Science Extra Geeky Bits from David Bradley
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The latest science extra Geeky Bits news from Sciencebase's David Bradley. The most recent 30 days of news snippets, worthies and oddities, as well as other items of interest that didn't make it on to the Sciencebase Science Blog homepage because I was (a) too busy to do a full write-up (b) too lazy to do a full write-up (c) too bored to do a full write-up. Visit the Science Extra Geeky Bits Archive for all items posted during the last year.
- Spray away shyness - July 26, 2007 → Could an oxytocin spray be the key to combating shyness? Eau d’confidence anyone?
- Googoo Gaga PeeCee - July 25, 2007 → A computer can decode sounds from different languages and learn baby talk. Maybe it could teach the new Sciencebase podcast newsreader a thing or two…
- Stellar table salt - July 23, 2007 → Super star spews out salt, according to Arizona radio astronomers who have observed NaCl, PN, HCN, CO, and other materials that form the building blocks of life.
- You say tomato, I say tomato - July 23, 2007 → Been quaffing Bloody Mary’s in the hope of all that lycopene from the tomato juice will protect you from prostate cancer? FDA findings suggest lycopene is not so beneficial as earlier tests suggested
- Restless legs syndrome - July 19, 2007 → RLS has been tarnished with the same “medicalization” and chronic shyness and other “disorders” through which the pharma industry would like to extract yet more cash from medicine. However, RLS is very real to those who suffer from it. Now, a genetic link has been uncovered.
- Periodic Table of the Internet - July 18, 2007 → Not really sure of the point of this, but it looks nice and it’s got a chemical theme even if it is about trendy websites. Sadly, I don’t see the Sciencebase logo among the web elements…
- Vitamin C does not stop colds - July 18, 2007 → A review of 30 studies, involving more than 11000 people found that doses of at least 200mg of vitamin C did not protect against the common cold nor did they reduce the length or severity of colds.
- Universal organ donation - July 17, 2007 → England’s Chief Medical Officer wants opt-out system for people who don’t want to donate their organs, rather than the current opt-in system. Watch the ensuing ethical maelstrom and resurrection of euthanasia issues that will arise.
- Could bacteria kill cancer - July 17, 2007 → Little known research re-emerges that pits bacteria against cancer.
- Homer erectus - July 17, 2007 → Fans of the ancient Cerne Abbas giant in Dorset, England, an enormous, erect fertility symbol carved into the chalky countryside have been angered by the juxtaposition of an equally rampant Homer Simpson wielding a donut, painted with water-soluble biodegradable paint.
- The Gobbling Dwarf that Exploded - July 13, 2007 → Did ESO, the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere really use that headline? It’s almost worthy of Viz Comic
- Extreme carbon offsetting - July 13, 2007 → Twitter of the week - ” Boiling the kettle. Afterwards, under my extreme carbon offsetting policy, I intend to plant a tray of cress.”
- Chemophobia out of thin Air - July 13, 2007 → More chemophobia, this time from Scientific American, who tells about the lethal materials we breathe in every day.
- Doctor Scintillating - July 13, 2007 → Science video sites seem to be springing up left, right, and centre. This is the latest from Frogwatcher.com featuring a gravity hovercraft, sonotube resonance, and much more…uniquely, they do their demonstrations in silent movie style.
- It’s cold, Scotty - July 12, 2007 → Australian physicists reckon teleportation is possible, but only at the extremely cold temperatures close to absolute zero and if you happen to be able to travel at the speed of light. Darn it, pretty much rules out a day trip to the moon then.
- Feeding time at the galaxy zoo - July 11, 2007 → If you know your spiral from your elliptical you can help astronomers classify thousands of galaxies never before seen by human eyes - www.galaxyzoo.org
- Stand up and be counted - July 10, 2007 → Apparently cycling exercise tests should be carried out with the patient pedalling in a standing position rather than seated. But, why do the researchers claim: “Throughout history, VO2max has been assessed during numerous exercise”. Throughout history, I don’t think they were measuring VO2max at the very first Olympics were they?
- Shrinking Earth - July 9, 2007 → The earth is smaller than scientists previously thought. In a UPI report that cites the diameter as 7,926.3812 miles (why not kilometres as the international standard measurement I don’t know) we learn that the world is five millimetres smaller than earlier measurements said (so now they’re talking metric). Apparently, this minute difference could make all the difference to sea level measurements and climate change models. What? A 0.4 billionths of a percent will make a difference?
- Parma Man - July 5, 2007 → Salt-cured bodies have been excavated from an ancient Iranian mine, according to a report in National Geographic. Salt had mummified the bodies over the last 1800 years but recent heavy rains exposed them in the still working salt mine.
- Life’s purpose - June 3, 2007 → Paul Davies lectured and inspired me at Newcastle University, his latest writing suggests that the laws of the universe themselves bring meaning and purpose to our lives without recourse to religion
- Forget it - July3, 2007 → A drug to dampen down bad memories is in the offing. Who said drug companies were medicalising everything?
- Learn From Your Mistakes - July 2, 2007 → This study pinpoints the part of the brain that lets us learn from our mistakes. Of course, such a discovery also might help those among us who never do, or at least explain why that is so often the case.
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