Happy Friday Baseball fans. With the opening day of the 2010 baseball season less than a week away (Opening game is a big one - April 4th, Sox v Yankees, 1am Irish time – be there!), this is as good a time as any to do a baseball book review. But it’s also sceintific!

Moneyball is one of the best selling sports books of all time. It is subtitled “The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” and it chronicles the paradigm shift to a then newly touted science technique called “sabermetrics”, which was brought in to the game in 2002, and began the transition of baseball from the historical way of scouting players to the new technique which involved statistics, statistics and you guessed it more statistics. It was the brain child of the newly installed manager of the (at the time) unsuccessful Oakland Athletics (locally known as the A’s – how do they come up with them), which rethought the basis on which a selector scouted for potential players. Traditionally a value was put on traits such as foot speed, defence and strength but this new system identified success based on stats for results  - such as the ability to get on base.

The story revolves around Billy Beane, a former player who has taken over the A’s, a team with little to no money compared to the powerhouses of LA, Boston and New York. It specifically focuses on the 2002 draft, the process of acquiring new players, and examines how Billy and his team are using these new techniques as opposed to the old school baseball scouting methods. For a game steeped so long in tradition, it was a bold and brave move to employ such an outside the box technique, and it is set against the entertain backdrop of Billy and his team (of statistical misfits), it makes for a fascinating page-turner.

I listened to the audio book recently (after having read the book a couple of years ago), and there are some genuinely laugh out loud moments. You will also find yourself Googling Kevin Youkilis, a fat slow third baseman, who earned himself the title of “the Greek God of Walks.” I especially love the part where Scott Hatteberg, a rookie in his first major league match steps up to bat and ended up geting whats known as easy double (essentially walks to 2^nd base). However, his childhood idol Don Mattingly was the first baseman for the Yankees that day and was not long from retirement. So to the shock of everyone in the stadium, Hatty stops on the first base bag instead, just so he can grab a few moments with the great man. You will find yourself trying to find pictures of “The Creature” a guy drafted without ever being seen, just because he seemed like a bargain. You will try to search for the events of Sept 4th, 2002 in Oakland on Youtube. You will try to find pictures of Chad Bradford scraping his knuckles as he pitches. And all your searches will add a little entertainment to your day!

It’s considered one of the best sports books of all time, and is oft cited by business leaders who are searching for alternatives ways around old problems. Highly recommended and you don’t need to be a baseball nut to appreciate. Far from it, although there is a risk you will become one!

To read more on baseball, check out Ireland’s best sports blog, dedicated to American sports.

Also coming soon to a cinema near you in 2011, Moneyball the movie – link.

-Brian (bhc at lifescience.ie)

Battery life decreases during in the cold.
Some studies suggest 20-40% reduction, although in modern batteries this is only temporary. This is due the the atoms (or ions in the case of batteries) randomly moving at a slower pace. We must thus impart them with more energy to make them move. A representation is trying to get something over a hill. We need to impart force to get them is, and after the crest of the hill they can “travel” the rest themselves. Thus the crest represents a threshold which must be crossed be movement is imparted. The cold weather essentially increases the steepness of the slope on the “hill.”

Salt lowers the melting point of water.
Link. Also, seemingly grit has little to no effort on it’s own, it’s simply used to bulk up the salt being spread and it serves as a physical sidekick to help mash the salt into the ice. This is because the rock salt is practically useless if it’s just sitting on top of the ice.

View from the top of the world’s tallest tower (Burj Dubai) - Youtube link

And to finsih: How long is a piece of string?

-Brian (bhc at lifescience dot ie)

This week we’re in Christmas mood and looking at the Science of the carious aspects of Christmas and Santa Claus. We will attempt to answer the following:
-How can Santa get down the chimney?
-How is Rudolf’s nose red?
-The logistics behind the day itself.
-How can reindeer fly?

Right, plenty of work ahead so let’s get cracking!
-How can Santa get down the chimney?
OK, we know he’s not a small man, so let’s focus on his possible flexibility. Scientifically called hypermobility, this is a function which allows people to move the3ir joints in irregular ways. Factors which Santa must therefore possess are shallow ball & socket joints, supple ligaments, toned muscles (maybe underneath the insulating fat?) and ironically enough, a bad sense of joint movement.
Given his girth, we need to examine whether Santa can squeeze his girth down the chimney itself, given his relative girth. An average chimney size seems to be 14″/16″ diameter. We’ll give him some wiggle room and say 16″. Calculating the circumference (2 x pi x radius) give 50.24 inches. Let’s assume Santa is 6′3″ (he looks like a tall guy) and 300lbs (seems about right…). This would bring his waist size to about 44″s. So technically it IS possible for him to fit down a large chimney!

-How is Rudolf’s nose red?
Simple. Flourescent proteins! Red fluorescent proteins have been isolated from coral organisms, we would therefore have to assume that some sort of freak genetic mutation has morphed the epidermal proteins on Rudolf’s nose.

-The logistics behind the day itself.
As Christmas is only celebrated by a number of religions, and in places like Denmark they celebrate Christmas on the 24th Dec, Santa has more than 24hrs to play with. He has at least 31 hours due to the timezones, if we say he can Denmark and some other countries out of the way on the 24th in the evening, let’s say he has 42 hours in total. Figures:
~390m millions children in total
3.5 kids per household = 93.5m houses (assumes >1 good kid in each)
681 houses / second. Pretty unlikely……

-How can reindeer fly?
Given there are 30,000 undiscovered species in our world, it is possible that flying reindeer do exist. The vacuum force theory is also in existence here.
Speed is an issue, the reindeer would have to move so fast they would burn up almost instantaneously. To combat this Santa uses a protective ion-shield created with a very large magnetic field.

Some good links:
http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html
http://www.chainreactionbicycles.com/santaclaus.htm
http://www.physorg.com/news2487.html

If you have any further questions do let us know - we’ll try our best to discover the truth!

-Brian (bhc at lifescience dot ie)

2 Hydrogen atoms walk into a bar. 1 stops and says:
“Oh no, I’ve lost my electron!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m positive.”

A bacterium walks into a bar, and heads towards the barman.
Barman: “Oi, no bacteria allowed in here.”
Bacterium: “It’s OK, I’m Staph!”

A guy walks up to a barman in London.
“Can I have a pint of adenosine triphosphate?”
Barman: “Sure, that’ll be 80p”

Bear walks into a bar and asks for a beer
Barman says “we don’t serve bears, get out”
Bear gets angry, says gimme a beer!
Barman still refuses
Bear says “if you don’t serve me I’m gonna eat that woman in the corner”
Barman still refuses
So the bear eats the woman and returns to the bar
“now gimme a beer!”
Barman says “we don’t serve drug addicts, get out”
Bear goes what are you talking about
That was the bar b1tch you ate

(hattip to xkcd (pic) and @tomlau)

Interesting to see the LHC is back up and running in Switzerland. There was furore last time it was started, unfortunately it was put out of use for a number of months due to an accident. Having just smashed to particles together for the first time yesterday, there seems to be less opinion around the place. We’ll put it down tot he economy and the public sector strike!

Some juicy tidbits on the LHC official site for those who are looking for more knowledge on the issue:

Official site

Cooldown status of the various sections. This is amazingly, it gives you an idea of how cool they need the magnets to be, and how long it will take them to reach as close as possible to zero degrees Kelvin. This quote from the RTE site tells us when they expect this to be: “Earlier, physicist Steve Myers said it could take until 2011 for beams of protons to hit top velocity in the €6bn experiment, which involves scientists from dozens of countries.”

Another ~18 months for the magnets to cool down between 1.5 - 2 degrees!!!

Timeline of events so far

We’ll be keeping an eye on developing events here on ScienceBlog as they progress

-Brian (bhc at lifescience dot ie)

Interesting article coming from a number of sources who say the Arsenal striker Robin van Persie has flown to Serbia to visit a housewife who claims to have magical healing powers by way of utilising fluid from a placenta to massage.

Sources include the Irish Independent, The Daily Mail and other online sources. Funnily enough, Indo states that the fluid is human of origin, whereas the other sources state its horse placental fluid. You’d have to believe it was the latter and that someone in the Indo is “slightly” mistaken.  RvP’s injury has come from a tackle from Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in a recent Holland v Italy match. As the fluid is only used superfluously, you would think that the actual type of fluid (placental vs. say Fastum massage gel) wouldn’t make much of a difference, as the ankle region doesn’t have the most absorbent of skin, and anything absorbed surely wouldn’t get into the ligamental area in any great concentration. Not much is known of the “witchdoctor” in Belgrade, but two of RvP’s former teammates have made miraculous recoveries, with Danko Lazovic making a recover in one week from a hamstrong injury which was expected in five weeks. Orlando Engelaar had a simialr recovery.

With RvP not expected back until Christmas, it will be itnerested to see if we see him pull on the Arsenal shirt sooner than this. Arsenal fans will certainly be hoping so.

-Brian (brian dot c at lifescience dot ie)

Brian - (brian dot c at lifescience dot ie)

Sites:
Pfizer Newbridge -In their Newbridge facility, where we manufacture a wide range of market-leading solid-dosage pharmaceuticals. With close to 1,400 people, they currently manufacture approximately 10 billion tablets/capsules and package approximately 200 million packs per annum at their state-of-the-art 850,000 sq. ft. facility. The facility has seen significant growth since start-up with annual tablet volumes increasing from 0.5 billion tablets (46 million packs) in 1993 to todays current levels. The number of product variations has grown from 32 to over 1100 in the same period and headcount has risen from approximately 300 in 1993 to presently close to 1400. This facility has become a centre of manufacturing excellence for global and regional supply of existing product portfolios as well as being the manufacturer of choice for new and innovative therapies currently in the R&D pipeline.

Pfizer Biotech, Grange Castle -The worlds largest biopharmaceutical campus which currently employs 1,300 people. The products manufactured here include Enbrel (for rheumatoid arthritis) and Prevenar, which is used to treat pneumonia in children.The company has invested more than $1 billion in this ‘green field’ production facility in Ireland with the construction of a multi-product biopharmaceutical campus.

Fort Dodge, Sligo - an animal health company previously owned by Wyeth. The operation employs around 120 people and manufacturers a range of both modified live (MLV) and inactivated veterinary vaccines. These vaccines are for the protection of the client animal against diseases caused by a specific range of viruses and/or bacteria.

Pfizer Nutritionals, Askeaton, Co. Limerick - Established in 1974, this world class facility is the largest purpose built infant nutritional production facility in the world. The plant produces both powdered formulas and a liquid ready to feed range of products. The plant has an annual production capacity of 50 million kilograms.

Pfizer Ringaskiddy / Little Island / Cork City - Organic Synthesis (originally citric acid manufacture), including the API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) for Viagra are manufactured in this plant.. Cue many Viagra-related jokes! There is also an operations Support office in Cork city.

Pfizer Dun Laoighre - Established in 1970, this site produced 7.2 million vials in 2000. Since then it has steadily expanded to introduce new sterile products and a new 10,000 sq ft sterile manufacturing facility.

Sales & Marketing Offices. Both Wyeth and Pfizer had Sales, Marketing and Clinical Affairs offices in Dublin (Ballycoolin and CityWest) respectively. In addition, Pfizer have their European Financial and Shared Services (EFSS) centre base in Grand Canal, Dublin.

Into the future it will be very interesting to see how the company forges its future in Ireland.

The company was formed in 1992 and attained its first full year of profit in 1997. Trinity Biotech has expanded through a combination of internal and acquisition-led growth.

Through a combination of in-house R & D and acquisitions, the company has assembled an impressive product portfolio and achieved an excellence in developing, manufacturing and marketing quality products that meet market demands. Its product range utilises immunoassay techniques, which have been employed to develop tests in five main formats. One-step rapid tests which utilise the company’s proprietary Uni-Gold™ Technology, multiple tests on Microtitre plates, Western Blot, immunofluorescence and coagulation

In Bray you can find  Trinity Biotech’s central manufacturing site.  342 staff specialise in the production of the Point of Care, RIA, Haemostasis Reagents, Clinical Chemistry and Immunofluorescence ranges.