Homely Scientist

On my bacteria making hydrocarbons post, Dave commented on what if something hadn’t been discovered or had been discovered by a different person…how would things be different.  Which leads to ethics and science.  Both Einstein and Oppenheimer decried the use of their discoveries.  Yes, Oppenheimer is noted as “the father of the atomic bomb”, but he also didn’t want the world destroyed either.  Nobel invented dynamite, but was so morally devastated by its use that the Nobel Prize was created.
We scientists often discuss how discoveries are ethically “neutral”, it is their use that matters.  Is that entirely true, though?  Are …read more

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One of the weaknesses of science is the ability of others to take legitimate questioning of results and twist them to their own ends. For example, Global Warming. For a long time some scientists took the stand that all the data wasn’t in, etc. I think they thought they were doing a service to science, but in reality they did a disservice to humanity. The dissention and delay has made progress difficult until recently and well, maybe it’s too late.
I saw today this great YouTube video that illustrates how science can be perverted by others:

Granted, some …read more

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This Beyond the Beyond post really only the title, because the text is a letter from Dick Armey encouraging people to stop Al Gore, et al and their evil Global Warming hysteria.
Hysteria, hmm, stuff like the Northwest Passage once a fable now becoming a potentially viable sea lane? Like increasingly intense weather events? Like growing problems with consistently good weather in the major food-growing areas of the world?
Naw, nothing to worry about. Let me just shoo these tropical birds off my deck…in Canada.
 
Tags: Global Warming, Global Warming is real, global climate change

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It seems that the mainstream media (MSM) aren’t the only ones looking down there noses at blogs are “legitimate” news outlets.  The venerable AAAS’ EurekAlert! news service turned down Hsien to recieve embargoed press releases.  Hmm, thought we had worked this out already.  Mark Evans told all us B5-ers that we qualify for press credentials (he would know, as a journalist himself), that should be good enough.  Oh wait she also has a Ph.D.  Gee that sounds like a nice match.  Lots of readers.  Yeah.  Great writer.  Okay.
It’s time for all of us Science bloggers to stand up an be …read more

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So this post is both a Jedi Knight and Sith Lords kind of science post.  David on ScienceBase is taking issue with the "superheated beverage" phenomenon that is oft reported:

There is an urban myth that has done the rounds for many years that it is possible to cause yourself serious injury by reheating a cup of coffee in a microwave oven and then giving it a stir as soon as you remove it from the oven, thus causing the supposedly “superheated” drink to release its pent up energy in a great scalding geyser. Who hasn’t received the spam-mail describing the …read more

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Science has been used for both good, and ill.  We all know it.  We all live with it.  It’s one of those things that good scientists think about.  Is this learning going to benefit the world, or destroy it.  Now, I think the development of nonlethal weapons is a good thing.  Killing a person should be the absolute last resort, and when you’re dealing with a mob, well lethal force shouldn’t be an option.  Fine.
So via Wired News, I learned about the Air Force’s new Active Defense System.  Here’s a description from the article:

The crowd is getting ugly. Soldiers roll …read more

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Fox News is reporting (and not in an unbiased way BTW) that a recently published study correlates cosmic ray output from the Sun to the formation of lower atmosphere clouds.  Lower atmosphere clouds are the ones that have a significant effect on the warming and cooling of the planet.  Okay.  So the study found that lower cosmic ray emissions, less cloud cover, less cloud cover warmer Earth.  Okay.  Now since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution we’ve had rising temperatures and lower cosmic ray input.  So is it only the Sun responsible for Global Warming?
Frankly I don’t know.  Sounds like …read more

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This news is actually a month old, but I just saw it on CNN and man did it make my blood boil.  So a researcher at the University of Western Ontario (usually just called Western) did a study using data from the SATs (those evil tests foisted on kids who want to go to college in the States) and says his results show that men are smarter than women (coverage LiveScience, Daily Mirror).
What makes me angry about this?  Come on I’m a man, shouldn’t I be happy to get this news?  It’s the use of a known flawed dataset.  Look …read more

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 I saw on UNEASYsilence yesterday a post on making water “magnetic”.  Water, of course, isn’t magnetic because it doesn’t have any magnetic materials in it.  The post linked to a couple folks who claimed to be able to infuse enough iron into the water using lemon or lime juice and spinach leaves (spinach is has a lot of iron).  There was even a YouTube video about it (which is no longer available).  Hey I was interested in this.  I though, hmm I could try this.  Sounds fun.  Last night I went back to the post to look at the video …read more

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According to Wired, the home chemist is under siege, from the U.S. Government!  It seems that the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) feels that home chemists and the chemicals they purchase could be a threat to safety and national security.  It’s not the meth labs they are worried about, but people making explosives, etc.
The Wired article talks about United Nuclear, where you can buy all manner of fun science stuff from ultra strong magnets to supplies to make firery volcanoes.  All was well until the police showed up to raid them.  They are now fighting the good fight to allow …read more

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