inkycircus

Stephen Hawking is lucky

Steven Hawking got to go on a free flight in the vomit comet last week, and got to experience zero gravity for around about 4 minutes. Zero Gravity, the company that runs the plane trips that let you be weightless, waived their $3750 fee, and let paralysed Professor Hawking float free of his wheelchair and see what it would be like to go up in space. I have to say that I'm quite jealous. But also quite interested to note that it's so (relatively) cheap to experience zero-g. Might have to save up for that someday.

Via BBC News. Photo entitled "Stephen Hawking in the wine section" by Kevin has a camera.

Stop it with the formulas

Another day, another 'science' formula. Sigh. Wrapping your discovery about "cellular structures comprising networks of gas-filled bubbles separated by liquid" under the heading of 'scientists discover formula that predicts how the head on a pint of beer after pouring' is lame. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Enough with the formulas. The formula for the best bacon sandwich just the other day, the formula for the best Christmas cracker, the formula for the best football commentator voice, the formula for a perfect marriage, the formula for the perfect sand castle, even the formula for the perfect formula. It's madness I tell you.

Reach for a leech

Leeches are officially recognised by the Food and Drug Administration as a 'medical device'. The definition of a medical device is:

"an article intended to diagnose, cure, treat, prevent, or mitigate a disease or condition, or to affect a function or structure of the body, that does not achieve its primary effect through a chemical action and is not metabolized"

These days they're not used for hokey blood letting or for treating or nervous disorders, they're used for easing congested blood and swelling, especially after plastic or reconstructive surgery. This isn't exactly breaking news, the FDA made its ruling back in 2004, but that shouldn't get in the way of spreading the word about a weird and wonderful fact, I think.

(PHOTO: SZEN)

Eye say

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE (PHOTO: ANCA-PUI)
I can't imagine life without my eyesight. I know that plenty of amazing people manage without their eyes and do as much if not more than those of us who can see, but if those people were offered an opportunity to see again, I bet they'd grab it. If the visual pathways in their brain work perfectly, but they're let down by their actual optical hardwear (namely their eyes), this might be possible. They'd have to walk around with specially adapted glasses fitted with tiny digital cameras that were attached to their brains with electrodes, but they'd be able to see.

Eyes are fiendishly complicated structures. They're often quoted as evidence against evolution, as if a process as blunt as natural selection could produce such a thing of beauty and efficiency. In fact, it's evolution itself that has helped the eye to achieve it's amazing capabilities (see Wikipedia). Once one creature developed sight, the arms race was on for everyone to catch up or be left in the dark. Which is why a bionic eye is that much more advanced than many other replacement organs, and has to be hardwired into the brain. At the moment, the researchers have only tested this out on monkeys, and have only used a very few electrodes to connect the bionic eye to the visual cortex. The number of electrodes they'd need to help a human see again is daunting. But the technology seems to work and that's at least some of the battle won of helping the blind to see again.

Via BBC News.

I'd like to be, Under the sea, in an octopus's garden

Lloyd Godson is a strange fish. The 29 year old marine biologist just realized his dream of living under the sea in the bright yellow BioSUB two weeks, recycling his sewage and cycling on a stationary bike to generate electricity and relying on algae for his oxygen supply. There were two points motivating his wild endeavor. One, it was his dream. And he got to realize it thanks to winning the Australian Geographic Live Your Dream contest. Second, he wanted to make a point about sustainability. Done and done.

But reading closer I was struck by one fact. Godson got a visit from the "Easter Shark" who gave him some easter chocolates. I'd like to point out the potential marketing genius of this. If the shark-huggers want to better their cause and revamp their pet animal's PR from vicious carnivore to harmless huggable adorable beast in need of our love, THIS IS IT. First of all, once armed with chocolate, your mascot instantly becomes the universal briber. Second, what animal could possibly be more harmless than the Easter bunny? It's beyond innocuous. So work that reputation and hijack it with a Great White Shark. They're both white. And toothy. 

T-Rex: tastes like chicken

HOW MANY CHIPS WOULD YOU NEED TO GO WITH A T-REX DRUMSTICK? (PHOTO: BLUMPY)
It's official, the humble chicken is related to the mighty T-Rex. The link has been suspected for a while, but scientists needed a sample of soft tissue to prove it. That tissue has just been found in Hell Creek in Montana, and hey presto, kinship is proven. 

More from the NZ Herald.

Friday Night Health Food: Behold the Margarita

You know how clothing sizes have grown along with Western waistlines, what people in the industry call vanity sizing? Well sometimes I think that scientists are conducting vanity research. You know, research about how chocolate lowers blood pressure, red wine fights gum disease and beer protects again heart disease? I mean..they aren't LYING or anything, but come on....

Which is why I am particularly impressed by this piece of COMPLETELY TRUE, TOTALLY WONDERFUL AND ACCURATE NEWS. Fruity alcoholic beverages with deep berry colors, like daiquiris, margaritas, cosmopolitans or Singapore Slings (cherry brandy, see) are literally HEALTH FOOD because the ethanol "boosted the antioxidant nutrients."

Yes. I realize that doesn't sound like English. Mostly because antioxidants aren't what we'd classically called nutrients, but seriously. BUT WHO CARES? It's Friday and I am in dire need of a Margarita - hold the fruit.

Beary Goodness

COULD YOU SHOOT THIS FACE?

Asking if there are too many grizzly bears in Yellowstone is sort like asking whether you got too many french fries on the side of your burger. Sure they might kill you, but any American worth her salt would just never say when.

The Scale of Things

Ignore the wanky music (there's an option to turn volume off) on Nikon's Universcale flash site and it's pretty damn cool. Seriously. It spans  femtometres (10⁻¹⁵ meters) all the way through meters and kilometers all the way up to light years (10¹⁵ meters) while giving you examples of things that size. Left to its own devices the display will shrink down to the examples of size. From mountains to skyscrapers to the London eye down to people, and microbes. Again, like the large blue whale captured in WDCS's website, there's something completely hypnotic about it. Meditative even.  Go ahead. Get yourself a sense of scale. It ought to do you good.

Narwhales for Science

Question: how do you study the icy seas North of Greenland when no diver in his or her right mind wants to dip into them waters - despite their importance in regulating N. Europe weather?

Answer: Recruit 10 narwhals over the course of a year and stick GPS tags on them that clock  time, depth and temperature records. Only problem is getting the tags on the whales, which are armed with 9 foot tusks and can dive more than a mile deep. Apparently they buck like broncos when nabbed in their nets. 

Still, it's great to see some creatures besides snakes, seals and sharks joining science's animal army.