The ultimate diet drink

Nestle and Coca Cola have been developing a carbonated tea that will burn calories. I might have to give up Diet Coke! Via By the Way.

A week at Sage Hill

The Sage Hill Teen Writing Experience, that is. I just spent a week as the instructor of this terrific program, my first crack at something like that (although I was once the mid-week guest speaker when Alison Lohans was teaching it)….which is why blogging has been erratic for the past few days. It was a …

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The Spaceship Company

NASA grounds its shuttle fleet again (temporarily, one hopes), and the very same day, Richard Branson and Burt Rutan launch The Spaceship Company. Increasingly, it’s beginning to look like private enterprise is more important to getting people into space than government agencies. And about time, too.

Potblog

That’s the name of my big brother’s blog. It’s full of details abut the making of pottery at Out of the Fire Studio in Edmonton. Why, what did you think it was about? What have you been smoking, anyway?

Propane

Summer time is propane time. From backyard barbecues to recreational vehicles to lakeside cottages, propane tanks are everywhere…and yet, we hardly give this remarkable fuel a thought. I’m here to change that. In Canada, about 80 percent of propane is derived through natural gas processing, while the refining of crude oil provides the remaining 20 …

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The scary sounds of Saturn

Listen to the scary sounds of Saturn’s radio emissions…but not with the lights out!

A non-viral vector for gene therapy

Gene therapy holds great promised, but the viral vectors used to deliver genes have proven problematic. Now researchs have come up with a nanoparticle vector that is just as efficient as a viral vector. And another chapter of my soon-to-be-released book Genetics Demystified slips prematurely closer to obsolescence…

A cure for hurricanes?

Hurricanes can only exist because water droplets from the surface of the ocean provide lubrication, without which the winds would peter out at about 25 mph…which could mean that a fast-spreading surfactant (think detergent) could actually calm a hurricane. Oil on troubled waters, in other words.

Professional miniature golf

I had no idea. I loved miniature golf as a kid. Maybe I missed my true calling.

Cats lack a sweet tooth

It must have been the fat content that my cat Tiger used to enjoy in chocolate chips; apparently cats can’t taste sweet things.

A case for Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle stands accused as a murderer and thief.

Computer helps predict time and place of a crime

Two crooks were apprehended in Yonkers because a computer analysis of crime patterns had indicated police should keep close watch on a particular street at a particular time. That’s almost spooky…but in a good way. (via Technovelgy.com.)