3

9/5/2014 7:17:55 AM

I realize that I don't have a great conception of large numbers/values. Videos like this help me to understand the sheer magnitude of speed and force involved.

9/10/2014 8:23:03 AM

http://wunc.org/post/nc-state-student-uncovered-neck-bone-biggest-dinosaur-ever

9/12/2014 4:06:22 PM

^NC State! NC State! NC State!


http://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2014/09/16/boeing-and-spacex-selected-to-build-americas-new-crew-space-transportation-system/

Spaaaaaace!

9/16/2014 10:29:13 PM

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/06/recovering-falcon-9-ocean-landing-video-done/

these people are my hero

9/17/2014 12:24:01 AM

http://www.iflscience.com/environment/explosive-rock-exfoliation-caught-film

9/17/2014 8:25:06 PM

"What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind." H. J. Simpson

9/22/2014 10:08:32 AM

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2014/09/19/349645420/-murdersquishing-them-to-death-how-little-bees-take-on-enormous-hornets



[Edited on September 29, 2014 at 10:53 AM. Reason : .]

9/29/2014 10:50:42 AM

http://io9.com/the-hidden-patterns-created-by-animals-in-flight-1641348158

10/2/2014 1:01:38 PM

New favorite YouTube channel!



Mayim Bialik, neuroscientist and actress

10/2/2014 2:40:33 PM

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141015-mars-simulation-mission-space-psychology/

Quote :

"On Wednesday, three men and three women will step inside a thousand-square-foot dome on the north side of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. For the next eight months, they will be cut off from the outside world. The team will simulate life at a space station on Mars as part of a project called HI-SEAS"

Quote :

"Everyone is allotted eight liters of water a day. That eight liters per day is everything you can drink, everything for cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and showering. That works out to be eight minutes of shower time a week. We have composting toilets, which reduces our water use."

You folks have any thoughts on the feasibility of a brief stay on Mars as opposed to colonization?

10/16/2014 11:17:36 AM

well realistically a trip to mars would require a stay on the surface around that long because of the way the planets line up to make the return trip feasible.

10/16/2014 11:25:26 AM

what happens if the volcano explodes? do they still have to stay, you know, for science?

[Edited on October 16, 2014 at 11:46 AM. Reason : yes, i know how hawaiian volcanoes work.]

10/16/2014 11:46:11 AM

Small fusion reactor up inside of a year?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lockheed-claims-breakthrough-on-fusion-energy1/

10/16/2014 11:49:44 AM

why would i want a fusion reactor on the back of my truck?

10/16/2014 11:53:17 AM

All of these:

http://phys.org/partners/north-carolina-state-university/

10/16/2014 12:27:19 PM

Tractor Beam - Resistance is futile.

http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/physicists-create-reversible-laser-tractor-beam/?utm_content=buffer608ea&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

from the comments:

Quote :

"Who cares about that? When are we going to be able to visit green and triple-breasted women?"

Quote :

"I hope its invisible so women think they came towards me of their own free will. "

Quote :

"can I get one that will move beer from my fridge to me on the couch"

10/23/2014 8:50:50 AM

Fuck yeah.

Every time I read up on advancements like this, I think of this comic.



Which is to say, lots of folks wonder where all of our crazy sci-fi stuff is now, but that stuff is only amazing because it's unrealized fiction. In genre -- and in reality -- many of our advancements seem mundane when we encounter them daily. Though I still think it's cool that many of our sci-fi staples are becoming reality.

[Edited on October 23, 2014 at 12:58 PM. Reason : .]

10/23/2014 12:56:10 PM

Randall Monroe's been updating xkcd with regular images detailing the Rosetta status.

http://xkcd1446.org/

11/12/2014 12:29:27 PM

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/12/15/369931598/a-copper-bedrail-could-cut-back-on-infections-for-hospital-patients

Quote :

"The World Health Organization estimates that "each year, hundreds of millions of patients around the world are affected" by healthcare-acquired infections. In the United States, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the Health and Human Services Department estimates that 1 in 25 inpatients has a hospital-related infection. In developing countries, estimates run higher. Hospital bed safety railings are a major source of these infections. That's what Constanza Correa, 33, and her colleagues have found in their research in Santiago, Chile. They've taken on the problem by replacing them, since 2013, with railings made of copper, an anti-microbial element."

12/18/2014 12:31:19 PM

Of course, this was shared by the Deus Ex Facebook page

12/18/2014 12:53:13 PM

To discourage public urination in Hamburg's party district, a group painted walls with a hydrophobic substance so the pee splashes back on the drunks.

3/6/2015 11:27:02 AM

Whoops, clicked the wrong thread.

This is fascinating and interesting nerd shit that I tend to avoid so my brain can rest.

3/6/2015 8:59:00 PM

Quote :

"I realize that I don't have a great conception of large numbers/values. Videos like this help me to understand the sheer magnitude of speed and force involved. http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZW3aV7U-aik "

Probably the coolest video ever! I LOVE large numbers, especially as relating to density, speed, force, pressure, etc., so that was perfect!


My contribution:

http://qz.com/99413/first-ever-human-head-transplant-is-now-possible-says-neuroscientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530103.700-first-human-head-transplant-could-happen-in-two-years.html

umm, not so fast, Italian surgeon... http://www.livescience.com/50074-head-transplants-wont-happen.html

Also:

http://qz.com/86685/the-audacious-plan-to-end-hunger-with-3-d-printed-food/
http://qz.com/353138/this-is-what-happens-to-your-brain-when-you-stop-eating-sugar/

3/9/2015 2:15:01 AM

^Oh man, I remember reading about head transplants in Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers way back in like 2005. Crazy stuff.

3/9/2015 7:31:45 AM

^ do you think a head trans plant is possible in 2 years? did you read about the monkey case from the 70s?

this is something everybody should read:

Sleep deprivation is killing your career
http://qz.com/306095/sleep-deprivation-is-killing-your-career

3/10/2015 2:03:11 AM

I don't. In the Roach book, they talked about the difficult of connecting not only neural pathways but the various blood vessels. I think there were several legitimate concerns raised:

- difficulty of rehabilitating nerve cells (spinal cord links especially)
- host rejection of the new head
- issues of circulation
- what medical board will let you decapitate someone in an experimental procedure

Even with the monkey thing and an optimistic view, I just don't see how you overcome these problems

3/10/2015 9:43:47 AM

Female ejaculation finally demystified...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26772-female-ejaculation-comes-in-two-forms-scientists-find.html

Female ejaculation comes in two forms, scientists find

Quote :

"What do you think of when you hear the words "female ejaculation"? Come to think of it, the answer may be best kept to yourself. You may have heard that it was banned from being shown in British porn films last year. But what exactly is it? Researchers have now come a step closer to defining this controversial phenomenon, by performing the first ultrasound scans on women who express large amounts of liquid at orgasm. Some women express liquid from their urethra when they climax. For some, this consists of a small amount of milky white fluid – this, technically, is the female ejaculate. Other women report "squirting" a much larger amount of fluid - enough to make it look like they've wet the bed. A few small studies have suggested the milky white fluid comes from Skene glands - tiny structures that drain into the urethra. Some in the medical community believe these glands are akin to the male prostate, although their size and shape differ greatly between women and their exact function is unknown. Climax in the lab To investigate the nature and origins of the fluid, Samuel Salama, a gynaecologist at the Parly II private hospital in Le Chesnay, France, and his colleagues recruited seven women who report producing large amounts of liquid - comparable to a glass of water - at orgasm. First, these women were asked to provide a urine sample. An ultrasound scan of their pelvis confirmed that their bladder was completely empty. The women then stimulated themselves through masturbation or with a partner until they were close to having an orgasm - which took between 25 and 60 minutes. A second pelvic ultrasound was then performed just before the women climaxed. At the point of orgasm, the squirted fluid was collected in a bag and a final pelvic scan performed. Even though the women had urinated just before stimulation began, the second scan - performed just before they climaxed - showed that their bladder had completely refilled. Each woman's final scan showed an empty bladder, meaning the liquid squirted at orgasm almost certainly originated from the bladder. A chemical analysis was performed on all of the fluid samples. Two women showed no difference between the chemicals present in their urine and the fluid squirted at orgasm. The other five women had a small amount of prostatic-specific antigen (PSA) present in their squirted fluid - an enzyme not detected in their initial urine sample, but which is part of the "true" female ejaculate. PSA, produced in men by the prostate gland, is more commonly associated with male ejaculate, where its presence helps sperm to swim. In females, says Salama, PSA is produced mainly by the Skene glands. Beverley Whipple, a neurophysiologist from Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, says that the term female ejaculation should only really refer to the production of the small amount of milky white liquid at orgasm and not the "squirting" investigated in this paper. "This study shows the other two kinds of fluids that can be expelled from the female urethra - urine alone, and urine diluted with substances from the female prostate," she says. "This study presents convincing evidence that squirting in women is chemically similar to urine, and also contains small amounts of PSA that is present in men's and women's true ejaculate," says Barry Komisaruk, also at Rutgers. "This study helps to reconcile the controversy over the fluids that many women report being released at orgasm," he adds. "There are evidently two different fluids, with two different sources. Whether either of these fluids plays a physiological role - that is, whether they serve any adaptive function, is not known." Florian Wimpissinger at Rudolfstiftung Hospital in Vienna, Austria, suggests that the presence of PSA in some women's squirted fluid and not others might be because the emissions from the Skene glands could travel into the bladder at orgasm. It may also have something to do with the known variation in size and shape of the glands, or be that some women don't produce PSA in the first place. Every woman capable Why some women experience these different types of ejaculation and others don't is not yet clear, says Salama, but he believes every woman is capable of squirting "if their partner knows what they are doing". For now, Salama is not investigating that particular avenue, but instead working on a protocol to test whether the kidneys work faster to produce urine during sexual stimulation than at other times, and if so, why. The ban on female ejaculation in UK porn is based on the fact that the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) considers films which include material featuring "urolagnia" - sexual pleasure associated with urination - as obscene under the UK Obscene Publications Act. However, the wording of the law actually appears to be referring to squirting - not female ejaculation. So this new paper may support the current legal position, since it shows it is essentially involuntary urination. Presumably, under current UK law, if a woman were to have what is considered a true female ejaculation - the expulsion of a small amount of milky white fluid - and the BBFC were satisfied that this did not contain urea - this act would not be subject to the ban. Journal Reference: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsm.12799/abstract "

LOL what a study... taking pelvic ultrasounds just before and after orgasm, and collecting ejaculated liquids in bags!

3/30/2015 10:19:07 PM

So basically she just pissed all over you and the bed, no thanks.

3/31/2015 8:14:50 AM

^^is everything delayed in whatever -stan you're in? Because you consistently post old news. Old shit. Seriously.

3/31/2015 9:18:14 AM

I'd seen that report before. I find the whole thing unconcerning. Folks are all "OMG, you guyyyys, it's urine!" Grow. Up.

New fire extinguisher: Bass hum booms flames out

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/27/us/sound-fire-extinguisher/




This is pretty cool; although, the piece doesn't go into how the wave beats an airblast (TF2 pyro!) for extinguishing.

3/31/2015 3:00:41 PM

http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/29/mad-scientist-becomes-superhuman-after-gaining-night-vision-power-5126571/

4/9/2015 9:57:14 PM

http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/healthy-baby-from-sperm-taken-48-hours-after-a-man-died-20150410-1miaci.html

4/12/2015 1:10:14 AM

shameful. conceiving a child without the permission/participation of one of the parents is rape.

[Edited on April 12, 2015 at 1:20 AM. Reason : ]

4/12/2015 1:19:53 AM

You think the dead guy was raped?

4/12/2015 1:54:21 AM

^^^That's craaazy.

Also, so's this: World's Largest "Popsicle Stick Bomb"



It's crazy how fast the wave propagates in comparison to the dominoes. Explosive release > Toppling Over.

[Edited on April 14, 2015 at 2:29 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on April 14, 2015 at 2:29 PM. Reason : tiny video is tiny]

4/14/2015 2:28:32 PM

^nice

4/14/2015 5:05:26 PM

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/pdc15/

http://gizmodo.com/welcome-to-asteroid-war-games-where-scientists-practic-1698290810/+GergoVas

4/17/2015 11:20:40 AM

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanWindEnergyAssociation/videos/10152872502493775/

5/2/2015 5:31:34 PM

The Fermi Paradox: Where Are All the Aliens?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNhhvQGsMEc

I love their videos.

5/6/2015 2:25:10 PM

I love this guy's YouTube series Smarter Every Day; he's just so passionate about learning and teaching his children. This episode deals with the cupola on the ISS and how its windows shutters are mechanically operated, meaning there is a shaft that runs from the inside to the outside without compromising the airtight seal.

https://youtu.be/KSzuiqVjJg4

5/13/2015 9:21:17 AM

^he's our local celebrity. Huntsville, AL.

5/13/2015 10:25:01 AM

How to Add by Subtracting (additionally how adding machines/computers subtract)

https://youtu.be/PS5p9caXS4U

I love stuff that fiddles with how I think about "simple" concepts like substraction

5/15/2015 9:17:18 AM

It seems like I saw that this is how they are teaching it in school now as well?

5/15/2015 9:19:26 AM

It's possible? I teach English, but my understanding of Common Core is that tries to build the foundational concepts of how math functions in order to facilitate learning things like algebra and calc later on, so I wouldn't be surprised if they taught multiple ways of looking at arithmetic. I know that adding and multiplication are taught differently now.

5/15/2015 9:28:22 AM

I actually taught a course called "Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers"...basically, I taughtthem all these new-fangled ways of thinking about mathematics, which they were then supposed to impart to their future classes

there was a heavy emphasis on drawings, and a lot of conceptual nuances...e.g. you can think of 15/3 as dividing 15 into 3 groups of 5, or 5 groups of 3

it struck me as slightly over-the-top and retarded in its emphasis on underlying thought-processes...I don't think the American teaching-style is the problem, but just that American children are lazy, fat and entitled

5/15/2015 12:15:33 PM

I disagree. I saw an excellent analogy on reddit that basically explained it like building a house. If you lack principles/foundation (har har har) of house construction, you can probably build a structure that will stand, but the farther you build the more unstable it becomes. Math at the basic level is often taught in a "You don't need to know this" or "This is just how it's done" and not a "This is why it's done this way" or "This is how this works." For a large portion of my life in geometry, I knew what Pi was -- and that it went on forever -- but not why it was.

I think it's also a use or lose it thing. I remember doing parametric equations in high school (something with ships colliding, I think?). At this point, I do know what they are or what they're for. Additionally, I had a decent trig foundation, but trig equalities were difficult to keep straight, which made Trig/Algebra II more challenging when we did that stuff and made statics even harder, even though I felt good about basic free body diagrams.

5/15/2015 1:53:59 PM

they just need to teach physics (or some other application) at the same time that the math is being taught

5/15/2015 2:12:05 PM

I took Physics II at the same time as Calc AB in high school and it was super helpful. I think moving back toward an application/manipulatives model helps too. Physics was so helpful because it wasn't abstract

5/15/2015 2:33:09 PM

^^

Quote :

". Math at the basic level is often taught in a "You don't need to know this" or "This is just how it's done" and not a "This is why it's done this way" or "This is how this works." "

True enough, yeah. I guess the presumption is that our silly little children are not smart enough to comprehend the underlying principles, but that something is achieved by teaching them the methods (which they're going to fucking use in real life anyway.)

Another interesting thing: in America, our educational system is obsessed with calculus. But there is so, so much more to math than calculus; and in other countries, college students take courses on set theory, the foundations of mathematics, and the basics of mathematical analysis. These are all proof-based courses that are WAY more representative of the soul of mathematical thought.

5/15/2015 2:34:33 PM