Science Extra Geeky Bits from David Bradley
Grab my Geeky Bits in a news reader
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.
- DNA computer - Feb 29, 2008 → A little village just south of Cambridge, England, is home to a vast amount of computer power, probably the second biggest Linux-based system after Google, and its sole aim is to unravel our DNA.
- Vitamin supplements boost smokers’ lung cancer risk - Feb 29, 2008 → Following on from earlier discussions on Sciencebase about health scare stories, an amazing headline stood out today on research that apparently shows that vitamin supplements do not protect against lung cancer, according to a study of more than 77,000 vitamin users. In fact, some supplements may even increase the risk of developing it, especially in smokers. Anyone care the shred the stats or shall we just take it as read?
- Alchemical happenings - Feb 29, 2008 → This week The Alchemist learns of a major new grant awarded to Florida scientists to help fight cancer. In physical chemistry, friction at the atomic level is revealed with modified atomic force microscopy and there is depressing news in the pharma field as UK researchers demonstrate that modern antidepressants may work no more effectively than a placebo except in extreme cases. A seventy-year old search for a mould chemical involved in the spread of Phytophthora in crop plants and oak trees could soon lead to a new approach to combating these devastating pathogens. In forensics news, scientists have shown that an isotopic analysis of one’s hair can reveal where you usually drink. Finally, microscopic rust-like particles found in the brain could be involved in neurodegenerative diseases and could point to a new approach to therapy.
- Organic cleanup with aerogel - Feb 28, 2008 → It’s not likely to be the next big thing in household cleaners, but if you’ve got a dirty great organic waste stream composed of benzene, xylene, toluene and their ilk, then a monolithic carbon aerogel could be just the thing for mopping up those toxic organics.
- Chimp Chat - Feb 27, 2008 → If my genes are 98.8% chimpanzee, does that mean we’re only 1.2% human? Of course not, but on Chimp Chat you can ask such questions of experts Daniel Povinelli and William Fields. Pose a question and you even stand a chance of winning a book token that could buy you a copy of…O-O-On the Origin of Species.
- A very English earthquake - Feb 27, 2008 → Apparently, England was hit by a massive earthquake last night, although we’d had a few drinks while watching Last Enemy on BBC iPlayer and felt nothing. One of our neighbours reported that the earth moved for her, which was very frightening as her husband was away on business (Boom, boom!).
- 1.8 million species - Feb 26, 2008 → Encyclopedia of Life is in pre-launch, readying for the release of 1.8million species on to the internet on Feb 28. By the way, evolution is an ongoing process, so presumably there are new species emerging all the time. But, others are going extinct too for natural and non-natural reason. So will that 1.8m stay pretty much the same, rise or fall over time?
- Viagra stifles fertility - Feb 25, 2008 → Young men using Viagra as a recreational drug could be compromising their chances of starting a family later in life. Ironic, really.
- Putting the Ommmm in MRI - Feb 25, 2008 → Could applying a yoga ethic to an MRI exam bring ultimate bliss? Probably not, but life lessons about relaxation, meditation, and coping can be found in the most fearful situations. This is one for my yoga teacher wife.
- Soccer economics- Feb 25, 2008 → A new analysis of football league teams sees Spain knocked off the top stop in the UEFA national league and England dropping four places. Scotland drops to second bottom, while Denmark is nowhere to be seen.
- Solve industry problems for money - Feb 25, 2008 → I first wrote about Innocentive on ChemWeb.com almost a decade ago. It looks like it’s still going strong with lots of active projects that could earny you lots of money (if you can come up with a viable solution).
- No more cheap, strong booze - Feb 24, 2008 → Readers in the US may be interested to learn that UK supermarkets are to stop selling strong beer and cider, such as Carlsberg Special Brew (9% alc by vol, or 18 proof), and Diamond White Cider (8.4%, 17 proof). These drinks are the tipple of choice of street drinkers. There’s no mention of them taking Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz off the shelves (all approx, 13-14% alcohol by volume), but then you don’t tend to see many street drinkers guzzling bottles of Zinfandel. So, why would US readers be so interested in that, well, supermarkets sell alcohol very cheaply almost as a loss leader in the UK, there is no need to pay liquor store prices.
- The downside of lighting - Feb 23, 2008 → Gravity-powered lamp bright as a 40 W bulb runs for four hours, student designed - Gravia bravo!
- European MRI ban deferred - February 22, 2008 → A new European law for electromagnetic radiation protection would have ridiculously banned MRI for use in cancer diagnosis and research. Thankfully, European Parliament has postponed its decision, and will hopefully make the right choice.
- Geoengineering the Climate - February 22, 2008 → Can we deliberately engineer the world to fix the problems we’ve made? Ask the people who introduced cane toads into Queensland, Australia from Hawaii in 1935 in order to supposedly control the greyback cane beetle pests that were plaguing sugar plantations.
- Evaporated Earth - February 21, 2008 → The Sun will vaporize the Earth in the next few years unless we can change its orbit, that’s according to UK scientists. Of course, few years is in fact about 7.6 billion years, so there’s no real rush. But, as to the “we” who will be around to shift the orbit, it is not even vaguely likely to be our descendants. In terms of evolution, we’ll have gone extinct well before that deadline, undoubtedly.
- WorldWide Telescope - February 19, 2007 → Microsoft could soon be launching the cosmic equivalent of Google Earth with a zoomable star map on the web that allows you to home in on parts of the night sky with resolution up to that obtained using Hubble. Feb 27 is the, ahem, launch date.
- More moreish → New derivatives of the compound guanosine 5′-phosphate could make monosodium glutamate (MSG) even tastier boosting its deliciousness, or umami, according to Italian scientists.
- Science Tattoo Emporium launches - February 19, 2008 → Carl Zimmer has launched the Science Tattoo Emporium with the aim of exposing ink-stained flesh laced with science.
- Hacking Connotea - February 19. 2008 → Berkeley’s Mitch Garcia is working on a potentially very useful tool to pull out all kinds of information from Nature’s social bookmarking experiment - Connotea. The new interface Garcia is creating will replace ver 1 of his www.chemrank.com site and provide scientists (and others) with a new way to find out what research papers are creating all the buzz.
- How to fix Web 2.0 for scientists - February 18. 2008 → David Crotty, Executive Editor of CSH Protocols, has an interesting take on why Web 2.0 is currently failing science. Outside a fairly small, savvy niche, few biologists, he says, are bothering with web 2.0. He suggests the return on investment (time and effort and lack of official kudos) are the basic problems putting on the brakes. And offers some suggestion as to how things might be accelerated.
- Dangerous chemicals for terrorists - February 15, 2008 → Cornell U has published a list of 171 of the 325 chemicals listed by US Homeland Security as potentially dangerous. The list is aimed at the University’s laboratory and other departmental bosses who will have to register an inventory of all chemicals in their care. Several things worry me about this. Why did they publish the list for everyone to see? Why did they leave off 154 of the chemicals from their forms? Will Stacey in accounts have to register her bumper stock of acetone for removing superglue and nail polish?
- Mindless eating - February 15, 2008 → It’s the French paradox revisited: Why don’t the French get as fat as Americans despite all that wine, cheese, pate and pastries? Basically, because they use internal cues, i.e. they stop eating when they’re full as opposed to external ones such as when the TV show they’re watching is over. So, say Cornell U researchers.
- Armchair science journalism - February 14, 2008 → World Federation of Science Journalists has launched an online course in science journalism in conjunction with sci.dev.net. So, budding science journalists who don’t like the smell of acetone can learn their craft from the comfort of their SOHO.
- Bosses don’t listen if they feel powerful - February 14, 2008 → More news from the stating-the-bleeding-obvious school of research. Apparently, if your boss feels powerful then she or he is less likely to listen to your great new idea. Groundbreaking stuff.
- Fate of those who feel fat - February 13, 2008 → A new study reveals that body image as opposed to physical obesity is a stronger predictor of health than obesity. Moreover, the desire to lose weight was associated with more reported unhealthy days in women than in men.
- Open Source Chemistry Dictionary - February 12, 2008 → UNC’s Adam Azman and Chemspy have joined forces to bring you a powerful open source chemistry dictionary to use with OpenOffice (or MS Word and/or MS Office, if you must). Now, chemists need no longer learn to spell like the rest of us.
- Energy-free air-con - February 12, 2008 → How about an air-conditioning system that brings the temperature down by five degrees but uses no electricity or power supply other than natural convection and radiation processes? Indian researchers think they have the designs in hand.
- Perpetual motion machines forever - February 8, 2008 → Thane Heins of Potential Difference Inc emailed me months ago about his Perepiteia machine, which recently hit the headlines when he apparently demonstrated its potential to an engineer at MIT. Various Youtube videos seem to show the effect in operation. However, the efficiencies Heins claimed in his original emails to me were of the order of several thousand percent. I didn’t see this bizarre claim repeated in the recent press flurry and remain unconvinced of the technology. Once we are powering every city with a Perepiteia machine instead of a conventional power station, I’ll eat my hat.
- Spotlight on physical sciences - February 7, 2008 → The bitter-sweet chemistry of quinine, glassy water, and nanoscopic gas cylinders all featured in the February 11 issue of Intute Spotlight available for Sciencebase preview right now
- Hybrids any colour but green - February 7, 2008 → Hybrid electric vehicles are just a stop-gap on the way to sustainable transport, but their fascination could distract from development of truly green vehicle technologies.
- Beetroot Juice and blood pressure - February 6, 2008 → According to a report published today, drinking a glass (500ml) of beetroot juice can significantly reduce blood pressure, apparently because of its nitrate content. However, the first result that appears when Googling beetroot and blood pressure is a home remedy that claims beetroot juice can treat low blood pressure. Another demonstration of how alternative medicine may conflict with evidence-based medicine?
- Vitamins versus malaria - February 5, 2008 → Could simple vitamin and mineral supplementation help protect children from malaria with minimal cost?
- Six ways to protect yourself against stomach flu - February 5, 2008 → Hand hygiene, clean with bleach, food and water safety, don’t air dirty laundry, quarantine the sick, stay clean and healthy. Almost good advice from Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. They don’t really mention air hygiene though…
- T-rays reveal hidden art - February 5, 2008 → Terahertz rays can see through materials to the soft substances that may lie beneath. US scientists hope to use them to reveal painted over artworks on canvases and the walls of old buildings.
- A nice swarm approach to better photos - February 1, 2008 → Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO) could revolutionize digital photo enhancement by treating images like members of a swarm
- Latest Chemistry News - January 31. 2008 → January issue of Reactive Reports - seagull plays canary, ice age: the movie, small & sensitive, and the butanol biofuel bandwagon
David Bradley
Site FAQ
Contact me
Web 2.0 stuff
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
Email updates
Podcast
My recent reading
Join my LinkedIn network
Connect on StumbleUpon
Poke me on Facebook
Follow my Plurks
My Flickr gallery
Sciencebase on Twitter
Be my Feed Friend
