Nova Scotia Scott

“‘Extreme’ College Drinking And A Sensation-seeking Disposition Lead To Injury” — Science Daily, 25 May

Science proves that Bob Dylan was right. Scientists have just shown that one of Bob Dylan’s most famous lines–”everybody must get stoned”– is correct. That’s because they’ve discovered that the brain manufactures proteins that act like marijuana at specific receptors in the brain itself. The possibilities are intoxicating. This discovery may lead to new marijuana-like [...]

Physician and geneticist Francis Collins rejected atheism for Christianity as a young man.  He became world-famous as leader of the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium where he oversaw the Human Genome Sequencing Project. In a recent interviewe with Marshall Allan of the Las Vegas Sun, he gave this response when asked about the relationship between [...]

Medical scientists have identified a link between chronic usage of marijuana and an obscure severe vomiting syndrome. Marijuana, a commonly abused drug among high school and college students, is linked to a severe form of vomiting syndrome and compulsive bathing behavior. This form of severe vomiting sickness is increasingly recognized with widespread abuse of marijuana. [...]

Shades of the fight over Kennewick Man. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego, are outraged because administration officials have moved to give two 10,000-year-old skeletons to a Native American tribe. The local Kumeyaay tribe has asked for the skeletons, which were discovered in 1976. University of California president Mark Yudof and UCSD chancellor [...]

Pope Benedict XVI has ruffled the feathers of Western public health officials for saying that condom distribution exacerbates the problem of AIDS—even though scientific studies back the pope’s position. And I thought public health officials are interested in helping people to avoid getting sick. The United Nations AIDS agency (UNAIDS) in a 2003 study indicated [...]

Research by a team of scientists from UCLA shows that intelligence is largely inherited. In a study published recently in the Journal of Neuroscience, UCLA neurology professor Paul Thompson and colleagues used a new type of brain-imaging scanner to show that intelligence is strongly influenced by the quality of the brain’s axons, or wiring that [...]

Robots demonstrate their pole-dancing skills at the Kinetica Art Fair in London. Source: BBC Day in Pictures Joe Walker has another odd BBC photo.

Dr J. Scott Armstrong, Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and an internationally recognised expert in forecasting methods and models, released a statement outlining eight reasons why the forecasting model used by the International Panel on Climate Change is unreliable. 1. No scientific forecasts of the changes in the Earth’s climate. [...]

Prince Edward Island communities are receiving information about setting up wind turbines to produce electricity for making ice at local skating rinks. The projects were made more viable last month by the introduction of a net-metering program, essentially allowing electricity meters to run backward when the wind turbine is creating more energy than the rink [...]

Early childhood diet may influence future health — Science Daily, 15 Jan.

A good night’s sleep protects against parasites — Science Daily, 15 Jan. Don’t do your makeup by candlelight — CBC News, 16 Jan.

Researchers studying the mating behaviour of bison discovered something remarkable: The more noise a bull makes, the less likely he is to sire offspring. During bison mating season, the quietest bulls score the most mates and sire the most offspring while studs with the loudest bellows see the least action, according to a surprising new [...]

Two newly published studies suggest that male circumcision reduces the risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical cancer. Dr Carrie Nielson of the Oregon Health & Science University, lead researcher on one of the studies, says this demonstrates that male circumcision could provide substantial health benefits for women. Combined with earlier evidence that circumcision [...]

Heavy wooden and ornamental toilet seats have recently become trendy, but doctors have noticed that such seats can fall down and injure penises of male toddlers. Ouch! Writing in the December issue of BJU International, Dr Joe Philip and his colleagues at Leighton Hospital, Crewe, report on four boys under the age of four, who [...]