Psychogeeks » Science

Self Service Science Search

Chris — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 05:29:23 +0000

For quite a few years I have been contributing to the ABC Science forums, particularly the ABC Self Service Science forum. Over the years the forums have accumulated quite a few answers to questions on topics from quantum physics to belly-button fluff, but finding them can be a problem without an internal search facility. A limited Google search is often the best bet but leaving the forum to go to Google is annoying. This post describes one option to help the situation.

As a Firefox user I have the Greasemonkey add-on at my disposal. Greasemonkey can selectively modify web pages on-the-fly to do almost anything to the content like:

Remove or hide parts of the page
Add bits to the pages
Insert code to periodically reload a page that normally wouldn’t.
Convert URLs embedded as plain text to real hyperlinks (another good one for the forum)
It can even incorporate parts of other pages or sites

What I ended up with is a Greasemonkey script that inserts a site-targeted Google search box into the forum’s tool bar. The result is shown below:

The inserted search box should fit comfortably on any screen of 1024 or more horizontal pixels. Search results are targeted to the ABC science forums and end up in the forum’s main frame to avoid taking the user away from the forum. As a bonus the search box also appears on the TechTalk tool bar.

If you are interested in trying it out then:

Ensure the latest version of Greasemonkey is installed.
Click this link to install my script.
Tell me how much you like it

Podcasts for Science Geeks

Chris — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:54:06 +0000

Swinburne University, my alma mater, has recently started publishing podcasts covering research programs at the university. It is often very difficult to keep abreast of research goings-on without keeping a constant reading program of appropriate journals. Even a lot of the journal articles I do read are too terse for an outsider to easily penetrate. I see these podcasts as a good way for scientists and other researcher to communicate passion for their studies. Topics include.

The Wigglez of the Universe from the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing
Towards Absolute Zero on an Atom Chip from the Centre for Atom Optics and Ultrafast Spectroscopy (CAOUS)

Go here for viewing pleasure.

On a slightly different tack is the creatively off-beat Make Magazine. Make publishes a traditional dead-tree magazine that rarely makes an appearance on Australian shelves (although I think McGills carry it) and a regular podcast program. Ever wanted to make your own Rubik’s cube out of dice, Jam Jar Jet! (PDFCast), or Teeny Tiny Solar Robots.

Enjoy.

Science Projects in a Small World

Chris — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 08:06:49 +0000

I recently blogged about a great source of used books: Better World Books. I used them again to purchase a copy of Design Patterns and was presented with another excellent book replete with a bookmark. That’s not really the topic of this entry… but I am getting there I’m writing about serendipity in the small world in which we live.

The bookmark took the the form of Simon Quellan Field’s business card (of Kinetic MicroScience) and pointed me to a site full of science experiments you can do with your kids. Simon also maintains a blog. I love little experiments, actually anything that enthuses kids about science, and this site serves it up in spades. There are experiments with magnetism, motors, DIY radio receivers, optics, biology among others. Older kids will no doubt get a buzz out of the film canister cannon (below). The construction of a spectroscope using a CD as the diffraction grating is near to my heart as an astronomer. Spectroscopy is a major part of astronomy because it allows determination of the temperature, composition, and physical size (to some degree) of stars at immense distances.

That a business card left by a science enthusiast in a book in California should make its way via a second hand book dealer to another science enthusiast in Australia drives home how connected the world is these days.