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Category Archives: science/nature
Book: Programming the Universe
Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos Seth Lloyd This book from Seth Lloyd, a Professor of Quantum-Mechanical Engineering at MIT, aims to promote a quantum computational model of the universe. He argues that using information … Continue reading
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Book: I Am a Strange Loop
I Am a Strange Loop Douglas Hofstadter This latest book from cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter, while not quite as much fun as his mind-bending classic, Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, in some ways goes further and is more … Continue reading
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Mind-Control Microbe
Can a cat parasite infect humans as well? An article on Discover suggests that Toxoplasma gondii is altering the behaviour of its human hosts, and can even cause a shift in the sex ratio of their babies in favour of … Continue reading
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Paradoxical Undressing
This article explains why some hypothermia victims undress themselves even as they freeze to death. Shunting blood to your core and away from your extremities is accomplished through vasoconstriction of your peripheral circulation. This allows the outer portions of your … Continue reading
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Action video games improve eyesight
Not really surprising, but playing action games can help improve your visual processing abilities. In an article to be published in Psychological Science, they have shown that people who played action video games for a few hours a day over … Continue reading
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Jeep® Waterfall
This computer-controlled waterfall is simply stunning. Link (via Digg)
Posted in art, design, science/nature, technology
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AquaDom
Check out this huge aquarium in the lobby of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Berlin. Combined with a vast amount of sandblasted glass, the giant AquaDom gives a transparent-like feeling to the lobby. Guests and visitors are able to travel … Continue reading
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Diamond Star
Astronomers have discovered a star that is composed of diamond. The huge cosmic diamond – technically known as BPM 37093 – is actually a crystallised white dwarf. A white dwarf is the hot core of a star, left over after … Continue reading
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Christmas Chaos
This is a creative way to create fractal images using Christmas ornaments. It’s a little easier to see the images of the camera lens in this photo. Look at the three Cantor sets formed by the number of reflections of … Continue reading
Posted in math, photography, science/nature
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The Agony of Atomic Genius
This is an interesting biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the head physicist on the Manhattan Project. Note that this is quite a long article. The career of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who headed the Manhattan Project, draws such questions … Continue reading
Posted in history, science/nature
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Outer Space Exposure
A Damn Interesting article on what would really happen to a human body exposed to hard vacuum. As is true with many subjects, this representation in popular culture does not reflect the reality of exposure to outer space. Ever since … Continue reading
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Traffic Waves
This is a fascinating article on traffic patterns and how the habits of a single driver can help cure traffic jams. The article spans several pages, but it is well worth the read. I live in Seattle and my two … Continue reading
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Make: The open source gift guide
Make Magazine has posted a great list of open source hardware and software for Makers. There are hundreds of gift guides this holiday season filled with junk you can buy – but a lot of time you actually don’t own … Continue reading
Posted in diy, electronics, science/nature, technology
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Wind-powered robots
This BMW commercial features some pretty amazing wind-powered kinetic sculptures. Link (via Digg)
Posted in art, robotics, science/nature
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Find out if you’re tone deaf
Take this online test to see how well you can distinguish musical pitches and tones. While working at the music and neuroimaging lab at Beth Israel/Harvard Medical School in Boston, I developed a quick online way to screen for the … Continue reading
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Teen Goes Nuclear
A 17-year-old amateur scientist has built his own Fusor. In the basement of his parents’ Oakland Township home, tucked away in an area most aren’t privy to see, Thiago is exhausting his love of physics on a project that has … Continue reading
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V-Formation Flight of Birds
A physical explanation of the benefits of flying in formation. The majority of the benefit goes to the birds further aft, but the front bird does still gain some reduction in drag. The presence of the two birds flanking the … Continue reading
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The Rise and Fall of William J. Sidis
A Damn Interesting article on the life a child prodigy. He sidestepped imprisonment thanks to his parents’ influence, but they confined him to their summer home in California for a year after the event. Embittered, William moved back to the … Continue reading
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Who Wants to Be a Cognitive Neuroscientist Millionaire?
Seed magazine has a great first-hand account of a cognitive neuroscientist who used the very techniques he studies to make his way up to the million-dollar question on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? Boston University’s doctoral program in cognitive … Continue reading
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Popular Science’s Best of What’s New 2006
Another list of tech innovations of the past year. The world is better in 100 different ways this year. On these pages you’ll find a collection of the year’s most stunning innovations. The future is now–and it looks good. Link … Continue reading
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