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A lot of interesting ones today, I'll try to cut early...
Q & A: Lights Off!
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY, The New York Times, September 4, 2007
Q. Does it really use more energy to turn a fluorescent bulb off and on than to keep it burning?
A. Yes, but that is true for only a few seconds at most, according to the United States Department of Energy.
( Read More )
Heirs to a Rare Legacy in New Mexico
By BEN DAITZ, M.D., The New York Times, September 4, 2007
ALBUQUERQUE, Sept. 3 — In 1598, Joyce Gonzalez’s great- great- great- great -great -great -great -great -great -great -grandfather followed the famous conquistador Juan de Oñate from Spain to Mexico, then north on the Camino Real, the Royal Road to Santa Fe.
In the 1800s, one of Mary Ann Chavez’s distant relatives, possibly a French fur trapper and trader from Quebec, also made his way into northern New Mexico.
Mrs. Chavez and Mrs. Gonzalez, though not related, share a Hispanic heritage and a fascination with genealogy. They also share the burden of having forebears with genetic diseases that, like the remote mountain villages in this region, have remained largely hidden from medical diagnosis and treatment. Now, thanks to the efforts of patient advocates and the work of a clinic here at the University of New Mexico Medical School, these illnesses are finally being confronted and studied.
( Read More )
For Memory to Last, Cats Need to Do, Not Just See
By HENRY FOUNTAIN, The New York Times, September 4, 2007
Cats may live in their own world, but they have to survive in this one. So when walking, they are no different from humans or other animals: they use vision to create short-term memories. Even if visual input is removed, studies have shown, a cat can go several steps among obstacles before losing its way.
But to really remember something, David A. McVea and Keir G. Pearson of the University of Alberta report in the journal Current Biology, a cat has to do, rather than see. The act of stepping over an object can make for a long-lasting memory of it.
( Read More )
Really? The Claim: A Glass of Warm Milk Will Help You Get to Sleep at Night
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR, The New York Times, September 4, 2007
THE FACTS
Few foods have a reputation for curing insomnia quite like warm milk.
According to age-old wisdom, milk is chock full of tryptophan, the sleep-inducing amino acid that is also well known for its presence in another food thought to have sedative effects, turkey.
But whether milk can induce sleep is debatable, and studies suggest that if it does, the effect has little to do with tryptophan.
( Read More )
Greentech: Power to the People: Run Your House on a Prius
By JIM MOTAVALLI, The New York Times, September 2, 2007
WHEN Hurricane Frances ripped through Gainesville, Fla., in 2004, Christopher Swinney, an anesthesiologist, was without electricity for a week. A few weeks ago, Dr. Swinney lost power again, but this time he was ready.
He plugged his Toyota Prius into the backup uninterruptible power supply unit in his house and soon the refrigerator was humming and the lights were back on. “It was running everything in the house except the central air-conditioning,” Dr. Swinney said.
( Read More )
Frontline Report: Weight Loss - For the Overweight, Bad Advice by the Spoonful
By GINA KOLATA, The New York Times, August 29, 2007
Americans have been getting fatter for years, and with the increase in waistlines has come a surplus of conventional wisdom. If we could just return to traditional diets, if we just walk for 20 minutes a day, exercise gurus and government officials maintain, America’s excess pounds would slowly but surely melt away.
Scientists are less sanguine. Many of the so-called facts about obesity, they say, amount to speculation or oversimplification of the medical evidence. Diet and exercise do matter, they now know, but these environmental influences alone do not determine an individual’s weight. Body composition also is dictated by DNA and monitored by the brain. Bypassing these physical systems is not just a matter of willpower.
More than 66 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta. Although the number of obese women in the United States appears to be holding steady at 33 percent, for most Americans the risk is growing. The nation’s poor diet has long been the scapegoat. There have been proposals to put warning labels on sodas like those on cigarettes. There are calls to ban junk foods from schools. New York and other cities now require restaurants to disclose calorie information on their menus.
But the notion that Americans ever ate well is suspect. ( Read More )
Q & A: Lights Off!
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY, The New York Times, September 4, 2007
Q. Does it really use more energy to turn a fluorescent bulb off and on than to keep it burning?
A. Yes, but that is true for only a few seconds at most, according to the United States Department of Energy.
( Read More )
Heirs to a Rare Legacy in New Mexico
By BEN DAITZ, M.D., The New York Times, September 4, 2007
ALBUQUERQUE, Sept. 3 — In 1598, Joyce Gonzalez’s great- great- great- great -great -great -great -great -great -great -grandfather followed the famous conquistador Juan de Oñate from Spain to Mexico, then north on the Camino Real, the Royal Road to Santa Fe.
In the 1800s, one of Mary Ann Chavez’s distant relatives, possibly a French fur trapper and trader from Quebec, also made his way into northern New Mexico.
Mrs. Chavez and Mrs. Gonzalez, though not related, share a Hispanic heritage and a fascination with genealogy. They also share the burden of having forebears with genetic diseases that, like the remote mountain villages in this region, have remained largely hidden from medical diagnosis and treatment. Now, thanks to the efforts of patient advocates and the work of a clinic here at the University of New Mexico Medical School, these illnesses are finally being confronted and studied.
( Read More )
For Memory to Last, Cats Need to Do, Not Just See
By HENRY FOUNTAIN, The New York Times, September 4, 2007
Cats may live in their own world, but they have to survive in this one. So when walking, they are no different from humans or other animals: they use vision to create short-term memories. Even if visual input is removed, studies have shown, a cat can go several steps among obstacles before losing its way.
But to really remember something, David A. McVea and Keir G. Pearson of the University of Alberta report in the journal Current Biology, a cat has to do, rather than see. The act of stepping over an object can make for a long-lasting memory of it.
( Read More )
Really? The Claim: A Glass of Warm Milk Will Help You Get to Sleep at Night
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR, The New York Times, September 4, 2007
THE FACTS
Few foods have a reputation for curing insomnia quite like warm milk.
According to age-old wisdom, milk is chock full of tryptophan, the sleep-inducing amino acid that is also well known for its presence in another food thought to have sedative effects, turkey.
But whether milk can induce sleep is debatable, and studies suggest that if it does, the effect has little to do with tryptophan.
( Read More )
Greentech: Power to the People: Run Your House on a Prius
By JIM MOTAVALLI, The New York Times, September 2, 2007
WHEN Hurricane Frances ripped through Gainesville, Fla., in 2004, Christopher Swinney, an anesthesiologist, was without electricity for a week. A few weeks ago, Dr. Swinney lost power again, but this time he was ready.
He plugged his Toyota Prius into the backup uninterruptible power supply unit in his house and soon the refrigerator was humming and the lights were back on. “It was running everything in the house except the central air-conditioning,” Dr. Swinney said.
( Read More )
Frontline Report: Weight Loss - For the Overweight, Bad Advice by the Spoonful
By GINA KOLATA, The New York Times, August 29, 2007
Americans have been getting fatter for years, and with the increase in waistlines has come a surplus of conventional wisdom. If we could just return to traditional diets, if we just walk for 20 minutes a day, exercise gurus and government officials maintain, America’s excess pounds would slowly but surely melt away.
Scientists are less sanguine. Many of the so-called facts about obesity, they say, amount to speculation or oversimplification of the medical evidence. Diet and exercise do matter, they now know, but these environmental influences alone do not determine an individual’s weight. Body composition also is dictated by DNA and monitored by the brain. Bypassing these physical systems is not just a matter of willpower.
More than 66 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta. Although the number of obese women in the United States appears to be holding steady at 33 percent, for most Americans the risk is growing. The nation’s poor diet has long been the scapegoat. There have been proposals to put warning labels on sodas like those on cigarettes. There are calls to ban junk foods from schools. New York and other cities now require restaurants to disclose calorie information on their menus.
But the notion that Americans ever ate well is suspect. ( Read More )
