Cows have a better name, empty bottles easier wounding, drinking water and lithium suicide prevention .... the New York Times inventory year "Science and good ideas"
The New York Times at the end of the year will be the "best ideas" list, Science section for this year's scientific research, recognises some fun and interesting projects.
Here's part of the entente, let's take a look at this year, the scientists gave us what unusual "good ideas".
1 named milking cows more
2009 years in March, the United States by the people and animals magazine published a study in the United Kingdom scientists hundreds of cows to control group experiment, one cow per head has a name, the other not, scientists amount against their milking found named dairy group milking of the milking cows than the unknown quantity to more than 6%.
According to the analysis, this may be due to the cows up the name of humanity will unconsciously give cows better treatment, calm and happy cows can produce more milk. However, there are a number of United States ' opposition to this view, particularly with thousands of cows of the farmer, for them, perhaps a digital ID is much simpler.
Own name cow, can produce more milk.
2 empty bottles easier wounding
Switzerland top forensic pathologists wave forest Pavilion (StephanBolliger) after years of court testimony experience always asked the same question: the beer bottle if you get to smash in human skulls smashed out of cracks on?, Stephen for this experiment was carried out.
We know that you want to hit out on human skull fracture energy is approximately 14 to 70 joules, Stephen must identify whether beer bottle smash produces equivalent energy, he purchased a 10 bottles of half-liters of beer produced in Switzerland, among which 6 bottles of rum light, the one ball to hit at different height, respectively, to the empty bottle and full bottle, they found that crumbled full bottles produced 30 joules of energy, and the empty bottles are produced 40 joules of energy, that is, the bottle can hurt, but an empty beer bottle wounding more heavy.
Empty beer bottles on the inside of the air to the glass to impose more pressure to make it easier to break, the half-full bottle?, Stephen said, or it may generate an empty bottle of effects, but whether manufacturers to bottle beer changed a little plastic, and other soft materials, Stephen said: it is better not, because the glass of wine more taste.
And filled with wine bottle, empty bottle wounding more powerful.
3 small dog will glow in the dark
In April, the first fluorescent transgenic dog "red dog" (Ruppy) was born in Korea, he and other dog no big difference, is paw looks like soiled pink ink, but under ultraviolet light, it will emit strange red light.
Scientists first put a red Anemone gene into a dog's skin cells, cell nuclear cloning then moved to the unborn "red dog before" the egg cell. Fluorescent transgenic animals may carry some unique human diseases, this has great value of biomedical, fluorescent transgenic mouse already widespread in various experiments.
4 allow Google figured out the "extinction"
Each species is situated in a large food chain, in order to find which species to ecosystem plays an important role, scientists design a variety of computer model shows how the interaction between species.
Last year, two scientists inadvertently found that Google search engines calculate the law should become a model of best tools. Google search engine principle is called the "page rank" (PageRank) algorithm, through the analysis of the link to identify the most important page, if a page is linked to other important pages, this website is important, the University of Michigan's two scientists will adjust the algorithm, used in ecological systems, their September in the computational biology law journal article, this algorithm than other known ecosystems, species extinction model to useful, you can locate which species extinction will cause food chain more species extinction, they also stated that this model can be used in other areas, like single cell organisms microcosm, or international financial markets.
5 Earth theme competition
The 1970s started popular Gaia theory believes that life will maintain its own survival the various conditions and plant out oxygen, human inhalation of oxygen, the entire Earth in a collaborative, balanced organic whole.
Last year, Washington University expertise species extinction of paleontologists wonder (PeterWard) expressed a negative opinion. He believed that the Earth is a whole, but there's all kinds of biological and natural existence in order to compete, but non-cooperation, everything is in order to destroy the existing competitors, is "selfishness" bio-killing. He published the book media hypothesis that millions of years, the Earth's biggest enemy is ourselves, from bacteria begin to appear after this fate began, the first of atmospheric methane, the first full of hundreds of millions of years later, the atmosphere is filled with high concentrations of oxygen and harmful to life at that time, the plants breathe too much carbon, temperature quenching, entering repeated ice ages, but in the past five mass extinction, four times a day because the volcano or impact the planet, but because the Earth's biological own reasons, in addition, in the last several billion years, biomass has been constantly decreasing.
6 water with lithium against suicide
United States public drinking water has been added, a lot of evidence that
Make a small amount of fluoride can also reduce tooth decay, and no side effects. Last year, a study found that Japan, lithium is a good thing.
Lithium mainly at granite more waters, Japan scientists found that, in Japan some lithium many waters near the person's suicide rate is relatively low.
Some doctors will mood disorder patients opened up some lithium prescription, and the research scientist believes that even drinking water contain low levels of lithium also have a strong emotional comfort. The researchers said, because lithium may be toxic, potentially affect renal function, and other long-term health problems, before the advent of more evidence, or public policy implementers with caution. However, even then, they also said that the study appears in a small amount of lithium and no significant side-effects, more advantages than disadvantages. In the next article, they even think that the water added lithium can become world-wide prevention of suicide in easy way.
7 major collaborative research in mathematics
Last January, Cambridge mathematician, Phil is the winner of the GE Rouse (TimothyGowers) made a test to see whether through his blog confirms that he has not yet been able to prove, mathematical theory.
The challenge in his blog called DensityHales-Jewett's theorem, and invited readers to join the blog's comments to participate in the experiment. After brainstorming, 20 users in 6 weeks to solve this problem. GE Routh treats this as a "multilevel" mathematics project. To date, it was recognized that the Internet can have a significant interactive intelligence in energy, such as with writing an encyclopedia or building social network, but there are some issues such as writing, spouse, or both to raise math challenges the traditional sense of personal mental behavior, but now, the "massive" mathematical cooperative behavior, the latter may be the result of collective wisdom.
8 to monkey music
United States National Orchestra cellist Gauthier (DavidTeie) want to know the human musical chord is how, in the monkey experiment, he assumed that humans still hear the heartbeat of the uterus and pulse source of sound is everything, the resonance of the music comes from its own pronunciation.
If so, he can create all species are able to listen to music. The musician and the United States, University of Wisconsin, a psychologist, record the cotton-top Tamarin respectively show fear and calm voice, fear of a three-degree tones full-range and square, and display a calm voice you have slow long notes, harmonious tones of the structure. In accordance with the monkey himself Marey pronunciation tone created "dangerous music" and "love of music," and had the monkey experiment, control group showed that hear Gauthier composer music monkey apparently reaction more strongly, which confirmed the hypothesis of the authors. The study in August last year, the journal of biology ".
Let the cotton-top Tamarin to listen to music so that researchers have found a human on the sources of music resonate.
9 use the "light shield" against mosquitoes
In some countries of mosquito-transmitted diseases, the presence of mosquitoes can be lethal.
Last year, the field of high technology-mosquito weapons has made great progress.
Columbia University astronomers Marka (SzabolcsMarka) expertise is the study of cosmic black holes, however, subject to the availability of a sum of money, he and his colleagues conducted a study of larvicidal "light shield" project plans in their experiment, mosquitoes will play out the laser as solid walls and stop the flight, when many laser reached a net, imprisons the mosquito, these "optical network" can beat on the door or wall to prevent mosquitoes into the rooms.
10 zombie attacks have scientific
Last year, epidemiologists are busy with armor stream, but the beginning of the year, a member of the research staff of the zombie outbreak on the assumption that interest.
The Carleton University's graduate students look at a lot of zombie movies, that zombie outbreak (zombie bite will die and turn into zombies) may become an epidemic of great form. So he and professors and students in cooperation with epidemiological tools set the zombie outbreak of mathematical model, whether from the perspective of human zombie survived World War II. The result is pessimistic: 7 to 10 days, all of them are dead, or become a zombie. The designer has designed the isolation of defensive measures, the measures human survival of only a few days delay, even if you find a "treatment" zombie method one anywhere, so you can only save 10% to 15% of the people, all others are turned into a zombie.
Compilation/reporter Kim Yu
