Incredibly Small Origami
(more here)
.
August 15, 2011
Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum
For fun tonight, see if you can casually use the phrase I’ve highlighted in bold at your dinner tonight.
(via physorg.com) “One of the biggest unsolved problems in astrophysics is that galaxies and galaxy clusters rotate faster than expected, given the amount of existing baryonic (normal) matter. The fast orbits require a larger central mass than the nearby stars, dust, and other baryonic objects can provide, leading scientists to propose that every galaxy resides in a halo of (as yet undetectable) dark matter made of non-baryonic particles. As one of many scientists who have become somewhat skeptical of dark matter, CERN physicist Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic has proposed that the illusion of dark matter may be caused by the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum.”
Interestingly, some have argued that the public take on this news article (re: not necessary that of the physicist) is taking on a fervor similar to other denialist actvities in the history. See this great commentary by Rob Knop.
August 13, 2011
Wonder Woman versus Wonder Twin Zan. Super Friends Science Episode.
When it becomes clear that a mission is botched because Wonder Woman is clearly visible in her invisible jet, unhappy murmurs begin to surface within the Super Friends’ organization. In particular, Zan, of the Wonder Twins, is merciless in his teasing of Wonder Woman. It also doesn’t help that Wonder Woman, herself, is generally not impressed with his otherwise useless superpower (“Form of a bucket of water? What in Amazon is that about?”)
In any event, Batman decides to put his scientific mind to work by fixing the jet and soon discovers a small error in the optics of one of the twenty cameras that are responsible for the illusion. Unfortunately, this only seems to encourage Zan further, who torments Wonder Woman on the seemingly mundane manner that invisibility is conferred. (“It’s literally all done with cameras! What a loser plane!”)
In the end, fed up with Zan’s abuse, Wonder Woman soundly beats the crap out of him.
– – –
(Originally published at YPR)
August 13, 2011
New Yorker essay on Michele Bachmann. Possibly the scariest person in politics these days.
“Bachmann said in 2004 that being gay is “personal enslavement,” and that, if same-sex marriage were legalized, “little children will be forced to learn that homosexuality is normal and natural and that perhaps they should try it.” Speaking about gay-rights activists, that same year, she said, “It is our children that is the prize for this community.” She believes that evolution is a theory that has “never been proven,” and that intelligent design should be taught in schools
Comprehensive long form essay at the New Yorker on Bachmann (one of the potential Republican candidates). Great for shaking your head to and general concern.
August 12, 2011
Children Prioritize Virtual Exotic Biodiversity over Local Biodiversity
“Our results suggest that the knowledge of children and their consideration to protect animal are mainly limited to internet contents, represented by a few exotic and charismatic species.”
This recently published PLoS article is pretty interesting, especially in the context of our Phylo project. It’s certainly something we note in terms of being able to find or get artwork for certain animals (i.e. it’s so easy to find art for iconic species: not so much for the other 19 million or so).
August 12, 2011
Legal money with the Queen on one side and Chewbacca on the other.
Seriously: a limited run of 40 different Star Wars coins from the New Zealand Mint. I think I’m going to have to get the Chewbacca coin at the very least. You know, that way instead of saying “heads or tails”, we can play “heads or wookie.”
August 12, 2011
Fox commentators apparently exempt from the 1st Law of Thermodynamics.
Here’s a choice quote from a “weather expert” on Fox TV.
“[Saying that CO2 could affect the climate] contradicts what we call the first law of thermodynamics: energy can never be created nor destroyed,” Bastardi said. “So, to look for an input of energy into the atmosphere you have to come from a foreign source.”
This is so wrong it is both funny and frightening, and Davide Castelvecchi over Scientific America does a great job outlining why.
August 11, 2011
Gulp. The world’s largest stop-motion animation set, shot on a Nokia N8
Note that the “making of” video is also a sight to see.
August 11, 2011
Where are all the awesome “Scientific Method” slides?
I said it before – the scientific method is awesome: but where are the cool visuals for it? You do a Google image search for the term “scientific method” and you’re awash with pretty basic and frankly uncool flowcharts. There’s even a weird acrostic involving slow rabbits, which is kind of funny, but hardly something that exudes awesomeness.
The one below is the one that I’ve made for my lectures, but unfortunately, my artistic talent is pretty much limited to “using a pretty font.”
(Large slide img link here)
Here’s another I use for making hypotheses, with the scenario being a decline in birth rate and a decline in stork population occurring at the same time. Still, this is just using my other artistic talent which equates to “use the other pretty font you like.”
(Large slide img link here)
Would be wonderful though, if there are some out there that use cool illustrations or just nail it in the visual information department. If you know of any do pass them on in the comments.
(Originally posted at Boingboing.net)
August 10, 2011
I think this is a close approximation to how I view the world wide internets.
From the ever wonderful Cat and Girl.
popperfont.net 
