Category Archives: Science

Science

Google to host Open Source scientific data sets

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Now this sounds really interesting..

Sources at Google have disclosed that the humble domain, http://research.google.com, will soon provide a home for terabytes of open-source scientific datasets. The storage will be free to scientists and access to the data will be free for all.

They may also provide data viz tools..

Building on the company’s acquisition of the data visualization technology, Trendalyzer, from the oft-lauded, TED presenting Gapminder team, Google will also be offering algorithms for the examination and probing of the information.

There is more information (including about why Google intend to import data by shipping RAID arrays around the world) here and (more up to date) here.

We live in exciting times!

Chilli anaesthetic

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Some hot news in from New Scientist..

Clifford Woolf and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School have now discovered a way of blocking just the pain neurons using capsaicin – the active ingredient in chilli peppers – along with a version of lignocaine that can’t diffuse through cell membranes unassisted. [….] Woolf’s team is testing other chemicals that can activate the TRPV1 receptor, since people may not like the initial pain of a dose of chilli pepper. Tests on volunteers are expected within two years.

I can think of a couple of people who might want to volunteer for testing.. 🙂

Shuttle Endeavour damaged by falling ice

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This doesn’t sound good..

An analysis of images taken during Wednesday’s lift-off in Cape Canaveral, Florida, shows that the shuttle’s underbelly was hit by a piece of ice – rather than foam from its external fuel tank as previously believed, he said. The impact left what appeared to be a 19 square centimetre gouge near the hatch of one of the shuttle’s landing gears.

Thermal tile damage on shuttle Endeavour, BBC.

Hopefully carrying teachers on the shuttle isn’t bad luck..

Editing Reality – Dutch creationists distort David Attenborough

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An interesting article from the Bad Astronomy website:

The latest outrage from fundamentalist reality-deniers comes to us from the Evangelische Omroep, or Evangelical Broadcasters, a Dutch TV broadcaster of fundamentalist religious propaganda content. Not content to simply lie about science the way creationists do in America, they have gone on to the next (il)logical step: editing out the bits they don’t like.

David Attenborough is responsible for some of the best nature documentaries of all time. EO bought the rights to broadcast his excellent show, “Life of Mammals” (I’ve seen some of it, and, as is always the case, it’s just top of the line stuff). But of course, the documentary makes all sorts of horrifying references to evolution, so the EO decided to simply re-edit the show. They excised whole chunks, put up different titles, and basically destroyed any relevance to what the show is about: reality.

There is a YouTube clip showing examples of some of the cuts.

(Via Alec)

Wanted: Linux Systems Administrator

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The Victorian Partnership for Advanced Computing (VPAC) is looking for a Linux systems administrator to join our systems team working on grid computing.

  • Help build a grid across Australia!
  • Relaxed work environment.
  • Melbourne CBD fringe, easy access to trains and tram.
  • Salary around $55-60K+ (package contingent on experience)
  • Fixed term contract – 12 months.
  • Closing Date: 2nd August 2007

Reporting to the ICI Operations Manager, you will be working primarily in a Linux systems administrator role with Grid toolkits such as Globus and VDT. You will be involved in a National Project to provide Grid Based Computing available across Australia. The ability to work with and support our end users (typically scientific researchers and software developers) is very important in this role. Some national and international travel will be involved.

So if you think that it sounds interesting then please and go read the job advert on the VPAC website, or at least tell a friend! 🙂

China and the quest for (electrical) power

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Back in February 2006 I blogged about a BBC news report, commenting:

To give you a feel for how much power China needs they are currently, on average, bringing on one new power station a week!

Well 18 months later the BBC now says, as part of an article about China’s attempts to cut emissions by 10% between 2005 and 2010:

However, with China now building about two new fossil fuel power stations every week, Western environmental commentators say it will be all but impossible for it to achieve that reduction.

If that is correct and their building program has doubled in 18 months and if it follows a sort of Moore’s law for power stations then we’re looking at around one new power station a day by the end of the decade.

Severn Suzuki: If You Don’t Know How to Fix It, Please Stop Breaking It

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Via Russell Coker:

In 1992 Severn Cullis-Suzuki (David Suzuki’s daughter) who was 12 years old gave a talk to the UN’s Earth Summit in Rio on behalf of ECO (( The Environmental Childrens Organisation )). She gave a really good talk, see the below Youtube video. The best quote is “If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!”. Unfortunately they haven’t stopped breaking things yet.

You can read a transcript at the Melbourne Schools for a Sustainable Future website.

Fifteen years on it is still a powerful and (sadly) relevant speech.

One for the vegetarians

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From the website of New Scientist, an article called Meat is murder on the environment describing the publication of a peer-reviewed paper called “Evaluating environmental impacts of the Japanese beef cow-calf system by the life cycle assessment method” by Akifumi OGINO, Hideki ORITO, Kazuhiro SHIMADA and Hiroyuki HIROOKA:

Their analysis showed that producing a kilogram of beef leads to the emission of greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 36.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide. It also releases fertilising compounds equivalent to 340 grams of sulphur dioxide and 59 grams of phosphate, and consumes 169 megajoules of energy (Animal Science Journal, DOI: 10.1111/j.1740-0929.2007.00457.x). In other words, a kilogram of beef is responsible for the equivalent of the amount of CO2 emitted by the average European car every 250 kilometres, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.

That’s actually likely to be a conservative estimate too..

The calculations, which are based on standard industrial methods of meat production in Japan, did not include the impact of managing farm infrastructure and transporting the meat, so the total environmental load is higher than the study suggests.

Food for though ?