And, ladies and gentlemen, it’s official! The winner’s of this year’s IgNobel prizes have been announced and the webcast of the ceremony showed it to be as good-natured and cheerful an event as ever. Physics: Keller, Goldstein, Warren and Ball for research into the forces that control the shape and movement of a […]
Medically-related
This is your brain on implants (spoiler: it’s better)
Today, the Journal of Neural Engineering published rather an interesting paper. In it, they showed that they had been able to restore (and in some cases, improve) decision-making ability in primates through the use of an implanted prosthetic. Sounds like something out of science fiction, doesn’t it? The region of the brain responsible […]
TOSP Episode 21: February 21st 2012
[Original post on the Sciblogs The Official Sciblogs Podcast site] We’re back! And with a minimum of difficulties this week :) This week, Elf and aimee talk of a new soft motor, ROBOBEES, a teeeeeensy chameleon (squee!), hacking yoghurt, some very ancient art, ROBOBEES, investing in yourself, knitting needles and water bubbles and space, quantum […]
Broken bones
My blogging levels have dropped off somewhat as I’ve spent much of the last week drugged, and with only one functional hand*. This is because last weekend, I got into a fistfight with the forces of evil**. I won (obviously), but broke my wrist in the process. Which kinda sucks. To be more precise, I […]
Introducing a new blog: Priority One
Rejoice! For we present unto you another blog! Jennifer Nickel will be penning Priority One. Her reason? She feels not enough attention is paid to health - neither ours, nor that of the planet on which we live. And, given her expertise in the area, she hopes to dispel some of the misconceptions and misinformation […]
On being a test bunny: Part I
I’ve never been part of a clinical trial, until now. I smoke. I’ve been a moderate to heavy, (and very happy), smoker for about 8 years. Which habit has resulted, variously, in: a couple of fillings; blood pressure that’s gone from being so low I used to be blind for the first 30 seconds after […]
On homeopathics, and physics
After a somewhat extended sojourn, I have returned, once more, unto the breach. Dear friends. Just a brief one today, as I find my stride again, comprised of two bits. ————————- First up! Homeopathy. As y’all may have realised, I am most certainly not one of its proponents. Anything but, in fact (which reminds me, […]
Go forth! Make friends!
Or, why having a social network is very good for you. Really. Yes, fine, I’m biased. I admit it. I see no harm in the burgeoning everywhereness of social media and stuff. And I think having friends is awesomely important. As far as I’m concerned, the more friends we have, and the more people to […]
Sunbed silliness
I will admit to being slightly biased on this one, having heard many, many years ago about the entirely legitimate concerns about the cancer risks through UV exposure associated with their use.And it’s become a rather heated (haha) issue here in New Ze…