Tag Archives: science

What’s so scandalous about a naked singularity? [Ask A Physicist]

The centers of black holes are among the strangest places in the universe — so strange that current physics can't even describe them. Could these singularities be found out in the open? In this week's "Ask a Physicist" we find out…. Continue reading

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The bizarre mathematical conundrum of Ulam’s Spiral [Maths]

If there’s anything we learn from math teachers and the Da Vinci Code, it’s that prime numbers are magic. They can do anything, and be anywhere. Including a doodle on a math paper.
In the 1960s, a gentleman known as Stanislaw Ulam was making his way th… Continue reading

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Did Futurama get the Banach-Tarski Paradox right? [Maths]

The Banach-Tarski Dupla-Shrinker recently made an appearance on an episode of Futurama. Using it, Bender got to make two, slightly smaller, copies of himself. The smaller Benders are why they added the ‘shrinker’ part of the name. The actual Banach-Tar… Continue reading

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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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Potato chips — the other natural way to get stoned [Food Science]

Scientists have found out why people can put the brakes on eating sugar, but will go through an entire bag of potato chips, followed by a plate of fries. It turns out that fats get us stoned.
As much as extra desserts are blamed for the national wais… Continue reading

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Everything you know about static electricity is wrong [Video]

For generations, we've told children about the amazingly entertaining effects of static electricity. Rubbing two charged objects together causes electrons to flee from one to the other, giving a uniform negative charge to one side, and a uniform p… Continue reading

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The first cancer vaccine that works [Medical Breakthrough]

Cancer vaccines may come sooner than you think. And each vaccine will be tailor-made for a specific kind of cancer. This isn’t just a theory anymore. It’s been done.
A group of medical researchers in the U.K. and the U.S. have successfully cured prost… Continue reading

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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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Black holes may have been fundamental building blocks of the early universe [Cosmology]

Most astronomers agree that at the center of every galaxy lies a supermassive black hole. But how did these gravitational monsters form? Now it seems that they may have been here since the beginning of time.
At least, they’ve been here as long as the… Continue reading

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Mysterious changing neutrinos could explain why we don’t live in an antimatter universe [Physics]

There’s nothing in the laws of physics that actually requires matter to dominate antimatter, and yet all our observations of the universe suggest that that’s the case. But some unexpected behavior by ghostly neutrino particles could solve the antimatte… Continue reading

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Arguing for Atheism

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A review of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion (Bantam Books, 2006, ISBN 0618680004). This review was originally published in Science, January 26, 2007.
There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs…. Continue reading

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Fermi Lab's New Particle Discovery in Question

"Back in April physicists at Fermilab speculated that they may have discovered a new force or particle. But now another team has analyzed data from the collider and come to the exact opposite conclusion. From the article: 'But now, a rival tea… Continue reading

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Fish live in fear of deadly jellyfish poop [Crap Science]

Generally speaking, poop isn’t pleasant, but it also isn’t exactly lethal. But every year jellyfish unleash bowel movements so deadly that they can destroy entire marine ecosystems. A little odor doesn’t seem so bad all of a sudden, does it?
Jellyfish … Continue reading

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Quackwatch

“Your Guide to Quackery, Health Fraud, and Intelligent Decisions” Continue reading

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Massive eruption on the sun yesterday means a solar storm zooming by Earth tomorrow [Video]

This picture was taken by a NASA solar observatory yesterday, and it shows one of the biggest explosions we’ve ever seen on the sun. For perspective, look at the upper left corner. There’s a little circle the size of Earth.
The explosion dwarfs our pl… Continue reading

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Bacteria-laced algae are invading freshwater streams across the globe [Diatom Overlords]

In the small, freshwater streams of South Dakota, a horrible menace is creeping along the rockbeds. Known as rock snot, it’s a form of algae that clings to rocks and spreads rapidly until it takes over the entire ecosystem of the stream, often killing… Continue reading

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How does cling wrap cling? [Materials Science]

Plastic wrap hangs on to everything it touches like grim death. Find out how it manages to glom on to nearly every surface in a kitchen.
There is a debate about what is more the more responsible substance to use: cling wrap or aluminum foil. In this … Continue reading

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The Closer Your Last Name Is To Z, The Faster You Buy

A study finds that the closer your last name is to the end of the alphabet, the faster you make purchasing decisions. And yes, the behavior is ingrained in us based on how we all used to line up in school.

Researchers tested groups… Continue reading

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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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Medical science proves that fearing illness makes your illness worse [Terror]

When in a cardiac emergency, your body turns your own worst fears against you. The more acutely you feel fear, the worse your heart problem gets. It’s like the plot of IT, but without the bad special effects.
One of first books to really scare me was … Continue reading

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