It seems counterproductive to be gaming when you have a pelican's beak full of assignments each week like I do. And it is, but when a problem set or a pelican is getting you down, in the long run a good gaming session can do wonders for your counter-counterproductivity. So, Kieran and I have compiled a list of our favorite video game scientists and the ways they inspire us to succeed!

10 - Professor Oak, Behavioral Scientist, made famous by Pokemon.

Lead researcher at the Oak Pokemon Research Laboratory in Pallet Town, Professor Oak studies the behavior of various Pokemon in their natural environments. Professor Oaks is known for his generous public outreach intitiative. You can't go wrong with a selection of a free water turtle, free fire lizard or free plant dinosaur. His field of research is pretty interesting but not even 439 pokemans can measure up to the waterfall of gaming joy that lies ahead in this list.

9 - Mortimer Goth, Retired Mad Scientist, made famous by The Sims.

More commonly known as "the guy in The Sims whose wife you tried to seduce when you lived as a bachelor". In Sims 2, where his wife is mysteriously missing (due to an alleged alien abduction), we see an older retired Mortimer enjoying the wealth he accumulated at the top of his Science career class as an esteemed Mad Scientist (§1000/day). His fame and fortune serve as inspiration to Sims and real-life humans alike pursuing a similar career path.

8 - Dr. Mario, Physician, made famous by Dr. Mario.

Very little is known about where or when Mario received his medical training. However, based on Mario's innovative method of treating disease (haphazardly combining a random stream of pills in his patient's bodies), it was probably somewhere prestigious. Nonetheless, true gamers always take medicine the Dr. Mario way: as long as the colors match, the virus disappears!

7 - Lester Chaykin, Physicist, made famous by Out of This World.

It's hard being a particle physicist on an alien planet. The laws of physics still apply but weakly kicking and laser-blasting aliens isn't exactly what you are bargaining for on a late night at the lab. Everything was going great the night he drove his Ferrari to the local synchrotron to get in some after hours particle collider time. But due to an unfortunate lightning strike, his research had to be put on hold until some serious puzzle-solving and alien-killing could be done. Download for PC here!

6 - Tie! - Professor Hojo, Biomedical Engineer, made famous by Final Fantasy VII.

Not exactly the most likable scientist on the list, Professor Hojo disregarded the ethical research regulations at the Shinra Science Department and conducted his experiments on unwilling human subjects. Ever passionate about his mad science, he chose to inject cells of an alien entity into his unborn child in the womb of his wife, which ultimately led to one of the finest video game stories ever told!

6 - Tie! - Professor William Birkin, Virologist, made famous by Resident Evil.
Professor Birkin had the privilege of starting his job at the Umbrella Corporation at the tender age of 15. Shortly after getting the job he and his colleagues suceeded in creating the T-Virus "through synthesis of the Progenitor-Ebola virus and leech DNA". Let's read what Wikipedia has to say about it:

[The T-Virus] has the abilities to animate dead tissue, to substantially mutate its host, and to infect nearly any tissue in any type of host [...] by killing and replacing any mitochondria in infected cells, and then combining with these cells to produce enough energy for motor and lower brain functions.

By doing this, most of the bodies systems, such as the circulatory or respiratory systems, are made redundant. However, this process has the drawback of severe necrosis in the host, and produces the distinctive rotted appearance of the hosts.

As a side effect of the virus's cannibalization of its host, specifically its digestion of the host's frontal lobes, all hosts suffer from greatly increased aggressiveness. In previously living hosts, the virus also damages the hypothalamus, which results in a flood of neurotransmitters, enzymes, and hormones which induce a psychotic rage and hunger in the host.

Which, translated from science speak to gamer speak, means "survival horror zombie video game". Bottom line, shouldn't have gone into industry.

5 - Dr. Fred Edison, Mad Scientist, made famous by Day of the Tentacle.

Dr. Fred Edison is a scientist with ideas. In D.O.T.T, one of my finest memories of gaming, we immediately see his work in tentacle-engineering go awry, and are subsequently forced to travel through time to prevent the mishap. Thankfully, Dr. Edison (descendant of Thomas Edison) allows the use of his Chron-O-John, which successfully combines high-tech time traveling technology with low-brow comedy. Why time travel in something as ridiculous as a DeLorean with gull-wing doors when you could travel in a series of port-o-potty's powered by a diamond?

4 - Dr. Light, Roboticist, made famous by Megaman.

Don't you hate it when you win a Nobel Prize and all your colleagues get all jealous and bitter? Then, once you think things are back to normal, they procede to go insane with jealousy and copy all of your work but use it for evil?

That happened to Dr. Light when he was recognized for creating Megaman! Dr. Light met Dr. Wily after graduation and they formed Light Labs. They toyed with robotic automata and even robots capable of independent thought, but when Dr. Wily grew tired of living in the shadow of Dr. Light he decided to shoot for world domination instead. Can't blame him!

3 - Lucca, Inventor, made famous by Chrono Trigger.

Wait, a female scientist/engineer? Basically unheard of in a video game, but that's not why Lucca made the list... it's just that we have so much in common! Her living room (above) is littered with random textbooks and strange webs of cables connecting mysterious power cylinders much like my own room (but replace the power cylinders with beer cylinders).

If you've played Chrono Trigger you'll also note Lucca's admirable motivation to study science, which jerks tears at the thought. In a way, it's also similar to my original motivation to study science to get cash, which also causes me to jerk tears. Did I mention she made a time machine and a fighting robot? She's like the best of Dr. Light and Dr. Fred Edison combined!

2 - Dr. Hal Emmerich AKA "Otacon", Weapons Researcher, made famous by Metal Gear Solid.

Everyone needs a scientist on speed dial, especially if you're Solid Snake and you have an arsenal of high-tech weapons and computer systems working against you in your daily life. Otacon is a weapons research expert by trade but he's a deft hand at mourning Solid Snake's various and frequent deaths ("Snake? Snaaaaaaaake!").

However, Otacon is not just a brilliant scientist and a compassionate friend. After he realizes that his invention Metal Gear will be used for evil, he turns the tables on the bad guys and uses his scientific know-how to undermine international nuclear proliferation! For sparing the world from nuclear holocaust using science, we salute you Otacon.

1 - Gordon Freeman, Physicist, made famous by Half-Life.

It should be no surprise that we awarded the Gaming Nobel Prize for Excellence in Science to Dr. Freeman. Often research projects don't quite go as planned, and it's the responsibility of the scientist to fix the problem using whatever means necessary. In Gordan's case, that project was "scanning beam analysis", the problem was an interdimensional time rift teeming with aliens, and the means to fix said problem was a crowbar! When push comes to shove with alien oppressors, Gordon isn't afraid to use a Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator to get the job done. Here's a little background information on his prestigious career from the Half Life 2 Prima Game Guide. Congratulations Dr. Freeman!

While a visiting student at the University of Innsbruck in the late 1990's, Gordon Freeman observed a series of seminal teleportation experiments conducted by the Institute for Experimental Physics (see Bowemeester, Pan, Mattle, Eibl, Weinfurter, Zeilinger, "Experimental Quantum Teleportation" Nature, 11 December 1997). Practical applications for teleportation became his obsession. In 1999, Freeman received his doctorate from M.I.T. with a thesis paper entitled: "Observation of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Entanglement on Supraquantum Structures By Induction through Nonlinear Transuranic Crystal of Extremely Long Wavelength (ELW) Pulse from Mode-Locked Source Array".

Disappointed with the slow pace and poor funding of academic research, and with tenure a distant dream, Gordon cast about for a job in private industry. As fortune would have it, his mentor at M.I.T., Professor Alex Kleiner, had taken charge of a research project being conducted at a decommissioned missile base in Black Mesa, New Mexico. Kleiner was looking for a few bright associates, and Gordon was his first choice.

Considering the source and amount of funds available to the Black Mesa Labs, Gordon suspected that he would be involved in some sort of weapons research; but in the hopes that practical civilian applications would arise (in areas of quantum computing and astrophysics), he accepted Kleiner's offer. Apart from a butane-powered tennis ball cannon he constructed at age 6, Gordon had never handled a weapon of any sort-or needed to... until now.

Dr. Freeman with the Black Mesa Research Team

Runners-up Great Scientists of Gaming

• Alkor the alchemist from Diablo II
• Dr. Andonuts from Earthbound
• Dr. Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog
• Citan from Xenogears
• Who did we miss?
• Digg us!

Well, our Valentines Day traffic seems to be leveling off back to normal. I guess it's back to our regularly scheduled program, back to the daily grind, and back to our core readership (Hi Kate and Kevin!). Thankfully it's reading week so blogging doesn't even count as procrastination, it's strictly business.

Language barriers, what a nuisance. How can one collaborate internationally when ideas are lost in translation? The least that a worldly English-speaking researcher could do would be to learn another language. And what better language than the language of science, German. Err, actually, these days English seems to be the language of choice but there's no harm in adding a few words to your brain's crowded Germ-o-dex in between Heineken, Jagermeister, and Budweiser.

Just kidding, you probably know more words German words than you give yourself credit. Half of these German loan words were named after German scientists too.

• Fahrenheit, named after the German inventor, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit.
• Diesel, named after German inventor, Rudolf Diesel.
• Cobalt, derived from the German kobalt, from kobold meaning "goblin".
• Zinc, used first by Paracelsus, a German chemist who referred to the metal as Zinken or Zinck
• Neanderthal, named after the "Neander Valley" in Germany where the first Neanderthal remains were found.
• Geiger counter, named for German physicist Hans Geiger.
• Aufbau Principle, from German "Aufbau" meaning "construction", used to determine the electron configuration of atoms.

Here are some less commonly known German words which still have significant use in English.

• Ansatz is the process of is laying out your initial conditions, assumptions, and equations when are are attempting to solve a math problem. I had no idea there was a word for this.
• Heiligenschein is a white halo of light visible around the shadow of the observer's head. So much for being an angel, thanks German.
• Zitterbewegung is the circular/helical motion of electrons producing spin and magnetic moment.
• Bremsstrahlung, from German bremsen "to brake" and Strahlung "radiation", describes the radiation which is emitted when electrons are decelerated when they are fired at a metal target.
• Karst, is the type of landscape formed by dissolving layers of bed rock. Responsible for the bad ass Niagara Escarpment over here in Ontario.
• Gedankenexperiment, a hypothetical scenario, or thought experiment.
• Aha-Erlebnis, Eureka!

If you want to take things to the next level you may need some material to practice your German translations with. I found this book on Project Gutenberg called the German Science Reader. It was kinda written in 1907 but check out the footnotes for lots of translation aid. Some of my favorites include:

• Sinusschwingungen: sine oscillations.
• die Fortpflanzungsgeschwindigkeit: velocity of propagation.
• Aggregatzustandsveränderungen: changes in the state of aggregation (i. e. from liquid to solid etc.).
• das Knallgebläse: oxy-hydrogen blowpipe.
• das Beharrungsvermögen: capacity for persisting = inertia.
• die Zeiteinheit: unit of time.
• bis ins Unendliche: to infinity.

After you have learned sufficient German you can appreciate fine science puns such as this one I got from Science Jokes:

Q: What is Schroedinger's parakeet called?

A: Ein Teilchensittich.

Here's the explanation:

Sittich is German for parrot.
Wellensittich is German for parakeet.
Welle is German for wave.
Teilchen is German for particle.
So by Wave-Particle duality you have Teilchensittich.

Ich lachte laut!

You may or may not have read the "About Us" section and wondered what Computational Physics, or more generally, what Computational Science actually is. You wouldn't be the first! To the untrained ear, Computational Science sure sounds a lot like Computer Science. Even Google is a bit hard of hearing.

Computational Science is the scientific approach for the 21st century! With computers more powerful than ever and the internet more awesome than ever, it's natural that we should use such resources to further scientific research.

With one of these new fangled computing devices all sorts of formally forbidden "voodoo research" are suddenly fair game. Weather prediction, bring it on! Computer aided drug design, why not! Protein folding, I'd compute that in my sleep! Collisions of galaxies, at worst a cool DVD! Scientists can finally gain insight into phenomena of epic proportions which is unobtainable by experiment (damn funding!) and phenomena which is too messy to understand theoretically (damn brain!). The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and I both agree that computat. sci. is here to stay:

Computation is now regarded as an equal and indispensable partner, along with theory and experiment, in the advance of scientific knowledge and engineering practice.

A true computational wizard understands principles of efficient algorithm design, software development, scientific theory, mathematics, visualization, and error analysis. Definitely not a wizard to be reckoned with.

For more information you should read some Computational Science Wikipedia articles and embrace the age of computation that lies ahead of us. Also Mike Lazaridis, if you're reading this right now, I could really use a Perimeter Institute for Computational Physics down the road from my house, k thx.

Ever since I saw the painting shown above, I've wanted to suffocate birds in my very own home laboratory. As I got older, the desire to destroy life subsided, but the desire for a home laboratory remained. People have home studios, why not home labs? Obviously, the main obstacle to realizing this dream is cost.

So how much would a general purpose home laboratory cost? Internet searches provided little help, so I decided to compile a quote myself. I aimed to make the lab as complete and general purpose as possible, without being unrealistic in terms of cost (continues after the break):

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some science-themed icons and wallpaper spruce up your otherwise un-sciencey desktop! Enjoy!

Icons
Mac OS X
Great Minds (via Interface LIFT)
Modern Scientists (via InterFace LIFT)
Roboticons (via Mastifnet)
Bees (via Britta/arts)
Organs (by Chistophe Bouchard) (OS X, Windows)
Molecules (by Mark Magnuson)
Arthropods (by Max Fiedler)
Windows
Science Icons by ~MrMunkily (via DeviantArt)
Chemistry Icons by eponas-deeway (via DeviantArt)
Science Icons (via My Biotech Life)

Wallpaper
European Space Agency Wallpaper
NASA HubbleSite
NSF Chemistry & Materials
New Scientist
Materials Research Society
BBC Science & Nature
BBC Planet Earth

Much like being a dog trying to use a computer, applying to graduate school is a stressful and confusing affair. We have it a little easier in Canada, as we don't have to write the GRE (suckers!), but the process is nevertheless taxing. Here's are some links I personally found very helpful during my graduate school application adventures (which continue to this day):

Advice on Getting Into Graduate School:

1. About.com Graduate School Tips
(excellent general resource)
2. Advice for undergraduates considering graduate school
(no nonsense tips)
3. The Grad School Application Process
(from ScienceBlogs blog "Uncertain Principles")
4. Biology Graduate School Advice
(meant for biologists, but its all the same!)
5. A graduate school survival guide
(more no-nonsense tips, this time for computer scientists)
6. Getting into Graduate School
(phds.org section on graduate school, lots of good stuff!)
7. Academic Productivity
(more of a productivity blog, but also has grad school advice)

PLUS! Two essays on being a good graduate student (but also applicable to undergraduates and real life)
1. "On being a successful graduate student in the sciences"
2. "Some modest advice for graduate students"

If you're in the area, this lecture at U of T should be #1 priority this Friday: Science In An Age of Endarkenment: scientific fraud, quackery, religion and university politics.

When alternative medicine and academia collide... Featuring a major public symposium with David Colquhoun

Eminent UK scientist and noted skeptic David Colquhoun was recently at the centre of controversy after critiquing the pseudoscientific claims of a homeopathic practitioner. Prof. Colquhoun was asked to remove his site from the UCL server, but after a backlash from the scientific community, his website was revived. He will be speaking about alternative medicine, academia, and the conflicts that arise when the two intersect.

David Colquhoun is professor of pharmacology at University College London and fellow of the Royal Society. He runs a blog called "Improbable Science" (http://www.dcscience.net) dedicated to exposing and debunking pseudoscientific claims.

Public event: $7 general, $4 students, FREE for Friends of the Centre.

According to the Facebook group there are no pre-sale tickets so make sure to get there early for a decent seat. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it but you might just see Kieran representing JoS in a Threadless T-shirt because I'm pretty sure he's a member of the Centre for Inquiry.

Here at Jacks of Science, we recognize that not all scientists (or science blogs) are perfect. That said, there is always room for improvement. So, in the spirit of the new(ish) year, we've come up with some new year's resolutions to make Jacks of Science the best science blog it can be. Prepare for a seriously good year at Jacks of Science!
More regular posting - Kieran
What can we say? We've been slacking off lately. We're going to dust off the cobwebs this year and bring you the ZANIEST and MOST THOUGHT PROVOKING blog posts you've ever seen! Think we're lying? Just look at our post archive! The zaniness quotient of each post has been increasing exponentially (or maybe logistically, I guess!)!
Science blog community involvement - Chris
90% of blogs are about Paris Hilton gossip and recycled tech news from Slashdot and Digg. In the same vein, 90% of blog readers probably don't give a hoot about science. That's exactly why it's so important to nurture the tiny blogosphere we have and participate in the community. Engaging people in science is a goal of ours which extends much farther than the grasp of our lowly blog. Not to mention it's a great way to steal readers from other sites.
Sustain and increase comedy/drama levels - Chris
Comedy levels have been pretty erratic on the site and drama levels are at an all time low. Come to think of it, I haven't cried after reading a blog post since Bumblebees in a Plastic Box when Kieran told me he had to rip off their wings to study them! So what we're really striving for in 2008 is a nice dramedy.
More posts about peer-reviewed research - Kieran
While comedy certainly has its place, one of the great things a science blog can do is bring science out of the ivory tower and into the salivating brain-mouthes of people around the world. Since we read many cutting edge research papers anyway, we fully intend to distill out the boring and bring on the sexy in the new year.

Ah yeah, a nice slow week here at Jacks of Science. It's not just us either, even light is getting slower. Or maybe photons and I are just getting old. We just can't run as fast as we used to.

Thankfully, I can always fall back on my 800 email strong GMail spam folder when I get too old to receive any cool emails. These days I just check it to see if there is anything hilarious.

From: Letitia Friend <akstcaccessithacamnsdgs@accessithaca.com>
Date: Nov 28, 2007 4:48 AM
Subject: Liquid Microscope Boy Liquid Highway Explosive
Great Gift Ideas
Do all your shopping at our online store
We have Huge Sales going on now
Here you go (<--Spam Link here)

And to think, just when the spammers were on to something with their subject lines, they just pack in and give up... what irony!

Sweating it out for a project idea? Google Scholar allows you to access papers from up to 92 years in the future:

Just steal one, they aren't even published yet! The best part is, Scholar returns 19,100 articles published in that year range. I'm not sure how they are assigning the year of publication, but something is definitely wrong. Either that or Google knows something we don't.