A Schooner of Science

More coral crochet (and brief patterns)

// November 25th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // Science Art

I’ve got some good blog posts up my sleeve, but they’ll have to wait until after NaNoWriMo, because I’m quite sick of typing at the moment!

Instead, here are some more of my contributions to the Adelaide crochet coral reef over at the RiAus.

The above were made from a huge ball of wool, with probably eight different kinds of yarn rolled up in it. It was fun when the threads changed colour, especially working with the yellow one on the outside, which was quite thick and crinkly. Pattern for the outside: Chain 20, then dc each stitch, but on every third stitch add another dc into it, so it increases. For example: dc stitch, dc stitch, 2 x dc stitch, repeat. Just kept doing that! Then I stitched up the edge to make it a circle, and dc’d in the center with red wool to make the pokey out part.

This one was tricky to work with, especially with my mid-sized hook. It was, basically, just two pieces of rope. Pattern: Chain 10, dc each stitch twice (so you’re increasing every stitch.) At the bottom I used some fine yarn and the same mid-sized hook and just dc’d along the edge really loosely.

My previous post is here with the big orange curly coral. It’s been fun! Happy to talk patterns with anyone who’d like to try it at home. Essentially, it’s just a lot of regular increases to give it the curly, hyperbolic edge. I think it would look good as a hemming on sleeves or pants or skirts.

The Stupid Species – a science comedy

// March 11th, 2011 // No Comments » // Just for Fun, Science Communication

I just got home from seeing Daniel Keogh (from ABC’s the Hungry Beast, aka Professor Funk) performing in the 18+ science comedy show The Stupid Species – Why Everyone (except you) is an Idiot.

It. Was. Awesome.

From the complex and perplexing placebo effect to the Asch Conformity Test, it was a playful romp through the psychology of stupidity. Why is love risky (or whisky) business? How can different colours cure the sick? Why are expensive things deemed better than the cheap, but free things are the absolute best?

I could tell you, but not with as much pizazz as Professor Funk.

Go for the science. Stay for the hair (or the epic pants and jokes.)

I awarded major bonus points for starting the show with Venn Diagrams and Pie Graphs. Plus the video on the placebo effect was simply mind-blowing. Also there’s free wine testing *hell yeah!*

The show toured during last years National Science week, and is now in Adelaide on Saturday and Sunday night at the RiAus. Tickets are still available for Sunday at a tiny $10, or $8 for students (book here) and are worth double that. Take your friends, they’ll appreciate your confidence and good taste in comedy.

“We all like to think we’re special. In fact on average everyone thinks they’re above-average. Although we think we’re pretty smart our tendency towards irrational behaviour is what unites us all as humans – the stupid species,” says Daniel Keogh. Follow him @ProfessorFunk.

Filming the invisible world – 3D documentaries

// February 28th, 2011 // No Comments » // Science Art, Science Communication, Science in the Movies

We are at a very disturbing point in film production, where we assume the audience has no imagination and no intelligence. Stories are spoon fed and wrapped up with explosions and effects to sell the same tired old plot.

Such is the opinion of Douglas Trumball, who has spent his career in science fiction animation and visual effects. He spoke on Sunday afternoon at the RiAus about the problems with the film industry and how science can save it.

What’s really lacking is immersion, a story that draws people in and the technology to make it hyperreal.

The technology is certainly improving, there’s no doubt about that. Take the infamous Avatar, which I was completely entranced by. The 3D was so subtle and authentic I honestly felt like I was there, and clapped like an idiot when it finished (much to the chagrin of my friends.)

But apparently, that’s nothing compared to what’s coming. Douglas is experimenting with cameras that capture at 120 frames per second (rather than the 30 they do now), and a projector that displays it at the same rate. For the audience he says it’s like opening a window to a different world. It’s a whole different feeling.

He envisions a cinema with a screen that curves around beyond 120 degrees, so it extends past the corners of your eyes.

And what does he want to do with this set up? Explore space. Vast, infinite and complex, space lends itself to immersive film like nothing else. It quite simply matches big content with big delivery. It needs a story to go with it too, something that captures the imagination of the audience, where they can fill in the blanks and have their own “ah ha” moment of discovery.

Truth is stranger than fiction, and science has some pretty cool stories of its own. Tim Baier is a stereographer who worked on feature films like King Kong and Lord of the Rings, and spoke on the panel about his recent work making science documentaries. I watched a preview of his work “Standing in Amazement” on Sunday, and it was breathtaking.

Image by Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary

In 3D, he captured still pictures and stop-motion of Arkaroola and the Flinders Ranges.

The sun rose on mountain tops encrusted with quartzite. Macroscopic photographs showed the indentations on a snakes head which sense heat, and the pads on gecko feet which let them hang upside down on glass.

It wasn’t just a film, it was a presentation. During the movie, Tim talked about the geology of the Ranges and how the mountains had formed.

He described the van der Waals forces that work on gecko feet. It was visually breathtaking AND intellectually stimulating. The full film lasts for 90 minutes, and is playing at the RiAus this week, Tuesday to Saturday. Session times here.

He thinks there is a lot of untapped potential in 3D science documentaries. I’d agree, particularly in talking about geology. I’m thinking right now about David Attenborough’s Cave episode on Planet Earth, and combining it with Sanctum 3D.

Sunday night I watched a doco with Sir Attenborough (he is EVERYWHERE!) and they showed a stadium-sized machine that could see inside fossilized embryos in 3D. Now that’s my kinda movie!

A night of chocolate at the RiAus

// February 3rd, 2011 // No Comments » // Science Communication

Image by Digital Sextant

It’s sold out, but you can watch the livestream here from 6:00 Adelaide time and have your own chocolate tastings at home.

Brendan Somerville from Haighs will talk about what makes chocolate so good. Chocolate has been around since the Aztec’s were big, originating some 3000 years ago in South America. Back then it was a bitter tasting drink, and nowhere near the delight we enjoy today.

Last year the cacao tree genome was sequenced, creating a blueprint of the source of chocolate. With it trees could be altered to become resistant to disease and to produce higher quality chocolate.

As well as using science to improve chocolate, we use it to justify eating just one more piece. Like red wine, chocolate in the right doses can be good for you. The medicinal powers ascribed to the “food of the gods” include:

Chocolate can suppress coughing.
Chocolate can lower blood pressure
Chocolate reduces stress

But there’s a downside, namely sugar and fat and a potential for addiction. The best chocolate to eat is small quantities of very dark chocolate, low in the bad stuff but high in the good stuff. Fortunately this is my favourite.

In the world of Food Porn Daily and Not So Humble Pie, any one of us can become a weapon of mass chocolate consumption. Cravings and addictions aren’t just limited to chocolate, I know for a fact they extend to Banana Caramel Cream Pie, particularly the one at Café Paparizzi in Malvern. So far I’ve managed to resist, but it’s only a matter of time.

Or is it? Dr Robyn Vale is also speaking tonight about how to resist temptation and avoid food cravings.

But purely for medicinal purposes, I think you should have a bit of chocolate while you watch the livestream.

So what are you craving right now?

Science that’s only skin deep

// December 3rd, 2010 // 2 Comments » // How Things Work, Recent Research, Science Communication, Sex and Reproduction

I’m a guest blogger for the RiAus, and this post also appeared on their fancy website. To tell the truth, I really wanted to call this post “Hormonally Yours” in homage to the Shakespeare Sisters (anyone?) but I’ll save it for another post.

Recently I was in Arnhem Land, visiting some Indigenous communities with a couple of friends. While I was there, I got pretty jealous of everybody’s darker skin. “It’s so well suited for Australia,” one of my friends lamented. “I should be in Norway or something.”

Pale skin like mine is not great for Australia. I tan pretty easily, but only after being burned bright red. While I was in the NT I slathered sunscreen religiously, but still managed to get a highly embarrassing burn on my lower back when I was building a sandcastle (an epic sand turtle, actually. Totally worth it.)

Anyway, enough about me and my weirdly tanned lower back (it’s been months! Why won’t it go away?) Let’s talk about Nina Jablonski, an anthropologist. In 2000 she suggested a new reason why skin colour varies so much. It’s not an adaptation to protect against skin cancer and sunburn, like I always thought it was.

It’s real job is to keep us highly fertile by maintaining a delicate balance between two key vitamins: Vitamin D and Folic acid.

Pica's skin tone matched her UVB exposure like her scarf matched her dress. Image by Monja Con Patines

Vitamin D is obtained through some foods, but mostly from drinking in sunshine. UV light turns cholesterol into Vitamin D, which then goes to either your liver or kidneys to be converted to an active form.

Once active it helps white blood cells like macrophages kill bacteria, and helps control levels of calcium and phosphate – important for building healthy bones.

Deficiency in Vitamin D causes rickets, a disease resulting in soft, easily broken bones and deformity which can lead to early death.

So getting enough UV (specifically UVB light) is important to not dying, and therefore having reproductive success later in life. It’s been backed up by Yuen, A. (Vitamin D: In the evolution of human skin colour DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.08.007)

Natural selection favours soaking up UV.

Penny stayed under foliage at noon to protect her folic acid. Image by Monja Con Patines

Folic acid is obtained in leafy vegetables and fortified cereals. Rather than being made by UV, the light can destroy folic acid by literally breaking it apart. (Jablonski, N. The evolution of human skin coloration DOI: 10.1006/jhev.2000.0403)

Critical for DNA synthesis, folic acid is essential during pregnancy when a lot of new cells are being made.

Folic acid prevents against 70% of neural tube defects in embryos. Its destruction by UV is bad news.

Natural selection favours avoiding UV.

So there’s an ideal amount of UV light that needs to get through the skin – enough to produce Vitamin D, but not too much to destroy all the folic acid. Getting the balance right for the environment you’re in means higher fertility, which drives natural selection

This is what Nina Jablonski thinks caused the evolution of skin colour through the sepia spectrum we see today. Dark skin, with high melanin, stops more UV light. That’s exactly what you want if you live in a place with a lot of sun, like places near the equator. Light skin lets more UV in, which is great if you live somewhere overcast and not very high on UV.

Understanding how your skin colour (NOT your race) influences these two vitamins is important in being healthy. It’s more important now than ever, because we humans travel a LOT.

Sadly, Australia is pretty high in UV and I am pretty white. Thank god for sunscreen.

Things are rarely that simple though, and I imagine there’s a few different things going on that connect UV light to skin colour.

On Tuesday the RiAus is holding an event called Skin Deep: Exploring human ancestry. They’ll be showing a preview of a new SBS documentary about skin colour scientific research, as well as results from the Genographic Project. Basically they took DNA samples from a lot of volunteers and some national identities, and now they’re giving us the goss on who’s related to who’s secret love child.

I’ll be there, I’d love to see you (though seats are limited.) I’ll be the one tweeting in the corner. Follow me @CaptainSkellett

Would love to hear from anyone who took part in the Genographic Project, and anyone who didn’t. Who would you most like to be related to? For me it’s David Attenborough, then I can dream of inheriting his voice.

Fringe, Festival and Science in South Australia

// March 4th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Just for Fun, Science Communication

For all me hometown South Australian readers out there, this be for you. It’s the best time of year to be in the southern state because the Fringe and the Adelaide Festival are both on at the same time and there is SO MUCH AWESOME about that, really, you’re spoilt for choice. Of course for the rest of the year there’s sweet F.A. to do in S.A.

The RiAus are hosting a most excellent event to celebrate. It’s quite bluntly called Pre-Coital, the Science of Dating. It has an even blunter, but very cute, picture. Truly a noble use of photoshop.

There’ll be music, comedy and science demonstrations. Honestly, what more could you want in a show? I can’t think of a single thing that’s missing, except perhaps a big-ass explosion, some fire and a treasure chest.

It’s on from Thursday 11 to Saturday 13 March. You can buy tix for $15 for adults. If you see it, PLEASE tell me all about it! I’d love to see it, but I’m in the wrong stupid state that weekend.

If you know of any other science events happening for the Fringe and Festival, post a comment.

Captain Skellett takes the Stage

// January 10th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Science Communication

Exciting news! I’ve been invited to talk about science blogging at the RiAus on the 18th of Jan for the next Australian Science Communicators meeting. If you’d like to come and meet me (and you live in South Australia) you can register here.

It comes at a great time, with Science Online 2010 starting very soon a lot of people are pondering the role of science blogs. What I’ve been thinking about lately is which is better, science in newspapers or science blogging?

The Audience
The point of communication is to speak to an audience in a way they understand. Blogs are free and accessible to anyone who has money for an internet connection. With all the science blogs out there, you WILL be able to find one that writes at your level, about your interests, and in a way you enjoy. Compare that to newspapers, which need to write in a way the majority will be able to understand and will be interested in reading. The benefit is it brings science to the attention of people who don’t usually care, where blogs preach to the choir.

The Information
Science is obsessed with accuracy and proof, it’s a bit of a trademark. Giving a story the badge of SCIENCE can be used for evil, and in trying to catch and keep the attention of the masses newspapers can sexify and simplify a story to the point of complete and utter inaccuracy. Take this heading from the Telegraph that “Women who dress provocatively more likely to be raped, claim scientists” which was ripped to shreds by Bad Science and later deleted. One example of many. Lies make science seem untrustworthy, and because science is often tied to fear-inducing stories about disease and global warming, I have to wonder if people make the connection that science is scary.

Blogs can be inaccurate too, they can jump on the same bandwagons or be lazy in their research, but they have two things in their favour – links and comments. An independent blog can (and should) link back to where got the story from. If they get something wrong, people can post a comment, and the correction will be RIGHT THERE ON THE STORY. If a newspaper posts a correction, it’s usually in a tiny paragraph somewhere in the middle a couple of weeks later.

Newspaper or Blog?
Hell, I’d hate to leave you guys like with a freaking “everybody wins” conclusion. Honestly, who wants to read that? As a blogger my opinion is obviously biased towards blogging, and I try damn hard to write science stories that are accurate, sexy and accessible. If you find a story that isn’t one of those things, comment on it so I can clean up my act. I think a good science journalist is someone who does these things whether they write for newspapers, magazines or blogs. The crap ones really stand out.

I’ll be putting my rambling unshackled thoughts together over the next week, so I’d love to know your thoughts. What do you like reading? What do you think works best? And, most importantly, should I be in my pirate attire for the evening?

Small Wonders: How Microbes Rule Our World

// November 13th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Science Communication

Did you know that your currently carrying at least a kilo of bacteria around on (and in!) you at the moment? And that without these hitchhikers we’d get very sick, very quickly? The world is a very different place if you are a bacteria or virus, who can happily live in the most extreme environments on earth, from deep-sea volcanoes to boiling hot sulphur ponds.

Thus was Thursday nights entertainment introduced to me. A night with Idan Ben-Barak, author of Small Wonders, at the newly opened RiAus.

When Idan started the book he had one rule – it must be funny (and he’s a Terry Pratchett fan!) What he was studying at the time was one protein in one species of one microbe – not exactly page-turning stuff. His concept was based on what got him into science in the first place. The wow factor, the same thing that got me into this blog – it’s all the cool stuff about science, in his case microbes, that are fascinating. He would hear about these organisms who do amazing things and he was constantly surprised by them. “Why don’t people know about this?” he wondered. “Because I haven’t written it yet.”

His book is all about mindblowing biology, like bacteria that live at 100 degrees Celsius and freeze at 70 degrees – they have to live way underwater next to thermal vents where the water is under so much pressure that it doesn’t vaporize from the temperature. Those bacteria have made it possible for us to do PCR, because their enzymes stay functional at the high temperatures we use to separate the DNA strands. Or how about cow crap cannons, a fungus that lives in cow dung until it becomes overpopulated, at which point they erect “canons” aiming up high using photoreceptors, which send organisms flying long distances to hopefully land and colonise a new home. Or microbes that switch their appearance to hide themselves from the immune system – “oh, you recognise me like this. Well how about THIS!”

To be honest – I haven’t read the book. I’ve bought novels on microbes before and found them not as interesting as they seem on the blurb, so now I tend to avoid them. But after Thursday I’m definitely planning to buy this book! Actually I have a voucher for Borders I got for my birthday which I haven’t used that – it may have just found it’s calling

The RiAus have a pretty cool calendar of events coming up, so if you’re in the Adelaide area it’s worth checking out.

Dalek Pictures

// October 18th, 2009 // No Comments » // Just for Fun

As promised, here are pictures from last week (was it really only a week ago?) when I was a Dalek for the RiAus Family Fun Day. So good.

Daleks running amok in Victoria Square

Andrew Corson, the man behind it all

And this pic isn’t a Dalek, it’s a robot called Tubby who strolled around with her baby robot and talked to people in the Square. It was awesomely interactive.

For this dialogue, imagine Tubby as having a very robo voice.
“Hello, my name is Tubby, how are you?”
“I’m good, how are you?”
“Well I’m feeling a little flat, but I’ll be better once I refill my batteries. Which way to the battery recharge?”

Lol, well maybe you had to be there. The full story of my RiAus experiences was blogged about here. It was an awesome weekend, this one has been spent recharging MY batteries. Cooked lots of tasty meals, went to the markets to buy groceries, started getting things ready for my Halloween party, and just watched the 40 Year Old Virgin again. You know the ending when they sing The Age of Aquarius? SexyMan thinks it’s lame but I love it. Who’s with me?

The Launch of RiAus

// October 11th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Science Communication

‘Tis late at night, the storm has passed, I am exhausted from my weekend and long to crawl into bed to read Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

But no… it has been too long and I have been too slack on writing. Don’t let me weasel my way out of this. I am GOING to write a post. Oh yes, though my internet issues are still not completely sorted out and I can’t upload images, no matter. I’m posting.

So much has happened this weekend! RiAus (the Royal Institution of Australia – not the Royal Institute as I was hastily corrected) launched on Thursday with much fancy, and I volunteered for the Open Day on Saturday and the Family Fun Day on Sunday. I’m still trying to process all of what I saw, and wishing I’d seen a mite more. Allow me to paint a picture with my words in lieu of posting pictures, which I will do as soon as pirately possible. They say a picture says a thousand words, so consider this the low res version.

The Science Exchange is a mix of heritage rooms and contemporary spaces, of electronica galore and art exhibitions and people, people people. There were plenty of people filtering throughout the day taking a gander at everything on offer. I was stationed in the basement with the Art – two semi-permanent exhibits which will be stationed there until December. The first was a fascinating but dark display of two huge antenna’s created by looping 8 km of copper wire around and around so that it picked up low frequency electromagnetic radiation, and sent it to speakers and an oscilloscope. The result was a loud electronic hum, much like the hum of a computer or ear-ringing after a concert only louder, and to contrast this industrial soundtrack was a video projected on the wall of lurid green suburbia overgrown with weeds and introduced species. As I explained numerous times over the day to confused people, the artists were taking something usually invisible to us, and making it something we can see and here – contrasting this urban, electrical noise with images of nature but drawing a comparison as well – both electronics and the plants in the video are things we have introduced into our lives which now grow rampant and wild, taking over what was once there and although we may not always be aware of it, it is always under the surface. Makes you think.

The second exhibition was a bit more interactive and also very cool. You lay down on a bed and hold electrodes in your hands which measure your heart beat. You can hear your heart on speakers under your head, and there are coloured spots projected onto the ceiling – the spots go red when your heart beat goes up, and they go blue when your heart beats slowly. Lying there in a darkened room, an intimate setting with a heartbeat sounding around you, controlling the lights in the room by reminiscing on past experiences was a beautiful thing – and people were invited to paint their experiences afterward with paints and paper provided.

On the Family Fun Day I was outside, which was a massive change from the basement with heartbeats and electronic hums. When I heard they needed a volunteer for the Dalek group I stuck up my hand and said “I’ll do it!” faster than you can say “WALK THE PLANK OR FEEL MY STEEL” when in a temper. I’m a big fan of Doctor Who (well, David Tennant to tell the truth. And I love Converses, so what can I say?). The Daleks were human sized and moved and talked just like a Dalek does, with moving periscopes and shooty things and flashing lights and all sorts! They are the brain child of Andrew Corson, and I wish I could post some pictures up right now because I have some great ones! They are controlled by a person INSIDE the Daleks, and it is hot and sweaty work in there. Thus come midday some of the operators wanted a break. Guess who took their place.

Seriously, guess.

I totally took their place! OMG, I was a freaking DALEK today – the grey one – and I was all “Exterminate, Exterminate!” and shooting at people and freaking out kids! Even though it was really hot work and it took a while to get used to the controls, it was totally awesome and seriously – how often can you say you were a Dalek on the weekend? I can’t get over it.

There was a bunch of other stuff on at the Fun Day, but unfortunately I didn’t get to see much of it because of the AWESOME DALEKNESS. It is a shame though, because they had very cool performers on, although most of it was for a younger crowd.

And just to top off my weekend (because I wasn’t busy enough) I dressed up like a pirate and made slime with a bunch of friends. I’ll show you the video if it came out okay – I now have blue goo all over my backyard. Don’t tell my landlord, I mean sealord.

And now adieu – 859 words will have to be enough for this picture. I’m going to lie down now.