Category: Science/Math

InTirely Nitrogen

“Are you N2 your tires?” asks Ingersoll Rand, marketers of Nitrogeneration™, a new way to inflate your tires…and Ingersoll Rand’s bottom line.

By filling your tires with pure nitrogen instead of air, Ingersoll Rand, one of the various nitrogen-into-tires purveyors, contends that you will: (1) enhance safety because pressure decreases more slowly, (2) lengthen tire life because internal oxidation is eliminated, and (3) increase fuel economy because better inflation increases mpg.

This is terrific—and disingenuous—marketing:  a very slight improvement gets touted as a revolution.  (And by the look of the brochure graphic above, Nitrogeneration is very green.) Continue reading “InTirely Nitrogen”

The “Parade” of Misrepresented Presidential Tax Proposals

Parade Tax articleToday’s issue of Parade, the fish-wrap magazine included gratis in my and many Sunday newspapers, included an article entitled: How Much Would You Pay in Taxes?

It purports to be a non-partisan evaluation of how the two presidential candidates’ tax proposals would affect citizens of various income levels, but it is an example of either sloppy journalism or very clever misrepresentation.

Continue reading “The “Parade” of Misrepresented Presidential Tax Proposals”

Dittrick Museum of Medical History at Case Western Reserve

I like Blue Highways and off-the-trail attractions.

I was in Cleveland.

So I examined exhibits for two hours, the only visitor at the Dittrick Museum of Medical History.

autopsyLocated on the third floor of the Allen Memorial Medical Library at Case Western Reserve University, the Dittrick is small, but immensely informative. Medical instruments (photo below), a 19th century physician’s office, an apothecary (photo below), x-ray equipment (photo below).

The 11-year-old within me noticed that the x-ray apparatus was plugged in, dials within reach. Would it light up?

I was not tempted.

Continue reading “Dittrick Museum of Medical History at Case Western Reserve”

Planetarium Earmark

SSP logoAs former chairman of the Summer Science Program (SSP), an academic enrichment program for the very brightest teenagers, I know a bit about astronomy, the focus of SSP’s curriculum. I also know a bit about planetariums [“planetaria” is also accepted, but that sounds like a type of worm to me]. And since SSP once investigated, in concert with Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, opening up a third campus at Yerkes Observatory near Lake Geneva, WI, I am passingly familiar with the Adler and its mission to bring science to the public.Adler Zeiss projector

So, when Sen. McCain chastised Sen. Obama’s earmarking in Tuesday’s relatively uninspiring debate, I was instantly awake when McCain said:

[Sen. Obama] voted for nearly a billion dollars in pork barrel earmark projects, including, by the way, $3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?

What’s wrong with McCain’s statement?

Continue reading “Planetarium Earmark”

Science in the Muslim World

Alexandria LibraryIn a guest editorial published in the 8/8/08 issue of Science, the magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Director of Egypt’s Library of Alexandria, Dr. Ismail Serageldin, states:

“Throughout the Muslim world we are witnessing an increasingly intolerant social milieu that is driven by self-appointed guardians of religious correctness, who inject their narrow interpretation of religion in all public debate. Rejecting rationality or evidentiary approaches, they increasingly force dissenting voices into silence and into conformity with what they would consider accepted behavior and speech. Of course, Muslim zealots are not the only ones who try to challenge the scientific enterprise, and in the US, the battles over evolution and creationism continue to rage.” Continue reading “Science in the Muslim World”

Solar Breakthrough at MIT? A Lesson for Politicians

energyOn July 31, researchers at MIT announced a “revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source. Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun.”

Funded in part by a $10 million grant from the Chesonis Family Foundation, the work was described by MIT’s Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT in a paper published in the July 31 issue of Science. Continue reading “Solar Breakthrough at MIT? A Lesson for Politicians”