Science
Interesting Statistics from 60 Minutes
I can’t embed the videos here at this point, but here are a series of videos from recent 60 Minutes episodes that reference statistics in the news. First, on a recent case of forged credentials and misrepresented data at Duke University. The main piece can be found here. A bit about the researcher and his overstated […]
Where’s Lando?
Here’s another one for the Star Wars fans! Click the picture below for a larger version … and then try to find Lando. It is kind of like Where’s Waldo. There are, of course, also some fun little “guest” appearances that sci-fi geeks will love! (Feel free to comment on things you spot.) (HT: Action Figure Empire)
Wither the Baby Dinosaurs?
Ever wonder why no one ever seems to have any baby dinosaur skeletons? I have, and in this funny and informative TED Talk, Jack Horner offers an answer: we do have them, we were just too busy naming new types to notice. Check it out!
An Exercise for the Patient
At the University of Queensland they have a Physics experiment that has been going on since 1927. The initial setup alone took three years before the experiment itself could begin in 1930. The experiment is ongoing with no end in sight. Here is the story from the University website: The first Professor of Physics at […]
On Fracking, the Science is Clear
Unfortunately, while the science on natural gas fracking is clear, the public debate does not reflect this fact. Why? Here is a take from an op-ed piece in the NY Post by Jon Entine: The academic face of the anti-fracking movement — Cornell marine ecologist Robert Howarth — increasingly looks like he’s willing to turn science […]
On the High Price of Journals
I’ve commented before on the (shameful) prices of scholarly journals, especially when the research itself is taxpayer funded. If we all paid for the research, it is a shame that we can’t read the results without having more to pay. Barbara Fister comments on this at Inside Higher Ed: What is it we are getting […]
The Future Is Here: Levitation
This video is just cool. In addition, I have a feeling that technology like this could someday (soon?) revolutionize our world. There are obvious implications for travel and energy if this can be done in large scale without the need for liquid nitrogen (right now it takes very low temperature superconductors to accomplish the levitation. […]
The Future of Energy?
An interesting technology that may someday soon begin to revolutionize the energy discussion. (HT: Cody Wanner)
TMQ: Where Did that Quote Come From?
Interesting thoughts from Gregg Easterbrook on the world of unnamed sources to quotes: Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, and Anonymous People Don’t Complain About Quotes: In an era plagued by what Stephen Colbert memorably called “truthiness,” increasingly, public speakers quote people or sources who mysteriously lack names. In Barack Obama’s speech on the Afghan war, the president […]
Thoughts from (Last Week’s) TMQ
Running a week behind again on my reading of Gregg Easterbrook’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback column on ESPN.com, so just getting to the entirety of last week’s TMQ. The football pieces are old news now, but here are my favorite non-NFL pieces (find the whole thing here): ———————————- On Christmas Creep: Christmas Creep: Reader Jill Andvik […]
No Longer Normal 