patagonia.

How big was it?


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“72 is the new 30”? Only if you compare to cavemen

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany found that

Those primitive hunter gatherers, at age 30, had the same odds of dying as a modern Swedish or Japanese man would face at 72.

Which doesn’t mean that you’re as spry at 72 as you were at 30.

But you didn’t need me to point that out, did you?

I’ll now go back to nursing my cold. Beeehave while I’m away.

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Smaller than a flash drive

A movie script waiting to happen,
Researchers Turn Book Into DNA Code

n the latest attempt to corral society’s growing quantities of digital data, Harvard University researchers encoded an entire book into the genetic molecules of DNA, the basic building block of life, and then accurately read back the text.

Their experiment, reported online Thursday in Science, translated the English text of a coming book on genomic engineering into actual DNA, using the chemical ingredients of genes as a code.

In that form, a billion copies of the book could fit easily in a test tube and, under normal conditions, last for centuries, the researchers said.

The unconventional exercise—one that is a long way from being commercially viable—highlights the potential of DNA as a stable, long-term archive for ordinary information, such as photographs, books, financial records, medical files and videos.

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Doesn’t work for me

Brain “rewrites” monotonous speech of boring people
The human brain prevents us from drifting off when listening to boring people by “rewriting” monotonous speech to make it sound more interesting, scientists have found.

“When the brain hears monotonously-spoken direct speech quotations which it expects to be more vivid, the brain simply ‘talks over’ the speech it hears with more vivid speech utterances of its own.

Clearly this is something my brain hasn’t been doing.

h/t Roger Kimball‘s tweeter feed.

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Soyuz launching from French Guiana

The European Space Agency’s launching from French Guiana a Galileo satellite for the EU’s first own GPS,

They’re using a Russian Soyuz, which shows you how much things have changed from when our generation was growing up: A Russian rocket launched from our hemisphere, for the purpose of providing navigation information to Europe.

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Meanwhile, over in Princeton…

While I’m waiting for my car to have some routine maintenance I came across neighbor TigerHawk’s post, who is agitated on many subjects. (TH is slumming it at the Adirondacks, after slumming it in Florence, but I digress)

In the end, why am I for small and limited government? Because history teaches that among the choices of (1) democracy, (2) heterogeneity, and (3) effective and efficient government, one must pick any two. It is no surprise that our only era of effective government on a large-scale came just after the only period in American history when we effectively banned immigration and before the political emancipation of blacks. Since I like democracy and am all in favor of a free, tolerant, and heterogeneous society, I believe that virtually any government program over which the voters have influence will descend in to a wasteful and counterproductive mess, ultimately captured by some narrow constituency. I believe that liberals instinctively agree, which is why they much prefer actions by federal judges and regulators, both of whom are effectively beyond the reach of voters, to detailed legislation from the United States Congress.

In the same post, TH also posts on a subject he knows a lot about: medical innovation,

one of the objectives of health care reform is to stifle innovation. That is why it includes a tax on the revenues of medical device companies, which will (obviously) substantially raise the return hurdles on investment in new products and thereby entrench old products. The reason for this is that the social engineers in the White House believe that most innovation in medical technology drives up costs — that manufacturers use the opportunity of a next generation product to raise prices. This cramped attitude stands in stark contrast to the chaotic-capitalist view that seems self-evident to me: that most innovation in health care as in all industries does not occur in revolutions but in tiny incremental steps that, over time, add up to a great deal. One cannot point to very many incremental changes in automobile design between the Ford Model-T and, say, a Lexus 450h that accomplished a provable difference in “outcomes,” but the accumulated innovation, each on top of the other, sure made our lives much better. So it is with medical technology, which is why even small innovation is important to our children.

Anyway, it is not only Obama care that is stifling innovation. So is the Obama FDA, which has massively increased the time it takes to get “substantially similar” new products approved.

The average time taken by U.S. Food and Drug Administration to clear a 510(k) application increased 37 percent between 2006 and 2011.

Many of you will live more painful, less comfortable, or even shorter lives because of Obama administration policy. Remember that.

And worse yet, even if the healtcare legislation were to be totally repealed, the FDA hurdles will still continue to impede innovation.

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Go ahead, swear away!

but only when in pain,
Swearing can help relieve pain, study claims
Swearing after hurting yourself can help numb the pain of an injury, new research suggests.

Scientists from Keele University found that letting forth a volley of foul language can have a powerful painkilling effect, especially for people who do not normally use expletives.
…
Researchers found that the students were able to keep their hands submerged in the icy water for longer when repeating the swear word – establishing a link between swearing and an increase in pain tolerance.
They also found that the pain-numbing effect was four times more likely to work in the volunteers who did not normally use bad language.Joe Gandelman feels vindicated.

If this study is right, then I’ve got to think that New York City is the happiest, most pain-free, place on the planet.

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Be thankful, you’ll feel better

Thanksgiving Day is just two days away, and now there’s scientific evidence that being thankful is good for you:

Adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not, according to studies conducted over the past decade. They’re also less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy or alcoholics. They earn more money, sleep more soundly, exercise more regularly and have greater resistance to viral infections.

Now, researchers are finding that gratitude brings similar benefits in children and adolescents. Kids who feel and act grateful tend to be less materialistic, get better grades, set higher goals, complain of fewer headaches and stomach aches and feel more satisfied with their friends, families and schools than those who don’t, studies show.

There’s even a gratitude quiz.

Not that gratitude is that easy to attain,

gratitude is actually a demanding, complex emotion that requires “self-reflection, the ability to admit that one is dependent upon the help of others, and the humility to realize one’s own limitations,” Dr. Emmons says.

Ah, humility. Where would us bloggers be without it?

Cross-posted at Hot Air

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