Code for life

Neti pots now validated as sound science?

Grant Jacobs • Dec 02, 2009

• medicine,
• neti pot,
• news

There are many “home” remedies for clearing nasal congestion and sinusitis through cleaning the nasal passages, usually involving passing a saline solution through them, e.g. Pouring a neti pot (Image from Science-based Medicine article.) A recent Cochrane review, Nasal saline irrigations for the symptoms of chronic rhinosinusitis, supports use of this technique originating from an ancient … Read More

£5,000 for poem on a medical subject

Grant Jacobs • Dec 01, 2009

• medicine,
• poem,
• prize,
• writing

The Hippocrates Prize offers £5,000 for the best poem on a medical subject. There’s an international category and an NHS category for UK National Health Services employees. £5,000 is a decent bit o’ cash for a poem, so why not give it go? This prize is offered by the University of Warwick and … Read More

Royal science

Grant Jacobs • Nov 30, 2009

• History,
• microscope,
• scientific literature,
• van Leeuwenhoeck

Fans of popular science, read the highlights of the Royal Society of London’s first 350 years. Scientists, or anyone really, try the original 300-odd year-old manuscripts. Replica of Leeuwnehoeck's microscope (source: wikipedia) It’s not that often than a newspaper article alerts me to a science website that’s worth exploring. The Royal Society’s … Read More

Advice for students heading to university

Grant Jacobs • Nov 29, 2009

• student support,
• universities

In the southern hemisphere, final-year school students ought to be sorting out what to do next year. This article is an edited re-post of a guest post I wrote on Alison's blog before I had my own. Although written with science students in mind, most of it applies to students of all disciplines. Readers, share … Read More

Snake coughs up new species

Grant Jacobs • Nov 28, 2009

• news,
• photos

New species are found all sorts of ways. In the case of British scientist Dr Andrew Marshall working in Tanzania a startled snake trying to escape spat out a new species of chameleon (see photo). New species of chameleon (Source: York University) To give some idea of scale, the twig is about the thickness of your thumb. He (she?) is … Read More

Craziest research paper titles, awards and authors

Grant Jacobs • Nov 28, 2009

• awards,
• humour,
• scientific literature

High on the list has to be one I recently covered: Fellatio by Fruit Bats Prolongs Copulation Time. One paper I read recently was authored by Song and Singh. Many genes are known by an acronym. In the case of the arylsulfatase E gene, it's ARSE. I invite readers to suggest their … Read More

The chiropractor really should stick to bones

Grant Jacobs • Nov 26, 2009

• medicine,
• natural health remedies

His latest "advertisement" tilts at cough and cold medicines for young kids. (His previous advertisement that I wrote about was aimed at swine flu.) He seems to not realise that the same reasoning he uses could be applied to chiropractic treatment, to the point that you could replace the appropriate words and his reasoning would … Read More

Computational biology: Natural history v. explanatory models

Grant Jacobs • Nov 26, 2009

• bioinformatics,
• genomics

Models, not just stamp collecting and managing datasets. It feels good close to the 150th anniversary of the publishing of On the origin of species to note a thread running in some posts that reflects something close to my heart. A key thing about Darwin's work and other major achievements in science are … Read More

Book review: Buried Alive

Grant Jacobs • Nov 26, 2009

• book review,
• medicine

I have to join the latest trend at sciblogs: morbid book reviews. Ya gotta love 'em... [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Buried Alive - Bondeson"][/caption] Seriously, our forensic science sciblog, Anna Sandiford, has a couple of book reviews out recently, one of which I've read (and enjoyed) and one I … Read More

150 years since the publication of On the origin of species today

Grant Jacobs • Nov 24, 2009

• book review,
• evolution,
• news,
• scientific literature,
• victorian,
• writing

ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES was published in London on 24 November 1859, while Darwin was taking the water-cure at Ilkley. It was a very ordinary-looking volume bound in sturdy green cloth, 502 pages long, and somewhat expensively priced at fourteen shillings, not nearly as gaily decked out as Murray's red-and-gilt version of Darwin's earlier Journal of Researches … Read More