June 2009 - Posts - Lab Rats

June 2009 - Posts

Chemistry in the time of climate change

Posted by Seema Singh at 
If you are not a trained chemist, it's quite likely you belong to that group of people (like me) who didn't quite develop a liking for the subject during early days. As the science disciplines are classified, in half-jest -- "If it's green or wriggles it is biology; if it stinks it is chemistry; if it doesn't work, it's physics"...

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"Don't be a one-sided nerd"

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Even as the students mobbed the Nobel laureates at the Lindau meetings (details in previous post) -- for instance Robert H Grubbs flanked by some Indian students in the picture below -- Richard Ernst from Zurich, winner of 1991 Nobel in chemistry, was busy telling young researchers to have activities and passion beyond science. "Never forget your...

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In the land of the Nobels

Posted by Seema Singh at 
It's the Nobel season in the island town of Lindau in southern Germany, where every year around this time, Nobel laureates gather to interact, inspire and to some extent mentor, young researchers from all over the world. The meeting that started 58 years ago with seven Nobel laureates from three countries has expanded to 580 young researchers from...

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The swan song of (science) journalism

Posted by Seema Singh at 
The sixth World Conference of Science Journalists begins in London next Monday, where understandably a large amount of deliberation will go into where journalism in general, and science journalism in particular, is going. In today's issue of Nature , a long editorial and some essays reflect on how this profession, just about a century old, has changed...

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How many people donated to Obama's campaign?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
At least 3.7 million, compared to slightly fewer than 827,000 for McCain. A disproportionately high number of small donors were female in the case of Obama, and male in the case of McCain. These donors contributed a little less than $700 million to Obama, and $316 million to McCain. Hmmm... so, much of what was made about Obama's small donor campaign...

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Pharma industry isn't interested in curing diseases

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Well, before some of you jump on this, let me clarify-- it's not my observation. Nobel laureate Richard J Roberts , who won the prize for medicine in 1993 -- for showing that genes can be split -- said this during his talk at a biotech event in Bangalore. A scientist, who became one by studying chemistry and making fireworks, later turned to biology...

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How good are extended service contracts?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
If you ask consumer experts, they'd recommend, like always, against buying them since they are rarely cost effective. But many people ignore them. New research in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Consumer Research shows why. Authors Tao Chen, University of Maryland, Ajay Kalra, Rice University, and Baohong Sun, Carnegie Mellon University...

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Aerodynamics of seeds

Posted by Seema Singh at 
This post is about this picture. Enjoy. When maple seeds become airborne, they pick up downward speed and start to spin around their center of gravity, which is located in the nut. This spinning motion is induced by the airflow around the seed as it descends to the ground. Because the spinning, helicopter-like motion of the maple seeds arises automatically...

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George Soros and Heisenberg's uncertainty

Posted by Jacob Koshy at 
The Indian Express today carried an interesting interview of George Soros by Shekhar Gupta . While most of the interview was predictably about crumbling international markets and profundity on India coupling-decoupling-and coupling again/with from world markets. But here's the part of interest to you avid Labrat reader. Shekhar Gupta: You have also...

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Seeing through the rose-tinted glasses

Posted by Seema Singh at 
...Metaphor, we've all heard and used you are thinking, right? Well, neuroscience shows that it's true biologically; our mood changes the way our visual system interprets our perceptual experience. New research in today's issue of the Journal of Neuroscience by a group from the University of Toronto shows that good and bad mood literally...

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