Heart Science

In heart news today

Thiamin Deficiency Common In Hospitalized Heart Failure Patients
"Among patients hospitalized with heart failure, about one in three has deficient levels of thiamin, although thiamin deficiency was less common among those patients who were taking vitamin supplements, according to a new study in the Jan. 17 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology."[link]:

People Who Restrict Calories Have 'Younger' Hearts
"The hearts of people who follow a low-calorie, yet nutritionally balanced, diet resemble those of younger people when examined by sophisticated ultrasound function tests, and they tend to have more desirable levels of some markers of inflammation and fibrosis, according to a new study in the Jan. 17 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology."
[link]:

Caffeine Limits Blood Flow To Heart Muscle During Exercise
"In healthy volunteers, the equivalent of two cups of coffee reduced the body's ability to boost blood flow to the heart muscle in response to exercise, and the effect was stronger when the participants were in a chamber simulating high altitude, according to a new study in the Jan. 17 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology." [link]:

Laser Weapons Still a Long Ways Off?

Gizmodo writes:

"A Space.com article took at look at Doug Beason's book, The E-Bomb: How America's New Directed Energy Weapons Will Change the Way Wars Will Be Fought in the Future, shorten the title of that book for sakes. The Space.com article is reporting that the book says that the U.S. is close to deploying a new generation of weapons including lasers. Basically Mr. Beason is full of poo. The Tactical High Energy Laser was cancelled last year and the Airborne Laser is billions over budget and a couple years past its deadline. The main reason laser weapons are so difficult to produce is because the weapons use giant vats of toxic chemicals to produce the laser light, so this creates a big mobility issue. Solid state lasers (powered by crystals) could be used, but those are like kiddie toys compared to what chemical lasers can do. Sorry Star Wars and Star Trek cosplay junkies, no RL bew-bew guns to go with your outfit for a while."

However from the source article a Defense Tech Reader states:

An effective version of laser weaponry is ready for use today. The Chinese have installed it on the turret of the Type 98 MBT

"The procedure of the laser weapon would first use a low-powered beam to locate the optics of the enemy weapon. Once the enemy weapon was located, the power level of the laser would be immediately and dramatically increased. Such an attack would disable the guidance optics of the enemy weapon and/or damage the eyesight of the enemy gunner."

Using lasers as blinding weapons would be a most efficient way of rendering your enemy "combat ineffective" and is available today. Apparently the Chinese have no qualms about using them in this manner.

Gizmodo:[link]
Defense Tech:[link]

Sift through interstellar dust in your free time!

Alright! Another attempt by NASA to bring a space craft to earth, hopefully with little impact. This is scheduled to land on the 15th early Sunday morning (3:12 am) and being in Southern Idaho we have an excellent chance of viewing its decent. So, if your up and you have your camera in hand grab some shots. I will do my best in capturing the event and share it all with you that morning. Location and Maximum Elevation map

Science Daily says: Comet Dust Brought Back To Earth: Paving The Way For Rosetta

"Mark Frauenfelder: Gareth Branwyn reports in Street Tech: 'You likely already know about Seti@Home and Folding@Home, but did you know that you'll soon have the opportunity to rummage through intersellar dirt at home, thanks to UC Berkeley's Stardust@Home project?

'When the Stardust spacecraft returns to Earth later this week (Sunday), its dust-bag will be filled with what it vaccumed out of the tail of comet Wild 2. While bringing this material back home is exciting enough, the spacecraft will also have a few grains of interstellar dust in its hoppers. And that's where Stardust@Home comes in. Scientists only expect to find 45 or so grains of such dust in the craft's collectors, creating a needle in a haystack scenario. So they decided to use the distributed eyeballs of the Internet to help speed the search. They've created a Virtual Microscope which will allow volunteer researchers to digitally scan the aerogel tiles where the submicroscopic grains have been trapped. Scientists hope that by finding and studying this interstellar dust, they can learn more about the internal processes of the supernova, flaring red giants, and neutron stars that would likely produce such dust.'

link
[link, BoingBoing]:


UPDATED
"Xeni Jardin: NASA Stardust mission on final approach for landing

John Parres says,

Stardust is completing a 2.88 billion mile round-trip odyssey to capture and return cometary and interstellar dust particles to Earth in two days (2:12AM PST).

Sunday) The spacecraft performs its last maneuver on Friday, Jan. 13, at 8:53 p.m. Pacific time (9:53 p.m. Mountain time) to put it on the correct path to enter Earth's atmosphere. The speed of the sample return capsule as it enters Earth's atmosphere at 46,440 kilometers per hour (28,860 miles per hour) will be the greatest of any human-made object on record. The previous record was set in May 1969 by the returning Apollo 10 command module. Cool stuff. I will definately be tuning into NASA TV! Link to mission, Link to animations.

[link]:

How Elasticity Affects The Market For Illegal Goods

An interesting article about how enforement and market respond to illegal goods.

In an important new study, world-renowned economists -- including a Nobel Prize winner and a MacArthur 'genius' -- argue that when demand for a good is inelastic, the cost of making consumption illegal exceeds the gain. Their forthcoming paper in the Journal of Political Economy is a definitive explanation of the economics of illegal goods and a thoughtful explication of the costs of enforcement.

The authors demonstrate how the elasticity of demand is crucial to understanding the effects of punishment on suppliers. Enforcement raises costs for suppliers, who must respond to the risk of imprisonment and other punishments. This cost is passed on to the consumer, which induces lower consumption when demand is relatively elastic. However, in the case of illegal goods like drugs -- where demand seems inelastic -- higher prices lead not to less use, but to an increase in total spending.

In the case of drugs, then, the authors argue that excise taxes and persuasive techniques -- such as advertising -- are far more effective uses of enforcement expenditures.

'This analysis ... helps us understand why the War on Drugs has been so difficult to win ... why efforts to reduce the supply of drugs leads to violence and greater power to street gangs and drug cartels,' conclude the authors. 'The answer lies in the basic theory of enforcement developed in this paper.'

[link]Source: ScienceDaily

NYT on indigo children

My aunt believes her son (my cousin) can see auras. They both have commented on the seeing indigo more so they they have before. This is not to say I believe in what they see, to me it coincides with the first occurence (1970) and where we are in the world today Vietnam/Iraq, Nixon/Bush. I have no doubt that this "research" is US based and that sociopolitical views are hoping that our children see what we are doing and fight to change this for them in the future.

"David Pescovitz: Today's New York Times has a long article about 'indigo children' and, well, the new age parents who love them. According to believers, indigo children are psychologically and spiritually more advanced than other kids. Some apparently even have telepathic powers. From the article:

Indigo children were first described in the 1970's by a San Diego parapsychologist, Nancy Ann Tappe, who noticed the emergence of children with an indigo aura, a vibrational color she had never seen before. This color, she reasoned, coincided with a new consciousness.

In 'The Indigo Children,' (authors Lee) Carroll and (Jan) Tober define the phenomenon. Indigos, they write, share traits like high I.Q., acute intuition, self-confidence, resistance to authority and disruptive tendencies, which are often diagnosed as attention-deficit disorder, known as A.D.D., or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or A.D.H.D.

'To me these children are the answers to the prayers we all have for peace,' said Doreen Virtue, a former psychotherapist for adolescents who now writes books and lectures on indigo children. She calls the indigos a leap in human evolution. 'They're vigilant about cleaning the earth of social ills and corruption, and increasing integrity,' Ms. Virtue said. 'Other generations tried, but then they became apathetic. This generation won"

[link](thanks, boing boing):

Need a gift now? DIY Vase!

"The DIY Wonder Vase. Fill with warm water, hand form to your preferred shape, empty and re-fill with cold water to set. Rinse and repeat as needed. Best of all you can smooth them flat for storage. Neato thermal sensitive polymer see? Set of two – $12.95 each." [link]:

Chuck Norris responds to chucknorrisfacts.com

"Xeni Jardin:

The action star known for high-style facial hair and high-caliber weaponry responded today to spoof site chucknorrisfacts.com,which lists such 'facts' as

# Crop circles are Chuck Norris' way of telling the world that sometimes corn needs to lie the fuck down.

On his vanity site, Norris plugs his autobiography and shrugs off the prank domain. 'I do know that boys will be boys,' he says of the internet. And those of us without facial hair know the internet is not comprised entirely of boys." Link (Thanks, Naimul)

Source: [link] (thanks Xeni Jardin @ Boing Boing)

Can transplanted organs also transplant the donor�s personality?

"Professor Schwartz has detailed over 70 cases which demonstrate this phenomenon.

In one such case, a young dancer received a heart-and-lung transplant. Before the operation, she had been very health-conscious; yet, the very first thing she did on leaving the hospital was to head for a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet, and wolf down an order of chicken nuggets‹something she would never have done before. Her personality changed, too: she became aggressive and impetuous whereas, before, she had been calm and conservative.

She decided to investigate and, after much battling against the medical bureaucracy, she discovered that her heart�lung donor was an 18-year-old man who had died in a motorcycle accident. He had been an aggressive and impetuous lad who had a passion for Kentucky Fried Chicken‹in fact, uneaten KFC nuggets had been found in his motorcycle jacket on the very day of his death.

Another notable case is that of an eight-year-old girl who had received the heart of a 10-year-old girl who had been brutally murdered. After the transplant, the recipient began to experience horrifying nightmares. Her dreams were consistently about being murdered, and they were so traumatic that a psychiatrist was called in to help. What he heard convinced him that the girl was describing the actual circumstances of her donor�s murder. When the details were given to the police, these proved to be so accurate that the killer was easily identified and apprehended.1" [link] Share The Wealth

Washington Post on milliondollarhomepage.com

"The Washington Post has a feature on Alex Tew, the twenty-one-year-old creator of the Million Dollar Homepage. Tew sold 10-by-10 pixel advertising tiles on the page for $100 each. When the eBay auction for the last of the page's real estate ends tomorrow at 1:42 pm EST, Tew will have earned much more than $1 million. Of course, there are now a slew of copycats and spoof sites too. From the article:

Not sure initially that a single pixel would sell, Tew felt the idea had potential, so he aimed high. 'I asked myself the question, 'How could I become a millionaire?' Twenty minutes later I had the answer,' he says. In the beginning, he reasoned, even 1 or 2 percent of a million dollars wouldn't be bad.

The phenomenon he created has been hailed by some as a genre-changing concept in online marketing -- otherwise an advertising badlands of spam, banner ads and pop-ups. Others say it's a brilliant, one-time marketing aberration that will never be replicated.

Whatever it is, the Million Dollar Homepage isn't a pretty site -- even as it nears completion and begins a guaranteed minimum five-year lifespan. Tew calls this head-cocking creation 'a big collage of different colored ads.' It looks like a bulletin board on designer steroids, an advertising train wreck you can't not look at. Think 'Where's Waldo?,' only more cluttered and without a Waldo. It's like getting every pop-up ad you ever got in your life, at once. It's the Internet equivalent of suddenly feeling like you want to take a shower.

Link (Thanks, Paul Saffo!)

UPDATE: Thanks to the zillion readers who point out that Waldo is on the page, at least currently."

Source: [link]( thanks, Boing Boing)

Galactic porn: NASA Spitzer mosaic of Milky Way center

"Image: released today, this infrared mosaic from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope with a breathtaking view of our galaxy's core. Man, sometimes I wish my monitor was IMAX. Boing Boing [link]:
Link (Via Bruce Sterling). Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Stolovy (Spitzer Science Center/ Caltech)"

HOWTO convert an Oral B flosser into a vibrating lockpick

"Here's a simple recipe for converting a low-cost Oral B 'Hummingbird' vibrating flosser into a vibrating lock-pick that can 'pop most popular padlocks open in seconds with very little effort.'" [link] (Thanks, Boing Boing)

Counter-script to use on telemarketers

"The next time a telemarketer rings you, try this 'counter-script' in which you quiz the caller on her/his favorite toothpaste, working conditions, residence, etc, and finally rate the telemarketer and fax the completed counterscript to a project compiling information on telemarketers' habits and responses. [link]: (Thanks, Cory!) BoingBoing
Original item:"

Levi's Gets Into iPod Picture - Gizmodo

"Yup, even a staid brand like Levi’s has decided to partner up with Apple. Announced at MacWorld, the two companies are bringing us Levi’s Redwire DLX Jeans, which they claim will integrate iPod plug and play technology. Basically, this means that there will be an iPod docking cradle built into the side pocket—which the company promises will be virtually invisible. Dunno how they plan on pulling that off, but ok (especially if anyone wears their jeans as tight as this guy). Also expect a special 4-way, joystick remote control in the watch pocket and a retractable headphone unit to manage earphone wires (not sure where that will be just yet). No photos of these stunningly high-tech jeans and no price, but they will be available for both men and women sometime this fall." [link] Gizmodo:

Toyota Using NXT Speakers for Speacial Sound System - Gizmodo

"Toyota is going over-the-top with its 2007 FJ Cruiser SUV, that will be using NXT SurfaceSound flat panel speaker technology in the roof liner speaker system. Announced by NXT at CES, the SUV is powered by a 4.0L V6 24-valve engine and comes with a choice of six-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmission. The NXT system is built into the roofliner, but also complements the vehicles conventional speakers, hopefully giving you a broad, omni-directional dispersion of sound. The system comes with an AM/FM/CD system with six speakers fitted as standard (including NXT-based roof liner)or other options that include an eight speaker system with six-disc CD changer and a nine speaker system, complete with subwoofer." [link]:

NASA To Return First Comet Samples To Earth

"LOS ANGELES -- Comets have long lit up the sky and the imaginations of scientists. Now these icy bodies from the beginnings of the solar system are finally ready for their close-up.

Six months after NASA scientists first peeked inside one comet from afar, they're bringing pieces of another to Earth for study under the microscope.

This weekend, the Stardust spacecraft will jettison a 100-pound capsule holding comet dust. It will nosedive through the Earth's atmosphere and -- if all goes well -- make a soft landing in the Utah desert." [link] NBC11.com:

'Quiet' Mach 6 wind tunnel at Purdue helps shape future aircraft

"No other wind tunnel runs quietly while conducting experiments in airstreams traveling at Mach 6 – six times the speed of sound, said Steven Schneider, an aerospace engineer and professor in Purdue's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Researchers will use the $1 million wind tunnel to help design advanced aircraft that travel at hypersonic speeds, or faster than Mach 5, which is about 4,000 miles per hour at sea level." [link]:

Optimus keyboard

I want this! Optimus keyboard

Deaf hacker rewrites implant-firmware so he can enjoy music again

"Cory Doctorow: A deaf hacker diligently tinkered with the firmware on his cochlear implant, trying to get it to faithfully render out Ravel's symphony, Boléro, eventually meeting with success. Michael Chorost was born with partial hearing, and at 15, he discovered that Boléro was audible to him, and it became a touchstone for him, a piece of music that he developed a deep emotional attachment to. In 2001, Chorost experienced the sudden, total loss of the remains of his hearing, and Boléro was lost to him, seemingly forever.

In this Wired feature, Chorost chronicles the amazing journey he embarked upon, learning the science of acoustics, of music, and of signal processing, reprogramming the firmware in his implanted prosthetic with the help of experts around the world with various theories about the psychoacoustic basis for music.

The story is gripping, fascinating and informative -- a template for a tale that I believe will become more and more prevalent in times to come: a person who relies on computerized prosthetics not being satisfied with the features that were included with it out of the box, taking it upon herself to improve it, to extend it, using her own body and perceptions as a labratory for experiments on human perception and performance. [lin k]:

Nursing home residents prefer dogs to other residents?

"David Pescovitz: In a new study, a professor of geriatrics reports that nursing home residents would rather hang out with just a dog than a dog and other residents. The study, led by William A. Banks of the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, included 37 residents who scored high on a loneliness scale and desired half-hour dog visits once a week. Half of the group spent the time alone with the dog. The others participated in group visits with one to three other residents and the pooch. Those who had the one-on-one time with the dog 'experienced a much more significant decrease in loneliness after five to six weeks of visits.' From a press release:

“It was a strange finding,” said Banks, who also is a staff physician at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in St. Louis. “We had thought that the dog acts as a social lubricant and increases the interaction between the residents. We expected the group dog visits were going to work better, but they didn’t.

“The residents found a little quiet time with the pooch is a lot nicer than spending time with a dog and other people,” he said." [link]:

Drawing interface for Flickr

"David Pescovitz: Retrievr is a neat Flickr hack from System One that searches a database of images based on simple drawings rather than tags. I drew the branch on the left and the image on the right was one of the search results. From the project description:

Does it actually work?

Yes! That is, it depends. (Mainly on your expectations!)

In my experience, the results are usually fairly good, sometimes even stunning - considering the artistic sophistication most of us are able to come up with (gallery forthcoming); and in the cases they're not so stellar, they are at least entertaining ;-) But clearly, the approach has its limits.

One thing to keep in mind is that retrievr doesn't do object/face/text recognition of any kind, so if you're drawing an outline sketch of a chair, it almost certainly won't get you one back (except your index only contains images of chairs). The same holds for corporate logos, icons &c.
It helps to think of it as matching the most pronounced shapes and slabs of colors. Link to Retrievr, Link to info about other 'Search By Drawing' projects (via Drawn!)"[link]:

Ovale Vanity Cabinet from Porcher

The simple lines and natural materials of the Ovale cabinet emphasize the most current, popular ideas in bathroom design. The Ovale cabinet would compliment that simple spa environment that so many people are trying to create. The pushbutton doors and hidden hinges enhance the unobstructed look. Another great quality of this cabinet is that the height can be customized. The vanity cabinet is 26” wide and includes 2 sets of legs to provide for the most appropriate height for you. The multiple options for natural stone tops make it ease to compliment the other elements of your space. The high-quality maple and hardwood construction is coated with a vinyl based protective coat to ensure a long life. Go to Porcher to get your catalog or find a dealer near you." [link]: "

Navy Wants Insurgent-Predicting Program

"It was senior year, and I had just taken a semester off to work for the Clinton campaign in Philadelphia. So I figured it'd be the easiest A ever if I signed up for an urban politics class.

The professor, a pearl-wearing blond fresh out of grad school, confessed she had never actually lived in a city before. But that didn't stop her from having all kinds of theories about how urban politics really worked. And that included a formula --- a mathematical formula -- that she said described how mayors and aldermen made their decisions. I think I laughed out loud when she first wrote it on the blackboard.

This Navy proposal (scroll down) is way more serious, of course. And they claim that it's already worked before. But I couldn't help thinking of that professor back at Georgetown, when I read about the Navy's idea to use a computer program to predict insurgent attacks in places like Iraq.


In current U.S. operations, terrorist and insurgent forces enjoy a significant advantage by being able to launch surprise attacks, whether by small arms, mortar, or improvised explosive devices (IEDs), against weakly defended or undefended targets and disappearing before U.S. forces can concentrate for a counterstrike. Better prediction of where and when such attacks are most likely to occur would therefore be of great benefit, allowing smart allocatio" [link]:

The real meening to numa

For you to decide. No wonder it was so wildly popular Putfile - the real meening to numa