- Targeting cancer cells with nanoparticles – From elianara.
- 2012: Beginning of the end or why the world won’t end? – NASA assures us that the world won’t be ending any time soon. From Craig.
- Bones show biggest dinosaurs had hot blood – “Using a biomechanical model that predicts the energy cost of walking and running based on the size of an animal’s leg bones, researchers have shown that the biggest dinos couldn’t have gotten around without a warm-blooded metabolism.”
- South Carolina’s religious license plates ruled unconstitutional – “On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Currie ruled that South Carolina’s “I Believe†license plates featuring a cross in front of a stained glass window were unconstitutional.”
Not a fan of depicting nanotech cancer therapies as tiny robots, but it’s a harrowing reminder of the future that we’re currently designing purpose-built molecules that will be able to seek out and attach to cancer cells so we can zap the area with light that causes the destruction of only the cancer cells and few if any other cells.
Nanoparticles are not the same as nanobots …
Oh c’mon, you know SOMEONE in the lab was telling cancer cells “Resistance is Futile”
In 2013, I’m going to start a conspiracy site that accuses NASA of faking the world not ending.
Maybe what NASA needs is a 2012 style billboard campaign. I can see it now: a big black billboard with a picture of Eta Carinae, the rings of Saturn, or some equally impressive space photo. And then the following caption: “NASA: A thousand times more interesting than 2012 because WE DON’T MAKE THIS SHIT UP”.
I think we should stop sending the message that the world won’t end in 2012. Instead, we should encourage the idea, take bets on it, and rake in the money when nothing happens.
@catgirl:
Taking bets won’t work…if they win, they can’t collect. It’s a sucker bet. Despite the evidence to the contrary, I can’t convince myself that thay are THAT stupid.
But this does offer the Skepchicks the opportunity to finance the island. Offer every true beliver ten cents on the dollar for everything they own with the agreement that you get it all on December 22nd, 2012. Tell them they get to use the money for one last fling. When nothing happens you can sell it all back to them at a tidy profit.
@dpaul:
“When nothing happens you can sell it all back to them at a tidy profit.”
Or be stuck with a giant pile of someone else’s crap …
Then again, if we approached this from the P.O.V. of a charity organisation helping out, say, the homeless …
@exarch:
Well…yeah, that’s a risk.
I also realize that there is no incentive for them not to trash the stuff while they retain possession until 2012 (thus turning good stuff into crap).
So…yeah…there are wrinkles.
But we have three years to work out the details. Come on. We’re smart people. We ought to be able to figure out a way to make this work in our favor. There is an island and a life a leisure riding on our efforts.
I love the idea of big snarley aggressive bird like dinosaurs. Edgar Rice Burroughs would have smiled.
Call it insurance instead of a bet. Lots more people will take a sucker bet if it is labelled insurance.
@Steve:
COTW.
The license plate one is mind blowing. I know I should group up and stop expecting government officials to be remotely aware of the laws they are supposed to execute, but…wow.
Its not enough that Christians are a privileged religion in the US, they have to show off their privilege by having the state recognize it, and it alone. This is is not that a religious license plate was made, but a public refusal by the people involved to make a license that promoted any other religion.
ARRRRRRGH!
@Steve: COTW
@Steve:
“In 2013, I’m going to start a conspiracy site that accuses NASA of faking the world not ending.”
Or for covering it up.
“I Believe” I’ll go have a beer…
@Skepotter: COTW