SciencePunk

Gummi Worm Chromosomes

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:19:01 -0800

Artist Kevin Van Aelt makes lots of biology-inspired art, including this delicious-looking chromosome chart made out of jelly worms. NOM NOM NOM!

Via Serious Eats

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Richard Younger-Ross MP supports the Campaign for Libel Reform

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:54:25 -0800

Some time back I wrote to my MP, Lib Dem Richard Younger-Ross, to ask why he hadn't signed up to Early Day Motion 423 for libel law reform. I'm please to say I've received a reply in a bundle of forwarded mail. The news in a nutshell: Richard Younger-Ross wholeheartedly supports the campaign for libel reform!

"As a nation we have found ourselves in the position where doctors who criticise heart implants and journalists who expose corporate cynicism are being sued in our courts for libel, rather than being congratulated for trying to save lives. This has to change. While individuals need a right to redress if their reputation is damaged, our laws need to give more protection to the right to free expression.

English libel laws barely recognise the invention of the printing press, let alone the internet, and our outdated laws have become a scourge not only here, but abroad too. We see it as an embarrassment that foreigners can be sued in our courts on the flimsiest of pretexts, and that this has led the United Nations Human Rights Committee to take the view that our laws discourage "critical media reporting on matters of serious public intewrest, adversely affecting the ability of scholars and journalists to publish their work", and that 'libel tourism' could "affect freedom of expression world-wide on matters of valid public interest

[...] I am pleased to inform you I have signed EDM 423, and that the Liberal Democrats will continue to support calls for a Libel Law Reform in Parliament, and will urge the other parties to follow our lead"

Kudos to Richard Younger-Ross and his brethren!

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Nifty gallery of spacemen

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:44:04 -0800

Thanks to Greg Foot for leading me to this delightful gallery of couture space fashion circa 1959 - present. I'd love to know more about the team behind each of these - did they employ seamstresses and tailors as well as materials scientists and flight suit technicians?

One of NASA's seven original astronauts, Gordon Cooper modelling the Mercury flight suit developed by B. F. Goodrich in 1959. I love how Cooper looks every inch the dashing hero - the pose, the athletic figure, the rich Kodachrome(?) colours. He lived out that image too - after a power failure onboard one spaceflight disabled the navigation instruments, Cooper used his knowledge of star patterns and chalk markings he made onto the capsule window to correctly gauge the timing and angle for his re-entry.

Famed lunar golfer Alan Shepard wearing the suit designed for the 1971 Apollo 14 mission, which he commanded. Contrasting the bravado seen in Cooper's picture, Shepard looks smaller and fragile. Instead of a man wearing a suit, we see an elaborate piece of equipment built to protect a precious cargo. An element of the biomechanical also creeps in, with numerous ports and tubes ferrying life-saving fluids to the demanding creature inside - hence the term "umbilical cables".

Finally, here are NASA's prototype suits, seen during a testing session in Moses Lake, Washington. The astronaut is no longer recognisable as human - the faceless hunched figures with cameras hanging from their necks look like strange alien tourists. Hidden inside, wrapped in a small piece of Earth's atmosphere taken with them, the spacemen are no longer visible as such at all. It's almost as if to get to alien worlds we need to give up a little bit of our humanity in the process. Let's hope we don't trade off too much.

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Weird symbols hidden under my TV

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:38:50 -0800

I discovered these symbols hidden underneath my TV. Does anyone know what they mean?

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Exam anger: What did you learn to hate at school?

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:19:42 -0800

Today I got a tip off from science comms lecturer Alice Bell about a growing revolt amongst biology students in response to what they believe is an unfair exam paper.

BBC News reports on a Facebook 'campaign' launched against yesterday's A level biology exam. Students are apparently unhappy about the question posed by the AQA paper, citing that few had any relevance to the material they'd studied. Something to do with shrews, apparently.

These complaints have predictably found little support amongst those of us who've been there and soldiered though years of science education. Specialisation is a luxury that is afforded you incrementally in science - you start by learning a huge range of ideas and gradually delve deeper into particular areas. One student was aggreived that the exam "gave questions which were not akin to the specimen papers provided". Well, heck, if you only bothered to learn what you thought would be in the exam, I'd say that you've probably missed the point of an education. Or perhaps like director of the JCQ, Dr Sinclair, you believe that science exams should be easy because everyone "deserves a positive experience of science".

Now, we could argue all day about the different aspects of the examination system, what it was supposed to measure, the purpose of education and future generations of scientists, but that would be BORING. Instead, I'd like to embrace the self-righteous outrage of these students and ask: what did school teach you to hate? Did Eco's Name of the Rose embue you withg a long-standing hatred for meandering Italian prose? Did Patrick Fullick's textbook compel you to call forth the hordes of Cthulhu to smite the world's physicists? Did truding after a plastic football in the freezing rain turn you off exercise for life? Tell me your stories!

Oh, and just be happy you're not sitting a GCSE science exam.

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Google knows you're scared of Chinese people

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:57:11 -0800

Inspired by this post, I thought I'd see what else Google knows about our collective psyche, based on its suggested searches. Result? Google knows you're scared of Chinese people.

At first I thought it was a one-off, but then I found this, dating back to February 2009.

Ironic, really, as the Chinese are afraid of Google.

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Science fun in the Big Freeze

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:19:36 -0800

The UK is currently in the grip of the longest period of sub-zero weather in thirty years, and it looks set to stay cold for another week. Rather than get hysterical about the lack of grit on our roads, I thought about all the fun science opportunities the arctic weather has on offer!

Supercooling
Everyone knows that water freezes at zero degrees celsius, but not many people know that ice crystals need a small imperfection or "seed" to grow from. This can be impurities in the water or microscopic imperfections in the container holding them. Without these, water will stay liquid well below freezing temperatures, in a supercool state. The tiniest disturbance will then cause all the liquid to freeze instantly! You can replicate this with a bottle of purified water (e.g. Dasani) left outside overnight.

Frozen Bubbles
Everyone loves blowing soap bubbles, but even more fun is blowing them in sub-zero conditions, where the bubbles will freeze as fast as you can blow them and then roll along the ground!

Weather Modification
Take a cup of hot water. Throw hot water at the sky. Instant snow! Feel like China.

Which freezes faster?
Finally answer that long standing question: which freezes faster, hot water or cold water? A fun way to demonstrate the Mpemba Effect.

Add your suggestions of science fun to have in the big freeze below!

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Life Ascending by Nick Lane - paperback out today

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:37:41 -0800

Just before Christmas I was sent a copy of the rather splendid Life Ascending by Nick Lane (author of Power, Sex, Suicide).

Over the last decades, groundbreaking new research has provided vivid insights into the molecular makeup of life. These discoveries have helped explain the evolution of life on earth in unprecedented detail.

Lane uses this new knowledge to describe the ten greatest inventions of life, based on their historical impact, their importance in living organisms today, and their iconic power. In ten chapters, he explains the origin of life itself, the formation of DNA, the marvel of photosynthesis, the evolution of complex cells, the power of sex, the secret of movement, the perfection of the eye, the reasons for hot blood, the emergence of consciousness, and the evitability of death.

I'm still devouring Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto and a stack of others, but if the opening is anything to go by, this is a corker of a book. That behemoth of biological blogging, Pharyngula, posted a review of the hardcover some time back which you can read here. Mostly I'm looking forward to the chapter on sight, if only so I can completely demolish those stupid Intelligent Design freaks who insist the eye is irreducibly complex. Though with chapters on the invention of sex, DNA and life itself, this book is a wonderful whistlestop tour of evolution's greatest moments. If the science punk in your life has a birthday coming up, this might just be the perfect gift.

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Love is blind

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:50:33 -0800

So mosquitoes find a partner who can sing in perfect harmony

Celebrity Science in 2009: mad, bad and dangerous to quote

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:20:20 -0800

Sense About Science have published their annual roundup of the worst science howlers emanating from the pages of Hello! magazine, and it's a bumper crop. From horse placenta to homeopathy, celebrities love their bogus science. Among the more LOL-worthy comments featured:

Having dodged poison daggers and golden guns, Roger Moore reveals an even more nefarious tool for assassinating the world's elite: namely that foie gras causes Alzheimer's.

Beatle-baiter and professional wingnut Heather Mills insists meat hides inside your body for 40 years while it "gives you the illness you die of. And that is a fact"

Breakfast TV leftover Denise Van Outen whipped out that old chestnut, claiming Bionsen deodorant was "chemical free".

In their document, each celebrity claim is answered by a specialist in the particular field. Sense About Science hopes that the playful ribbing will stimulate clebrities to take a more informed view in their science proclamations. All the bad science (and a few notable examples of good sense) are available for download.

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Join the fight against libel censorship

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:17:51 -0800

Last week I attended the launch of the Campaign for Libel Reform, a coalition of Index on Censorship, English Pen, and Sense About Science. Editors, writers, journalists, scientists and comedians came together to sign a petition demanding that Government address the problem of libel laws in this country, which stifle free speech, suppress research findings, gag journalists and silence critics. You can read their report describing how libel laws damage free speech here. The coalition is expected to grow to include human rights groups and other interested parties over the next year, but in the meantime it desperately needs YOU.

The Government needs to understand that England's libel laws are broken. They won't wake up to this fact by themselves - you need to tell them. Visit www.libelreform.org/sign to add your name to the petition for reform. I've signed, and I also used the website to write to my MP. Here's my modded version of the email drafted by libelreform.org:

Dear Richard Younger-Ross MP,

I am writing as one of your constituents, as a writer, and as a proponent of an open and transparent democracy who despairs at the repressive influence that England's libel laws are having. In recent days I have listened to journalists, editors, comedians, writers and scientists who have seen their work censored by wealthy interests.

I don't just believe that English libel law cripples free expression both in the UK and abroad - as a colleague of Simon Singh and Ben Goldacre, I know it does.

Firstly, I would urge you to sign cross-party EDM 423 Libel Law Reform to send a clear message from Parliament that you are committed to reforming these unjust laws.

Freedom to criticise and question, in strong terms and without malice, is the cornerstone of argument and debate, whether in scholarly journals, on websites, in newspapers or elsewhere. This fact is enshrined in the seat of our democracy - Parliament - a Middle English word that describes discourse.

Our current libel laws inhibit debate and stifle free expression. 90% of cases are won by claimants. The cost of a libel trial is often in excess of £1 million and 140 times more expensive than libel cases in mainland Europe; publishers (and individual journalists, authors, academics, performers and blog-writers) cannot risk such extortionate costs, which means that they are forced to back down, withdraw and apologise for material they believe is true, fair and important to the public.

The English PEN and Index on Censorship report has shown that there is an urgent need to amend the law to provide a stronger, wider and more accessible public interest defence. Sense About Science has shown that the threat of libel action leads to self-censorship in scientific and medical writing.

I would urge you to back the campaign by English PEN, Index on Censorship and Sense About Science for a Libel Reform Bill.

Yours,

Frank Swain

Please, please visit www.libelreform.org/sign and add your name to the list - the goal is 100,000 signatures.

UPDATE: Richard Younger-Ross has written me lengthy reply stating his wholehearted support for the libel reform campaign!

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Sniffing out books in trouble

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:47:36 -0800

Measuring the smell of old books to find candidates for preservation

The Year's Most Amazing Scientific Images

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:54:44 -0800

New Scientist has a round up of the year's most amazing scientific images. A mighty 62 to choose from! Click here to see the slide show.

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Helicopter blades generate lightning bolts

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:40:38 -0800

A collection of sublime images from embedded journalist Michael Yon of what happens when helicopters fly through dust storms. Lightning bolts arcing around the blades are thought to be created by static electricity arising from friction between two dissimilar materials - in this case the metal blades and the sand. Yon coined the term "Kopp-Etchells Effect", named for two soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Full set of images here. I suspect the blurring is due to the long exposures necessary to capture the effect.

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Self Healing Bio-concrete

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:54:50 -0800

That is all.

Friday Flash Fun: Stop Disasters!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:57:30 -0800

Unlike most games, this one wants you to prevent havoc, not create it! But it's still fun! Following in the footsteps of The Great Flu, this is a game designed by the noble people responsible for saving lives in real world situations. Stop Disasters! lets you play the role of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, pitting your wits against a multitude of Mother Nature's worst tantrums - wildfires, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods and more. You'll be expected to put in homes, early warning systems, and carry out improvements to existing buildings whilst installing defences in the natural landscape such as fire breaks and flood walls, all while staying on budget. (Pro tip: don't be afraid to bulldoze a house or hotel if it's in a dangerous location).

Brightly animated and easy to use, the game is beguiling fun. But a weary realism always lurks under the pixellated veneer. "Expect advice along the way" the start screen states, "both good and bad". The game was designed to educate children, one of the most vulnerable groups in any disaster.

Each scenario lasts around 10-20 minutes. Click here to play.

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Illuminating the Lilliputian

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:41:07 -0800

It's been almost 1,000 years since Arab scholar Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) began writing his Book of Optics, a groundbreaking treatise that led to the development of the microscope. Scientific American has a round-up of the winners of the 2009 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition, and I think al-Haytham would be astonished and proud.

See all the pictures at ScientificAmerican.com

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The Astronaut's Cookbook

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:43:28 -0800

Recipes from the space race

"'Cult' class slid under radar" - NY Post

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:53:37 -0800

The NY Post reported yesterday that a brain-training type programme had been taken up by dozens of schools in New York, despite its connections to the Dahn Yoga cult.

A controversial teaching program linked to an alleged cult leader managed to slip into 44 New York City public schools because it didn't cost enough to trigger detailed background checks, school officials said yesterday.

Fees for the Brain Power program, developed by Seung Huen Lee, founder of Dahn Yoga -- said to help kids improve their focus -- were well under the $25,000 cutoff, said Education Department spokesman David Cantor.

Dahn Yoga has been embroiled in a federal lawsuit in Arizona after dozens of former employees accused the organisation of cult-like practices. The Boston Magazine has an in-depth article about a man who asked intervention expert Steve Hassan to rescue his son from the group.

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First film of a 'giant' stingray

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:08:33 -0800

Incredible & beautiful phantom of the ocean

Mice Levitated in Lab

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:36:03 -0700

Anti-gravity machine tackles mammals for the first time

Bad Designs

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:25:56 -0700

A catalogue of failure made before #fail even became a meme

13 more things that don't make sense

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:43:09 -0700

From the big bang to the big bloop

Pfizer fined $2.3bn

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:37:02 -0700

The joys of regulation

DIY cameraphone macro lens

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:07:21 -0700

Requires one old DVD player, zero tech savvy

Unfortunate paper title:

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:06:54 -0700

"Pediatric firearm injuries: time to target a growing population"

T. Rex "Mostly Ate Babies"

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:27:19 -0700

This dinosaur needs a PR agent, fast

Organic 'has no health benefits'

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:13:11 -0700

Food fad fading fast

Hamas: Israel Targets Gaza Youth With Aphrodisiac Gum

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:16:54 -0700

Outbreaks of frenzied mastication reported

Robo-bats with flexible metal muscles

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:49:25 -0700

Micro-UAVs are a blend of nature and sci-fi futurism