Schrödinger's Kitten
Irreverent Science for Everyone
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UK Green Party Now Pro Stem Cell Research
A bit of good news for those of us who live in the UK and like our politics to both consider the environment and be based on science: the Green party has pulled a U-turn at their current conference and decided that research on stem cells, adult or embryonic, is OK by them if done ethically and transparently. Are they getting over their knee-jerk fear of science? I do hope so.
It Might Be Climate, But It's Not Science
Leaked correspondence and data from one of the world's leading climate research institutes casts doubts about the validity of their data. Some of their big names in man-made climate change, and on the IPCC, are involved. Climate skeptics are having a field day. Environmentalists are attacked by sneaking worries. No valid explanation given.
Testing Animal Testing
Pretty much everyone agrees that animal testing should be less cruel and, if possible, avoided. But this simple proposition opens a whole can of worms (...and daphnia, and drosophilia, and other quickly-reproducing invertebrates...). How do we minimise animals' suffering when we have no idea when they are suffering? Humans aren't great at taking animals on their own terms; witness all those dog owners who think their canine friend hatches vindictive plots to punish them for going out without them. For years it was thought that reptiles were crap at learning, but once they were offered rewards that actually appealed to them (heat lamps rather than food rewards) they suddenly improved. Some animal researchers don't even believe that animals *are* conscious. And then there's the issue of interspecies comparisons — is it better to test on 1,000 zebrafish, or one cat?
Death to the Unnecessarily Complicated Measuring Units of the Imperium
We have almost — almost — banished ridiculous measuring systems based on the length of the king's foot or the Babylonians' favourite number, or whatever, in favour of a nice, consistent metric. A few backwaters remain cough US cough but most of the world uses SI (International System) units for science and buying milk.
For example, this gives us the liquid volume unit the litre. A thousandth of a litre of water, which I hear the kids are calling a 'millilitre', weighs a gram and has a volume of one cubic centimetre. This leads painlessly to the useful result that a litre of water weighs a kilogram, and has a volume equivalent to a 10cm sided cube — or a thousandth of a metre cubed. So a metre cubed of water weighs one thousand kilograms, which we call a ton.
Survival - Now A Special Interest Issue
The US Environmental Protection Agency determined in April that greenhouse gases 'pose dangers to public health and welfare' — which makes them sound more like a drinking problem, but OK. Step in right direction. Now the EPA will be able to start taking steps to regulate such gases. Finally, I hear you cry. But wait — the nature-lovin', deer-squashin' Republican party have produced a memo which shows that not letting manufacturers pump whatever they damn well like into the atmosphere may harm their profits. And we're in a recession. And the hippies at the EPA knew this when they decided to tie the small businessman's coal-covered hands with red tape!1 The Republicans are pissed.
The Market Value of the Stairway to Heaven
In response to the frankly ambitious Japanese announcement that they could make a ladder into space for 10 billion Yen1 and have it running in our lifetimes, I was asked to write a guide to the construction of a space elevator for the March edition of The Sky at Night magazine, out now.
Lies, Misinformation and Jeremy Clarkson
A lot of people (mainly car drivers and lovers) have gleefully told me about the 'test' conducted on Top Gear which 'showed the Prius (a hybrid eco-car) wasn't that fuel efficient'. In case you haven't seen it, the clip can be watched here, unless it's been taken down by the BBC (the kitten accepts no responsibility for objects thrown at screen in an attempt to silence Jeremy Clarkson).
Why We Should Stop Using Fossil Fuels – Even If Global Warming Wasn't Happening (which it is, by the way)
Fossil fuels are what's left of ancient (dinosaur-type era) living things, crushed and simmered deep in the Earth for millions of years as more and more layers of mud covered their bodies. As the mud turned to rock, the organic matter turned into a rich soup of molecules called hydrocarbons. Then some hairless monkeys started digging it out, and found that it burnt real good. They called this hydrocarbon-rich material coal if it was solid, crude oil if it was liquid, or natural gas. And they burnt it, and it produced a lot of energy, more energy than anything the monkeys had burnt so far. It was really light for the amount of energy it had in it, too, so you could take a bottle or a lump of it with you and use it for transport without it weighing you down. And the monkeys used more and more of it for more and more things — oil could be turned into waterproof, mouldable, lightweight materials, which were just great for making disposable beverage containers and costume jewellery.
Why Are We Fat?
It turns out there are possibly scientific excuses — sorry, reasons — why I, along with most of the Western world, according to well-meaning TV chefs and hysterical headlines, am plump. The blame for this is usually laid at the feet of unhealthy food and increasingly sedentary hobbies (such as browsing websites, you porky reader you).
A number of the excessively sanctimonious seem to blame the growing tidal wave of blubber on fast food, which is apparently only consumed by people lacking in education (and, one assumes, impulse control). Of course, nobody with a high-class education (which presumably includes simple biology) would ever eat pie 'n chips. They'd eat foie gras.
Global Warming
I believe in global warming enough to lie awake at night fearing what will happen when it comes (because I, unlike most of our 'leaders', am young enough that I will see the results). A lot of people do not believe in global warming, or believe in it but are sufficiently optimistic to not worry like I do. This is nice for them, I guess. If you are one of those sort of people, I'm afraid I'm writing this to try and convince you otherwise. I think we need everyone together on this one. You can write to me in return if you like.