Category Archives: Science

INTERNATIONAL ROCK-FLIPPING DAY.

Posted on September 7, 2008 by Philip

INTERNATIONAL ROCK-FLIPPING DAY. Annalisa suggested that I post on this event. I like back-yard science, but I don’t know whether I’ll do it.

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NEW TREATMENTS FOR CHRONIC PAIN?

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Philip

NEW TREATMENTS FOR CHRONIC PAIN? Gutwande says that medicine has been slow in making use of the new scientific view of perception. Gawande speculates that many medical conditions—unexplained back pain, experience of phantom limbs, fibromyalgia, tinnitus—arise from a breakdown or … Continue reading →

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HOW WE PERCEIVE.

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Philip

HOW WE PERCEIVE. The experiment I posted on yesterday involving photographs of bicycles provides support for what Atul Guwande calls in this New Yorker article “the account of perception that’s starting to emerge.” He calls it the “brain’s best guess” … Continue reading →

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THE BICYCLES IN FRONT OF EMERSON HALL.

Posted on July 21, 2008 by Philip

THE BICYCLES IN FRONT OF EMERSON HALL. Some years ago, I read about a psychology experiment which involved showing subjects blown up photographs, blown up to the point where they appeared as random collections of dots. The resolution was then … Continue reading →

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“OFF-LABEL” USE.

Posted on July 19, 2008 by Philip

“OFF-LABEL” USE. I argued here that testing of new cancer drugs should make greater use of multiple regressions (in addition to controlled experiments). The article I linked to yesterday by Gina Kolata about Avastin cites an estimate that 75% of … Continue reading →

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GOLD STANDARDS AND LIFE DECISIONS.

Posted on July 18, 2008 by Philip

GOLD STANDARDS AND LIFE DECISIONS. This article by Gina Kolata about Avastin in the New York Times interested me for a couple reasons. First, the choice that is being questioned (to use specific numbers) seems to be whether it is … Continue reading →

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TRAVELING WITHOUT GUIDEBOOKS.

Posted on June 30, 2008 by Philip

TRAVELING WITHOUT GUIDEBOOKS. I carry a heavy load of guidebooks when I travel, but Laurence Sterne’s A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY turned out to be one of the best. Yorick, Sterne’s narrator, says, “What a large volume of adventures may be grasped … Continue reading →

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DOES ALL PHYSICAL REALITY CONSIST OF MATHEMATICS?

Posted on June 27, 2008 by Philip

DOES ALL PHYSICAL REALITY CONSIST OF MATHEMATICS? The cosmologist Max Tegmark believes that the answer is yes. He says in this interview that, “Mathematical things actually exist, and they are actually physical reality…..A mathematical structure doesn’t describe a universe, it … Continue reading →

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RESTORING STREAMS.

Posted on June 26, 2008 by Philip

RESTORING STREAMS. I posted here about the subterranean rivers of London, including the Walbrook, now underground, which was probably important in the original location of Londinium. The thousands of dams and millponds built in this country in the 18th and … Continue reading →

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THE SMELL OF RAIN.

Posted on June 21, 2008 by Philip

THE SMELL OF RAIN. Tom Skilling, the weatherman for the Chicago Tribune, answers a reader’s question: what causes the smell of rain? Moisture can cause plants to release odors; Pine forests release a substance used in perfumes. Warmth, high humidity, … Continue reading →

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