If sodium weighs the same as a duck …
Category Archives: Other science
"Dip" for Gummi Bears
The World's Thinnest Trampoline
Super-stretchy jelly can take a hit
Suo’s hydrogel is made from a mixture of two polymers — alginate and polyacrylamide. Each polymer forms networks using different types of chemical bond: alginate molecules are linked together by ionic bonds, and polyacrylamide molecules by stronger covalent bonds. When the gel is stretched, hit or torn, the ionic bonds can break and reform throughout the material, dissipating energy over a wide area and causing fewer of the covalent bonds to be irreversibly ruptured. The covalent bonds hold the material together, allowing it to spring back to its original shape.
Let's Drink Beer. For Science!
Glass Shape Influences Consumption Rate for Alcoholic Beverages
Participants were 60% slower to consume an alcoholic beverage from a straight glass compared to a curved glass. This effect was only observed for a full glass and not a half-full glass, and was not observed for a non-alcoholic beverage. Participants also misjudged the half-way point of a curved glass to a greater degree than that of a straight glass, and there was a trend towards a positive association between the degree of error and total drinking time.
Wait, degree of error increased with total drinking time? Nooooooooooo!
It's Always More Complicated Than You Think
The Hidden Truths About Calories
Odds are you sometimes think about calories. They are among the most often counted things in the universe. When the calorie was originally conceived it was in the context of human work. More calories meant more capacity for work, more chemical fire with which to get the job done, coal in the human stove. Fat, it has been estimated, has nine calories per gram, carbohydrates and proteins just four; fiber is sometimes counted separately and gets awarded a piddling two. Every box of every food you have ever bought is labeled based on these estimates, too bad then that they are so often wrong.
AKA the 'Yoko Ono' Effect
Polarized Beetle 1
Polarized Beetle 2
The beetle reflects circularly polarized light. A filter in front of the camera lens blocks that polarization, but the light reflecting from the mirror flips polarization and passes through the filter.
Don't Bother Me With the Details
Such as the definition of theory in a scientific context.
KENTUCKY GOP OUTRAGED COLLEGES WANT STUDENTS TO KNOW THINGS
ACT, the state’s testing company, interviews professors to figure out the things most important to student readiness for college, which sounds like a smart thing to do. Unfortunately, those professors have bad news: If you want students to do well in biology classes, they have to know about evolution.
I’m not sure how the Kentucky politicians equated not teaching evolution with better critical thinking skills, but I’m not surprised they don’t see the problem.
The Google Oxbow Incident
Years ago when Google Earth first added the time-slider tool, which makes my entire blog possible, I realized that one of the best uses for this tool would be for tracking geomorphological change. I, and others like me, had found various changes like landslides and sinkholes, but the evidence pointed to an opportunity for more undiscovered geographical features. I theorized that the most elusive of these was the formation of an oxbow lake.
…
I contacted my colleague and showed him my discovery. He agreed, this was without a doubt the formation of an oxbow lake on the Brazos River!
If You Won't Come into My Parlor, I'll Come to You
Net-casting spider hunt filmed in wild
As ambush hunters, the spiders are known to use a combination of touch and well-developed sight to sense prey.
The video reveals the rarely-seen, split-second technique of the species as it snatches an unsuspecting cricket in a Central American forest.
Termite Terrorists
Old Termites Blow Themselves Up to Protect the Nest
When trekking through a forest in French Guiana to study termites, a group of biologists noticed unique spots of blue on the backs of the insects in one nest. Curious, one scientist reached down to pick up one of these termites with a pair of forceps. It exploded. The blue spots, the team discovered, contain explosive crystals, and they’re found only on the backs of the oldest termites in the colony. The aged termites carry out suicide missions on behalf of their nest mates.