Homely Scientist

Did you know that besides your mouse and keyboard, your cell phone is a huge bacteria vector?  Heck even the bottom’s of your shoes are cleaner than you cell phone!  I try to wipe mine off often, and use computer screen cleaner on it too, unfortunately cell phones don’t take well to most disinfection methods (I’d be wary of sprying Lysol on it).  So maybe borrowing your friend’s cell phone might not be a great idea.
 
Technorati tags: dirty cellphones

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The easy answer to this question is that, nobody knows.  I know it’s a pretty lame answer but it’s the truth.  Mouth ulcers, or canker sores, are those painful sores in your mouth usually on the inside of the lips, gums, or tongue.  I suffered from mouth ulcers for most of my life and have tried just about everything to get relief and make them heal faster.
My dad and my dentist both prescribed a  steroid-based paste that I would smear on the all sores that was supposed to reduce the swelling and protect them so they can heal.
Really this treatment wasn’t …read more

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This is Tris your favorite geek scientist.  Well at least I hope on your favorite geek scientist.  So I’m not actually writing this blog post, I’m dictating it!  One of the great new features in Windows Vista is speech recognition, so I’m dictating this post into windows live writer instead of typing it.
Speech recognition software as been around for a long time, but until recently computers haven’t been fast enough to really make it worthwhile for most people.  Not only that, you had to buy extra software, in addition to a microphone, to make it work.
This got me thinking about …read more

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 Quantum computing?  Isn’t that from like Minority Report or Back to the Future?  No, it’s for real and available now.
A Canadian manufacturer today unveiled what it called “the world’s first commercially viable quantum computer.” D-Wave Systems, Inc., “The Quantum Computing Company,” during a much ballyhooed rollout at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., hailed the new device as a big step toward the age of quantum computing, decades earlier than scheduled.Source: Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: First “Commercial” Quantum Computer Solves Sudoku Puzzles — Quantum computing company banks on a long-shot form of quantum computing

So …read more

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You’ve probably seen this image.  A Neolithic couple locked in an embrace for centuries.  According to Reuters and C|Net, instead of dissembling the skeletons for analysis they will be removed as a block, preserving the embrace:
Archaeologists said Monday that they won’t split up the remains of a couple found with their arms wrapped around each other for as long as 6,000 years since their burial in Italy. Source: Scientists keep Stone Age skeletons in lovers’ embrace | News.blog | CNET News.com

I think this exemplifies the point I was trying to make in my Theme Day post last week.  …read more

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Quick, name Newton’s laws … eh, don’t bother I have them summarized below.  Regardless sometimes the concepts of inertia, equal and opposite reactions, and force can be hard to wrap your head around.  Over on ScienceBase I found this little YouTube video on these very principles. Oh and here’s the list:
Newton’s laws underpin so-called classical mechanics, as opposed to quantum mechanics or relativity theory. I’ve summarised them below, but you’ll get a much clearer understanding of bodies in motion if you watch the video.

Objects stay still or move with constant velocity unless a force pulls on them or gives them …read more

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We’re a step closer to bionics, cyborgs, etc.  A thought-controlled arm is being tested that is getting some great results.
it appears that Claudia Mitchell has regained her sense of movement using a slightly different apparatus. Touted as wearing the “world’s first” bionic arm controlled by thought alone, she now has the ability to carry out simple, albeit quite critical tasks again such as cutting up food. Doctors have re-routed the nerve endings in her arm to “a patch of skin on her chest,” essentially enabling her prosthetic arm to respond to her thoughts concerning movement. Furthermore, a recent study of …read more

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It’s another channel theme day here in the old SciHealth Channel.  Since it’s February the theme is, you guessed it, love.
I was thinking about looking into the biochemistry of love.  Then there is always chocolate.  Lots of good science there.  Yeah I know chocolate doesn’t have all the magic properties we once thought (hey I still feel better after a nice KitKat), although dark chocolate is now considered to be teaming with antioxidants.  Really though, as un scientific as this sounds, there are some things that should remain a little mysterious.
Attraction.  You can talk about like seeking like and pheromones, …read more

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How about this, a portable device about the size of a small moving van that can take garbage, turn it into biofuels, then power an electrical generator.  Now that’s a good use of science!  Okay, okay folks at Purdue developed it for the military first, but they say initial trials were much better than expected and this puppy is about ready to go!  Here’s the scoop:
The tactical biorefinery first separates organic food material from residual trash, such as paper, plastic, Styrofoam and cardboard. The food waste goes to a bioreactor where industrial yeast ferments it into ethanol, a “green” …read more

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In 1867 nanomachines where first theorized and the first was "Maxwell’s Demon".  In 1867 you couldn’t work with things on the molecular or sub-molecular scale (that’s really, really small).  Times have changed and Maxwell’s Demon has inspired a real nanomachine (via Engadget and Yahoo News):

Regardless of their personal differences, David Leigh has borrowed an idea from 1867 in crafting "a minuscule motor that could lead to the creation of microscopic nanomachines," and while he credits the "Maxwell’s Demon" as its inspiration, he hopes these plans will actually lead to something substantial. The bantam motor is entirely solar-powered, and has been …read more

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