![[Life's a beach]](http://realdoctorstu.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/lifes-a-beach.jpg?w=150 "[Life's a beach] by bass_nroll, on Flickr")
Exercise – you either love it or hate it. We’d all like to be strong, fit and athletic, but let’s face it – most of us aren’t. If you suffer with exercise-guilt, then fret not because you certainly aren’t the only one: Nine out ten of us stop going to the gym within 3 months of joining!
With only 40% of us managing to do the recommended amount of exercise, so be sure to check out these commonly-held exercise myths before you start to dust off your old trainers… Read more
![1/365 [dazed & confused]](http://realdoctorstu.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/confused2.jpg?w=150 "1/365 [dazed & confused] by PhotoJonny, on Flickr")
News agencies have been buzzing with reports that the discovery of the fabled ‘God particle’ is close at hand. But who really knows what this enigmatic thing actually is? What difference is it really going to have to Joe-public? Research shows that despite the lab-coat wearer’s best efforts most people just don’t ‘get’ science.
So here is an attempt to redress the balance (albeit in a tiny way). This is a delightfully simple 4 minute guide to everything you need to know about the Large Hadron Collider, the Higgs boson, the ‘God particle’ and particle physics. I’m no particle physicist, so hopefully it will be easy to understand – and shouldn’t get you feeling too nauseous… Read more
Picking shades with proper UV protection is an absolute must. Wearing poor quality sunglasses could be doing you much more harm than good. But if you thought that splashing out on expensive sunglasses would save your vision, then you’d be wrong. Today’s blog shines some light on the darker side of being out in the sun (with some images that aren’t for the faint-hearted)… Read more
Oh no, not another boring science video! That was my first thought when, at 12 years of age, the science teacher wheeled out the TV trolley. Videos seemed such a cheap excuse for teaching…
The premise is magnificently simple and beautifully put together. From a starting point at a picnic in a Chicago park the camera slowly starts to zoom out. Every ten seconds the view becomes ten times further away, until the earth, and then finally our galaxy becomes a tiny speck in the distance. The film then reverses – and after returning to the picnic scene, starts to zoom in closer and closer…
I was delighted to rediscover this video on Youtube – and I hope you enjoy it too. Even though it was made in 1968, it has aged better than a single malt. A modern remake narrated by Morgan Freeman was put together in 1996.
Which is better? You decide – just kick back and enjoy: Read more
But robots have come a long way in recent years. Bill Gates recently said that we are standing at the dawn of a new era in robotics, likening this present age in robotic technology to where the computer industry was about 30 years ago. In the coming years, he says, we should expect robots to be a part of our daily lives. And we’re not talking about dumb vacuum cleaners or drinks dispensers here, but flying, walking, crawling, intelligent and autonomous artificial helpers.
Does this all sound far-fetched? Well don’t be too sure because experts in artificial intelligence have just published a stark warning that we must start to tackle some tricky ethical and legal issues now.
Welcome to the fascinating, bizarre and slightly frightening world of of robotics… Read more
Are you getting excited about the Royal Wedding yet?
In a world with frighteningly high divorce rates, and facing a life in the limelight, is there really any hope that the royal marriage can survive a lifetime?
Well here are some tips for them that come from a rather surprising place – a recent edition of Social Science Research! (no, really) It contains a thorough analysis of some of the most comprehensive research ever done on marriage and divorce. Professor Wilcox from the University of Virginia scrutinised all previous research before delving into six years worth of surveys of married couples. He came up with some fascinating answers to those elusive questions, ‘What makes for a happy marriage?‘ and ‘Why do some people divorce?‘
I fear Kate and Wills have a copy of ‘Social Science Research’ sitting in their magazine rack- so I have summarised for them six top tips on how they can improve their chances of having a long and happy marriage… Read more
Go on and admit it, you have a terrible attention span.
But it’s not all your fault. This is the internet after all and everyone knows that the ‘information superhighway’ is a candy store of virtual distractions – endless images, buttons and flashing graphics all competing for your attention. Right now, there’s probably four or five other things you’d quite like to be doing: Shopping on ebay, browsing YouTube for funny videos, reading emails or checking Facebook (who knows, someone might have commented on your oh-so-witty status update)!
Listening to music can be great for unwinding – especially after a long day. I wonder if department stores and hotel elevators would be much more stressful if it weren’t for the piped music! But what about listening to an instrumental piece for when you’re chowing down? If the sound of mastication turns you off, then perhaps music could be an ideal accompaniment. Personally, I enjoy a bit of Mozart at mealtime, but am I the only one? Could there be a good reason for this?
The effects of music on the enjoyment of food hasn’t been properly studied in a scientific way before. But recently published research in the Journal of Culinary Science & Technology has just changed that. Heston Blumenthal is famous for his scientific approach to pushing forward the boundaries of the dining experience. Is it possible that the man who makes Bacon and Egg ice cream could use music to make his food taste even better?
“Do you believe in God?” is not the sort of thing you normally expect to hear in a hospital clinic. But for a group women quietly waiting in a breast health clinic, their wait to see the doctor was interrupted by this question. However, this wasn’t an enthusiastic evangelist trying to win a new convert; it was all in the name of science…
Even if a spiritual dimension cannot be measured, some things can: For example, does a religious belief help people deal with hardship, illness or strife? Many of the faithful would say yes – and that would seem to make sense. A belief in a higher is often presumed to help people cope in times of difficulty – but is this a real effect or just an act of self-delusion? Researchers from Canada have been on the case to try to find out… Read more
UPDATE (5th August 2011): Following the interesting debates and discussions arising from this piece, a follow up article has been written “Time to Change of view of ‘Nuclear Power’” – which was also published in the Tampa Tribune.
Hands up – Who thinks nuclear power is safe?
Before the Japan earthquake and tsunami on March 11, opinion surveys showed that most people thought it was. But as radiation seeps from the stricken Fukushima power plant, the world suddenly seems a very different place…
Fossil fuels are running out and we all want safe, clean and affordable power for this generation and the next. But is this an impossible dream? Today’s post describes how it is possible: It can be done with a hitherto little known type of nuclear power (yes, you read that correctly) – called the Thorium Reactor.
A ‘Thorium Reactor‘ is completely different to the Fukushima power plant design: A Thorium reactor doesn’t produce radioactive waste that lasts a thousand years, it won’t ever have a Chernobyl-like ‘melt-down’ and it can’t be used to make an atomic bomb… And here’s the Sucker Punch: We’ve known about this super-efficient green technology for over 50 years! Read more