JUNE 05
We would love to know . .
Is Really Magazine blocked from 100 million Chinese web users ?
We don’t know. What we do know is that a large swathe of blog sites are. Think Typepad, Weblogs.us, Blogsome etc etc.
Here’s some interesting details from Rebecca MacKinnon , “ a recovering TV reporter-turned-blogger “ who has recently been investigating the extent of the authorities' censorship helpful moral guidance – and finding some ways round it . . .
http://rconversation.blogs.com/
Also see Rebecca’s “ Screenshots
of Censorship “ on Globalvoices.
comments
?30 JUNE 05 (late edition)
Difficult = better ?
Why do things the hard way ? Because sometimes the hard way can make you fitter apparently – as shown in a new study by scientists at the Oregon Research Institute (ORI).
A group of 108 ‘physically inactive’ senior citizens ( the oldest was 92 ) were persuaded to walk on uneven ‘Chinese cobblestone’ mats for an hour, three times a week. The specially made mats were moulded to replicate the riverstone cobble paving commonly found in Chinese parks and gardens. Regular walking, and even dancing on the cobblestones is seen as a health-enhancing activity in many parts of China.
At the end of 16 weeks, the researchers found a marked difference in the health of the cobblestone walkers as opposed to ordinary ( flat ) walkers. They had lower blood pressure, and ( not surprisingly perhaps ) their balancing skills had improved.
The research will be published in the August issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
If you’d like to experiment with some considerably more-awkward-than-usual walking in your own home, you can get hold of a replica Chinese cobblestone mat, we’re told, from the Oregon Research Institute – though we could find no details about them on their website.
Editor’s comment :
It does neatly explain why certain central London
boroughs, say, for example, London
Borough of Camden, leave broken paving stones unrepaired for months
( and sometimes years ) on end . . . they must be doing it for the good
health of the senior citizens . . .
comments ?30 JUNE 05
Sun of JET
Yesterday, news agencies across the world announced that a decision had finally been reached about where to build the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).
The new device will have “ striking design similarities “ to the existing Joint European Torus (JET) – the experimental fusion reactor at Culham, Oxfordshire.
But it will be considerably bigger.
The JET reactor has so far managed to generate 16MW (16 million watts) “ a value comparable to the power needed for heating one thousand households in a cold winter.” Says their website.
They might have added - “ for just a few seconds “ - because the reaction is not sustainable for any longer. It also needs “ a value comparable to the power needed for heating one thousand households in a cold winter ” of power input, to get the machine going. For it consumes more than it generates.
Nonetheless, JET has provided an enormous amount of know-how – and also proved ( like CERN ) that large-scale international scientific co-operation is viable. But what about fusion itself ? Is that viable ?
There is a lot of testing to do. The plasma core of the reactor will reach 100 million °C, and, needless to say, there is no known material which can withstand that kind of temperature. So, the reactors have to operate in short pulses of a few seconds, and even then, choosing the material with which to line the doughnut-shaped reaction chamber is very problematic. ( the new ITER machine will use beryllium - JET tried carbon composites and found them unsuitable )
Although the technology behind the reactors is astonishingly sophisticated, the fundamental trade-off is simple :
If the reactor is bigger, heat doesn’t leak out as fast – so it can maintain the fusion longer – unfortunately, the lining of the fusion chamber is more likely to melt . . .
So, is it going to work ? There are some very high-profile doubters. Just three years ago, calculations by US fusion theorists allegedly raised " grave doubts " that ITER could achieve ignition. ( source : New Scientist, February 2002 )
Although research has been going on for fifty years, the truth is that no-one is yet certain that the machine will be viable. A ‘never published’ report by the UK government was leaked to New Scientist in July 2002 - Here’s some quotes :
"The safety and environmental advantages of fusion are far from clear-cut."
"Fusion reactors will still produce large quantities of radioactive waste."
"A technically viable solution may not ultimately be achievable."
Oooops . . .
In short, ITER is a $13Billion experiment. It might work. It might not.
A $13Billion international research effort into producing, say, ultra-efficient photovoltaic solar panels, or tidal power generators, would be far more assured of success – but such projects wouldn’t be able to claim the “ akin to building a star on Earth “ headlines.
Arthur C. Clarke made one of his astoundingly farsighted observations when he pointed out that, sometime in the future, a spacecraft, on a deep-space exploration voyage, will almost certainly be overtaken by a newer craft - launched some years later - which can travel much faster.
In other words, it could be argued that it’s wiser to wait until technology is 100% worked-out before one starts constructing something very costly. On the other hand, if we did that, no large-scale experimental projects would ever get built.
* * *
For an extensive description of the project, see: http://www.iter.org
comments
?29 JUNE 05
PFI Fryup
Really Magazine likes to keep our eye on all things scientific and technological, and the flow of large amounts of money – in our book at least – is a ‘systems’ issue.
Some examples of huge flows of cash ? £Billions in fact ? The UK government has been bending over backwards for some years now to try to get Private Finance Initiatives ( PFI’s ) off the ground.
PFI’s involve the government raising money by ‘borrowing it’ from third party firms ( rather than directly from banks ).
But, of course, the government can command very low rates of interest from the banks themselves – they have, after all, first class securities - so why not borrow directly and cut out the ( expensive) middleman ?
There’s a helluva lot of explaining to do - to which we very much look forward . . .
George Monbiot ’s piece in today’s Guardian doesn’t explain why the government is so keen on the idea – but he presents an almost unbelievable list of the disasters clocked-up so far.
If you're a UK taxpayer - read it - and see where your money's flowing to.
If you’re a high-ranking government official in a country other than the UK, and you’re considering importing the PFI concept to your economy – read it – then file it under ‘Dogs’ ( subsection ‘Breakfast’ )
The scale is mind-boggling.
comments
?28 JUNE 05 (late edition)
Solar Sails ( into the sunset )
It’s a shame that the Cosmos-1 ‘solar sailing’ spacecraft, with its mirror-finish Mylar™ sails, never made it into orbit.
Because now we’ll have to wait a few years to find out if it would have worked.
The theory is old. Newton wondered if light might exert a pressure, and James Clerk Maxwell predicted the effect in 1873.
But the idea of ‘ Solar Sails ’ as a means of propelling spacecraft, took until 1951 to appear - in an article entitled “Clipper Ships of Space” from “Astounding Science Fiction” magazine. ( source: www.technovelgy.com )
Experimental evidence leaves no doubt whatever that light can exert a pressure – but how exactly ? Photons have no mass . . . if a photon bounces off a mirror - so what ?
Luckily, we’re not the only ones to find the traditional explanations of ‘momentum transfer’ less than 100% convincing. So does Thomas Gold, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at Cornell.
In a 2003 paper entitled “ The solar sail and the mirror “ he says why ( he believes ) the sails won’t work. As he bluntly puts it : “ The proposed solar sail cannot be accelerated by sunlight. “
He goes on to explain though, that if they were black, instead of mirror finish, they might just work . . .
It’s
all a very reminiscent of the arguments which are still going on as to how Crookes’s
Radiometers work. ( Despite what you may find in the textbooks, the jury's
still out - but Einstein may have explained it ).
Confused yet ? We certainly are. But we may know before too long. We have a hunch that the Planetary Society will be launching Cosmos-2 before very long.
Note* A previous attempt at verifying the ‘Solar Sail’ idea was performed in 2004 by the Japanese Institute of Space Astronautical Science (ISAS), which tested two sails aboard its S-310-34 rocket. We haven’t been able to find out the results of the experiment. Anyone know ?
comments ?28 JUNE 05
A fresh look at bad air
A couple of weeks ago we published a link to a new service which gives London residents access to air pollution forecasts.
http://www.cerc.co.uk/YourAir/
( it’s already seen NO2 levels hit the red mark )
But, according to government guidelines “ People spend more than 80% of their lives indoors.” ( We’re guessing they’re not including farmers and golf coaches )
So what about indoor air pollution ?
Over the years, a great deal of research has been undertaken into the subject. And various reports have been ‘published‘ . . . There is just a chance though, that you might not have been informed . . .
See:
http://www.advisorybodies.doh.gov.uk
“ These reports show that concentrations of air pollutants that frequently occur indoors can have an adverse effect on health. “
To the rescue : Essex University. On Wednesday, they’re unveiling
in London a new software suite designed to aid local, regional and national
governments with a system to translate measured outdoor pollution concentrations
into real health risks.
See:
It’s called the Urban Exposure Module, and plugs into the Air Quality Management System (AirQUIS) already in use across the globe.
The new software predicts indoor pollution using a set of models which utilise
the prevailing outdoor figures ( plus some added-in indoor data such as the
levels of chloroform in drinking water . . . don’t
ask )
For an overview of the Urban Exposure project ( which has already been piloted in Norway ) see :
http://www.nilu.no/urban_exposure
* * *
for the World Health Organisation’s guidelines about air pollutant
levels, specifically :
Organic air pollutants :
Acrylonitrile
Benzene
Butadiene
Carbon disulfide
Carbon monoxide
1,2-Dichloroethane
Dichloromethane
Formaldehyde
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDDs/PCDFs)
Styrene
Tetrachloroethylene
Toluene
Trichloroethylene
Vinyl chloride
Inorganic air pollutants :
Arsenic
Asbestos
Cadmium
Chromium
Fluoride
Hydrogen sulfide
Lead
Manganese
Mercury
Nickel
Platinum
Vanadium
Classical air pollutants :
Nitrogen dioxide
Ozone and other photochemical oxidants
Particulate matter
Sulfur dioxide
Others :
Environmental tobacco smoke
Man-made vitreous fibres
Radon
( Did they forget Chloroform ? Ed.)
comments
?27 JUNE 05
Not to be sniffed at.
‘Opal ™’ is the name of BP’s new low-aromatic gasoline. It’s just arrived at the pumps, and is “ Unique to Australia - A safer petrol for remote communities ”
The fuel is produced, with financial support from the Australian Government, at the BP Refinery Kwinana – and it's designed to combat ‘petrol sniffing’ - which has become a severe problem in some parts of the country.
Sniffing a highly dangerous ( though by no means new ) habit, and can cause permanent brain damage.
“ We don’t suggest that this fuel will address the huge issues (eg boredom, unemployment ) that form part of the reasons why many young people sniff petrol “ says the website.
The new fuel carries only one fifth of the level of ‘aromatics’ that ordinary gasoline does. And so it should be less attractive to 'sniffers'. But the company's ‘ Material Safety Data Sheet ' still quantifies the product’s odour as “ strong ” . . .
( And it’s still classified as a Category 1 carcinogen )
But then, as the ‘Opal™’ website says “ All fuels are potentially toxic ” . . .
It’s an interesting observation – and we haven’t been able to think of one which isn’t ( except, maybe this one . . . )
( Many thanks to New Scientist for digging up the story )
comments ?25 JUNE 05
3000 to 1
If you live in the US, those are the lifetime odds against being struck by lightning.
OK, it’s a little late, we admit, but we bring you the news that this week is (still) Lightning Awareness Week. . .
Every year more than 60 people are killed by lightning strikes in the US – and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association ( NOAA ) is not standing idly by – they’re doing something about it
By issuing guidelines on how to avoid being struck. As their site says - “ Lightning Discharge: Don't Be a Part of It “
There are estimated to be around 25 Million cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning strikes in the US every year. But, unfortunately “ Few people really understand the dangers of lightning. Many people don't act promptly to protect their lives “
So, what should we do ? “ The rule is - If thunder roars, go indoors "
“ When
you see lightning, count the time until you hear thunder. If that time
is 30 seconds or less, the thunderstorm is within 6 miles of you and is
dangerous. Seek shelter immediately “. . .
You should then remain inside until 30 minutes after you hear the last peal of thunder. The shelter should be fully enclosed, and substantially constructed, with wiring and plumbing in the walls.
Whilst inside, you should stay away from doors and windows – and “ avoid contact with anything that conducts electricity ” ( does that include other people ? We're not sure )
Lightning travels at about one-third lightspeed and carries 10,000 times the power of a household electrical circuit. So, if you do get hit, the bolt will probably do a quite a bit of damage.
The NOAA site goes into some detail about what medical effects to expect
if someone is unlucky enough to get struck. Survivors often suffer from frontal
lobe damage, intense headaches, and seizures - which can still happen months
after the injury.
“ The four most important factors in overcoming disability from lightning injury (or from any illness or major injury for that matter) are:
1) Supportive family/friends network.
2) Becoming your own advocate and learning as much as you can about this disability.
3) A physician willing to listen, read, learn and work with the survivor and
their family.
4) A sense of humor. “
* * *
To test your sense of humo(u)r with regard to lightning, see this short story from Mark Twain - ( it's been on the www since 1870 )
comments ?24 JUNE 05
537 to 1
If you had to come up with one word to describe the UK city of Winchester, it might be ‘genteel’ or ‘affluent’ or, as the official tourism site says, “unspoilt ”.
Set on the edge of the rolling ‘South Downs’ ( soft chalk hills ), it has a history which goes back more or less 1000 years - it used to be the Capital City of England.
Nowadays it’s an affluent place, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. Olde Tea Shoppes, a pedestrianised highstreet, and trout streams running through the centre of town (see photo). It boasts near zero unemployment, and, amongst its residents, you’ll find judges, lawyers, academics, and (now) world-famous TV journos.
Not,
perhaps, the first place to spring to mind if you were thinking of getting
rid of 2 Million cubic metres of nuclear waste.
And yet it appears on a previously secret list of 537 possible dumps repositories – just published - which the UK government was considering between 1987 and 1991.
Putting it bluntly, the authorities would have had as much chance getting the idea past the local über-NIMBY residents as they would have had building a new nuclear plant out of egg-boxes and chewing gum.
So, wisely, it was rejected in the first round of site reviews – along with the (almost) equally touristic Abingdon, Kenilworth, and Dartmoor.
The next rounds discounted Grantham, Chester, the island of Raasay in Scotland, and dozens more.
By that time, the powers-that-be had all but given up the idea of finding a location which was geologically suitable – preferring instead sites where there would be minimal local opposition from residents.
“ We are doubtful whether, given the expected level of opposition, it would prove possible to pursue to a successful conclusion a site where there is no measure of support in the local community - no matter how good its technical features “
The list of sites was eventually whittled down from 537 to 1 , and, by a breathtaking coincidence, the perfect location turned out to be none other than Sellafield – just a stone’s throw from Calder Hall ( the site of the UK’s first nuclear reactor, built to manufacture plutonium for nuclear weapons ) . . .
Now spin forward to 1997. . .
When, unhelpfully, the local geology was found to be unsuitable - and the whole plan was scrapped.
Back to the drawing board(room).
The present situation is that the waste* - which will remain dangerously radioactive for thousands of years - is in temporary storage “ at 34 locations around the UK “ ( where ? we don't know - there are no details in the new publication ) .
As we reported last month, if you have any ideas of how to safely dispose of the stuff, then the government’s Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) would urgently love to hear from you.
“ Have your say on the UK's Radioactive Waste - and help us find a way forward “ . . . P L E A S E . . .
( Do bear in mind though that they have already officially discounted the idea of burying it under polar icecaps, or shooting into space )
See :
New Scientist editorial: “ How
not to deal with nuclear waste ” 18
June 2005
For the full report see : ( slightly stubborn .pdf file )
http://www.nirex.co.uk/477002
*Note : The original figure of 2 Million cubic mtrs has now fallen to ¼ Million – but we confess that we haven’t been able to figure out how . . .
comments ?23 JUNE 05
Tomorrow’s temp will be - errrr . . . the same as always. (?)
Given the current interest in Global Warming, we propose that TV and Newspaper weather forecasts should begin giving ‘Global’ temperature forecasts every day ( just average all the forecasts for cities across the world ).
Does the mean world temperature fluctuate on a regular basis, or do the winter/summer - day/night - North/South averages just pan out the same every 24Hrs ? We have no idea.
Perhaps someone is doing it already ? If anyone knows of a site, can you let us know please ?
(We did find one for Mars though)
comments
?22 JUNE 05 (later still)
Imagination-firing link of the day
Get a feel for the Haptic Cow Project from the University of Glasgow.
Many thanks indeed to http://improbable.typepad.com/ for finding it.
comments
?22 JUNE 05 (late)
Slight lack of lunar goalposts
A quarter of a million dollars is a lot of money – and it’s up for grabs courtesy of NASA, who are offering the prize to “ the first team that can extract breathable oxygen from simulated lunar soil before June 1, 2008.”
The Moon Regolith Oxygen (MoonROx) challenge was announced in a press-release on May 19th, and was widely covered in the media, with an excellent explanatory article in New Scientist ( 28th May 2005 )
Why the prize ? According to Brant Sponberg, NASA's Centennial Challenges program manager - “ The innovations from this competition will help support long-duration, human and robotic exploration of the moon and other worlds,"
So, let’s get down to details. Exactly what is required of the team
? They must develop hardware ( within mass and power limits ) that can extract
at least five kilograms of breathable oxygen from simulated lunar soil (called JSC-1)
during an eight-hour period.
Keen to get started ? You might have to hold off for a while – there are rules for “ eligibility “ – and, of course, you’ll need to know what the ‘mass and power limits’ are.
There may be other regulations too – unfortunately we can’t enlighten our readers – because the rules still haven’t been published . . .
Here’s what the Florida Space Research Institute says :
“ FSRI and NASA are now working on a detailed package of rules to govern the competition, including eligibility requirements. We will release a news announcement when the rules are complete and will post them on this site. Please visit again to check availability. “
We have checked – and, more than a month after the original announcement, they’re still not available. ( unless we missed them )
Errrrr . . . Wouldn’t it have been a good idea to set the rules before announcing the completion ?
comments
?22 JUNE 05
Odd link
US Patent 6,908,392 B2, published today :
Target game apparatus and system for use with a toilet.
comments ?21 JUNE 05 (late)
Monkey business
“ We show that standard price theory does a remarkably good job of describing capuchin purchasing behavior “
So begins the abstract of a new study from Yale ( School of Management )
No, it has nothing to do with the price of frothy coffee, it’s referring to Capuchin monkeys, and the fact that, with regard to financial dealings at least “ Capuchin monkeys look remarkably like us; making rational decisions in many of the same settings that humans get right, but also make many of the same mistakes we make. “
The
experiment was a complicated one, in which the subjects learned to trade ‘small
metal disks’ ( sound familiar ? ) for food rewards.
Analysis of the results showed that “ they adjust their purchasing behavior in ways consistent with the Generalized Axiom of Revealed Preferences (GARP).”
If we can partially decode that - the little monkeys were more interested in ‘avoiding loss’ than they were in ‘making gains’.
Indicating, as the study’s conclusion cites “ loss-averse behavior is not confined to humans “
The University’s press-release puts an interesting tag to the story by saying “ [The] work provides an evolutionary spin on the current debate about why Americans do not save enough for retirement or put enough of their savings into the stock market. “
Not putting enough of their savings into the stock market ? ? ?
Now where did we hear that idea before . . . Oh yeah, former
Yale alumnus G. Dubbya – who is, of course, currently trying
to persuade his public to do just that . . .
For the full monkey, see:
http://www.som.yale.edu
* * *
For more research from the Yale School of Management, see also
:
Why
are turkeys cheap at Thanksgiving ?
and :
Does
prison harden inmates ?
comments
?21 JUNE 05
It’s a fly’s life.
Male houseflies have about 44% 'leisure time' ( used for promenading, grooming
etc etc ) . Source: An
Intimate History of Humanity – Theodore Zeldin
comments ?20 JUNE 05 (late edition)
Holiday perils
The ‘Holiday Season’ is upon us ( apparently ). So, here’s a couple of vacation-related unversity press-releases which our readers may find helpful . . .
Firstly, be careful what you eat on holiday – especially in restaurants. “ Beware of the breadbasket “ is one of the top ten traveler’s tips from Louisiana State University.
While you're at it, why not split an entrée in half ? “ You are keeping yourself from overeating as well as cutting calories in half. “
Can't argue with that can you ?
see: http://www.pbrc.edu/pressArticle
* * *
Next, consider what happens when you get back . . . You could end up suffering from Post-Traumatic Vacation Disorder (PTVD). “ [ Holidays ] should be a time to rejuvenate. But many people return from vacation to face piles of work and hundreds of emails “ says a clinical psychologist from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The trick, apparently, is to wrap up as much work as possible before you leave . . .
Uhhhh-Huhhhh
comments ?20 JUNE 05
Why concentrate on the double negatives ?
Security in Iraq is today just a bad as it was after the removal fall of Saddam, admits US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
But things can always be worse than they are - as the secretary pointed out in a BBC Newsnight interview with the following, crypto-logical remark ( a rare example of a positive double-negative ? ) -
"A lot of bad things that could have happened have not happened."
That’s undeniably true ( as it is of anywhere in the world - at any time ).
Puzzling, perhaps, that he didn’t mention one of the things which really has changed beyond all recognition.
The oil’s flowing down the pipeline(s) .
Currently pumping around 200,000 barrels per day ( equivalent to $11.7Million per day at current prices ) out of the country – towards – errrrr . . . we’re not sure actually.
It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good eh Donald ?. . .
Update :June 27th
Although the pipelines are only pumping 200K barrels per day, the total oil production from Iraq is now more than ten times that figure, at 2.5Million barrels per day = $150Million per day = $54Billion per year.
see: http://usgovinfo.about.com
comments
?20 JUNE 05
Do you take plastic ?
Next week ( 20-24 June) is Social Science Week in the UK.
As part of the event, the Economic and Social Research Council ( ESRC ) is publishing results from a University of Bristol study into the levels of ‘personal debt’.
Mr. Average Male UK Adult now owes the credit suppliers £5000, and the average female owes £3000.
Needless
to say, the banks are delighted with the situation. They can earn far higher
rates of interest on the loans than they could by lending their cash to industry
or governments - and the risk is very widely spread - over tens of millions
of punters.
For details ( and the part which ‘envy’ plays in ramping up the debt ) see:
http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk
comments ?18 JUNE 05
Plastic surgery for dogs ( ears a specialty )
No, this isn’t a spoof . . . we promise.
For details checkout the (Flash™) site of Sao Paulo based veterinary plastic surgeon Dr. Edgard Morales Brito. ( To see some before (antes) and after (depois) shots, click ‘Galeria’ then ‘Cirugias’ .)
comments ?17 JUNE 05 (late edition)
New central London air quality service.
Caution : Acronym Overload (AO) ahead.
Somehow managing to cram CERC, PROMOTE, AirTEXT, GMES, GSE and NILU into their short press release , the ESA ( European Space Agency ) is announcing a new service to help asthma sufferers ( and others ) keep track of air pollution in central London.
The service – called ' YourAir ' – will send phone and text messages to ‘vulnerable individuals ‘, predicting levels of nitrogen dioxide, ozone and airborne particles (PM10's), as well as indicating what they are calling the ‘ Health Index ’.
There’s also a new website with the predictions :
http://www.cerc.co.uk/YourAir/
So, we can see that the central London PM10 levels for tomorrow ( 18th June ) are around '30-40 ug/m' (sic. - they mean µg/m3 ) – categorised as ‘low’
Oddly, neither the press release, nor the YourAir site, go into any hard detail about the very real dangers of air pollution.
“ Everyone knows how smoky air can make you cough and cause your eyes to water. - YourAir for Central London shows you the levels of the three most important pollutants in Central London: ozone, airborne particles and nitrogen dioxide. All three of these are thought to harm people who have asthma or other respitory (sic.) or cardiovascular problems. At very high levels they can harm healthy people too. “
“ Thought to harm “ ? ? ? The words 'get' and 'real' spring to mind . . .
It’s very hard to get any down-to-earth figures for the number of ‘excess deaths’ in the UK caused by air pollution. The most concrete estimate we found was so far was ‘a few thousand ’
If we look a few hundred kilometers away though, the German government is not nearly so shy about putting a figure on it. The number of ‘excess deaths‘ caused by air pollution in Germany is now officially 60,000 per year.
If we were to scale the figure to take account of the smaller UK population – then we can guess that around 40,000 or so UK residents are currently dying each year from the effects of breathing bad air . . . ( not including smokers of course )
Perhaps the figures are buried in the UK Government's Department of Health website somewhere – but we couldn’t find them – if anyone manages, please let us know.
comments
?17 JUNE 05
Don’t Throw your Toys out of the Pram or it’ll be Handbags at Dawn.
If you have any ( printed ) evidence for the use of the words :
Cyberspace before 1982
Cyborg before 1960
Codswallop before 1963
then the world-renowned Oxford English Dictionary – in conjunction with the BBC ‘Wordhunt’ – would urgently like to hear from you.
Here’s the website with the list of words and phrases currently under investigation :
http://oed.com/bbcwordhunt/list.html
( thanks to Tony at OMF for drawing to our attention )
comments
?16 JUNE 05 (late edition)
Gimme
As we reported back in Oct 2004, a study at Cornell University showed that " The more food we served to the college-student volunteers in our eating study, the more they ate “
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases
Now, the same uni has performed another study, but this time with a ( rather small ) sample of schoolchildren.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories
The professor of nutritional sciences and psychology at Cornell, David Levitsky, says " We found that portion size is, by far, the most important factor in predicting how much a child will eat.”
He also reveals that " - the more snacks children are offered, the greater their total daily food and calorie intake."
Would you have guessed ?
The full report can be found in this month’s issue of the intriguingly entitled journal ‘Appetite’.
comments
?16 JUNE 05
Full-body x-ray machine.
It’s been around for a while now, but a full-body x-ray setup – called Statscan – is in the news again. The company which manufactures the scanner have just launched the machine in Europe.
See: http://allafrica.com/stories/
Due to radiation concerns, full-body x-rays are not normally performed except in major trauma emergencies, but the Statscan machine works at very low dosage – 1 mGy – roughly the same as a conventional chest x-ray.
You might not guess from the manufacturer’s website http://www.lodox.com that a major shareholder in the company is (or at least was*) De Beers ( the world's largest diamond consortium ).
In fact, they were responsible for the original design of the machine back in the 1990’s . . .
You may be wondering, as we did, why a diamond company would develop a full-body x-ray machine ?
Think : ‘body cavities’ + pilfering
* * *
There is, however, no such thing as a 'risk-free' x-ray dose - so, non-medical, non-emergency, uses would certainly not be encouraged - making this 2002 report from the online South African tech mag Dataweek somewhat disturbing.
Here's a quote from the piece :
“ [ the scanner ] is in operation at many of the De Beers diamond mines. The person standing inside the X-ray cubicle can be scanned in some 12 seconds after which they are transferred either to the outside or a booth where they stay while security personnel can carefully scrutinise the X-ray. “
* Note : For some reason, Lodox choose not to draw attention to their De Beers links. This website, however, has some interesting details.
comments ?16 JUNE 05
Son of Concorde.
Concorde was a ‘commercial disaster’ – although the usual meaning of the word ‘commercial ‘ has to be modified slightly - since the bulk of the money which was lost came from taxpayers rather than the world of commerce.
On a good day, it flew half empty.
Its engines were extremely noisy ( perhaps the noisiest passenger aircraft ever built ), and the fuel costs were sky high.
Now, a new agreement, signed yesterday at the Paris Air Show, will involve European and Japanese companies in a new project to build ‘ Son of Concorde ’
It’s being very widely reported in the news-sphere - but not one of the reports we have seen ( so far ) has mentioned the real reason why the original project failed.
Shortly after it started test flights, it was banned from supersonic speeds in the airspace of all countries which it flew over. Not surprisingly, given the appalling ‘sonic booms’ it created.
So, it could never fly at the speeds for which it was designed over any populated territories – just over the sea – which was why the sole route ended up being London/New York – straight over the Atlantic ( though it had to slow down to sub-sonic at either end ).
Is the new consortium hoping to find a novel technological way of bending the laws of physics to avoid the ‘sonic booms’ - which every faster-than-sound aircraft creates ?
If it ever gets built, it might cut the flight time from Iwo Jima to Galapagos by several hours.
comments ?15 JUNE 05 (late edition)
Not Our Problem
A very informative and clear article in the Wall Street Journal tells us what Exxon ( the most profitable oil company in the world ) thinks about global warming.
According to the Journal, Exxon is far from convinced that the use of fossil fuels is the main cause of global warming.
" We're not playing the issue " says Lee Raymond, Exxon's chairman and chief executive.
Of course there’s absolutely no disputing the fact that the burning of fossil fuels releases CO2 into the atmosphere. It has to. The carbon locked up in the oil has to go somewhere. It used to be underground – now it’s up here.
So, we can only presume that Exxon is simply questioning the notion that the CO2 released when their oil is burnt is significant in terms of its global warming potential.
Of course they have the right to disagree with the vast majority of climate scientists - who might all be wrong in the assumption that burning gargantuan and unregulated quantities of fossil fuels is generally a ‘ bad idea ‘ .
Time will tell who’s right. When the time arrives, one party or the other will have a hell of a lot of explaining to do.
Here’s a prediction. The jury will finally reach their verdict just as the last drops of oil run out.
comments
?15 JUNE 05
"freedom", "democracy" , "demonstration", "human rights"
There ! We’ve said it !
If Micro$oft want to try blocking our site from the Chinese public – then so be it.
* * *
Oh, we forgot, “shark-fin soup“ too.
Update June 30th : see “ Screenshots of Censorship “ on Globalvoices.
comments ?14 JUNE 05 (late edition)
Let’s go ‘off roading’ !
Presently
causing a splash in the media, a UK company is selling a spray-bottle full
of genuine mud ( from Shropshire ).
It's aimed at your SUV.
Wouldn’t want your neighbours to think that you just used it to drive around town all day would you ?
Editor's comment:
Can't help thinking of possible 'political' applications . . .
comments ?14 JUNE 05
RLS
It’s defined as ‘ a disruptive neurological disorder characterized by a compelling urge to move the legs ‘ .
Restless Leg Syndrome is more common than previously thought. A new international study ( the first of its kind ) has found that approximately 7% of the population suffer from it. The causes, unfortunately, remain unknown.
Also see: http://www.rls.org/
comments ?14 JUNE 05
Raising eyebows ?
One of the most poisonous substances known to man – botulism toxin – is now routinely used to treat neurological disorders ( famous too, of course, for its cosmetic applications ).
Now, another extreme toxin – the chemical responsible for the lethal symptoms of tetanus – may have a future in medicine.
New research from the Institute of Neuroscience at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, has identified ( a component of ) the substance as an extremely potent serotonin inhibitor.
Serotonin inhibitors ( the most famous being Prozac™ )
currently have a global sales measured in $Billions,
comments ?14 JUNE 05
"New Balls please."
The mechanical engineering dept at Bath University has press-released
details of a new technique to help prevent tennis balls losing their bounce.
Aside from providing a less-than-perfect game, the team point out that “ Playing with flat balls can increase the likelihood of tennis elbow “.
The new invention - named ‘ Pump’n’Bounce ‘ - is a hand-operated pressure chamber which can encourage the balls to regain some of their sprightliness.
“ Initial tests have shown that it is possible to double if not treble the lifetime of a tennis ball using this kind of system.”
Sadly though, given the way the ‘consumer society’ works, we
can’t help thinking that tennis ball manufactures may not be bouncing
up and down at the news . . .
comments ?14 JUNE 05
It's Food Safety Week.
The Food Commodities and Ingredients Group ( part of the SCI ) is
running an on-line ‘Ask a Food Scientist ’ facility as part of Food
Safety Week. ( 13th till 19th June 2005 )
“ Any question submitted online will be answered within 36 hours by an SCI expert. “ says their site.
You can submit a question either for publication, or for a private e-mail response.
So, if you have a food safety question, here's the URL : http://www.soci.org/
[ The Society of Chemical Industry ( SCI ) is a registered charity and was founded in 1881. Anyone can join - from individuals to ‘Corporate Partners’ - like Shell, The Atomic Weapons Establishment, BASF etc etc. Their current motto being “ Where science meets business, ideas burst through “
They “ provide an important interface between
industrial, academic and other interests “. For instance,
they recently awarded their ‘Perkin Medal’ to the former CEO
of Union
Carbide. ]
* * *
Of course, we have submitted a ‘public question’ – but it hasn’t appeared on the site as yet . . . we’ll let you know . . .
comments
?13 JUNE 05
Our Brain has gone blue . . .
The carefully ( as always ) worded New Scientist article doesn’t actually say that “ The ‘ Blue Brain Project ' would be the first computer simulation of the entire human brain " . . . they’re obviously aware that that would be pure fantasy.
The ‘ BlueBrainProject ’ (BBP) is a joint venture between IBM ( hence the Blue ) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). It will use a purpose-built supercomputer to construct “ an accurate software replica of the neocortical column within 2-3 years “. Quite a challenge, to say the least.
The BBP website goes on to say that they will be able to model “ - progressively large brain regions and eventually the whole brain “.
Keyword = Eventually.
Bearing in mind that, as far as we know, the human brain is by far the most complex organised structure in the universe, ‘eventually’ might be quite a long time in arriving .
[ Number of neurons in a human brain is around 100 Billion.
Each neuron typically has is 1000 to 10,000 connections to others.
Modeling that lot in a few boxes of hardware ?
You do the maths. ]
If our back-of-the-envelope calculations are correct, the current effort would have to be around 10Trillion times bigger to have any hope of getting near the whole-brain target.
We’d like to show you more about the project – but this is what we got when we tried to access the press-release from IBM . . .
We can’t help thinking that a company having difficulty in getting a simple website to work consistently may find modeling an entire human brain somewhat problematic.
Note - 13th June: Their website has now sprung back to life again.
* * *
For brain facts see :
http://faculty.washington.edu/
comments
?11 JUNE 05
Flocking Intelligent WebServers
Researchers at the University of Essex ( Department of Electronic Systems Engineering ) have succeeded in making a ‘flying webserver’, weighing only 76grams, which managed to stay aloft for three minutes.
The Linux sever-software runs on a miniature ' Gumstix ’ computer fitted to a toy helicopter ( a Proxflyer Bladerunner ), and communicates to another PC via Bluetooth™.
The project is called ‘ UltraSwarm ’, and is aiming towards a so-called ‘swarm’ system of airborne flexible computing.
A paper describing the system has just been presented at the IEEE Swarm Intelligence Symposium in Pasadena, California.
Impressive as the project is, you might find yourself asking . . .
Why ?
We can’t answer that for you – but you could try contacting Lockheed Martin Aerospace ( who are providing ‘technical assistance’ ).
Perhaps they'd like to make a miniature swarming version of their " Sentinel of Peace " or their “ All-In-One Dispenser ”?
comments ?10 JUNE 05
Ichthyological risk-assessments ( Elasmobranchs )
The director of the International Shark Attack Files is not happy.
After the 1975 film ‘Jaws ’ :
“ Shark fishing became a popular blue-collar recreational fishing activity for testosterone-bolstered males “
says the press release. Ouch !
In the post ‘Jaws’ years, overfishing has caused the numbers of some species of shark in the waters off the U.S. eastern seaboard to fall by as much as 90 percent.
The International Shark Attack Files site, run from the Florida Museum of Natural History, is keen to help out with some positive shark-centric PR – aiming to counteract their unnecessarily negative image, and so help protect them for future generations.
So, for instance, we can learn that in 1981, more people in New York were bitten by horses (18), than by sharks in the whole of the US (12)
To further put the risks into perspective, the stats tell us that between 1953 and 2003, 101 unfortunate people died in Alabama as a result of lightning strikes – whilst the number perishing from shark bites was 0.
For many more hard facts on the much maligned soft-boned creatures, see:
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/
* * *
Ichthyological Quiz:
What links Disney and the Elasmobranchs ?
comments
?09 JUNE 05
“By using this website you agree to our terms and conditions”
Oh yeah ?
Like you agree to a firm’s ‘terms and conditions’ by looking at a display in their shop window ?
Like you agree to a broadcaster’s ‘terms and conditions’ when watching their TV station ?
Like you agree to a publisher’s ‘terms and conditions’ whilst turning the pages of your favourite newspaper ?
Don’t think so.
But here’s 4,500 websites which reckon you do.
* * *
See our T&C leaguetable ( contributions welcome )
comments
?08 JUNE 05 (late edition)
Spend ( like it or not )
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) have just released their yearly report into arms trading. The figure for 2004 global expenditure on arms clocks-in at around $1Trillion.
SIPRI point out that this equates to a spend of $162 for each person alive.
The figure isn’t wrong. But, if we may say so,it's highly misleading.
They’re simply dividing the $1Trillion by the number of people on the planet – and, of course, not everybody would be able to contribute to the arms spend – even if they wanted to.
We’d like to do our own back-of-the-envelope check to adjust the figures to try to get a handle on the kind of amount that ‘working people’ - the ones who are paying for the arms via their taxes – might be spending. Firstly, let’s rule out the children – making up say, 20% of the population. Then there are senior citizens – say another 20%. Then the non-waged, perhaps another 20%.
At a very rough guess, we can at least double the $162 - to $324.
But this would not differentiate between the cash available from, say, a factory worker in Germany, and another in China – where the monthly wage might be $36 - smaller by a factor of around 50.
So, to guestimate what ‘Western’ workers might be spending – we can at least double the figure again. Perhaps $600.
But, they are taxed on their earnings at around 45%. So let’s say they'll need to earn $1000 to pay the bill.
The SIPRI figure is, however, only taking in to account the cash spent on hardware. It's only half the story. It isn’t measuring the equally vast sums used to maintain the personnel and the infrastructure of the system which will be utilising the arms.
To take this into account we’d have to at least double the figure again.
Our highly unscientific guess is that our average ( wage–earning )
reader is probably spending the equivalent of $2000 ( ish
) per year to keep the ‘ Military Industrial Complex ‘ in the
manner to which it has become accustomed. ( still seems a bit low to us )
Happy with your contribution ?
* * *
Ooops ! we forgot that the figures might be affected depending on the gender of the worker. In fact, we’re not sure that they even seem to be able to agree exactly what arms are. See :
comments
?08 JUNE 05
Do you have a HAL ?
Asks the Tsukuba University. They aren’t referring to an uber-conscious computer ( as in 2001 ) or even a ‘ Hardware Abstraction Layer ’ ( as in PC architecture ) , but to a ' Hybrid Assistive Leg ' instead.
The HAL is a new variation on the idea of a powered ‘exoskeleton’ – a concept which re-surfaces in the tech-news-sphere on a fairly regular basis. ( the first official attempt was by General Electric 40 years ago )
Unlike some previous efforts though, this one seems to work pretty well, and has just been demo-ed at a press conference at the ongoing World Expo2005 in Japan.
It has muscle sensors and position sensors to allow it to add power to the stride, and was originally developed to assist people with ‘gait disorders’. But the media has already picked up on the idea that it may be the precursor of a viable super-strong Cybersuit.
In the past, the main stumbling block with development of the 'exoskeleton idea' has been a worry over what happens if/when the system malfunctions. Maybe the Tsukuba University has cracked it.
You can see videos of HAL in action here :
http://sanlab.kz.tsukuba.ac.jp
also see the somewhat unfortunately named Lower Extremity Enhancer from the University of California.
http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/lower.htm
comments
?07 JUNE 05
Marks out of 101001001110100
‘ Plagiarism ’ is now a major problem with regard to student projects – from the school classroom, right up to Phd level. Why bother to write something original when you can grab it from the WWW with a Ctrl+V ?
Over the last few years, several pieces of software have appeared which can analyse essays and detect cut’n’paste – with varying reliability.
But now lectures [ will soon ] have a new tool in their toolbox. Software which can mark the essays for style and content as well. Essays ( which currently have to be in Word™ format ) are uploaded into the software suite with a small hand-marked ‘tuning’ sample.
According to the originator of the project, Dr. James Christie of the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, the new software – called SEAR ( we haven’t been able to decode the acronym ) will free-up time for lecturers “ to give better constructed feedback or to undertake other lecturer related activities “
* * *
We can’t help noticing that there’s an interesting reductio ad absurdum on the horizon. Since it’s now possible for canny students to generate their essays with little ( or no ) input of their own – and it’s also possible for a computer to mark the results – why bother with the ‘wetware’ at all ?
Couldn’t we cut the students and lecturers out of the loop completely ? . . .
Resistance is futile : You will be assimilated.
For the University’s press- release see :
http://www.rgu.ac.uk/news
for the SEAR homepage, see:http://www.comp.rgu.ac.uk/staff/jrc/
comments
?06 JUNE 05
The road to Immersipresence.
Not all that many people can play a musical instrument, but quite a few can drive a car. That’s the cornerstone tenet of the Expression Synthesis Project (ESP) from the University of Southern California (USC).
Their new interface, configured like a car’s controls “ allows everyone a chance to experience what it’s like to perform. It lets them appreciate the decisions made by a musician in interpreting the music.”
As you might expect, the device controls the synthesised music via MIDI - but it's also coupled with “ François' Software Framework Architecture for Immersipresence and Modular Flow Scheduling Middleware “ ( don’t ask us )
The music rolls out, and a virtual ‘road’ is displayed on a monitor, “ The road’s turns suggest to the driver when to slow down and speed up."
We can’t quite figure out what role the steering wheel plays, but the
foot pedals control the tempo of the piece.
For an overview, see :
Fancy a test drive ? Don’t bother clicking the link on the USC site – it’s
dead. Try this one, listed in their press-release, instead .
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~mucoaco
Doh ! that doesn’t seem to work either . . .
Let’s hope the University's Immersipresence Engine is tuned-up better than their website is . . .
comments
?04 JUNE 05
Midsummer Night's ( Swiss ) Dream
There can’t be all that many hormones which have their own website. Oxytocin is one of them. It’s a mammalian chemical, a small peptide, made mostly in the hypothalamus, and it’s earned the nickname of the ‘cuddle hormone’ - due to the fact that it’s produced ( and presumably detected ) at what might be termed ‘ quality bonding moments ‘ . . .
Now it’s hit the news again through a Swiss study published in this week’s Nature magazine entitled “ Oxytocin increases trust in humans “ The researchers gave a nasal spray of the hormone ( or a placebo ) to a group of 194 male* students. The subjects were then engaged in a ‘trust’ game – involving real money. It was found that the students who received the spray ‘trusted’ significantly more. About 20% more in fact ( if our maths is correct ).
“ We find that intranasal administration of oxytocin causes a substantial increase in trusting behaviour.” was the conclusion.
But our back-of-an-envelope analysis of the Swiss study shows that although the chemically-induced increase in trust was very high – the actual amounts, in real-world cash terms, were very low. The subjects were willing to chance just an extra £0.25 or so – less than the price of a postage stamp.
Would the results have been the same if the losses / gains were at a substantial level - in other words at a level which made any significant difference whatsoever to the lives of those involved ?
We’d also like to point out that there are several other chemicals, already in everyday use, which really do substantially alter the way money flows though the economy. Go to any bar around Liverpool St. station ( one of the main commuter routes out of the City of London’s uber-powerful financial district ) on a Friday evening - and you’ll see plenty of evidence of what fuels-up the City Boys.
Commentators have already suggested though ( in the same issue of Nature ) that “ political operators [ could ] generously spray the crowd with Oxytocin at the rallies of their candidates “. . .
Errrr . . . No, not really*.
We suggest that a generous supply of free beers may work substantially better.
For an overview of the experiment see:
For the Nature article see :
* Oxytocin is commonly used drug in hospital obstetrics departments. It induces uterine contractions in women.
comments
?03 JUNE 05
Parrot deadline expires.
We’d like to remind any Brazilian readers that the deadline for handing-in any parrots has just passed. A law passed in 1999 decreed that any parrots ( or other creatures ) which were taken from the wild ( rather than bred in captivity ) must be handed over to specially created zoological departments which will try to re-integrate the animals back into the wild.
The law ( not surprisingly ) has proved very difficult to implement, so there have been several amnesties – the last of which has just expired.
It’s led to many anomalous situations. We learned yesterday of an unhappy pet-owner who has just turned-in their pet/confidant - a parrot which has lived with them for over thirty years. Clearly the bird is going to have a great deal of difficulty re-integrating.
The penalty for pet owners non-compliance is a fine of up to £1000 – and a possible jail sentence.
comments ?03 JUNE 05
Military heads not Snafu or Fubar.
A team of doctors and psychiatrists from King's College London and Defence Medical Services ( motto: “ A Force for good in the world “ ) has just published the results of a study ( this month’s British Journal of Psychiatry ) into the psychological effects of military service.
They gave a ‘self administered‘ psychological test – called a GHQ-28, to 254 members of the UK's Air Assault Brigade before deployment to Iraq last year.
The GHQ-28 is a ‘tick the box’ test, with penetrating and revealing questions such as :
“ have you recently been able to enjoy your normal day-to-day activities ? “
“ have you recently found everything getting on top of you ? “
“ have you recently been getting any pains in your head ? “
etc etc etc.
When the personnel returned from their tour of duty, they were given the test again - and the results “ indicated a highly significant relative improvement in mental health “
The authors don’t go as far as advocate war as a benefit to the soldier’s state of mind though – preferring instead the guarded conclusion “ War is not necessarily bad for psychological health “.
Perhaps we can suggest an even simpler test ?
Why not ask the fighters “ are you happy to be going ? “ before
they leave – and then “ are you happy to be back home safely
? “ – when they return. We wonder which would score higher ?
As far as we can make out, the study didn’t examine the mental health of the civilian population in Iraq, or any other war–torn area. Bearing in mind that in all recent wars ( since WW1 ) the civilian population always suffers far greater casualties that the military forces involved, maybe that would be another idea for future King's College studies ?
comments
?02 JUNE 05
Small [(often) =] blurred
Sometimes we make mistakes. Things slip under our radar. So we’d like
to apologise to readers for not spotting research published back in the February
issue of Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.
A joint effort from the University of Washington and the University of California, it was entitled “ Why is it easier to identify someone close than far away? “ and outlines the “ distance-as-filtering hypothesis ”, coupled with “ Face Identification Energy “.
Which, as we understand it, implies that, as a face moves farther away from us, the ability to recognise it decreases in a manner inversely proportional to distance.
The
study focused particularly on the ability of subjects ( 24 students ) to
recognise digitally filtered ‘ celebrity faces ‘ , and the following
formula was revealed :
( Where P = the number of celebrities recognised )
To look more closely at the full details, see : http://rocky.psych.ucla.edu
Or, for a quicker-loading abstract : http://www.ingentaconnect.com
( by the way, in case you're wondering, it's Julia Roberts )
comments ?01 JUNE 05
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