Recently in Science Category

I think all this World Cup stuff is making people just a little nutty. Yesterday, I blogged about the ultra-tiny glass soccer field that is so small you need an electron microscope to see it because it's 1/20000th the size of the tip of a human hair.

Now it seems that some particularly evil hooligans were arrested for putting soccer balls made of concrete throughout town, inviting hapless folk to kick them. At least two people accepted the invitation, seriously hurting themselves in the process.

Both of these crazy soccer-related things happened in Germany.

Reuters reports that a German scientist has apparently created the smallest replica of a soccer field ever -- measuring 500 by 380 nanometers. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, and this model is so small that 20,000 of them could fit on the tip of a human hair.

The story reports that it took all day to etch the model soccer field onto the incredibly tiny piece of glass with an electron beam. But all of that effort could be for naught:

"The only problem is that I really don't know what to do with it. I can't put it on show as no one can see it," he said. "I guess it'll just stay in my drawer for the time being."

You see, the glass soccer field is so small you'd need an electron microscope to see it. And you can't just pop into your local Discover Channel store and grab one of those babies.

Seems awfully convenient to me. "Uh, yeah, I made this record-breaking thing, but, uh, it's so small, uh... umm... nobody can see it! Yeah, that's it!"

By now, everyone has heard that scientists have found that hops, a primary component of beer, contain xanthohumol, a chemical that inhibits a protein in prostate cells that leads to prostate cancer. "The trouble is," the article explains, "you'd theoretically have to drink about 17 beers a day for any potential benefit." 17 beers a day and you fight prostate cancer? Sounds like a no-lose scenario to me! The article goes on to say that Dr. Richard N. Atkins, CEO of the National Prostate Cancer Coalition, "noted that drinking 17 beers a day can lead to alcoholism and cirrhosis of the liver."

Well, no problem, Doc, because another study has found that drinking coffee can counteract alcohol's negative effects on the liver. One cup a day, the study suggests, lowers the risk of cirrhosis by twenty percent, and four cups of coffee lowers the risk by eighty percent.

So all you need to do is chase those seventeen beers with four cups of coffee. And, apparently, according to Dr. Atkins (not THE Dr. Atkins, of course), if you throw in four large pizzas a day, you get enough lycopene from the tomatoes to help further reduce the prostate cancer risk.

So four large pizzas, seventeen beers, and four cups of coffee per day. The sound you just heard is the head of my friend Heather, the vegan cardiologist, exploding.

Seriously, though, if she were blogging here, Heather would point out that consuming four cups of coffee, four large pizzas, and seventeen beers a day would definitely reduce prostate cancer risks, because you'd likely die of a heart attack long before any prostate cancer had a chance to take hold. And, dammit, she'd be right. So I guess I'm stuck drinking beer and eating pizza rarely and in moderation. Plus, I don't even like coffee. On the plus side, I can console myself with studies that show that men who ejaculate more frequently also have lower risk of prostate cancer. That's a "treatment regimen" I think I can follow.

Reid Kerr, a fellow Top Five List contributor, has noted that these beer, pizza, and coffee findings are clearly the work of lazy, gluttonous men. Reid has a list of several humorous "other scientific advances compiled by guy scientists," such as "Having sex with overweight men reduces the risk of breast cancer by 87%," and "Weekly intake of BBQ increases SAT scores." I'd also add, "Sitting on your ass watching football lowers stress." And really, it does in my case. Unless I'm watching the Lions.

It seems that a rather effective way of treating colitis (an inflammation/infection of the colon) caused by Clostridium difficile is to [WARNING TO THE SQUEAMISH -- STOP READING NOW!] transplant stool from a healthy patient to one afflicted with C. difficile colitis:

In a surprise twist, three doctors from Duluth, Minnesota decided to use poop to help cure their patients. Doctors Johannes Aas, Charles E. Gessert, and Johan S. Bakken used a stool transplant to cure reoccurring Clostridium difficile Colitis in 16 of their patients. You read correctly. Sick patients received stool from stool donors and became healthy because of the stool transplants.

I can only imagine how this changes interactions between donor and recipient:

RECIPIENT: "I am so tired of taking shit from you!"
DONOR: "Yeah, well you didn't seem to have a problem with it when it SAVED YOUR ASS!!"

Yeah, maybe it's better for science that I left the study of science in favor of the law.

(Via MNspeak.com via Erica)

As it turns out, the "cleaner" a kitchen looks, the more germ-ridden it may be, according to this article. Notably, the article states:

Kitchens that look the cleanest are often the dirtiest. People who wipe their counters a lot often spread bacteria in the process. In a University of Arizona study, the "cleanest" kitchens were those of bachelors who never wiped up and just put the dirty dishes in the sink. Go figure. [emphasis added.]

Of course, Amy is likely to think that I'm just looking to weasel out of keeping the kitchen clean.

(Via Dean's World)

The first private space flight just returned safely to Earth. Amazing, this is one of the biggest milestones in the history of spaceflight, and it seemed to me to have been barely publicized, and certainly it seemed to get less air time, than, say Jennifer Lopez and her marriage du jour. Another sign, perhaps, of the downfall of society.

Today, the first private spaceflight, piloted by test pilot Mike Melvill, launches from the Mojave desert in California. As a kid, I wanted very badly to be an astronaut, a desire I didn't really set aside until my junior year of high school, and one I've never completely let go. Perhaps some day, thanks to Mr. Melvill, I'll get my chance to go into space after all.

UPDATE: Click here to watch live video on MSNBC. (Via Dean's World)

Yahoo! News has this article about a website that will allow users to simulate the effects of an asteroid colliding with Earth, hosted by the University of Arizona.

If more people would plug in a few numbers and see how devastating some of the more common asteroids can be, I think more people would be in favor of cranking the space program into higher gear.