Month: March 2011

Did you know there will soon be gaps in the Periodic Table? I say gaps, it’s not so much gaps as greyed out boxes where an element has become so scarce that our using it will no longer be a technological option. I’ve written about materials security before but the issue was raised by The UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, which is currently in the middle of an inquiry into strategically important metals.

According to the Chemistry World blog as part of that inquiry, David Willetts MP was summoned to give evidence. When asked to clarify what he was referring to when he talked about ‘rare earths’, the minister brandished a copy of this article from Chemistry World. Of course, he didn’t mean only rare earths as chemists know them, but rare elements.

The article to which he referred is by Emma Davies and highlighted a periodic table showing which metals and non-metals are endangered elemental species. The original version of that PT can be seen here. Many of the elements will remain relatively abundant, among them silicon, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and iron. But, some are on the seriously endangered list including helium, germanium, hafnium, neodymium.

The Chemistry Innovation page gives some examples of elements that may become increasingly scarce over the next few decades:

Platinum is largely obtained from two mines in South Africa at a rate of 200 tonnes per annum with a yield of about 3 grams per tonne from its ore.

Copper, zinc, tin and nickel have seen a near exponential rise in production. A future world population of 9 billion people cannot continue to use copper at the levels tied up in western lifestyles — there isn’t enough of this metal on the planet.

The ruthenium price quadrupled in 2006 as new uses in hard drives allowing a tenfold increase in data storage caused a 45% surge in demand. Tellurium prices multiplied 25 times in 2006 following an increase in applications for the metal. Gallium, tellurium and selenium are past their production peaks. Gallium use in the electronics industry is projected to outstrip known reserves in 5 years. Rhodium produces more than 30,000 kg of carbon dioxide per kg of the element mined (before refining). Neodymium supply is mostly controlled by China. Tantalum is chiefly obtained from mines in Congo and conflict has occurred in the region over control of the mine areas.

If you thought food, water and oil security were going to be significant issues during the 21st century just wait until the major mineral wars start. Of course, there is always landfill mining to fall back on, but even that won’t solve the coming copper or phosphorus shortages…

To lighten the mood or perhaps to emphasise the problem someone ought to do a cover version of Tom Lehrer’s The Elements with appropriate gaps (for endangered elements) and quiet spots for those that are in trouble.

TL:DR – Short discussion on whether or not it is easy to spot a fake smile.

Apparently, most people are surprisingly bad at spotting fake smiles, according to the BBC at least (other observers suggest otherwise). One theory as to why this might be is that it is perhaps easier for people to get along if they don’t always know what others are really feeling. But, I’d argue that society would become dysfunctional if most people couldn’t spot most fakers.

Although a fake smile often looks the same in terms of an upturned mouth and sometimes exposure of the teeth, a fake and a genuine smile can be very different. To my eye, a fake smile looks awkward, embarrassed even, regardless of which muscles are being used. It’s also in the eyes. If the eyes aren’t “smiling” you can usually spot a faker.

The BBC had a nice psychological test, twenty clips of people smiling and you have to decide between genuine and fake. I’m not sure what it says about me that I got 17 out of 20. I’ve embedded an image of my results, if you wanted to go and do the test and then come back to see how we compared, you can see the results full size by clicking the thumbnail. It would be interesting to know whether others got the same ones wrong.

Scientists distinguish between fake and genuine smiles based on a coding system called the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), it was devised by Paul Ekman of the University of California and Wallace Friesen of the University of Kentucky, USA.

A genuine smile will usually be involuntary, make the mouth muscles move so that we see the familiar upturn, muscles will raise the cheeks, the orbicularis oculi and pars orbitalis contract, making the eyes crease up, and the eyebrows dip slightly. Of course, it’s possible to learn how to emulate these muscular reactions, something actors and sales reps do on a daily basis; unless they’re doing funeral scenes or selling coffins I suppose…

• Persistence of vision – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – If persistence of vision were the explanation for how the mind perceives moving pictures in cinema, cinema wouldn't work, because the persistence would constantly produce images of complementary colour to what is on the screen. The Victorian myth was actually debunked in 1912. Hat-tip to Brian Clegg for alerting me to this.
• Six Steps to Strychnine – Small molecule, complex structure? That could be the most enticing phrase an organic chemist might hear, in the laboratory at least…
• Slashing the intangibles – Things that are intangible are easiest to cut in a need to demonstrate results and a drive to look impactful. Anything that is notional, hard to measure, early stage is in line to get slashed. This seems true from notional scientific research to libraries and early child education.
• Dubious "autism cure" – You cannot "cure" autism through diet or probiotics. Claims otherwise debunked.
• The Henrietta Lacks effect – Is there a recipe for popular science book success?

My latest selection of five science stories on, picked up by David Bradley Science Writer @sciencebase.

Aussie rock rolls
The oldest fossils of bacteria ever found were discovered in a rock formation in Western Australia, the discovery led to great excitement that has not abated for more than two decades. Until now. Raman spectroscopy shows that what palaeontologists thought were pristine microbial fossils may not be anything more complex than chunks of ancient Australian rock.