MAY 05
Big Impact
The experimental technique is as old as the hills : known as the ‘ Let’s
throw something big at it and see what happens ‘ strategy.
NASA will shortly implement what must surely be one of the most sophisticated versions ever as they shoot a 370 Kg ‘impactor probe’ at comet 9P/Tempel 1 on July 4th 2005.
It’s hoped that the plume of ejected material, and the resulting crater, will reveal details of the comet’s composition. A network of satellites and Earth-based astronomers – professional and amateur - will be watching the outcome of the $279Million ‘ Deep Impact Project ’.
The European Space Agency have just released details of how they will participate in the monitoring of the event using their Rosetta comet-chaser and the XMM-Newton space observatory.
See :
There is, however, a possible proviso.
An ongoing court case in Russia . . . whereby a Moscow resident is pursuing a high court action against NASA ( specifically, their office in the US embassy, Moscow ) for $300 million in ‘emotional damages’ caused by " disrupting the natural balance of the universe." if the experiment goes ahead.
( Thanks to Improbable Research for originally drawing it to our attention )
comments ?31 MAY 05
Water ( lack of )
The UK’s South East Water company is asking ‘customers’ to be careful about water use, now that the ‘Heatwave’ has officially arrived.
http://www.southeastwater.co.uk
Here’s some of their ( familiar sounding ) tips:
Use a bucket and sponge to wash your car instead of a hosepipe.
Take showers instead of baths.
Turn off the tap when you clean your teeth.
2004 was problematic too. They pointed out late last year that “ we've just had a record breaking hot summer " and that " Predications (*) are that climate change will continue to bring these longer, dryer summers to the south of England. "
Odd then, that the Marine Conservation Society ( MCS) has just announced that the summer of 2004 was " one of the wettest on record “ . . . http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Confused ? We are. But there’s definitely a shortage. So where’s all the water going ? The only theory we can come up with is that perhaps it’s leaking down the Channel Tunnel to France . . . Surely not ?
* predictions ?
comments
?30 MAY 05 (late
edition)
Cash for solutions :
A site called Innocentive.com is offering substantial rewards for
anyone who can come up with solutions to technical ( mainly chemical / industrial
) problems ;
So, for example, there’s a $50,000 offer on the table for devising a viable method for removing Safrole from nutmeg oil ( deadline Aug01 2005 )
In case you were wondering , Safrole ( a.k.a. 3,4-methylene-dioxyallylbenzene, C10H10O2 ) has been declared carcinogenic by the FDA , and it also has the reputation of being a precursor to family of ’recreational drugs’ – so it’s no big surprise that manufacturers are keen to remove it.
We’d like to extend the idea - to offer similar rewards for entrepreneurs and inventors who can solve the following problems : ( we’d like to - but we don’t have the required sponsorship at present . . . )
$Large : For designing and constructing a retail juice/milk package for supermarkets. One which doesn’t dribble and spill everywhere when opened.
$Large : For building a ‘bare-bones’ reliable and professional operating system for PC’s which boots-up in under 10 seconds. (with absolutely no hint of cute li’l doggies, paperclips, and flying-folder animations )
$Large : OK, it’s not our idea – but we like Star Trek ’s concept for ‘transparent aluminium’.
Any more ideas ?
comments
?30 MAY 05
Whistleblowing and its consequences.
The Public Library of Science ( PloS) have just published an astonishing account of the way the American Food and Drugs Administration ( FDA) works ‘in synchrony’ with the pharmaceutical industry.
Relying on statements from whistleblowers, the document goes into detail about the methods which are allegedly used by industry to ensure a smooth passage for drug approval and subsequent sales.
Its allegations are of outrageous manipulations on a gigantic scale – involving the unnecessary deaths of ‘ tens of thousands ’ of patients – cash payments to government officials - and more.
If all the allegations are true, then the scandal would surely be one of the most severe in the history of industry.
* * *
Caution : reading this report will almost certainly raise your blood pressure :
comments
?28 MAY 05
Got 'em over a barrel ? . . .
Readers may have noticed that we ( as yet ) don’t carry any ads for oil companies. Oddly enough, we’ve never been asked to – but, if we were, we’d have to consider it very carefully, in the light of a recent report in Advertising Age.
According to the article, transnational oil company BP have sent out a memo – or rather their media buying agency have - demanding to see any editorial copy which may relate to their company - in advance of publication. The memo also lays out the company’s perceived rights to pull advertising – without penalty – if coverage is deemed inappropriate.
BP spent nearly $100Million in advertising last year.
A magazine exec who wished to remain anonymous revealed that such directives are nothing new, citing similar ( though unwritten ) ‘agreements’ with auto, airline, and tobacco companies who require similar facilities with the publications which carry their ads.
A double-page colour ad in a weekend supplement can raise enough cash to pay a reporter's wages for a year – and one phone call from an unhappy client who’s seen some ‘unfavourable copy’ can pull the ad from next week’s paper . . .
Perhaps it’s a wonder we ever see any ‘real’ corporate news at all.
“ News is when somebody, somewhere, doesn’t want the public to know – the rest is advertising “
For the full story see : ( free registration required )
comments
?27 MAY 05
Batman and God
It’s not often that we draw attention to a recently published book – and today is no exception.
‘ Holy Superheroes ’ - from ‘spiritual growth resources’ publisher Nav Press – takes us on a journey of discovery and reveals how comic books - and the Hollywood adaptations they inspire - influence our understanding of:
Good versus Evil
Personal Sacrifice
Duty and Faith
The author, a Prof. of English at Baylor University ( motto - For Church, For Texas ), says that “ Superman and Batman are the two most important characters created in American popular culture in the last century “ *
The book apparently illustrates ' how the archetypal stories, like the Greek mythology of old, communicate allegorical truths about exemplary character, heroic deeds, and the battle of good versus evil. '
“ Batman represents a version of God sometimes found in the books of the Old Testament “.
For more info, you’ll have to buy the book.
[ * Hey ! , What about Mickey Mouse ? Ed. ]
comments
?26 MAY 05
UK suffering a generalised SOHF *
UK residents are not laughing enough, says a new poll conducted by ICM for Ocean Village Ltd.
Laughter levels have ( allegedly ) dropped by around 33% in the last 50 years or so.
Looking on the bright side though, the survey found that the most cheerful location in the UK is Bristol ( disappointingly, we couldn’t find any details of the most miserable place – any suggestions ? )
‘ Ocean Village ‘ is a cruise company which operates a ‘ Laughter Cruise ‘ ( from £737 per person ) with ‘ Laughter Yoga Specialist, Amanda Bate ‘ – there must be a joke there somewhere . . . but we can't q u i t e . . . .
* Sense Of Humour Failure
comments
?25 MAY 05 ( late edition )
I will not use the E word.
“ It's nearly impossible to teach evolution to children without coming under attack from religious fundamentalists who want to inject their beliefs into science curricula " says Associate Professor of Biology Colin Purrington, who teaches at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/news/
The professor is taking a proactive stance to combat the dangers encountered by ‘ brave science teachers ‘ , and has built a website with tips, tricks, advice and facilities to assist them.
So, for instance, you will find links to a company which manufactures body armour which is “ Great for making presentations to backwards school boards, but light enough for daily use in the classroom. Rated for small arms, crossbow, and stones weighing up to 14 pounds.”
Another page has a printable set of stickers suitable for school textbooks , e.g. “ This book discusses Gods. The existence of entities with supernatural powers is controversial, and many believe that myths – especially other people’s myths – are fictional . . . “
We’d like to wish the Prof. luck : Don’t miss his site :
http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/
comments
?25 MAY 05
A cheese by any other name . . .
Cunningly
devised research from the University of Oxford ( experimental psychology
dept.) has proved almost beyond reasonable doubt that the name given to a
smell affects people’s perception of it . . .
Their experiment labelled two smell-feeds “ Cheese “ or “ Body Odour “ though, in reality, the unpleasantly labelled smell was just cheddar cheese odour. ( there was also a third control fresh air supply )
Astonishing as the results were - who would have guessed that people might rate being wafted with a cheesy smell called “ body odour “ as unpleasant ? - we’d like to point out that the experiment could have been far more intriguing had it been carried out in reverse.
If the unpleasant ‘ body’ smell really had been extracted from a few pairs of overused student’s socks, it might have been very interesting to see whether the experimentees could have been convinced that it was the finest Parmigiano.
All kinds of other experiments spring to mind involving feeds labelled " lightly boiled eggs " , " steamed Brussel sprouts " , etc etc.
Perfume manufactures have known from time immemorial that the boundaries between what is perceived as a highly unpleasant animal smell, and a luring perfume, are very finely balanced – and that the name given to the substance is vitally important.
If one of your product’s vital ingredients happens to be a strong-smelling wax-like substance found floating in tropical seas and derived from the intestines of Sperm Whales – it might be a good idea to give it a sprightly sounding name like ‘Ambergris’.
Don’t even mention ‘Civet’
See: ‘ Cognitive
Modulation of Olfactory Processing ‘ in this month’s Neuron magazine.
24 MAY 05 (late
edition - thanks to our **** ISP)
comments
?
Sheldrake.org/experiments/animals_appeal.html
Dr. Rupert Sheldrake would like your help if you think that you might be able to ‘ wake animals by staring a them ‘
Dr. Sheldrake has done extensive research into the idea that humans ‘ know ’ when they are being stared at - even if they can't see the starer. He wrote a book on the subject back in 2003 “ The Sense of Being Stared At. “
Now he’d like to extend the enquiries by finding out if the same mechanisms are at work in animals. And you might be able to assist . . .
See: http://www.sheldrake.org/experiments/
Dr. Sheldrake has many other interesting theories on telepathy, ( both human and animal ) , see, for example : ‘ Testing a language - using a parrot for telepathy ‘
His site also gives access to some ‘ online experiments ’ such as “ the email telepathy experiment “
You knew we we’re going to say that didn’t you ?
comments ?23 MAY 05
TV-B-Gone™
Cunningly dovetailing from yesterday’s post ( or not – if you’re reading this first ) US-based inventor Mitch Altman has come up with a neat solution to extraneous TV pollution.
A
key-ring fob, called TV-B-Gone™ houses an infra-red (IR) transmitter
programmed to scroll though an extensive database of TV remote ‘off’ commands.
They’re $14.99 , and yes – batteries are included.
But we’d like to take the idea one step beyond ( as we do )
Why limit yourself to turning off just one TV at a time ?
We’ve suggested to Mitch that he could build an additional gizmo based on this concept :
Essentially,
it’s an IR buffer amplifier. A photodiode picks up the incoming IR
signal from the keyring, amplifies it, and outputs the data to a powerful
array of IR L.E.Ds ( IR
versions of these should do the trick )
You just point your TV-B-Gone™ at it and – presto . . . you could turn off a whole street’s worth at once . . .
OK, there might be some legal – and even ethical – considerations to be borne in mind before constructing and using such a device.
It’s just at the idea stage. We can dream can’t we ?
see: http://www.tvbgone.com/home.php
comments
?20 MAY 05
Star Wars ' Revenge of the Sith ' - Religious ? Discuss.
A press release from the Dick Jones media relations agency is quoting two university professors’ views on the " Religious Experience " of the Star Wars films.
Prof. Tom Martin – associate professor of religion and philosophy at Susquehanna University, says “ The closest religious parallels to ‘The Force’ can be found in Taoism. In Chinese spirituality, Tao is the ultimate force, or driving power, in all nature. It flows through all of us and everything. - Lucas takes that idea and fights against it in many ways. He develops it in fundamental concepts of everything, and it works."
The other Prof. Jim Herrick, the Guy VanderJagt Professor of Communication at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. has determined that no less than 0.37% of the Australian population say they believe in ‘The Force’ – they logged their religion as ‘Jedi ’ on government census forms.
“Star Wars rests on a pantheistic worldview that is also closely linked to the idea of spiritual evolution ” he said.
The prof. is something of an expert on the subject, having written a book back in 2003 ‘ The making of the new spirituality ‘ which went into some detail regarding the Star Wars films.
We haven’t seen the new film yet – and probably won’t be seeing it – unless dragged along by ‘The Force’ – so we can’t possibly make any comments of our own . . .
* * *
We thought readers might also be interested in some of the Prof’s other essays ( his specialities are Rhetoric and Argumentation ) as they cover subjects we’ve dealt with in the past.
For example
“ How to Avoid Getting Caught Plagiarizing ” – a guide for students writing essays,
and :
“ Get Rid of the Tube and Gain a Life ” a treatise on the idea of TV turnoff.
For more essays see :http://www.hope.edu
comments
?19 MAY 05
You saw it here first.
See: " Yes Mr. Smith, Robodoc will see you now " from Really Magazine May 2004.
We knew it was just a matter of time before they rolled into the UK . . .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health
Comment from :
Professor Sir Ara Darzi, KBE, St. Mary's Hospital where the robots are being trialed - " Fantastic and brilliant "
Thanks Professor !
comments ?18 MAY 05 ( late edition )
Two new Deep-Thought papers.
Given the esoteric nature of the subject, we freely admit that we don’t
feel qualified to judge the veracity of the following two papers – but – bearing
in mind the authors' credentials* – they
have to be taken seriously – don’t they ?
“ Boolean Logic Considered Harmful ”
“ We disproved in this work that active networks can be made signed, constant-time and pseudo-random “
and :
“ A Study of XML Using AcridLamb “
“ We confirmed that although neural networks and hash tables are usually incompatible, expert systems and replication are largely incompatible. “
* Note - check the credits . . .
( via http://www.primidi.com/ )
comments
?18 MAY 05 (
late edition )
Heatwave !
The
UK government’s Meteorology Office is predicting that temperatures
could be unusually high this July and August.
In an initiative which has seen them hook up with the Ministry of Health, they have just published an advisory leaflet ( to be distributed to just about everyone ) called, enigmatically “ Heatwave - Plan for England “ ( for some reason which we haven't fathomed as yet, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland aren’t included )
The government has taken the step because of the summer heatwave across Britain in 2003 – which was reckoned to have led to what they call the ‘ excess deaths ‘ of about two thousand people.
The leaflet goes into some detail about the kinds of people most a risk – pensioners , bakery staff, foundry workers * etc etc. and outlines sensible steps which can be taken to alleviate the problems.
So, if a heatwave does occur , you can :
• Plan your day in a way allowing you to stay out of the heat
• Avoid going out between 11am and 3pm
• Take cool showers or baths several times a day
( In other words, act Brazilian for few days )
The government strategy astutely splits the problem into three key levels, viz.
Level 1 – awareness
Level 2 – alert
Level 3 – heatwave
Each of which can be ‘triggered’ by a ‘threshold’ temperature. And this is where things get a bit sticky.
London 32C
South East 31C
South West 30C
Eastern 30C
West Mids 30C
East Mids 30C
North West 30C
Yorks & Humber 29C
North East 28C
We can’t help but notice that there is a 4 degree difference between the North and South of the country . . .
Why ? Do the residents in the North not have the same body temp, 37C, as people from the South ? Are they not as good at sweating ? Or gauging temperature ? We’d like an official explanation please.
The other – in our view substantial – problem with the guidelines is that they don’t take into account humidity. The Met Office long ago came up with the idea of the ‘Chill Factor’ , which is often broadcasted by the media in cold weather. It adds-in extra degrees of 'chilliness' depending on windspeed – but there is no similar strategy for hot weather – dependent on humidity.
There should be.
We suggest it could be called the ‘Sweat Factor’.
After all, you can lose ‘heat’, by evaporative sweating, very much faster when air humidity is low. 33C in La Paz is very, very, different to 33C in Singapore.
You the download the leaflet – or rather a leaflet about the leaflet ( we couldn’t find the link to the actual leaflet ) here :
http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot
* Note. We’d like to add pizzaolos, underground train drivers, and especially glassblowers.
comments
?18 MAY 05
Leaping Lemurs.
We expect that there may be several, or more, readers who have been wondering, as we have, about forces exerted on the limbs of lemurs whilst jumping.
Wonder no more. Definitive answers are presented in a paper from the Stony Brook University, just published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, entitled :
“ External forces on the limbs of jumping lemurs at takeoff and landing “
See :
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/
comments ?18 MAY 05
BlackBerries
The ‘ BlackBerry ’ mobile has recently been launched in South Africa, and the market is “ Hotting up “ says The Daily News in an article out today.
Lev David, Executive Producer of East Coast Radio's Breakfast Serial and owner of a BlackBerry, said that “ He couldn't imagine life without it “, and adds “ It’s no nonsense “
What do you think about the gizmo ?
Take our reader’s poll and let us – and everyone else – know
!
BlackBerries™ : Love ‘em or hate ‘em ?
comments ?17 MAY 05 ( late edition )
" If you wish to interact with our virtual advisor – please press 1 now."
Ever find it slightly frustrating not being able to get through to a ‘real person’ via a customer support centre ? Help maybe at hand with a project which started its development in 2001 and is currently in test phase.
OK, you still won’t be able to interact with a ‘real person’ – but you can try a “ fotorealisitc (sic.) avatar “ instead.
VIP Advisor is a 3-D computer rendered ‘person’ linked to an “ artifical (sic.) intelligence “ database.
“ Compared to conventional online advice-solutions VIP Advisor is not only 24/7 accessible, but also personal, true-to-life and intelligent. The advice-system is browserbased and can be used from any computer. “ says the website.
VIP Advisor is currently hooked up to a testbed and is working as an insurance salesman - at the cutting edge of CC (Customer Care) and CSC (Customer Self Care) : Here he it is :
But the development of such tech is far from straightforward. Unfortunately,
the more lifelike the avatar becomes “ the more
users will expect in terms of flexibility, knowledge and intelligence.” Says Ulrich
Thiel at Germany’s Fraunhofer Integrated Publication and Information
Systems Institute (IPSI) – co-developers
of the project.
Perhaps the success of the venture will only finally be judged when the avatar goes live on a real-world advice site.
So, would you prefer him it, or a real insurance salesman ?
Difficult choice.
comments ?17 MAY 05
Social pressure influences decisions of individuals ?
A discussion paper presented by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) at the University of Bonn in Germany, examines the question above - with reference to ‘ Evidence for the behavior of football referees ‘
They analysed more than 3500 matches ( 10,166 goals ) and correlated the results depending on various factors - for instance, on the presence – or not – of a running track.
The theory was that perhaps a running track might, to a degree, insulate the refs from public scrutiny :
“ Probably the referee is subjected to greater social pressure if the spectators are right next to the pitch “ . . .
The referees ( esp. in Germany ) are certainly under pressure: “ If the referee does poor work he risks no longer being employed – thereby losing 3,000 euros 'salary' per match.” says the press release.
At the end of the day, the results may have important implications for so-called ‘agency theory’ – and perhaps can be extrapolated out of the football stadium and into the wider world of business and commerce ?
For the conclusions are: “ Social forces can influence agents to make decisions that are not in their private interest . . . How agents decide under social pressure must therefore be a major concern of economists.”
We're majorly concerned.
We’d like to suggest too that random forces might also influence agents a great deal as well – what about the toss ?
Full report ( .pdf ) http://www.iza.org/dp1595.pdf
comments ?17 MAY 05
“No Pain No Gain” - a rethink.
A recent article on the ABC News website draws attention to the validity ( or not ) of the expression “ No Pain No Gain ” – specifically with reference to long-distance running.
We’ve read through it a few times trying to get a handle on the point that the piece is making. But we haven’t made it to the finishing line as yet.
There has been some recent research though, which suggests that the optimum level of benefit from exercising can be reached considerably below the pain threshold.
So, we’d like to suggest a simple mantra in place of NPNG.
“ Never pursue any sports activity to the level where you can’t comfortably whistle at the same time ” *
( Many thanks to the P.Ha sports advisory consultancy for the tip. )
* Note : excludes sub-aqua.
( if you only click on one link today - click that one )
comments
?16 MAY 05 ( late edition )
Not In My BackYard ( errr . . . how much are you offering exactly ? )
Following on from our story last month on UK nuke waste disposal ( firing it into space has been officially discounted as an option ) the Government is poised to reveal the locations of ‘secret’ sites where nuke waste will be dumped stored.
An article in yesterday’s Sunday Times alleges that ‘top secret’ plans naming the repositories will soon be published. Unfortunately though, the piece doesn’t go as far as to reveal in advance all the details of the 12 sites – though there are some hefty clues.
As might be expected, some of the sites are already well known for centres of nuclear excellence – such as Sellafailed and Harwell – but there are one or two surprises.
Like the idea of building an ‘artificial island’ off the coast of Scotland.
But perhaps the most revealing ( and alarming ) revelation is that “ Britain could also follow the French example by offering inducements such as schools and leisure centres to communities close to the facility.”
Errrrrr . . . did we misread that ?
The UK government thinks that it’s a sweetener to offer to build schools next to N-waste dumps ?
* * *
So, let's try to get an overview of where these schools and leisure centres might get built ?
The Guardian’s Nuclear Map of the UK seems to have had a very short half life . . .
http://www.guardian.co.uk/graphic
so here’s one we made earlier . . .
comments
?16 MAY 05
Killer fact for the day :
The global budget for ‘ soldiers, weapons, and ammunition ‘ now stands at : $100Million per hour.
That’s $2.4Billion per day
That’s $74Billion per month
That’s $876Billion per year
That’s enough to provide clean water and sewage systems; eradicate illiteracy; and provide basic immunization for every child in the developing world – twenty times over . . .
Source : Vital Signs 2005, Worldwatch Institute.
Note : The figures are not for the 'defence budgets' - it's just the expenditure on ' soldiers, weapons, and ammunition'.
The US defence budget alone is now over $1Trillion.
comments
?15 MAY 05
MMOG traders to go legit.
At
the end of last month New Scientist published an interesting note
- ‘ Trading Swords’ - which we’d like to chivvy
along a bit with our recently acquired ‘ Flailing Bayonet of Ambivalence ’
Sometime towards the end of June, Sony’s Station Exchange will go live. It’s been set up by the company as an online facility which allow the trading of ‘virtual objects’ related to the EverQuest II game.
The market in virtual props already exists of course, via eBay and Yahoo – and is guestimated to be worth about $200Million a year. But the exchanges are currently unregulated, and all sort of monkey-business has been going on – viz. players getting ripped off.
According to this article on mmorpg.com, fraudulent transactions account for up to 40% of customer service calls to Sony games departments. . .
As the Sony StationExchange site points out “ A dishonest seller might show you that Flaming Sword of Destruction you really want for your Shadowknight, but after the exchange of money takes place all you receive is a Small Twig, clearly not what you thought you were bidding on.”
Even more worrying perhaps is that, as the virtual game props market in general moves up into ever higher real-world expense, stakes get high enough for serious crimes to be committed. The BBC recently reported on the murder of a man involved in a Legend of Mir 3 virtual Dragon Sabre scam.
There are also ( unconfirmed ) rumours of ‘third world sweatshops‘ where teams of conscripts are allegedly forced to work all-hours for next to nothing – providing hard-currency saleable ‘props’ for the unscrupulous sweatshop owners. ( do a Google for mmog + botting + farming + sweatshops )
Let’s hope the new Sony site will go some way at least towards alleviating the problems.
p.s. Our Flailing Bayonet of Ambivalence is currently for sale : reserve price $800.
comments
?14 MAY 05
Oldies ' react less ' shock.
The University of Michigan’s Institute of Social Research has
published a new study in the May issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological
Sciences.
It’s entitled “ Do We Get Better at Picking Our Battles? Age Group Differences in Descriptions of Behavioral Reactions to Interpersonal Tensions “.
The study, which interviewed 187 people aged between 13 and 99, examined the idea that “ Individuals of various ages may react in different ways when they are upset “
Sure enough, the outcome of the research was that younger people were more likely to exhibit ‘ exit strategies ’ - shouting, arguing or walking away in response to problems - while older people were more likely to do . . . nothing.
The paper concludes “ It appears that individuals are better able to regulate their behavioral responses to interpersonal problems as they age.”
For an abstract, see:
http://psychsoc.gerontologyjournals.org
comments ?13 MAY 05 (late edition)
Herpetological Aeronautics ( Flying snakes )
Ever wondered how snakes ‘fly’ ? So does Jake Socha, a biologist at Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois.
But, unlike you and me, he did something about it.
He ‘coaxed’ a troupe of somewhat stubborn ‘ paradise tree snakes ’ ( Chrysopelea ) to the top of a 10mtr. tower in Singapore Zoological Gardens, then made videos of their descents.
Subsequent analysis of the tapes revealed that the snakes ‘glided’ further than would be expected just from their aerodynamic profile. It seemed that the snakes were making use of ‘dynamic flight behavior’ ( a.k.a. wriggling ).
The secret behind the snakes' oscillatory technique remains somewhat of a mystery however, for the frequency of the waves appears to play little or no role in producing aerodynamic forces during flight.
One factor did show up as significant though, the research correlated snake body-size with flight parameters and showed that “ smaller snakes are generally better gliders. “
For a summary, from this month’s Journal of Experimental Biology, see:
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/
Mr. Socha has also made available a website where you can watch Quicktime videos of the snakes' flights. See :
http://www.flyingsnake.org/video/
Reader Peter P from Auckland NZ points out – ‘ Re. The fact that small snakes glide better than big ones. Could the same laws of physics be at work as govern the fact that a mouse, dropped from a 10mtr platform, will ‘glide’ considerably better than say a rhino ? ‘
You could be on to something there Peter mate
. . .
comments
?13 MAY 05 (late edition)
H2ype
An interesting report on the prospects for the ‘ Hydrogen Economy ‘ will be appear in the June issue of AIChE Journal, a publication of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
See: http://news.uns.purdue.edu
The article soberly notes that " success is not certain " with regard to the development of competitively viable hydrogen fuel-cells, and presents some down to earth facts and figures - which put the current H2ype very much into perspective.
The authors point out that today’s fuel-cells are roughly ten times more costly than current equivalent internal combustion (IC) engines – and, they only last one-fifth as long. They also go into some detail about the ( in our opinion enormous ) difficulties of producing, storing and transporting H2 etc etc.
In summary, they conclude that it’s ‘optimistic’ to say that everyone will be driving H2 cars by 2050.
Optimistic perhaps, but just because a tech idea is fraught with difficulties doesn’t mean that it won’t happen . . . Throw in enough development money and PR spin, and even the most inexpedient idea can be made to fly . . .
To maintain credibility, the H2ype machine pushes the idea that the gas will be separated from water using ‘green’ electricity ( hydro / wind / tide / solar etc ) – but ( we confidently predict ) it’s not going to happen . . . If you buy a cylinder of hydrogen today, it won’t have originated from the splitting of H2 from water – it will have come from catalysing a mined-hydrocarbon source – and the same will be true in 2050.
Even it does become viable to separate the H2 from gargantuan quantities of water by ‘green’ tech – it still wouldn’t make any sense. Why not just transport the electricity to the point of use ( using a very efficient tech fix already in place and linked to billions of homes - called a ‘cable’ ) and then store it for use in your electric vehicle ( with a handy device called a ’battery’ ) ?
The answer is that it wouldn’t benefit ‘ Big Oil ’ if you did that.
The ' H2 economy ’ push has nothing whatever to do with ‘green’ energy, and everything to do with ‘ Big Oil ’ finding a way out of their current un-PC fix.
They need to find a way of producing an ostensibly ‘clean’ product which consumers can feel OK about buying and using - no smell, no smoke, no pollution ( at least not at the exhaust-pipe end of things ).
And H2 is just about the only way they can do it.
Editor’s comment : Many world governments
are heavily involved in promoting the idea of the Hydrogen Economy.
Think transport fuel taxation . . .
If everyone was running electric vehicles which could be plugged into the ordinary electric grid to re-charge, how could tax revenue be raised ?
But, heavily taxing a ‘product’, like
hydrogen, at filling stations ? No problem.
* * *
We'd like to mention another, perhaps more sustainable way of producing H2 – from biomass.
Take a look at this . . .
Many thanks to Roland at Primidi.com for drawing our attention to it.
comments ?13 MAY 05
Hard fact on Soft drinks.
A ‘ commentary ‘ in the May issue of The Journal of Pediatrics asks the question “ Soft drinks, a scapegoat for childhood obesity ? “.
You might think from the title - the use of the word ‘scapegoat ‘ – that the authors are suggesting that soft drinks have been unfairly targeted as a possible cause of the current ‘obesity epidemic’. But, as far as we can make out, the gist of the piece does, in fact, highlight them as a major area of concern.
The
essay reveals that the average US teenager drinks two 12 oz. cans of soft
drink per day – that may not sound like much – but they contain
around 20 teaspoons of pure sugar . . .
One of the most interesting revelations, though, is that in a survey of 523 US school districts :
50% “had a contract with a soft drinks company ”
80% “received a percentage of the soft drink sales “
We haven’t been able to find an abstract of the piece - though you can download a copy for $30.
Here’s a review of it :
* * *
Take our new 'reader's poll :
'Obesity edpiemic' - the causes ?
comments ?12 MAY 05
What happens to all the pointy things ?
One of the side-effects of the current airport regs which prohibit the carrying of ‘sharp objects’ in hand luggage – is that check-in desks rapidly build up a pile of confiscated scissors, penknives, miscellaneous kitchen utensils, and other assorted pointy things.
Ever wondered what happens to them ?
A good proportion, it seems, end up being flogged on E-Bay.
So, if you fancy buying some scissors, you can get about 50lbs of them for $20 or so . . . checkout :
* * *
The wrong answer . . .
“ Good morning Sir – are you carrying any sharp items in your hand luggage ? “
“ How perceptive of you ! I just picked up a wonderful Dolce & Gabbana three-piece in Milan . . . “
comments
?12 MAY 05
Stone Skipping : the answer is 20
Finding the ‘magic angle’ for ‘stone skipping’ has been an enigmatic challenge for physicists across the centuries.
Now, researchers from Tohoku University in Japan have “ investigated the condition for the bounce of circular disks which obliquely impacts on fluid surface “.
Previous studies have used physical models and water tanks etc. to determine the angle by experiment – but this new research used a purely theoretical and novel computational technique called Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH).
The results, just published in the May edition of Physical Review Letters, showed conclusively that an angle somewhere between 15.9 degrees and 22.9 degrees is ‘magic’.
( let’s call it 20 degrees )
That’s broadly in line with results from previous studies and accumulated insight passed on from expert stone skippers ( by the way, the current record is 40 bounces ).
see the new study ( .pdf file ) :
http://www.cmpt.phys.tohoku.ac.jp
watch a short video clip showing the computation :
comments
?11 MAY 05 ( late edition )
Y___ a ___ w ___ n ___ i n g
This month’s issue of Cognitive Brain Research publishes a new study of Contagious Yawning (CY) . ( The second in two years ).
First a definition : “ Contagious yawning is the onset of a yawn triggered by seeing, hearing, reading, or thinking about another person yawn. “
Although CY is a well known phenomena, very little is understood about the neural processes which enable it. The new study, carried out by veteran yawn researcher Dr. Steven Platek at the Drexel University, Philadelphia, used sophisticated MRI techniques to track brain activity during CY episodes.
The data showed that viewing someone yawn invokes unique neural activity in the posterior cingulate and precuneus - although, as the doctor points out on his website “ What all this means, well, we're not quite sure yet “
It serves to show again that CY is a truly puzzling phenomenon, ( it’s seen amongst other animals, primates, dogs, and - we’d venture to suggest - even fish ).
See :
p.s. The University’s psychology dept. has also made available an on-line example of yawning for you to test your own responses :
http://www.psychology.drexel.edu
It's a 15Mb .avi file - so it works on two levels ( the first being while you wait for it to download . . . )
comments ?11 MAY 05
Learn’ed Letters
New Scientist recently published a letter from Prof. David Bellamy, claiming that the world’s glaciers–
“ are not shrinking but in fact are growing. ... 555 of all the 625 glaciers under observation by the World Glacier Monitoring Service in Zurich, Switzerland, have been growing since 1980.”
Like George Monbiot, we had a deep-rooted feeling of ‘hang on a minute’ as we read the letter. But we left it at that.
George, however, has done all the hard work ( that we should have done ) and traced back the references for the statement.
For a glacier-based reality check, read his report – it manages to conjure equal doses of hilarity and icy pathos at the same time . . .
Update: June 22
Prof. Bellamy has recently announced that he's " decided to draw back from the debate on Global Warming " . . .
Oooops . . .
comments
?10 MAY 05 (late edtion)
Sumptuous QT VR demos
OK, new it isn’t, but nevertheless we’d like to draw attention to a site which hosts a wonderful selection of 360 degree x 360 degree Quicktime VR shots of interiors.
The drive-by-mouse shots somehow manage to evoke two unlikely sensations at the same time – what it’s like to be mega-rich, and how it feels to perform slow-motion ice-skating while fiercely drunk . . .
But the interiors are nothing short of spectacular. See :
http://www.vrway.com ( download time . . . . . .)
There are many other rooms to explore, see the panels at the foot of the page.
( thanks to Isabelle at miss-information.net for
the link )
comments ?10 MAY 05
Smokin’ and drivin’
Cross party support is growing in Germany for a ban on smoking – whilst driving.
see : http://news.yahoo.com
The German parliament has already passed laws making it illegal to talk on a cellphone while driving – and one politician made the slightly enigmatic link : " Cigarettes are just as much of a distraction as cell phones "
If the proposals for the new law get through the system it will be the first country to ban smoking in private. [?]
In fact it’s the second time such legislation has been on the table. During the Nazi era, Hitler organised bans in all public places, university campuses, and in many restaurants and bars. There were also proposals to ban it in private cars – but the law never got passed.
For an excellent summary of the current state of smoking bans across the globe see :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_ban
comments
?10 MAY 05
( Yet ) Another leak.
As if to underline yesterday’s post, a report in today’s Guardian tells us there has been a huge leak of highly radioactive acid within the UK's Sellafield reprocessing plant.
The concentrated nitric acid, 83 cubic metres of it, contains dissolved uranium and around 200Kg of plutonium. ( to put that into perspective Fat Man , the Nagasaki bomb, was made using just 6.5Kg )
Full details see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear
The plant has now been shut down pending cleanup operations which will almost certainly require the use of purpose built robots.
The cleanup costs and lost revenue could run into £Billions – and will be in addition to the £2.2Billion currently being spent per year on nuke-cleanup operations - courtesy the UK taxpayers.
But don’t worry, the organisation's managing director says " Let me reassure people that the plant is in a safe and stable state."
* * *
In the past, there have been one or two other serious leaks at Sellafield . . .
2002
http://www.nci.org/02/04f/19-02.htm
1998
http://archive.greenpeace.org
1995
http://www.radiation-scott.org
etc
etc
etc
To add to the director’s headaches, there is also the continuing problem
of ‘ Pile one ’ – part of Sellafield’s reactor
core which melted back in 1957 and is still ‘burning’ - having
lost only 1% of its energy in nearly 50 years.
It’s now encased in concrete, and, barring accidents, will be fully
cleaned up by 2037 . . .
See : ( subscribers only )
http://www.e4engineering.com
comments
?09 MAY 05
Not much of a secret . . .
The Observer reveals today that the UK government is
in possession of a ' secret' report from the Department of Productivity,
Energy and Industry, hinting that nuclear may be a required option
for future power generation.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk
Interesting as it is, the article doesn’t tell us whether the UK government will build more N stations – just that it’s considering it, possibly maybe perhaps . . .
If you want to know what’s really going on – watch the money.
The Scotsman published a much more revealing article which we linked
to back in March . . .
It revealed that several firms have been trying to raise serious money from City backers - to build new N-stations – which haven’t been given the go-ahead yet . . .
Despite risible Government ‘ consultation exercises ’, history shows us that when it comes to highly controversial big-money infrastructure projects, the public has virtually no say, and will probably be the last to know.
The last example was at London’s Heathrow airport.
Concrete foundations were being poured for the highly contentious fifth terminal before the government had given the go-ahead . . . Anyone believe that blue-chip transnational construction firms would have been committing £millions to the project unless they knew for certain that it would be rubber-stamped ?
comments
?08 MAY 05
Right whales and whale rights.
A couple of links for cetacean-philes today . . .
First a spectacular set of photos from world-acclaimed photographer Sebastião Salgado ( black and white of course ). He’s on the latest stage of his ‘Genesis project’ – “ a potential path towards humanity's rediscovery of itself in nature “.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend
Next up a very different slant on the subject from the informative Tokyo Times blog. Spot the connection between ‘school lunches’ and the Japanese Fisheries Agency’s new and expanded ‘ Research activities ‘ . . . yes, you guessed right . . .
http://www.wordpress.tokyotimes.org
comments
?07 MAY 05
UK Child Obesity
The UK government has recently published the results of a comprehensive study into child ( 2-10 yrs. ) obesity. The results, to say the least, are staggering.
28% of UK kids are now classed as overweight, with one in every seven children clinically obese.
Worse still, the trend towards fatness is not showing any real signs of slowing down.
The results of the study - which was conducted between 1995 and 2003 and involved some 4000 children – are clear, but do they highlight any obvious reasons as to the cause of the ‘epidemic’ ?
Not really :
A sedentary lifestyle is often mooted as a possible cause – but the study showed there’s less than 3% difference between children who have a 'sedentary lifestyle’ and those who don’t.
What about fresh fruit and vegetable consumption ? Again, this only made a 3% difference.
How about household income ? - again, less than 3%
The only clue comes from a comparison of the parents’ weight . . .
The study found that in families where both parents were overweight, the child was three times more likely to be obese than a child with ‘normal’ bmi parents.
But what does that imply ? A genetic connection ? – or maybe, as seems likely, the parents feed their kids the same food they eat themselves ?
Bearing in mind that the costs ( both personal and societal ) of this epidemic are going to be ( literally ) crippling in years to come, you might think that there would be an enormous government-backed research effort to find out the exact causes p.d.q.
There isn’t.
Or, if there is, it hasn’t been made public.
P.S. We checked through the report but couldn’t find any mention of growth-hormone and antibiotic residues in meat . . .
The report : (.pdf format )
http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot
comments
?06 MAY 05
" NO, I’M ON THE MASS RAPID TRANSPORT ! "
Singapore has a list of achievements that is the envy of many a Western country.
The transport works, the pavements are chewing-gum free, and the motorway
flyovers are covered with colourful climbing plants.
But there are still one or two annoyances to clear up. Mobile phones for instance. In a country where an astonishing 94% of the population owns a mobile, they are certainly qualified to make decisions on mobile etiquette . . .
A survey published today by ACNielsen has revealed some interesting details.
80% of teenage mobile users complained that others talked too loudly on their phones ( though, unsurprisingly, only 10% admitted to the folly themselves )
More than half objected to ‘candid photos’ being taken.
And 64% objected to mobiles being left switched on in " inappropriate social settings ". ( ‘ lights off = phone off ‘ )
Bearing in mind that in some countries, callers still haven’t learned that talking on your mobile during a film at the cinema is a touch annoying for others, Singapore is way ahead . . .
For a full list of annoyances, see :
comments
?05 MAY 05
Submersed ergometers.
A study performed at the University of Florida has suggested that underwater bicyclers get hungrier if the water is cold.
When the water was warm ( 33C ) the subjects ( students, of course ) tended to eat around 608 calories at a post-exercise free buffet - but when it was colder ( 20C ), they ate a non-trivial 259 calories more . . .
The conclusion being that “ Water temperature warrants consideration in aquatic programs designed for weight loss “
Or, if we can perhaps put a more positive spin on it -
‘ There’s nothing like a spot of cold-water bicycling to work up an appetite.’
See :
comments
?04 MAY 05 (late late edition)
Meh !
New Zealand’s Ministry of Youth Development has just published its ‘guide to youth language’ . . .
where you can look up terms such as :
' blender'
' mint '
' skux '
It’s in aid of Youth Week 2005 ( 9-15 May ).
Disappointingly, they seem to have overlooked one of our favourite Kewl Kiwi words :
' munted ' ( adj.: equiv. ‘ cream-crackered ‘ in Cockney )
comments
?04 MAY 05 (late edition)
Grey Goo bubbles up again . . .
The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) has just published an essay entitled ‘ War, Interdependence, and Nanotechnology ’ which comes to the conclusion that a laissez-faire attitude towards nanotech development will “ if maintained, lead directly to potentially catastrophic instability “.
You might want to re-read the essay a few times to try and get a firm handle on the CRN’s views – we have – and we didn’t quite manage it.
They seem to be suggesting, for instance, that solar panels are a ‘ bad idea ‘ because they will create unemployment in the electricity supply industry . . .
errrrr ? . . . but
“ the clearest thing we can say is that there is no simple solution “
sounds about right.
If you can figure out the point they are making, can you let us know please ?
comments
?04 MAY 05
GM UK
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to send a reporter to Agriculture
Industry Day which was held at Southern Illinois University on
saturday. Luckily though, Agri-News was there and has filed this
report . . .
The one day event focused, in part, on the prospects for GM foods in the EU - where there has been significant ‘consumer resistance’.
Are things about to change ? Possibly, according to two recent studies by the university’s agricultural economist Wanki Moon.
The research revealed that although 45 percent of British consumers surveyed indicated they would never buy genetically modified food, an average of 35 percent said they would if it were cheaper and widely available in supermarkets.
So, can we expect to see supermarket shelves in the UK filled with GM products any day now ? " The pump’s primed and we’re ready to roll " said the university’s biotech professor . .
comments
?03 MAY 05 .
Viral inhibitors - at lunch ?
Medical research units across the globe are racing to come up with drug treatments that might help to prevent or curtail future outbreaks of SARS.
Not surprisingly, research has been especially hot in China where the first outbreak of the deadly coronavirus was revealed ( after a prolonged delay by the authorities ).
Now it seems that ‘ Experts in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region ‘ may have found ‘a substance ‘ which retards the proliferation of the virus by inactivating a protease called 3CL(pro), which is essential for the virus to multiply.
The ‘ substance ‘ ( sorry – we couldn’t as yet find full details ) is an extract of rhubarb.
The Guilin Municipal Medical College, where the discovery was made, is applying for a patent, and claims that the substance can also ‘ deactivate influenza viruses ‘ . . .
***
More than one research group are searching for chemicals which target 3CL. A team from the Division of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Research – in Taipei – have recently found a potent inhibitor, theaflavin-3,3'-digallate (TF3) .
Sourced from ? Black tea.
Bearing in mind recent ‘ administrative slipups ‘ with deadly pathogens - and the statistical likelihood of another ‘flu pandemic - it might be an idea to stock up on rhubarb and tea straight away.
See :
http://www.edu.cn/20050430 and
comments
?02 MAY 05
Shock news from NZ.
" Wow, look at that traffic light man, it’s like really – really – like
the reddest red man ! "
"Oh yeah ! wow ! cool ! red man ! Hey, let’s wait for it to go green . . ."
[pause]
"Yeah ! The green’s like – even more – like deep – isn’t it ? or is it me ?"
"No it is ! man ! it’ so cool !"
"Hey look ! it’s going red again ! "
"Yeah ! let’s watch it again man !"
[pause]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/
comments
?01 MAY 05
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