Pub Science

Round 2 - Hairspray, Dragons and Creationists

noreply@blogger.com (The Landlord) — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:10:00 +0000

Top 10 New Species found in 2008

The International Institute for Species Exploration have announced their top 10 species, newly discovered to science in 2008. Focusing on the weird and wonderful, the yearly announcement is aimed to draw attention in a fun way to biodiversity, taxonomy, and the importance of museums and botanical gardens.

This years entries include a seahorse the size of a pea (not pictured), a stick insect that measures almost 60 centimeters in length, the world's smallest snake at around 10cm and, strangest of all, a bacteria that lives in hairspray.

The full list can be found here.

Calling all Left handers – we have suffered for too long

Humans are the only animal believed to have a preference with which hand they perform tasks and new research reported by New Scientist shows this has been the case for sometime. A study by Spanish researchers of the remains of Homo heidelbergensis, an ancestor of Neanderthals has shown that a preference for right handedness existed during their lifetime, more than half a million years ago.

The team looked for diagonal markings on the incisor teeth in the remains of 19 individuals found in cave in northern Spain in order to work out the number of south paws amongst the group. Teeth were used as a ‘third hand’ by our ancestors to grip on to meat and vegetation when cutting down on it with stone tools. This action produces diagonal marks on teeth which change in angle depending on whether you grip the tool in your left or right hand.

Genius or a little bit dodgy? Depends on your knowledge of the subject area and your level of cynicism I guess but their results across the group showed 15 righties, no lefties and 4 not sure could be either’s.

Temperamental sun erupts without notice

Astronomers have shown the Suns unpredictable nature by capturing a random explosion of material from its outer atmosphere. This coronal mass ejection, reported on phenomenica.com dispels the idea that the always Sun gives us some idea (a signature of activity) prior to the release of these bubbles of plasma.

The easier it is to see ejection forming, the larger it will be. This is thought to be related to the depth at which they develop. The largest form near the sun’s surface, causing a disruption which can be seen from Earth and acts as an early warning system. A good job too, as if directed at Earth, these larger ejections have the power to knock out power grids.

This latest ejection formed higher up in the suns atmosphere, caused little disturbance to the surface and therefore left sun gazers back on Earth none the wiser as it developed. Of lower energy than their deeper forming cousins, these would have little impact on power lines if fired at our little planet, however research has shown they can affect migratory paths of stupid animals.

For those wondering what a coronal mass ejection looks like, dont look at the sun directly you twit, look at this instead

Mars ancient past – much like Wales in November

Computer modelling of the red planets ancient climate has shown for the first time the possibility for both cold and wet conditions to have existed. Previously much scientific bickering has focused on whether our rusty coloured neighbour was too cold to allow surface liquid water to exist.

The latest research by a team from Madrid and reported in the Independent online has shown dissolved mineral impurities within the Martian H20 would have kept it in its liquids state well below its ‘normal’ freezing point allowing it to exist in its wettest form on the surface of our solar neighbour.

Bitten by a dragon – not a nice way to go

Indonesia’s Komodo Dragon injects venom with its serrated teeth bite which slowly weakens their prey allowing them to stagger off before collapsing due to excessive blood loss. The Komodo then simply wanders up and gets its feed.

New research, conducted by the University of Melbourne and reported on the CNN website, has dispelled the old, equally disgusting theory that rather than venom, the Komdos utilised a mouth full of bacteria ridden pieces of meat stuck between their teeth to infect their victims as they bit them.

Click here to book your flight to Indonesia, from just £389. Bargain

Now we can link Global Warning to flu pandemics too

A team of researchers believe they have found where some of those pesky flu virus’s hide when their not causing scaremongering headlines in the Daily Express. A report in Wired suggests that flu can lie dormant in frozen lakes and then re-emerge once the ice melts. By this time the immunity, developed by the human population may become inactive, putting them at risk again.

Influenza strains have been recorded in lakes in Alaska and Siberia and the latest research shows that they can exist in this preserved state for decades before remerging unharmed when the ice melts

The big question is how did the virus get into the ice in the first place and whether emerging strains, released from the melting ice, could be passed back to human populations.

Dr Rogers from Ohio University has put forward migrating birds as a candidate for this transportation, proposing that migrating waterfowl could regularly deliver influenza viruses to Arctic glaciers and lakes, where it becomes frozen in ice. When the ice melts, birds pick the virus up and transport it back south where it can infect humans.

Life is tough – Our ancestors may have survived early solar system mosh pit

There has been a new twist in race to answer the fundamental question – When did life on Earth start? Research from the University of Colorado, reported on the inthenew.co.uk website has shown that the chain of evolution which eventually led to me writing this and you reading it may go back further than we originally thought

It had been widely believed that a period of intense asteroid bombardment around 3.9 billion years ago melted Earth’s entire crust, killing any life present. However, new modelling has shown that only part of the crust would have turned to bubbling magma and that subsurface microbes may well have survived.

Whilst the earliest fossil evidence of these microbes only dates back to 3.6 billion years ago, scientists are now speculating that the evolution of life which eventually formed you and me, may have originated as far back as 4.4 billion years ago with the formation of the first oceans.

Booze Files - Scientists get animals drunk and find a gene which may effect how well we handle our licker

A gene which helps the body to fight certain cancers may also determine how sensitive we are to the effects of alcohol. Researchers from the University of California tested the effects of existing cancer drug treatments on flies, mice and rats and monitored their tolerance to alcohol.

They found that the use of these drugs, which support the happy hour gene to fight cancer, also increased the subject’s sensitivity to the effects of alcohol resulting in them consuming less. Subjects with mutant forms of the gene grew increasingly tolerant to alcohols effects.

The findings, reported in the Telegraph online, could lead to developments in treating alcoholism. Research has shown that people more sensitive to the effects of alcohol are less likely to develop an addiction. Looking for and deactivating the mutant form of the gene could reduce the chance of addiction by reducing the tolerance of heavy drinkers.

Video of the Week - Pub Creationism – “show us a transitional form already or get the frick out!”

In relation to the latest fossil find, Ida, which has shed new light on the evolutionary history of our species, I thought it only fair to represent the views of our church going friends.

Round 1 - In the beginning I created Pub Science

noreply@blogger.com (The Landlord) — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:53:00 +0000

Hello and welcome to the very first edition of pub science. A virtual bar crawl through the world of science and nature. During what follows we will serve up delights from the worlds of physics, genetics, astronomy and paleontology, all distilled at an intellectual level which you would find in the most local of local pubs or even your friendly garage music playing O'yates-e-spoons.

And we start with a gentle light hearted introductory story....

The origins of life on Earth

...and where did we all come from? The European Space Agency took a significant step in answering these questions with the launch of the Herschel mission to study the chemical compounds around young stars. The mission, which is one of the most expensive ever undertaken by the ESA, will look at what organic compounds exist in young solar systems and how these vary with distance from the star.

It is likely that in the early lifetime of the Earth, the organic building blocks necessary for life were not present and instead were provided from the impact of organic rich asteroids from further out. Does this mean all life on Earth is alien? Are we all immigrants on this little piece of rock of ours? Has anyone informed the Daily Mail?

People who say that it is frequently easier to lie have been found out to be....lying.

Research from the University of Pennsylvania shows that the brain uses up far more energy when you lie than it does when you tell the truth. The Research team gave a group of ordinary Joes a playing card then gave them money to lie to a computer. (I think I’m going to start hanging out around Psychology departments more often as there seems to be a lot of easy money to be made). Measurements of brain activity greatly increased when the participants were telling porkies.

As this article from Psychology Today explains this may have great implications for lie detectors and for the plot lines of many rubbish US cop shows.

In the world of pub science we will strive to bring you at least one story which relates the two disciplines which underpin these rambling blog rants i.e. drinking and science in a segment we will hopefully forever be called (assuming I can find a story for each edition and I don’t come up with a better name).......

The Booze Files - Chapter 1 - Innovation

Our first entry into the booze files comes from Philip Hunter, writing for Prospect Magazine blog, he looks at the links between alcohol and innovation. While we may all feel a little more inspired to be creative after a drink or two, be it with our language, our choice of late night snack or where we choose to fall asleep, recent research suggests some people possess a genetic precondition to achieving far greater things when under the influence. Known as the G-variant (or creative cocktail gene) it is thought to exist in 1 in 10 of Caucasian males.

Star Trek - it may happen

Has anyone seen the latest Star Trek film? Well what if it was real? What if it could happen? Well all you convention attending pointy-eared loon bags, a learned member of your clan has declared that maybe it could after all. Well at least the idea of achieving warp speed anyway.

Warp speed is based on the idea that rather than achieving the speeds needed to zoom round the known universe (which would exceed the speed of light, take an infinite amount of energy and therefore be pretty much impossible) you could instead shrink and stretch the fabric of space around your space vessel.

Essentially saying why go to the edge of the universe slowly when you can bring the edge of the universe to you a lot quicker. As this article suggests you would still need a great deal of energy (equivalent to turning the mass of Jupiter into pure energy) but the possibility still remains. Trekky lovers everywhere, it may still happen.

Is your brain merely a computer?

The US military thinks so. A computer more powerful than all the worlds fastest shiniest super machines put together but a computer all the same. And what’s more, they are now looking to build their own.

Wired reports on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to prove that human thoughts can be mapped out as a series of physical mechanisms, an idea known as Physical Intelligence. DAPRA hope to use this research to create computers whose decision making mechanisms follow that of the human brain. These new machines could in theory think just as we do, creating a whole truck load of moral and ethical dilemmas. Just a thought.

Are you an evil would-be world leaders of Metropolis?

Do you often find it difficult to find the right material to build your superman containing cage? Well fear not. A neutron star prison will give you piece of mind knowing that your pesky superhero nemesis is safe and secure, leaving you free to make the world a worse off place.

This new (and probably very expensive) product is one of the more practical possible uses for the research by a team from Indiana University, reported in the Technology.am website, that shows the surface of neutron stars, reinforced by the intense pressure from their rapid rotation and density which prevents fractures and faults forming, to be 10 billion times the strength of steal.

Jerky Eyes

New research reported on the softpedia website shows the ability of your eyes to pick out small details from a far is down to minute jitters of your eyeball. Whether it be a small bird nesting in a distant tree, the first apple of the season in a far orchard or (the example this article uses) a giant blackhead on the otherwise passable face of the bird at the other end of the bar, you can see them all due to your spasming eyes.

Dinosaur News - Too fat to fly?

Turns out that those big Pterosaurs last seen flying above Geoff Goldblum's head in the first Jurassic Park film may not have flown (or at least not flown very well) after all.

This article in the National Geographic, on research by the University of Tokyo, shows that for animals this size would require wings spans so wide that they would be unable to flap at the necessary speed to keep them in the air. The team seems to offer little alternative use for the animals giant school bus length wing spans. Maybe you in blogworld could come up with a suggestion and address it to the Tokyo University, Pissing all over Jurassic Department.

Video of the Week - Waves

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8035000/8035593.stm