Jul 31, 2009
Sciencebase has been focusing on various environmental and third world problems recently. I say third world, because much of what is euphemistically described as the developing world is sadly not developing at all. If the switch from third to developing has done nothing but salve the conscience of the so-called developed world, then it is, as they say, …
Jul 29, 2009
As we’re in a testing frame of mind, I thought I’d discuss a little quiz that was published as a kind of quasi-scientific assessment of intellect. The basic premise was to find out whether you, the participant, knows more science than the average American.
In The Science Knowledge Quiz you’re asked 12 questions, that most Sciencebase readers will perceive as relatively simple and straightforward, but the shock comes when you get …
Jul 27, 2009
There are lots of online health tests available, some I’ve reviewed on Sciencebase over the years, such as those that help you answer the question are you at risk of diabetes. Often they are created and publicised by a medical charity, occasionally they are marketing devices posted by companies hoping to sell more of their product.
The Flora Heart Age tool, one might say, falls into both categories, although the press …
Jul 24, 2009
The current issue of my Alchemist column on ChemWeb.com is now online:
The old alchemist’s trick of attempting to use urine as a starting material for all kinds of products could offer the twenty-first century a golden opportunity, we learn this week, while electrospinning DNA nanofibers might shed white light on new technologies without requiring a naked flame. If the alchemists were searching for everlasting …
Jul 22, 2009
Digital industries continue to wage an unwinnable war against the people and organisations that illicitly copy, share, and sell their products, whether DVD rips, DRM-free music files, or pirated software. But, while arguments about lost revenues, performing rights, and the rest of it rage, at least digital copyright theft is not usually a matter of life or death. Crime syndicate conspiracy theorists would probably beg to …
Jul 20, 2009
Elemental Discoveries, the precursor to this blog, existed in various forms on the AFN, the Tallahassee Freenet and enterprise.net from Spring 1996. But, today (July 20) is the official tenth anniversary of when I registered the sciencebase.com domain. At that point I started to get serious about building up a science portal (as they were then known) and publishing regular science news, views, and interviews in a precursor to the blogging format. Quite by chance …
Jul 16, 2009
The UK media has been full of swine flu (H1N1) again this week, it’s been trending, to borrow Twitter terminology, what with reports on the tragic deaths of a young girl and a family doctor, advice on virulence and research from Imperial College London that suggests we need better research into the disease. Widespread anecdotal evidence of the spread of H1N1 abounds too.
I …
Jul 15, 2009
Head-banging science news with a spectroscopic bent from my latest posts on the SpectroscopyNOW ezines, live June 15.
A medical tale in the sting – The venom of the eusocial bee contains three novel antimicrobial compounds known as lasioglossins, which have been structurally characterised by NMR spectroscopy. The compounds offer a new avenue for developing new antibiotics that might defeat drug-resistant bacteria.
Marine surfactant soaks up heavy metal – Atomic absorption spectroscopy …
Jul 13, 2009
Solar power need not be complicated. Research into complex materials that convert the energy from sunlight into electricity is well underway, but offers only low efficiencies.
In contrast direct heating of water sidesteps the intermediary of converting sunlight into electricity and then using that to power a heating element in a water tank. All you need is some kind of pipework on a southerly facing roof in a hot climate. The pipework, painted …
Jul 10, 2009
Summer science reading requires a sequel as I suspect most of you have read all the previous recommendations for science books, or if you haven’t you’re not likely to pick them up now. So here are a few more choice tomes.
In this 40th anniversary year of the first manned moon landing, Jim Bell brings the lunar surface into stunning three-dimensional relief in Moon 3-D. I am sure children will enjoy this …
Jul 8, 2009
Famine, drought, disease, crop failure, they might afflict any one of us, but in the developing world and on the margins of urbanised regions, the issue of food security is paramount for survival. There are three main factors to consider when one thinks of food security each of which must be addressed to offer a fourth factor, in which people have adequate nutritious food to eat despite shocks caused by natural, economic, …
Jul 6, 2009
Last week, I heard Simon Singh at the World Conference of Science Journalists discussing the state of England’s libel laws, chiropractic, and more. At least I assume that’s what he was discussing, the acoustics in the conference centre were terrible and he seemed to be showing a Katie Melua video at one point, and my aging aural cavities really couldn’t cope.
Regardless, there is growing support for Singh’s defence against …
Jul 3, 2009
Just back from the 6th World Conference of Science Journalists in London this week. Tired, suffering the after-effects of overheating in old London buildings with no air conditioning, such as Westminster Central Hall.
Regardless, it was an excellent conference, a great opportunity to meet a hugely diverse range of people. Some of them old friends known from previous career incarnations, including the delightful and enthusiastic Sunny Bains and ESF’s Sofia Valleley, newscientist’s Graham …
Jul 1, 2009
Giant sperm – Some animals supersize their sperm. Microscopic freshwater ostracods, such as Eucypris virens, for instance have filamentous, spiralling sperm cells that can be up to ten times the body length of the organism itself. The longest known ostracod sperm cell is 10 mm long. How big would a human sperm have to be to compete in size with that of the ostracods? 17 metres long, that’s how long. But, why?
Synchrotron X-ray holotomography has …
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