Inflammatory Disease Treatments To Improve Through Use Of Lipidomics

According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 46 million Americans have arthritis. Many of these people take over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications that block production of certain molecules, known as bioactive lipids, to reduce pain and swelling. Yet, the role of these lipids is not yet understood completely, and medications may have adverse side effects. Recently, researchers completed the first comprehensive analysis of bioactive lipids in an inflammatory response.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 3:00 pm

Atoms Don't Dance The 'Bose Nova': Realization Of An Excited, Strongly Correlated Many-body Phase

An Austrian research group has investigated how ultracold quantum gases behave in lower spatial dimensions. They successfully realized an exotic state, where, due to the laws of quantum mechanics, atoms align along a one-dimensional structure. A stable many-body phase with new quantum mechanical states is thereby produced even though the atoms are usually strongly attracted which would cause the system to collapse.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 3:00 pm

Molecular 'GPS' Helps Researchers Probe Processes Important In Aging And Disease

Scientists are reporting the development of a powerful new probe for identifying proteins affected by a key chemical process important in aging and disease. The probe works like a GPS or navigation system for finding these proteins in cells. It could lead to new insights into disease processes and identify new targets for disease treatments, the researchers say.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 3:00 pm

Two New Antibodies Found To Cripple HIV: 'Achilles' Heel On Virus For AIDS Vaccine Researchers To Exploit

Researchers have discovered two powerful new antibodies to HIV that reveal what may be an Achilles heel on the virus. Researchers will now try to exploit the newfound vulnerability on the virus to craft novel approaches to designing an AIDS vaccine. Moreover, the global collaboration and process that led to the discovery of the two new broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) are likely to produce more such antibodies, which may in turn reveal additional vulnerabilities of HIV, adding still more vitality to the effort to develop a vaccine against AIDS.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 3:00 pm

Do High-fat Diets Make Us Stupid And Lazy? Physical And Memory Abilities Of Rats Affected After 9 Days

Rats fed a high-fat diet show a stark reduction in their physical endurance and a decline in their cognitive ability after just nine days, new research shows.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 3:00 pm

Designing Cars For Expectant Mothers

Researchers have developed a new computer model that can be used as a design tool for automotive designers to help ensure that vehicle designs can accommodate the safety needs of pregnant occupants.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 3:00 pm

Next-door Cosmic Encounter: Neighboring Galaxies Collided 2-3 Billion Years Ago

An international team of astronomers has uncovered evidence of a nearby cosmic encounter. Their study indicates that the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies, the two galaxies closest to our own, collided about two to three billion years ago.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am

Large Thighs Protect Against Heart Disease And Early Death

Men and women whose thighs are less than 60cm in circumference have a higher risk of premature death and heart disease, according to new research. The study also concluded that individuals whose thighs are wider than 60cm have no added protective effect.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am

Patients' Pretreatment Quality Of Life Can Predict Overall Lung Cancer Survival

Research has found that an individual's quality of life prior to treatment can help predict the overall survival of patients with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am

New Graphene-based, Nano-material Has Magnetic Properties

Researchers have designed a new graphite-based, magnetic nano-material that acts as a semiconductor and could help material scientists create the next generation of electronic devices like microchips.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am

NY researchers breeding rare native ladybugs (AP)

AP - A year after they launched a nationwide search for dwindling native ladybugs, New York researchers are breeding colonies of them from insects found by citizen scientists in Oregon and Colorado.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 3:24 am

Fla. boaters urged to look out for missing robot (AP)

AP - Scientists on Florida's Gulf Coast are trying to find an underwater robot that has mysteriously vanished.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 3:23 am

Space Sights and Smells Surprise Rookie Astronauts (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - WASHINGTON - For rookie astronauts flying aboard the International Space Station, the food is good, the rocket thrusters are loud and there's an odd tang in the air - apparently from outer space.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Sep 2009 | 12:47 am

Tackling wider air pollution would speed climate action: UN (AFP)

AFP - Countries could speed up their action against climate change if they tackled air pollution as well as carbon dioxide enissions, the UN Environment Programme said.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Sep 2009 | 8:51 pm

Astronauts relish space's international food court (AP)

AP - When it comes to grabbing a bite to eat, the international space station is living up to its first name.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Sep 2009 | 8:39 pm

Astronauts Take a Break From Busy Space Mission (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - Astronauts took a hard-earned break from work aboard the International Space Station Friday as they hit the midpoint of a busy mission to boost the outpost's science gear and supplies.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Sep 2009 | 4:46 pm

Harrabin's Notes

How to spend $250bn tackling climate change
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Sep 2009 | 3:53 pm

Global Energy sells ethanol plant (AP)

AP - Global Energy Holdings Group, Inc. said Friday it will sell an ethanol production plant to Fiberight LLC. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Sep 2009 | 2:50 pm

Scientists See Rare Turtle for First Time in the Wild (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Known only by museum specimens and a few captive individuals, one of the world's rarest turtle species - the Arakan forest turtle - has been observed for the first time in the wild.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Sep 2009 | 2:36 pm

T. rex for sale: Dinosaur fossil on block in Vegas (AP)

AP - Museums and high-rolling natural history buffs will get a crack at buying a fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex next month at a Las Vegas Strip auction.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Sep 2009 | 2:30 pm

Scientists See Rare Turtle for First Time in the Wild

Conservationists hope to protect one of the rarest turtle species.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 Sep 2009 | 2:04 pm

SLIDE SHOW: The Week's Top Stories

Take a look at the past week's top news in the Flashback Slide Show.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Sep 2009 | 2:00 pm

Bangladeshi Paper Runs Satirical Moon Hoax Story as News

Two Bangladeshi newspapers pick up story from "The Onion" purportedly affirming moon landing hoax.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 Sep 2009 | 1:52 pm

Jimena hits Mexican mainland (AFP)

AFP - The remnants of what was once Hurricane Jimena lashed the northwestern Mexican mainland on Friday, blocking roads and cutting electricity and phone lines to two isolated towns, officials said.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Sep 2009 | 1:48 pm

Thicker Thighs May Mean a Stronger Heart

The thinner your thighs, the greater your of heart disease, says a new study.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Sep 2009 | 1:45 pm

BLOG: Tree Houses Hit New Heights

Take a look at the world's first tower made from living white willow trees.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Sep 2009 | 1:30 pm

SLIDE SHOW: Top 10 Extreme Observatories

Explore how far scientists will go to search the sky with these extreme observatories.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Sep 2009 | 1:30 pm

Google Algorithm Predicts When Species Will Go 404, Not Found

Biologists have figured out the most efficient way to destroy an ecosystem — and it’s based on the Google search algorithm.

Scientists have long known that the extinction of key species in a food web can cause collapse of the entire system, but the vast number of interactions between species makes it difficult to guess which animals and plants are the most important. Now, computational biologists have adapted the Google search algorithm, called PageRank, to the problem of predicting ecological collapse, and they’ve created a startlingly accurate model.

“While several previous studies have looked at the robustness of food webs to a variety of sequences of species loss, none of them have come up with a way to identify the most devastating sequence of extinctions,” said food web biologist Jennifer Dunne of the Santa Fe Institute, who was not involved in the research. Using a modified version of PageRank, Dunne said, the researchers were able to identify which species extinctions within a food web would lead to biggest chain-reaction of species death.

“If we can find the way of removing species so that the destruction of the ecosystem is the fastest, it means we’re ranking species by their importance,” said ecologist Stefano Allesina of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who co-authored the paper published Friday in PLoS Computational Biology.

Unlike previous solutions to the coextinction problem, the Google solution takes into account not only the number of connections between species, but also their relative importance. “In PageRank, you’re an important website if important websites point to you,” Allesina said. “We took that idea and reversed it: Species are important if they support important species.”

In other words, grass is important because it’s eaten by gazelles, and gazelles are important because they’re eaten by lions.

When the researchers tested the Google algorithm against existing models for predicting ecosystem collapse, they found that the new solution outperformed the old ones in each of the 12 food webs they looked at. “In every case that we tested, the algorithm returned either the best possible solution, out of the billions of possibilities, or very close to it,” Allesina said. In this case, the “best possible solution” is the one that predicts total ecosystem collapse using the fewest number of species extinctions.

To make the circular PageRank algorithm work for food webs, which are traditionally considered unidirectional, the researchers had to solve the problem of what to do with dead ends: Not much eats a lion, but that doesn’t necessarily mean lions aren’t critical to the food chain. The scientists solved this problem by adding what Allesina calls a “root node,” which is based on the idea that all living creatures contribute to the food chain through their excrement and eventual decay.

“What we found is that the importance of a species can be connected to the amount of matter that flows to it,” Allesina said. “If species eat a lot of things, and a lot of things eat them, they tend to be important.” Previous solutions to the problem tended to underestimate the importance of species that are lower on the food chain, Allesina said, and he hopes the new solution will encourage conservation biologists to take a broader view of species extinctions.

“What I hope is that people will pick up interest and start thinking about conservation in a more network-based way,” Allesina said. “Right now, most conservationists are focused on a single species, and they just study that species. But you really have to take into account that this species is not independent, it’s really tangled in a network of multi-species interactions.”

For ecosystems on the brink of collapse, such as marine environments taxed by overfishing, Allesina said a network-based approach to conservation could make all the difference.

Image: Composite of PLOS Computational Biology illustration and photo from Flickr/fusion68k.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 4 Sep 2009 | 1:28 pm

Lasers Turn Light Into Sound

New laser technology may allow planes to send underwater messages.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 Sep 2009 | 1:13 pm

Mt. Wilson Observatory Saved From Fire, Others Not So Lucky

A massive 150,000 acre fire burning near Los Angeles has been threatening the Mt. Wilson Observatory for the past week, but the historic site where astronomers first proved that there are many galaxies in the universe has been spared, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

“The Observatory grounds are in the best possible shape, the firefighters remain determined and in position, and we expect to survive this unless the approaching fire obtains far more aggressiveness and complexity than it now presents,” wrote observatory director, Hal McAlister, in a public update earlier this week.

In other good news, the Stony Ridge observatory, a smaller outpost six miles northeast of Mt. Wilson built by amateur astronomers in the early 1960s, also survived the blaze.

But other major scientific outposts haven’t been so lucky. Observatories, by virtue of their often remote locations, are particularly vulnerable in fire prone areas. Firefighting help can be scarce.

Most notably, the Mt. Stromlo Observatory outside Canberra, Australia, lost five telescopes during a 2003 fire. New Orleans research laboratories were devastated during Hurricane Katrina. In 1997, the High-Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy observatory on the Canary Island of La Palma was partially destroyed by fire. Just last month, a fire broke out on the same island, which is now home to the monster new Gran Telescopio Canarias.

It’s not just astronomical observatories that face fire hazards, either. In 1994, a fire tore through the Pinon Flats Observatory, which makes geological observations on the San Andreas Fault.

“What worked was that the fire crews are amazing in terms of saving structures,” said Duncan Agnew, a geophysicist at the University of California, San Diego. “They didn’t know what the stuff was, they were just doing what firefighters do which is save structures.”

Even so, a vacuum pipe through which the scientists run a laser beam to measure land deformations on the fault line collapsed. It was a year before the observatory was back at full strength.

Even for institutions that are closer to help, like the Chabot Space and Science Center in the Oakland hills, fire abatement is a constant struggle.

“We’re all positioned in pretty critical areas. Surrounded by conifers, and unfortunately, up here, eucalyptus. All kinds of stuff that goes up like a Roman candle,” said Dean Sparks (no relation to fire), head of operations at Chabot. “The typical recommendation is 30 feet of defensible space. We’re at 100 feet minimum and we’re trying to push that out now. We’re increasing the amount of defensible space between us and the Monterrey pines and the eucalyptus, which is a big part of the battle.”

The Wilson Observatory itself has been hounded by fire multiple times over the past half century. In 1935, a fire broke out nearby but “175 men aided by four pumper crews brought it under control,” The New York Times reported. Disaster was averted again in 1953 when The Los Angeles Times wrote, “Men and machines, alerted to a dreaded shift of wind, were massed atop Mt. Wilson last night to fight back flames which could destroy the observatory, hotel and television towers on the peak’s summit.”

The situation repeated itself again in 1957. And again in 1965 when flames came within 300 feet of the institution. In 1979 another blaze lit up nearby. Skirmishes broke out earlier this decade over the maintenance of the institution, particularly the Forest Service’s management of pines in the area.

So, while fires near Mt. Wilson aren’t exactly unknown, what was different this time around was that thousands of astronomy fans could follow the fire’s approach via the observatory’s webcam. The image at the top of the post was the last one taken — and it sure didn’t look good for the station. As it turned out, most of the smoke was from controlled backfires set by firefighters, which made the situation look worse than it was.

Many major scientific institutions have been destroyed, but rarely in public circumstances. Eurasian science, particularly in Slavic regions, took a beating during World War II.

“At the end of the war, the Soviet delegation at Nuremberg formally declared that during the occupation the Germans had destroyed 334 institutions of higher learning and 605 scientific research institutes,” wrote historian Pamela Spence Richards. “Of its library holdings they estimated that over 100 million volumes had been destroyed.”

In a note published in the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada describing the destruction of the Simeiz Observatory in Crimea, C.J. Chant wrote, “Astronomers of Canada and the United States may well have a thankfulness that the observatories in this western world have not been in the path of invading armies.” Axis armies looted the observatory and when a fire broke out in the main building, the German commander let it burn to the ground.

Nowadays, much of the data from scientific institutions is stored somewhere “in the cloud” or can be backed up and shipped out. It’s no longer precious, but the institutions like Mt. Wilson Observatory that produced the data provide a material record — physical data — about the methods of science. That’s valuable for scholars, present and future.

Images: 1. The last picture snapped by the Mt. Wilson webcam as the fire approached the observatory. 2. Mt. Stromlo/Kim Rawlings. 3. Pinon Flats Observatory/Duncan Agnew

See Also:

• Mammoth Telescope to Be Built in Hawaii
• Infrared Telescope Warms Up to Star-Forming Cloud
• Planet-Hunting Space Telescope Readies for Launch
• X-Ray Telescope’s First 10 Years of Awesome Images
• Drillers Accidentally Create First Live Magma Observatory
• Orbiting Carbon Lab to Provide Missing Climate Data

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter, Google Reader feed, and green tech history research site; Wired Science on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 4 Sep 2009 | 11:56 am

Laser-Propelled Spaceships Could Transform Transportation

Beamed Energy Propulsion is a powerful enabling technology that will radically transform the future of air and space transportation.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 Sep 2009 | 11:26 am

Brain Scans Often Unnecessary

Study finds that fMRI can do more harm than good.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 Sep 2009 | 11:02 am

AIDS Vaccine Possible with New Antibodies

New antibodies that neutralize HIV may hold the key to an AIDS vaccine.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Sep 2009 | 11:00 am

Space Junk Just Misses Space Station

A piece of space junk missed colliding with the space station by less than a mile.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Sep 2009 | 10:40 am

Google trick tracks extinctions

Google's algorithm for ranking web pages can be adapted to determine critical species in ecoysystems, say researchers.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Sep 2009 | 10:28 am

Unlocking the Secrets of Sunspots

Sunspots have fascinated sky gazers through the ages. Now state-of-the art telescopes combined with the muscle of a supercomputer called 'Bluefire' are allowing scientists to accurately model these mysterious structures, and unlock their secrets.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 Sep 2009 | 10:19 am

Science Nation

Science for the People: Surprising discoveries and fascinating researchers.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 Sep 2009 | 10:17 am

Swine Flu Deaths Higher in Older Kids

A CDC study finds that swine flu takes a higher toll on school-age children.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Sep 2009 | 10:15 am

Engineering Students Build Underwater 'Bot

College students build underwater robots designed to save mock submarines.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 Sep 2009 | 9:15 am

Blinded soldier will learn to see with his tongue

British serviceman blinded in combat will be first UK patient to be fitted with revolutionary device

A British serviceman blinded in combat will become the first UK patient to be fitted with revolutionary technology that enables users to see with their tongue.

The BrainPort vision system, developed in the US, transforms light images into champagne-like tingling sensations to help sufferers visualise their surroundings.

The device is part of an array of medical equipment and techniques unveiled by the Ministry of Defence today to help soldiers returning from Afghanistan overcome their injuries.

Thanks to surgical advances, victims are surviving battlefield wounds that would previously have been fatal. Consequently, there are many more servicemen in the MoD's category of "exceptionally complex casualties"; most are hurt in roadside blasts from IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that cause severe head and chest injuries, loss of limbs and extensive burns.

Wing Commander Rob Scott, defence consultant adviser in ophthalmology, said the Brainport vision technology, made by US company Wicab, will be trialled by the UK serviceman soon.

"It's a device that effectively connects a camera that is put on a pair of glasses so it can scan the surroundings," he said at the Ministry of Defence briefing in London. "It connects into an array of electrodes that you place on your tongue to act as a sensory substitution device to give a representation of the scene around you.

"So if a totally blind person were to come into a room and then scan around it, that person would be able to see the furniture, the people… who was there or if they had moved.

"It's put on a thing like a lollipop and placed on the tongue to give a sensation like champagne. With training, they would be able to find their way around the room using this device. The needs and aspirations of blind people are very complex. Anything to help with independence and getting jobs is paramount in their minds."

Defence chiefs say there are "less than five" UK military casualties who have been completely blinded, although more have partially lost their sight.

Lieutenant-General Louis Lillywhite, the Surgeon-General, revealed that the army is also developing hearing protection for soldiers to wear in battle to reduce damage to their hearing. "[The device] will have to be worn up to 16 hours a day. It has to continue to provide spatial awareness so that soldiers can tell where rounds are coming from and be compatible with their radio," he said. "We are close to fielding a model that meets those criteria."

Asked about the number of medical reservists serving in Afghanistan, Lillywhite admitted there was still a shortage of "trained specialist nurses". He defended the deployment of US surgeons in the UK military hospital in Camp Bastion, Helmand province, as a successfuluse of Nato resources.

The latest MoD figures estimate that between 2003 and July 2008, in Iraq and Afghanistan, there were 44 military casualties classified as "unexpected survivors" due to medical advances. A new military patient tracking system is expected to give improved information on the treatment of casualties, most of whom are initially received at Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham.

Post-traumatic stress and depression among returning soldiers are recognised as such significant problems that, for the past two years, units returning to the UK from Iraq and Afghanistan have stopped off for "decompression" sessions at a UK military camp in Cyprus.

The 24- to 36-hour pause, according to Surgeon Commander Neil Greenberg, is intended to "alleviate some of the pressures that cause trauma and stress". The idea is that away from the frontline, soldiers can swop stories and wind down with those who understand their immediate problems.

"It's more like going on holiday," Greenberg explained. "After briefings they go down to the beach, use banana boats and have barbeques. They have stand-up comedians, too. The padre also gives them a talk about relationships.

"They are specifically warned about risky driving: troops returning [from fighting] have about twice the risk of dying in road accidents than civilians over the following year."

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 4 Sep 2009 | 9:15 am

BLOG: Video Shows Tunnels Under Pyramids

A video claims to reveal a network of tunnels beneath the Giza plateau.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Sep 2009 | 9:05 am

How broccoli can protect your arteries

LONDON (Reuters) - It's long been thought that broccoli is good for your heart, and now British scientists think they know why.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 4 Sep 2009 | 9:03 am

WATCH: Doc Digs Electronic Health Records

How hard is it to digitize our health records? Find out what one doctor had to say.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Sep 2009 | 8:30 am

BIG PIC: Pyro-Cumulus Cloud

An impressive cloud over Hollywood was formed by wildfires.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Sep 2009 | 8:05 am

Most Distant Galaxy With Big Black Hole Discovered

Most distant supermassive black hole yet discovered found in early galaxy.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 Sep 2009 | 7:50 am

Teachers More Religious Than Other College Grads

College major can affect the importance a person places on religion.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 Sep 2009 | 7:25 am

Earth Watch

Japan's new leader looks forward to a warmer climate
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Sep 2009 | 5:40 am

In Pictures

Hunting ducks with leopard seals in South Georgia
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Sep 2009 | 5:39 am

Quantum computer slips onto chips

Researchers fit some of the laboratory-sized machinery of quantum computing onto a chip the size of a penny.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Sep 2009 | 5:12 am

My quest for a perfectly awful formula

Over the years mathematicians have given us the perfect biscuit, the perfect marriage, the perfect joke and the perfect penalty, now Simon Singh needs your help finding the perfect phoney formula

The British Science Festival kicks off tomorrow at the University of Surrey and on Sunday I will be giving a lecture discussing those quirky equations that seem to appear in the press every few weeks purporting to describe everyday phenomena.

For example, you may remember the equations that supposedly calculated the perfect TV sitcom, the best day of the year, or the likelihood of scoring from a penalty. You can find lots more documented at the blog Apathy Sketchpad.

Despite the fact that these media-friendly formulae have enough variables to make them look as though they are based on proper research, in most cases they are effectively meaningless. Indeed, I have been approached a couple of times by PR companies who have wanted me to construct similarly cockamamie formulae.

The first time was in 2005 when I was asked to help promote a shopping exhibition by coming up with a formula that predicted the best day to start Christmas shopping. Of course, the perfect day had to coincide with the start of the shopping exhibition.

I decided to string the company along for a while, to test the elasticity of their integrity. I told them: "The equation would lead to a graph that gave a value for each day in the run up to Xmas in terms of how good it would be to start shopping on that day, and I would engineer the equation so that the graph peaked on the day you require. There would be no real science behind the equation, but it would look sensible and convincing."

I went so far as to suggest some of the factors that might decide the best day to start shopping, and Clare, the nice lady from the PR company, replied: "Your ideas and formulas are perfect and exactly what we are looking for and it would be great to confirm you working with us."

After I had eventually explained my true feelings about absurd PR equations, the company probably found someone else to invent the formula it required. There is no shortage of willing volunteers. One of the most prolific equation inventors is Cliff Arnall, who is responsible for the formulae that describe the best day of the year, the worst day of the year, the perfect weekend and so on.

Unfortunately, as Ben Goldacre has pointed out in his Bad Science column, Cliff has a very poor grasp of maths. His formula for the perfect weekend is "dimensionally half-cocked", because a time quantity ends up being added to a time-squared quantity.

This sort of howler is just one of the problems associated with the PR industry's desire to exploit maths. It also demeans mathematics and science by giving the impression that academics waste their time on frivolous topics and are willing to come up with the appropriate answer if someone is prepared to pay them enough money.

Moreover, we are reaching a point when it is becoming impossible to separate the good equations from the bad ones. While the equation for the perfect penalty (which seems to reappear in a different form every few years) strikes me as little more than trivial PR, the equation for predicting marital success is actually based on serious research. The equation was devised by the eminent mathematician and Royal Society fellow Professor James Murray, who gave the Bakerian Prize Lecture at the Royal Society earlier this year.

One way to protect the reputation of serious scientists such as Professor Murray is to highlight and perhaps embarrass those other co-called scientists who manufacture mathematical drivel. To this end, I am working with Voice of Young Science to find the most appalling equation to appear in the UK national press over the next 12 months.

Towards the end of 2010 we will be giving a prize for the dodgiest equation, but so far we do not have a name for the award, so any suggestions would be much appreciated. And, of course, please help us by keeping an out eye for pseudo-equations in the media.

You can suggest a name for the prize by adding a comment below, and send links to articles that describe appalling equations to voys@senseaboutscience.org

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 4 Sep 2009 | 4:36 am

Touch me

The future of human computer interaction
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Sep 2009 | 4:00 am

One giant slip as Bangladesh media report 'faked' moon landings

Two Bangladeshi newspapers apologise after republishing a parody US news article saying the Moon landings were a hoax.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Sep 2009 | 3:22 am