Category: Blog

Usable fibers from carbon nanotubes

University of Pennsylvania researchers have managed to spin carbon nanotubes into usable fibers. Space elevators, anyone?

Face to face with the past

Say hello to and Egyptian man who lived nearly 3,000 years ago.

Writing Diary: September 1, 2004

September. The leaves are turning outside our living room window. Bah! Humbug! I know, I know, that sentiment is generally reserved for Christmas, but in these parts, this year, Labour Day had it coming. Writing. Did some. A few pages of Razor Wind. Lots of SF Canada blogging; check out all the news here. Note, …

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Is there an implantable contact lens in my future?

Based on this study, it could well be. Me and myopia go way back, as do astigmatism and I.

Writing Diary: August 31, 2004

Well, I said I’d finish the Science Centre sustainability stuff today or die trying–and I’m still here. Finished it and sent it off; hope it makes some sort of sense. I also worked on Razor Wind a bit and, of course, edited my science column for the newspaper and for the blog and my online …

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New small rocky or icy planets discovered

American astronomers report they’ve discovered two Neptune-sized rocky or icy planets outside our solar system…one step closer to finding Earth-like planets.

Gene doping

With the Olympics over, organizations like the World Anti-Doping Agency are turning their attention to Beijing, four years down the road, and asking, “What new ways will athletes find to cheat between now and then?” The answer they’re coming up with is gene doping: performance enhancement achieved by the direct manipulation of athletes’ genes. The …

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It won’t replace Doom 3…

…but it’s now possible to play mental ping-pong–good old Pong, with the paddles controlled solely by brainwaves. Considering it requires two MRI machines, though, it seems unlikely to appear in your local arcade.

New advance in gene therapy for brain diseases

This caught me eye, since today’s science column touched on gene therapy: researchers have come up with a better vector for delivering gene therapy into the brain: a virus normally found in insects.

Writing Diary: August 30, 2004

Today was a CBC science column day, so that was what I spent my morning on. This week’s topic (in honor of the Olympics being over): gene doping. There’s more than one way to skin that performance-enhancement cat! This afternoon I went to Second Cup and wrote several pages in Razor Wind, then it was …

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Reading & Writing Diary: August 29, 2004

I didn’t provide a writing diary for Thursday and Friday because there was nothing much to say. Thursday my brother Jim from Edmonton arrived to take away the family piano (by prior arrangement!) and brought Mom with him from Weyburn, so Thursday night was a family night. Friday I drove my Mom back to Weyburn …

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Reading Writing Diary: August 29, 2004

I didn’t provide a writing diary for Thursday and Friday because there was nothing much to say. Thursday my brother Jim from Edmonton arrived to take away the family piano (by prior arrangement!) and brought Mom with him from Weyburn, so Thursday night was a family night. Friday I drove my Mom back to Weyburn …

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