March 16, 2004
Why Education Is Important
Dihydrogen monoxide is "an odorless, tasteless chemical that can be deadly if accidentally inhaled." Responding to the threat posed by this dangerous chemical, the Aliso Viejo suburb of Orange County, California was all set to ban the use of styrofoam containers (Boston Globe) as "they were made with a substance that could 'threaten human health and safety.'"
March 15, 2004
Worth A 1000 Words
How long, I wonder, before images doctored like this show up in the "real" print media? Or perhaps they already have.
John Kerry was never at a rally with Jane Fonda
and I think even the President knows how to hold a book.
March 12, 2004
21 Gun Salute
The Sydney Morning Herald reports "an English widow has honoured the memory of her gun-loving husband by having his ashes loaded into cartridges for use by his close friends in the last shoot of the season."
That's cool, but not, I think, as cool as my "the beer's on me" plan.
A Witty Saying Proves Nothing
...the safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
March 07, 2004
Do-It-Yourself DNA
And in the same vein, Scientific American has some Amateur Scientist articles on extracting and replicating DNA in your kitchen at home.
You will likely want to build your own centrifuge from an old blender.
Now The Message Is The Medium
From Wired: an artist is using DNA as the media for his work. He translated Descartes' cogito, ergo sum in to a DNA sequence and inserted it in to a tomato plant.
The process "is a lot simpler than people may think, which takes away the mystery of the project. People may think 'Ooh, genetic engineering and art' -- but it's not really hard to do." ... In fact, "you could do genetic engineering in your house."
Not that you can see much difference in the plant, mind. But I'm intrigued by the glowing bunny rabbit and the e. coli virus a researcher induced to blink on and off.