The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

Sunny smiles…

…from a solar-powered toothbrush, of course.

The invention, from University of Saskatchewan professor Kunio Komiyama and his colleague Dr. Gerry Uswak, uses electrons to replace toothpaste. Apparently, according to a piece on canada.com, it utterly destroys the two types of bacteria responsible for most peridontal disease.

Komiyama’s first model, which was described 15 years ago in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, contained a titanium dioxide rod in the neck of the brush, just below the nylon bristles. It works when light shines on the wet rod, releasing electrons. Those electrons react with acid in the mouth, which helps break down plaque. No toothpaste is required.

Now Komiyama’s back with a newer model, the Soladey-J3X, which he says packs twice the chemical punch compared to the original.

It’s also turned up on BoingBoing Gadgets and Gizmodo, naturally.

Entered on 30 November 2007 at 6:00 in the Science file | Care to make an observation? |  Print

Winds of War

UN Scientists looking at the weather have found that over the past 500 years, climate change has marched hand in hand with war, New Scientist reports:

The 100-year warming period would have briefly relieved social tensions, …[says Peter Brecke of the Georgia Institute of Technology]. But, from the early to mid-1800s, temperatures dropped again, and conflicts resumed.

Although the world is now predicted to get warmer, not cooler, the researchers point out that forecasts suggest global warming will lead to long-term food shortages much as cooling did during the Little Ice Age, by disrupting global water cycles.

“Modern societies have more mechanisms to cope with these problems,” says Brecke. But he cautions that the mechanisms may fail if society is forced to cope with a whole slew of environmental problems at the same time, as is predicted by several major environmental reports.

Entered on 29 November 2007 at 6:29 in the Science file | 2 Observations |  Print

SONG: Across the Night

SONG: “Across the Night” _{(To download: right-click & “Save As”)}

ARTIST: grant. Yes, me again.

SOURCE: The post “Virtual Mars mission – 500 days in a box,” 12 Nov 2007.

ABSTRACT: Let me get this out of the way: Yes, I’m a week late. Thanksgiving plus working out how this Reaper thing worked out* plus general procrastination, uh, being stalked by ninjas kept me from my duties. I feel some kind of penance is in order. Perhaps two songs for December.

_{*I haven’t gotten this software down yet, but man, is it worth the exploration.}

At any rate, I thought there was something both poignant and insane about preparing for a trip across the vastness of space by locking oneself in a tiny box for a year and a half. I know Trent Reznor and David Bowie have already had their time together, but doesn’t that situation seem like halfway between “Ashes to Ashes” and The Downward Spiral? Somehow for me that translated to a Spiders-from-Mars tremolo bass and a drum loop replicating a Psychedelic Furs chorus, but whatever. A claustrophobic song filled with yearning and plans for something that might not even work out once they’re done. So it goes. So I attempted to create. For some reason, I couldn’t get any real space jargon to fit into the lyrics – I’m not sure why. On the other hand, I’ve fallen in love with this effect that came with Reaper called the “ozzifier.” The ringing noise, by the way, is a toy piano with a reverse echo on it, and the bass is actually a classical guitar shifted down an octave. I hope you enjoy the song.

Entered on 29 November 2007 at 5:49 in the Songs file | Care to make an observation? |  Print

BIG bug.

Arthropods are the creatures that have armor-like skin and jointed legs – the group that includes crawfish, scorpions, spiders and insects. The bugs. The largest arthropod currently crawling around Earth is Macrocheira kaempferi, the Japanese spider crab, which has a 2-foot long body and long, skinny legs stretching as wide as 13 feet.

Sure, it’s big, but a few million years ago, New Scientist reports, it would have been lunch. Researchers are investigating the remains of a prehistoric water scorpion that measured more than 8 feet long:

Researchers say the monstrous creature is the largest arthropod ever known – over 30 centimetres bigger than the previous largest specimen of the same species.
Simon Braddy at the University of Bristol, UK, and colleagues examined the 46-centimetre-long claw, found in a quarry in western Germany, and believe it belonged to a sea scorpion species called Jaekelopterus rhenaniae that roamed the ocean floors some 390 million years ago.

Some believe this giant creature became the ancestor of all modern, land-dwelling scorpions.

Say hi to grandma, kids.

Entered on 28 November 2007 at 6:34 in the Science file | 1 Observation |  Print

Unexpected dinosaurs.

Despite being dead for, oh, 65 million years or so, dinosaurs still turn up in the darnedest places. Mainly museums, of course, but even there, the dusty shelves can still be full of surprises, as New Scientist reports:

PhD student Mike Taylor spotted a fossil vertebra, which he says “leapt out” at him as being entirely unfamiliar. What makes it startling is that the fossil had been sitting in the museum’s archives for over a century, ever since it was unearthed in the 1890s.

The species has now been named Xenoposeidon proneneukus.

Slightly farther afield, palaeontologists are oohing and ahhing over another new dinosaur discovery, the utterly bizarre vacuum mouth of Nigersaurus. As National Geographic reveals:

Research into the 30-foot-long (9-meter-long) sauropod has shown the dinosaur to have a range of extreme adaptations.

These include a broad, square-edged muzzle tipped with 500 to 600 replaceable teeth that were used like scissors to shear off vegetation—mostly ferns and horsetails.

…

The team’s findings suggest the dinosaur’s head faced downward, at a right angle to the neck.

“That made a lot of sense given the shape of the muzzle—it was mowing down plants along the ground,” Sereno said.

Now, scientists think a lot of other long-necked sauropods – like the mighty Diplodocus – might have spent their lives looking down as well.

Take a look at the curious creature in an artist’s rendering or a close-up photo of its garden-shear mouth, or browse a wide selection of frankly peculiar prehistoric animals.

Entered on 27 November 2007 at 6:04 in the Science file | Care to make an observation? |  Print

Another dolphin nears extinction.

That’s the not-terribly cheerful news from Nature on the vaquita (Phocoena sinus), a porpoise from Mexico’s Pacific coast:

In 1999, researchers estimated there were 567 vaquitas left in the northern Gulf of California. Mexican biologist Armando Jaramillo-Legorreta, lead author of the new report, says that the rising number of fishing boats is killing the porpoises at a rate of at least 40 a year. A population of about 100 must be saved for sufficient genetic diversity, the team says.

Previous attempts to create no-fishing zones and buy out fishermen in the vaquita’s habitat have failed. But now the environmental groups WWF, Nature Conservancy and Conservation International have joined forces in a $10 million pledge.

That’s the good news. The bad news:

Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, has joined the push to save the animal. But fishing industry advocates sometimes speak openly of wiping it out.

You can read more about the world’s most endangered dolphin (now that the baiji is officially no more) on vaquita.org and Wikipedia.

Entered on 26 November 2007 at 6:11 in the Science file | Care to make an observation? |  Print

Science Art: Fächertextur

Polarization-microscope image of C-Phase liquid crystal, taken by Wikimedia Commons user "Minutemen."

Entered on 25 November 2007 at 6:55 in the Science Art file | Care to make an observation? |  Print

Samuel Hoffman plays Big Band… on the Theremin

BECAUSE YOU ASKED FOR IT…

Big band theremin. So soothing. So Golden Age of Radio. So heady with nostalgia and ether.

Entered on 24 November 2007 at 20:28 in the Music file | Care to make an observation? |  Print

Gnarls Barkley on the Moog Etherwave Theremin.

I hope you’re enjoying your Thanksgiving, American readers.

From the description of the video on YouTube:

The main theremin was passed through iZotope Trash, an awesome software guitar effects plugin. The video was edited entirely in Adobe After Effects. The hand on the carpet was to simulate wind noise, definitely cause for confusion. This also means all the parts of the song were performed with hands only. CRAZY!

Randy – Moog Etherwave Pro Theremin, Moog Etherwave Theremin, Minimoog Voyager, carpet
KD – Akai MPC drum machine
OG – background vocals on keyboard
Elliot – Fender Bass VI

This video performance is dedicated to the pioneers, Leon Theremin and Bob Moog, who devoted their lives to music in the electronic medium. Without them the music world would not be what it is today.

Hands only? I don’t think they’re crazy at all….

You can compare them to robots, for more fun.

Entered on 23 November 2007 at 6:54 in the Music file | 1 Observation |  Print

Dvorak on the Matryomin.

In America, the Thanksgiving holiday starts today (more or less). To celebrate, The Guild of Scientific Troubadours will be reveling in the gorgeous sounds of the theremin. Come, listen with us!

This beautiful performance really needs no words. The “matryomin” is a theremin built into a matryoshka doll. Russian hands-free electronic instrument plus Russian nesting dolly. Makes sense, I suppose.

You can see a ukulele and matryomin performance of “Love Me Tender,” read more about Masama Takeuchi and his matryomin ensemble, or about theremins in general – or you can buy a kit off Amazon by clicking over there to the right. (Christmas is coming, gentle readers.)

Entered on 22 November 2007 at 6:35 in the Music file | Care to make an observation? |  Print