worldsfair
Posts by this author
June 11, 2007
Recently in my neck of the woods, the Green Party of Canada has been suggesting the addition of a straight-off 12 cents per litre tax on the price of gasoline. This is mainly positioned as a carbon tax to try and encourage the use of higher efficiency alternatives.
What's kind of promising is that…
June 7, 2007
Continuing on. I also have a lot of doodles which are more about metaphor. A lot of these are kind of cool - here's a couple as examples.
June 6, 2007
Continuing on with the doodle week (sorry for the no show yesterday, but I had a Canada Passport emergency going on on top of the workshop stuff), I've put up two pics which illustrate one of the common themes applied, when a student is asked: "Draw me a picture with DNA in it."
That theme, of…
June 4, 2007
Hello again.
Sorry, I've been away of late. My kids (and then I) got a nasty bout of the tummy bug, so was sidelined for the better part of last week (trust me, the blog was the last thing on my mind). As well, this week is also a little tight on time since I'm hosting another one of my world…
May 25, 2007
I just realized that I've written a few science-y piece with an inherent Star Wars hook to it. As well, it seems to be something that comes up at McSweeney's and other similar humour sites. Anyway, here is a collection of the ones I'm aware of. Enjoy...(From the Onion)"WHEN CELEBRITIES, WHO HAVE…
May 24, 2007
Last weekend, my family rented a movie called High School Musical (my kids really loved it), and I tell you, it has infiltrated our very being to the point where... hush a moment... wait...be quiet for a second... do you hear it? Do you hear it?
(Yes, I am embarrassed to show this picture - thank…
May 24, 2007
"Food chemistry includes not only food analysis to find out what is in the food, but also about how and why food changes during processing and storage, how different ingredients interact, how changes in pH and chemical make-up can be used to preserve food and prevent micro-organisms from growing or…
May 24, 2007
"Food science and food technology are used interchangeably as there is rarely any distinction between them. While it is more likely that a food technologist would be working in industry rather than at research, all food scientists & technologists are concerned with the science required to…
May 24, 2007
"Intermolecular forces are the forces between molecules, whereas intramolecular forces are those within molecules. (The bonds that hold the atoms in a molecule together are intramolecular forces.) A quick note before we jump in: When chemical educators are explaining intermolecular forces, they…
May 24, 2007
"When multiple atoms are part of an assembly in which they are bonded to each other, you have a molecule. For the moment, consider the "bond" between atoms in a molecule to be an electron-sharing arrangement that maintains a certain (average) spatial configuration between the nuclei of the bonded…
May 24, 2007
"An element is defined by the number of protons in the nucleus. The element oxygen has 8 protons in the nuclei of its atoms. Any atom (or radical or ion) that has exactly 8 protons is an oxygen atom, and all oxygen atoms (or radicals or ions) have exactly 8 protons. It doesn't matter how many…
May 24, 2007
"In food, both the acidity and the sugar content are important. Our taste responses comes from a balance of the two. Some foods have a low pH/high acidity but do not taste sour due to their high sweetener content. A good example of this is cola, which has pH ~3.50 but does not taste sour because of…
May 24, 2007
"Most organic acids are weak acids. Examples include citric acid, acetic acid, ascorbic acid, malic acid, tartaric acid. This is important as weak acids can act as buffers absorbing hydrogen ions without change the pH. I'll write more on buffers later."
(Click here to go to post)
May 24, 2007
"pH is an indication of how many hydrogen ions are present. The lower the pH the higher the hydrogen ion concentration. Hydrogen ion concentration is an indication of acidity. So a low pH is associated with acidity. Conversely a high pH is associated with alkalinity and is an indication of a low…
May 22, 2007
John Hartman
Since Ben put up that great post about urban planning and individualism, I thought I would just show off some of John Hartman's great artwork that explore the concept of the city. They're really very striking, and a wonderful way to look upon the ideas of urban living and design.…
May 21, 2007
Ah, here it is:
Mind you, if we're true to the real spirit of Murphy's Law, there's undoubtedly something wrong with this equation as well. For an explanation, check out here at the SCQ.
May 19, 2007
May 19, 2007We Will Become Silhouettes, Postal Service, covered by the Shins (note, not the actual video)I Will Follow You into the Dark, Death Cab for CutiePalo Alto, Radiohead
May 18, 2007
Just a quickie reminder that we're looking for haikus on organisms, for a phylogeny project going on at the SCQ.
As well, this summer, I'm looking for a bioinformatician that knows a thing or two about tweaking something like BLAST so that it is haiku friendly. If you think this is something you…
May 18, 2007
Isn't this pretty? A recent issue of the New Yorker had a marvelous cover that spread over three pages. I couldn't find the three page spread on the New Yorker site, so I thought I'd piece them together myself. Might be handy as a slide one of these days.
(By Bruce McCall - who also writes funny…
May 16, 2007
(These look like the "that's o.k. but I'll judge from way back here" type of science fair participants)
In honour of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which is being blogged about at http://scienceblogs.com/intelisef, I was thinking about my own experiences as a science fair…
May 15, 2007
"Why is anisogamy important? Anisogamy is the fundamental cause for the majority of differences between males and females, both in terms of macro-scale physiology, post mating sex-roles, reproductive strategies, and sets the stage for sexual conflict. For instance, anisogamy is the fundamental…
May 15, 2007
"A biological clock is a structure that times regular re-occurence of biochemical, physiological and behavioral events in an organism in constant environmental conditions Perhaps the best way to explain this is to dissect the definition word-by-word, explaining my choice of words included (and…
May 15, 2007
"Species: A term which everybody thinks they understand, but which nobody agrees upon, to denote the "basic units" of groups of biological organisms. It is sometimes said, or has been said to me, that one ought not know too much about a topic if you are to define it clearly. "
(Click here to go to…
May 15, 2007
"A clade is, simply expressed, any branch (Greek: klados) of the evolutionary tree which is separated from the rest of the tree by a single cut. Any branch, however large or small, that is cut off this way is monophyletic, or of a single origin. Monophyly is, under cladistic terminology, the…
May 15, 2007
"The rapidity of this folding reaction tells us something about the mechanism of protein folding. We know that folding is rapid and spontaneous because proteins can be purified then unfolded by treating them with certain chemicals that cause them to become denatured or unfolded. These denatured…
May 15, 2007
"Collagen is the major protein component of the connective tissue of vertebrates; it constitutes about 25% to 35% of the total protein in mammals. Collagen molecules have remarkably diverse forms and functions. For example, collagen in tendons forms stiff, ropelike fibers of tremendous tensile…
May 15, 2007
"The concept of a gene is a fundamental part of the fields of genetics, molecular biology, evolution and all the rest of biology. Gene concepts can be divided into two main categories: abstract and physical. Abstract genes are the kind we refer to when we talk about genes "for" a certain trait,…
May 15, 2007
"I talk a lot about genes, so let's just step way back and give a useful definition of a gene. I admit right up front, though, that there are two limitations: I'm going to give a very simplified explanation that fits with a molecular genetics focus (pure geneticists define genes very differently),…
May 15, 2007
"There is much misunderstanding of this term, and people often pack a lot of differing concepts under it. Consider this rant by a creationist in The American Spectator: there are "six types of evolution" according to him. They are cosmic evolution, chemical evolution, stellar evolution, organic (or…
May 15, 2007
"Most non-scientists seem to be quite confused about precise definitions of biological evolution. Part of the confusion is because the word "evolution" has many different meanings, depending on the context. When we talk about biology we are thinking about biological evolution and that's the term I…