Science Notes

Some interesting bits that crossed the electron stream of late ...

-Quasars aren't playing by the rules. At least not all of the rules. They are very distant (billions of light-years away) and the light is redshifted as expected given the expanding universe. However, there should also be observable time dilation as well, and there isn't. Supernovae appear to obey the time dilation rule, so why not quasars? I was never completely convinced by the Special Theory of Relativity since some of its conclusions seemed a bit too reliant on pure math rather than physical observation. (E.g, you can solve the equations for a baseball thrown in earth's gravity and get two answers for when it hits the ground, one of them a negative number, if you toss it off a cliff. The math is correct, but it is physically nonsense.)

-Parasitic worms can stop allergies. Goa'uld say "told you so". Apparently these critters can stop the histamine response, which a) keeps them from getting kicked out and b) stops allergies and autoimmune diseases. This may be why there is an explosion of asthma over the years -- people don't have their hookworm friends like they used to. Researchers are trying to figure out how they do it, and maybe use it for Good.