September 3, 2010 at 6:51 pm · Filed under 73094
At a 1997 soccer match, Roberto Carlos scored a goal against the French national team that seemed physically impossible. The ball seemed to curve around the French players. Physicists couldn’t explain the ball’s movement:
A group of French scientists, perhaps desperate to prove that at least the laws of physics weren’t actively rooting against their national team, have been able to figure out the trajectory of the ball and, with it, an equation to describe its unusual path.
It all comes down to the fact that, when a sphere spins, its trajectory is a spiral. Usually, gravity and the relatively short distance the ball travels cover up this spiral trajectory, but Carlos was a mere 115 feet away and kicked the ball hard enough to reveal its true spiral-like path. As you can see in the diagram above, the ball would have kept spiraling if gravity (and the netting) hadn’t [...]
Original post by John Farrier
September 3, 2010 at 6:24 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
(Video Link)
Tony Orrico is both a visual and a performance artist, and often combines the two approaches by creating works in front of audiences. Here, he created an elaborate geometric pattern in eight circles using the movements of his body as measuring tools. The result took precisely 1,000 body movements to complete.
via Make | Artist’s Website
Original post by John Farrier
September 3, 2010 at 6:14 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Students at the Columbus College of Art & Design (Columbus, Ohio) made an interactive mural that lets you put yourself into Super Mario Bros. Twelve students spent eight days making it. The mural measures sixteen feet tall and thirty-eight feet wide. You can view several full-size pictures at the link.
Link via Geekosystem | Photo: NBC4
Original post by John Farrier
September 3, 2010 at 6:03 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
When I first started to get interested in public health several years ago, I thought of it mostly as dealing with things like vaccines and handwashing. From one of my friends who enrolled in a Master of Public Health program, I learned that it actually covers a whole range of issues that affect the population’s health and quality of life - things like workplace and highway safety and smoking cessation, in addition to control of infectious diseases.
The word “population” is key to understanding public health. Healthcare providers focus on individual patients; public health workers focus on entire populations. Of course, many healthcare providers participate in public health work, and when they do things like administer vaccinations they’re helping promote the health of the population as well as of the individual patient.
To get a sense of public health’s scope and impact, it’s helpful to check out the Centers for [...]
Original post by Liz Borkowski none@example.com
September 3, 2010 at 6:02 pm · Filed under 73068
One of the common sayings in microbiology that drives me up a wall is the notion that 99% of all bacteria can’t be grown in the lab. This false statement stems from the observation that if you take any sample (soil, water, clinical samples) and look under a microscope we see many more bacterial cells that contain DNA than we can grow. The problem is that, if you look at the paper that claimed this, they attempted to grow bacteria on a single, rich medium.
One weekend, when I was a post-doc, I did a very simple comparison. I took standard rich lab medium (’nutrient agar’ which is basically one of those high protein nutrient bars minus the artificial flavorings. That’s why I don’t eat them. Seriously, if you dilute one bar in a liter of water, you basically have nutrient agar). Anyway, the other [...]
Original post by Mike none@example.com
September 3, 2010 at 6:01 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Are you tired of your chickens pooping all over your nice carpets and grandmother’s table cozies? Now there’s a solution to your problem (well, one of them): chicken diapers. Ingrid Dimock of Australia invented and sells them for people who keep their chickens indoors:
The nappies she sells are bought by families who encourage their birds inside to interact or for people in apartments or townhouses who keep birds but have limited space.
“Chickens have become incredibly interactive with people,” Ms Dimock said.
“When you come home they are looking for you and run up to you. They make really good pets and are really social creatures.”
The leads were developed because Ms Dimock said people wanted to take their birds with them when they left the house.
“People were telling us that they wanted to take their chickens to the park to have a scratch around while they watched their kids playing [...]
Original post by John Farrier
September 3, 2010 at 5:13 pm · Filed under 73084
Let us start with persona, since one goes to any prizefight to see the metaphorical battle of two created characters, embodying sides, virtues, faults.
In this Corna… John Michael Greer, owner (by a whisker over Bob Waldrop) of the finest beard in Peak Oildom, Archdruid, moral descendent of Toynbee and Gibbon, considerer of declines in centuries, not weekends. No Zombies for Greer - we are Rome, and we might as well deal with it, dammit.
And in this Corna…Rob Hopkins, beardless founder of the Transition movement, permaculturist, endless energetic optimist and municipal leader, student of the first half of the British century, bent of reorganizing his community and the world to adapt to energy descent. If we could live without that energy once before, well, we can do it now, and let’s get at it.
For the record, I like them - and their work - both a [...]
Original post by Sharon Astyk none@example.com
September 3, 2010 at 5:10 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Long weekend reading: Over at e360, Climate Central’s Michael Lemonick sums up the latest thinking on the big question of whether clouds will alleviate or accelerate global warming.
Read the rest of this post… |
Read the comments on this post…
Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: Inside the Outbreaks on the ScienceBlogs Book Club
Original post by James Hrynyshyn none@example.com
September 3, 2010 at 4:40 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
(YouTube link)
I know some people who would rather rebuild something ten time than read the directions! Of course, putting something like a deck chair together is infinitely easier when the directions are written by someone who is fluent in your language. This video is the latest from SheepFilms. -via b3ta
Original post by Miss Cellania
September 3, 2010 at 4:36 pm · Filed under 73054
The above map shows the border between the United Arab Emirates (yellow) and Oman (green). Inside the UAE is a tiny enclave of Omanese territory called Madha. It consists of about 29 square miles. Inside that enclave is another enclave of UAE territory called Nahwa, which is under a square mile in area. At the link, you can view pictures of this enclave within an enclave.
Link via Dan Lewis | Map: National Geographic Society
Original post by John Farrier
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