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Study: Alternate Walking and Running to Save Energy, Maintain Endurance

By Guest PostFebruary 4, 2013Healthalternate walking, best strategy, bus stop, calculation, conserve energy, data, exoskeletons, goal, human body, human energy costs, hypothesis, leroy long, less energy, maintain endurance, manoj srinivasan, marathon finish line, natural environment, notion, ohio state university, optimize energy, pam frost gorder, physical factor, prosthetic devices, running, save energy, transition region, treadmill

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Forget “slow and steady wins the race.” A new study shows that, at least sometimes, the best way to conserve energy and reach your destination on time is to alternate between walking and running—whether your goal is the bus stop or a marathon finish line.

In the January 30, 2013 issue of the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, researchers examined how people budget their time as they travel on foot to reach a destination at a particular appointed time. The study found that when people have neither too much time nor too little time to reach their destination, they naturally switch back and forth between walking and running, which turns out to be the best strategy for saving energy. (more…)

Exploding Star Missing From Formation of Solar System

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2012ScienceChicago, cosmic cloud, decay, energetic atom, exploding star, formation, gas, haolan tang, iron 60, meteorite, NASA, nicolas dauphas, notion, radioactive isotope, solar system, solar system material, spitzer space telescope, stellar explosion, supernova, time, university

A new study published by University of Chicago researchers challenges the notion that the force of an exploding star prompted the formation of the solar system.

In this study, published online last month in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, authors Haolan Tang and Nicolas Dauphas found the radioactive isotope iron 60 — the telltale sign of an exploding star—low in abundance and well mixed in solar system material. As cosmochemists, they look for remnants of stellar explosions in meteorites to help determine the conditions under which the solar system formed. (more…)

Do We Live in a Computer Simulation? UW Researchers Say Idea Can be Tested

By Guest PostDecember 12, 2012Scienceatom, belief, binds subatomic particles, british philosopher, computer model, computer simulation, concept, cosmic rays, evolutionary history, four dimensional grid, fundamental forces, gluons, human species, lattice quantum chromodynamics, martin savage, model, molecule, Nature, neutrons, nick bostrom, notion, nucleus, parallel universe, physical laws, posthuman civilization, posthuman stage, potential test, primitive simulations, protons, quarks, scale, silas beane, small scale simulations, space time continuum, supercomputers, technique, universe, university of oxford, university of washington, zohreh davoudi

A decade ago, a British philosopher put forth the notion that the universe we live in might in fact be a computer simulation run by our descendants. While that seems far-fetched, perhaps even incomprehensible, a team of physicists at the University of Washington has come up with a potential test to see if the idea holds water.

The concept that current humanity could possibly be living in a computer simulation comes from a 2003 paper published in Philosophical Quarterly by Nick Bostrom, a philosophy professor at the University of Oxford. In the paper, he argued that at least one of three possibilities is true:

The human species is likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage.
Any posthuman civilization is very unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of its evolutionary history.
We are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. (more…)

Speaking of Ethics

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2012Environmentatmosphere, baby albatross, bird, bottle caps, brown lab, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate crisis, delaware, distribution, earth, Environment, environmental ethics, environmental philosopher, ethical responsibility, extinction, gulf, history, human, human rights, joy, kathleen dean moore, life, Mexico, moral obligation, Nature, notion, ocean, oil companies, oil spill, oregon, organism, planet, plastic, principle, protect, relationship, species, spring creek project, state university, stomach, university, violation, world

Lecturer explores the imperatives of environmental ethics

Speaking to University of Delaware faculty and students and community members in Brown Lab on Monday night, Oct. 15, environmental philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore discussed how important it is for humans to realize their ethical responsibility to save the world from a climate crisis.

In a lecture titled “Why It’s Wrong to Wreck the World: Climate Change and the Moral Obligation to the Future,” Moore reflected on the relationship humans have with the environment and argued that once humans realize the impact of their actions, they will naturally feel a moral obligation to care for the planet. (more…)

How to Effectively Compare Auto Insurance Quotes

By Guest PostJune 16, 2012Economyautomobile, automobile insurance, car insurance, data, Economy, high volume traffic, home insurance, industry, insurance packages, jordan ruth, luxury, notion, plan, times of emergency, unemployment rate, website

As the economy of the world continues to fluctuate and the unemployment rates remain high even in the most stable first world economies, people everywhere are looking for ways to cut back their monthly budgets. One of the first things that is usually on the chopping block are the various insurance packages that people consider a luxury.

Although this is perhaps the least advisable way to lower monthly liabilities, many people think that it is their only option. They believe that prices on things like car insurance and home insurance are set in stone, and that they cannot be negotiated down. This notion is far from the truth. (more…)

Harmful Illusions Bedevil Ideas About Free Markets and Imprisonment, UChicago Professor Writes

By Guest PostMarch 5, 2011Economy, Politicsbernard harcourt, civic values, economic exchange, economic transgressions, free market system, free markets, freedom, french thinkers, friedrich hayek, government interference, hyper regulated grain market, incarceration, jeremy bentham, julius kreeger professor, logic of neoliberal penality, notion, Paris, penitentiary, philadelphia, physiocrats, political sphere, prison, ronald reagan, the rule of nature, united states

The United States prizes freedom above most other civic values, yet Bernard Harcourt believes the notion is widely misunderstood and inconsistently applied.

Freedom from government interference is a key tenet of the free market system that the United States champions, but Harcourt notes that Americans expect vigorous government action in imprisoning criminals. The result is a deep inconsistency, he argues, for even as the United States preaches freedom in the marketplace, it maintains the world’s highest incarceration rate. (more…)

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