General Science

Superb at Nothing

Posted by richardelwes on April 27, 2011
Posted in: Bloggery, General Science, Nonsense.

Having shamefully neglected this blog (and indeed having been enjoying a holiday in Hungary), I came back yesterday to find it overflowing with thousands of comments flogging fake Rolexes (or should that be Rolices?).

I’ve disabled comments as a temporary measure, while I fiddle around trying to install a spam-catcher. I hope I didn’t delete any real people’s comments during the clean-up operation, but if you notice anything missing, please let me know.

Meanwhile, here’s a video clip of British comedian Kenneth Williams talking about medicine. But I think his comment is equally applicable to many areas of science, and not least to mathematics:

Bad Science 1 – Bad Medicine 0

Posted by richardelwes on September 15, 2008
Posted in: Bloggery, Crankishness, General Science, Politics.
The Guardian has won its legal battle against Matthias Rath – a vitamin-magnate who told desperate South Africans that his pills could cure AIDS, while “so-called anti-retroviral… drugs severely damage all cells in the body – including white blood cells – thereby not improving but rather worsening immune deficiencies and expanding the AIDS epidemic.” Ben Glodacre of Bad Science – who wrote the piece in the Graun that attracted Rath’s unsuccessful lawsuit – is justifiably pleased and proud. Meanwhile Rath is doubtless spitting mad, and hopefully, shortly, bust.

Countdown to collision!

Posted by richardelwes on August 22, 2008
Posted in: General Science, Physics.

CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is warming up!

The most powerful particle accelerator ever built, it promises real breakthoughs in our understanding of our universe.

Although modern mathematical physics is amazingly flashy and theoretical, at root it is – of course – an observational science. We observe nature, and then come up with theories to explain what we see. The problem is, as medium-sized animals stuck on a temperate planet, we are severely limited in the types of observation we can make. No matter how clever we are, our theories have to be extrapolated from environments accessible to us to the rest of reality, much of which looks utterly different. There our ideas may stand or fall, but how do we know?

That’s why, whenever new technology unveils a side to the world which was previously hidden, it’s an exciting time: from the first microscopes prompting the discovery of cells, to the Hubble telescope zeroing in on the age of the universe.

How particles behave at very, very high energies (14 TeV) is something we have not yet been able to see directly. And it’s crucial: these were the conditions at the universe’s birth. This is what the LHC will open up, by whizzing protons round the 27 km loop, smashing them into each other at 300 km/s, and monitoring the fall-out.

There are several predictions made by theories of physics which will now be seriously tested for the first time. Particularly tantalizing is the Higgs Boson: a large particle predicted to exist by the Standard Model, but never seen. If found, it wouldn’t just be an important discovery on its own terms, it would be huge evidence for the Standard Model, and so a step towards a Theory of Everything.

Jim Pivarski at The Everything Seminar blog is involved as a physicist working on muons. He’s running a series updates on progress. At the moment, they’re testing it out by firing a few protons about, and the first proper collisions are rumoured to be scheduled for October. So, watch that space.

Meanwhile, here are some awesome pictures of the awesome machine.

Put a little science in your life!

Posted by richardelwes on June 2, 2008
Posted in: General Science.

Inspirational stuff from Brian Greene in the New York Times:

Science is a way of life. Science is a perspective. Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding in a manner that’s precise, predictive and reliable — a transformation, for those lucky enough to experience it, that is empowering and emotional. To be able to think through and grasp explanations — for everything from why the sky is blue to how life formed on earth — not because they are declared dogma but rather because they reveal patterns confirmed by experiment and observation, is one of the most precious of human experiences.

Defecating on an infinite number of keyboards

Posted by richardelwes on May 21, 2008
Posted in: General Science, Maths.

Everyone knows that if an infinite number of monkeys bash away at an infinite number of typewriters, then eventually one will write the complete works of Shakespeare.

So, in 2003, some researchers at the University of Plymouth decided to test this theory, at Paignton Zoo. Unfortunately they were limited to having only one month, one computer, and six monkeys (Sulawesi crested macaques Elmo, Gum, Heather, Holly, Mistletoe and Rowan).

The initial results were not encouraging: “the lead male got a stone and started bashing the hell out of it… Another thing they were interested in was in defecating and urinating all over the keyboard”.

But who’s to say that isn’t how Shakespeare started out?

After a while the monkeys began to get the idea, and set to work enthusiastically. In such restricted conditions, it’s understandable that their final manuscript [pdf] lacks the intricacy of the bard’s work. Nevertheless, it’s a good first attempt, which I look forward to seeing on stage.

[via Elliott]