Video
grrlscientist | March 29, 2010tags: Alex Filippenko, Josh Frieman, FermiLab, astronomy, astrophysics, Science Bulletins, research, American Museum of Natural History, AMNH, New York City, space, nature, universe, The Expanding Universe, streaming video
In 1998, astrophysicists discovered a baffling phenomenon: the Universe is expanding at an ever-faster rate. Either an enigmatic force called dark energy is to blame or a reworking of gravitational theory is in order. In this new Science Bulletins video, watch a FermiLab team assemble the Dark Energy Camera, a device that could finally solve this space-stretching mystery…
grrlscientist | March 28, 2010tags: T-Shirts That God Would Wear!, religion, cults, comedy, humor, funny, silly, fucking hilarious, Edward Current, streaming video
As a believer in the Prosperity Gospel, Edward Current prayed for abundance in his bank account. Here's what God -- and his accountant -- told him to do. Better yet, Jeebuz is helping out by pimping his new T-Shirts to the public!
For the record, Edward Current doesn't even know I exist, and I do not get any rewards for placing this ad here -- not even a lousy free t-shirt! That said, I DO know what I want for my Easter gifts, and they ain't armies chocolate…
grrlscientist | March 27, 2010tags: How to Spot a Cult, scientology, branch davidians, religion, cults, mind control, investigative news report, mind control, mental health, beliefs, streaming video
This Inside New Zealand investigative report is long but fascinating and very well-worth watching. It includes plenty of information on Scientology as well as other cults (Branch Davidians, etc) and gives a good overview of cult warning signs.
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grrlscientist | March 27, 2010tags: cat enjoying attention, Trololo Cat, Eduard Trololo Khil, internet meme, YouTube meme, parody, funny, humor, fucking hilarious, television, streaming video
This video features our favorite boyfriend -- right, my peeps? -- Eduard "Trololo" Khill, along with views of a kitty who is watching, open-mouthed in astonishment at what she sees and hears.
Here's a few more links to Eduard:
More from Eduard "Mr Trolololo" Khill (My New Boyfriend)
Eduard Trololo Khil Addresses the People of the World!
Scientology X(enu) Factor Russian auditions 2010
And my favorite of all:
Captain Kirk Deals with…
grrlscientist | March 27, 2010tags: beards, facial hair, funny, silly, humor, streaming video
In honor of Silly Saturday, I had to share this silly video with you. It's about beards. Those of you who know me will understand the significance for this video appearing here.
rallain | March 26, 2010I am surprised at how many people (chemistry faculty included) have never seen this demo. (oh, technically it is called a cartesian diver demo) Basically, you put some floating object that has an air space in a closed bottle of water. When you squeeze it, the diver goes down.
For my setup, I used a glass eye-dropper. Put it in a cup to make sure it just barely floats and then put it in a completely full water bottle. If you don't have a eye-dropper, you can use anything that floats with an air space. I have done this with part of a straw before. Fold a small section of a straw in half…
grrlscientist | March 26, 2010tags: coins, mint, manufacturing, technology, factory, education, streaming video
This is an interesting video showing how the â¬2 coin is made. This coin consists of two different metals that are squeezed together into one coin. Interestingly, it uses recycled copper -- I wonder how many construction sites have lost their copper piping to thieves who then sold it to recyclers for manufacture into Euros? I also have embedded a second video that discusses the history of coin making as well as describing how less complex coins are made.
Another look at coinmaking (admittedly, not as fancy as…
grrlscientist | March 26, 2010tags: Sanderlings Schiermonnikoog, birds, birding, wildlife, humans, conservation, education, streaming video
This is a sweet little video about the Sanderlings that nested on the Niederlande beach of Schiermonnikoog. However, in just a few short years, they are rarely seen there. Why? This video provides some hypotheses.
There is a brief mention of a book (in Dutch) at the end. I've never seen it, don't own it and have absolutely no vested interest in it or anything involved with it.
cagapakis | March 25, 2010
Cellularity is a new project by James King, a speculative designer working on biotechnology and interaction design. The project focuses on the potential future of smart pharmaceuticals, drug molecules surrounded by membranes that over time as technology advances may come to more and more closely resemble actually living things. He proposes a cellularity scale from totally non-living to really alive artificial cells. This quantification of "aliveness" in a way is something that may need to be done if some of the proposals of synthetic biology come to fruition. When does a membrane surrounding…
grrlscientist | March 25, 2010tags: nature, numbers, geometry, mathematics, Fibonacci sequence, Golden Ratio, Angle Ratio, Delaunay Triangulation, Voronoi Tessellations, filmmaking, animation, Cristobal Vila, Nature by Numbers, streaming video
In this beautiful video, "Nature by Numbers," filmmaker Cristobal Vila presents a series of animations illustrating various mathematic principles, beginning with a breathtaking animation of the Fibonacci Sequence before moving on to the Golden Ratio, the Angle Ratio, the Delaunay Triangulation and Voronoi Tessellations. The words are scary-sounding, but the math is beautiful and the…
grrlscientist | March 25, 2010tags: Resonant Chamber, music, music video, film, animation, technology, computer graphics, Animusic, streaming video
This interesting animation is an argument for how a self-playing harp might work. The one thing that would improve its efficiency is to have a "plucker" that is dedicated to each string (as you see on the bass part of this contraption) rather than have each plucker pick at any or all of the strings. What do you think?
You can learn more at Animusic.
cagapakis | March 24, 2010Happy Ada Lovelace Day! Today we blog to celebrate women in technology and science and remember Ada Lovelace, the woman considered to have written the world's first computer program back in the 1840's.
So to celebrate, here's a clip of an interview with Rita Levi-Montalcini, one of my favorite Sassy Bitches of Scienceâ¢. At age 100, she is the oldest living Nobel laureate, sharp as a tack, still working, and a sassy dresser to boot. Her story is incredible and inspiring (especially in light of what I wrote about yesterday on DIYbio, oppression, and opportunity). Turned away from her position…
rallain | March 24, 2010How does a suction cup work? It is all about the atmosphere. Here is a demo. Take some type of "suction cup" device. In this case, I used a toy dart. Stick it to something smooth and lift it up. Like this:
What lifts up the metal block? The atmosphere. Diagram time:
But this isn't a very realistic diagram. Actually, the suction cup would be pushing down on the block because the force from the atmosphere would be too large to balance with the weight. Let me put some numbers in here. Suppose this is an aluminum block - I just going to pretend it is 4cm on a side (and a cube). In…
grrlscientist | March 24, 2010tags: condoms, manufacturing, technology, factory, education, streaming video
Well, now this is an interesting video: how condoms are made. The manufacturing process is actually quite interesting, and my favorite part was stress-testing the condoms. I wonder what the people who work in that factory say when asked at a dinner party what they do for a living?
grrlscientist | March 24, 2010tags: bear sighting, wildlife, news reporting, slow news day, WJW Fox 8 Cleveland, television, humor, funny, fucking hilarious, streaming video
OMG, THERE'S A BEAR IN MY BACKYARD!!!11!!eleventy!!! This video is an amusing look at what happens when a news reporter and his camera crew clearly have too much time (and technology) on their hands ...
grrlscientist | March 23, 2010tags: nature, stars, astronony, new discovery, amateur astronomer, citizen scientist, supernova, supernova 2008ha , stellar explosion, Caroline Moore, streaming video
There is no age restriction on the chance to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the universe. Caroline Moore, a 14-year-old from Warwick, NY, has made such a mark on astronomy with the discovery of Supernova 2008ha. Not only is she the youngest person to discover a supernova, but this particular supernova has been identified as a different type of stellar explosion.
To borrow one of her favorite words,…
grrlscientist | March 23, 2010tags: Science CAN Answer Moral Questions, philosophy, morality, ethics, behavior, brain, neurobiology, religion, culture, well-being, human rights, human values, Sam Harris, TEDTalks, streaming video
Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can -- and should -- be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life.
Adored by secularists, feared by the pious, Sam Harris' best-selling books argue that religion is ruinous and, worse, stupid -- and that questioning…
grrlscientist | March 22, 2010tags: animal rights, vegans, musical instruments, lamb-gut violin strings, education, streaming video
The best violinists rely on strings that are made from the guts of lambs that are no more than 4 months old at slaughter. Kinda makes you wonder how many vegans and animal rights wingnuts have given up playing and listening to orchestral and other music that relies on gut strings?
grrlscientist | March 22, 2010tags: Eduard Trololo Khil, internet meme, YouTube meme, parody, funny, humor, fucking hilarious, television, streaming video
Yes, I do love this guy! And amazingly enough, he even has a twitter account! Below the fold is a hilarious remix of his original video, along with several news reports about him that might also interest you.
Who is Eduard Khill? Here's a news report from Russian television:
This video is too long to translate but (a Russian and English speaking video viewer writes) my favorite part was when the reporter said "We don't understand how Americans turned it from 'lalalala…
grrlscientist | March 21, 2010tags: Life, Discovery Channel, Reptiles and Amphibians, Waterfall Toad Leap from Danger, animals, mammals, birds, BBC, television, streaming video
Gail Weiswasser at the Discovery channel emailed a few days ago to tell me about TONIGHT's premiere on the Discovery Channel of BBC's LIFE, the 11-part follow up to PLANET EARTH (the most successful natural history documentary of all time). While PLANET EARTH told the story of the natural world through the framework of our planet's ecosystems and regions, LIFE takes us on a more intimate journey, introducing different animal and plant groups, using…