thescian | August 28, 2006I thoroughly enjoy the Last Word feature of New Scientist where the readers pose and answer questions amongst themselves. The questions are hilarious sometimes and always informative. Case in point: The question about the awful smell of human droppings.
Another question asked and yet unanswered is this. I am paraphrasing here. "If I try to calculate the number of my ancestors starting with my parents, the numbers don't add up. [My parents + their parents + their parents + .. ] is: [2 + 4 + 16 + ... and so on]. If I continue adding, very soon - within a few generations - I end up with an…
thescian | August 24, 2006A short story at Prospect by Vasily Grossman (Yikes! Just noticed that it needs Subscription to view in full.)
He would look into the dog's eyes. These kind eyes, not the eyes of Niels Bohr, would be the first to look into the cosmos, to see cosmic space that was not limited by the earth's horizon. A space with no wind and only weak gravitational forces, a space where there was no rain, no clouds, no butterflies, a space of photons and electromagnetic waves.
And it seemed to Aleksey Georgievich that Pestrushka's eyes would be able to tell him what they had seen. And he would read and…
thescian | August 24, 2006Thus Spake Zuska - a new blog added to scienceblogs. Zuska spoke thusly,I verbally bludgeon morons, celebrate the fabulousness of techie women, and encourage every female to release her Inner Pissed-Off Woman.
Woot!
thescian | August 24, 2006Here at the University of Michigan website. It is neatly done presentation aimed at you ane me, the intelligent science reader. In other news, a research breakthrough where stem cells can be produced without destroying human embryos might be what researchers were looking for in the US.
thescian | August 24, 2006Apparently, I had screwed up the feed burner feed here. My bloglines subscription for this blog was showing no signs of activity for the past few days. It's fixed now.
thescian | August 24, 2006Omar Khayyám was an accomplished mathematician and an astronomer although he is most often remembered for Rubaiyat. That one line introduction out of way, let's get to the finger part. Khayyám wrote thusly,"The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."
We will all do well to remember that. Now, head over to Sunil's post on Khayyam, Galileo, fundies and the finger salute where he discusses much more and quotes from a recent article in Nature magazine.
thescian | August 23, 2006To nature, the life of an empire is no more than the life of a swarm of bees, and a thousand years are of lesser count than half an hour to you and me. Now the moral of that is that we must not depend on any sort of divine providence to put a stop to war. Providence says, 'Kill one another my children, kill one another to your hearts content. There are plenty more where you came from.' Consequently, if we want the war to stop we must all become conscientious objectors.
I'm not forgetting the gratification that war gives to the instinct of pugnacity and admiration of courage that are so strong…
thescian | August 23, 2006Dilip writes in How the Other Half Lives
,"Malnourishment, particularly of kids, has been in the news in recent weeks and months. In Guna district of Madhya Pradesh (check this photo essay), in Orissa, in Maharashtra's Melghat, and even in Bombay.
Is this a new phenomenon? Not at all. Malnutrition has been an Indian phenomenon for years. By some estimates, over half of India's children are underweight or malnourished today. This is the highest number in the world. In fact, together with our South Asian neighbours, we account for half the world's malnourished children. "
The picture is from…
thescian | August 22, 2006An artful way to expose the unreasonable assumptions we make when we stereotype people. Click around. Surprise yourself. [via]
thescian | August 22, 2006Here's the news at Reuters that's reporting on the gods who shall not be denied the worldly pleasures. After drinking milk, it appears that the next logical step for gods would be fondling udders.Thousands of people flocked to temples across India on Monday following reports that idols of Hindu gods were drinking milk given by devotees as sacred offerings, witnesses said.
Teenagers, adults and the aged stood in long lines with garlands and bowls of milk to feed the idols of Lord Shiva, Lord Krishna and the elephant-headed Lord Ganesha, they said.
Hundreds chanted hymns in the northern city of…
thescian | August 22, 2006The latest Make Podcast has a PDF download that provides some helpful instructions for freezing snails and reviving them back. The snails, I have been informed, take a rather cold view of my characterization about the instructions being 'helpful'. The PDF also has some fascinating history about a scientist called Basile Luyet who did some wild things with freezing (living) things up 50 years ago."I've been told that Luyet would toss two goldfish into some liquid nitrogen," Fahy says. "He would quickly withdraw Goldfish A, which would seem stiff and frozen -- but it would resume wriggling…
thescian | August 19, 2006I know you are curious. It's not the one you think. Find out what it is at witnwisdumb speak.
thescian | August 19, 2006The BBC reports on a religious madness in the great city of Mumbai.Hundreds of people flocked to a beach in the Indian city of Mumbai after reports the seawater had turned sweet.
Several people who drank the muddy water from the Arabian Sea said it had been changed by a miracle and could now cure illnesses.
Authorities in Mumbai said they collected samples for testing but warned against drinking the polluted water because of health risks.
Many saw it as a blessing from Makhdoom Ali Mahimi, a 13th Century Sufi saint.
The pious shall fuck-up the earth. And, they shall drink the sea - even when…
thescian | August 18, 2006Colbert thrashes the new planets. Neil de Grass Tyson, Astrophysicist and Director, Hayden Planetarium, of New York City is on the show. A planet is something that's round?
thescian | August 18, 2006A long and hard look at the current religious and political climate in Europe. I am glad to see the author end the essay with a hopeful note. I was looking for a better understanding of these issues after listening to a muslim colleague describe an incident that happened to him on the train. A woman screamed at him in the train for no apparent reason. It's a cynical world we live in. Have a peaceful weekend.
thescian | August 18, 2006The book tagging meme is back! I love it. Arunn of Nonoscience has a nice list up and has passed on the book love to yours truly. So here goes.
One book that changed your life?"The Real Man" by Boris Polevoi. I read the tamil translation from Mir Publishers.
One book you have read more than once?"Surely you're joking, Mr.Feynman"
One book you would want on a desert island?The Feynman Lectures on Physics
One book that made you laughThe Last Hero by Terry Pratchet. All the Hitchhiker books.
One book that made you cry
None. But, some books brought a lump to my throat. India: A Million Mutinies…
thescian | August 18, 2006Yesterday, as I was talking to my brother-in-law near the Amersham Library park, two young girls aged about 15 walk up to us and one of them says, "EXCUSE ME! Can I have a cigarette?". If I were a psychologist, this would be the time to delve into the development (or retardation) of juvenile minds. You are fortunate. I am not a psychologist. Nevertheless, let me make a few broad observations. It's the perception of smoking being cool that underlies this behavior in children, isn't it? How would they know what Nicotine is? They are young and impressionable. It would be inconceivale for them…
thescian | August 17, 2006Your truly's responses to a bunch of fun questions asked by Seed Magazine's Katharine Sharpe. This would be a weekly feature at Page 3.14, the blog by Seed editors. Keep a tab on the page. More accomplished men and women of science would feature there in future. Enjoy.
thescian | August 17, 2006 A new program at the National Geographic channel that gets into the science of martial arts. [via]
thescian | August 17, 2006Lose what? The thing between our ears, dear reader. New brain cells die if they don't receive any inputs after they are formed. See this report in New Scientist. The experimenters used a virus to block inputs to the newly formed brain cells of a mice.