Beautiful character design meets the primate family
By Justin Pervorse, via Drawn.ca
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Category: *
February 28, 2013
Dear Algebra: Please stop asking us to find your ex… #funny
Source unknown, via IFLS
February 27, 2013
In which it is calculated that a spider’s web is actually strong enough to stop a train.
This, from the Journal of Physics Special Topics.
ABSTRACT:
In Spiderman 2 there is a scene in which Spiderman stops a runaway train using his webbing to provide a counter-force. Using the information available this paper examines the material properties of the webbing under these conditions and finds the Young’s modulus to be 3.12GPa, a reasonable value for spider silk.
INTRODUCTION:
In the early sixties Marvel Comics first introduced Spiderman; a superhero with the abilities and scaled strength of a spider. In a recent movie incarnation, Spiderman has the ability to sling webs from spinnerets located in his wrists. These webs have been shown to be capable of taking great amounts of strain, and have displayed a high level of adhesiveness. Arguably the greatest test of these webs is found in the 2004 movie, Spiderman 2; wherein Spiderman manages to bring a runaway train to a stop by sticking multiple webs to adjacent buildings, and bracing himself on the front of the train until it comes to a rest just before dropping into a river [1]. In this paper we attempt to model the forces upon the webbing in such a situation, and compare it to measured values of the Youngs modulus and yield strengths of real spider’s web.
Download the paper here.
February 26, 2013
Funny graphic that could be used in a lesson on how species and animals are named
More on Erinaceus europaeus here.
From wikipedia:
“When a creature is discovered, it is first necessary to determine whether it is a new species, a new subspecies or merely a variant of an already described and known species. As there is no single, unambiguous definition of “species” this determination can be time-consuming and subject to discussion and disagreement.
By tradition, the right to name a new species is given to the discoverer, or more precisely the scientific describer of the species (who is not necessarily the person who discovered the species in nature). There are, however, many regulations to be followed when naming a species, all of them fixed by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) when animals are concerned, or the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) for plants.
In general, the nomenclature of creatures follows a system established 1758 by Carl von Linné and each scientific species name is a composite of two parts, namely the genus name and the species name. For example, the scientific name of the European Common Frog is Rana temporaria, where Rana is the genus name and temporaria is the species name.
As the genus name should reflect relationships among different species within the same genus, the first attempt after each discovery is to allocate the creature to a respective genus (and the systematic categories of higher hierarchical levels). Thus in most cases, with exception of the discovery of new genera, the genus name is fixed already, whereas the species name may be freely chosen by the scientic describer of the species within the frame of the ICZN or ICBN regulations.”
Via IFLS
February 26, 2013
This is what a 30ft high “plastic” bag made out of plastic bags looks like. #whoa
“His current exhibit at Rome’s contemporary art museum MACRO titled Secret Garden includes a nearly 10-meter high, U-shaped installation made of plastic bags and appropriately titled Plastic Bags. The bags are very relevant symbols of both consumerism and homelessness in today’s society.”
By Pascale Marthine Tayou, text via Collabcubed.com
February 24, 2013
Regarding the unicorn: Not quite natural selection #funny
For sale at Sapling Press, quote from Dear Blank Please Blank.
February 18, 2013
Preliminary Data from the Unicorn Genome: First Possible Indication in History of Mammalian Evolution of Hybridization Across Orders.
From the Science Creative Quarterly. Could this signal the return of the SCQ?
Hope so… (send in some submissions if you hope so too)
Full paper available here (pdf)
Journal of Fantastic Phylogenetics 2012 8(9): 42-49
Abstract: In this study we present the preliminary finding of what could be the first record in history of hybridization between mammalian Orders (Perissodactyla and Cetacea). Phylogenetic analyses from the unicorn (Equus unicornus) mitochondrial genes (protein-coding Cytochrome b, Cytb) show a matriline belonging to the Narwhal (Monodon monceros) while nuclear (V-kit Hardy-Zuckerman 4 feline sarcoma viral oncogene homolog, Kit) clearly show a sister relationship of the unicorn-pegasus (Equus alatus) clade with the rest of the Perissodactyl family Equidae. Our preliminary study strongly suggests the need for further investigation because this finding could completely revolutionise our understanding of the processes of hybridization in mammals.
From the Introduction:
Hybridization is widely known from the plant kingdom (Rieseberg & Carney 1998) and horizontal gene transfer has been repeatedly reported in prokaryotes (Jain et al. 1999). However, these forms of genetic exchange have never been prevalent (or even recorded in the case of horizontal gene transfer) in the Mammalia and never been recorded at such an evolutionary distance between organisms (Equidae and Cetacea).
Here are presented the incongruent results from two phylogenies built with mitochondrial and nuclear genes of E. unicornus showing relatedness to two different orders of the Mammalia.
This awesome fake paper by Anna Bazzicalupo, via the Science Creative Quarterly
February 18, 2013
Poster series on unusual wildlife activity in NYC #beautiful
Hal’s story | @birdonthetown’s story | Sludgie’s story
By Thomas Wilder from MGMT. pdf available here. Via Notcot.org
February 15, 2013
Multiple choice question: Which PhD is not like the others?
Via IFLS (no source provided – please let me know if you know where this came from)
popperfont.net 