A model showing what would happen to geography/geometry of the earth if it did not rotate.
Category Archives: Other science
This Beer Also Knows What You Did Last Summer
This Beer Knows Where You’ve Been
New research suggests that your visits to such places can be tracked by analyzing chemical traces in your hair. That’s because water molecules differ slightly in their isotope ratios depending on the minerals at their source. In a study published in the current issue of The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers found that water samples from 33 cities across the United State could be reliably traced back to their origin based on their isotope ratios.
From the paper
The δ2H and δ18O values of a fluid input composed of beverages distributed on a large, regional scale may not necessarily mirror those of local tap water. The power of prediction using local tap water isotope ratios in models like that of Ehleringer et al. (1) would be confounded by the consumption of nonlocal beverages. On the other hand, some beverages (e.g., carbonated soft drinks, microbrew beer) likely use a more local distribution system. We expect the isotopic composition of a fluid input composed of beverages distributed on a small, local scale would generally mirror those of local tap water.
Which is why, to hide my whereabouts, I drink bottled water and imported beer. Stay thirsty, my friends.
Hit-and-Run
Out hiking/geocaching in the hot, hot sun with my camera, on the trail near South Run Park.
A number of sources indicate that for some species, female dragonflies dip their abdomens in water to deposit eggs after they’ve been fertilized; there was a bit of that going on in the stream, along with a bit of tandem flying, if you take my meaning. Not sure if the collision is territorial, a clumsy mating ritual or just Odonata dickishness.
Because 'What is a Snuffleupagus' is Too Intractable a Question
The Good Intentions Paving Company
Aka the Schmozart effect. And this happens a lot.
‘Mozart Effect’ Was Just What We Wanted To Hear
[E]ven if listening to Beethoven won’t make us smarter, the history of how the Mozart Effect ultimately became fashionable does have something to teach us. It’s a story about careful science, less careful journalism, and of course, death threats.
Rubber Tree Plant? Pshaw!
Ants Use Their Own Velcro to Catch Supersized Prey
They’ve got really high hopes.
A. andreae colonies live in trees, and individual ants line the underside edges of leaves, jaws open and outstretched. When an insect lands, the ants seize its legs, holding it down until other ants dismember the pinioned prey.
In the new study, the researchers held weighted threads in front of the ants. Instinctively, the ants bit and held. Without losing its grip, the average worker could hold on to 8 grams, or some 5,700 times its body weight. In proportional terms, that’s like a house cat holding on to a humpback whale. Passing insects don’t have a chance.
Something about the numbers don’t add up for me, though. This puts an ant’s mass at a milligram or two, and that seems very small.
I Can Do the Can Can
The topic of discussion a few days ago was vacuum chambers, because we want to eventually trap ions, and these can be made to be pretty compact — you don’t need a very large vacuum chamber. In fact, you can get away with no external pump at all in the final configuration; after the initial pumpdown you pinch off the connection tube you activate a getter material inside the vacuum chamber (remembering, of course to put Bedevere, Lancelot and Galahad inside the rabbit beforehand, in order to take the French by surprise. Not only by surprise, but totally unarmed!)
How compact? Well, basically the size of a soda can. Which, of course, prompted a discussion of using an actual soda can. We ignored the problems of the hole in the can and the completely inadequate strength of a can, and instead focused on the problem of whether cans had a liner that would cause a problem with a vacuum. Something easily checked by a visit to Google, but we’re experimentalists, and a hacksaw blade was closer than the internet. We empirically determined the presence of the liner. It was only later on that one of us confirmed that a liner called Vinylite was introduced in 1934; the problem that prompted the invention was that beer in cans tasted just awful. (i.e. much worse than beer in cans currently taste)
The major problem the early researchers were confronted with, however, was not strength, but the can’s liner. Several years and most of the early research funds were spent to solve this perplexing problem. Beer has a strong affinity for metal, causing precipitated salts and a foul taste. The brewers called the condition “metal turbidity”.
Though I would not have been surprised if it read “causing precipitated salts and a foul taste. The brewers called the condition Genesee Cream Ale”
Along with that tidbit is a recipe for dissolving the aluminum to leave only the liner. It involved 6M KOH, so this is not something you want to try at home.
What Superman Sees
This is me (female subject) saying “både” (“both”). The sequence is an excerpt from a 20 second X-Ray film registred at the Danderyd Hospital in Stockholm in March 1997.
In this sequence I noticed that the lips form an interesting image as the mouth opens; I assume it’s from lipstick of uneven thickness and application, which can be seen when the mouth is fully open. I wonder what kind of heavy elements are in there that help screen higher-energy photons. The effect is absent for the male subject (and apparently “pion” in Swedish means “peony” rather than “meson made of up and down quarks.” Silly Swedes.)
That River in Egypt
You Are Not So Smart is a blog devoted to self delusion and irrational thinking.
There’s a lot of research out there suggesting you have no idea why you act or think the way you do.
It feels awful to accept such things, so you create narratives to explain your own feelings and behavior.
On the Dunning-Kruger Effect
Have you ever wondered why people with advanced degrees in climate science or biology don’t get online and debate global warming or evolution? Yet, people without a degree in psychology will write 1,200 words about a psychological bias.
The less you know about a subject, the less you believe there is to know in total. Only once you have some experience do you start to recognize the breadth and depth you have yet to plunder.
Not Affiliated With Fraggle Rock
Yosemite Nature Notes – Episode 9 – Frazil Ice