It’s hard to believe that 17 years ago the Human Gnome Project formally began. It was quite frankly a great day for all of us gnomes as we thought we had finally gained the attention and respect we deserved as a community. But 17 years later, we as a community are disappointed, angry, full of resentment, and still addicted to nicotine. To our knowledge, of the roughly $3 billion worth of research funds given to the human gnome initiative, none of it ever actually went to fund “gnome” research. Instead, a sizable portion went to human research, and in an…
The Science Creative Quarterly
The Science Creative Quarterly (SCQ) is not a quarterly, but instead publishes new material at a non-linear rate. Currently, it is sleeping and in a sort of stasis (turpor?) It used to seek science writing of any genre, and your contribution would have involved checking out our submissions guidelines.
The Science Creative Quarterly (SCQ) has a single print edition so far (half SCQ pieces, and half fake science journal – see here for more details). Also, badges?
Stay safe everyone!
SOME NEW THINGS YOU CAN POTENTIALLY DO ON MARS NOW THAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE WATER SITUATION
Figure skating Margarita party. Canoe trip. Invest in waterfront property. Baptisms. Preparing juice from concentrate. Hot tubbing!
THEY ALSO SERVE WHO ONLY STAND AND WAIT
Mr. D. is one of those guys who is just nice. He’s far from gregarious, but everyone who meets him likes him. He’s quiet, reserved, and hates to complain. He’s had his share of medical problems over the last 80 years—emphysema, lymphoma, prostate cancer—all of which he’s treated as inconveniences. When he came into my office with his wife, he looked miserable. His back was hurting so badly that he couldn’t get comfortable. It had been like that for two weeks, but he didn’t want to bother me about it. I asked him the usual questions—any fevers, weakness, incontinence—all negative.…
A WRITING ACTIVITY: ARE YOU THERE HUMANS? IT’S ME, PLASTIC.
(pdf of this activity is available for download by clicking here) – – – This workshop aims to teach environmental and social responsibility while exercising student empathy by having students write letters from the point of view of inanimate objects or animals. Coincidentally, good writing habits and understanding of narrative techniques are developed in the process (but don’t tell them.) Who cares about the ecosystem? It’s boring. And it just sits there. It’s quite undeniable at this point: we’ve messed up the Earth pretty good in our time here so far. There’s carbon in the air and chemicals in the…
THROWING MONEY AWAY (A MODEST PROPOSAL)
(This is the third installment of the The Wasteful American series. To read the others, click here and here) – – – In America, it is a relatively common bit of trivia that producing a penny costs more than one cent (its street value).[1] Someday, we will likely follow Canada’s syrupy example and make coins out of iron-based metal blends so that their value at the checkout counter always exceeds their value when they are melted down (illegally) for the amusement of middle schoolers or the profit of bored, pyromanic cartel heads. But really, why make Mounties of ourselves with…
HUMAN GENE COMMONLY ASSOCIATED WITH CANCER OR DROID FROM STAR WARS?
1. p21RAS 2. C-3PO 3. CD45 4. p53 5. C-SRC 6. RIC-920 7. FOS-JUN 8. R2-D2 9. 8D8 10. C-MYC 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 are oncogenes: 2, 6, 8, 9 are droids from Star Wars.
THE GENE DJINNI
Scientists have been homing in on the genes that define our sense of humour. In a follow-up to the research which brought us British Humour Linked to Genetics, the latest report claims they have come up with some “funny results”. It does not specify whether said results are funny ha-ha or funny peculiar. Humanity has over 20,500 genes, which the official gene naming board (HUGO) has been working hard to differentiate based not only on their strains of humour but also according to country of prevalence and associated effects. Brit wit The original humour-gene research, conducted by Dr Rod Martin,…
SUPER-BRANDING HITS MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
1. Mass Spectrometry, now with an iDock! 2. X-ray crystallography, now with a Sears automatic ice-maker! 3. SDS-Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, now with Tide! 4. Differential Scanning Calorimetry, now with a Starbucks espresso maker! 5. UV/Vis Spectrophotometry, now with Coppertone sunblock! 6. Automated DNA Sequencing, now with 200 free anytime minutes a month from Verizon! 7. Ultracentrifugation, now with a Cuisinart fruit smoothie accessory! 8. PCR, now with Velveeta cheese! 9. NMR, now with MRI and CGI from IBM! 10. Radioactivity, now with fluorescence!
ANOTHER BOOK TO WIN: THIS ONE IS CALLED “FOLLOW THE LINE AROUND THE WORLD.”
The SCQ is pleased to announce that the winner of the last book was Alex Roger’s “Astro I Reference Notes.” To keep things rolling a little bit, we would like to present the next book up for grabs. This one is called “Follow the Line Around the World” by Laura Ljungkvist. We think every reader should submit just for the possibility of owning a book who has an author with such a marvelous last name. Anyway, like before any kind of submission will do, and please send on your good material to tscq@interchange.ubc.ca (deadline is October 15th).