Today marks the start of the (first) Scientific Blogging University Writing Competition. We decided to do this because, since our inception, the scientific community has been incredibly gracious about embracing Science 2.0.

The top question we have been asked in emails is 'What should I write about?' and the answer is, we don't know. Since the contest covers 11 schools and all science disciplines we have no idea what will resonate with the audience. Whatever you write should have some popular interest - no one wins "American Idol" doing Gregorian chants, for example - but it's your own voice so you have to write what is interesting to you.

Researchers at the University of Warwick have found what could be the signal of ideal wave 'surfing' conditions for individual particles within the massive turbulent ocean of the solar wind, a discovery that could give a new insight into just how energy is dissipated in solar system sized plasmas such as the solar wind and could provide significant clues to scientists developing fusion power which relies on plasmas.

The research, led by Khurom Kiyanai and Professor Sandra Chapman in the University of Warwick’s Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, looked at data from the Cluster spacecraft quartet to obtain a comparatively “quiet” slice of the solar wind as it progressed over an hour travelling covering roughly 2,340,000 Kilometers.

Sherlock Holmes used a variety of tools  to deduce what he needed to know about people in general and criminals in specific.    It turns out he could learn a lot by how people act in a virtual reality setting playing a form of 'hide and seek', say two University of Alberta researchers. 

Experimental psychologist Marcia Spetch and computer scientist Vadim Bulitko recently published an article in Learning and Motivation say they mapped the decision-making process involved in hiding and searching for objects, which could obviously lead to more realistic game environments and even new tools for law enforcement.

Protein S, a well-known anticoagulant protein, also contributes to the formation and function of healthy blood vessels, say researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.   They found that mice lacking protein S suffered massive blood clots, but also had defective blood vessels that allow blood cells to leak into the surrounding tissue.

There are more than 200 known human mutations and polymorphisms in the gene coding for protein S, which was arbitrarily named after Seattle, the city of its discovery. The resulting deficiencies predispose carriers to deep venous thrombosis, strokes at an early age, recurrent miscarriages, and pre-eclampsia, and are associated with several autoimmune diseases, most prominently systemic lupus erythematosus. 

The magic of brain imaging has allowed researchers to correlate a thicker cortex in Tetris players with increased brain efficiency due to ... playing Tetris.   The researchers from Mind Research Network in Albuquerque writing in BMC Research Notes used brain imaging and Tetris to investigate whether practice makes the brain efficient because it increases gray matter.

A new method for 'recycling' hydrogen-containing fuel materials could open the door to economically viable hydrogen-based vehicles, according to research in an article appearing today in Angewandte Chemie.

Hydrogen has long been considered an ideal fuel for transportation; it is abundant and can be used to run a fuel cell, which is much more efficient than internal combustion engines, and that also eliminates the formation of gaseous byproducts that are detrimental to the environment.

The secret is out; there's only one science blogging site out there with its name on a satellite and it is us.

Well, so far it is us.    The commies in Star City were first into space but the good ol' US of A put a man on the moon and that's what gets remembered.    So we can't rest on our laurels just because we're the first to develop it - and commit money - if we're going to put Bloggy into space we need to get it done.

What am I talking about?   Bloggy in space?   

Dear Diary,

It was a secret for a while, but I'm going to launch my own satellite! It's going to make music from space. Curious?

---

It is dangerous to write about neat things. That makes you want to do them yourself. After writing about satellites, I became inspired to build one myself. And it'll be a first-- a musical satellite. A satellite whose sole purpose is to make music until it dies-- music from science.

Thirteen percent of pregnant women in the United States have no health insurance.

The president, when not worrying about the gun nuts, wants to cover them.

One would think these facts alone might encourage some sanity,­even unity, ­in the ever-childish debate about healthcare reform. It’s a natural for the family values cult. Ditto for the meshugga anti-abortion crowd. Why, you can even imagine those terrible death panelists advocating for mommy Obammy care­, even if what they really want is to ensure a steady stream of future Soylent Green.

I recently watched a show about alien planets orbiting distant stars. It emphasized the differences between these planets and Earth – too hot, too cold, iron rain, noxious gas – places where humans couldn’t live, but maybe some organisms might.

What I, and everyone else, would like to find is a planet that is like Earth. Some planet orbiting an Earth-like star in the Goldilocks zone – not too hot, not too cold, but just right. A planet with water, and with a breathable atmosphere.