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POPSBEWARE the Tomato This is the primary source for reporting all the cases of Salmonella saintpaul infections beginning in April of 2008.
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POPSRubber Room Hard to believe this could happen in America, but teachers are trained not to complain, as it is considered insubordination. Is any wonder why people don't want to become teachers?
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POPSGroundhog Nightmare Early onset Alzheimer's disease seems to be on the rise. HBO produced a documentary about this issue. So sorry for anyone who remembers that they once knew something after they have to deal with it each day! The Nightmare version of Groundhog Day!
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POPSSolar Weather Light Show Find more ways to see and collect amazing real images of Earth's magnetic field protecting us from Sun Storms. Learn more about Earth and get fabulous images from NASA and their partners. I love the interviews of the Inuit elders and the older scientists who first began the science station in the Arctic. Very cool stories.
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POPSTree of Life Redo This is a summary of an research article from Nature. Science teachers and interested hobbyists will be intrigued to learn how the data base was created and new implications about various changes in relationships since it takes new research into account.
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POPSShopaholics: More to Come As the economy lags for those normally able to buy some "extras", the impulse to shop may be a natural response...even if it is self-defeating.
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POPSDiscovering Cool Pics & Podcasts This is part of the National Science Foundation website where you can listen to podcasts. There are also thousands of really fantastic images sent in from researchers all around Earth. You can get an rss feed.
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POPSTwitterquette An interesting viewpoint of Twitter; based on surveys of twitter participants
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POPSManipulating Data Surprisingly, the semantic web is still not up and running. Personally, I think we have the technology to group data in varieties of ways and instances. Evidently, I have a greater confidence in scientists and programmers than is warranted. There are some cool examples of ways to constructively show data. For instance, GapMinder, a fantastic way to display important information gathered over many years, so people can see real relationships...not be wowed by propaganda or stuck in accepted, unverified ideas.
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POPSTag, Your It! Where is the X-Prize for the ethicists who are able to inform the public what will be the social, moral, biological, and political possiblities of this DNA tagging?
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POPSSteps to Save Stolen Data These are some excellent productivity habits, and I intend to include them in my new data archiving regimen. Minimalism is in style now, and it prevents disasters.
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POPSHackers Target Wrong Guy This couple probably represents the majority of computer users, and this news clip shows what can happen if you don't protect your router, as well as your computer. What angers me about this whole situtation is that this gives ammunition to those who want to control the internet and create LEVELS for those who can afford it...the level will be very protected. I also never understood how a public entity can sue people for negative press.
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POPSApophis REALLY Attacks EARTH While the possibility of a real impact from this large asteroid is possible, I find it humorous that astronomers named it after Apophis, one of the doomsday gods and a Guaul system lord in Stargate (SG-1)
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POPSStories, Pictures Lost Forever This is a very real problem that will only escalate, as we use more and more web applications. For instance, I don't know how to save my data from ClipMarks. If an account is canceled, do all my links and Clips to blogs die. These are important issues to discuss.
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POPSVampire Stealing Your Lifeblood Just walk around your house at night and look for all the tiny colorful leds that are shining from TV's, VCR/DVD players, and computers...do a simple energy audit.
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POPSMolecular Walker Takes Baby Steps Various molecular tools have already been invented, and this is just the latest sets of chemicals, those in DNA, that can be programmed to move on their own.
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POPSNew Nontoxic Antifreeze There are probably a wide range of other applications of this new compound called gelatin hydrolysate, and it is all natural...no genetically modified ingredients.
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POPSDecommissioning Aging Infrastructure "EXPERTS" recommend targeted decommissioning of deterioriated and obsolete infrastructure to renew degraded ecosystems. This approach will turn the middle of the United States into a bare scattering of city-states unable to communicate because their infrastructure was destroyed when it could have been fixed in a way that could also help the environment repair.
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POPSAdversity Can Affect Brain While we have known for some time that serotonin, or lack of it , is linked to depression, substance abuse and other reckless behaviors, it appears that scientists already know there is a gene-environment interaction that can cause this to happen. Since serotonin can control reproductive systems, I was wondering if this might explain why only the Alpha female (normally) has the only litter in the wolf pack. Maybe the other females are so environmentally challenged through harassment by the dominant pair, that serotonin is reduced and that affects ovulation; just a thought...
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POPSPower-UP for Clean Water This is a great innovation. It is reminiscent of those bike powered generators from the 1980's that parents put on TV's and electric devices to use idle energy from children/people watching TV.
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POPSUncooperative? Another Taser Death These stories are so heart wrenching! I thought that the classical conditioning and the ease with which others could torture, ie the law enforcer, was explained and warned against in basic general psychology classes! What's up w/that? The young man was in an accident, couldn't get to the airport to pick up his parents, and the patrolmen said he was agitated. REALLY? Can't imagine why! It seems to me that many of these people are only tasered for the CONVENIENCE of the police. That is what happened to thepoor man killed in the US airport in 2007. The police could have left him in the room where he was until they could find a translator....BUT NO! They had to hit him w/electricity and continue to let it pulse through his body until he was fried....dead.
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POPSStepping Back to Dangerous Era in Mining I first heard about this AVOIDABLE tragedy last year. The Robber Barons are returning. The people of Northern Michigan and the entire Great Lakes Region, are fighting to prevent corporations from ruining their health and the ecosystem for the SECOND TIME AROUND. The area is just now recuperating from the last time mining of sulfids, metals, heavy metals and radioactive materials such as uranium destroyed habitats, animals, and humans. How much is a fragile ecosystem and the people of Michigan worth? At the moment, not much, it seems. These corporations are also exploiting the fact that Michigan has runaway unemployment and people are worried about how they will live today. Please check this out and share this with your friends, neighbors, leaders and online network.
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POPSChoosiness & Cooperativeness Historically Linked This is an scientific abstract from a research group who is studying the effect of choosing to be associated with people who cooperate and the ways that this cooperation can encourage others to choose them. It's too bad that Nature magazine couldn't have been more COOPERATIVE and released this research a free article, then more of us would have access to it and could CHOOSE to learn more about Nature and its parent organization. Hmm! Maybe that is the point the staff at Nature is choosing not to cooperate with the "great unwashed", so we will not choose to cooperate or even try to learn more about them. Maybe they fear the loss of their exclusivity?
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POPSWormy, yet Cool Pictures While this is an excellent article, I am discouraged that the writers refer to "AIR" and not "NITROGEN" because many people will think they are talking about oxygen. This is fantastic research and very cool pictures.
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POPSPics from Antarctic "Seal Cam" I have seen "turtle cam" before. Scientists view the habitat and the organism they are studying from the back of the Weddell Seal, so they can also study the habits of the seal without having to kill anything. Why not do this to whales? Gosh, think how many cameras you could connect to a whale and have WHALE-A-VISION. It could be an excellent way to study their feeding habits and other patterns of behavior. Could record sounds also. Can someone suggest this to prevent whale killing?
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POPSWe Gotta Have Sol! Sometimes, just walking outside for a few minutes, on a sunny day, in the winter helps people with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Everyone needs the sun to help metabolize important vitamins. For myself, I like to sit outside (even in my bundled up clothes) and let the sun shine on my face. Just a few seconds is all it takes to make you feel better. Be sure to close your eyes and NOT TO STARE AT THE SUN, you might hurt your eyes.
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POPSWipe the Memory Clean Before YOU Leave! This is outrageous! If you want to access archives, you will need the old software to stay accessible w/o the service packs or hire a secretary to upgrade all your old files, OR SWITCH TO LINUX.
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POPSAmericans Get It! I wish I could find the original primary source from the CNN interview more quickly. If I had known that this was so poorly understood outside our country, I would have clipped the original CNN interview at the time when it was easier to find. One month of news at CNN is mountain to sort through. Sorry! This source does cite the CNN interview though
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POPSFounder of a Cancerous Genetic Disorder If you have polyps and are wondering if you belong to the family with the colorectal founder gene, I would imagine that these are people who would have settled on the Connecticut River or other areas where the Dutch did not have settlements. That thesis is dependent on the family being English and not Dutch. If they sailed from England, the assumption is that they were English. Well, at least it is a start to help you learn more.
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POPSHiding In Plain Sight Not only are containers of rubber ducks being lost in the high seas, but huge shipping containers of floating athletic shoes and other debris that pollute the oceans. The up side of this pollution dilemma is that scientists are able to study the movement of ocean currents based on the travels of this objects. If you find any odd piece of debris at the beach, contact an oceanographer.
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POPSKiss of the Assassin Observing the habitat of the Assassin bug and counting the number of bugs noted by exterminators has been tested as a very inexpensive, yet accurate method to determine if children need to be tested for the presence of the parasite, a protozoan called Trypanosoma cruzi. Good news for the people in Peru and other South American countries plagued by Chaga's Disease.