In recent decades, the search for alternative energies has become increasingly important to the average citizen. Whether it’s due to concerns for the environment or worries about shortages in fuel or rising prices, most people agree that other options need to be found. Considering the amazing amount of energy that is showered down upon us everyday from the sun, it’s no wonder that a lot of research and development is focused on improving our capabilities of capturing this source for electricity generation. As a major bonus solar power is also a renewable energy source that produces no polluting emissions or…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From archive
AN INTELLIGENT DESIGNER ON THE COW
Today, I feel like doing a plant – no, an animal. Yes, today, I am going to make an animal. And it will be a masterpiece. I shall call it the…. No wait! Maybe I should think of the name later. Yes, you should always name your pieces after you have completed them. Better that way. OK then. An animal it is. More specifically, a vertebrate. Large body, four legs, one tail, one head, usual stuff on the head – i.e., let’s just follow the standard animalia rubric. Nothing exciting there. Not yet anyway. So let’s give it an armored…
JOURNAL CLUB FIND – INBREEDING IS IN AGAIN?
An Association Between the Kinship and Fertility of Human Couples (pdf) Science (2008), 391: 813-816 In which we learn that true love could be where the 3rd or 4th cousin is… – – – ABSTRACT: Previous studies have reported that related human couples tend to produce more children than unrelated couples but have been unable to determine whether this difference is biological or stems from socioeconomic variables. Our results, drawn from all known couples of the Icelandic population born between 1800 and 1965, show a significant positive association between kinship and fertility, with the greatest reproductive success observed for couples…
TURKEY: CANADA
Pretty image by Audubon Happy Thanksgiving!
THE RNA TIE CLUB AND LESSONS TO BE LEARNED IN HOW TO WIN A NOBEL PRIZE
– FROM THE ARCHIVE – (It’s Nobel season! Please enjoy a few from our archive on this topic) As of November 2005, 776 Nobel Prizes have been awarded (758 to individuals, 18 to organizations) in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace, and economics. In that same month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Census, there were an estimated 6,469,818,677 people alive in the world. Consequently, the average person (or even the average scientist) has a very small chance of winning a Nobel Prize or even ever knowing anyone who has done so. However, there is a very small group of people…
SHAFTED AGAIN BY NOBEL
– FROM THE ARCHIVE – (It’s Nobel season! Please enjoy a few from our archive on this topic) I didn’t win the Nobel Prize in Physics again this year. What’s a guy got to do to win that thing? I was made to win that prize, but for like the umpteenth time in a row I’ve been given the shaft. Annoying! Who cares if I’m not a physixcist or however you spell it? I’ve been doing lots of cool physics-type stuff forever and deserve some recognition and money. Since a teenager I’ve done this kick-ass trick where I put a…
ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF EFFICIENCY
(This is the fourth installment of the The Wasteful American series. To read the others, click here, here and here) – – – How much energy is wasted as a result of fortifying foods with vitamin D instead of giving everyone a short bath of scrumptious sunlight during the day? Vitamin D3, added to most dairy products to prevent rickets and (incidentally) reduce the risks of osteoporosis, other bone disorders, and several types of cancer, surely costs something to manufacture and distribute industrially, while the human body synthesizes it naturally when skin meets sunshine. (Moonshine, on the other hand, causes…
A SCIENTIST’S GUIDE TO VOTING IN THE CANADIAN FEDERAL ELECTION (IN FLOWCHART FORM) – A SCIENCE CREATIVE QUARTERLY PIN UP (NO. 4)
(CLICK HERE FOR PIN-UP POSTER – pdf file ~177k) – We suggest photocopying at 129% – LTR to 11×17 – With the Federal Canadian Election is coming up fast! (October 14th), I thought it would be handy to provide a flowchart pin-up detailing the choices you can make based on: i. Wavelength of the Party’s colour. ii. Albedo of the party leaders’ hair colour. iii. Environmental platform. For a good overview of the policies that each political party favours, go read this. *Note that the Parti Quebecois is not included in this graphic as I was unable to find out…
SOME GRANT PROPOSALS FOR NEW SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
Dear National Science Foundation, I was happy to read that you’ve launched a new transformative R01 program to support “exceptionally innovative, original or unconventional” investigator-initiated research. It’s about time! I’m here in the lab in my parents’ basement and look forward to hearing back from you or the President or Congress on these proposals that clearly merit funding. 1. “Finding a cure for the ice cream headache.” In our lifetime we can beat this debilitating condition. The work is intensive and requires commitment so I’ll ask everyone to wear a brown, pink, and white rubber bracelet while my team and…