Fungus name?
I found this fungus that looks like pig ears or bits of skin on the basement carpet.
My brother has an iphone app that says it's "loose morals fungus." Is this the correct name for it?
It's got the same color and general shape as pig ears.

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What is life?

Since September i've been working on a project. I have neglected posting about it here because i wanted to really dig in and understand it myself before i felt ready to share or debate.

Basically I want to redefine what we consider to be alive as our reasons for excluding what most consider "inanimate objects" just doesn't make sense to me and I would argue don't make sense even according to our current ideas of what is alive. It also solves the question of when did life "arise" on the planet as its always been here, just in a way that is different than what we think of as life. The earth itself is alive, so instead of there being this almost mystical change over from "inanimate matter" into "life" we have simply an evolution from one form of life to another, molecules into single cell organisms. It makes a lot more sense science usually prefers the simpler explanation.

Anway i've done a lot of writing and a lot more thinking on the subject and most of it is posted on my blog which I welcome you to read, comment on and question with me.

XPosted

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Electricity
If you went back in time to a year where electricity hadn't been invented, what would you need to do to generate electricity? How would you make a generator?

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Energy Revolution and dead-end economic model.
It is obviously to everyone now that energetics needs the revolutionary changes. Energetics based on nonrenewable energy resources (oil, coal, gas) have to be replaced, sooner or later, by energy based on the inexhaustible sources. Although two-thirds of the world's electricity is still generated by thermal power stations working on fossil fuels, which are to a great extent responsible for the adverse environmental effects (global warming, ozone depletion, etc.), almost all developed countries are actively elaborating alternative energy sources.

The solar and wind energy are considered by many as these sources. Indeed, these powers are reliable and highly desired renewable energy sources. But in spite of all this they have significant limitations. Such alternative power plants can't work at night and in case of lack of winds. In order to radically change the structure of power generation in favor of renewable resources we need a stable energy source that has great energy potential.

And that source really exists.

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Question about quasars
Okay. I have a theory about quasars, and I want you to provide some evidence that explains why I am wrong. I don't know much about science, so that's why I'm asking.
On television, a quasar is depicted as a sort of spinning flashlight, and that's what they say causes the flickering.
However, my theory is that there is some kind of cloud between a star and our instrumentation, and that the cloud's movement causes the variations in light intensity and creates the illusion of movement, and the star might not be spinning like that at all.
One counter argument I heard was that the cloud would have to be the size of a universe or something. However, I theorize that it only has to be big enough to block our sensors. Kind of like how you can block out the sun and make it appear to flicker by putting a fan in your window. The fan is obviously not big as the sun, but it subjectively seems to make the sun flicker.
But I don't know that much about quasars. What information do I need to be aware of? Why am I wrong? Can you direct me to some relevant websites? I tried Wikipedia, but that just confuses me.

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Homemade generator?
Can anyone direct me to some online videos where people use ordinary household items to make an electric generator? Or maybe a website with step by step photographs of someone building one? I need to see someone physically put one together to figure out what I'm reading about it. Something about magnetic wire coiled around a nail. I have no idea.

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Doctor's heart warnings
I find it hard to believe that certain heart patients can't lift anything heavier than a book or a soda can. Is it really that common for the majority of heart patients to risk dying from picking up a dropped pencil? Or is the advice a little extreme to prevent lawsuits? If it's a warning about post surgery, will picking up that empty aluminum can cause stitches in the patient's heart to explode?
Or is this just being overly cautious?

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Dimethyl Sulfoxide
Is it true that Dimethyl Sulfoxide is non-toxic?
For that matter, is it a real chemical?

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MindReader and learning

The specialists of the International center for education "Areopagit" (www.areopagit.com) develop the "convincing" to learn program. This program is designed on the base of the research of Dr. Igor Smirnov “Semantic Stimuli Response Measurements Technology”, or SSRM Tek, a software-based mind reader that supposedly tests a subject's involuntary response to subliminal messages.

The program inspires to recipient an idea about need to learn, think and develop their own abilities. If to unite this program with a network self spreading module (like a virus) then during several months it would install on hundreds of thousands of personal computers around the world. Besides, program can define the language of the user and use suitable - an English, French, Chinese, Spanish, German, Russian or Arabic.

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Creativity in science

Does anybody know any course in creativity in science?  I'm interested in this theme.

Many thanks!

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Ice
Is it true that chunks of ice in Saturn's rings have existed for thousands of years? If so, were they always in the ring?

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(Crossposted a few times) Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday, dear old Darwin! You might be dead but your work lives on, even 200 years after you came into the world.

We're having a party at LSU, to celebrate Darwin's birthday. Are you guys doing anything? If so, what?

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Sexual self-esteem graduate student research. Raffle for $40 Visa Giftcard.
Hi.

I am doing a research study on sexual esteem. I am interested in developing a survey that will measure not just self-esteem related to sexuality, but different aspects of sexual esteem like confidence in sexual skills and feeling accepted by a partner. The survey is anonymous and confidential.

I am looking for people to volunteer for my research study. If you participate, you will take a simple survey over the internet. At the end of the survey (about 30 minutes), you can enter a raffle to win a $40 Visa giftcard.

A little about me:
My name is Kat. I am a graduate student in the Human Sexuality Studies program at SFSU. This research is for my Master’s Thesis.

If you are interested in participating, click the link below to find out more about the project and take the survey.

http://www.surveygoldplus.com/s/B5F1F4A27C1246C2/37.htm

Thanks!
Kat Scoggin
My advising professor is Ryan Howell

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Alcohol and dyes?
I just recently discovered that the colors on a certain brand of shirt wash away with alcohol based deoderants. What kind of chemicals would react like that? What kinds of dyes wash away with alcohol? Does anyone have chemistry knowledge that would relate to this? I don't know the first thing about the chemical properties of alchohol.

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Question
Bisphenol A (or BPA, used in polycarbonates and resins) and phthalates (used to make plastic soft and pliable) are known as endocrine disruptors and have effects on horomones. Is it possible that the presence of such chemicals in the human body causes changes in sexual preference?

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Atrophy
Does atrophy affect your body if you're frozen in cryogenic stasis?

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Maggots?
What kinds of chemical compounds does a maggot need to survive?

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Weird marsh plant?
I would like to know the name of a weird looking plant.
The plant has a cup shaped growth on its top, and in this `cup' is a series of holes arranged in a honeycomb pattern, and there are little round seed pods in each hole.
In the summer it turns brown. I have no idea what it looks like when it's new. I found it near a pond.
Does anyone know what plant I'm talking about?

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Is There a Social Constructionist In the House?
Interest layman de-lurking here.

I'm re-reading Steven Pinker's book, The Blank Slate and would like to hear from the other side.

Can any of you suggest a good over-view of social constructionist theory, ideally something up-to-date and from social constructionist equivalent to Richard Dawkins or E.O. Wilson.

Thank you in advance.

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a very specific request
At my company, among other things, we make Master Mixes and dNTP blends and stuff like that for PCR. We made one dNTP blend recently, and would consistently get no PCR product when tested. During troubleshooting, we ran it on HPLC and found there was no peak for G, and a correspondingly larger peak for T/U.

Here's the problem. The blend has both T and U in it already, and of course our operators have access to both already also. Is there another analytical test that can be performed to resolve whether it's T or U? (We're also doing inventory verification, but so far that's been inconclusive.)

Any advice would be much appreciated.

(x-posted)

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