Science Videos Triple
Here, have some science videos on the house. No, really, they’re absolutely free and contain lots of lovely science to help fill up the science hole in your brain. What’s that? There’s no such thing as a science hole in the brain? Can you prove that? With science?! I thought not. Insect Adventure, Part One As you can probably guess there is more than one part to this insect adventure hosted by Emily Graslie but I’ll just link to this one for now. A great look at setting insect traps in a prairie to see how healthy the environment is. Do you know how to create a trap that attracts insects, ensures they sink to the bottom of the trap, and isn’t harmful to any mammals that stumble on the area? You will. Also: please view this video from Emily on the sexism still prevalent in the science presenting world. Gummi Bears demonstrate Osmosis and Crystallization A self-explanatory title for a very simple scientific experiment that you can try fairly easily at home, demonstrating some very cool scientific processes. Jim Al-Khalili and the Quantum Robin Yes, it does sound like a science fiction adventure story but this short video from (honorary president of Portsmouth Skeptics in the Pub, cough, plug, cough, I’m an organiser of it, cough, boast, plug, cough) Jim Al-Khalili simply describes an unexpected method of navigation used by European robins that’s of interest to biologists and...
Jill Trent: Science, Sleuthing, Sex, And Violence
Jill Trent – accompanied by her best friend Daisy Smythe – was a comic book heroine from the 1940s, appearing in issues of Fighting Yank and Wonder Comics. We should, of course, welcome anything that pushes forward female equality or superiority during that period, as well as the promotion of science. And yet… Here we see Jill and Daisy using top quality sleuthing skills to detect some criminals in front of them, then utilising science in the form of kinetic energy delivered via fists and feet. Two different types of science on display here: the science of ballistics and the science of slapping dogs. Dogslappingology was discredited in the 1960s as it was found to have no more than a placebo effect in quelling vicious canines. The Jill Trent storylines featured her inventions heavily; x-ray glasses, gas detectors, and the precursor to the laser were all covered. In this particular strip we see one of the more unusual gadgets she came up with: a camera that fires boxes of tools at people. I’ve lost track of the number of times a toolbox-firing adapter would have come in useful on my Canon 5D Mark II but while modern scientists spend any amount of time trying to recreate the creations of Star Trek, Jill Trent’s mind is left untapped. The science of ballistics once again. We can only assume that prior to a later case Daisy and Jill looked over what went right and what went wrong in order to learn from it and decided that some target shooting practice wouldn’t go amiss, since their bullets apparently did. Violence sells comics (both when represented in pictorial form and when used by threatening comic store owners against nerds). Do you know what else sells comic strips? Sex. You’re shocked, aren’t you? Still, it’s true, and the writers and artists of the Jill Trent strips couldn’t leave Jill alone doing manly things such as science and shooting and punching the living shit out of villains without an occasional damsel-in-distress moment, especially if it featured a little bondage action and giant erections (metal ones; not the ones you’re thinking of, pervert). Still, worse than resorting to stereotypes of the sexes is probably the science itself. In case you’re wondering about the above strip let me clear things up: poison rays aren’t a thing, ultraviolet poisons aren’t a thing, and combatting ultraviolet using infrared isn’t a thing either. Unlike the Jill Trent authors I used real science to prove this, publishing my results for peer-review earlier this year. I’m currently awaiting trial on eight counts of killing professional scientist and amateur sleuth women and may...
Ghosts In Water Vapour
From This Is Cornwall comes this amazing story definitely worthy of reporting as news and absolutely not a pile of steaming horseshit. Hugh Fairman, psychic expert, sent over these photographs of faces that appeared in water vapour during a psychic reading, which he then captured on camera. What pictures are those, you ask? I’m glad you did. Friends, we are gathered here today to mourn the loss of our dearly departed common sense. On the top row you can see Rasputin and Vera Lynn. On the bottom row it’s Eleanor of Aquitaine and Brian Blessed. Admittedly, he’s not dead yet but he’s got such a strong personality it’s already projecting into the spirit world whilst still with us. Wait a second! I meant – of course – that the top row features Merlin and a Tellarite from the original series of Star Trek while the bottom row contains images from the afterlife of Louise Carter (lived in the 18th century, worked in a post office in a village that’s no longer there, ate some dodgy rabbit, died from complications caused by a bad batch of recuperative leeches; you probably don’t know her) and Bewitched actor David White. Appearing in such a Satanic show probably explains why he’s a ghost now. Hugh does tell the website: “We think is [sic] may be possible to explain all of this to a greater or lesser extent with reference to scientific concepts.” and he’s absolutely right. That bit of science he’s referring to is called pareidolia and it’s the science that explains why people see things that aren’t there all the time. Random patterns, memory, imagination, and persuasion all work to fool the brain which, for the record, is very easily fooled; it’s the price to pay for excellent pattern recognition. Remember when you were young and looked up into the sky and saw a shape in the clouds? Yeah, well it turns out that wasn’t a 900-foot long, dead, mega-butterfly appearing thanks to a nearby psychic with a speciality in communicating with deceased fauna from the lepidoptera order of insects. If you’re interested in seeing some more random and abstract patterns declared to be things that everyone who isn’t mental knows they aren’t then check out “psychic expert” Hugh and “psychic” Tina on Facebook. Oh. And if you really want to know who are the actual ghosts with the mosts willing to appear in steam near you now then you’ll have to follow the link to the original article at the top of this page. And now for some more ghosts caught in water...
Lucky Heather
“Lucky heather?” The voice cuts through the general white noise of mumbled conversations, shop music spillage, and distant street-busking and traffic, slowing my determined lunchtime strolling through the precinct. I glance at the area in which the voice originated; it’s a woman, older than me, shorter than me, and holding more plantlife than me in an outstretched hand. And she’s started to smile, I’m guessing because I’ve paid her some attention. “Lucky heather?” she says again, edging towards me and forcing a couple of other pedestrians to swerve out of her way swiftly and with a barely-concealed look in my direction that says sucker from every angle. I lean towards her and then peer down at the sprig of flora gripped tightly in her small hand. The non-green bits are a pale mauve sort of colour but my knowledge of anything to do with nature is so poor that I can’t be certain that this isn’t dandelions with a lick of paint. Or even just dandelions. Maybe you can get mauve dandelions. I’m trying to clarify just how little I know about the subject. “What is it,” I say slowly, “about this heather that gives it a probabilistic advantage over other heather?” “Lucky heather!” she says with a wink. “Two quid.” “Uh huh,” I continue. “I’m just wondering if you have any peer-reviewed analyses of double-blind trials conducted on the luckiness of this type of heather.” “What?” “Have the findings of any research performed on heather variants to determine whether some have a correlation with statistically relevant improved luck appeared in a peer-reviewed publication?” The happy look has most definitely been replaced by one filled with irritation and confusion and it seems to suit her round face better. I begin to feel sorry for her and consider parting with two whole English pounds, justifying the transaction in my head as being one that might permit me to run a few scientific experiments on the mauve flowers later when I feel a tap on my shoulder. “Fortuitous dock leaf?” asks the scruffy, scrawny, bearded man behind me. He waves a rather sad-looking bit of greenery at me. I take a quick, deep breath in preparation to ask him a pertinent question but the newcomer lifts up a glossy magazine. “19% more fortuitous than other leaves in clinical trials in Canada according to Leaf Science Quarterly,” he adds. I’ve heard of Leaf Science Quarterly and know it’s got a good reputation in the field of scientific leaf analysis. Moments later I’ve exchanged two pounds for a dock leaf almost overflowing with fortune but that still leaves the forlorn-looking woman and her...
Star Trek And Mrs Thatcher
Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died this week and the world went a little crazy. It’s been a week that’s seen British people partying in the streets because an old woman died of a stroke. It’s been a week that’s seen people who assert that they are rational, skeptical people liken Margaret Thatcher to Robert Mugabe. It’s been a week that’s tested my ability to hold my tongue and walk away in order to keep some semblance of peace and friendship with those who engage in and support the most vile of human actions. And anyone who knows me knows how difficult that has been. Too difficult. I need to vent a smidge. Fortunately, I have my own website for just this purpose. Almost universally, I would say that my friends and peers would describe themselves politically as left wing. I imagine that if any of them had considered it, based on arguments or discussions we’ve had in the past, they might think that I’m right wing. But they’re wrong. This belief that I am right wing might have been reinforced from the way I immediately started attacking those who celebrated the death of Mrs Thatcher. And it’s still wrong. And even though I voted Conservative in the last election it’s still wrong to think I’m right wing. I vote for the best candidate to fix the mess the last one made or to limit future damage; in recent years I’ve voted Labour and Liberal Democrats for the same reasons. Anyone who votes for the same party time after time without realising that the party’s politics are changing time after time is a complete moron. I do believe in very liberal attitudes where it comes to society. And I do think that everyone deserves the chance to be what they want to be and get what they need. It all sounds very socialist; it all sounds left wing. And it is. I want the Star Trek future of peace and no wants. But I realise we’re living in the wrong time for it. The best we can do is push the species forward towards that goal and hope to catch some of it before our molecules break apart and move into new homes. And to do that we need to prosper and innovate and improve the standards of life, lifting everything and everyone up around us. Keep at it and eventually we’ll get over that tipping point where everyone wins. So, how does this differ from those people who sentimentally hold to the fiction that Margaret Thatcher single-handedly destroyed their lives three decades ago or some other such nonsense?...
Professor Brian Cox, Drunk in Borneo
Professor Brian Cox‘s latest programme for the BBC starts tonight. Wonders of Life follows the programme formula showcased in Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe taking Brian across the globe in a bid to explain the complexity, simplicity, and beauty of the evolutionary process and the way in which life came into being on the planet. It will be shown in HD so for those couple of people recently searching to see if Brian Cox wears a wig that will be your best chance to get close to the screen and make your own mind up (hint: would he really choose one that looks like that?) I caught up with Brian during a break in filming in Borneo and talked to him about the wonders of life. As we were (and still are) both men it was necessary for us to get out the alcohol in order to discuss a matter this emotive. Brian: Vodka means ‘little water’. Did you know that? Did you?! You need water for life. I think. So… vodka! Me: Vodka! Brian: Vodka! Wait! Water for life… water of life! Think about it chum! Me: Isn’t that whiskey? Brian: Oh, you’re only fucking right! You’re right you are! You know what? You are right! Let’s make some whiskey! Me: Whiskey! Do we have the ingredients for whiskey? Brian: Whiskey has taken millions and millions and billions of years to form… What did you say? Me: Are we making whiskey or what? Brian: Vodka! Me: What? Brian: Vodka and tea and me! I can distill whiskey. Don’t look at me like that! I’m a theoretical physician… physical… scientist! Watch! Me: Well, you are a bloody wonder. Brian: I see what you did there ya cheeky monkey! Me: Heh! Now I’ve seen everything. What sort of whiskey is it? Brian: It’s quite peaty. I was eating soil earlier. Me: Right. Why? Brian: There’s life in soil. Me: You’re weird. Has anyone ever told you you’re weird? Brian: No. Nope. Yes. My wife. And you. That’s two! Me: I’ll drink to that! Champagne! Brian: Down the hatch! Me: Skol! Brian: Do they still make Skol? I have not had Skol in years. Me: Do you want some Skol? I think you can probably get some because you’re a famous physicist… Brian: That’s the word I was looking for! Me: … but Borneo may not be a great market for weak beer. Might have to helicopter some in. Brian: I don’t want any Skol but I do like helicopters. Me: What are we talking about? Brian: Hey! There’s some WKD Blue behind the counter! Me:...
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