Featured Articles

New Organic Compound Removes Radioactive Contaminants From Water

New Organic Compound Removes Radioactive Contaminants From Water

Apr 13 2011 | comment(s)

A combination of forest byproducts and crustacean shells may be the key to removing radioactive materials from drinking water, researchers from North Carolina State University have found.

The new material is a combination of hemicellulose, a byproduct of forest materials, and chitosan, which are crustacean shells that have been crushed into a powder.  It not only absorbs water, but can actually extract contaminates, such as radioactive iodide, from the water itself. The material forms a solid foam and has potential applications beyond radioactive materials.   The researchers found that it has the ability to remove heavy metals, such as arsenic,  from water or salt from sea water to make clean drinking water.
Can you guess what it is yet?

Can you guess what it is yet?

Apr 13 2011 | comment(s)

These are fulgerites,







Now, without googling (!) can you tell what they are?

You can find several fulgerites at Corrie on the Isle of Arran (I've heard that there were something like 5, but I could only find 2).

You might think that they look biological, but in actual fact they are found in wind-blown desert sandstones; not a site condusive to preserving fossils.

Protecting The Planet Requires Heroes, Money, And Citizen Scientists

Protecting The Planet Requires Heroes, Money, And Citizen Scientists

Apr 13 2011 | comment(s)

Many of us while growing up and listening to our bedtime stories learned to not freak out and run screaming through the streets if we thought that the “sky is falling.” As little chickens, we were taught at an early age that it was best to be brave, calm, and rational, else be considered a crazed lunatic.

Fundraising For Science

Fundraising For Science

Apr 13 2011 | comment(s)

There's a joke "what if schools got fully funded and the military had to run a bake sale to buy their next aircraft carrier?" I'm here to tell you how to run your own Bake Sale for Science!

Except, without the baking part. Curious how to fundraise for science? I set about fundraising and, in the process, will share lessons learned. I'll also cover how much a picosatellite costs.

For the curious space fan, think about what all the big NASA missions have. Just like Project Calliope, they have rockets and hardware and really cool science. But what they have that I lack is... Mission flight patches! Flight pins! Souvenirs!
Shape-Changing Mitochondria Are Life Saving Mitochondria

Shape-Changing Mitochondria Are Life Saving Mitochondria

Apr 12 2011 | comment(s)

Mitochondria are better known as the power factories of the cell but in fact they are much more interesting than that. Contrary to the old image in textbooks of round static structures, mitochondria are now known to be incredibly dynamic, shape changing, fusing and dividing according to the multitude of functions they perform in the cell. And now, in a study to be published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, scientists in Italy and Portugal show that mitochondria can also be crucial for the survival of cells during stress. 
A Pattern Of Feedback

A Pattern Of Feedback

Apr 12 2011 | comment(s)

Methodological Stuff:

1. Introduction
2: Patterns
3: Patterns, Objectivity and Truth
4: Patterns and Processes

The Pattern Library:

Equal-Pay Day

Equal-Pay Day

Apr 12 2011 | comment(s)

Today, 12 April 2011, is “Equal-Pay Day” in the U.S. If you took the median-salary American man and the median-salary woman, and started paying them both on the first of 2010, today is the day when the woman will have finally earned what the man took in through 31 December, about 14 weeks ago.

Snarky Puzzle Answers

Snarky Puzzle Answers

Apr 12 2011 | comment(s)

For the unpopular cutting edge, there is no book with the answers at the back. This post will need to suffice for the snarky puzzles at the end of my previous posts. I am a playful snark, not a caustic one. I used to teach retarded citizens how to add. [clarification: while paying for 1 year of math grad school in Bloomington, Indiana, I volunteered an hour a week for a year at a local center.] I am that patient with myself, and will be so with you. Physics discussions can devolve into that 6 year-old boy fighting kind of groove (hi Sascha!). Since this is research, we do have a chance to learn something new together.
[click or skip a dramatic reading of this post]
A Brief History Of Climate Science

A Brief History Of Climate Science

Apr 11 2011 | comment(s)

A Brief History Of Climate Science

"One of the lesser-known branches of climatology is historical climatology, the study of past climates from historical records of instrumental observations and weather descriptions, ..."
Vicky Slonosky
A Short Story Of Dijet Resonances

A Short Story Of Dijet Resonances

Apr 11 2011 | comment(s)

In the comments thread of one of the posts I wrote recently, where I discussed the new tentative signal of a new jet-decaying particle discovered by the CDF collaboration in their data, a reader asked me if hadronic signals of single vector bosons had been seen before by CDF.
Commercial Research Steps Into Squid Science Vaccum

Commercial Research Steps Into Squid Science Vaccum

Apr 11 2011 | comment(s)

Okay, I know I won't shut up about the Argentine shortfin squid, but the situation is just so weird and complicated, and there's always new news for me to puzzle over.


We make a lot of people a lot of money. Biologically we are a big question mark.

Here's the latest:
The National Debt: Digging Deeper Into Why We’re Digging Deeper

The National Debt: Digging Deeper Into Why We’re Digging Deeper

Apr 10 2011 | comment(s)

The US national debt is now at 100% of Gross National Product, in other words equal to what we produce in a year. Forty cents of every dollar the US government spends is borrowed. Horrible, cry the pundits! The government should behave more like a family with a budget, should know when to stop spending!

Let’s consider, though, that the average home-owning family takes on a mortgage equal to two or three times its annual earnings. (Before the crash, this number was five, not two or three.) In the US, it’s common for this family to spend 40% of its monthly income servicing the mortgage debt. So far, then, the government is acting exactly like a family – and a fairly responsible family at that, as we’re not even talking about families that abuse credit cards.
Scientific advancements, developing countries, trade ,agriculture and society.

Scientific advancements, developing countries, trade ,agriculture and society.

Apr 10 2011 | comment(s)

Once upon a time when Taj Mahal was built the west was passing through the age of renaissance This has brought in industrial revolution while agrarian societies did not advance much and remained as so called developing countries. Agricultural products their storage, processing and distribution largely suffers from losses of technical procedures. This results in compulsive selling by farmers and hoarding by the hoarders: the main business in developing world some 100 years ago and still continues. "Money makes the Mayor go" Trade is basically purchasing the crop produce in bulk at crop harvest time by a group of people who have money and selling it as higher price when shortage comes. Prices of Onion may fluctuate from Rs 8 to Rs 80.
Portioning Your Stash Safely Without Chemical Scale

Portioning Your Stash Safely Without Chemical Scale

Apr 10 2011 | comment(s)

One of my dear readers out there wrote to me “I don't own a scale and I understand I have to measure this s**t out in mg.” Thus we introduce to the world today: Alpha Meme’s Divide and Join Portioning (DJP©).

The Wandering Code: The CDC Explains

The Wandering Code: The CDC Explains

Apr 10 2011 | comment(s)

On March 14, I became aware of the CDC’s consideration of adding a wandering code to the ICD-9-CM in relation to autism and other developmental disabilities. ASAN, an organization created and headed by Ari Ne’eman, created a petition calling for people to speak out against the wandering code.

In Space No One Can Hear You Teach

In Space No One Can Hear You Teach

Apr 09 2011 | comment(s)

"Sir, if you were to suddenly appear in space would you be able to talk because you already had air in your lungs?"
What is corruption ?

What is corruption ?

Apr 09 2011 | comment(s)

If one utilizes from the mother earth more than required for his daily life from air , water, food, fiber, shelter, recreation, and destroys mother earth for its greed to have more and more for himself at the cost of poor and downtrodden, underprivileged, unarmed and helpless poor people one is indulging in corruption. Mother Nature produces enough for needs of human beings but not for the greed.
Sahara Dust In European Skies

Sahara Dust In European Skies

Apr 09 2011 | comment(s)

Sahara Dust In European Skies

The skies over southern England were hazy on Friday April 08 2011.  In the evening the usual colors of sunset were absent.  A muddy grey-brown haze could be seen along the horizon.  That haze was caused by dust from the Sahara.


Dust from Sahara over Biscay, the English Channel and Ireland


Dust cloud from Sahara off the coast of Portugal
The Cost Of No Science

The Cost Of No Science

Apr 08 2011 | comment(s)

How much does science cost-- and how much does it cost to turn science off?  I know science can be done cheaply.  After all, you're listening to a guy who is building a satellite in his basement, for fun.  Yet while the satellite is paid for, even I'm hitting costs for the science part-- the ability to do something useful with the hardware once it's up.  In fact (shameless plug time) I've launched a Kickstarter fund drive where you can get cool Project Calliope space memorabilia for the next month only-- visit it!  Pass this link around through facebook, twitter, your network of choice: http://tinyurl.c
Forbes Figures Out How Much Money Smaug, Dragon Of

Forbes Figures Out How Much Money Smaug, Dragon Of "The Hobbit", Is Really Worth

Apr 08 2011 | comment(s)

Forbes has done its annual Fictional 15 ranking of the richest fictional characters.    Why?  It doesn't matter why.   #1 is, as you'd expect, Scrooge McDuck, and #2 is Carlisle Cullen who, I am told, is one of the sparkly vampires in that sparkly vampire series that delved into important issues like how important it is to have a boyfriend.