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Japan’s Earthquake: Deciphering the Fury

Japan’s Earthquake: Deciphering the Fury

Mar 30 2011 | comment(s)

The events that have afflicted Japan since the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami of March 11 are all too well known, but the events that occurred before and the even more ominous events that may occur in the near future are less known.
RMS Titanic - Lessons From History

RMS Titanic - Lessons From History

Mar 29 2011 | comment(s)

RMS Titanic - Lessons From History

Titanic 100 Festival

Belfast's most famous creation, Titanic, will be commemorated in an extended annual festival from 31 March - 31 May 2011, which will include key dates of the ship's build.
http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/



It is unlikely that anybody involved in the design, construction and operation of RMS Titanic ever claimed that she was unsinkable.  But the rumor persists that the claim was made.
Boring project writeup

Boring project writeup

Mar 29 2011 | comment(s)

Not all satellite building involves blowing things up, frying circuits, and desperately hacking hardware.  Sometimes you get regulatory-related requests such as "provide a brief abstract of your mission (include key milestones or events)".  So, free of hype, here is the boilerplate definition I came up with for Project Calliope.
Will Taking Lipitor Increase Your Chances of Diabetes? Yes. Should You Stop Taking It? Probably Not.

Will Taking Lipitor Increase Your Chances of Diabetes? Yes. Should You Stop Taking It? Probably Not.

Mar 29 2011 | comment(s)

Research was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology today with analysis of three different clinical trials that looked at Lipitor (scientific name: atorvastatin).  The authors found new evidence that taking Lipitor slightly increased your chance of eventually getting diabetes.  There have been several studies before this, and this research increases the evidence of this effect.
Japanese 'quake - shaking things up in the classroom

Japanese 'quake - shaking things up in the classroom

Mar 29 2011 | comment(s)

I am sure there is nobody who would disagree when I say that the Japanese earthquake and tsunami were devastating disasters which have caused untold misery for hundreds of thousands of people and will have profound effects on the lives of millions more, but for a small group of 14 year olds who were sat nearly 6,000 miles away in a science lab it was the most exciting thing in the world.
Green Energy - Back To A 13th Century Future

Green Energy - Back To A 13th Century Future

Mar 29 2011 | comment(s)

Green energy technologies like wind, solar and biomass presently constitute only 3.6% of fuel used to generate electricity in the U.S.   Energy expert Vaclav Smil calculates that achieving Al Gore's renewable energy goal in a decade would incur building costs and write-downs on the order of $4 trillion, note Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren at Forbes. 
Three Lessons From The Japanese Nuclear Disaster

Three Lessons From The Japanese Nuclear Disaster

Mar 29 2011 | comment(s)

The disaster at the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, is still unfolding. It is still not ensured that the reactors will stay under the partial control achieved. The media keep downplaying the problems, focusing on any good news it can make up: That electricity has been brought to all six reactors is “news” every day again for over a week now. The electricity, although brought in, is still neither connected to most of the reactor blocks, nor do you hear anybody asking what electricity is supposed to do with the broken equipment in those blocks.

What A Difference An Editor Makes

What A Difference An Editor Makes

Mar 29 2011 | comment(s)

On today's online version of the highest-diffusion newspaper in Italy, Il Corriere Della Sera (a bit too right-winged for me, but still an important source) stands a piece signed by none less than Carlo Rubbia, Physics Nobel prize in 1984 for the discovery of W and Z bosons. Despite his not so young age any more, Carlo is still extremely active in the field of high-energy physics, where he has moved his interest into neutrino physics.
Craig Venter, Egoist

Craig Venter, Egoist

Mar 29 2011 | comment(s)

"To live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to recreate life out of life." -James Joyce

Craig Venter is brilliant. Brilliant enough, you might say, to enter the ranks of literary gods. So brilliant, he might not even know it.

Venter wants to patent the human genome--all 2.9 billion base pairs of it. And why not? The pioneering geneticist is, after all, the man responsible for sequencing it. Venter first set his sights on the intellectual rights in the 90s while still president of Celera Genomics. Later, the company's soured partnership with the publicly funded Human Genome Project served as a forecast of how genomics research might evolve as a competitive business enterprise, if the stakes ever went up. And they did.
Time In Bed With Space

Time In Bed With Space

Mar 29 2011 | comment(s)

WARNING: This blog contains both ADULT language AND THERMODYNAMICS. If you are under 18 or do not like any laws that involve chaos, please leave by clicking on an ad to support this site.

Time and space are joined at the hip. I mean this in a completely naked, having an amazing animal experience together kind of way. A review of the history of physics will support this scandalous claim.
[click or skip, the video is a reading of contents contained herein]
Wandering Code Examined: Semantics And Emotions In The Midst Of Tragedy

Wandering Code Examined: Semantics And Emotions In The Midst Of Tragedy

Mar 28 2011 | comment(s)

"Despite reports of concern from caregivers and some studies, there are limited data on  population-based estimates and predictors of risk for wandering associated with ASD/DD." --ICD-9-CM Coordination and Maintenance Committee Meeting 
Wandering is a real issue with real, present-day ramifications. While it's important to not dive into knee-jerk reactions every time the news provides us with another example of wandering incidents and deaths, it does put a real face on the issue. It isn't some hypothetical what-if; parents and caregivers are dealing with it right now.
The Future Of Long-Form Journalism?

The Future Of Long-Form Journalism?

Mar 28 2011 | comment(s)

Is deeply reported journalism going the way of the fax machine?  Is the Web Apple says is our future, on tiny screens and mobile devices, all wrong for long-form, edited, fact-and-spell-checked work?
The War On Fat People Goes Global

The War On Fat People Goes Global

Mar 28 2011 | comment(s)

Across the world, fewer people are buying the "I have a glandular disorder" excuse for obesity.

As the average waistline increases but the numbers of obese people skew that result, society is getting less tolerant of heavier folk - even in cultures where being big is considered better, according to a cross-cultural study of attitudes toward obesity to be published in the April issue of Current Anthropology.

The study didn't test what is driving the shift in attitude, but the researchers say that "newer forms of educational media, including global public health campaigns" may be playing a role.
No Flavour Changing Neutral Currents Seen By DZERO

No Flavour Changing Neutral Currents Seen By DZERO

Mar 28 2011 | comment(s)

It has been a while since I last wrote about results from the DZERO collaboration, and I am happy to be given a chance to do so by my casual Monday morning browsing of the most recent Arxiv preprints.
Biopunk: Hack Your DNA

Biopunk: Hack Your DNA

Mar 28 2011 | comment(s)

Is biology too important to be left in the hands of experts?   Maybe.

Americans like stories about underdogs who start as outsiders but then become the very core of what being 'inside' means.    Think Einstein and the patent office.  Or Mendel, an 'uncertified substitute teacher' whose day job was being an Augustian monk but whose knowledge of amateur horticulture allowed him to win a race career biologists did not even know had started.

Outsiders doing important things appeals to the frontier spirit in Americans and there's nothing more like a wide open frontier than biology in the hands of hackers - biopunks.
Wave Blaster: Putting Out Fires Using Electricity

Wave Blaster: Putting Out Fires Using Electricity

Mar 28 2011 | comment(s)

Future firefighters may use electricity instead of water to control flames, according to results of a discovery that could underpin a new genre of fire-fighting devices, including 'sprinkler' systems that suppress fires not with water, but with zaps of electric current. 
New Cars May Not Be Lemons, They May Be Pineapples

New Cars May Not Be Lemons, They May Be Pineapples

Mar 28 2011 | comment(s)

You may have heard of a new car with lots of problems referred to as a 'lemon' but not all fruits are bad when it comes to automobiles.  Scientists in Brazil have developed a more effective way to use fibers from these and other plants in a new generation of automotive plastics that are stronger, lighter, and more eco-friendly than plastics now in use, according to their presentation at the National Meeting&Exposition of the American Chemical Society. 
Spice Up Your Love Life - Literally

Spice Up Your Love Life - Literally

Mar 28 2011 | comment(s)

Ginseng and saffron are sexual performance boosters, according to a new scientific review of natural aphrodisiacs, but while the more obscure Spanish fly and Bufo toad are purported to be sexually enhancing, they produced the opposite result and can even be toxic.  
 
Wine and chocolate are okay, though it's all in your head, say the findings by Massimo Marcone, a professor in Guelph's Department of Food Science, and master's student John Melnyk in Food Research International.
Who cares for Yamuna and Indian rivers

Who cares for Yamuna and Indian rivers

Mar 28 2011 | comment(s)

Scientists are buisy writing for magazines with impact factor and H factor value who cares for river Yamuna? This was news item that drains will stop flowing in Yamuna in Delhi area in next 4 years time. A promise of politicians. They are planning another barrage on Yamuna. If local problems assume global proportions there has to be special meetings at global level or UN level that help mitigate pollution of rivers as rivers are global as is the environment. Its need to have some kind of regulation system or advisory scientific bodies with powers to suggest and evaluate projects and their implementations before its too late.
Some very cunning critters!

Some very cunning critters!

Mar 28 2011 | comment(s)

There's a paper out in ProcSoc B about aggressive mimicary, a very devious way to hunt by pretending to be prey or a mate, and then gobbling the hapless critter that comes to investigate.

Here are some of my favourites!

Photuris fireflies




Female fireflies attract males with a precise courtship signal. I don't know whether to be impressed or sickened, but the guys rather deviously waggle their bum to look like females, luring males in, then scoff them. "Look, its Dave! Mind you, I am hungry..." (proceeds to waggle bum like girl).