20631016
submission
History's Coming To writes:
As a sideline to being a science buyer for a bookshop I run an independent blog that lets me spout off about books I like and (hopefully) be seen as impartial. I recently reviewed Stuart Clark's new book, The Sky's Dark Labyrinth , a fictional account of Tycho, Kepler, Galileo and a bit of a fuss involving the nature of the heavens.
He's been good enough to give me an interview where he answers a few questions about the science/religion debate, theories of everything, and Galileo's favourite biscuits.
17475852
submission
History's Coming To writes:
The BBC is reporting that a Tory city councillor has been arrested over a "joke" he posted to Twitter suggesting that Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a UK based writer, be stoned to death. The full tweet read "Can someone please stone Yasmin Alibhai-Brown to death? I shan't tell Amnesty if you don't. It would be a blessing, really.". Following complaints he was arrested under the Communications Act 2003 and bailed. He has since apologised. This comes on the same day that a conviction for a Twitter "joke" about blowing up an airport was upheld.
17475582
submission
History's Coming To writes:
A UK court has upheld a conviction handed down to Paul Chambers, a 27 year old accountant who posted a tweet reading "Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!". He claimed on appeal that it was clearly intended as a joke and should not have been taken seriously. The court disagreed, the appeal being dismissed on all counts and the original fine of £1000 standing.
16606224
submission
History's Coming To writes:
This truly is idle — in fact I think it's even a contender for a IgNobel award. I was recently inspired to write a short PHP script which generated the lyrics to Jim Steinman's cult hit "Total Eclipse Of The Heart". I managed a 22.4% saving based on characters and no whitespace. I'm sure this can be done better than my amateurish attempts though, and more interestingly, what's the most compressible classic rock ballad out there?
14217576
submission
History's Coming To writes:
Tommaso Dorigo, a physicist working on projects at both CERN and Fermilab has posted a strong suggestion that the decades old Tevatron accelerator in the US has pipped the European LHC to the post when it comes to the Higgs boson. The signal shows a three-sigma effect according to at least one of his sources, meaning there's a 0.3% chance that it's an experimental error. If true, the readings would indicate a Higgs mass of around 115-140GeV, very much at the lighter end of the theoretical range.
It's all highly speculative at present, with Dorigo himself admitting: "keeping particle physics in the press with hints of possible discoveries that later die out is more important than speaking loud and clear once in ten years, when a groundbreaking discovery is actually really made, and keeping silent the rest of the time."
14102936
submission
History's Coming To writes:
Several writers for the ScienceBlogs.com collective have Publicly resigned from the site, and many more have voiced concerns over parent company Seed's decision to include a paid blog under the nutrition category from PepsiCo. The blog is written by PepsiCo food scientists, detailing their work. The UK's Guardian newspaper has picked up on the story, and includes a letter from Seed editor Adam Bly which covers the company's rationale. Troy McClure has been quoted as saying "Now, turn to the next problem. If you have three Pepsis and drink one, how much more refreshed are you? You, the redhead in the Chicago school system?".
12743714
submission
History's Coming To writes:
The BBC is reporting that Facebook will be rolling out a simplified privacy system, after owner Mark Zuckerberg admits the company "missed the mark" with the previous policy. Whether or not convergent evolution will lead to a Unix type permissions system remains to be seen.
10360814
submission
History's Coming To writes:
Following hot on the heels of the weirdest named scientific paper is the Bookseller's annual Diagram Odd Titles Award. Contesting it this year are:
The Changing World of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Collectible Spoons of the 3rd Reich
Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes
Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots
What Kind of Bean is this Chihuahua?
Afterthoughts of a Worm Hunter
Personally, my vote is with Crochet, my full reasons being listed here: http://coolsciencebooks.blogspot.com/
342521
submission
History's Coming To writes:
Scientists from the University of Aberdeen are inspecting a small lump of rock from a quarry in Orkney for signs that life carried on metorites could survive re-entry. The BBC reports that the organic-rich rock was attached to the side of the ESA's Foton M3 and has recently been recovered.
206221
submission
History's Coming To writes:
A lawyer in the UK recently quit after making the shock discovery that the business is not all about ethics and helping people and making lots of money....oh no...
"it is all about ego, money and soulless, ruthless commercialism and exploitation"
I shouldn't laugh. Really, I shouldn't. Really.....
