LGP Science Thread

[count2infinity]

Your point about different oxygen levels made me think that the increased level of carbon dioxide in the atomosphere may be negatively impacting human's health. I know it's a big stretch but perhaps the increase in carbon dioxide is one of the causes of cancer.

not sure i'd go that far...

[columbia]

It makes sense that a lot of it has to do with humans living long enough to get cancer.
But I have no proof for that.

[doublem]

I'm not sure if I want them cloning dinosaurs, but if they do, they better not wimp out and create some small, dog size, leaf eating thing. Go big or go home. Create something cool like a t-rex or triceratops.

Imagine the implications. We would no longer need a giant fence for our border with Mexico. We would just have t-rexes roaming the border.

atmospheric conditions have changed a lot since the dinos have been around. the very large dinos probably would not be able to live in today's atmosphere as the oxygen levels back then were able to support very large animals, today: not so much. of course i could be way off.

Yes, I believe that's true.

[doublem]

I'm not sure if I want them cloning dinosaurs, but if they do, they better not wimp out and create some small, dog size, leaf eating thing. Go big or go home. Create something cool like a t-rex or triceratops.

Imagine the implications. We would no longer need a giant fence for our border with Mexico. We would just have t-rexes roaming the border.

atmospheric conditions have changed a lot since the dinos have been around. the very large dinos probably would not be able to live in today's atmosphere as the oxygen levels back then were able to support very large animals, today: not so much. of course i could be way off.

Your point about different oxygen levels made me think that the increased level of carbon dioxide in the atomosphere may be negatively impacting human's health. I know it's a big stretch but perhaps the increase in carbon dioxide is one of the causes of cancer.

I think cancer levels have gone up recently though. I'm not sure what they were through out human history.

[count2infinity]

I think cancer levels have gone up recently though. I'm not sure what they were through out human history.

i don't think you'll ever be able to get that data. records of why people died have changed, what used to be "natural causes" are now heart disease, cancer, etc. they didn't really keep track of that back then.

[Silence_Dogood]

"Cancer levels" depends on things like diagnosis and life-span. As the ability to recognize cancer increases and people live longer, the reports of cancer will increase. I personally don't believe that there has been a statistically significant increase in the percentage of people getting cancer, and I've heard similar things from doctors and scientists who have studied it.

The fact is, you have to die from something. As more illnesses become treatable, as food becomes more available, and as the number of people getting eaten by wild animals or slaughtered by savage natives decreases, it follows that more people will reach old age and die from other things like cancer.

[thehockeyguru]

I think cancer levels have gone up recently though. I'm not sure what they were through out human history.

i don't think you'll ever be able to get that data. records of why people died have changed, what used to be "natural causes" are now heart disease, cancer, etc. they didn't really keep track of that back then.

There are a lot of things that people have linked with cancer that weren't prevelent decades ago. ie smoking, radiowaves, ect.

[Guinness]

In addition to the aforementioned more accurate diagnosis, I wonder how much our exposure to the increased levels of various chemicals in our food, water, and air have contributed to the perceived increase in the incidence of cancer?

[Silence_Dogood]

In addition to the aforementioned more accurate diagnosis, I wonder how much our exposure to the increased levels of various chemicals in our food, water, and air have contributed to the perceived increase in the incidence of cancer?

Very little, based on something I read a while ago.
I'll try to find it.


Taking the opposite stance, I also read an article about ancient Egpyt and their lack of cancer.

EDIT: It was more speculative and I didn't really have as much faith in it.

[doublem]

I have been looking for links but I can't really find any.

[doublem]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/healt ... updateema2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/healt ... updateema2

Very interesting article.

[Guinness]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/healt ... updateema2

Very interesting - Thanks doublem.

[columbia]

Music stimulates the flow of dopamine:
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/201 ... er-all.ars" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Silence_Dogood]

I really like the NYT when it supports my previously held beliefs. Otherwise, I hate it.

[roland]

Tatooine's twin suns - coming to a planet near you just as soon as Betelgeuse explodes

http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-t ... 5991009247" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Yes, any day now we see a second sun light up the sky, if only for a matter of weeks.

The infamous red super-giant star in Orion’s nebula - Betelgeuse - is predicted to go gangbusters and the impending super-nova may reach Earth before 2012, and when it does, all of our wildest Star Wars dreams will come true.

The second biggest star in the universe is losing mass, a typical indication that a gravitation collapse is occurring."

[shafnutz05]

I would LOVE to see a supernova in my lifetime....preferably not close enough that we get blasted with deadly radiation, but meh.

[shafnutz05]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110120/ap_ ... ansplant_1

Doctors replace woman's voice box (why would you do that)

[viva la ben]

A couple weeks of no night would be cool. Just as long it doesn't severly damage earths atmosphere.

[SolidSnake]

Tatooine's twin suns - coming to a planet near you just as soon as Betelgeuse explodes

http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-t ... 5991009247" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Yes, any day now we see a second sun light up the sky, if only for a matter of weeks.

The infamous red super-giant star in Orion’s nebula - Betelgeuse - is predicted to go gangbusters and the impending super-nova may reach Earth before 2012, and when it does, all of our wildest Star Wars dreams will come true.

The second biggest star in the universe is losing mass, a typical indication that a gravitation collapse is occurring."

Betelguese is awesome!

[shafnutz05]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110121/D9KSNGR00.html

A 520-day flight simulation is getting closer to "landing on Mars". Wow....I certainly cannot say that I would give up a year and a half of my life to sit in a simulator like that.

[doublem]

Olden Gaze: Galaxy in Hubble Image May Be the Most Distant Object Ever Seen

Peering back to just 500 million years after the big bang, researchers have located what looks to be a galaxy in the infant universe.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... est-galaxy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Physical_Graffiti]

I've never really understood why looking through a powerful telescope shows you something that happened in the past on the viewed planet.

[doublem]

http://www.familyhealthguide.co.uk/mind ... .analytics" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Study Shows Meditation Changes Brain Structure in Just 8 Weeks.

[LeopardLetang]

I've never really understood why looking through a powerful telescope shows you something that happened in the past on the viewed planet.

maybe you're questioning how a telescope works. but if not, think about a laser pointer. if you click it on and point at a plane in the night sky, it seems to instantaneously reach its destination. but really it's only moving at light speed. if you pointed it at a planet far, far away, it wouldn't make a dot on that planet for some time. from a person's perspective on that planet, when they finally saw the dot appear on their land, you might already be dead.

so in magnifying something far away so that we can see it, we still only see what it looked like way back when. when would correlate to its distance away divided by the speed of light or something.