Technology imitates nature

The article linked above details a deceptively simple water harvesting technology designed to collect clean water in polluted areas. Designed by an Israeli architect and PhD candidate, it is yet another example of engineering being inspired by nature.

With thanks to Rational Trader for the link.

Laughing milk

I love a good "laughter is the best medicine" story, and since becoming a mother I also love any story to do with motherhood. The article linked above contains both: it reports a study that shows that breastmilk abates infant eczema when the mother laughed in the hours prior to the feed. The researchers believe this is due to the increased levels of melatonin in the milk. Melatonin levels are often decreased in eczema sufferers.

Questionably sane?

I can't resist giving a free plug to my friend Nathan's new podcast, Questionably Sane. It doesn't have too much to do with science but I think it's funny (although it does come with a coarse language warning).

The most recent two episodes (3 & 4) poke fun at political correctness, which I think will appeal to scientists and others among my quiet readers.

[edit: link now updated to the most recent podcast site.]

Science in English 2: "boiling point"

This post is the second in a series about the use of scientific terminology in the vernacular. This is a topic that I've always found fascinating, mainly because it really clarifies how laypeople understand science.

In chemistry and physics, a liquid's boiling point is the highest temperature at which it will remain liquid. Increase the temperature even slightly and it will change state and become a gas.

According to answers.com, the term "boiling point" has been used informally since the second half of the 1700s to mean a climax, and has come to mean a turning point or point at which one loses one's temper.

I think this metaphor, although perhaps tired from over three centuries of use, is an excellent one. So often, anger simmers a little before exploding violently, bursting out like the bubbles of air escaping from boiling water. It is also apt as a metaphor for a climax, where a situation may change in the same way as a chemical changes state: both gradually (the temperature increases slowly) and suddenly (the boiling point is a discrete temperature).

This one definitely gets my presumptuous tick of approval.