sciencepunk | August 30, 2009The week's tweets and more:
40 million year old plumage shimmers! Iridescence found in fossil feather: http://bit.ly/3FkVf
"Most of you are average" - nice roundup of science-themed t shirts: http://is.gd/2Auwn
Homeopaths go utterly apeshit over campaign to have WHO denounce magic pills: http://bit.ly/Oj0W
Meanwhile, the Faculty of Homeopathy insist magic pills can cure serious diseases: http://bit.ly/2wHro
Eco-friendly Jedi lightsabre: http://bit.ly/4zTzI|
Music box fed by Möbius strip plays endless, reversible melody. http://bit.ly/47y2mW
Deconstructing a Maybelline Pulse Perfect Vibrating…
sciencepunk | August 27, 2009It's sublime to see how "emotionalising" by Greenpeace turns into fodder for their antithesis, Not Evil Just Wrong. When you abandon science for scare tactics, nobody wins.
sciencepunk | August 27, 2009Prepare yourselves for a seismic science showdown! In the reeeeeed corner: the man from Le Mans, Britain's very own Minister for Science, the Lord Paul Rudd Drayson! In the bluuuuue corner: the Rational Radical, Benjamin "Bad Science" Goldacre!
After a crossing swords on Twitter, the two agreed to go head-to-head in a no-holes-barred meeting of minds. Details have been released: fight night is Sept 16, 7pm at the Royal Institution. Attendance to this match is FREE, details on how to attend are in the press release issued by BIS below the fold:
Science reporting: is it good for you?…
sciencepunk | August 26, 2009This weekend I attended the delightful ScienceOnline conference in London, a collection of bloggers, press officers, scientists, writers, film makers and more. It was nice to see familiar faces such as Andy Lewis and David Colquhoun and even better to put faces to names I know only by browser and inbox - Gimpy, Jack of Kent, and more.
Then there were those I missed - such as the legendary Ed Yong, reliably touted as the best young science writer in the UK. Something Ed tells me time and again is to run an open thread to meet my readers, who, by and large, I know nothing about. So, in Ed's…
sciencepunk | August 17, 2009The latest tome of Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress contains an unusual paper investigating the dynamics of a zombie outbreak: "When Zombies Attack!: Mathematical Modelling of an Outbreak of Zombie Infection", by four Canadian mathematicians, concludes that the best defence against zombies is to 'hit hard and hit often'. This story broke last week, but I've been so busy that I've not had time to cover it - or read the paper. Thankfully the excellent Mark Henderson at the Times Science Blog has got my back with an excellent article that includes some extra curious info not…
sciencepunk | August 17, 2009Following on from the splendid essay by Ray Kurzweil on the nature of artificial intelligence and humanity, I have five - count them: five - bags of precious stitch punk loot to give away. Seriously, I'll tell you now: being in the pocket of Big Cinema is so much better than being a stooge for Big Pharma. Who wants free pens and anti-retrovirals when you can get movie loot? Details on what you can win, and how, below the fold.
As you probably know by now, 9 is the Shane Acker-directed, Tim Burton-produced animation that hits theatres on 9/9/9. Judging from the trailer, it'll be visually…
sciencepunk | August 13, 2009
A new game developed by experts at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam puts you in charge of a global war against an emerging pandemic. The Great Flu, created by Ranj Serious Games, is designed to give the public an insight into how disease control is managed on a world-wide stage.
Players are given various tools to try and halt the pandemic - early warning systems public information campaigns, face masks and anti-viral drugs, as well as improved research centres and medical services. In addition you can suspend public transport and close schools and businesses, and forcibly…
sciencepunk | August 13, 2009"Our emotional intelligence is not just a sideshow to human intelligence,
it's the cutting edge"
Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil has been described as "the restless genius" by the Wall Street Journal, and "the ultimate thinking machine" by Forbes. And for good reason: Kurzweil was the principal developer of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the…
sciencepunk | August 11, 2009
Potions & Possibilities, makers of high-end toiletries and aromatherapy products, are claiming their products to be effective in the control of deadly swine flu.
Adocument
circulated on the internet lists "Top 10 tips for natural infection control". Originally circulated in May, it was reissued again in July. The document contains elements of sensible advice scalped from the the Department of Health ("Catch it, Bin it, Kill it") blended with outrageous nonsense of a more profitable kind. For instance, here is founder Julie Foster's recipe for a "sanitiser room spray":
...as above…
sciencepunk | August 11, 2009SÃle Lane at Sense About Science reports:
Simon Singh announced today that he will continue the fight in his libel case with the British Chiropractic Association after his application to appeal the preliminary ruling was rejected last week. He has now has the option to try and overturn that decision at an oral appeal. If this fails his case will be tried on a meaning of a phrase he did not intend and is indefensible. This highlights the problem of narrow defences that, along with high costs and wide jurisdiction, make the English libel laws so restrictive to free speech.Simon said today: "I…
sciencepunk | August 10, 2009I've been so busy lately that I forgot to highlight the Guardian Science Podcast of the Secret Garden party - hear guerilla scientist Zoe Cormier, physicist Jon Butterworth, and a variety of festival goers aged 7 - 27 talk about the importance of science communication and the joy of fusing science lectures with music festivals.
Also in this podcast - Cary Fowler from the Global Crop Diversity Trust discusses conserving the biodiversity of agricultural crops at the Arctic Svalbard Seed Vault, and news about plans for high-speed rail in the UK, the carbon footprint of babies, what triggers…
sciencepunk | August 8, 2009In north east India, bridges aren't built - they're grown! The rainforests of Cherrapunji are credited with being one of the wettest places on Earth, and timber bridges would quickly rot. Locals have an innovative solution - grow bridges out of living trees. Like many in the banyan family, the rubber fig has secondary roots that grow above the soil surface. By guiding these roots across chasms, villagers can slowly grow a strong, permanent bridge. Amazing pictures below the fold!
More pictures and info are available on the Living Root Bridges blog.
Hat tip to Mo at Neurophilosophy
sciencepunk | July 31, 2009Earlier this week, the Food Standards Agency upset the organic apple cart when they published a review of available literature that failed to find any health benefits associated with organic food. Moreover, the nutritional value of organically-produced food was little different to that produced by conventional farming.
As the Islington set choked on their (Duchy Originals) cornflakes, the backlash was as quick as it was predictable. Nobody likes to feel they've been taken for a fool, especially those who can afford to pay £3 for a loaf of bread.
The Soil Association, accused of over-…
sciencepunk | July 27, 2009
My coverage of the awesome Science Tent at the Secret Garden Party is now up at Guardian Science Blog. Pictures of the science debauchery to follow:
I'm standing in a field in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. All about are the typical trappings of a music festival. The bright morning sun is glinting off discarded canisters of nitrous oxide, testament to the strict search policy in place at the gates. Revellers lie asleep where they fell, skin reddening, and sullen queues of hungover men and women snake from the standpipes and toilet blocks.This is the Secret Garden Party, one of Britain's new…
sciencepunk | July 27, 2009Focus Features have a little contest going on for the chance to win a pair of rather tasty limited edition Pony shoes created specially for 9, the upcoming science fiction feature from director Shane Acker, produced by Tim Burton. I'm interested in the role of science in the film - the central figure is The Scientist, whose creations bring about the end of mankind, but are also responsible for the continuation of humanity. So is science the hero or villain in this film? I'm trying to nab an interview with either Shane Acker or writer Pamela Pettler to explore these issues further.
In the…
sciencepunk | July 16, 2009
The Guardian Science Blog has published my article on the rather excellent Guerilla Science organisation. I discovered them last year when they invited me to talk at the Secret Garden Party. I'm happy to say I'll be returning this year, and I implore you all to get involved in this kind of thing (if only for the free entry to festivals):
Of the thousands heading to Suffolk this weekend for the Latitude Festival, most will be looking forward to a few days of music, camping and socially acceptable breakfast drinking. One thing they're probably not expecting is a lecture on astrophysics. But…
sciencepunk | July 16, 2009
Tomorrow I'll be taking part in a debate about the place of alternative medicine in the NHS on BBC Radio Oxford. If you're in the area you can tune in on 95.2 FM, otherwise listen live via the BBC website. It's part of a phone-in show, so I expect a lot of calls from the "it works for me" brigade, but you can have your two cents by calling 08459 311111.
sciencepunk | July 15, 2009I'm currently working out the last few tangles on a big project which I'll announce here, in the meantime why don't you enjoy some more exclusive images from 9?
I've got something more substantial and more critical on the film coming soon - stay tuned!
sciencepunk | July 12, 2009The much anticipated revival of BBC's popular science slot (last held by Tomorrow's World) looks imminent with this trailer for Bang Goes the Theory. At a glance, it looks like Blue Peter crossed with The Gadget Show, which could fit the bill nicely - even if it's not something I'd watch myself personally.
Science on TV is a mixed bag these days, as I pointed out in the Guardian a while back. On one hand we have fabulously expensive and epic documentaries such as Planet Earth, while at the other end of the spectrum, there's "entertainment television with a science motif" such as the…
sciencepunk | July 9, 2009When all else fails, go online and buy another doctorate:
Hat tip to le Canard Noir.