General science thread

[Sigmaleph]

A place to post weird or interesting science things that might not need a thread on their own.


Today I learnt that there's a thing called a hypertumor which is, essentially, when cancer gets cancer. Large tumors need to form complex structures (blood vessels and such) to grow in size, which means some level of "cooperation" between cancerous cells is necessary in them. And everywhere you have cooperation, you have a risk of cheaters taking advantage of that cooperation to proliferate out of control, which is more or less what cancer in itself is. So, a large tumor could theoretically have some cells within it grow out of control and kill the tumor itself. So, cancer gets cancer.

This paper proposes it as an explantion of Peto's Paradox (the idea that you should expect animals with more cells to have a proportionally greater risk of cancer, yet this is not observed). All they have is computer simulations, but apparently hypertumors are not just theoretical and have been grown in the lab.

[Ultimate Paragon]

Interesting.

[Sigmaleph]

A peer-review-and-citation ring has been busted.
That's one kind of criminal-ring-busting that you don't see in action movies (and perhaps we should).

[Sleepy]

Remember the bizarre skeleton found in Chile that scientists were previously trying to identify? DNA tests indicate it's most certainly of human origin (nutjobs insisted its skull shape and other deformities indicated it was extraterrestrial), but they're still trying to figure out why it's so small (15 cm), yet somewhat consistent with the development of a 6-8 year-old kid.

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/what%E2%80%99s-real-deal-about-atacama-alien

[Ghoti]

The squabble between science and Luddite fear on the subject of GM crops is far from over, but this article does a good job of separating the truth from the wackadoodle. One quote in particular stood out to me: "'In spite of hundreds of millions of genetic experiments involving every type of organism on earth,' [Goldberg] says, 'and people eating billions of meals without a problem, we've gone back to being ignorant.'"

[Old Viking]

The test in which you obtain samples of your own fecal matter at home, then contribute smears for lab analysis, actually has no diagnostic value.  It's a joke made up by some medical practitioners during a cocktail party.

[guizonde]

if you're afraid of rats, i've got bad news for you.

according to this article, the anthropocene extinction event will lead to two species triumphing over the rest. humans and rats. these are the two species on earth that are growing while all other populations (vertebrates, invertebrates, dubstep fans...) are shrinking.

so, yes, in a few thousand years, humans might actually enjoy a rare cut of roast cow-sized rat sirloin.

food for thought *exit, stage right*

[MadCatTLX]

Remember the bizarre skeleton found in Chile that scientists were previously trying to identify? DNA tests indicate it's most certainly of human origin (nutjobs insisted its skull shape and other deformities indicated it was extraterrestrial), but they're still trying to figure out why it's so small (15 cm), yet somewhat consistent with the development of a 6-8 year-old kid.

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/what%E2%80%99s-real-deal-about-atacama-alien

Oh, it's that skeleton. I thought that was proven a hoax. I guess that was a different Atacama skeleton. I first thought you meant that "Starchild skull" that is supposedly an alien with Morgellons disease. A disease that for science has not been able to identify as actually exist and is supposedly caused by chemtrails. Did I ever mention that the main campus of the college I'm attending actually houses the Institute of Morgellons research or something? I assume the department is actually the broom closet, but still.

Aren't there quite a few weird "alien" things found in the Atacama? It's kind of funny since the Atacama is such a hostile environment that almost nothing lives there and NASA uses it as a test location for Mars rovers and such. If it can survive the Atacama, the it'll do fine on Mars.

Back on topic of the thing, knowing that it is real, I can't wait to hear more about why it is so small.

[guizonde]

Back on topic of the thing, knowing that it is real, I can't wait to hear more about why it is so small.

it shrunk in the dryer? 

more seriously, how the hell is morgellon's disease (which iirc is a disease that makes yarn grow out of your skin... seems legit, sheeple) supposed to do this?

*runs off to punnier pastures*

[SpaceProg]

What popped into my mind was a pronounced presentation of primordial dwarfism.  About the little skeleton, not about the morgellon's stuff.

[Sigmaleph]

In case you missed it, we put a thing on a comet yesterday.

[Hoplite]

Have you read the conspiracy theories about Comet Philae yet? They are starting to come out in the news. While I think some are just humorous, I never know if some of them really believe in what they are saying.

I'm willing to go as far as to think the comet is made of Tinfoil, but no further than that.

[Askold]

In case you missed it, we put a thing on a comet yesterday.

I could hardly miss it when my friends were flooding Facebook with it.

EDIT:

Have you read the conspiracy theories about Comet Philae yet? They are starting to come out in the news. While I think some are just humorous, I never know if some of them really believe in what they are saying.

I'm willing to go as far as to think the comet is made of Tinfoil, but no further than that.

Here are a few of those conspiracies:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/13/philae-comet-lander-alien-cover-up-conspiracy-theories-emerge

It sure is nice for the UFO conspiracy folks to have new material. The moon landings were (faked?!?!?!?!?) a long time ago and Mars lander is getting to be old news as well.

[Sigmaleph]

Do you know what happens when you inject human glial cells into mouse pups? The human cells displace the mouse cells and take over the brain, and the mice become smarter.

[Askold]

Part of me is excited but a greater part of me can't help but notice that this is the kind of mistake that the mad scientist does before the superintelligent hybrids turn on them...

"Oohh, notice how the mice cells are fleeing as the human cells take over the brain? Exciting isn't it!?" NIMH, here we come...

...Actually, they mention Deep blue sea in the article but DON'T mention NIMH?!

And we only narrowly avoided Planet of the apes because the scientists thought that using monkeys in the experiment might have ethical problems...