MedWorm.com provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest items from the 'Sciencebase Science Blog' source. Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:54:15 +0100 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/vitamin-d-dilemma.html Radiological health expert Daniel Hayes who works at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recent published on the subject of low dose radiation and the possibility that a form of vitamin D could be the key to protecting us from background radiation and perhaps save lives following a nuclear incident or terrorist attack involving a so-called dirty bomb. Hayes explains that calcitriol, the active form of vitamin D, could be the oral agent, that medics have been searching for to provide a quick, simple, and inexpensive way to protect us when the warning sirens sound. Having spoken to various researchers with markedly different views on vitamin D, its benefits and its its potentially detrimental effects on health, I wasn’t too sure about how adding yet another dietar... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1961655 Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:00:37 +0100 1961655 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/scientists-socializing-online.html My post on social media for scientists seems to have been received rather well, with a huge amount of traffic and positive responses from various big name commentators across the networks and blogosphere. Several scientists have already commented about the post over on Nature Networks. Nature’s own Maxine Clarke describe it as “an amazingly useful post” but was worried that there seem to be so many scientific social media clones now available. It is, she says, “It is hard to see them all enduring.” But, that’s not surprising, natural selection and survival of the fittest will kick in. Indeed, it already is happening to a degree. Some of these communities are fast approaching critical mass. For instance, Joerg Heber is also concerned that there lots of cl... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1955764 Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:13:57 +0100 1955764 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/sciencebase-siblings.html Just a quick reminder of the various sites now associated with the Sciencebase Science Blog: Over on http://www.sciscoop.com we have an active science news forum, recently discussing everything from the morning banana diet scam to space elevators. On http://www.sciencetext.com you can find computing tips and tricks, hacks for making your blog or website work better for you and your readers and the occasional editorial on the latest research into social media, the web, computing, and related areas. Free trade magazines, white papers, and other resources can be found at http://sciencebase.tradepub.com, including free subscriptions to Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, The Scientist, and BioTechniques, all journals to which I have contributed. On http://www.reactivereports.com, http://www.chemspy... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1952746 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:29:36 +0100 1952746 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/scuppering-the-program-pirates.html Professors the world over are worried about plagiarism: students simply lifting huge chunks from web pages and passing the thoughts and arguments off as their own. Then there are the Professors who steal from each other and publish their work in supposedly novel research papers and books and present it at conferences as original. This kind of plagiarism seems to be on the increase. No one know the true extent to which it is being undertaken, but a few high-profile cases have increased awareness in the academic community of the paper pirates who could scupper your research career plans with a few well-stolen words. It could be that a whole generation of students and unscrupulous Professors are creating an information black market. In the long-term, it is the students’ education, the r... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1940170 Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:00:19 +0100 1940170 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/social-media-for-scientists.html Towards the end of October, I received a flurry of emails asking me to check out new social networking sites for scientists, I’ve already reviewed the nanoscience community, of course. I suspect that, the academic year having moved into full swing, there were a few scientists hoping to tap into the power of social media tools and the whole web-two-point-ohhhh thing. This from Brian Krueger: “I came across your blog during my weekly google search for “science social network.” I thought you might be interested in my website, LabSpaces.net. It’s a social network for the sciences that I’ve had on-line for the last two years and I recently got my University to send out a press release about it. I think you should stop by and check it out. Let me know what you... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1940171 Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:01:18 +0100 1940171 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/election-special.html Congratulations to Barack Obama and well done American, you should feel proud to voted for your 44th President in Barack Obama. But, now that’s done and dusted on with the real news: In Issue 100 of the relaunched ChemWeb Alchemist, we report on energy is top of the agenda with a record-breaking solar cell material from Australia. New insights into the ripening of bananas reveals they get the blues while crystallography has been thrown a curveball as scientists discover the active sites in many models of protein receptors are not what they seemed to be. The chemistry of alternative medicine sits toxically under the glare of the Alchemist’s lamp and revelations about yet another small molecule with a crucial role to play in cellular control. Finally, a double ACS award for resea... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1933516 Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:02:05 +0100 1933516 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/science-of-spam.html Who hasn’t received a spam email with some kind of clause laying claim to compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003? They usually say something about the message being anything but spam. But, it quickly becomes obvious, if you actually waste the time to read the content, that it is a generic marketing message for some kind of herbal remedy for enhancing one or other, or two, parts of your body, making you money, or offering an ugly gold-plated watch at a knock-down price. Of course, the can-the-spam legislation was meant to squash spam forever, although by not making spam officially illegal across the globe, it did nothing of the sort. It was baloney, in a can. In fact, Petur Jonsson, the Professor of Economics and Chair of the Department of Finance, Economics, Entrepreneurship, and M... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1933517 Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:00:47 +0100 1933517 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/melamine-open-secret.html In September, news emerged from China that thousands of babies had taken ill having drunk formula milk to which the organic compound melamine had been added. The melamine was being added by unscrupulous operatives somewhere in the milk supply chain, to artificially boost the nitrogen content of the product, and so spoof higher protein levels than are actually present. Subsequently, lists of contaminated products appeared in the media and on the web and as the melamine scandal widened, the Chinese government issued an apology and promised to crack down on the problem. However, with news this week that batches of eggs imported into Hong Kong from China have tested positive for melamine, which is suspected of causing kidney problems, it now appears that the compound is being added routinely t... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1928008 Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:03:54 +0100 1928008 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/halloween-skeletons-and-reactive-chemistry.html In the latest scary issue of the chemistry news webzine, Reactive Reports: Dating skeletons, sticky feet for Gecko Guy, volcanic chemistry from the depths of Hades, and chasing mad cows. CSI: Waco - A statistical method that processes spectroscopic measurements very quickly could allow crime scene investigators to determine time of death of skeletal remains more accurately and quicker than before, according to researchers at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Stuck On You - Scientists have long been interested in the ability of gecko lizards to scurry up walls and cling to ceilings by their toes. Now, researchers have found a way to mimic those hairy gecko feet using polymers or carbon nanotubes. Tubular Reactions - Using surface-modified carbon nanotubes to activate an important industrial... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1926813 Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:04:26 +0100 1926813 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/five-leaf-clovers.html An anonymous visitor to the site emailed me: “I found a 5 leaf clover… do you know anything about it? Is it good luck or bad luck?” It’s just a mutation, like the four-leaf clover, of course. The four-leaf mutation is quite rare occurring once in about 10,000 specimens. Five is rarer still. But, according to this site: Five-leaf Clovers bring extra good luck and attracts money. Nice, I wonder why the banks don’t breed these things and hand them out to their managers. Of course, there is no such thing as “luck” and no number of leaves on a member of the more than 300-strong species of plants in the pea family Fabaceae is going to change that. Clover (Trifolium), or trefoil, usually means three-leafed, hence the surprise when one finds a specimen wit... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1926814 Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:30:37 +0100 1926814 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/revolutionary-solids.html History teachers can always turn to the significant figures and battles to enliven their lessons, biology education has the enormously diverse range of species to point to, and even physics can pull in metaphors and anecdotes for the more esoteric aspects, try teaching gravity without mentioning Galileo and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But, teachers of mathematics have it tough. They can describes solids and shapes, discuss how Alice and Bob might share out an apple pie fairly between nine friends. But. How does one visualise an abstract equation like this: A rare few students will cope entirely, finding a way to see what such a formula means, but most struggle (I know I did) to imagine an object like a four-dimensional hypercube, for instance. Annunziata Cascone, Gerardo Durazzo, and Valen... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1921486 Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:00:29 +0100 1921486 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/ayurvedic-heavy-metal.html Ayurvedic medicines can contain dangerous quantities of heavy metals, including lead, mercury, thallium and arsenic, clinical toxicologists in London have warned. Writing in the International Journal of Environment and Health, they suggest that recent European legislation aimed at improving safety of shop-bought products will have little impact on medicines prescribed by traditional practitioners, imported personally from overseas or bought over the Internet. The problem is that the heavy metals are not simply inadvertent contaminants of natural herbal products, they are added deliberately in order to supposedly return the body to health by rebalancing allegedly essential minerals. You can read the full article on this via AlphaGalileo. There are wide and wild claims for Ayurvedic medicine... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1915322 Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:00:58 +0100 1915322 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/open-access-in-africa.html There is much talk about Open Access. There are those in academia who argue the pros extensively in all fields, biology, chemistry, computing. Protagonists are making massive efforts to convert users to this essentially non-commercial form of information and knowledge. Conversely, there are those in the commercial world who ask, who will pay for OA endeavours and how can growth (current recession and credit crunch aside) continue in a capitalist, democratic society, without the opportunity to profit from one’s intellectual property. Those for and against weigh up both sides of the argument repeatedly. However, they often neglect one aspect of the concept of Open Access: how they might extend it to the developing nations, to what ends, and with what benefits. Writing in a forthcoming ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1908042 Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:05:43 +0100 1908042 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/rhodiola-rosea.html Live long and prosper with Rhodiola rosea? I very much doubt it. R rosea (aka golden root, roseroot, hóng jǐng tiān in TCM) is a member of the Crassulaceae family and grows across the Arctic, the mountains of Central Asia, the Rockies, the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Carpathian Mountains, Scandinavia, Iceland, Great Britain and Ireland. According to some herbalists it could be an elixir for life. The Wiki entry for R rosea says it may be effective for improving mood and alleviating depression and early stage studies on people have shown some efficacy in improving physical and mental performance, alleviating fatigue, and reducing high-altitude sickness. A possible mode of action involves what the entry describes as, “optimizing serotonin and dopamine levels”. This apparently happ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1902517 Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:52:33 +0100 1902517 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/explosive-news.html In my SpectroscopyNOW.com column this week: US researchers have used NMR to help them develop a new high explosive material that can be melt cast into a charge with any shape (and presumably whose explosions could be monitored by the blast-proof thermometer). Nanotubes and geckos caught the eye of The Alchemist this week as US chemists describe a way to out-gecko the gecko by developing a new material that simulates the animal’s hairy feet but is ten times as sticky. Adhering with the theme of sticking, European researchers have found a way to tether prions to a model cell membrane that could open up new research into diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob, BSE and scrapie. In environmental news, recent insights into dust from the Sahara could improve our understanding of climate change.... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1896036 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:45:40 +0100 1896036 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/melamine-apology.html The day after yet more melamine in food warnings, this time in Bangladesh where eight imported powdered milk products have been banned and in Italy, it is reported that the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, has apologised for the Chinese government’s complacency in the melamine in milk scandal. Tainted baby formula milk has killed at least four babies in China and led to the hospitalisation of tens of thousands; it has also caused undue worry for parents the world over. “We feel that though the incident occurred in enterprises, the government is also responsible,” Wen said in a rare interview with Bruce Alberts, editor-in-chief of Science magazine. The rare one on one interview took place on September 30 and was published in the US journal yesterday. Wen, apparently expressed ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1889187 Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:07:02 +0100 1889187 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/science-books.html Once again, I have a stack of great books sitting on the Sciencebase desk ready for review. First up is Go Green - How to Build an Earth-Friendly Community, which you will be pleased to learn has been published on apparently sustainable paper. The author, Nancy Taylor, is an environmental columnist and teaches a course on the art of green living. Her book does what it says on the tin (also recyclable, other metals are available), offering advice for those who want to change the way they live to be more in line with a sustainable future. Homeowners, students, professionals could do well to take a look and learn how to live greener lives. Politicians should also take a look, as at the bottom line, Taylor could show them how to save money. And, speaking of green, fuel cells are apparently the... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1888611 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:54:11 +0100 1888611 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/blog-action-day-on-poverty.html We are, the media tells us, either on the verge or diving head first into a global recession the likes of which we have never seen. Countless financial headlines have screamed Credit Crunch, which sadly isn’t a wholegrain breakfast cereal for day-traders, for a year now. Banks are borrowing billions from taxpayers to allow them to lend even more money to each other. There has almost been not a thought for the millions of people out of work and out of a home the ruins of whose lives the apparent collapse of capitalism is built. Anyone who thought Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae were porn star names, or the Lehmann Brothers were a support act for Marx (as in Groucho and gang) surely now knows better. Stocks and share prices yo-yo between lower highs and increasingly depressing lows. But, awa... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1883853 Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:51:43 +0100 1883853 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/melamine-in-the-global-food-supply.html While melamine in the mainstream media seems to have quietened down in the last few days, there are still a few of us in the blogosphere attempting to unravel the tangle. I first reported in my melamine in milk article (September 17) how the news broke that babies in China were somehow being poisoned by a contaminant in their formula milk powder. The contaminant was identified as melamine, an organic compound high in nitrogen and specifically amine groups that can dupe protein test equipment into thinking a product is rich in protein when it is not. Of course, the addition of non-nutritional organic compounds may fool the machine, but it does not fool the body of anyone eating the substance in their food and they will either be poisoned if the compound is itself toxic or suffer malnutritio... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1876705 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:00:38 +0100 1876705 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/cocaine-addiction-heroin-test.html The latest issue of my SpectroscopyNOW column is now online. In this issue, having sampled a little cannabis chemistry last month, I turned to cocaine, and enzymes to beat addiction, and new techniques for testing the purity, or otherwise of street heroin. Anti cocaine - A mutant enzyme that breaks down cocaine in the bloodstream 2000 times faster than the body’s natural enzymes could lead to a rapid-response treatment for acute overdose or lead to a new therapeutic approach to treating drug addiction. Testing times for street heroin - Impure forms of illicit drugs are almost as big a problem as the drugs themselves. Now, researchers in Spain have used diffuse reflectance near-infrared spectroscopy (DR-NIR) to quickly determine the purity of heroin. Sooty balloons - Nothing more soph... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1871319 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:35:13 +0100 1871319 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/nobel-prize-for-chemistry-2008.html The Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2008 was awarded to Osamu Shimomura (b. 1928) of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), at Woods Hole, Massachusetts and Boston University Medical School, Martin Chalfie (b. 1947) of Columbia University, New York, and Roger Tsien (b. 1952) of the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, “for the discovery (1962 by Shimomura) and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP”. Important, of course, and congratulations to all three…but I just knew it would be bio again! The Nobel org press release for the Chemistry Prize can be found here. The remarkable brightly glowing green fluorescent protein, GFP, was first observed in the beautiful jellyfish, Aequorea victoria in 1962. Since then, this protein has become one of the most importa... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1863331 Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:08:44 +0100 1863331 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/melamine-and-kidney-failure.html Roberta Weiss, a nephrologist (kidney doctor) emailed to provide Sciencebase readers with some more background on melamine toxicity. Weiss suggests that, “Probably acute renal failure resulting from cyanuric acid crystal formation in the kidneys of babies that ingested the melamine contaminated formula was responsible for the infant deaths, not kidney stone formation.” Weiss is a kidney doctor for adults, but emphasises that she has never seen a case of melamine related kidney or bladder stones. However, there have been animal studies carried out since the 1980s that do demonstrate that the ingestion of melamine by mice can cause bladder stones, known technically as urolitiasis. These are apparently associated with ulcerations in the bladder. Weiss adds that the animal food tai... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1860016 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:00:08 +0100 1860016 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/nobel-prize-for-physics-2008.html The Nobel Prize for Physics 2008 is announced here Tuesday, October 7. The Nobel Prize in Physics goes to Yoichiro Nambu (born 1921) of the Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago “for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics” and to Makoto Kobayashi (b. 1944) of the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) Tsukuba, Japan, and Toshihide Maskawa (b. 1940) of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics (YITP), Kyoto University Kyoto, “for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature”. You can read the full press release from the Nobel org here. As I mentioned in my previous post on the 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiolog... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1860017 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:20:50 +0100 1860017 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/mobile-internet-insecurities.html Most internet users will be unaware and unconcerned by the computer science and technology that underpins their daily web surfing, emails, chats, and Twitter updates. But, there are, of course, thousands of incredibly bright people working behind the scenes to make the internet work. One aspect of the backroom work that goes on, is the development of the software systems that carry the packets of information across the internet, whether that’s to open a web page in your browser, connect your net phone to a friend across the ocean, or trap spam on its way to your inbox. At the moment, the internet is mainly running on a system known as Internet Protocol version 4, or IPv4. Version 4 was first mooted in 1981, years before the Web was invented and certainly long before broadband, Youtub... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1860018 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:00:41 +0100 1860018 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/nobel-prize-for-medicine-2008.html This year the Nobel committee has awarded the Prize for Physiology or Medicine to Harald zur Hausen for his discovery of human papilloma viruses (HPV) causing cervical cancer and to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The announcement was made via the Nobel organisation’s Twitter page and on their site. zur Hausen (born 1936) works at the German Cancer Research Centre Heidelberg. Barré-Sinoussi (born 1947) is at the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit, Virology Department, Institut Pasteur Paris, France and Montagnier (born 1932) is at the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention also in Paris. The full press release for the announcement of the Medicine Prize is here. Where’s Robert Gallo in all... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1860019 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:34:17 +0100 1860019 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/cancer-research.html I don’t know anyone who hasn’t got a cancer story to tell, whether it is personal experience, a relative or friend, or association with their patients or through their research. Cancer has always been with us, but contrary to the popular image propagated by the mainstream media it is not a simple, nor single disease. In this month’s cancer research blog carnival hosted on the Sciencebase Science Blog, I present a few selected posts from fellow bloggers discussing various aspects of cancer research. Thanks to everyone who submitted a cancer research post. First up is PalMD on the Denialism blog who explains that cancer is the second leading cause of death, in the US at least, and confirms the ubiquity of the disease as 4% of the population is directly affected (think six d... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1852781 Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:12:16 +0100 1852781 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/melamine-contaminated-food-list.html As this problem continues to roll along, here is a melamine contaminated food list plucked from the latest news results on the subject: Powdered baby milk. HK finds melamine in Chinese-made cheesecake. Cookies With Melamine Found in Netherlands. Mr Brown coffee products. Manufacturing giant Unilever recalls melamine tainted tea. Melamine Detected in Two More Ritz Snacks. More Chinese-made sweets recalled in Japan. White Rabbit brand Chinese candy contaminated: Asian health officials. Lipton, Glico and Ritz the latest businesses to be affected by milk powder scandal. Hong Kong finds traces of melamine in Cadbury products. Recalled Melamine Milk Products include Asian versions of Bairong grape cream crackers, Dove chocolate, Dreyers cake mix, Dutch Lady candy, First Choice crackers, Kraft O... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1851469 Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:00:26 +0100 1851469 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/tennis-racquet.html I’m not sure what to make of this, but Don Mueller, of William Paterson University, New Jersey, who goes by the nickname Dr Bones sent me some video clips of what is, essentially, a new sport he invented - two-racquet tennis. Now, my first thought was: “what the flip?” But, apparently his service velocity is higher than that of most tennis professionals, although I don’t think that has anything to do with using a racquet in each hand. Anyway, he has posted a selection of videos on Youtube to demonstrate his prowess at this new sport: Tennis Serve (a), Tennis Serve (b), Groundstrokes (a), Groundstrokes (b), Drills-righthand (a), Drills-lefthand (b) Mueller tells me that he combined his understanding of basic physics to devise the “Whip-Grip”, which gives ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1848303 Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:00:23 +0100 1848303 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/milky-melamine.html A brief summary and update to the Sciencebase original posts on Melamine in Milk and Melamine Scandal Widens. Dairy farmers have been feeling the squeeze for years, particularly in parts of the world where technological advancement has been slow in coming and so their profit margins on their milk output have not been lifted by improved efficiency. In order to boost profits milk has been diluted. However, this brings with it the problem of falling quality - dilute with water and measurable concentrations of milk proteins, fats, and sugars fall. Dilution by up to 30% has not been uncommon, which is where melamine (as I’ve mentioned) comes in. Melamine is a small organic molecule with a high nitrogen content that can easily fool the quality control equipment into thinking that nitrogen... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1837863 Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:46:57 +0100 1837863 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/disastrous-rumours.html Gossip and rumours, they are the life force of cultural interaction. Just ask Guy Kawasaki, whose Truemors.com website took off last year, the hundreds of hacks who peddle the minutiae of celebrity lifestyles complete with the Photoshopped products of the paparazzi, or Perez Hilton. But, there is a serious side to rumours. In the midst of a natural disaster, terrorist atrocity, or war-torn location, the spread of rumours can mean the difference between life and death. Informatics and e-business expert Judith Molka-Danielsen of Molde University College, Norway and public relations professional Thomas Beke of the University of Szeged, Hungary, explain how rumours affect how rational individuals assess risks, evaluate needs, and make decisions in disaster-affected environments. “Rumours... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1833654 Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:46:00 +0100 1833654 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/spectral-analysis.html This week in my SpectroscopyNOW column, I have four new posts covering, as usual, a wide range of solutions to scientific and technical problems. First up, is the discovery that compounds found in cannabis could lead to novel antibiotics that are less susceptible to resistance than conventional drugs. Then, we have a new type of spectroscopy that allows scientists to carry out broadband analysis of artificial atoms held at temperatures close to absolute zero. Next, is word from chemists that they have developed a new type of reaction flask that can carry out reactions in the solid state. Finally, this week, we hear of testing times for biomass, where modern spectral analysis could help in the processing of old, treated wood as a renewable fuel resource. Doping the superbugs - Substances fo... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1829752 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:00:56 +0100 1829752 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/melamine-scandal-widens.html Four infants in China have died and at least 53,000 are reportedly ill, many seriously so, having been fed milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. A three-year old girl in Hong Kong is also ill, but has now been released from hospital, she was the first reported case outside mainland China. Major formula milk producer Nestle says none of its products in China has been contaminated with melamine, although the Hong Kong government says it has found the contaminant in the company’s milk formula. I guess it’s no surprise that this scandal has emerged after, rather than before or during, the Olympic Games, but that is not something that would be peculiar to China. Governments the world over try to manage bad news and China certainly does not have a monopoly o... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1816125 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:22:34 +0100 1816125 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/why-do-leaves-turn-red-in-autumn.html Today, is the first day of autumn, the fall, and Google is celebrating with a new leafy logo. But, why do leaves turn red in the fall? It’s all down to chemistry. Red pigments known as anthocyanins form in leaves from many plant and tree species at the same time as the green photosynthetic apparatus is dismantled by the plant during which nutrients containing nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are re-absorbed by the plant from its leaves for winter storage. If these nutrients are not resorbed next year’s growth is inhibited. As the levels of green compounds in the leaf falls and anthocyanins rise so the leaves of many species change from verdant to rusty with a range of colours in between. For more information on why leaves turn red in autumn, check out this page from Wisconsin Un... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1816126 Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:00:00 +0100 1816126 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/revisiting-chernobyl.html Chernobyl. The very name strikes fear into the hearts of those who hate everything about the nuclear industry. It conjures up images of an archaic, burning industrial site spewing out lethal fumes, of farm animals dying of radiation poisoning in their thousands and contaminated meat, of ecosystems devastated, and of people with radiation sickness and for those spared the acutely fatal toxicity, the prospect of cancers to come and perhaps generations of mutations. But… Korean researchers argue that while the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine, was the worst catastrophe involving radiation to humans, but has led to an unfortunate and unwarranted degree of radio-anxiety. It is not radiation that is the health issue, but this anxiety. Chong-Soon Kim of the Korea Inst... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1811642 Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:32:00 +0100 1811642 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/melamine-in-milk.html Today, we learn that several thousand babies in China are seriously ill, having suffered acute kidney failure, with several fatalities, among those given formula milk contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. The toll is far higher than was previously admitted by the Chinese authorities, according to the BBC. Manufacturer, Sanlu, part-owned by New Zealand’s Fonterra Cooperative, recalled all of its powdered milk products in China’s north-west province of Gansu. However, twenty-two brands, including China Mengniu Diary Co and Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, of milk powder have so far been identified as containing melamine. “The majority of afflicted infants ingested Sanlu-brand milk powder over a long period of time, their clinical symptoms showed up three ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1806743 Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:14:30 +0100 1806743 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/spray-on-condoms.html As a kind of follow-up to my Sex and Social Networking post last week, I thought I’d give a mention to the ludicrous idea of spray-on condoms highlighted, in lurid yellow on Geeks are Sexy this week. This supposedly original idea of applying Latex in spray-on form looks like an April Fool’s joke. First off, it’s not a new idea, especially given the range of colours the inventor is working with. I have heard of several patent applications for similar approaches to contraception and safer sex over the years, they even get a mention in Ben Elton’s book This Other Eden. The idea is fatally flawed on several fronts. In the heat of passion, I suspect that producing a laboratory-standard uniform layer with no weak points will be impossible and therefore make the device ine... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1795000 Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:42:04 +0100 1795000 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/sex-and-social-networking.html Ultimately, the only truly safe sex is that practised alone or not practiced at all, oh, and perhaps cybersex. However, that said, even these have issues associated with eyesight compromise (allegedly), repetitive strain injury (RSI) and even electrocution in extreme cases of online interactions (you could spill your Mountain Dew on your laptop, after all). And, of course, there are popups, Trojans, packet sniffers and viruses and worms to consider… No matter how realistic the graphics become in Second Life or how good the 3rd party applications in Facebook, however, unless you indulge in direct human to human contact in the offline world, you are not going to catch a sexually transmitted disease, STD. Real-world social networking is, of course, a very real risk factor for STD transmissi... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1790696 Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:00:55 +0100 1790696 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/top-trumps-science.html Something a little different today. A tale of family playtime, a poll, and a competition to win prizes from the RSC and the CentreoftheCell. So, on with the story… This term, both my kids are learning about the elements at school. My daughter, who is still in primary school is learning about the ancient elements - earth, air, fire, water. While my son, who is half way through high school returned home with tales of electron shells and the elements of the periodic table. It was, therefore quite timely that Royal Society of Chemistry press officer and Satrianialike, Jon Edwards, should send me a pack of Visual Elements Trumps. The cards follow in the classic tradition of the Top Trumps game, my friends and I collected and played when we were at school - trains, planes, automobiles and ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1786350 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:46:59 +0100 1786350 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/cosmic-effort-sheds-light-on-dark-energy.html Forget the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), with its alleged ability to create earth-sucking microscopic black holes, its forthcoming efforts to simulate conditions a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang 100 metres beneath the Swiss countryside. There is a far bigger puzzle facing science that the LHC cannot answer: What is the mysterious energy that seems to be accelerating ancient supernovae at the farthest reaches of the universe? In the late 1990s, the universe changed. The sums suddenly did not add up. Observations of the remnants of stars that exploded billions of years ago, Type Ia supernovae, showed that not only are they getting further away as the universe expands but they are moving faster and faster. It is as if some mysterious hidden force that pervades the cosmos is working ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1780085 Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:00:22 +0100 1780085 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/night-at-the-web-museum.html Years ago when BioMedNet’s HMSBeagle was still sailing the high seas, I wrote a feature for the Adapt or Die careers column on scientific jobs in museums, the feature, which is available on Sciencebase is still relatively valid, but one big aspect of museums that has changed significantly since the Beagle was abandoned in dry dock is that museums the world over have virtualised themselves. It has reached the point now, that a museum without a web presence and moreover without a beautifully designed, powerful, comprehensive, informative and interactive web presence is no museum at all. I’m sure that curators the world over reading this will by now be gnashing their teeth, and if any of them have no teeth to grit, teeth will be provided. Anyway, it’s not to say that a purel... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1770835 Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:42:28 +0100 1770835 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/science-blogging-2008.html First off, just to say thanks to everyone who made sciblog2008 possible, already looking forward to its successor ScienceOnline2009. It was fun to put faces to names of many of my fellow science bloggers and others out there who were at the Ri on Saturday. Quite amazing how so many look as young as their avatars! The conference, the breakouts and the unconference were fun and informative albeit if a certain keynote speaker was wont to use rather too many expletives (is that how conferences are these days?) Anyway, speaking of how conferences are “these days” it was interesting to see just how much of the interaction at the conference went on online - through liveblogging - even between delegates sitting in the same room. Funny to see someone type and another raise an eyebrow in... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1764504 Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:06:50 +0100 1764504 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/invisible-fishnets-and-baby-boomer-pain.html It’s that time of the month again, so here’s the latest round-up from my column over on SpectroscopyNOW, covering a whole range of science and medical news with a spectral twist from magnetic resonance to Raman by way of fishnets and infra-red. Fishnet invisibility cloak - It is what fans of science fiction and technologists have been waiting for since HG Wells’ Invisible Man first came into view - or not, as the case may be. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have engineered three-dimensional meta materials that can reverse the natural direction of visible and near-infrared light, which could one day lead to an invisibility device. Bending MRI to diagnose joint disease - Osteoarthritis has turned out to be the bane of the Baby Boom generation, causing ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1755499 Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:48:26 +0100 1755499 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/zen-and-the-art-of-global-maintenance.html A discussion a while back, over a few beers, with a Buddhist friend about life, the universe, and everything (what else?) got around to the subject of null physics and the notion that the universe may always have existed and may exist for eternity to come. Sciencebase regulars will know that this concept is covered in a rather bizarre book I mentioned a few posts back entitled How to Discover Our Universe. While there is certainly room for improvement in current cosmological models this notion of an always having existed universe is not to everyone’s taste, at least in terms of conventional Western ideals. Indeed, it positively reeks of pseudoscience in the eyes of many of us raised on the conventional cyclic observation-explanation-prediction rote of modern science. Anyway, it was a... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1739746 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:00:45 +0100 1739746 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/intelligent-molecular-design.html First up in The Alchemist this week is a tale of reactions where size really does matter! News of why “non-smokers cough” emerges from the American Chemical Society meeting this month and a new physical process has been revealed by NMR spectroscopy of frozen xenon atoms that could provide a chaotic link in quantum mechanics back to Newton’s era. Biotech news hints at a novel way to flavour your food and Japanese chemists have made a gel that undulates like intestinal muscle. Finally, this week’s award goes to my good friend AP de Silva of Queen’s University Belfast for his highly intelligent work in the development of market-leading sensor technology and intelligent molecules. You can grab the complete headlines and abstracts in the latest issue of The Alchemi... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1739747 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:00:55 +0100 1739747 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/boris-johnson-geneticist.html For Scousers, Londoners, fans of BBC’s Have I Got News for You satirical news quiz, and especially to everyone who watched this Beijing to London Olympic handover this week the name Boris Johnson likely drums up an image of some blonde, floppy haired, bedraggled and totally confused Tory toff, who just happens to be Mayor of London. Well, it turns out that he has quite an interesting ancestry of which he was almost totally unaware until another BBC TV show (Who Do You Think You Are?, which is all about family history and genealogy of the rich and famous) helped him dig deep into the roots of his family tree. First off, not only was his great grandfather, Ali Kemal an outspoken journalist turned politician (like Johnson) who was apparently lynched by the state in the founding years of... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1734554 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:42:40 +0100 1734554 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/developing-world-nuclear-revolution.html Not being one to shy away from controversy (viz. my MMR and vaccination item, the intelligent Dawkins debate post and the recent flurry of global warming items, including one entitled Climate change debunked), I thought I’d dive headlong into the muddy ethical, economic, and engineering puddle that is nuclear power. However, I am wearing a buoyancy aid, a nose-clip, ear-plugs, and protective goggles in the form of a peer-reviewed review from the International Journal of Global Energy Issues (2008, 30, 393-412), rather than skinny dipping. In that paper, John Cleveland of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna, points out that currently nuclear power produces around 15 percent of the electricity we use worldwide. This time last year, there were 438 nuclear power plants prov... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1729761 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:43:49 +0100 1729761 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/scientific-stereotype.html The wacky characters that introduce kids to science may be doing more harm than good. Reinforcing the white-man-in-a-lab-coat or mad-scientist stereotype could diminish not only children’s interest in science, but also the diversity of future scientific workplaces. The Web is littered with “Ask a Scientist” sites aimed at getting children “into” science. Some of these sites do provide useful resources for youngsters curious about things such as “Why is the sky blue?”, “Why do men have nipples?Why do men have nipples?“, and “How can I best extrapolate a Hurter-Driffield curve in my experiments on photographic material transmission densities?” OK, I made that last one up. But the critical feature of many of these sites is the ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1726786 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:51:24 +0100 1726786 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/discover-our-universe.html Apparently, scientific thought needs rekindling, seemingly it has run out of kindle and needs a new flame if it is to burn brighter. In steps Terence Witt with the concept of null physics. Witt has now self-published a hefty tome by the name of Our Undiscovered Universe. According to the press blurb that came with my review copy of the book, he’s a visiting scientist at Florida Institute of Technology. Now, I can find FIT on the web, but I cannot find Witt at FIT. Anyway, he puts forward an intriguing, if not entirely original, idea that modern physics requires a paradigm shift back to common sense thinking and a logical reconnection between observation and theory. There is, Witt says, a disconnect between the two in our current Big Bang theory of the origins of the universe. In Our ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1720763 Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:48:05 +0100 1720763 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/compare-and-compare-alike.html Back in June 2001, I reviewed an intriguing site that allows you to compare “stuff”. At the time, the review focused on how the site could be used to find out in how many research papers archived by PubMed two words or phrases coincided. I spent hours entering various terms hoping to turn up some revelationary insights about the nature of biomedical research, but to no avail. I assumed the site would have become a WWW cobweb by now, but no! compare-stuff is alive and kicking and has just been relaunched with a much funkier interface and a whole new attitude. And as of fairly recently, the site now has a great blog associated with it in which site creator Bob compares some bizarre stuff such as pollution levels versus torture and human rights abuses in various capital cities. Ch... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1720764 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:30:25 +0100 1720764 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/red-hot-alchemist.html In my ChemWeb column, The Alchemist, this week: Van Gogh was two-timing his canvas, the Alchemist learns this week, thanks to novel X-ray studies of a seemingly innocuous piece called Patch of Grass, which hides a woman’s face beneath its green and peasant landscape. Professional wine tasters and vintners with a penchant for pepping up their plonk should have something new to worry about thanks to the development of an electronic tongue for detecting adulterated wines and those labeled with the wrong vintage. In biochemistry, sex and sleep turn out to be inextricably entangled, at least in the world of the lab technician’s favorite nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans. Traditional Chinese Medicine is heavily marketed despite a lack of clinical evidence of efficacy of many of t... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1717934 Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:25:27 +0100 1717934