Show Notes: Episode 13
This show is about how we don’t believe in luck, especially any unlucky vibes that might come from doing our 13th episode. No, instead we believe in nothing. That’s right, Lebowski, nothing.
This Week in Star Trek
Google Unveils Universal Translator
Today’s alpha release of Conversation Mode offers translation between English and Spanish using an Android device.
From within Conversation Mode, you can press the microphone to select their language and start speaking. Google Translate then translates that speech and reads the translation out loud. The second speaker can then respond in his or her language and be heard.
Nerds on Tech
Asus has confirmed that three of its upcoming tablets will run the next version of the Google mobile operating system, Android 3.0. aka Honeycomb.
[…]
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is running Android version 2.2 Froyo, and will be upgradable when Honeycomb is officially released. Motorola’s Xoom tablet will launch with Honeycomb in the spring.
Windows Everywhere, Then Nowhere
This year, dozens of companies will ship Windows 7-based tablets and they will all fail. Instead, consumers will continue buying iPads, and they will buy Android-based tablets (and, possibly, the RIM PlayBook), because those products, unlike Windows tablets, have been created specifically for that market.
International Nerd
While pundits are saying that the Chinese “planned capitalism” system might be superior to the United States, Time and the Daily Mail show us these photos of Chinese ghost towns.
Weird Science
23andMe’s Top Findings of the Year
It’s Good to be Pear Shaped:
“Apples”, whose weight concentrates around their middles, appear to be at greater risk for developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes than their pear counterparts.
White People are Neanderthals (Asians Too):
Neanderthal DNA consistently matched European and Asian samples better than it did African; the difference was small, but consistent. It suggested that the Neanderthals, which were restricted to Europe and Asia at the time modern humans originated in Africa, had interbred with humans once they began migrating out of Africa.
Latino Genetic Variety:
In the case of association studies, the name of the game is to study two groups of people who differ only with respect to whether they have the disease of interest or not; people in the disease group should have the same mix of age, gender, ancestry, etc. as in the non-disease group. The genetic diversity of Latin American populations may hinder such studies because of the difficulty in building genetically-matched groups.
Web-Based Research Works:
In this peer-reviewed paper 23andMe confirmed that self-reported data from customers has the potential to yield data of comparable quality as data gathered using traditional research methods, moving scientific research forward, faster.
Over 9,000 people contributed data to the study of 22 separate traits. Novel SNP associations were revealed for hair curl, asparagus anosmia (the inability to detect the scent of certain asparagus metabolites in urine), the photic sneeze reflex (the tendency to sneeze when entering bright light), and freckling. Previously identified genetic associations between nine genes and certain pigmentation-related traits (hair color, eye color, and freckling) were replicated.
The Science Behind a Good Marriage
Self-Expansion is the Key to a Happy Home:
While the notion of self-expansion may sound inherently self-serving, it can lead to stronger, more sustainable relationships, Dr. Lewandowski says.
“If you’re seeking self-growth and obtain it from your partner, then that puts your partner in a pretty important position,” he explains. “And being able to help your partner’s self-expansion would be pretty pleasing to yourself.”
The Michelangelo Effect:
Research suggests that spouses eventually adopt the traits of the other — and become slower to distinguish differences between them, or slower to remember which skills belong to which spouse.
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Nerd Rage
Breaking News: Email is More Widely Used Than Facebook
As of May 2010, U.S. mobile users spent more time sending or reading e-mail on their phones than any other internet-enabled mobile activity (comprising 38.5% of mobile internet time spent). Social media was a distant second (10.7%) and reading news/current events was third (7.2%).
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