What’s that bright ball of fire in the sky again?

From this article:

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
We’re using thermal, which is far cheaper than solar. (There are) panels on our roof, but instead of using sunlight, we are using heat from the atmosphere to heat our water for showering. After all, we’re in the tropics.

Gee, where’s all that heat coming from then?

*headdesk*

Sex sells!

Finding a pair of ancient hooters gets you into Nature:

“A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany”, Nicholas J. Conard, Nature 459, 248-252 (2009)

Sex sells, no question about it.

Swamped!

When you show people you’re good at juggling balls in the air, they’ll just keep throwing more balls at you.

My co-worker is a robot

From December’s issue of IEEE Spectrum:

Who’d have thought there’ll be so many robots in this country?

But it’s not too surprising, really, given the number of electronics and hard disk manufacturing plants in Singapore.  Robots are practically a necessity in these industries – for one, they can’t sneeze or leave fingerprints on your nanoscale devices…

When chemists cook

Those of us (un)fortunate enough to spend some time in the UK would no doubt have heard of the Yorkshire pudding, a dish that ranks alongside with pub curry and blood sausage as one of the classics of British cuisine.

Now, the Royal Society of Chemistry has issued a ruling as to what constitutes a perfect Yorkshire pudding, and with this, an official recipe.

After all, cooking is really just chemistry (or is it the other way around?).

Allamagoosa

From a recent Naturejobs article (doi:10.1038/nj7216-1144a)

Despite ample investment and impressive progress, Singapore’s science programme does face stumbling blocks. Controls meant to stem corruption make the day-to-day use of funds a tedious affair. “There are too many well-meaning bureaucrats,” says Tenen. “They question every little purchase, without understanding the science or the way science works. You buy a paper clip and they want to know why.” Stem-cell biologist Davor Solter, who recently joined the A^*STAR Institute of Medical Biology from the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology in Freiburg, Germany, says he had to get the rubber stamps of some 16 people to get a computer. “It can take a month or more,” he says.

Another year, another X’periment!

Boy, that was a busy weekend at Marina Square.

As always, it’s a jaw-dropping experience to see and hear the various misconceptions of natural scientific phenomena coming from the general public. Although there were a few pleasant surprises when some parents were able to explain what was going on at the various activity stations to their kids (and getting it right in the process!). Promoting scientific literacy is an uphill battle, but hey, that’s what partly keeps us scientists employed.

Random overheard remarks during X’periment:

Person on the Street (PotS), looking at stress patterns with a polarizer: Can you see auras with this?

X’perimenter: Kids come in two varieties: the deer-in-headlights, and the know-it-all.

Another X’perimenter: I don’t think I’m going to have kids after this.

Various bystanders at the F1 simulator: Woman driver alert! (and variations thereof)

Young boy to younger sister: Don’t worry if you can’t finish the puzzle, they’ll give you a prize anyway.

PotS, looking at brine shrimp: Boy-boy, come look at the germs with the microscope!

PotS: Is this a recruitment fair?
Me: Yeah, we’re trying to get the young kids to go into science and engineering careers when they grow up.

Upcoming fun!

Science Month is early this year.

Look out for:

X’periment: Formula One simulators!

Images of Science: Science meets art!

National Science Challenge: Hot new host!

Do not cross this police line!

(Photo originally from Xinhua/Reuters – article here)

An example of why it’s important to have more women in science and engineering. Would their male counterparts even have regarded this (the safety aspects of wire bits in bras, that is) as an area of research and development?

Another fun way of wasting time!

If you thought “Whose ping is it anyway” was a timesuck, wait till you try this: Google image labeler