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Tag Archives: mad science
How big of a dose of radiation do you get when reading Playboy? [Mad Science]
Glossy magazines often contain a substance that has elevated levels of uranium and thorium. This means that reading one for various lengths of time slightly heightens your level of radiation exposure. Find out how much magazines like Playboy are poiso… Continue reading
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Tagged mad science, Magazines, Physics, Radiation, science, syndicated, Thorium, Top, Uranium
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The Higgs boson might explain the origins of the universe and dark energy [Mad Science]
We still haven’t found the Higgs boson, the hypothetical particle that explains why other particles possess mass. But that might not be the only cosmic mystery the Higgs can solve. It could also explain how the universe got its shape.
That’s the theor… Continue reading
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Tagged cosmology, dark energy, Dilaton, Expansion, Higgs boson, Inflation, mad science, Physics, science, syndicated, Top, Universe
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The universe probably isn’t a giant hologram after all [Mad Science]
One of the strangest and most exotic theories to come out of theoretical physics is that the entire universe is a projection of a two-dimensional shell. But the latest evidence suggests the cosmic hologram really is just a crazy theory.
While the notio… Continue reading
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Tagged astrophysics, gamma-ray burst, Hologram, Holographic principle, Holographic universe, mad science, Particle physics, photon, Quantum Mechanics, science, String theory, syndicated, theoretical physics, Universe
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Can you pee in a pool without getting found out? [Mad Science]
It is my sad duty to tell you that you can. You can now change your name to I.P. Freely. Fear should not keep you from peeing in a pool – just shame.
Most of us have heard, at some point during our childhood, that before we go in the pool there was … Continue reading
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Tagged Chemistry, mad science, Pool, science, Summer, syndicated, Top, Water
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Quantum entanglement helps computers defy the laws of thermodynamics [Mad Science]
The longer you use a computer, the hotter it will get. That seems like just an everyday fact of life, but it might actually be its own law of physics. And, like all phyiscal laws, quantum mechanics apparently violates it.
The original idea was first pr… Continue reading
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Tagged Entanglement, entropy, mad science, Physics, Quantum entanglement, Quantum Mechanics, science, Second law of thermodynamics, syndicated, theoretical physics, Thermodynamics
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Mirrors can actually create light through the magic of quantum weirdness [Mad Science]
If you take two flat mirrors and place them very close together, the virtual particles that pop into existence between the mirrors will actually force them together. But that’s nothing compared to when mirrors approach the speed of light.
We’ve talked … Continue reading
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Tagged Casimir effect, mad science, Particle physics, Physics, Quantum Mechanics, science, syndicated, theoretical physics, Top, Virtual particles
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The science behind a snake’s poison bite, and why it’s related to ketchup [Mad Science]
We assume that snakes kill with venom shot through their fangs, injection style. In fact, most snakes leak poison very slowly. Oddly this technique works quite well, and you can figure out why by considering the physics of ketchup in a bottle.
When a… Continue reading
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Tagged biology, mad science, Physics, Poison, science, Snakes, Surface tension, syndicated, Top
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Scientist learns the secret of royal jelly by creating mutant super flies [Mad Science]
Queen bees are much larger than worker bees, and live years longer, for one reason. They gorge on a sugary protein called “royal jelly.” Now a scientist has made ultra-large flies using royal jelly too. Are humans next?
Sadly, it doesn’t look like tom… Continue reading
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Tagged bees, bioengineering, biology, fruitflies, Genomics, Insects, Longevity, mad science, Royal jelly, Scientific breakthrough, syndicated, Top
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Did the early universe have only one dimension? [Mad Science]
Some scientists believe that, as the universe gets older and larger, it adds more dimensions. Cute theory. But how does this help solve pressing questions of of physics? And how can it be tested?
One of the crazier theories of physics is the idea of … Continue reading
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Tagged Astronomy, Big Bang, mad science, Physics, syndicated, This is awesome, Top
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How copper kills flesh-eating bacteria [Mad Science]
Recently scientists staged a demonstration in which flesh-eating bacteria died off in droves when placed on a copper surface. Find out why copper engages in bactericide.
Hospitals are necessary and efficient institutions meant to gather and train a va… Continue reading
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Tagged biology, Chemistry, Elements, flesh-eating bacteria, mad science, medicine, syndicated, Top
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To defeat ticks, we must first defeat the lizards [Mad Science]
The Western fence lizard was once believed to be our best defense against lyme disease. That’s because ticks carry lyme disease, but lizards carry a lot of ticks. In fact, ticks are so enamored of lizard blood that they basically act as a buffer zone … Continue reading
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Tagged biology, Environment, Fb, Lyme disease, mad science, medicine, syndicated, tweet
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Scientists discover weird material that expands when poked [Materials Science]
Using a new method of observing microscopic changes in a material’s behavior, scientists have spotted very cool properties in a water-methanol compound called methanol monohydrate. These crystals get smaller when warmed, but when you apply pressure to… Continue reading
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Tagged mad science, materials, materials science, Methanol monohydrate, science, syndicated
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Awesome discovery of the week: Glass melts when it gets too cold [Quantum Mechanics]
Anyone who’s seen enough old Sesame Street episodes or been to enough Renaissance Fairs knows that when glass gets hot enough, it turns to liquid. Applied heat pumps energy into the solid pieces of glass, getting their molecules jiggling. As the heat d… Continue reading
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Tagged Fb, Glass, mad science, materials science, Quantum Mechanics, syndicated, terminator, tweet
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Particles can be quantum entangled through time as well as space [Mad Science]
Quantum entanglement says that two particles can become intertwined so that they always share the same properties, even if they’re separated in space. Now it seems particles can be entangled in time, too. Who’s ready for some serious quantum weirdness?… Continue reading
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Tagged Entanglement, mad science, Particle physics, Physics, Quantum entanglement, Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Physics, science, space, syndicated, theoretical physics, Time
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Living Earth Simulator aims to predict everything that’s happening on our planet [Mad Science]
The Living Earth Simulator is quite possibly the most ambitious computer project ever undertaken. This all-encompassing simulation will collect all the data in the entire world, to predict everything from the next major disease outbreak to the next fin… Continue reading
Posted in computers, syndicated
Tagged Computer Science, Data, data analysis, Information science, Living Earth Simulator, mad science, science, syndicated
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Loop quantum gravity could unite physics and take us back to the Big Bang [Mad Science]
General relativity and quantum mechanics are the twin foundations of modern physics, but there’s a problem: they’re mutually exclusive, at least according to our current understanding. A new model using loop quantum gravity might have the beginnings of… Continue reading
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Tagged Big Bang, Fb, General relativity, Loop quantum gravity, mad science, Physics, Quantum Mechanics, relativity, science, Speculative science, syndicated, theoretical physics
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String theory fails first major experimental test [Mad Science]
String theory is one of the more popular candidates to combine quantum mechanics and relativity into a grand unified theory. But it had remained completely untestable until recent experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. The early results don’t look g… Continue reading
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Tagged CERN, Fb, Grand unified theory, large hadron collider, mad science, Physics, science, String theory, syndicated, Theory of everything
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Train yourself to see impossible colors [Mad Science]
Hiding in the shadows between the colors we see everyday are weird, impossible shades, colors that you shouldn’t be able to see and generally don’t…unless you know how. Here’s a simple guide to seeing impossible and imaginary colors.Understanding a l… Continue reading
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Tagged Brains, Eye, Imaginary color, Impossible color, mad science, science, sight, syndicated, Top, Vision
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The strange behavior of positronium could unlock the secrets of the universe [Mad Science]
Positronium is a particle created when you bind together an electron and its antimatter counterpart, the positron. It doesn’t interact with other atoms in the way we would expect, and this discovery could help us solve the universe’s biggest mysteries…. Continue reading
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Tagged Antimatter, Bose einstein condensate, electron, Fb, mad science, Physics, positron, Positronium, science, syndicated, tweet
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The explosive that became a heart medicine [Mad Science]
Nitroglycerin destroys lives by exploding, and saves them by stopping heart problems. How can it do both?
Most moviegoers have watched a scene or two where nitroglycerin has been used to blow the doors off of a bank vault. They’ve also seen scenes when… Continue reading
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Tagged Chemistry, Explosions, explosives, Fb, mad science, medicine, Physics, syndicated, tweet
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