We chose Martin to participate because he was the closest we could find to Absolute Zero in terms of pitching ability. He made no pretense of skill. He held the baseball as if it were radioactive. “You don’t get these things in Europe,” he said. “I wouldn’t know where to get one.” Martin even insisted […]
Month: September 2007
Knees: Passive value
Tad McGeer proved that you don’t need knees to walk downhill. But he also proved that downhill walking is nicer with knees. He further proved that you don’t need a brain if all you want to do is walk down a slope. Nor do you need much else. Just a pair of legs – call […]
Is the world flat, then?
Scientists, it is said, never take any assumption for granted. A panel of amateur scientists on the American TV program “The View” debated two such assumptions. Click on the image to see and hear video. Here is a transcript covering one of the two questions (the video clip covers both questions): WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Is the […]
Dan McCune joins LFHCfS
Dan McCune has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. He says: My qualifications include 1) having luxuriant hair, usually flowing, and 2) I am an adrenergic pharmacologist who has investigated receptor binding and cellular signal transduction beyond the point that any sane individual would wish to do so. I (and my hair) received […]
The bang-free bomb and the bomb-free bang
Another of BAE’s ideas is what has been described as a “bang-free bomb”. In fact, although the explosion is quieter, the bomb has been re-engineered so the risk to the user of exposure to the bomb’s fumes is reduced. “This is to ensure they are safe to use, that they only go off when they […]
Susanna Lewis joins the LFHCfS
Susanna Lewis has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. She says: I wish to gently protest the ageism implied in ?From that lone, Pinkerian seed, there has grown a spreading chestnut, black, blond, and red-haired membership tree?. I am a molecular biologist; my group and I work on DNA palindromes. I would be […]
How to begin an obituary
This first paragraph of an obituary in the September 16, 2007 Boston Globe raises the modern standard for good, evocative explanation: Years before she blazed trails with research in cell biology and trained generations of aspiring scientists at Harvard Medical School, Elizabeth Hay was just a young woman who liked to take things apart. Animals, […]
Satellite fall down go splat
DESCRIPTION OF EVENT: As the NOAA-N Prime spacecraft was being repositioned from vertical to horizontal on the “turn over cart” at approximately 7:15 PDT today, it slipped off the fixture, causing severe damage. (See attached photo). The 18′ long spacecraft was about 3′ off the ground when it fell. The mishap was caused because 24 […]
A number of zebrafish curiosities
Alan Roach indirectly raises two simple questions: Is the zebrafish an animal? What is a large number, as compared with a small number? The August 27, 2007 issue of Chemistry & Industry explains: Zebrafish have the potential to reduce dramatically the number of animals that are used for testing in drug discovery. UK biotechnology company […]
More arm-wrestling mechanical woes
Arm-wrestling machines (mentioned here yesterday) are still causing mahem, says investigator Brigitte Dalton, who alerts us to an August 21, 2007 Associated Press report, which begins: Lose a game of chess to a computer, and you could bruise your ego. Lose an arm-wrestling match to a Japanese arcade machine, and you could break your arm. […]