mssv

  • Probabilities

    ·

    2–3 minutes

    ·

    (Warning: Ramble ahead) Earlier today, I was listening to a guy describe a project I might do next year for neurobiology, trying to figure out some of the characteristics of Golgi neurones in the cerebellum. The way you can identify these neurones, other than looking at them under a microscope, is to insert a super-thin…

  • Menstrual cycle

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    Why is the lunar month exactly equal to the human female menstrual cycle? This is a question that came up in the New Mars forums, and if you click on the first link, it turns out that it is not exactly equal in the first place.

  • Firewalking

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    My answer to a firewalking question was published in today’s Notes and Queries section of the Guardian.

  • Trinity nuclear test

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    Anecdote of the day: Physicist Ted Taylor used a parabolic mirror to light his cigarette with the flash from the Trinity nuclear bomb test (from Rich).

  • Behaviour

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    Quote of the day: “The thing with behaviour is that we don’t know what subjects are thinking. I don’t know whether my rats are pressing the lever because they know they’ll get heroin – and I don’t know whether children will be surprised because they think ‘Hey, the laws of gravity have changed!’”

  • BA Festival of Science

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    With its magnificent riches, Trinity College has awarded me a grant to attend the British Association Annual Festival of Science this September in Leicester. It’s a five day long convention of British scientists covering all the different disciplines of science, and should be great fun. It’ll also give me an opportunity to check out the…

  • Segway on Moon

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    Crazy questions of the day: Would you be able to get air if you were riding a Segway on the Moon at top speed and hit a bump and could you pull off a ‘Mary Poppins’ by floating down from the top of a hotel with just an umbrella?

  • GM babies

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    To Enhance or Not To Enhance – I’m not sure why this guy talks about artificial chromosomes, I can think of several major reasons why this would is far from the best way of genetically altering embryos. Modification of the existing embryonic DNA would work better and in a more predictable manner.

  • Microwaves

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    While perusing the manual for the new microwave* in the kitchen upstairs, I spotted a nifty way of making sure whether utensils are microwave-friendly (i.e. won’t blow up or give off sparks if you put them inside). All you do is to put the utensil in the microwave next to a bowl of water and…

  • MGS

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    Getting a stereo view of Mars – the boys at NASA are pretty damn clever; they’re planning to obtain 3D images of areas the Mars Global Surveyor has already covered by pointing the spacecraft off-nadir (so it doesn’t point directly down).