How Refreshing

After 8 years of a stem cell research ban, denial and stalling on global warming, years of stagnant NIH funding, editing scientific reports for political reasons, and a disdain for science in general, I'm thrilled to hear this from the President-elect:

Whether it’s the science to slow global warming; the technology to protect our troops and confront bioterror and weapons of mass destruction; the research to find life-saving cures; or the innovations to remake our industries and create twenty-first century jobs – today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation. It’s time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America’s place as the world leader in science and technology.

Right now, in labs, classrooms and companies across America, our leading minds are hard at work chasing the next big idea, on the cusp of breakthroughs that could revolutionize our lives. But history tells us that they can’t do it alone. From landing on the moon, to sequencing the human genome, to inventing the Internet, America has been the first to cross that new frontier because we had leaders who paved the way: leaders like President Kennedy, who inspired us to push the boundaries of the known world and achieve the impossible; leaders who not only invested in our scientists, but who respected the integrity of the scientific process.

Because the truth is that promoting science isn’t just about providing resources – it’s about protecting free and open inquiry. It’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology. It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient – especially when it’s inconvenient. Because the highest purpose of science is the search for knowledge, truth and a greater understanding of the world around us. That will be my goal as President of the United States – and I could not have a better team to guide me in this work.

He gets it! Catch the full video here:

The Freshman

Not surprisingly, Time named Barack Obama Person of the Year. They also posted a photo shoot of the President-elect from his freshman year of college at Occidental. More pics here.

Tree Man

Meet Dede Koswara. They call him Tree Man. He's an Indonesian man who suffers from a very rare condition (no, the picture is NOT fake or computer generated). 

Dede's ordeal began when he was 15 and cut his knee in an accident. A small wart developed on his lower leg and spread uncontrollably.

..Dr Gaspari, of the University of Maryland, concluded Dede's affliction was caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a fairly common infection usually causing only small warts.

Dede's problem was that he has an extremely rare immune system deficiency, leaving his body unable to contain the warts. The virus was therefore able to "hijack the cellular machinery of his skin cells", ordering them to produce massive amounts of the substance causing tree-like growths known as "cutaneous horns".

He recently had surgery to remove about 4 lbs of these warts and is being treated with vitamin A to boost his immune system and hopefully prevent the warts from growing back. 

You can see more pics of Tree Man here.

Why Are We Here?

A pair of Finnish scientists give us an answer to the age-old 

question:

The second law of thermodynamics, written as an equation of motion, reveals that elemental abiotic matter evolves from the equilibrium via chemical reactions that couple to external energy towards complex biotic non-equilibrium systems. Each time a new mechanism of energy transduction emerges, e.g., by random variation in syntheses, evolution prompts by punctuation and settles to a stasis when the accessed free energy has been consumed. The evolutionary course towards an increasingly larger energy transduction system accumulates a diversity of energy transduction mechanisms, i.e. species. The rate of entropy increase is identified as the fitness criterion among the diverse mechanisms, which places the theory of evolution by natural selection on the fundamental thermodynamic principle with no demarcation line between inanimate and animate.

Unless you are a physicist, you probably didn't catch that. An article in Physorg explains: 

..all organisms are composed of molecules that assemble together via numerous chemical reactions. Just as heat flows from hot to cold, these molecules obey the universal tendency to diminish energy differences, so that the most likely chemical reactions are those in which energy flows “downhill” toward a stationary state, or chemical equilibrium.

.. that the molecules involved [in creating life] most likely underwent a series of more and more complex reactions to minimize mutual energy differences between matter on Earth and with respect to high-energy radiation from Sun. The process eventually advanced so far that it cumulated into such sophisticated functional structures that could be called living.

In other words, life began as a way for nature to better redistribute energy on the Earth. (Or more precisely, of minimizing energy differences by increasing energy flows from one part of their environment to another.) You don't feel so special now, do you?

America, Immigrant Magnet

Check out this video showing immigration to the US from 1820 to 2007 (each dot represents 100 people). 

Immigration to the US, 1820-2007 v2 from Ian Stevenson on Vimeo.

I think a big reason why America rose to become a great nation is our friendly immigration policy. It has allowed us to continue to grow:

For some context, look abroad, where stagnant populations pose daunting problems. The economies of Western Europe, for example, face retirement crises much more severe than ours because there are fewer young workers to support retirees. What's more, part of the reason that they are not growing as fast through immigration is that they are not creating as many jobs.

The USA is alone among advanced nations in its population growth. It grew by 13% during the 1990s, according to the Census Bureau. That is five times the average of other industrialized countries. This growth, however, is not evidence of overcrowding. With an average of about 80 people per square mile — one-eighth that of the United Kingdom — the USA does not have a population problem. What it has is a population distribution problem.

The 6 million who live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, for instance, are nearly double the entire population of the nearby state of Oklahoma. Large swaths of the country, meanwhile, struggle to keep their population.

The solution to such problems lies not in quashing economic growth but in stimulating it with better transportation and land-use policies, combined with technologies that allow people to telecommute from more pastoral settings.

Bush Gets the Boot

Well..shoe, technically. During a surprise visit to Iraq today, an angry Iraqi journalist fulfilled the fantasy of billions around the world. Unfortunately, he missed:

Several news reports explained that in Arab culture, throwing shoes is a grave show of disrespect. 

UPDATE: 

More from the NY Times:

The Iraqi journalist, Muntader al-Zaidi, 28, a correspondent for Al Baghadia, an independent Iraqi television station, stood up about 12 feet from Mr. Bush and shouted in Arabic: “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!” He then threw a shoe at Mr. Bush, who ducked and narrowly avoided it.

As stunned security agents and guards, officials and journalists watched, Mr. Zaidi then threw his other shoe, shouting in Arabic, “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!” That shoe also narrowly missed Mr. Bush as Prime Minister Maliki stuck a hand in front of the president’s face to help shield him.

Illnois Governor Arrested for Trying to Sell Obama's Senate Seat

Yesterday morning the Feds arrested Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich on federal corruption charges. Blagojevich (a Democrat) was trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Obama. The guy is obviously an idiot as he was already the obvious target of a three-year federal grand jury investigation into trading state jobs and contracts for campaign contributions. 

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said, "The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave." He also noted that investigators found nothing to suggest any wrongdoing by President-elect Obama.

One of the juicy quotes from the wiretap evidence:

Blagojevich, referring to Obama's empty Senate seat and his ability to appoint someone to fill it: "I've got this thing and it's fucking golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for fuckin' nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it. I can parachute me there." 

Funny enough, he said this on Monday (the day before he was arrested): “I should say if anybody wants to tape my conversations, go right ahead, feel free to do it,” he said, though he added that those who carried out such recordings sneakily, “I would remind them that it kind of smells like Nixon and Watergate.”

By the way, for some funny irony related to this story, check out this announcement at Illinois.gov. Quote: "CHICAGO - First Lady Patricia Blagojevich today announced December's selection for her Children's Reading Club - How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss." 

You can’t make this stuff up.

Stewart Rips Huckabee on Gay Marriage

Some of the best news analysis and interviews continue to come from a comedy show. I highly recommend John Stewart's interview with Mike Huckabee last night. My favorite part: "I'll tell you this, religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality. And the protections that we have for religion? We protect religion -- and talk about a lifestyle choice -- that is absolutely a choice. Gay people don't choose to be gay. At what age did you choose not to be gay?"

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mike Huckabee Pt. 2

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

UPDATE:

If religious conservatives want to use the Bible as the rationale for preventing gay marriage, Daily Kos smartly suggests that we should enact these as well:

1. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women. (Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5)

2. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21)

3. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut 22:13-21)

4. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden. (Gen 24:3; Num 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)

5. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor any state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce. (Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)

6. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law. (Gen 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10)

7. In lieu of marriage, if there are no acceptable men in your town, it is required that you get your dad drunk and have sex with him (even if he had previously offered you up as a sex toy to men young and old), tag-teaming with any sisters you may have. Of course, this rule applies only if you are female. (Gen 19:31-36)

By the way, Newsweek has a great piece on the subject here.

Need a New Body Part?

Let's hope Obama lifts the ban on stem cell research soon after taking office. With some investment in this research, we could truly be entering a future where we can grow a new heart, arm, esophagus, or whatever you need. How cool would that be?

Obama Announces Huge Public Works Program

After the government announced on Friday that 533,000 jobs had been lost in November and unemployment had risen to 6.7%, Obama signaled that he wants a recovery plan that saves or creates more than 2 million jobs, makes public buildings more energy-efficient (the so-called "green jobs") and invests in the country's roads and schools. This would be "the largest public works construction program since the inception of the interstate highway system a half century ago as he seeks to put together a plan to resuscitate the reeling economy."

It would cover a range of programs to expand broadband Internet access, to make government buildings more energy efficient, to improve information technology at hospitals and doctors’ offices, and to upgrade computers in schools. 

“It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption,” Mr. Obama said. “Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online.”

So true.

 

Catch the full video here.

Prop 8: The Musical!

I love Jack Black..

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Will Science Make a Comeback?

Olivia Judson, evolutionary biologist and NY Times blogger, reviews some of the damage that the Bush administration has caused over the past 8 years:

The most notable characteristic of the Bush administration’s science policy has been the repeated distortion and suppression of scientific evidence in order to fit ideological preferences about how the world should be, rather than how it is.

In his disturbing book “Undermining Science: Suppression and Distortion in the Bush Administration,” the journalist Seth Shulman describes case after case of intimidation of scientists in government posts, the suppression of scientific evidence and the perpetuation of misinformation.

 The fields affected range from climate change to public health. Although some incidents are small in and of themselves, the cumulative effect is horrifying. Shulman also catalogs a long list of established government scientists who, during the course of the Bush administration, resigned their posts in despair.

Why does this matter?

The distortion and suppression of science is dangerous, and not just because it means that public money gets wasted on programs, like abstinence-only sex “education” schemes, that do not work. It is dangerous because it is an assault on science itself, a method of thought and inquiry on which our modern civilization is based and which has been hugely successful as a way of acquiring knowledge that lets us transform our lives and the world around us. In many respects science has been the dominant force — for good and ill — that has transformed human lives over the past two centuries.

When data can’t be accessed or trusted, when “facts” are actually illusions — well, this threatens the nature of knowledge itself. And a society without knowledge is steering blind.

The rubbishing of science is far more serious than any particular decision over whether to fund research into stem cells, the sexual behavior of fruit flies or the quarks and quirks of particle physics. Undoing the damage of the past eight years may take another eight. But it must be done. We are probably one of the last generations that will be able to use our knowledge and methods to guide human civilization to a sustainable future. This is our time.

I cannot overemphasize how important it is for our country to get its science "mojo" back. Not only does stem cell research hold promise for curing diseases like Parkinson's, paralysis and diabetes, but research in the areas of clean energy, aging, cancer, heart disease, among others, will radically improve our lives and the world. All we need is the political will and the money to do it.

Recession

This is no surprise: 

The National Bureau of Economic Research  said Monday that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007, making official what most Americans have already believed about the state of the economy .

The NBER is a private group of leading economists charged with dating the start and end of economic downturns. It typically takes a long time after the start of a recession to declare its start because of the need to look at final readings of various economic measures.

The NBER said that the deterioration in the labor market throughout 2008 was one key reason why it decided to state that the recession began last year. On Friday, economists are predicting the government will report a loss of another 325,000 jobs for November.

What's worse is this may be the longest recession since WWII:

The current recession is one of the longest downturns since the Great Depression of the 1930's. The last two recessions (1990-1991 and 2001) lasted eight months each, and only two of the 10 previous post-Depression downturns lasted as long as a full year, according to the NBER.

In reponse to this news, the Dow dropped 680 points yesterday. 

Obama Selects Clinton for SoS and Presents His National Security Team

As rumored for weeks, President-elect Obama selected Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State. He called her a friend, a tough primary opponent and intelligent and said she had a remarkable work ethic.  Obama also said she was an American “of tremendous stature” who would have his complete confidence and command respect in every capital around the world. “I have no doubt that Hillary Clinton is the right person to lead our State Department,” he said.

Obama also presented his national security team is now on stage: Along with Clinton, Robert M. Gates, the current defense secretary, who will remain in that job; Gen. James L. Jones, the former NATO commander, will be national security adviser; Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona will be homeland security chief; Eric Holder will be attorney general; and Susan Rice, ambassador to the United Nations.