Jamie Hale

Jamie Hale

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Knowledge Roundup

Finding the Truth

Do lie detectors detect lies? What do you think? The standard machine (polygraph) has three features 1) blood pressure cuff 2) a tube fastened around subject’s chest which indicates changes in breathing and 3) device measuring skin’s electrical conductivity. Baker & Nickell (Missing Pieces p. 105) “Unfortunately, while polygraphs do detect nervousness, Hines correctly observes (1988, p. 304) that ‘not everyone is nervous when telling a lie and not everyone is calm when telling truth.’ Factors other than nervousness that may affect the responses are physical handicaps, moral attitudes toward veracity, location of the test, personality of the examiner, and the subject’s state of mind (“House Measure” 1985).” Michael Shermer tests the polygraph Watch Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLL3wtgBiFA

Snakebite the Myths and Facts Part one

Kristin at the Kentucky Reptile Zoo addresses questions regarding snakebites. Juvenile snakes can’t control how much venom they inject? What is most dangerous snake? What are the chances you will die if bitten by a venomous snake? Watch Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQGcmseZGms

Raven Run Nature Sanctuary

My son and I became excited as we walked towards the Nature Center. There were sounds of birds and a mellow whistling of the wind that filled the air. Everywhere we looked we seen butterflies, birds, exotic looking plants, and a variety of trees. I knew we were experiencing nature at it’s best. After a few minutes we reached the Raven Run Nature Center. I was astonished with all of the displays featured in the Nature Center. I was thinking to myself wow all of this and we have not even seen the trails yet. We spent the remainder of the day traveling the trails and taking in the beautiful scenery. The sanctuary’s various habitats made me feel like I had visited three or four sanctuary’s not just one. This was my first visit to Raven Run, but definitely not my last………
This is my first article in Kentucky Explorer. Read the full article in April 2009 issue.

The Biology of skin color: Black and White
By Gina Kirchweger


Ten years ago, while at the university of Western Australia, anthropologist Nina Jablonski was asked to give a lecture on human skin. As an expert in primate evolution, she decided to discuss the evolution of skin color, but when she went through the literature on the subject she was dismayed. Some theories advanced before the 1970s tended to be racist, and others were less than convincing. White skin, for example, was reported to be more resistant to cold weather, although groups like the Inuit are both dark and particularly resistant to cold. After the 1970s, when researchers were presumably more aware of the controversy such studies could kick up, there was very little work at all. "It's one of these things everybody notices," Jablonski says, "but nobody wants to talk about." Read full article http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/3/text_pop/l_073_04.html

Evolution in Action
By Carl Zimmer


Evolution doesn’t always take millions of years to occur. Carl Zimmer meets Richard Lenski the man who has been watching evolution occur in his own laboratory. “Twenty- one years ago, Lenski used a single E.coli to establish 12 identical lines of bacteria, each of which lived in its own flask. Ever since the experiment started, the bacteria have been evolving. Lenski and his students and colleagues in his Michigan State University laboratory have been tracking the microorganisms’ evolution in fine detail. Along the way, some of the bacteria have undergone extraordinary transformations.” Read the full article at BBC Knowledge Magazine, April 2009 issue pp. 42-46.

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