272 posts · 286,973 views
I am a freelance science writer based in Cambridge, England, I trained as a chemist and am a chartered member of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Currently, I write for several magazines and websites on science, technology and medicine, covering everything from astronomy to zoology, with a special focus on all things chemical, which includes materials, pharma, nano, analytical sciences.
Sciencebase Science Blog
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Sciencetext
88 posts
SciScoop Science Forum
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SpectroscopyNOW ezine
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Reactive Reports Chemistry Blog
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- July 23, 2010
- 01:16 PM
- 802 views
Sweet sensors
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
Nothing new under the sun, as the bard said, and how true it is sometimes. No sooner had I posted a news article on spectroscopynow.com entitled “Sweet sense of GOD” than Santhosh Challa, a Senior Scientist at Merck & Co in New Jersey, USA, got in touch to tell me that his team had also [...]Sweet sensors is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
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Bwambok, D., Challa, S., Lowry, M., & Warner, I. (2010) Amino Acid-Based Fluorescent Chiral Ionic Liquid for Enantiomeric Recognition. Analytical Chemistry, 82(12), 5028-5037. DOI: 10.1021/ac9027774
- July 20, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 783 views
Just say no to sunscreen nanophobia!
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
Once again we’re at a pivotal point in human development, where a novel technology might allow us to improve the lot of millions, perhaps billions of people across the globe and yet activists are invoking the precautionary principle and informing consumers of the possible dangers therein. As happened with vaccines, nuclear energy, genetically modified crops, [...]Just say no to sunscreen nanophobia! is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
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Thomas Faunce. (2010) Exploring the safety of nanoparticles in Australian sunscreens. Int. J. Biomed. Nanosci. Nanotechnol., 1(1), 87-94. info:/
- July 5, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 855 views
The hidden, invisible, and private web
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
Everyone knows that Google and the other search engines between them crawl, spider, and slurp up the whole internet, right? Wrong! The millions of websites that are obviously available on the internet are readily searchable, Google Bing, Yahoo, and their ilk have seen to that, we can usually find documents, pages, digital images, videos, music, [...]The hidden, invisible, and private web is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
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Peter Mork, Ken Smith, Barbara Blaustein, Christopher Wolf, Ken Samuel, Keri Sarver, & Irina Vayndiner. (2010) Facilitating discovery on the private web using dataset digests. International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies, 5(3), 170-183. info:/
- July 2, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 686 views
Cyber attacks are criminal
by David Bradley in SciScoop Science Forum
The internet, electronic communications channels and computer technology that controls critical infrastructure together represent a new combat front on the international political stage. Several nations have been accused recently of cyber attacks, not least Russia and China, on the data centres of other governments. Whole power supply systems have been compromised on occasion and even [...]... Read more »
Sérgio Tenreiro de Magalhães, Henrique M. Dinis Santos, Leonel Duarte dos Santos, & Hamid Jahankhani. (2010) Cyberwar and the Russian Federation: the usual suspect. Int. J. Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, 3(2), 151-163. info:/
- June 30, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 548 views
The search for intelligent television
by David Bradley in Sciencetext
The electronic program guide (EPG) on my digital cable box is next to useless, it’s a vast scrollable entity with no search function, same goes for the PVR. There are categories and various ways to jump between days and pages, but it’s not like searching on the web, which is what you really want, that [...]Post from: David Bradley's Sciencetext Tech TalkThe search for intelligent television
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Mila Nadrljanski, & V. Batinica. (2010) Intelligent media agents. Int. J. Intelligent Defence Support Systems, 3(1/2), 128-138. info:/10.1504/IJIDSS.2010.03368
- June 29, 2010
- 05:34 AM
- 752 views
The chemistry of an iPhone
by David Bradley in Reactive Reports Chemistry Blog
Apple’s Steve Jobs has a reputation for responding personally to some of the presumably millions of emails he receives. (Apparently, he does it on a weekly basis, which smacks of controlled PR campaign, if you ask me). One from “Derick” published on Wired and elsewhere purportedly asked about the chemistry of the iPhone 4. Derick [...]... Read more »
Rosman, K., Chisholm, W., Hong, S., Candelone, J., & Boutron, C. (1997) Lead from Carthaginian and Roman Spanish Mines Isotopically Identified in Greenland Ice Dated from 600 B.C. to 300 A.D. . Environmental Science , 31(12), 3413-3416. DOI: 10.1021/es970038k
- June 22, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 1,200 views
App store communities
by David Bradley in Sciencetext
Have you ever tried to get into the Apple app store? Not as a consumer, but as a developer, I mean? Apparently, it’s pretty tough (just ask the guys from Opera or Wobble iBoobs!). App stores are all different with respect to their associated operating system, development language, the policy of approval and profit sharing [...]Post from: David Bradley's Sciencetext Tech TalkApp store communities
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Bong Gyou Lee, Gun Hee Lee, Yong Ho Shim, & Ajin Choi. (2010) Let developers run into the app store by lowering the barrier-to-entry. Int. J. Electronic Finance, 4(3), 201-220. info:/
- June 17, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 697 views
The push and pull of third world drugs
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
Diseases can be classified as Type I (those that are incident in both rich and poor countries); Type II (those that are incident in both rich and poor countries but with a substantial proportion in poor countries, for example tuberculosis [and malaria]) and Type III (those that are overwhelmingly or exclusively [...]The push and pull of third world drugs is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
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Sudip Chaudhuri. (2010) R. Int. J. Technology and Globalisation, 5(1/2), 61-75. info:/
- June 8, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 995 views
Testing tests
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
Teaching is meant to help students learn, usually about a specific subject, but more broadly about social interactions, working in a team, under duress, about life in general. They say that your schooldays are the best days of your lives, but perish the thought I’ve never been one for clichés and that one smacks of [...]Testing tests is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
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Ana Paula Alturas, & Bráulio Alturas. (2010) Differentiation in the assessment between different groups of students: are experience and maturity more important than learning time?. Int. J. Information and Operations Management Education, 3(3), 256-271. info:/
- May 31, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 714 views
Mumps vaccination and teenage swelling
by David Bradley in SciScoop Science Forum
Today’s SciScoop post is from a guest blogger who is a UK practice nurse with considerable clinical experience and concerns for the nations teens.
Over the course of the past couple of weeks, some interesting stats have come to my attention. Before I go any further, I will explain how I came to stumble over them. [...]... Read more »
Davis, N., McGuire, B., Mahon, J., Smyth, A., O’Malley, K., & Fitzpatrick, J. (2010) The increasing incidence of mumps orchitis: a comprehensive review. BJU International, 105(8), 1060-1065. DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2009.09148.x
- May 25, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 696 views
Wheels within wheels – the scientific lifecycle
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
An oft-repeated message from scientists involved with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), mapping the human genome, the search for extraterrestrial life and other vast scientific projects, such as supercomputing experiments is that the tera-bytes, peta-bytes, perhaps even the yotta-bytes of data generated by large-scale projects is hard to handle, to say the least.
Not only has [...]Wheels within wheels – the scientific lifecycle is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
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Mattoso, M., Werner, C., Travassos, G., Braganholo, V., Ogasawara, E., Oliveira, D., Cruz, S., Martinho, W., & Murta, L. (2010) Towards supporting the life cycle of large scale scientific experiments. International Journal of Business Process Integration and Management, 5(1), 79. DOI: 10.1504/IJBPIM.2010.033176
- May 18, 2010
- 09:00 AM
- 1,340 views
SCAN for privacy in e-government
by David Bradley in Sciencetext
Of fifty US Senate websites, only about fifty percent have a comprehensive privacy policy. Now, in a week when it is revealed that Facebook’s privacy policy has more words than the US constitution is it any wonder that Americans are not so keen to trust e-government sites?
According to a Senior Lecturer in Computing Joanne Kuzma [...]Post from: David Bradley's Sciencetext Tech TalkSCAN for privacy in e-government
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Joanne Kuzma. (2010) An examination of privacy policies of US Government Senate websites. Electronic Government, An International Journal, 7(3), 270-280. info:/
- May 6, 2010
- 09:00 AM
- 1,138 views
Cloud workers: laborers, addicts, or slaves?
by David Bradley in Sciencetext
Wikipedia, Wordpress, Linux…the list of community-driven projects goes on with more and more people getting involved. They do so, it seems, purely for the sake of contributing, bettering themselves and the projects with which they become involved, almost always for no financial reward. This is not crowdsourcing. This is open-source production, collaborative learning, or online [...]Post from: David Bradley's Sciencetext Tech TalkCloud workers: laborers, addicts, or slaves?
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Jonathan R. Corney, Carmen Torres-Sánchez, A. Prasanna Jagadeesan, & William C. Regli. (2009) Outsourcing labour to the cloud. Int. J. Innovation and Sustainable Development, 4(4), 294-313. info:/
- April 28, 2010
- 09:00 AM
- 1,380 views
Peer-to-peer data storage
by David Bradley in Sciencetext
Whenever anyone mentions P2P file systems, the first thought that pops into the n00bs head is probably – piracy – and an image of teens downloading free copies of the latest young person’s popular music tracks from teh interwebs using an illicit file sharing system. Of course, Bit Torrent and other related systems can be [...]Post from: David Bradley's Sciencetext Tech TalkPeer-to-peer data storage
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Yu-Wei Chan, Tsung-Hsuan Ho, Po-Chi Shih, & Yeh-Ching Chung. (2010) Malugo: A peer-to-peer storage system. Int. J. Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, 5(4), 209-218. info:/
- April 28, 2010
- 09:00 AM
- 954 views
Lifelong learning online is about connecting people
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
Individuals now have the autonomy to make their own learning choices and in recent years there has been an emphasis on the “self made learner”, especially in adult education and ongoing professional development. As such, online communities and other so-called web 2.0 tools have come to the fore as potentially useful for educators and students [...]Lifelong learning online is about connecting people is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
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Cristina Costa. (2010) Lifelong learning in Web 2.0 environments. Int. J. Technology Enhanced Learning, 2(3), 275-284. info:/
- April 21, 2010
- 09:00 AM
- 696 views
Understanding online students and virtual supervisors
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
The numbers of international students taking on graduate degrees is on the increase, partly due to the advent of rapid communication and information tools and partly due to the recognition that globalisation is taking over the world. Hah!
Supervisors I’ve spoken to over the years have always seen the mix of cultures in their laboratories as [...]Understanding online students and virtual supervisors is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
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Kenneth David Strang. (2010) Improving supervision of cross-cultural postgraduate university students. Int. J. Learning and Change, 4(2), 181-202. info:/
- April 15, 2010
- 09:00 AM
- 503 views
Young children see the moon illusion
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
Why does the full moon seem bigger when it’s near the horizon than when it’s high in the sky? The moon illusion, which also applies to the perception of the size of the sun in the sky, has intrigued artists and puzzled psychologists for many years.
The moon illusion refers to the fact that the sun [...]Young children see the moon illusion is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
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Helen E. Ross, & Adele Cowie. (2010) The moon illusion in children’s drawings. Int. J. Arts and Technology, 3(2/3), 275-287. info:/
- April 6, 2010
- 09:00 AM
- 762 views
Antivirus without the software
by David Bradley in Sciencetext
UK research suggests that approximately 97% of businesses have an internet connection and the vast majority of those are now using broadband access. The same research also found that infection with computer viruses, spyware, worms, Trojans, and other malicious software was the biggest single cause of security incidents, accounting for about half of all incidents, [...]Post from: David Bradley's Sciencetext Tech TalkAntivirus without the software
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Athanasios Karantjias, & Nineta Polemi. (2010) Assessment of advanced cryptographic antiviral techniques. Int. J. Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, 3(1), 60-72. info:/
- March 31, 2010
- 09:00 AM
- 575 views
Press releases should be about people
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
We’re all increasingly familiar with corporate press releases. There are countless websites that regurgitate the corporate and institutional public relations output for wider and wider audiences.
If you’re familiar with the blogosphere, you will almost certainly recognise that many posts simply echo the notices provided by the likes of Eurekalert, AlphaGalileo, and the more generic wire [...]Press releases should be about people is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
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Johanna Kujala, Tiina Toikka, & Anna Heikkinen. (2010) Communicating corporate responsibility through media. Progress in Industrial Ecology – An International Journal, 6(4), 404-420. info:/
- March 24, 2010
- 09:00 AM
- 758 views
Human rights and a cozy copyright conundrum
by David Bradley in Sciencetext
Internet access is rapidly moving into the domain of human rights. It’s not quite the same as the essential right to food, water, and shelter, but without internet access people and groups can be significantly marginalized within society, excluded opportunity and information, and prevented from taking a holistic role in the democratic process.
Google’s moves out [...]Post from: David Bradley's Sciencetext Tech TalkHuman rights and a cozy copyright conundrum
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Lateef Mtima. (2010) A vibrant internet community requires a realistic balancing of all of legitimate interests. Int. J. Private Law , 3(3), 197-220. info:/
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