Official "Science News" Thread

[LaurV]

So, will we stay six days in the dark in december, or not?

:canofworms:

[science_man_88]

Newly discovered asteroid approaching Earth Monday

An asteroid, only discovered on Saturday, will be passing uncomfortably close to Earth on Monday, Oct. 27, as reported in an article published by Science 2.0 on Oct. 26. The asteroid, designated as 2014 UF56 by NASA, is about the size of a small house and would do considerable damage if it struck the planet. Apparently, the chances of that happening are small, but, considering this object has only been known of for a few days, it's possible there hasn't been enough time to ensure it will pass safely.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by science_man_88

Newly discovered asteroid approaching Earth Monday

Please never link to the examiner. They also publish UFO and statues found on Mars Yahoo seems to think that most of their stories are real.

Here is a better link:
http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/2014/...t-27-oct-2014/

It will pass 0.41 earth-moon distances.

See this thread: http://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=17889 for many more 'close calls'.

[ch4]

Originally Posted by science_man_88

Newly discovered asteroid approaching Earth Monday

Indications that the examiner.com article is sensationalist rather than informative:

1. Lead photo (of Comet ISON) is completely unrelated to the asteroid.

2. Loose, non-quantitative wording, with fear-provoking phrases/questions:

"passing uncomfortably close",

"The big question is, how sure is NASA that asteroid 2014 UF56 is harmless?"
(By the time a passing asteroid has received its provisional designation -- 2014 UF56 in this case -- its orbit has almost certainly been well-enough observed to determine whether it will collide with Earth this time. However, whether it might collide on future passes will take more than just a few days of observations. Ask your Congresscritters to ensure adequate funding for that followup work.)

3. Just plain ol' false statements:

"considering this object has only been known of for a few days, it's possible there hasn't been enough time to ensure it will pass safely"
(It takes only a few hours of observation to determine that an approaching rock will miss Earth. Basically, by the time almost anyone outside the professional community has even heard of it, its "safe" passage (or collision) will have been determined. There's a professional network of observatories that will swing their scopes to do the positional measurements (astrometry) on very short notice.)

"comet Siding Spring passing close to Mars last week (and causing a massive explosion in the planet's atmosphere)"
(No, Comet Siding Spring did _not_ cause a massive explosion in Mars's atmosphere. Only the sensationalist sites claim it did.)

"it was reported that the Australian observatory which originally discovered the comet is closing down. The closure leaves a gaping hole in the sky watch program, leaving the southern hemisphere largely unmonitored."
(No, there has been no report that Siding Spring Observatory is shutting down. Last year, a large bush fire threatened it for a few days, but no major damage occurred. However, there is a real potential future threat that could force closing the observatory.)

"Comet Siding Spring passed within 90,000 miles of Mars, while this latest asteroid is reported as passing Earth at about twice that distance, or a little over 160,000 miles. That leaves open the possibility that asteroid 2014 UF56 could have a similar effect on Earth's atmosphere. It means this space rock doesn't even have to hit the Earth for it to do considerable damage."
(This claim just reveals the ignorance -- real or feigned -- of astronomy by the writer. The interaction between Comet Siding Spring and Mars was entirely due to gas and dust, emitted by the comet, that traveled many thousands of miles away from the comet nucleus. Asteroid 2014 UF56 is emitting no such stuff.)

- - -

Those wishing a more informative timely source of information about NEOs, comets, Mars rovers, and other Solar System stuff can join the Yahoo group "MPML" (stands for Minor Planet Mailing List) and subscribe to its mailing list (I recommend the digest rather than individual notices).

[Xyzzy]

http://w2.vatican.va/content/frances...a-scienze.html

[rogue]

13 charts that explain why your college major matters

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These Amazing Chemical Reactions Will Show You the True Beauty of Science

Neuroscientists solve mystery of ‘chemo brain’

Ability to See Single Molecules Gets Chemistry Nobel

Science explains why pizza tastes so darn good

How the brain leads us to believe we have sharp vision

Which are the most educated cities in the US — and why

Researchers develop world's thinnest electric generator

Why Lego's first female scientist kit is selling out

Science Is Divided About Music In The Workplace, But It Doesn't Matter

Beyond Pistorius: Rise of 'cyberathletes' could change sport as we know it

The Science of Monster Storms

Back-to-the-Future Tense: How Does Time Travel Affect Grammar?

What Happened To Women In Computer Science?

Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?”

Mathematical model shows how brain remains stable during learning

This Technology Could Change the Way Deaf People Live

[ewmayer]

Sorry, just one link - a poor linkSpammer, I am.

This Scientist Is Using Open Sourced Software Techniques To Turn Bugs Into Patent-Free Drugs | TechCrunch

[kladner]

Originally Posted by rogue

13 charts that explain why your college major matters
[SNIP]

This is depressing:

[ewmayer]

Amelia Earhart Plane Fragment Identified

Before anyone gets too excited: I have inserted in the Pacific Ocean section of an old world atlas a 20-year-old news clipping centered around a similar claim by the same outfit, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), but featuring a different Pacific islet (Howland island). Apparently the business model here is one of every-few-years-trotted-out juicy claims about a "new discovery!" accompanied by requests for funding. An NC reader explains the very dubious confirmation-biased approach used by TIGHAR:

Amelia Earhart’s life and final flight make for a compelling story. Sadly TIGHAR seems to be basically a fraud (unintentional or not). They have something of a bad reputation among the historical aircraft recovery and restoration community, have accomplished basically nothing, and use exceedingly poor methodology. The problems with TIGHAR are summed up in this takedown from skeptoid:

“Here’s the problem with TIGHAR’s findings. Even though they meticulously document and preserve every artifact, they exhaustively research each one to find matches with real objects from the 1930s, and they look exactly like what such an expedition should look like, their overall methodology is fundamentally, fatally unscientific. It’s unscientific in that it’s done completely backwards. TIGHAR begins with the assumption that Amelia Earhart crashed, camped out, and died on Nikumaroro. They take everything they find — every anomaly in a photograph or in a story, every piece of bone or manmade artifact found on the island — and try to match it to their assumption, rather than trying to objectively assess its origin.

Nikumaroro, this tiny island where TIGHAR has recovered its artifacts, is in Kiribati, a nation of 100,000 people spread over millions of square kilometers of the South Pacific. People leaving artifacts come and go all the time.”

It makes me sad to see how every year or so (in time for a new round of fundraising), TIGHAR has “Found Earharts’ plane!” again and again and again.

[markr]

Originally Posted by ch4

Indications that the examiner.com article is sensationalist rather than informative:
[ snip ]
"it was reported that the Australian observatory which originally discovered the comet is closing down. The closure leaves a gaping hole in the sky watch program, leaving the southern hemisphere largely unmonitored."
(No, there has been no report that Siding Spring Observatory is shutting down. Last year, a large bush fire threatened it for a few days, but no major damage occurred. However, there is a real potential future threat that could force closing the observatory.)
[ snip ]

Possibly just misreporting that the program at Siding Spring Observatory is closing due to funding cuts - "the only program in the southern hemisphere actively searching for potentially hazardous comets, asteroids and meteors", according to this article, linked to from the end of the article you linked.

Leaving out key words & phrases and other sloppy reporting is widespread unfortunately, not just when reporting science.

[ewmayer]

Always Gamble on an Empty Stomach: Hunger Is Associated with Advantageous Decision Making | PLOS One

As one commenter noted, that (along with the general theme of "never let them leave the casino without extracting as much moolah as possible") explains the free buffet offered by many casinos.