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Royal Society opens archive, kills productivity
60,000 peer-reviewed papers, including the first peer-reviewed scientific research journal in the world, are now available free online. The Royal Society has opened its historical archives to the public. Among the cool stuff you’ll find here: Issac New… Continue reading
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Tagged Event, Jaw-droppingly awesome, journal, open access, research, science, Short, syndicated
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Royal Society opens archive, kills productivity
60,000 peer-reviewed papers, including the first peer-reviewed scientific research journal in the world, are now available free online. The Royal Society has opened its historical archives to the public. Among the cool stuff you’ll find here: Issac New… Continue reading
Posted in history, syndicated
Tagged Event, Jaw-droppingly awesome, journal, open access, research, science, Short, syndicated
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HOWTO bake an apple pie with no apples
Stephany Aulenback tried out a recipe for “Chemical Apple Pie,” a beloved science experiment that uses cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate) to trick the human tongue into tasting apples, though no apples are, in fact, used in the pie. The pie taste… Continue reading
Work begins on Babbage’s Analytical Engine
Work has gotten underway on Plan 28, a project to create Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, the never-built successor to the Difference Engine. The Analytical Engine was to have been a general purpose computer, and Ada Lovelace designed the first-eve… Continue reading
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Tagged Gadgets, Happy Mutants, maker, Post, syndicated, UK
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The questionable birth of Times New Roman
Here’s some interesting history for font-heads*.
Times New Roman has, as we know, become the default type for everything from school term papers to magazines. It’s usually attributed to Stanley Morison, who “oversaw” the design for The Times of London… Continue reading
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Tagged dorkery, fonts, journalism, Post, syndicated
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Happy Birthday, Alan Turing
Today is Alan Turing’s birthday. Happy birthday, old bean! Thanks for all the crypto and the foundations of modern computing and the seminal AI work. Sorry about the bigots who murdered you.
(Thanks, dr.hypercube!)
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Tagged crypto, happymutants, lgbt, submitterator, syndicated, UK
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The mystery behind history’s most important isotope is solved at last [Physics]
Most radioactive isotopes of the lighter elements decay in minutes or less. But one particular isotope of carbon takes 6000 years to decay, and that fact has revolutionized archaeology. But why it does that has long been a complete mystery.
This isn’t … Continue reading
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Tagged Archaeology, Carbon, Carbon 14, Chemistry, Dating, decay, Fb, Isotope, Physics, Radioactive isotope, science, syndicated
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2011 Nonfiction Pulitzer: A Biography of Cancer
Yesterday, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced and, as always, we were most fascinated by the highly contested nonfiction category, which is as much a measure of good writing as it is a reflection of the era’s cultural concerns. This year?… Continue reading
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Tagged PICKED, science, syndicated
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James Gleick’s tour-de-force: The Information, a natural history of information theory
I’ve just finished reading The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood, James Gleick’s tour-de-force history of information theory. I read Freeman Dyson’s early review of The Information with interest earlier in the month, and fell upon the book and… Continue reading
Posted in culture, history, math, syndicated
Tagged book, featured, informationtheory, lexicography, medialiteracy, Physics, Reviews, syndicated, webtheory, wikipedia
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First-person account from surgeon who removed his own appendix
From The Atlantic’s archives, a harrowing 1961 account of a Soviet surgeon on a primitive Antarctic base who had to remove his own appendix, stopping frequently as he battled vertigo and blood loss:
I worked without gloves. It was hard to see. T… Continue reading
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Tagged antarctica, gross, science, soviet, syndicated
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How an iron rod to the skull changed neuroscience forever [Neuroscience]
On September 13, 1848, an accidental explosion drove a meter-long iron rod through the skull of Vermont railway worker Phineas Gage. Incredibly, Gage survived, but the lingering side-effects provided science its first clues about how the brain affects … Continue reading
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Tagged Brain, brain injury, Epilepsy, Frontal lobe, History of science, Injury, Neuroscience, Phineas Gage, science, syndicated
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New discovery explains why a mundane book of poetry stayed in print for a century [Secret History]
Do you want to read The Works of the Earls of Rochester and Roscommon, a volume of eighteenth century poetry? No? Well, other people did. They read it so repeatedly, and recommended it to their friends so assiduously, that it was reprinted over twenty… Continue reading
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Tagged discoveries, Fb, Marketing, Poetry, secret history, Secrets, syndicated, tweet
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The forgotten genius who discovered black holes over 200 years ago [Secret History]
Centuries before black holes became accepted science, a fat little man in 1780s Yorkshire imagined stars so massive that even light could not escape. He predicted black holes. This is the incredible story of John Michell and his “dark stars.”The Fat Li… Continue reading
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Tagged Astronomy, Black Hole, black holes, dark star, Dark stars, History of science, John michell, science, secret history, space, syndicated, Top
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A Blog About History – History News
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Journal of a 6 year old’s 3-year whaling ship voyage in 1868
In October, 1868, 6-year-old Laura Jernegan and her family set sail on a three-year whaling voyage. Laura kept a journal of the voyage, which has now been scanned and posted. It’s sweet and sad and lovely.
Laura Jernegan: Girl on a Whaleship
(via I… Continue reading
history of science books (book reviews)
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Tagged bookmark, reading, Reviews, science, syndicated
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history of science books (book reviews)
(via Delicious/tsangal)
Posted in books, history, syndicated
Tagged bookmark, reading, Reviews, science, syndicated
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