http://www.salon.com/2013/04/11/weird_sc...t_partner/

A.C. LEE: Although H.P. Lovecraft has exerted a towering influence on the development of science fiction and horror, until recently, Brian Kim Stefans argues in an essay at the Los Angeles Review of Books, his work hasn’t held much interest for literary critics or philosophers.

Stefans thinks Lovecraft’s “singularly fraught metaphysical universe,” and his refusal of an authoritative “panoptic vision” of the world, spoiled both his own attempts at a novel andthe efforts of literary critics looking for a tidy interpretive framework through which to engage and explain him. But Stefans hears a Lovecraftian echo in the work of a loose grouping of young philosophers, the so-called “speculative realists,” a connection made explicit in “Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy,” by Graham Harman.

Harman sees Lovecraft’s “failures” precisely as “virtues.” Where 20th century philosophy was marked by the “linguistic turn” and various attempts at reductionism, and accordingly mixed results, Lovecraft insisted on and reveled in identifying both the limits of language and the unexplainable gaps in reality. Harman, according to Stefans, hopes to make Lovecraft “a foot soldier” in a war “against bland, realist empiricism” in the vein of Hume and Kant. --The Stone

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2014...ort.com%2F

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2...101414.php

Big Data analytics are helping to provide answers to many complex problems in science and society, but they have not contributed to a better understanding climate science, despite an abundance of climate data. When it comes to analyzing the climate system, Big Data methods alone are not enough and sound scientific theory must guide data modeling techniques and results interpretation, according to an insightful article in Big Data, the highly innovative, peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Big Data website.

In "A Big Data Guide to Understanding Climate Change: The Case for Theory-Guided Data Science," James Faghmous, PhD and Vipin Kumar, PhD, The University of Minnesota--Twin Cities, explore the challenges and opportunities for mining large climate datasets and the subtle differences that are needed compared to traditional Big Data methods if accurate conclusions are to be drawn. The authors discuss the importance of combining scientific theory and First Principles with Big Data analytics and use examples from existing research to illustrate their novel approach.

"This paper is a great example of leveraging the abundance of climate data with powerful analytical methods, scientific theory, and solid data engineering to explain and predict important climate change phenomena," says Big Data Editor-in-Chief Vasant Dhar, Co-Director, Center for Business Analytics, Stern School of Business, New York University.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2...101514.php

As medical personnel and public health officials are responding to the first reported cases of Ebola Virus in the United States, many of the safety and treatment procedures for treating the virus and preventing its spread are being reexamined. One of the tenets for minimizing the risk of spreading the disease has been a 21-day quarantine period for individuals who might have been exposed to the virus. But a new study by Charles Haas, PhD, a professor in Drexel's College of Engineering, suggests that 21 days might not be enough to completely prevent spread of the virus.

Haas's study "On the Quarantine Period for Ebola Virus," recently published in PLOS Currents: Outbreaks looks at the murky basis for our knowledge about the virus, namely previous outbreaks in Africa in 1976 (Zaire) and 2000 (Uganda) as well as the first 9 months of the current outbreak.

In both cases, data gathered by the World Health Organization reported a 2-21 day incubation period for the virus –meaning that after 21 days if the individual hasn't presented symptoms they are likely not to be infected or contagious. This is likely the genesis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 21-day quarantine period, but there is little indication from the CDC as to what other considerations played into this policy.

"Twenty-one days has been regarded as the appropriate quarantine period for holding individuals potentially exposed to Ebola Virus to reduce risk of contagion, but there does not appear to be a systemic discussion of the basis for this period," said Haas, who is the head of the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at Drexel.

Haas suggests that a broader look at risk factors and costs and benefits should be considered when setting this standard. With any scientific data of this nature there is a standard deviation in results –a percentage by which they may vary. In the case of Ebola's incubation period the range of results generated from the Zaire and Uganda data varied little. This might have contributed to the health organizations' certainty that a 21-day quarantine period was a safe course of action.

But looking more broadly at data from other Ebola outbreaks, in Congo in 1995 and recent reports from the outbreak in West Africa, the range of deviation is between 0.1 and 12 percent, according to Haas. This means that there could be up to a 12 percent chance that someone could be infected even after the 21-day quarantine.

"While the 21-day quarantine value, currently used, may have arisen from reasonable interpretation of early outbreak data, this work suggests reconsideration is in order and that 21 days might not be sufficiently protective of public health," Haas said.

Haas, who has extensive background in analyzing risk of transmitting biological pathogens, explains that these quarantine periods must be determined by looking at the cost of enforcing the quarantine versus the cost of releasing exposed individuals. Looking at the potential tradeoff between costs and benefits as the quarantine time is extended should guide public health officials in determining the appropriate time. Obviously, with more contagious and potentially deadly diseases the cost of making a mistake on the short side when determining a quarantine is extremely high.

"Clearly for pathogens that have a high degree of transmissibility and/or a high degree of severity, the quarantine time should be greater than for agents with lower transmissibility and/or severity. The purpose of this paper is not to estimate where the balancing point should be, but to suggest a method for determining the balancing point."

http://news.osu.edu/news/2014/10/15/astr...ke-planet/

SNIP Our view of other solar systems just got a little more familiar, with the discovery of a planet 25,000 light-years away that resembles our own Uranus. Astronomers have discovered hundreds of planets around the Milky Way, including rocky planets similar to Earth and gas planets similar to Jupiter. But there is a third type of planet in our solar system—part gas, part ice—and this is the first time anyone has spotted a twin for our so-called “ice giant” planets, Uranus and Neptune....

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2...101514.php

Arsenic, a well-known poison, can be taken out of drinking water using sophisticated treatment methods. But in places that lack the equipment or technical know-how required to remove it, it still laces drinking water and makes people sick. To tackle this problem, scientists have come up with a new low-cost, simple way to remove arsenic using leftovers from another known health threat — cigarettes. They report their method in ACS' journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.

Jiaxing Li and colleagues explain that naturally occurring and industry-related arsenic contaminates groundwater at high levels in many countries, including Chile, China, Hungary and Mexico. The odorless, tasteless element can cause skin discoloration, stomach pain, partial paralysis and a range of other serious health problems. While the technology for removing arsenic from water exists and is in widespread use in industrialized areas, it is expensive and impractical for rural and developing regions. Scientists have been exploring the use of natural waste materials such as banana peels and rice hulls for removing arsenic from water, but these so far have shown limited efficiency. Recognizing that the porous structure of cigarette ash could be better suited to this purpose, Li's team decided to test it.

In a simple, inexpensive, one-step method, the researchers prepared cigarette ash with a coating of aluminum oxide. When they tested the material with contaminated ground water, they found it removed more than 96 percent of the arsenic, reducing its levels to below the standard set by the World Health Organization. Because cigarette ashes are discarded in countries around the world and can be easily collected in places where public smoking is allowed, it could be part of a low-cost solution for a serious public health issue, they say.

http://news.discovery.com/history/archae...141014.htm

"... The object confirms historical accounts of sacrifices and rituals performed at sea to protect the voyages," Sebastiano Tusa, Sicily's Superintendent of the Sea Office, told Discovery News. [...] But rituals were also officiated in between, during the navigation, passing landmarks, or in times of distress. "Their purpose was to either appease or thank gods who controlled the winds or who could aid in proper navigation, or when auspicious natural features were within sight, like mountain peaks or landmarks dedicated to deities," Brody said....

http://www.livescience.com/48262-ancient...vered.html

SNIP ... The archaeologists said they aren't sure who was worshipped at the complex, though Baal, the Canaanite storm god, is a possibility. "The letters of Ugarit [an ancient site in modern-day Syria] suggest that of the Canaanite pantheon, Baal, the Canaanite storm god, would have been the most likely candidate," Itzhaq Shai, a professor at Ariel University who is directing a research project at Tel Burna, told Live Science in an email. The researchers said they can't rule out that a female deity, such as the ancient war goddess Anat, was worshipped there, Shai said....