Uncertain Dots, Episode 5

In which Rhett and I talk about color vision, undergraduate research projects, blog networks, outreach activities, and how thermodynamics is a lie.

Things mentioned in the discussion:

The Flame Challenge

My post about looking at computer monitors with a spectrometer

Physics Quest

I'm inadvertently doing a bit of product placement here-- the T-shirt I'm wearing is from Surviving the World, and the water bottle I'm drinking from is from the Institute for Quantum Computing in Waterloo. I expected it to be colder in my office on campus, but it was actually pretty warm, so I took off the other shirt I'd had over that one.

If you'd like to make me a lucrative offer to promote your product in a future episode of Uncertain Dots, shoot me an email. Other than that, we're happy to get more questions/ topic suggestions.

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What's this about "thermodynamics is a lie"...?

Is that just a teaser to watch a video, or is there a substantive arguement out there?

IMHO dissipative structures etc. don't falsify thermodynamics, and living organisms are also open systems relative to their ambient environments, so those two items aren't enough to do it.