November 4, 2009
Category: General
I'm reading the award-winning Decoding the Heavens at the moment, so what better time to discover the Smithsonian website has an excellent article on underwater archaeology?
Beneath the slate-gray surface of the North Sea, about a half-mile off England's east coast, lies the underwater town of Dunwich. Crabs and lobsters skitter along the streets where some 3,000 people walked during the town's heyday in the Middle Ages. Fish dart through the sea sponge-ridden ruins of its churches, now partially buried in the seabed some 30 feet down.
Erosion--caused by the North Sea's relentless pounding of England's east coast--had all but consumed Dunwich (pronounced DUN-ich) by 1750. And the sea's silty, cold waters made visibility almost nonexistent for the intrepid few who wanted to explore the medieval ruins.
Until now.
You can read the whole article here.
(*Also, an interesting quirk: some javascript on the Smithsonian website automatically appends the source URL to your clipboard when you copy text. All websites should have this.)
Posted by SciencePunk at 10:10 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: General
And because I didn't get this up yesterday: it's been 52 years since an intrepid little mongrel made it into space. Here's to you, Laika!
Posted by SciencePunk at 5:18 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 21, 2009
Category: Zombies • Zombology
This fantastic slice of art just arrived from Paradigma, who are publishing the Dutch translation of my forthcoming book Zombology. Awesome! I better get writing some words to go with it.
Posted by SciencePunk at 8:09 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 16, 2009
Category: Art • Competition time!
The last chance to win a huge illustrated encyclopaedia of science!
And so we come to the end of our delightful foray into the thrill and passion for science of you, dear readers. It's been absolutely wonderful, and I've really enjoyed all your comments. I wish had a book for each of you.
So I opened the mighty SCIENCE: THE DEFINITIVE VISUAL GUIDE, edited by the always-excellent Adam Hart-Davis, and who should I find but ultimate invention-master and scientific entrepreneur Thomas Edison! Now, I think we can all agree that Edison was a bit of an asshole. It is true, for example, that he travelled the US electrocuting animals in an effort to persuade people of the danger of Tesla's alternating current in contrast to his own patented direct current. Patents, Edison like those too. He had lots of them (1,093 in the US alone). In fact, the whole reason the US film industry is in Hollywood is because it was as far away from Edison as they could get, where film-makers could contravene his patents with impunity.
But still, the fact remains that Edison made a good business out of invention. Given that the current political climate in the UK sees fit to house the Department for Science as a subsiduary of the Department for Business, and public funding is to be directed at those areas of science with the greatest promise of economic benefit, here's today's question and the final chance to win a copy of the huge SCIENCE book:
What would you invent in order to make lots and lots of money?
It doesn't have to be good for mankind, or even useful. But it would be nice to show the UK Government where 'science for profit' will lead us...
Posted by SciencePunk at 12:24 PM • 19 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 15, 2009
Category: Art • Competition time!
Another day, another beautifully-illustrated definitive guide to SCIENCE to be won!
With the contest in its fourth day, I have only two more of these huge books to win. They're worth a princely £30 each, and were edited by the venerable Adam Hart-Davis. SCIENCE: THE DEFINITIVE VISUAL GUIDE is a great tome of wonder and intrigue, with some great photographs and imagery that I've never seen before. Truly, the art editor was top notch. Here's one example:
We had many wonderful suggestions yesterday on what was the world's best-ever invention, from transistors to tools to light itself. Which leads me to ask today's COMPETITION QUESTION:
Is there a scientific invention that should have never been created? If so, what is it?
The Bomb? Eugenics? Barbed wire?
PS - for those who think there is merit in every invention, I direct you to SciencePunk's 5 stupid weapons that were actually made
EDIT: Competition closed, please keep your eyes peeled for the next and FINAL chance to win!
Posted by SciencePunk at 11:04 AM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Legal Chill • Singh vs BCA
The BCA have posted this press release in response to news that Simon Singh has been granted leave to appeal, stating:
The BCA supports and would never seek to stifle legitimate open scientific debate. However, this action is actually a simple libel claim based on the fact that the BCA was maliciously attacked by Dr. Singh in the Guardian newspaper.
As legal blogger Jack of Kent explains, this is a significant and troubling development:
If Simon is held to be malicious then this means that he would lose various defences available to him such as fair comment and also any qualified privilege.
However, it remains to be seen whether this is a real claim of malicious intent or a slip of the tongue by the person behind the press release. Jack of Kent has asked for further clarification and is awaiting reply. Keep tuned into his excellent blog and twitter stream for further developments.
** EDIT The BCA press release has been replaced with one sans the word "maliciously". Clearly they are not planning a new tactic of trying to prove malice (or if they are, this was a false start). Unfortunately for them accusing Simon of malice might itself be libel, allowing Simon to counter-sue. What a tangled web they've woven...
Posted by SciencePunk at 8:58 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Legal Chill • Singh vs BCA
Simon Singh is a UK science writer currently being sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association following a critical article on chiropractic treatments published in the Guardian.
Yesterday Simon went to court to fight for his right to appeal the preliminary ruling by Judge Eady. Silé Lane of Sense About Science reports:
Dear friends
I'm very pleased to tell you that earlier today in the Royal Courts of Justice Simon was granted permission to appeal the ruling on meaning in his libel case with the BCA. Read more about the judgement here. The appeal will probably be early next year. In the meantime, we will be busy working on libel reform.
Simon said: "This is a great result, but we now have to win the appeal . and then we have to win the trial. So there is still a long battle ahead in my case and in reforming the libel laws. Thank you to everyone for all your support and please use today's success to encourage others to sign up to supporting libel reform."
BBC Newsnight came along to the meeting in Westminster last night and interviewed Simon and other supporters of the campaign for their report on the chilling effects of England's laws; watch it here (the report starts 34 minutes in).
Simon, Tracey Brown and John Kampfner of Index on Censorship will be discussing today's judgement and the chill of libel laws on free discussion of science and evidence tomorrow, Thursday 15th October, at the City University London and Association of British Science Writers debate on Science Journalism and Libel Law. For more information see here. I hope to see some of you there.
All the best
Síle
This is great news, but as Simon says, there is still a long way to go. To stay in the loop regarding the Singh case and other attacks on free speech by our abject libel laws, visit the indispensable Jack of Kent blog.
Posted by SciencePunk at 5:25 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 14, 2009
Category: Art • Competition time!
Another chance to win a gorgeous illustrated encyclopaedia of science!
Thank you everyone who donated their thoughts to yesterday's provoking question, the consensus seems to be that we are, right now, living in a bloody great time for science. The winner was Dave Ferret, who gets a copy of the massive, beautiful, 512 page SCIENCE: THE DEFINITIVE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE edited by Adam Hart-Davis. Today another copy must be won!
So I was leafing through this book (with the help of a JCB, because that's how big this book is), and I chanced upon this marvellous entry:
Even though Charles Babbage had trouble seeing the full potential of his marvellous counting machine (that honour fell to the first programmer, Ada Lovelace), computers are now everywhere. And I mean everywhere. We can't seem to live without them, and they've only been able to fit in our pockets for the last 50 odd years.
Anyway, to win a copy of the book, answer the following question:
What do you think has been the most influential scientific invention, ever?
Stonehenge? The caged ball bearing? Lasers? The choice is yours!
EDIT: Competition is now closed! But you can try, try again!
Posted by SciencePunk at 10:15 AM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 13, 2009
Category: Art • Competition time!
Another day, another chance to win SCIENCE: THE DEFINITIVE VISUAL HISTORY!
Well, it's going to be hard to beat the massive response to the first round of this competition - thank you to everyone who commented. It was heartening to see so much love for science, and I've now got a fantastic collection of reading material to add to my list.
Back to the book! Here's a beautiful spread in SCIENCE of on one of my favourite inventions ever: Harrison's Chronometer, which helped to solve the Longitude Problem, changing the world forever. It's a tale of obsession, invention, and cruelty retold wonderfully in Dava Sobel's Longitude.
So, as we're on the subject of time and place, here's the competition question. For the chance to win a copy of the massive, beautiful, illustrated encyclopaedia SCIENCE, I want to know:
Which era of scientific discovery (past, present or future) would you most like to live in? Would you be a gentleman scholar in the Victorian days of the polymath? Unlocking the great foundation truths of mathematics with the Ancient Greeks? Or streaking out into the stars in centuries to come?
Answers in the comments section please!
EDIT: Competition now closed - although you can still answer the question if you want. For another chance to win, see part 3!
Posted by SciencePunk at 10:11 AM • 24 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Frank Swain is a science writer and blogger. He is based in the UK.
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