grapefruitopia

It's full of holes!

Apparently Scientists have found holes in the Earth's magnetic field - Over use of magna-doodles in the 80s are blamed.

To help this, you can save the world, with an Ecofont - and save a bit of ink every time you print (or you could just print smaller, saving paper too!)

benjymous

18/12/08 16:00 |

(comment: 1) | [

science eco ]

By now, you've probably already heard the news about the giant sea scorpian fossils that have been discovered. You probably feel you can sleep safely at night knowing that these things have been extinct for millennia.

However, there are still many giant creepy things lurking at the bottom of the ocean. For example, Giant Isopods are basically just giant marine woodlice that live in the deep ocean. Only they're the size of a small cat. Apparently they're a delicacy in Taiwan - they taste like lobster, which is probably unsurprising as they're related. (More photos for the non-squeamish!)

Worse than that, however, and straight from the "worse than scifi" department, come giant Japanese Spider Crabs with leg spans of up to 4 metres which seem to like scaring people in aquariums - presumably they want to hug your face and inject their eggs into your stomach, only to explode out of you later when you thought you could just enjoy that Chinese meal.

However, it seems there may be some hope for us after all as long as you keep your knitting to hand!

benjymous

23/11/07 12:55 |

(comment: 1) | [

science ]

A few random Friday links

Nikon Japan seem to have built a Total Perspective Vortex (although without any sign of any fairy cake)
NMKY! (worth it alone for the inept background dancers
Crazy Japanese antics in Human Tetris

benjymous

24/08/07 22:27 |

(comment: 1) | [

random science music japan tv ]

Non-science in the Metro

I'm often annoyed at how bad The Metro's science stories are. Ok, it's nice that they at least bother to report them at all, but it's usually painfully obvious that the articles are written with somebody with little grasp of the subject they're talking about.

Take the article in today's paper. "Levitation at last" reads the headline, "(though at the moment we can only make atoms float...)"

"A WAY of making levitation possible using a 'mysterious force of nature' has been proposed by two British physicists.
But before you picture yourself flying to work Superman-style, here's the bad news: the theory applies only to microscopic objects."

This report is basically a reworded version of a storey from PA News that's been reworded (and mangled) to fit in with the paper's style.
What the author fails to note is, of course, that levitation is perfectly possible using nothing more than a couple of magnets (another 'mysterious force of nature'!) The whole "levitation is now possible" theme is absent from the original story.

Update: I emailed the Metro to complain, and they printed my letter!

benjymous

06/08/07 13:25 |

(comment: 1) | [

science rant ]

And now the science bit

I'll get around to posting about our long weekend away soon (and get lots of photos uploaded, I promise,) but until then, here's a selection of science links:

Mixed Feelings - Rewiring the human senses:
Can our senses be modified? Expanded? Given the right prosthetics, could we feel electromagnetic fields or hear ultrasound? The answers to these questions, according to researchers at a handful of labs around the world, appear to be yes.
It turns out that the tricky bit isn't the sensing. The world is full of gadgets that detect things humans cannot. The hard part is processing the input. Neuroscientists don't know enough about how the brain interprets data. The science of plugging things directly into the brain - artificial retinas or cochlear implants - remains primitive.
So here's the solution: Figure out how to change the sensory data you want - the electromagnetic fields, the ultrasound, the infrared - into something that the human brain is already wired to accept, like touch or sight. The brain, it turns out, is dramatically more flexible than anyone previously thought, as if we had unused sensory ports just waiting for the right plug-ins. Now it's time to build them.
Schmidt Pain Index - Which Sting Hurts the Worst?
3.0 Red harvester ant: Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail.
Many Worlds, Many Treats - Dogs, steak and quantum mechanics.
"Maybe you can only perceive one branch. I have a very good nose. I can sniff into extra dimensions."

benjymous

17/05/07 13:27 |

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science ]

Transparent aluminum

Trekkies of the world rejoice - Scientists have managed to make Scotty's Whale tank material of choice.

Aluminum Oxynitride

Except they seem to want to use it for reinforced windows in millitary vehicles. Spoilsports - won't somebody think of Gracie's baby and the future of humanity?

benjymous

18/10/05 12:58 |

(comment: 1) | [

science movies scifi links ]

Self replicating robots

Researchers Cornell University have created robots capable of building copies of themselves, when provided with their basic building blocks. I wouldn't really define this as true self replication, since they still need to be provided with the blocks ready-built, but the videos of them in action are strangley hypnotic.

benjymous

12/05/05 09:51 |

(comment: none) | [

science ]