According to America Online’s top searches for Spring this year, most of its users are looking for baseball players, diets, holiday destinations, wedding-related stuff, tax forms, proms, flowers, and other such matters. The nearest they get to anything academic is homework and university searches (Duke is the most popular search apparently). I didn’t see one mention of science, technology, nor computing. But, what is very worrying is that no one was looking for money off vouchers and online coupons, which is odd given the number of visitors the Sciencebase online coupons site gets each day (many of those from AOL). AOL unveils hottest searches for spring 2005, but to be honest the lack of certain subjects suggests to me that this is not a complete list by any means.
Author: David Bradley
Google.org
The philanthropic wing of Google is coming soon, get your grant-writing pens at the ready: Google.org
The foundation’s aims are to use the power of information and technology to address global challenges: climate change, poverty and emergent diseases. Google is working with partners in each of these fields and investing resources as well as tapping its employees’ strengths to advance five major initiatives:
- Develop Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal (RE
- Accelerate the Commercialization of Plug-In Vehicles (RechargeIT)
- Predict and Prevent
- Inform and Empower to Improve Public Services
- Fuel the Growth of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
Google’s commitment amounts to 1% (as cited in 2004, when Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin wrote to prospective shareholders about their vision for the company) of equity and profits. As of January 2008, Google.org has committed over US$75 million in grants and investments aimed at the five projects listed above.
Olivia Newton John “Born again”
I’m in shock! Cambridge-born singer with the Aussie accent, Olivia Newton John, star of Grease (the movie) and Xanadu, is the granddaughter of Nobel physicist Max Born.
However, another site cites her maternal grandfather as being Welshman Max Born, allegedly a professor of German at Cambridge and Melbourne.
I plucked up the courage to visit her “official” site, where it is confirmed that it’s Max the physicist and not Max the Welshman. Thank goodness for that, otherwise there would have been no credence to the nickname she received among pre-teens during the 1970s of Olivia Neutron Bomb.
Old PCs for old
It really doesn’t come as a surprise to hear that a major UK computer seller is up before the courts accused of mis-selling second-hand computers as “shop soiled”. A friend of mine once took a machine to them for an overhaul, system cleanup, extra RAM that sort of thing. Came back to him in exactly the same condition as when he’d taken it in, they tried to charge him 150 quid for the privelege, But he easily caught them out when he showed them that the OEM security seal on the case hadn’t even been broken! Why did they think they’d get away with it. Perhaps it is because the general public is so trusting of an operator that has massive out of town stores. It would be the last place I’d go to buy anything to do with computers.
Biological fun…
Also spotted on the science writers’ discussion list I mentioned earlier, a press release came in with the subject line: “Happiness Related to Biological Fun”. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be as spicey as some had hoped, biological fun, they thought, being a nice euphemism. Apparently, it was nothing more than a truncation, and the full subject read: “Happiness Related to Biological Function”. Borrrring. I linked this to to the apocryphal “a penis” story told of the de Gaulles cos it’s sort of related…ish.
What the Dickens?
The original ChavMeister, Charles Dickens, whose satirical soaps have entertained the chattering classes for decades is to get his own theme park. It’s not going to be a bit like DollyWood or even Peter Gabriel’s yet to get off the ground interactive concept park. Instead, it will be built in Chatham at a cost of 60 million quid (ish) and feature an Ebeneezer Scrooge ride, cobbled streets with a replica of the Old Curiosity Shop, and themed restaurants. Sounds great, I wonder if they’ll sell Burberry too…I have great expectations.
Antibacterial Research Should Be Focused on Facts, Not Fear
Most people will have seen the ludicrous healthscare stories that emerged when scientists discovered the almost ubiquitous bacteride, triclosan, releases small amounts of chloroform (a suspect carcinogen infamous for its anaesthetic effects in TV thrillers). I say ludicrous, because the amounts that are released are so small and presumably nothing compared to the much greater amounts of “chemical nasties” released by household air fresheners, shoe polish, bleach, etc etc. However, when you see a statement from The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA), you have to wonder if they protest too much. Antibacterial Research Should Be Focused on Facts, Not Fear. Then again, I don’t think so, the mainstream media loves a scare story and this is a gift on a plate, virtually unfounded hyperbole pandering to the chemophobic multitude.
Good and bad news for chemistry texts
It was rather heartening to learn that a study by researchers at two Pittsburgh universities has demonstrated that newspaper and magazine articles do a better job of teaching students how chemists work than most high-school textbooks. But, at the same time its’s rather disheartening that if students are not reading outside the curriculum box then they are going to leave education with a very distorted view of what chemists do. Source: Chemists say high school texts fall short
Chemistry of Popping Popcorn
If you’re like me, you loathe having to pick out the unpopped kernels from a big stack of popcorn. Now, one of the most powerful techniques in chemical science, X-ray diffraction, could lead to a much more satisfying experience next time you settle down with a bucket of popcorn. The technique has provided new insights into why some popcorn kernels pop and why others are dysfunctional.
According to Bruce Hamaker, crystallographer Rangaswamy Chandrasekaran and colleagues at the Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research and Department of Food Science, Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana, moisture loss from popcorn kernels is the underlying cause of much disappointment and broken teeth for fans of the puffed corn product. There can be no worse sensation than when reaching the bottom of a bucket of popcorn you pluck out a few unpopped kernels rather than the expanded seeds. Indeed, unpopped kernels could be said to be one of life’s great tragedies. More…
Meanwhile, the chemistry of popping popcorn aside, here’s a video showing you how to make popcorn with your iPhone:
UPDATE: Lifehacker has a nice simple method on how to filter out the unpopped kernels from microwaveable popcorn.
MRSA on the up
According to a report in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, community-associated infection with methicillin, or multiple resistant Staphylococcus aureus MRSA), is now a common and serious problem. Infections usually involve the skin, especially among children, and hospitalization is common.
Scott Fridkin at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and colleagues evaluated MRSA infections in patients identified from surveillance in Baltimore and Atlanta and in hospital-lab results from twelve hospitals in Minnesota and found 1647 cases of community-acquired MRSA infection reported 2001 through 2002.
The researchers suggest that the national burden and ultimate clinical impact of MRSA remain unclear, but one thing is certain: the disease has emerged in patients who do not have the established risk factors for this potentially lethal bacterium.