sciencepunk | November 22, 2009A 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.
sciencepunk | November 20, 2009
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…
sciencepunk | November 18, 2009It'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
sciencepunk | November 11, 2009
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…
sciencepunk | November 9, 2009In the fight against companies and individuals using legal threats to silence critics, charity Sense About Science is beefing up its campaign to reform the UK's ill-constructed libel laws.
Dear friendsThis is an exciting time to talk to you about libel law reform.As many of you know, Simon Singh's libel case was back at the Court of Appeal where he was granted permission to appeal. While the best possible result, there is a long way to go; the appeal will be in February 2010. (More at: http://jackofkent.blogspot.com/2009/10/permission-granted.html and http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/…
sciencepunk | November 4, 2009I'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…
sciencepunk | November 4, 2009And 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!
sciencepunk | October 21, 2009This 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.
sciencepunk | October 16, 2009The 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…
sciencepunk | October 15, 2009Another 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…
sciencepunk | October 15, 2009The 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…
sciencepunk | October 14, 2009
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 friendsI'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…
sciencepunk | October 14, 2009Another 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…
sciencepunk | October 13, 2009Another 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…
sciencepunk | October 12, 2009Most of the UK press are avoiding this story for obvious reasons, so kudos to Alex Massie and the Spectator for breaking rank:
This time, perhaps even the lawyers have gone too far. It's hard to recall, even in the long history of appalling gagging orders, a more disgraceful injunction than this:
The Guardian has been prevented from reporting parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds which appear to call into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the 1688 Bill of Rights.Today's published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this…
sciencepunk | October 12, 2009This week, five SciencePunk readers will win a copy of SCIENCE: THE DEFINITIVE VISUAL GUIDE, edited by Adam Hart-Davis!
I received a copy in the post today, and let me tell you, this book is HUGE. Huge in scope, in detail, and in raw physical presence. That is I am going to insist on calling it SCIENCE, all in caps. Words couldn't do justice in describing just how massive this hardcover is, so here's a picture of me shortly before I was crushed under the weight of it and had to be rescued by my pet ants:
Science follows in the tradition of publisher DK's lavishly produced pictorial…
sciencepunk | October 11, 2009
This strange episode of dodgy science and publishing is worth reprinting in its entirety from Ars Technica:
Scientific publishing weirdness: This paper didn't strike me as weird so much as completely bonkers, given its opening sentence: "I reject the Darwinian assumption that larvae and their adults evolved from a single common ancestor." It forwarded the proposal that the difference between larval and adult forms of insects--between caterpillars and butterflies, to give one example--arose because insects are the product of a hybridization event between a caterpillar-like organism and…
sciencepunk | October 7, 2009Live Science reports on the discovery of several new species of bio-luminescent fungi, bringing the total up to 71 different flavours of AWESOME. These are not fluorescing under a UV lamp - they really do glow in the dark, giving them the most beautiful name in mycology: Mycena luxaeterna, meaning "eternal light".
Live Science says:
Three quarters of glowing mushrooms, including the newly identified species, belong to the Mycena genus, a group of mushrooms that feed off and decompose organic matter."What interests us is that within Mycena, the luminescent species come from 16 different…
sciencepunk | October 7, 2009
PDN Photo of the Day website says:
Here we present ten of the finalists from Nikon's 35th Annual Small World Photomicrography Competition, which recognizes photographs shot through a microscope. Contest winners will be announced on October 8. Until October 2, the public can select their favorites in the "Popular Vote" section of the Nikon Small World web site.
Above image: © Shamuel Silberman, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Embryo of guppy fish (40X)
Reflected light by fiber-optics
sciencepunk | October 7, 2009UK charity Sense About Science have been instrumental in organising support for Simon Singh, the British science writer who is being sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association over an article he wrote in the Guardian, criticising the unsubstantiated health claims made by chiropractors.
Now it seems a BCA supporter has tried to close down this campaign. Julia Wilson reports:
Dear friendsYou alerted us that someone was touting for ideas about reporting SAS to the Charity Commission. We were aware that chiropractors discussing the GCC complaints had mentioned the idea, which…