I must admit, I'd never really thought about this one (although I suspect littlies would find it amusing). However, it does appear that silence, in this case, is definitely not golden (and it's got a lot to do withe the mixture of gases produced during bacterial fermentation in the gut).
Continue readingYear: 2013
in which we encounter a very strange idea about water
Namely, that water today is becoming harder to absorb because the water molecules are clustered. Yes, really.
Continue readingswimming as a sperm does
It's much harder for a sperm to swim, than it is for a sperm whale. Why? This excellent TEDed video explains: I think I'll use it next year, during the 'reproduction' section of my first-year biology paper 🙂
Continue readingmigration and ear wax
Last year’s Schol Bio paper contained (as is usual) some interesting and challenging questions. One of them was about earwax. More specifically, the earwax phenotypes ‘dry’ and ‘wet’, and what their distribution can tell us about patterns of human evolution. (Note to those sitting these examinations: most questions have a reasonable amount of resource material […]
Continue readinga creeping assassin
The daughter & her friends play Assassin's Creed from time to time. This little arachnid would fit right in: Photo: Jeremy Miller For this is an assassin spider, one of a number of species (in the superfamily Palpiamanoidea) that prey on other spiders. The assassin spiders have a long history: a combination of fossil & DNA evidence suggests […]
Continue readinghow to do citizen science
The other day I was involved in a discussion on setting up a ‘citizen science’ program. The people asking the questions were looking at developing outreach: giving talks, helping with local science-y initiatives, setting up websites, & so on. I responded that it all sounded good, and it was great that they were looking at […]
Continue readingi feel a great disturbance (in the force)
There is some seriously odd stuff on teh intertoobs. A coupe of days ago, one of our ‘regulars’ on Making Sense of Fluoride posted a link to a page entitled “Water Confusion“. It was confusing all right. Apparently we are confused about “what kind of drinking water is the most health promoting”. I would have […]
Continue readingan impressive-sounding number of references, (therefore good?)
Various commenters on the Uni's FB page for our google hangout earlier this week have urged me & my colleagues to read The Case Against Fluoride, by Drs Connett, Beck & Micklem. One of the reasons we should do is, we're told, is because it's got a whole 80 pages of references (or, as one commenter put […]
Continue readinggoogle hangout – a new adventure
A few days back the Uni communications office asked if I'd be willing to chair a google hangout panel discussion. Subject: the chemistry of fluoride. I'm always interested in trying new things, so I said yes, and yesterday we had our hangout and this is the result: It was an interesting experience and – from […]
Continue readingessays on our fascination with those who are different
Book Review: The Two-Headed Boy and Other Medical Marvels by Jan Bondeson Cornell University Press, USA (2004) Paperback: i-xxii, 297 pages ISBN: 0-8014-8958-X RRP: US419.95 It's all Grant's doing, really. If he hadn't picked up on an off-hand comment of mine (relating to vipers in bosoms) & turned that into a catchy blog post, I quite probably […]
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