Pop Science
retrospectacle | July 24, 2007Yesterday some Big News hit the internet: Diet Sodas Linked With Health Risks (this link courtesy of Reuters Health). Now according to the press release, diet sodas are linked with increased risk for heart disease and diabetes; specifically that adults who drank one or more sodas a day had a 50% increased risk of 'metabolic syndrome.' This syndrome is characterized by excess fat around the waist, high 'bad' cholesterol and low 'good' cholesterol, and high blood pressure among other things. Furthermore, this syndrome places a person at risk for heart disease and diabetes.
The study, published…
retrospectacle | November 4, 2006Although I wasn't initially aware of this myth, a technician in my lab informed me that an oft-quoted scientific myth is that a duck's quack doesn't echo. Now, as a student of acoustics, I found that hard to believe. And indeed, a research team at the University of Salford decided to actually test this theory by putting a duck named Daisy in a sound chamber and making it quack.
After recording the quack (and any echos that might have arisen) they came to the conclusion that a duck's quack DOES echo, its just usually too soft for most people to hear. Therefore, the myth probably arose that…
retrospectacle | August 14, 2006
You know all those times you wish you'd had a cute plastic wabbit to read you your email? Well, wish no more, for yout wildest dreams are fufilled!
The plastic bunny with ears like TV antennae can read out emails and mobile phone text messages, tell children to go to bed, alert one to a stock collapse and give traffic updates by receiving internet feeds via a wireless Wi-Fi network.
"It gives a visual and vocal representation of what is on the internet," explained Paul Jackson, an analyst at research house Forrester. "It is also a nice way of making physical your relationship online with…
retrospectacle | August 7, 2006Consider the case of Diet Coke. More fat people drink it than skinny people. That means that Diet Coke makes you fat, right?
Well of course not, but this is the same ridiculous backwards logic used in this report that teens who have iPod full of raunchy music have sex at an earlier age than teens with no obscene music. Its a CNN article describing a recent study published in Pediatrics.
Teens who said they listened to lots of music with degrading sexual messages were almost twice as likely to start having intercourse or other sexual activities within the following two years as were teens who…
retrospectacle | August 2, 2006One only has to turn on a TV, or browse through any news site, to read the story of disgraced Tour de France winner Flloyd Landis. Landis, an American, was reported to have an abnormally high testosterone to epitestosterone ratio in one of his urine samples given right before the end of of the race. Landis has vehemently denied the allegations, and a secondary "backup" test is being conducted; those results will be released this Saturday. If the test again comes up positive, Landis must relinquish his winner's jersey and title (he would be the second to do so). But, what is testosterone…
retrospectacle | June 17, 2006Energy drinks are ubiquitous these days. They have become a multi-billion dollar industry....even Nelly has a drink called "Pimp Juice" and Lil John has "Crunk" energy drink. Advertised to improve stamina, energy, and mental power....what's not to love? By far the most popular of these drinks is Red Bull, which is a Austrian/Thai fizzy apple-flavored jolt. But what is really in these energy drinks, or more specifically, what is the reason that Red Bull "gives you wings?" And, can it be good for you? (More below the fold...)
The ingredients of Red Bull (per 250 mL serving) include:
27g sugar…