I have hayfever. It is mostly manifesting itself in the form of a constantly blocked nasal passage. Suffice to say, it is highly unpleasant. During the two weeks I have been a victim of hayfever I have made some interesting scientific observations.
Hayfever tablets work wonder for 4-7 days before actually making the symptoms worse
Nasal spray works slightly better to reduce congestion however it can cause nose bleeds
Avoiding pollen is really hard, even if you stay indoors all day.
Sorry about the lack of posts, like all good scientists i’ve been inundated with work of late. Poor excuse I know but still I apologise. To make up for my lack of post here are some current science stories that have interested me:
Incidentally light (and heat) leaving the sun travels for 8 minutes, exactly the same time it takes to turn an apple pie into a lethal weapon. Fusion power is what powers the sun and there is hopes that it could be harnessed here on earth. At the centre of the sun hydrogen atoms (specifically the isotopes deuterium and tritium) fuse together to produce helium, this process releases an enormous amount of energy. Scientists hope to one day reproduce this process on earth, and a new finding has brought us one step closer.
Experiments at the National Ignition Facility in the US have shown that ignition of fusion fuel could be achieved using a laser. By firing 192 lasers at a tiny pellet of deuterium and tritium, plasma was successfully produced without obscuring the lasers themselves. Handling plasma has always presented a hurdle to progressing with fusion power. At temperatures of 109 K very little can survive, so creating vessels to contain the plasma requires more than just reinforced steel.
The ITER is the vessel that scientist hope can contain the plasma of a fusion reaction so that heat can be extracted from it. A collaborative effort between 7 national and supranational bodies, the ITER is due to begin construction of its tokamak in 2011. A tokamak uses magnetic fields to confine the plasma rather than physical methods, this allows the plasma to be created without damaging any structures. If all goes to plan construction should be complete by 2018. Bringing us ever so closer to creating our own mini-sun here on earth.
Anyone that has read Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science will know the importance of the peer review system to science. Scientists will write papers on any discoveries and submit these papers to journals for publication. This way their work can be scrutinised and critically assessed by other experts in the field. These journals are rarely read by the general public though. Publications such as New Scientist and Nature provide a link from scientists to the public, but much of the science news we digest is reported by the media without verification of facts and figures. We wouldn’t expect important decisions to be based on hearsay?
In 1998 Syed Hasnain, an indian glaciologist, stated he thought all the glaciers in the eastern and central portions of the himalayas would disappear by 2035. These claims were never repeated in a peer-reviewed journal and Syed now says his claims were speculative. However these claims were reported as “very likely” in a 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC have now apologised for the mistake, however the question of how and why the claim was included in the first place still remains.
At times the world of science can seem murky and underhand. Occurrences like the Climategate scandal show that information isn’t always freely available to those that want to or need to see it. The peer-review system can lead to some scientists being frozen out if they want to publish unpopular views. A balance must be struck, we want reliable data that has been critical assessed by experts, but we want that information widely available too. It is important though that any science news story is supplied with appropriate published sources of the original study, so look out for mentions of papers and where they are published, so you don’t get caught out like the IPCC.
In the summer of 2009 swine flu was on everyone’s lips, quite literally in the minds of the World Health Organisation. Warnings of a new pandemic led to hilarious sightings of surgical masks being worn by some members of the public. Summer came and went, the massacre never came, but we were promised swine flu by the bucket load this winter. It never came. So why all the fuss? Members of the Council of Europe are asking the same question.
The contraction numbers of swine flu in the UK may never be known as many ‘sufferers’ were prescribed the antiviral Tamiflu without even seeing a doctor. We do know that deaths were far lower than some projections suggested. Should the WHO be made to answer to suggestions that swine flu was blown out of proportion? The role of the media in the coverage of swine flu must be also acknowledged. The summer is often a slow news period and fear sells newspapers, or in the 21st century increases web traffic.
The most significant feature of swine flu was the speed at which it spread around the globe. We now live in the age of international travel, and the H1N1 virus seemed to spread like wild fire. The slow rate in which vaccines were produced exposed some of the problems we may have if a more virulent virus spreads as easily as swine flu.
The recent release of James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar has dawned a new era in the cinematic experience. 3-D films are all the rage, and in the case of Avatar look spectacular, but how does it work?
3-D cinema relies on tricking the brain into thinking the flat 2-D image being viewed actually has depth. To do this each eye must be shown slightly different images. Some of you may be familiar with the old style red and blue 3-D glasses. One lens blocks out blue light, whereas the other block out red light, therefore, depending on the image the two eyes with see two slightly different images. The brain reconciles this difference as viewing a 3-D image. However this method severely reduces the quality of the image as some colour is filtered out. The new style of glasses rely on polarised light.
As you may or may not know, light is a wave. A typical beam of light will have waves co-ordinated at many different angles. However pass this light through a polarising film and all but one orientation of the light waves are blocked. This is used to reduce the glare from car headlights. In the new style 3-d glasses each lens contains a polarising film at different angles. The screen projects the image at two separate light orientations coordinating to the lenses of the glasses.
All of this means that if you have one eye, 3-D films are not ready for you, you’ll have to wait for holographic technology.
Anyone who has been in Britain in the last few weeks would have experienced the biting cold, ice and snow. Some parts of Britain experiencing temperatures below that recommended for the refrigeration of food. In fact it was so cold my toilet froze over. In the midst of a world where global warming is on the lips of everybody this extend cold period could be confusing. Why is it cold?
First things first, this period of cold weather says nothing about climate change. I’m sure scientist could be found to argue that this cold snap disproves or proves the world is warming. The weather in the British Isles is largely affected by the atlantic ocean. The wind and rain that are strongly associated with Britain are caused by areas of warm low pressure blowing over from the west. Though we may usually associated wind and rain with the cold during truly cold periods the sky is often clear. A high pressure system of cold air is sitting over Britain blocking any warm atlantic air. The strange thing about weather is if this system of high pressure occurs in the summer, we have beautiful clear skies and scorching hot weather.
Weather is notoriously hard to predict, this cold period could abate in a few days or in a matter of weeks. The behaviour of high pressure systems and when they dissipate are not set in stone, remember a forecast is just an estimation, not a promise
Science and technology are forming an increasingly important role in the Human experience, from geopolitical issues like climate change to ethical issues sure as cloning. Unfortunately the science isn’t always so easy to understand, hopefully Simple Sciman can help. Each week I hope to dissect the pertinent issues in science and put them in layman terms. What’s really happening and why is it important?
I look forward to hearing from readers about issues they feel need discussing.
Simple Sci-man 
