Why Didn't I Evolve Sooner!?-Blame the Bacteria

Sometime after an event slightly elevating atmospheric oxygen and the already present simple life forms scattered about on Earth...nothing happened. For a billion years.

WTF happened?

Researches now theorize that bacteria utilizing sulfur is to blame. It is theorized that the oceans back then were mostly sulfur, not oxygen allowing these microbes to thrive. Sulfur-oxidizing bacteria do not produce oxygen, which kept the Earth stuck at simple life forms for a while.

However, something must have shifted in order to jump start evolution such as iron being introduced into the oceans by continental shift. About 600 million years later, multicellular lifeforms showed up and eventually evolved to.....Starbucks drinking, twittering, facebook using humans.

WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE: "Space radiation hits record high"

Space is filled with crazy crap, both real and theoretical, that can kill us. Whether it be asteroids, aliens or the possibility of the universe collapsing on itself (seriously), a lot of things are out of our control.

One real problem is space radiation. NASA has a particularly huge problem with the radiation reeking havoc on electrical equipment, ruining future and current space missions. With us humans, it can mutate DNA, causing cancer (this pretty much happens with skin cancer). However, we are shielded by magnetic fields, which....are failing.

For some reason, there has been an increase of about 19% in incoming cosmic rays (we don't know where these rays come from exactly).

The sun's own shield protects the solar system and is spread outwards by solar winds. However, we are at the low point of the sun's 11-yr magnetic activity which weakens the shield and on top of that, the pressure driving the winds are at a 50-yr low.

The influx of rays coupled with the sun slacking results with us baking a little bit more intensely in radiation galore. What does that mean for the climate here? I'm not necessarily sure, but I'm definitely investing in some SPF 100.

From the NO, REALLY?!?!?! files: "High Heels Lead to Foot Pain"

Questions: Do you wear heels?

If you answer is yes to the above, then you can stop reading right now because I am only going to tell you what you already know.

A study of 3,330 men and women found that about 64% of older women experience hind-foot pain from wearing heels, sandals or pumps at some point in their lives.

Really, scientists? I thought that aching feeling was what awesomeness on my feet feels like.

Its well documented the problems of heels:

• Heeled women have smaller calf muscles
• They force pressure onto the balls of your feet
• Risk of foot curving inward
• Toes are smashed together

Some women know these medical risks and have turned to cosmetic surgery to shave down their toe bones (wtf, Hobbit feet) or Botox the muscles.

However, heels are not the only problem. Flip-flops, our glorious everywhere go-to shoe, has been shown to change the way a person walks if worn all the time. This can cause ankle, heel and sole problems.

To drive the point further, researches grouped footwear into the following categories:

Poor: sandals, heels, pumps

Average: hard, rubber-soled shoes/ work boots

Good: casual/athletic sneakers

All I have to say is do you think sneakers go with this dress? Or skirt? Or jeans? OR OUTFIT?! No. They do not. Can I wear workboots to the club? No. So, thanks but not thanks. I like my heels, they are wonderful. As for the pain..., that's what insoles are for (and back up flats in the purse).

The true question researchers should be asking is:

Are you gellin'?

I don't need knitting needles, I just need spiders.

Maybe not exactly science related....

The only spider silk woven tapestry in the world is currently on display at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC.

Simon Peers, a textile maker who lives in Madagascar, conceived the project. Weaving spider silk is not traditional there; a French missionary dreamed it up over a century ago but failed at it. The only known spider silk tapestry was shown in Paris in 1900 but then disappeared.

Peers researched previous attempts, then teamed up with fashion expert Nicholas Godley to hire local weavers to try the near-impossible.

"They did think we were insane," Godley says. "It was actually hard to find people who were willing to collect and work with spiders. I think most people are arachnophobes. I mean, I am, and they bite."

The task of silking a spider starts with a small machine — designed centuries ago when the first attempts to silk spiders were begun — that holds the spider down.

"The spiders are harnessed ... held down in a delicate way," Godley says, "so you need people to do this who are very tactile so the spiders are not harmed. So there's a chain of about 80 people who go out every morning at four o'clock, collect spiders, we get them in by 10 o'clock. They're in boxes, they're numbered, and then as they get silked, about 20 minutes later, they get released back into nature."

A Difficult Task.

"It's called dragline silk," he says. "A spider can produce up to seven different types of silk. The dragline is what frames the web; it's the thicker silk on the outside. Also, it's extremely strong. The first panel that we wove, we were quite stunned by the fact that it sounded a bit like guitar strings, pinging like metallic guitar strings. I mean, it is a very, very unusual material."

A very careful person simply pulls the thread out of each spider and wraps it on a spindle. It's then put on a hand loom and woven.

The main threads consist of 96 twisted silk lines. The brocaded patterns in the tapestry — stylized birds and flowers — are woven with threads made up of 960 spider silk lines.

Peers says they never broke a single strand, yet the tapestry is as soft as cashmere.

Peers and Godley say they spent a half-million dollars of their own money to make the tapestry, which is on display at the museum for several months.

Beat your kids, beat their brains: Spanking lowers IQs

Spare the rod, spoil the child...and keep their IQ?

Proponents of corporal punishments on children are taking hit as a recent study shows that the IQs of 2-4 yr olds that were regularly spanked over 4 years were lowered more than 5 points than the unspanked.

Previous studies have shown that children who have been hit show lesser gray matter in their brains (less neurons) therefore have slower cognitive development.

In 1986 a previous study measured the IQ of 1510 2- to 9-year olds and also noted how often their mothers meted out corporal punishment. The researchers repeated the IQ tests four years later. The figures revealed that 93 per cent of mothers had spanked 2- to 4-year-olds once or more per week, whereas only 58 per cent had turned to physical discipline with the older kids. Nearly half of toddlers' moms had spanked their children three or more times per week, Straus and Paschall found.Four years later, younger children who had never felt their mother's palm had gained an average of 5.5 IQ points compared with kids who had suffered corporal punishment, while older unspanked children had gained 2 IQ points, on average.

Although spanking is related to lowered IQ, the biggest difference in the intelligence of a child is whether or the parents provided adequate cognitive stimulation. The study shows that cognitive stimulation is more important that corporal punishment.

From the No, REALLY?!?!?! files: Even Medical Students Use Facebook!

It turns out most medical students do not think that facebook is included in the Hippocratic Oath.

A survey shows that 13% of U.S. medical schools reported students leaking confidential information onto social networking sites or blogs.

Although students did not post names, they revealed enough information that made patients identifiable by family or doctors, which could violate confidentiality policies.

Med students also posted "risque" photos, alcohol and drug use and inappropriate language at 60% of 78 participating medical schools. Administrators worry that such actions damage student's and the schools reputation.

Would you want a future doctor drinking some absinthe, smoking cigarettes and reporting your colonscopy results on twitter?

Maybe not. But then again, maybe you can be facebook friends.

It's Official: Harry Potter Is Being Scientifically Studied

From NCBIROFL:

Harry Potter and the curse of headache.

Sheftell F, Steiner TJ, Thomas H.

The New England Center for Headache, Stamford, CT, USA.

"Headache disorders are common in children and adolescents. Even young male Wizards are disabled by them. In this article we review Harry Potter's headaches as described in the biographical series by JK Rowling. Moreover, we attempt to classify them. Regrettably we are not privy to the Wizard system of classifying headache disorders and are therefore limited to the Muggle method, the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd edition (ICHD-II). Harry's headaches are recurrent. Although conforming to a basic stereotype, and constant in location, throughout the 6 years of his adolescence so far described they have shown a tendency to progression. Later descriptions include a range of accompanying symptoms. Despite some quite unusual features, they meet all but one of the ICHD-II criteria for migraine, so allowing the diagnosis of 1.6 Probable migraine."

Clearly there is nothing left to discover in science.