Video
grrlscientist | May 18, 2010tags: Richard Feynman Explains Rubber Bands, science, physics, imagination, hot, offbeat, rubber bands, jiggling atoms, physical laws, Richard Feynman, streaming video
Physicist Richard Feynman thinks more about the 'jiggling' of atoms, and about rubber bands and how they 'work'. "The world is a dynamic mess of jiggling things, if you look at it right", says Richard Feynman.
cagapakis | May 18, 2010I've written before about artificial life researchers from the 18th and 20th centuries working to create robots that attempt to recreate the human voice. I recently saw this terrifying video over at the PopSci blog of a recent robotic voice machine and wanted to share it:
Over at Noise For Airports, Nick shares a very different way to combine biology, computer science, and music--The Heart Chamber Orchestra, which plays music generated from the rhythm of their combined heartbeats in real time:
drorzel | May 18, 2010I have copy edits for an Anglicised edition of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog to review, lecture notes to write, and a faculty meeting to go to, so I'm going off-line for the rest of the day (with one possible exception). To keep you amused in my absence, here's some video of SteelyKid dancing to Bruce Springsteen:
Ain't no party like a SteelyKid party, because a SteelyKid party don't stop. Except during the sax solo.
Should you want to hold your own SteelyKid dance party, here's a list of songs that she has been directly observed dancing to:
"I'm Going Down," Bruce Springsteen
"The Lion…
grrlscientist | May 18, 2010tags: High Five Etiquette, social observation, humor, funny, silly, Tripp and Tyler, Herb Tankersleigh, streaming video
Tripp and Tyler, with the help of mentor Herb Tankersleigh, discuss the do's and don'ts of proper high-five execution.
grrlscientist | May 17, 2010tags: Richard Feynman Explains Jiggling Atoms, science, physics, imagination, hot, offbeat, fire, jiggling atoms, physical laws, Richard Feynman, streaming video
Physicist Richard Feynman talks more about jiggling atoms and heat, and about what fire is.
From the BBC TV series 'Fun to Imagine' (1983).
sb admin | May 17, 2010So a week back or so, a number of friends read an article about death by rectal eel and immediately thought of me. For those of you who missed the story, it went a little something like this:
* Chinese man gets drunk with friends and passes out
* Friends think it would be hilarious to insert a large living swamp eel into the man's butt while he is unconscious
* Hilarity does not ensue. In fact, the man dies. Chinese doctor says the eel "consumed the man's bowels"
The article was widely reported in major news outlets like CNN and the Times, but I am linking instead to the UK edition of…
drorzel | May 17, 2010SteelyKid's every-so-often bath was last night, and as always, she was fascinated by scooping up water in a hexagonal cup thing that's part of one of her bath toys, and watching it drain out. Which is completely understandable-- not just because she's a baby, but because there's a bunch of physics at work, here.
I realize this is trampling on Rhett's territory, but I made a little video showing the physics part (in the sink, not the tub, because I don't want to have the pay the therapy bills that would come from posting video of SteelyKid in the tub):
The explanation is laid out in the video…
grrlscientist | May 17, 2010tags: The Free Hugs Campaign in Finland, Helsinki, free hugs, silly, humor, funny, offbeat, weird, life, Finland, Helsinki, streaming video
The Finnish winter is long, dark and difficult for many people. So a group of Helsinki residents started a free hugs campaign to cheer people up. A group calling themselves, "FreeHugs Finland" had been promoting for this day on the internet and over 30 huggers showed up! During a couple of hours over 1000 people in Helsinki got a hug and one woman told me it saved her day! [Music: "Lonely" by Unity]
This video was taken in Helsinki, Finland on 2 December…
omnibrain | May 17, 2010This year I was asked to participate in the Illusion of the year contest and it was a blast! There were a bunch of great illusions and I had no idea who was going to win it until the votes were counted. There's even some great video of me acting in one of the presentations. Anyway here's a video of one of the contestants using me - can you guess who I am?
Keep reading for a video of the 1st place winner and links for the 2nd and 3rd place winners!
Here's the first place illusion:
And 2nd Place and 3rd Place. Both totally worth watching on neuralcorrelates.org.
grrlscientist | May 16, 2010tags: Richard Feynman Explains Jiggling Atoms, science, physics, imagination, hot, offbeat, cold, jiggling atoms, physical laws, Richard Feynman, streaming video
Physicist Richard Feynman thinks aloud about atoms and how they jiggle, and how we perceive that jiggling as 'hot' and 'cold'.
From the BBC TV series 'Fun to Imagine' (1983).
rallain | May 16, 2010I am excited. This Wednesday, the MythBusters are doing the giant water slide jump. Maybe you are new to the internet and you haven't seen this video. Here it is:
And since it is as old as the hills, of course I have already analyzed it - actually twice. First, the video is fake - but it is an excellent fake. Here is another site with details on how this was created.
What did I look at in my previous posts? Here is a summary.
The video is difficult to analyze because of perspective changes.
Even with these problems, nothing says it has to be fake. The vertical acceleration during the…
grrlscientist | May 16, 2010tags: Helsinki Complaints Choir, complaints, silly, humor, funny, offbeat, weird, life, life isn't fair, choir, streaming video
This amusing video is a bit of a departure from my usual Sunday morning god-mocking, but since I am in Helsinki right now, I thought you'd appreciate this. Finnish artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen collected the pet peeves and angst-ridden pleas of people in Helsinki and then composed this choral work around the list of complaints. Music composed by Esko Grundström.
grrlscientist | May 15, 2010tags: Richard Feynman Talks About Doubt, Uncertainty and Religion, science, imagination, religion, god, doubt, uncertainty, beliefs, Richard Feynman, streaming video
Physicist Richard Feynman talks about the improbability of the existence of a god, and his thoughts about the mythologies that form the basis of religion.
grrlscientist | May 15, 2010tags: Housecat eats with Fork and Chopsticks, tablemanners, silly, humor, funny, offbeat, weird, pets, cats, animals, streaming video
Continuing this silly Saturday's housecat theme, this cat was raised by a woman who is batshiat crazy, teaching her to eats with a fork and chopsticks.
grrlscientist | May 14, 2010tags: Cat Disappointed by Own Failure, Cat Fail, silly, humor, funny, pets, cats, animals, streaming video
Just in time for silly Saturday, even housecats are getting into the act. This amusing video is a contribution from one cat and her least favorite bird friend. The caption for this video reads: " It's all been downhill since he dropped out of cat high school."
grrlscientist | May 14, 2010tags: Deutsch für Doofe, German for Boneheads, German language, education, SpeedyConKiwi, streaming video
This video is all about how to pronounce the German alphabet -- something I cannot do correctly at this time. Not that knowing how to say this is going to help me when talking to the bankers about depositing my paycheck into my account or anything.
If I don't know how to say the alphabet by the time this video pops up, you have my permission to tie me up and force me to drink German beer until I learn how to say it.
grrlscientist | May 13, 2010tags: Mouse Agility Course, animal training, clicker training, target stick, behavior, behavioral modification, streaming video
Training animals (and people) to do what you wish them to do is a vanishing art. However, there is a training method that is gaining popularity for teaching animals, ranging from rodents to whales, to perform certain behaviors on command. This training method is clicker training. Here is one example of clicker training with a common ordinary pet mouse, where it has been trained to follow an obstacle course that is truly epic in its size.
How the heck did this mouse…
rallain | May 13, 2010Yes, green laser pointers are cool. Especially when you use them to make stuff fluoresce. Ok, what about a blue laser pointer? They are getting surprisingly cheap (Amazon has a 10 mW for pretty cheap). Still not cheap enough for me. But, you know what? Some of the physics majors here at Southeastern Louisiana University purchased a couple of these. Physics major Daniel let me borrow his.
First, they don't look too bright. This is probably because our eyes are not too sensitive to this wavelength. The blue 10 mW does not look anywhere near as bright as the 5 mW green that I used in…
grrlscientist | May 13, 2010tags: Optical Illusion: Impossible Motion, optical illusion, Koukichi Sugihara, Best Visual Illusion of the Year Contest 2010, vision, brain, streaming video
In this video, wooden balls roll up the slopes just as if they are pulled by a magnet. The behavior of the balls seems impossible, because it is against gravity. The video is not a computer graphic, but a real scene.
What is actually happening is that the orientations of the slopes are perceived oppositely, and hence the descending motion is misinterpreted as ascending motion. This illusion is remarkable in that it is generated by a…
grrlscientist | May 12, 2010tags: Prometheus and Bob, behavior, space alien, caveman, humor, funny, comedy, animation, art, streaming video
This is another look at the continuing adventures of a space alien and his pet human. In this amusing video, the space alien, Prometheus, attempts to teach the caveman, Bob, about how to use the toilet.