1

Just Chat! / Has everyone else heard of Antares autotune?

« on: 07/12/2009 21:59:26 »

I've just been introduced to the wonders of Antares Autotune, and i'm kinda disappointed.

In my naivety I thought that, short of actual miming, when artists sang on stage, it was their voice you were hearing. Well, apparently not necessarily so. Altares Autotune takes the feed from the microphone and mixes it with the backing track to make it sound half-decent, so, correcting bum notes and the like.

This generally only works (apparently) when there is a backing track to mix in with, so I've been told it's unlikely to be used with actual bands, with real guitars and drums etc. Phew.

2

General Science / Why are peaches and nectarines so similar?

« on: 27/05/2009 21:07:49 »

I was eating a particularly lovely peach this afternoon, but it got me thinking about nectarines. As far as I can tell, the only difference between them is their skin; furry vs smooth. Why is this? Did they diverge on their evolutionary paths? I can't think of circumstances that would favour a furry skin in one location or a smooth skin in another. Perhaps it was a genetic 'mistake' in a geographically isolated population?

Any ideas?

3

Just Chat! / Anti-FOG protection

« on: 12/04/2009 13:38:23 »

It has come to my attention that I need protection from all you FOGs, so I thought I'd arm myself, and this post hereby serves as notification of my defenses.

4

Physiology & Medicine / Is liking marmite and celery genetic?

« on: 28/03/2009 11:54:50 »

Now, if I was asked which food was the most foul-tasting, I would be hard pressed to choose between marmite and celery. Absolutely disgusting, both of them! I can't bear the smell of marmite, and if celery has so much as brushed past any other food, the smell and taste is transferred and I can't touch that either. Makes eating salads in restaurants somewhat problematic.

Having carried out a scientific analysis (i.e. I asked a few friends, and n=very low), I found that most people who hated marmite also hated celery. This leads me to believe that there may be a genetic influence at work here.

My brother, however, loves marmite (and used to chase me round the kitchen with it when we were little) but also hates celery. So maybe there are two genes at work? I have to admit, I didn't include my parents in my little poll, bit of a major limitation of this study methinks.

Anyhoo, I wondered if anyone knows anything about the genetics of taste and could explain this to me, or, failing that, how many of you hate both marmite and celery?!

PS I'm not sure how widespread the marmite phenomenon is, or if it's called something different in other countries, so apologies if any non-brits don't know what I'm talking about!

5

Physiology & Medicine / Is gay marriage less stressful than straight marriage?

« on: 05/03/2009 22:10:12 »

So, in the news today, they report that marriage is stressful for women, but reduces stress in men. Therefore, marriage is good for men, but bad for women.

Does this mean that marriage between two men is less stressful than marriage between two women? Or is it the mixing of the sexes, rather then the gender per se, that causes the stress (on the women)?

6

Just Chat! / What would a scientist want to know about a career in medical writing?

« on: 24/02/2009 21:57:52 »

Hi all,

I've been asked to go back to my old uni and give a talk at the school of biological sciences careers day for PhD students about what I do, and how to get in to it.

Basically, I'm a medical writer - i write pretty much anything a pharma company would like written in order to educate and promote doctors, nurses, sales teams, patients or the general public about their disease area and/or drugs.

Could I please ask you to consider what kind of information you would like to hear, if you were just finishing a PhD and hadn't yet decided what career path you wanted to follow? What questions would you ask?

7

Just Chat! / What's the rudest side-bar ad you've ever come across?

« on: 13/02/2009 22:46:52 »

I know, and we've discussed this at great length elsewhere, that side-bar ads are personalised according to what you type/look at on the internet, but has anyone else experienced some particularly rude or bizarre ones?

The best I've had is 'feeling fat and 32?' in a question to me. Well, yes, I'm certainly feeling 32, but I wasn't aware of doing anything that would have pitched me as an obvious choice for diet pills! In fact, most of my web traffic at this time was directed towards 5km and 10km running sites!

I've also had lots of dating ads appear on my facebook page, despite it proclaiming for the world to see that I'm married.

Would make me feel better to know I'm not the only one being targeted by malevolent cyber-marketing!

8

Physiology & Medicine / What are the causes of musty smelling urine?

« on: 12/01/2009 23:27:13 »

So, obviously I'm asking for a friend ...

A google search reveals to me that musty smelling urine can be cause by liver disease or liver failure, or some metabolic disorders, but this is as much detail as I can find. I ... oops, my friend ... knows the liver is not at fault in this case, because all the liver function tests came back normal, with the exception of bilirubin, which was particularly high - Gilberts syndrome was suggested.

Any thoughts would be wee-lly appreciated  []

9

Guest Book / I'm back!

« on: 27/12/2008 22:37:02 »

Hello there, I finally found my way back to the site after a long gap. It's been a busy couple of years ...

10

Just Chat! / interesting remedies for a cold?

« on: 07/02/2007 18:00:00 »

I'm doing things the traditional way: paracetamol and vitamin C. any more ideas?

11

Cells, Microbes & Viruses / research into the common cold

« on: 07/02/2007 17:43:27 »

I have an ulterior motive - I have a stinking cold and wondered about the state of research into finding a cure? probably none at all, but considering the number of days taken off work due to this little monster, wouldn't it be a good idea to come up with something?

I know the pesky thing keeps mutating, making it difficult to come up with a vaccine, but what about the protein coat?

12

Just Chat! / know anything about UK PAYE?

« on: 01/02/2007 19:48:05 »

I just put my salary in to an online salary calculator, and compared it with my pay-slip, and I seem to be paying too little tax for some reason.

The pay is calculated by a proper PAYE company, they have my P45 (or which-ever one that is) and my NI number, and the tax code appears to be correct on the top of the payslip.

also, the year end totals seem to be a bit odd. I can't work out whats going on! anything to do with changing jobs in november? its several months before the end of the tax year, so I can't see how this would affect things too much anyway.

if there are any tax specialists out there I would be extremely grateful for some advice on this, rather than a hefty tax bill at some point in the future!

13

Just Chat! / Courier companies: are they all useless?

« on: 23/01/2007 19:26:03 »

My husband ordered a new laptop, to replace the one he dropped. It was being sent by UPS. they tried to deliver it during office hours, twice, and guess where we were? of course: in the office.  []

wouldn't it make more sense to deliver parcels to residential addresses at a time when most people are actually at home?  []

we had to travel to the depot (nearly an hours drive away) to collect it, as pre-arranged by phone during the week. we got there and they couldn't find it. initially tried fobbing us off with 'well it could have mistakely been put on another delivery van'. digging harder, we discovered it was there after all, in a security cage, which was locked.  []

The fun part of this story? no-one had the key. we had to wait for over an hour while they phoned the manager and tried to get him to come in off his holiday, and bring the key with him. which he did, and we got the laptop, and wasted around 3 hours.

now, we are waiting for a piece of software to be delivered. we specifically requested 'not UPS' - they even had a tick-box to select this option. Guess who's delivering it? hooray! you guessed. UPS.

Now, we're not at home for the next two weeks, so we phoned to request a re-arranged delivery, as if they can't deliver it within 5 days they return it to the sender. could we do this? not at all. of course, we don't have a UPS tracking number, but the website says this is no problem. we do have the shipment number however. but it is still a problem. they refused to deal with us at all! 'no tracking number? bye!'  [!]

so now basically our only option is to do nothing. we can't talk to UPS, we can't contact the local depot (not they they're shining examples of intellect and reason either), we can't rearrange a delivery, we can't be home to even try and coincide being at home with them arriving. all we can do is wait for it to be returned to the sender, and get them to send it by another company or to another address.

please tell me if you've had any good experiences with a courier? I could go on for pages and pages with all the bad examples - these are just the ones in 2007 - and I'm beginning to despair!  [:-'(]

14

Just Chat! / Big Brother

« on: 19/01/2007 23:32:13 »

Is anyone following that abomination of British Broadcasting that is Big Brother ??

Its insane! jade has been voted off, and they've banned the usual crowd from outside the studio on eviction night because of fears for her safety after her loud-mouthed spouting off towards Shilpa, the Indian bollywood actress.

Its pretty obvious that Jade realised how bad it was after Big Brother gave her a warning, and has been trying to suck-up to everyone since then. its enough to make you cringe!

anyway, its fascinating stuff, like watching a car crash.

15

Just Chat! / competency based interview questions

« on: 13/01/2007 22:38:21 »

anyone have any examples (and pointers on what makes a good or bad answer!) please? I guess its things like 'tell me about a time when you were criticised about your work?'

Thank you for your time. Feedback will not be offered ...

Thanks!

16

Just Chat! / something hilarious!

« on: 21/12/2006 20:37:46 »

This is the funniest thing I've seen in days!  []

please view at your own risk - do not visit this page if you are easily offended  [:I] or have an aversion to Justin Timberlake!

Merry Christmas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmVU08zVpA&eurl

sorry Neil, not very sciencey. I hope it isn't considered worthy of censorship!

17

Guest Book / Greetings!

« on: 20/12/2006 21:24:22 »

Hi all, thought I'd re-acquaint myself with this lovely (shiny and new!) website now I am no longer tearing my hair out with stress! nice to see all the old names still here! I have a new job, shorter commute, and everything else is just going nicely. so thats all right then. more time to fritter away on the internet.

TTFN

18

Cells, Microbes & Viruses / does anyone know anything about mycoplasma?

« on: 09/11/2005 23:01:08 »

I've heard you can carry it on you, like bacteria on your skin, but I don't know what it does, if anything, or if it can make you ill. are they tiny bacteria, or a fungus (myco would suggest this)? do they infiltrate the cells, or just sit on the surface? hope someone can enlighten me.
L

19

General Science / What is a sonic boom and what causes sonic booms?

« on: 09/08/2005 15:30:10 »

can someone explain to me what exactly is a sonic boom? why does breaking the sound barrier result in a loud noise? perhaps I'm being really stupid here, but I've not got the energy to try and work it out for myself!
Thanks in anticipation.

20

Just Chat! / CRUK Race for Life

« on: 16/02/2005 13:11:52 »

Hi,
I have just registered for the Cancer Research UK 'Race for Life'. This is a 5km run to raise money for research into Breast Cancer, and I will be doing the run in Norwich on sunday 8th may.

I've taken part twice before, and would recommend it! Its a women only event, but you can take your men along to cheer. if you don't feel up to running there is the option to walk, and participants range from toddlers to pensioners.

If anyone would like to sponsor me you can email me via the site.