Al Gore’s follow up talk at the TED conference on climate change is available to watch via video podcast from the iTMS. Well worth watching. The video of Sir Ken Robinson’s talk is very good as well. In fact, I’d recommend subscribing to the podcasts via iTMS and watching them all.
It’s been a while since I posted about YAPT. I said I was going to release early and often. Not much has happened on the often front…
I’ve decided to develop this using Cocoa rather than REALbasic. This means that there will not be a Windows or a Linux version. I’m doing this for fun and recreation, and as such I want to use the Xcode and Cocoa so I learn how to use them.
If you feel that UK based scientists should be able to continue using animals in medical research, under strict rules to make sure there is no unnecessary suffering, then sign the People’s Petition.
I’m developing a MacOS X and Windows application to use in the chemistry courses I do with the Open University (OU). It shows the long form of the Periodic Table of the Elements and displays information about the elements that I need when doing the courses. It’s pretty rudimentary at present but it’ll get better. Working on the “release early, release often” principle I’m making it available for download for anyone who wants to use it and also shape the direction it goes in the future. Here is a screen shot from the Macintosh version.
The colours used in the application are taken from the periodic table used in several Open University chemistry courses, like S205. At present only Hydrogen, Helium and Lithium have any data for the few fields that are available. All the rest of the elements will just display their name when clicked. You can copy the fields that are populated and paste the data into other apps. This’ll be one of the main uses for the app for me. If I’m writing, in Word for example, I’ll be able to cut a needed piece of data from YAPT and paste it into Word. All of the elements have a tool tip that shows the Name, Symbol and Relative Atomic Mass when you hover the mouse over them.
BTW the name YAPT is an acronym for Yet Another Periodic Table. There are loads of periodic table applications out there after all. This one will be focused on providing the data I need when doing the OU chemistry courses in particular and other OU science courses in general.
Saw this on the Bad Astronomy blog. Some pictures of the open star cluster NGC290 which is in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Beautiful.
The Cassini imaging team have released some raw images sent back by the Cassini space probe. They are amazing.
This weeks Nature journal has a series of articles on the future impact of computers on science. The articles are all free for non-Nature subscribers. This access is sponsored by Microsoft Research who have a site on the Towards 2020 Science project.
You can download the 2020 report from the site or request a print copy. It’s a weird paper size so requesting a print copy might be a good idea. The Nature Podcast this week also includes info on ion channels and Towards 2020 Science. Available via the Apple iTMS (you need iTunes installed for this) or at the Nature site directly.
The 2020 stuff is really good if you are interested in the interface between computing and science.
Credit where credit is due. Kudos to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, who has said in an interview with The Guardian, that creationism and ID should not be taught in schools. Bleedin’ obvious of course, but good that the head of the Anglican Communion is willing to say it publicly.
There is a good review of Daniel Dennett’s Breaking the Spell, and also Lewis Wolport’s Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast. I like this section:
But what really troubles us, and what is not really tackled by either author, is the fact that a belief in the existence of deities invariably comes with an intense urge to shove that conviction down everyone else’s throats and to proselytise. This can lead to tensions, to put it mildly, a point succinctly made by my old friend, Katharine Whitehorn, the former Observer columnist. As she once wrote: ‘Why do born-again people so often make you wish they’d never been born the first time?’
There is a good interview with Daniel Dennett it today’s Observer. It’s based around his new book, Breaking the Spell. I like this quote:
“Of course I’m going to hurt people’s feelings,’ he says, ‘but I don’t want to offend people casually. I really want to do it on purpose.”
Yep. If people are believing idiotic ideas, then call them idiots.
Rumours, and premature press releases!, indicate that a paper in Science by the Cassini Imaging Team suggests that there is liquid water near the surface of the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. That would be interesting in its own right but it seems that they have detected simple organic materials, and that there is more heat on average emerging from the south polar terrain, per square meter, than from the Earth. The bit in italics is a quote from the Cassini Team page. It’s a bit ambiguous. What do they mean by materials and when they talk about the heat output do they mean more heat per square meter when compared to the polar regions on Earth or other regions of the Earth?
I’m looking forward to getting the paper from Science.
With apologies to Alfred Bester for the title. Saw this on the Bad Astronomy blog. New Hubble picture of M101. It’s 170.000 light years across and contains a trillion stars. And that’s just 1 galaxy out of trillions.
If that doesn’t make you stop and gawk at the sheer splendour of the Universe then I suggest you check in to the nearest hospital, as you’re obviously very ill. And some people try to explain the Universe with Poof! God did it! Yeah, right. Giggle.
Classic line from today’s Doonesbury. Damn those pesky facts getting in the way of faith. Reason most certainly is a bully when it comes to pointing out falsehoods.
Much kudos to Pro-Test. It’s about time that the case for animal testing was put in a robust manner. Ultimately some things have to be tested in an animal model before human trials are performed. I’m all in favour of minimising the use of animals to the bare minimum but, at the present time, their use is essential for progress in the biomedical area.
Update:
BBC news story on Pro-Test rally in Oxford
Observer story on Pro-Test
Observer leader
Times Online article
Telegraph article
Astronomers using The Hubble telescope have imaged two additional bodies in the Pluto/Charon system. All 4 bodies orbit a centre of gravity that lies just above the surface of Pluto. Interestingly the orbits of Charon, P1 and P2 (as the new moons are designated) have a 12:2:3 orbital resonance. For each 12 orbits Charon completes, P2 completes 2 orbits and P1 completes 3. This implies that the moons where formed from a collision event that ejected material that later coalesced into the bodies. The gravity in the system isn’t strong enough for captured P1 & P2 to have formed the resonant orbits in the time the Solar System has been in existence. There is more info in this weeks Nature. If you don’t have access there are many other sources on the Internet. It’ll be interesting when the New Horizons mission gets to the Pluto/Charon system in July 2015.
This story is covered in this weeks Nature Podcast as well.
Scientific American has started a podcast. The first one is available via links at their site. First impressions are good. It’s got subdued production values and gives you information without a lot of gee-whiz bells and whistles getting in the way.
The TV show CSI gets a mild ribbing as well at the end of the podcast 🙂
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Today is Darwin Day. We celebrate the life and works of one of humanities greatest thinkers on this day, the anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth in 1809. This should be a public holiday. Let’s lobby our MP’s.
Some other Darwin Day links:
Seed Magazine has a podcast that seems good. Just recently subscribed so it’s still on probation. The Nature podcast has lived up to expectations. It’s essential listening. I don’t like the New Scientist podcast. It’s too glitzy.
If you are interested in astronomy, or just the night sky in general, check out Stellarium. Very nice.
What do you do when an octopus gets way too inquisitive about your submersible? Why turn on your thrusters of course and scare it away. Technique outlined in this video just in case you ever find yourself in this situation!