Science

Summaries of the CRUgate emails

phonkee — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:12:00 GMT

The most important notion from those emails is that the peer review process doesn't work when you don't want it to work.
Also Freedom Of Information are just some words... Nothing to do with me.
Climate cuttings 33

TerugNaarJeMaker.nl

phonkee — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:19:00 GMT

En snel een beetje!

HEER BOMMEL EN WAARDEVRIJE WETENSCHAP

phonkee — Tue, 01 May 2007 09:22:00 GMT

In Heer Bommel en de geweldige witwassen stelt schrijver/tekenaar Marten Toonder het begrip waardevrije wetenschap aan de orde. Professor Prlwytskofski geeft zijn assistent drs. Pieps de opdracht een 'kunstdrek' te maken, maar deze wil alleen politiek correcte chemicaliën gebruiken.

Prlwytskofski: … Is dat der salpeterzure natron, die ik u beopdracht heb?
Pieps: … de kwestie is, dat ik tegen chilisalpeter ben. … Daarom heb ik chinasalpeter genomen; dat is meer eigentijds."
Pieps: … Voor de zekerheid heb ik er fosfaat bijgedaan. Geen superfosfaat, want daar ben ik tegen. Net of het meer is dan wat anders. Daarom heb ik minifosfaat genomen. Het kleine heeft ook zijn rechten, zeg ik altijd.

Uit de column van Han Vermaat in het Chemisch Weekblad [C2W nr. 8 / 1 mei 2004, blz. 8]

Science degrees without the science

phonkee — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 09:37:00 GMT

Professor Davis Colquhoun of the University College London urged watchdogs to take action to stop complementary medicine courses being classed as science degrees.

Yet this sort of gobbledygook is being taught in some UK universities as though it were science.
(...)
What matters here is that degrees in things such as golf-course management are honest. They do what it says on the label. That is quite different from awarding BSc degrees in subjects that are not science at all, but are positively anti-science. In my view, they are plain dishonest.

Original article NATURE, Vol 446, 22 March 2007 [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Pharmacology/dc-bits/colquhoun-nature-07.pdf]

Research Nostalgia...

phonkee — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 13:08:00 GMT

Excuse me Sir, don't step into the yellow cake please. Thank you.

phonkee — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:08:00 GMT

Iran resumed uranium processing at the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) at Isfahan. I am glad I don't have to work here, because I know for a fact that fluorine doesn't agree with me. And BTW, paper masks do not protect you against fluorine or hydrofluoric acid, dudes!

On the occasion of a visit by representatives of Non-Aligned countries in late November 2004 (reported by FBIS*), Iranian Fars News Agency (farsnews.com) posted photos of the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) nine kilometers south of Isfahan. Photos include one exterior and many interior views of the facility, including shots of visiting representatives, employees, and yellow cake.

Download the PowerPoint presentation here (8,5 MB).
Via ArmsControlWonk.

The Oldest American? Footprints from the Past

phonkee — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 08:57:00 GMT

Human settlers made it to the Americas 30,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to new evidence. British scientists came to this controversial conclusion by dating human footprints preserved by volcanic ash in an abandoned quarry in Mexico. They say the first Americans may have arrived by sea, rather than by foot. The currently accepted theory is that the continent's early inhabitants arrived 12,500 years ago, by crossing a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. Details of the latest findings were unveiled at the UK Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition.

From BBC NEWS and New Scientist.

Hey dude, don't eat the Swiss brownies...

phonkee — Fri, 06 May 2005 12:55:00 GMT

Favrat B et al. (2005), Two cases of "cannabis acute psychosis" following the administration of oral cannabis, BMC Psychiatry, 5:17.

We report two cases of healthy subjects who were occasional but regular cannabis users without psychiatric history who developed transient psychotic symptoms (depersonalization, paranoid feelings and derealisation) following oral administration of cannabis.

Open Access article (HTML)
Open Access article (PDF)

Electrochemically Assisted Microbial Production of Hydrogen from Acetate

phonkee — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 11:48:00 GMT

Hydrogen production via bacterial fermentation is currently limited to a maximum of 4 moles of hydrogen per mole of glucose, and under these conditions results in a fermentation end product (acetate; 2 mol/mol glucose) that bacteria are unable to further convert to hydrogen. It is shown here that this biochemical barrier can be circumvented by generating hydrogen gas from acetate using a completely anaerobic microbial fuel cell (MFC). By augmenting the electrochemical potential achieved by bacte

Molecular Chemistry Model Kit

phonkee — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 23:49:00 GMT

Today I treated myself to a little present. I ordered a MOLECULAR VISIONS Molecular Chemistry Model Kit #1 to play with.

I am keeping up the pretence that this toy is meant solely for the education of my children, but I am not kidding my wife...