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Do you lie at wake at night worrying that you might have missed the latest words of wisdom on Sciencebase? Are you concerned that a new post might have published that you desperately wanted to comment on and now it’s too late? Well…fear not. There are so many ways to connect with Sciencebase and sibling [...]How to get your fill of Sciencebase goodness is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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My SpectroscopyNOW column is now live. This week self-perception, trapping and using carbon dioxide, cosmic coronene, mopping up radioactive caesium, photosynthesis and magic spectral lines: Red lenses – US scientists have used MRI to show that apparently the less you use your brain’s frontal lobes, the more you perceive your behaviour through rose-tinted spectacles. They publish [...]Making carbon dioxide useful is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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Ask people why the enter the lottery and they will usually tell you that “you’ve got to be in it to win it”. As far as it goes that’s true, but it still doesn’t get around the odds of you picking the right numbers being vanishingly (although not quite homeopathically) small at 14 million to [...]Science based risk assessment is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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The Alchemist this week learns of a golden opportunity to make a fundamental industrial feedstock, ethylene, from natural gas, rather than oil. In microfluidics, a droplet of acid finds its way out of a maze, while an accidental mineral could become the material of choice for magnetic tunnel junctions. In the zone between chemistry and physics, [...]Early Valentine’s Alchemist is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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There have been rough guides, books for dummies, even howtos for idiots, but Chad Orzel is probably the first to take explain an important corner of human endeavour solely to his dog in How to teach physics to your dog. Ironically, the subject on which he focuses, physics, is a realm usually the preserve of [...]How to teach physics to your dog is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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If you blog about peer-reviewed research, then you’ve probably heard about ResearchBlogging.org by now. It’s an aggregator that pulls together posts from around the world that have added a snippet of code to identify themselves as blogging about peer-reviewed research. The keen-eyed regulars among you will have spotted the occasional “green-tick” icon next the references [...]Research Blogging is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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The Associated Press and others are reporting that milk products tainted with the toxic chemical melamine are on sale again in China. Melamine-tainted milk products have been pulled from convenience store shelves in southern China more than a year after hundreds of thousands of children were sickened in a massive milk safety scandal, a government spokeswoman [...]Melamine’s on sale again is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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A study of heavy metal contaminants in the urban lakes of India, particularly around Bangalore have revealed that attempts at mitigation meant to remove these pollutants have not so far worked and may not be a long-term remedy for the problem. I’ve provided more detail on the analysis in the Atomic ezine on SpectroscopyNOW this [...]Indian urban wetland heavy metal is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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As with much of medical science, the appearance of a fascinating research paper and an accompanying press release do not usually mean that a new pharmaceutical intervention, a medicine, is ready to be prescribed to patients on the very day that the paper appears. The drug discovery, research, and testing processes are much more long-winded [...]Alcoholic drug discovery truths is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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As a chemist by training, I’ve always been loath to give credence to unfounded criticism of synthetic chemicals that might stoke up chemophobia. Indeed, on several occasions I have written about how our bodies have evolved to cope with all kinds of chemicals regardless of whether they are synthetic or “natural”. I’ve never been a [...]Chemophobia and risk is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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My latest news round up on the Intute website is now live: Getting a grip on catalytic troublemakers, detecting toxic compounds in chlorinated water, and a trip to the Martian lake district. Related Posts:Moon, Earthquakes, Chemical WeaponsBasic Chemistry ResourcesIntute hot topics in physical scienceIntute Hot Topics is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog Intute Hot Topics is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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With ailing banks propped up by billions in taxpayers’ money and nations rolling through the mud of economic recession is it any surprise that we get mightily frustrated to hear of their enormous bonuses and golden pension pots? Of course not… But, here’s a thought… As the lines drawn between commercial and academic research become increasingly [...]Scientists torn between cash and kudos is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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The 1st of January issue of SpectroscopyNOW is live: MRI nanoparticles seek and destroy cancer cells – A single nanoparticle can be tracked using real-time MRI as it homes in on cancer cells. A fluorescent dye used to tag the nanoparticle couples with heat therapy to kill the targeted cells. Naomi Halas and Amit Joshi of [...]Cancer, pneumonia, regulations, theranostics is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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It won’t necessarily be music to the classical purist’s ear, but chemists have been instrumental in revealing the secret beneath the varnish on a Stradivari violins, and the secret is: there is no secret. Antonio Stradivari is perhaps the most famous instrument maker of all time. He is especially celebrated for his violins, which he made [...]Classic musical science and Stradivarnish is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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The most useless machine ever has rapidly become the internet’s first viral hit of the New Year. Essentially, it’s a little wooden box with a switch, but you’ve got to watch the video to see it in action:But, of course, it’s anything but a useless machine, it’s the embodiment of at least one principle of [...]Most useless machine everis a post from:Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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Over on the Intute site in the physical sciences section you will find the December science news round up from yours truly: What’s the buzz at the LHC? – After a frustrating false start, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) finally got it up and running in its underground home at CERN on the Swiss-French border near [...]Intute hot topics in physical science is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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I recently saw a research paper discussing the lack of tools for designers hoping to make their products greener, more environmentally benign, sustainable even. The paper focused more on the likes of coming up with a green espresso machine and offered a five-step scheme for getting the green credentials booked into a the design and [...]Five-step plan for green design is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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Wishing all readers, commenters, contacts, fellow tweeps and scientwists, Facebook fans, and friends everywhere a happy mid-seasonal, solstice feast event from sciencebase.com… …I couldn’t just say Happy Christmas could I? It’s not as if it’s scientifically possible to reconcile a belief in any archaic mythology with observational data concerning the nature of reality. Regardless, lacking such [...]Happy Solstice Event is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogCl ...

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Hepatic epiphany for myrrh – A statistical analysis of experimental data on laboratory animals shows that the resin of the middle-eastern tree Commiphora, better known as “myrrh” can act as a protective antioxidant against liver damage caused by organic lead compounds. Myrrh is a rust-coloured resin obtained from several species of Commiphora and Balsamodendron tree, [...]Myrrh, bones, and medical waste is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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Having posted about atheism recently on the SciScoop science forum, it seems quite apt to have received for review a couple of books with a religious theme at this time of year. The first is The Faith Instinct by Nicholas Wade. Wade is a well-known New York Times writer who presents the case for an evolutionary [...]Religious science and other science books is a post from: Sciencebase Science BlogClick here to play

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