Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
The presentation of the annual Ig Nobel awards happened last night. The what? It’s basically a fun parody of the Nobel Prizes that are given each year to ten unusual or utterly pointless trivial achievements in scientific research, the stuff that makes you wonder “Why did they do that?”, and it’s usually fun because some truly whacky stuff can indeed … Read more
As you might, or perhaps might not, be aware, Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano is building up to a potential eruption … or not. Here below is a quick snapshot of what has been happening during the past 48 hours, and as you can see, not only have rather a lot of Earthquakes been hitting the area, but … Read more
You might perhaps be wondering what the term “integrative medicine” actually means, well if curious and you asked, you would get distinctly different answers. For those that support the concept you will be advised that “it treats the “whole person,” focuses on wellness and health rather than on treating disease, and emphasizes the patient-physician relationship“, however … Read more
Above is a fabulous picture of a grinning female macaque – so who actually owns the copyright for this? Is it the person who owns the camera, or the person who borrowed the camera and took the picture? In this case, because it is in dispute … the answer is supposedly nobody and so it is claimed … Read more
While in the US I had the privilege of listening to Nagin Cox from the mission operations team for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) – NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover. Who? OK, first a bit of background on her … Nagin graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering and a BA in Psychology … Read more
I recall attending a talk by science writer Simon Singh in which amongst other fascinating things, he explained that Katie Melua, the jazz/blues singer and songwriter, had a single “Nine Million Bicycles” where the lyrics were as follows: We are 12 billion light years from the edge, that’s a guess, no one can ever say it’s true, but … Read more