What's On?

October 2, 2008 : Double win for Britain at the Ig Nobels

It's that time of year again, when scientists around the world wait nervously to hear who has joined that elite list of winners of the most prestigious prize in the business. But enough of the real Nobel prizes. They can wait until next week.
Last night, it was the turn of their subversive cousins, the Ig Nobels, those considerably less lucrative, but far more fun prizes, which reward research that makes people laugh first and think later.
This year, Britain can lay claim to two winners. David Sims of Cass Business School in London received the Ig Nobel for literature with his narrative exploration of bastards in the workplace. His research was prompted by a fascination of how seemingly fair and balanced people could suddenly abandon hopes of understanding another's viewpoint and instead write them off as a bastard. "There's almost a relief in branding someone a bastard, after spending years trying to accommodate their views. It's liberating," he told me before the ceremony.

The Ig Nobel UK Tour returns to The Centre for Life 9th March 2009. For more information see http://www.life.org.uk/lectures/.

The Guardian

Weblink (www.guardian.co.uk)

October 5, 2008 : Scare stories have drowned out the good that GM could do

Acres of newsprint and hours of television have been devoted to the GM crop controversy - quite an achievement for a foodstuff that is grown in no significant quantities in this country, or for that matter in this continent. Britain, like the rest of Europe, was long ago frightened away from producing and eating GM food by a media campaign that has been based mainly on hearsay and only marginally on science.
And that is a shame. As senior scientists have pointed out, GM crops have considerable potential to help the planet, despite the claims of their opponents. Environment groups such as Greenpeace claim the stuff is dangerous. But not a single verifiable case of illness that has been triggered by GM produce has been established in the US, even though Americans have been eating genetically modified food since 1994 and 75 per cent of all processed foods in the US now contain a GM ingredient. Opponents claim there are long-term health risks but offer no concrete evidence.

The Guardian

Weblink (www.guardian.co.uk)

October 1, 2008 : Colonial clue to the rise of HIV

The arrival of colonial cities in sub-Saharan Africa at the dawn of the 20th Century may have sparked the spread of HIV.
US experts analysed one of the earliest samples of the virus ever found, in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1959.
The study, published in the journal Nature, suggests the virus may have crossed from apes to humans between 1884 and 1924.
They believe newly-built cities may have allowed the virus to thrive.

BBC

Weblink (news.bbc.co.uk)

September 29, 2008 : Large Hadron Collider: Judge dismisses 'doomsday' lawsuit

A judge in Hawaii has dismissed a so-called "doomsday" lawsuit seeking to halt operation of the Geneva-based atom-smashing Large Haldron Collider.
The two men who filed the suit, Walter Wagner, a retired nuclear safety officer, and Luis Sancho, a Spanish science writer, argued the vast experiment could create tiny black holes or trigger other matter-morphing effects that could threaten the Earth.
The action was filed in Hawaii where the men live and sought to delay the launch of the collider pending a new safety review.

The Telegraph

Weblink (www.telegraph.co.uk)

September 27, 2008 : Pardon Messieurs, but champagne was a BRITISH invention, claims new research

It is the most quintessentially French drink, and the pride of a whole nation.
But there could be consternation across the Channel after a claim that champagne was invented by an Englishman.
Born in 1614, self-taught West Country scientist Christopher Merrett came from an area better known for producing cider.
However, records show he devised two techniques that were fundamental to making champagne decades before Benedictine monk Dom Perignon, who is usually associated with the invention of the ultimate luxury drink.
He used techniques from the cider industry to control the second fermentation which makes wine fizzy and - crucially - invented the stronger glass needed to prevent the bottle exploding.

Mail Online

Weblink (www.dailymail.co.uk)

September 26, 2008 : Giant prehistoric geese the size of small plane

Giant prehistoric geese the size of small aircraft once flew over Britain, scientists have discovered.
Dasornis, which had a 16 ft wingspan and sharp teeth, lived 50 million years ago and was related to present-day ducks and geese.
Once it skimmed the waters which covered what is now London, Essex and Kent, snapping up fish and squid with its bony-toothed beak.
Scientists announced the discovery of one of the best preserved Dasornis fossil skulls buried in clay on the Isle of Sheppey.
Dasornis was in many ways similar to the modern albatross, which has the largest wingspan of any living bird, but research has shown that its closest cousins are ducks and geese.