Archive for December 11th, 2006
Some of you regular readers might have noticed that it is over a week since Dr Niko Tiliopoulos issued a cease-and-desist against me and my incorrect statements regarding him and Carpe Diem. This deadline required me to retract my statements or face legal action. Regular readers be assured: your favourite science punk is not getting sued! Dr Tiliopoulos has graciously accepted my apologies and alterations to the original document. He’s also accepted my criticisms of the formula, which is no small thing when one of us is a fully paid-up PhD-bearing academic, and the other is a office-based data monkey. For those who have no clue what the hell I’m talking about, read about how I nearly got sued, and deservedly so.
December 11th, 2006
Ever pushing the boundaries of “liberal”, those wacky French have come up with a new way to give Middle America nightmares. It’s called SpermCube, and it’s an art exhibit comprising of 1m3 of sperm, as donated by the general public.
Volunteers are invited to.. err.. contribute to the exhibit via mail.
All I can think is, this is how IVF would work under communism.
Via RetroSpectacle at ScienceBlogs
December 11th, 2006
“Couples are being given the opportunity to exchange jewellery made from samples of their bone grown in the laboratory” reports the BBC. The article details a joint project between Dr Ian Thompson, a research fellow at King’s College, and artists Tobie Kerridge and Nikki Stott. Living bone tissue was recovered from wisdom teeth and used to grow bone on a scaffold material called “bioglass”. The work is part of a collaborative effort to understand methods of crafting complex structures from bone tissue.
Eventually the techniques will be used to grow purpose-built repairs for patients with damaged bones.
Examples of biojewellery can be seen at an exhibition in the atrium of Guy’s Hospital, London, from 7 December until 14 February 2007.
December 11th, 2006
A 10-year international project to map life in the oceans marks the end of one of its most productive years. Scientists with the Census of Marine Life (CoML) have catalogued creatures from giant mammals to tiny parasites.
See more incredible pics here
December 11th, 2006
