35.99920 years in science communication
My blog is worth $611,396.82.
How much is your blog worth?
According to the Business Opportunities weblog and based on web rank, incoming links and content, Sciencebase.com is now worth a lot more than the $71,132.04 I posted back in December 2005. So now offers in the region of $700k are welcome…
I suspect some scientists, like some science writers, you might say, have toooo much time on their hands. Nature’s Declan Butler trawled the Technorati blog directory for blogs written by scientists and found that of the 45 million or so blogs it lists at least five scientists’ blogs that make it into the top 3,500.
“There is little agreement about how to rank blogs,” Butler says, “no method is perfect.” He adds that given the huge number of blogs, there will no doubt be omissions. The exercise is, he says, best viewed as “a rough snapshot”. Nevertheless, the results demonstrate (somehow, the press release doesn’t say) that there has been a rapid increase in popularity of scientists’ blogs, and reveal several lessons for science bloggers hoping to get noticed.
I asked Butler about his motive for assessing science blogs in this way, “My idea was really just to get some idea of where science blogs stood in the blogosphere, and also draw attention to the issue of blogging in science,” he told me.
Anyway, here are the Top 5 Science Blogs according to Butler’s Technorati analysis:
179th Pharyngula http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula
1,647th The Panda’s Thumb http://www.pandasthumb.org
1,884th RealClimate http://www.realclimate.org
2,174th Cosmic Variance http://cosmicvariance.com
3,429th The Scientific Activist http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist
Intriguingly, at least two of those Top 5 science blogs is aimed at quashing the pseudoscience claptrap spouted by the extremists in the intelligent design, creationist and reactionary religious movements. All five of those discussed appear to provide a sensible view of various issues with which science is concerned and provide beacons that might see us out of the dark ages of the present anti-science stance many bloggers are taking today.
(Just for the record your very own sciencebase.com comes in at a rather respectable 852nd, although it was about 605th a couple of weeks ago, so not sure how valid their trackback algo really is, to be honest).
The cause of CFS, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS), is not yet known and its symptoms are broad, ranging from fatigue, pain, muscle weakness, and depression to digestive disturbances, immune system weakness, and breathing problems. Moreover, there is no simple diagnostic test for the disease and patients often rely on a sympathetic physician to recognise the problem, but who, nevertheless, does not necessarily have the tools to offer a definitive answer nor an effective treatment. An objective clinical diagnostic test would make understanding and treating this disease far easier. Japanes researchers have now used a type of infra-red spectroscopy to distinguish between plasma from CFS patients and healthy volunteers. They reckon a non-invasive test will be available soon.
More…
Raman spectroscopy can provide elegant views of even the most mixed of materials at the sub-microscopic scale, even picking out chemical bonds. And, because it is sensitive to the lightweight elements found in covalent bonds it can provide detailed information that is inaccessible to sophisticated X-ray techniques. However, Raman is yet to be widely adopted because it suffers from potentially debilitating resolution issues and takes too long for all but the most patient of laboratories.
Now. French researchers have found a way to create a map of the incident laser beam used in Raman spectroscopy which brings it up to speed and could make it a more accessible technique.
More in the latest issue of SpectroscopyNOW.com
New research using magnetic resonance imageing (MRI) is challenging conventional views regarding atherosclerosis and latent heart problems in patients that otherwise appear healthy.
By tagging different tissue prior to a scan, researchers can obtain a detailed view of the movement and function of those tissues. Now, by studying subjects in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) project, Joao Lima of the Department of Radiology, at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues there and in five other centres, have investigated whether an increase in the thickness of the carotid artery (so-called intima-media thickness, or IMT) can be related to reduced heart function. The MESA study is a prospective observational study including four ethnic groups and the participants have no clinical cardiovascular disease.
You can read the full story in the first July update of spectroscopyNOW.com
Chemists have produced millions of organic and organometallic compounds, but only recently have they produced one of the most aesthetically pleasing theoretical molecules after decades of trying – hexaferrocenylbenzene. Peter Vollhardt of the University of California at Berkeley and colleagues have finally succeeded in synthesising this super-crowded organometallic complex. NMR spectroscopy revealed that despite the crowded nature of the molecule this dendritic structure has considerable flexibility and average symmetry at room temperature. The team’s success means this previously elusive structure can be investigated for its electronic, magnetic, optical and catalytic properties.
Read more from David Bradley in the July 1 update of spectroscopyNOW.com.
How toxic are nanomaterials? A group of scientists from US and Korea has shown that nanostructured composite microspheres can be easily prepared using ultrasound in a non-toxic manner. These microspheres were created to act as drug carriers, in particular to deliver a potent Alzheimer’s Disease drug which is in clinical trials. Before drug delivery, however, the scientists had to show that their carrier was not itself toxic to cells.
“With increasing concerns that synthetic nanomaterials may be highly toxic on all-levels of life and harmful to the environment, it would be good practice if researchers can report toxicology data along with their synthesis,” team member Yoo-Hun Suh of Seoul University told us.
You can read my full story on this and more at spectroscopyNOW, in advance of July 1 publication.
You’ve probably seen one of those tedious science videos where they drop a tiny nugget of lithium or sodium into a toughened glass bowl half full of water and watch the metal fizz and splutter.
Exciting, huh?
They might even have gone so far as to add an even smaller nugget of potassium, which in the most exciting moment might smash the bowl with its violence.
However, you may also have noticed that there are some other alkali metals below potassium in the Periodic Table. And, you might know that if an element is below another in the PT it is generally more reactive. So, step in the Brainiac team to show you what dropping a nugget of rubidium into a bathtub of water will do, it’s like pulling the pin on a hand grenade and lobbing that into the tub!
But, thankfully they don’t even stop there, going one step further with caesium, almost the most violent element in terms of reactivity with water. Check out their video here to find out just how violent. And, remember, this is one best left to the experts rather than attempted for your science fair projects! here to find out just how violent. And, remember, this is one best left to the experts rather than attempted for your science fair project. But, then again, who told the Brainiacs they were experts?
This week, in my news round-up on ChemWeb, we discover a chilly reminder of water’s bizarre behavior that could make cryopreservation science fact rather than fiction, a new understanding of the underlying cause of Parkinson’s disease, and discover that Swiss chemists have peered into their crystal ball to find new materials and explain some old ones. Also in this week’s news, simultaneous sensing for sensitive science and a way to clean up the infernal combustion.
Beer is better for you than wine, apparently. Beer contains valuable B vitamins, such as B12, folic acid and niacin, as well as antioxidants, such as polyphenols and ferulic acid. Which makes it the healthier choice, contrary to popular opinion. her also contains soluble fibre, which is good for digestion. Even the “active” ingredient in alcohol, whether from beer or wine, allegedly helps keep arteries clear of blockages.
So, who is making this startling claim?
Apparently, none other than the chairman of the food science department at the University of California at Davis, Charles Bamforth.
Interestingly, Bamforth is UCB’s Anheuser-Busch endowed professor and author of the book Beer: Health and Nutrition. ‘People say red wine is key to that,’ Bamforth says, ‘But beer, if you looked at it holistically, is healthier than wine. But it is not perceived that way.’
Anheuser-Busch? Isn’t that the company that makes Bud?
Even more intriguingly, the budweiser.com site announces that you have to be over 21 to enter its site and you have to tap in your birthday before you can….like teens aren’t going to just put 01-01-50 or something similar. By the way, it’s tough if you were born in 1900 – no Bud fest for you!