Blogs
What does a scientist do when he gets a cold? Analyses the ingredients of his cough remedy, of course. Here’s Richard Grant, mulling over his medicine:
Well, I thought to myself, acetaminophen is paracetamol, and that’s 0.6 of a regular dose. Chlorpheniramine maleate is Piriton, my favourite antihistamine that doesn’t make me drowsy (stonking blood-brain barrier, obviously). Pseudoephedrine, standard dose, and I don’t suffer from its side effects. I’ve taken analgesics and pseudoephedrine together for years, and the antihistamine shouldn’t be a problem, so I’ll be fine. That just leaves the dextromethorphan, which according to Google is a cough suppressant.
Unfortunately for Richard, he fell foul of the side effects and hid under his pillow for a day.
Somebody who sees a little further than the bottom of her pillow is astronomer Alyssa Gilbert. Her latest blog post describes an incredible method of measuring tectonic plate movements – not by looking at the ground, but by focusing attention 10 billion light years away.
This technique involves radio telescopes from all over the world observing the same quasar. The data is received at each antenna and is precisely time-stamped. Since each antenna is at a different distance from the quasar, the time will be slightly different, and the distances between the antennae can be calculated. The further away the source, the better the spatial resolution. So, quasars are used for these measurements because they are extremely distant. This technique can measure plate movements on mm-scales over just a few (< 5) years – how cool is that?
Very cool. That’s how cool. Elsewhere, Martin Fenner interviews Ijad Madisch, creator of new microblogging platform ScienceFeed, Jennifer Rohn gets her hands on some Dutch LabLit, and Brian Clegg has issues with mathematics.
Forums and Groups
The ever-popular Women in Science forum has a couple of new topics of note. Angela Saini launches a conversation on a new doll, Computer Engineer Barbie, and Cecile M. Perrault reflects on the tragic shootings at the University of Alabama. Meanwhile, Kyrill Potapov is seeking suggestions for mind-themed games to play on a children’s Camp Quest over in the Neuroscience forum. Finally, those of a more commercial bent might like to check out the Biotechnology Bioentrepreneur forum which, among other things, is discussing whether New York City is the next hub for biotech.
And finally…
Curious about why readers of her blog don’t always leave comments, Alyssa Gilbert initiated a poll to find out why. If you’re a regular reader of Nature Network’s blogs but rarely leave a comment, we’d love to know what the main barrier is. You can vote on Alyssa’s poll until Monday (no need to log in).