Way down deep in the middle of the Congo, A hippo took an apricot, a guava and a mango. He stuck it with the others, and he danced a dainty tango. The rhino said, “I know, we’ll call it Um Bongo” Um Bongo, Um Bongo, They drink it in the Congo. The python picked the […]
Read moreCorylus Cornuta For Tearless Teething…
April 11, 2013 
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[A re-post but with some good stuff that you might otherwise have missed - more medical nonsense and some stuff about teeth.] “…it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5 I often hear it said that ‘even a child of 12′ knows enough […]
Read moreUnanswered Questions…
April 11, 2013 0 Comments
Not a proper post but here is a list of pages with unanswered questions. They tend to be simple CE stuff, but if you are doing some revision they might provoke the odd thought! http://sfscience.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/how-science-works-1/ http://sfscience.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/distribution-graphs/ http://sfscience.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/balthazar/ http://sfscience.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/acdc/ http://sfscience.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/sodium-water/ http://sfscience.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/calcium-carbide/ http://sfscience.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/breaking-the-bonds/ http://sfscience.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/surface-area-volume-ratio/
Read moreVan De Graaff Generator…
April 9, 2013 2 Comments
If you rub a piece of amber (fossilised tree resin) it becomes electrically charged and can be made to attract small objects. The Ancient Greek name for amber is ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron)1 which is where we get the word electricity. There is a force of attraction between positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons called the […]
Read moreA Nice Illusion…
April 7, 2013 66 Comments
. I have watched this a couple of times and I am still not entirely convinced I can see how he does it. It is a very good illusion. What do you think?
Read moreThe Nodes Of Ranvier…
April 7, 2013 0 Comments
The human nervous system consists of the brain, spinal cord and a network of nerves travelling all over the body. The brain and spinal cord together are known as the central nervous system (CNS). This system controls the voluntary and involuntary actions of the body. By voluntary I mean the sort of actions that you […]
Read moreThe Trouble With Two Brains…
April 6, 2013 4 Comments
Just a little video (actually rather a long 10 minute one!) because Plutonium199 mentioned the corpus callosum in answer to a question on a previous post about the brain. The corpus callosum is the part of the brain that enables the right and left hemispheres to communicate. If it is damaged or removed (for example […]
Read moreTwo Cultures…
April 4, 2013 4 Comments
I apologise in advance for the whimsical nature of this post. If you don’t want ‘philosophy’, you might prefer to read this, this or this; all of which are rich in sciency goodness and have unanswered questions awaiting your comments. I was listening to Flanders and Swann (audio link at the end) and was minded […]
Read moreRates Of Reaction…
April 3, 2013 14 Comments
A chemical reaction involves reactants turning into products. You can tell when a reaction has happened because there will be production (or sometimes absorption) of energy; usually in the form of heat but sometimes light & sound too. There may also be a change of colour but this doesn’t always happen. The end products will […]
Read moreEratosthenes…
March 30, 2013 6 Comments
I was marking Kirill’s Winchester paper and there was a question about Eratosthenes. They spelled it Eratothsenes throughout, which is a genius idea because then it can be spelled using the elements – ErAtOThSeNeS (erbium, astatine, oxygen, thallium, selenium, neon and sulphur). Sadly the correct spelling is Eratosthenes which requires including tritium as an element […]
Read moreIncontinentia Buttocks…
March 29, 2013 19 Comments
All my talk yesterday of diffusion and smell inevitably made me think about flatulence. Flatulence is the polite word for farting. Apart from Her Majesty the Queen, everybody suffers from flatulence from time to time. Flatus (a Latin word I believe) refers to gases produced in the gut although a proportion of a trump may […]
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