Kerry

md65536 is essentially right, but there's also a really good explanation on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinicle

We've recently published a theory from Brian J Ford on spontaneous human combustion. He thinks its down to ketosis and being diabetic:

A patient experiences ketosis; acetone and its allies form a reserve in the fatty tissues of the body and collect in gaseous form under the clothing; the patient is thus potentially inflammable. A static spark from fabric or combing the hair could set off fierce combustion. The energy required to trigger an explosion of gaseous hydrocarbons is as little as 0.02 mJ, which falls below the threshold of human perception, whereas static sparks from clothing can produce a painful jolt.

 

The reported cases support my proposal perfectly. Many of the victims have high levels of body fat, which provide the fuel depot and the likelihood of ketosis.

http://www.labnews.co.uk/features/solving-the-mystery-of-human-spontaneous-combustion/

There's a good Wikipedia page on Restless leg - no mention of sugar though... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restless_leg_syndrome

I'm working my way through The Periodic Table Its Story and Its Significance (http://laboratorynews.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/the-periodic-table-its-story-and-its-significance-by-eric-r-scerri/) and very much enjoying it

There are a few examples of what Diamond is used for here: http://www.labnews.co.uk/feature_archive.php/6018/5/diamond-discoveries I got the spend the day there last year and it's amazing!

They also have lots of videos here http://www.youtube.com/labnews#p/c/476F98739A7FC3AB (hope that works). BackStage Science's video is also worth a watch:

Toaster it is then! Thanks

That sounds like a really fun experiment - I might try it with my niece and nephew. I think they'll be a bit young to understand the science but it'll certainly amaze them - no harm in getting them hooked early!

Sounds like a great project - I wish we had more interesting projects like this when I was at school.

Let us know what you choose and how it turns out.

There's more about tsunamis here - including the Christmas Tsunami

Different types of waves occur on either side of the fault. Positive or crest waves – the more dangerous of the two because of their vague warning signs – are caused by the plate on one side of the fault moving upwards. The crest of the wave arrives first, and the sea level rises rapidly, overwhelming everything in its path. When this wave passes, the water recedes quickly as the second wave arrives. In the 2004 tsunami-causing quake, the Burma plate was pushed up, and the waves struck places like Sri Lanka.

 

 

Negative or trough waves are characterised by a rapidly receding sea which is followed by a sudden rush of water at high speed. The drawback occurs because the tectonic plate on one side of the fault sinks suddenly which causes the overlaying water to propagate outwards with the trough at the front. It was a negative wave which hit the island of Phuket in Thailand in 2004.

Hope that helps

I was more after anything that was goingto be shown in the next few months - I've tried looking at the BBC website but they're not very forthcoming with information!

Does anyone know of any good science TV programs coming up in the next couple of months?

The BBC are asking people to complete a survey on their science coverage - radio, TV and online apparently

'The principal issue under consideration is whether the BBC's coverage of science, taken as a whole, presents a full and impartial view of the nature of the subject and the of the role of science in society.'

Only open until the 27th Sept if anyone is interested

Story here: http://www.soci.org/News/SCI-BBC-survey with link to survey at the end.

I'm currently writing a piece on Marie Curie - she's very inspirational.She had to cope with personal heartbreak on several occasions and faced much trouble in her professional career simply for being a woman.

Another truely inspiriational scientist is Rosalind Franklin - she provided the data for Watson & Crick to go public with their structure of DNA and didn't seem to complain! Again she faced opposition in her professional career, often being ridiculed and belittled, and who knows what else she might of discovered if she hadn't died at such a young age.

It would grab light as it approaches the cloak, forcing it to flow smoothly around it rather than striking it, rendering the object invisible to the naked eye.

http://www.labnews.co.uk/news_archive.php/5061/5/moving-forward-with-metamaterials

Not so much about exactly 'how' but might point towards some uses

Interesting piece here on how the dopamine systems in schizophrenics and highly creative people are similar:

http://www.labnews.co.uk/laboratory_article.php/5468/2/2/thinking-outside-the-box

Maybe we could all develop the disease if under the right conditions.

Here's the original release from The Royal Society: http://royalsociety.org/Newtons-famous-apple-tree-to-experience-zero-gravity/

and it's also here: http://www.labnews.co.uk/laboratory_article.php/5456/2/2/zero-gravity-for-newton%E2%80%99s-tree

How ironic. Wonder what Newton would have made of it?

Laboratory News (http://www.labnews.co.uk) has an article on volcanoes in the April issue. Its party of the Extreme Earth series - it'll be online shortly (end of next week I reckon).

Wikipedia is fab for this though - and tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis etc etc - I use it a lot in the course of my writing.

We've just run a feature on this which I found quite interesting. Who'd have thought Churchill was an advocate of eugenics

http://www.labnews.co.uk/laboratory_article.php/5312/5/are-we-already-creating-a-super-race?-

I think skyhook is right when he talks about the upper and lower classes. As the quote from Churchill in the piece says:

“The unnatural and increasingly rapid growth of the feeble-minded and insane classes, coupled as it is with a steady restriction among the … superior stocks, constitutes a national and race danger which it is impossible to exaggerate ... I feel that the source from which the stream of madness is fed should be cut off and sealed up before another year has passed.”

I meant to include a link to the original press releases - there's a bit more info at the end on what each job would entail http://fastfuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/FastFuture_Shapeofjobstocome_PR_V11.pdf

Be interested to know of any past research which suggests other jobs of the future eg what they thought we'd be doing in 2010.

(PS I am not a spammer )

Did anyone see the recent BIS study on potential jobs today's school kids could have in 20 years time?

http://www.labnews.co.uk/laboratory_article.php/5211/2/2/science-jobs-of-the-future

Some of them sound pretty interesting - avatar, memory augmentation surgeon, weather modification police

I think I'd give the vertical farming a go - I know the BBC reported recently on a vertical farming trial at a British zoo (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8503498.stm) and it looks quite interesting.

What would you choose?

CharonY is right - gecko's have lots of tiny little hairs on the bottom of their feet and "stick" to the wall via van der Waals attraction

Yes, basically the drugs are attached to nano-sized vehicles, in this case a polypeptide. Because it's so small (50nm) it can easily pass into the tumour and accumulate, which incidentally means you can shrink the tumour with fewer treatments.

They've tested it on mice and it seems to work well:

mice treated with doxorubicin alone had an average tumour size 25 times greater than those treated with the new formulation, and survived for 27 days, compared to 66 days for mice receiving the new treatment.

Having watched the BBC ‘spectacularly fail’ to capture the views that pioneers obtained through early microscopes, microscopist and broadcaster Brian J Ford picked up the challenge and faced the beeb head on

http://www.labnews.co.uk/laboratory_article.php/5065/5/2/taking-on-the-beeb-

Amazing how he was able to get perfect results, but the BBC's 'best brains' weren't able to get anything close to it

http://www.labnews.co.uk/laboratory_article.php/5059/2/nano-scale-drug-delivery-for-chemotherapy-drugs

Bioengineers used Escherichia coli which had been genetically altered to produce a specific artificial polypeptide known as a chimeric polypeptide. When attached to the chimeric polypeptide, the chemotherapy drug – in this case doxorubicin which is commonly used to treat cancers of the blood, breast ovaries and other organs – dissolves in water consistently and reliably in a size of 50 nanometers, which makes them ideal for cancer therapy. Once the drug has been delivered, the vehicle breaks down into harmless by-products, reducing toxicity to the recipient.

Who'd have thought this creature could inspire the future of CD and DVD players (fabulous picture too)

http://www.labnews.co.uk/laboratory_article.php/4991/2/2/super-shrimp-eye-inspires-cd-player-of-future