ScienceBlogs
Where the world discusses science. 76 blogs, 119,468 posts, and 1,850,732 comments.
What We're Talking About Saturday, November 21, 2009
Linking Fact and Fiction
Context By Seed
Good science takes time, but good science fiction hinges on impatience. Why wait for the invention of real technological marvels when you can imagine them yourself or see them on TV? On The Quantum Pontiff, Dave Bacon ponders the formative links between fantasy and reality, spurred by an Intel talk on the possibilities of “fictional prototyping.” He writes, “the creative act of telling a story shares many similarities with the creative act of developing a new research idea or inventing a new technology.” On Built on Facts, Matt Springer compares phasers with lasers, writing "it's a nice job perk that I can see old science fiction tropes come to life pretty much every day." On Aardvarchaelogy, Martin Rundkvist says there are two ways of writing SF: either you use current scientific knowledge to write an explanation that “sort of makes sense,” or you use “technobabble” to dazzle your readers with made-up vocabulary. Do neither and, like author Dan Simmons, you will be ridiculed. Finally, travel back in time for an article by Chad Orzel on Uncertain Principles, where he considers the long-running role of mysticism in SF, and notes that the genre “has broadened considerably over the last few decades."
The Conversation
Science Fiction Prototyping
The Quantum PontiffNovember 18, 2009
Last Friday I went to a talk by Brian David Johnson from Intel, a "consumer experience architect" in the Digital Home - User Experience Group. Okay that is a bit odd for a typical seminar speaker, but still lies in the "reasonable" range. And then you find out the title of his talks is "Brain Machines: Robots, Free Will and Fictional Prototyping as a Tool for AI Design" and you say, whah?
Seeing Laser Beams
Built on FactsNovember 19, 2009
To see light, it has to reach your eyes. This is clearly not possible when all the light is actually traveling down the beam path. You can see this in action with laser pointers - only the spot where the light hits and diffusely reflects is visible. The path is not.
Dan Simmons's Scientific Let-Down
AardvarchaeologyNovember 16, 2009
The ecology of Sol Draconi Septem is also magical. It consists only of two species of carnivore that hunt each other: ice wraiths and humans. No plants and no herbivores. Simmons does mention that the human population is shrinking, which suggests that he understands that a system without energy input will dwindle and eventually stop running.
Mysticism and SF
Uncertain PrinciplesSeptember 30, 2009
Science fiction has really taken a fall from the good old days, when science was everything. Why, the next thing you know, there'll be a whole slew of stories promoting daft notions regarding psi powers and kooky made-up religions... Oh, wait...
Video
See circling and shooting stars in a time-lapse video called Milky Way Rising on Greg Laden's Blog.
Community
ScienceBlogger Jason Rosenhouse of EvolutionBlog published his book The Monty Hall Problem: The Remarkable Story of Math's Most Contentious Brain Teaser earlier this year, to enthusiastic reviews. Now, Amazon.com has selected The Monty Hall Problem as one of the top 10 science books of 2009.
Congratulations to Jason—check out his book on Amazon today!
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In Conversation
“Prevention oriented accident specialists are fond of saying that "accidents are no accidents," by which they mean that many accidental deaths are in some sense avoidable. So wear your seat belts and don't go golfing in lightning storms. And while you're at it, have health insurance, since there is now new evidence that not having it makes it more likely you'll die if you do have an "accident."”The uninsured and surviving an accident
November 20, 2009
Channel Surfing
Life Science
Ray Comfort is a Half-Wit and a Libelous Scalawag
Now that his plan has backfired drastically (his own website has removed the link to his "Introduction" of...
Chinese propensity to copy
No, this isn't about intellectual property issues and piracy. Whole Genome Distribution and Ethnic Differentiation of Copy Number...
Leafcutter ants rely on bacteria to fertilise their fungus gardens
Leafcutter ants are consummate gardeners. They grow a fungus crop, which they fertilise and medicate using bacteria. This three-way partnership has made them some of the most successful of insects.
The Life Science Channel RSS FeedPhysical Science
Global Warming Alarmist Conspiracy Emails Hacked!!!11!!
The Anthropocentric Global Warming Denialist Community is collectively creaming in its collective jeans over the release of zillions...
Believe it or not: A Black Hole Question!
Black holes have come up a couple of times this week, and I've always wondered something. When you...
Falling into a Black Hole sucks!
Why it is that of all the billions and billions of strange objects in the Cosmos -- novas,...
The Physical Science Channel RSS FeedEnvironment
Floods not linked to climate change shocker
In shocking news just in, record heavy rain in the Lakes and extensive flooding has not been linked...
When mammoths roamed
Pleistocene Megafaunal Collapse, Novel Plant Communities, and Enhanced Fire Regimes in North America: Although the North American megafaunal...
The hacked climate science email scandal that wasn't
The hacking of the data is a worthwhile story, insofar as IT security goes, but the content is just plain banal. All we learn is that scientists are humans after all.
The Environment Channel RSS FeedEducation
Rhodes Secretary: Wall Street Megabonuses Draining Our Young Talent
In the op-ed pages of The Washington Post today, Elliot Gerson--the American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust--takes a bold stand.
O.K. For what it's worth - I'm finally on twitter. Send on some suggestions for science scout badges...
... because I have tuesday afternoon cleared for updating the science scout site a bit. Plus, although I'm...
Pets Teach Science: 16 golden retrievers explain atoms (video)
The Education Channel RSS FeedPolitics
Don't Know Much About Palintology
Of course Palinists can imagine Sarah Palin talking about economics with the Chinese government.
Dispatches from the Culture Wars
Cert Denied in Religious Graduation Speech Case
The Supreme Court has denied cert in the case of McComb v. Crehan, the 2006 case where a...
Dispatches from the Culture Wars
Cops: Break the Law, Change Departments
The Charleston Gazette of West Virginia documents a whole bunch of police officers breaking the law over and...
The Politics Channel RSS FeedMedicine & Health
Skeptics' Circle #124 is up
The latest Skeptics' Circle is up at Beyond the Short Coat. The Giants' Shoulders #17 is also up at scibling Eric...
Why people ignore vaccine denialists
Here we go again. Ecstasy, death...unsubstantiated claims.
Canada. Again. This time in Whistler: A 20-year-old male had been found unconscious by friends. When police arrived,...
The Medicine & Health Channel RSS FeedBrain & Behavior
Casual Fridays: What makes a good writer, and what motivates them?
We received an astonishing number of responses to last week's Casual Fridays study, which claimed to be able...
Artificial Intelligence on Collective Imagination ...
There is nothing in the term "Artificial Intelligence" that implies that "intelligence" be human, but the implication is clear that such a thing as "intelligence" exists and that we have some clue as to what it is. But it might not, and we don't.
The Reading Brain
I've got a review of Stanislas Dehaene's new book, Reading in the Brain, over at the Barnes and...
The Brain & Behavior Channel RSS FeedTechnology
Toaster Sunshine channels Jack White for science and technology outreach
There's a lot to be said for building shit just to see if it works.
From nature, robots
Mechanical engineer Sangbae Kim looks to animals to inspire his robot designs.. Press release from MIT:...
"Will NexGen AI Have Unintended Consequences?"
Commentary from the Daily Galaxy: ...A robot that can open doors and find electrical outlets to recharge itself....
The Technology Channel RSS FeedInformation Science
The Primate Diaries on Facebook Now At 400!
You just crossed the 400 mark at The Primate Diaries facebook fan page. If you're on facebook and...
The #retweetFAIL
The smart bet is that this complete and utter screwup is driven entirely by some scheme to monetize rather than by what they think users actually want.
Science journal publishers experimenting with different models
It seems like there was nothing new from the established publishers for a while - nothing with their...
The Information Science Channel RSS FeedJobs
Rhodes Secretary: Wall Street Megabonuses Draining Our Young Talent
In the op-ed pages of The Washington Post today, Elliot Gerson--the American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust--takes a bold stand.
ScienceOnline2010 - introducing the participants
As you know you can see everyone who's registered for the conference, but I highlight 4-6 participants...
Fourty two* and still in need of mentoring?
... the NIH should not give young investigators a break ... because they are full of crap?!?!!!
The Jobs Channel RSS Feed
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ScienceBlogs Super Photos
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- 1The problem of the oblivious white male atheist
PZ Myers 11.19.2009
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Greg Laden 11.21.2009
From Futurity.org
Research news | More at Futurity.org
From NYTimes.com
Latest science stories | More at nytimes.com
SB Basics
Hurricanes
As the 2009 hurricane season picks up speed after a remarkably mild beginning, we look to the ScienceBlogs archives for the science behind the storms.
The Island of DoubtJuly 25, 2006
The real story of the hurricanes
Neuron Culture September 11, 2008
Hurricanes & Climate Change: A Round-Up Says Maybe More, Definitely Hotter
Corpus Callosum September 12, 2008
Humanities & Soc. Sciences
A Blog Around The Clock
The Open Laboratory 2009 - one of the last calls for submission!
Reminder: Deadline is December 1st at midnight EST! Here are the submissions for OpenLab 2009 to date...
A Blog Around The Clock
ScienceOnline2010 - Program highlights 3
Continuing with the introductions to the sessions on the Program, here is what will happen on Saturday,...
Uncertain Principles
November Basketball: SU-Cal, UNC-OSU
Kate and I went to the two games of the "semifinals" of the 2K Sports Classic Supporting Coaches...
The Social Sciences Channel RSS Feed