Stunning timing! xkcd’s newest strip is on the subject of physicists. Why am I wittering about timing? Well, given that I’ve just written a post about physicists explaining what’s going on, it’s pretty awesome synchronicity. Oh yes, and we do laughing at them a little, as well :) [HT: Jason for sending me the link, […]
physics
The mathematics of war
War! Hngh! What is it good for? Well, the development of some interesting mathematics, if nothing else. And raised eyebrows. And scheming/strategising. Last Monday morning (yes yes, I know - been busy, ‘k?!) I successfully managed to hie myself off to Dr Sean Gourley’s speech about, you guessed it, the mathematics of war. Or, to […]
A year on, a reprise or two
So, I’ve now officially been at this blogging thing for a little over a year. And, inspired by Darcy’s latest post (feat. the number 191), I thought I’d, well, also have a small celebration. Yay! /dons party hat and places squeaker at the ready Also, when sciblogs syndicated my content, it didn’t pull in the […]
Brief interlude: spoon
So, because I realise I have been remiss in posting over the last few days*. And also because I’m currently writing something somewhat more complex: I bring you sciencey spoon-related humour. A word of introduction. Some time ago, in a country fairly far away, the BBC decided to implement a terrestrial version of the Hitchhiker’s […]
Dark say what now?
Dark energy. Dark matter. Anti-matter. Que? Yes, I know it looks like it’s some sort of puzzle, and the next in the series is anti-energy or some such thing. But nope, it’s not. And for anyone who’s familiar with these concepts (or adept at using Wiki), feel free to stop reading now. The reason for […]
Bacteria build pyramids
Yay! And true. Not the ones with which we’re all familiar, of course (and by these I am referring to the Giza structures). [Interesting sidenote: bacteria are capable of building structures with sand, which they turn into sandstone, and there’s a fascinating TED talk which looks at how this ability could be used to build […]
Would you like something scanned with an electron microscope?
Of course you would! Who wouldn’t? And have it you can. As I came into the work this morning, blearily clearing emails as I attempted to mainline some caffeine, I came upon an email most arresting. From an American company, ASPEX, it said that the company in question had a bit of an offer going […]
Stunning science imagery Pt I
Presents for your visual systems today… And we’ll be presenting two different people who’re merging science and visuals in new, and quite effective, ways. I know I have a previous post somewhere (probably on my old blog) about engineering photos as well, but I thought I’d start afresh. So, first up (because I saw it […]
If I was a running shoe manufacturer, I would be worried…
This is brilliant. I’ve heard intimations of it on various websites for the last few months, but it’s always good to see a published paper backing it up. In short, it says that running shoes are not actually necessary for runners. In fact, they may do more to cause damage than to protect. So, the […]
Stunning visions of Mars
Humanity is now the proud owner of some 13,000 photos of Mars taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Monitoring Seasonal Albedo Patterns on South Polar Residual Cap (ESP_014405_0945) Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona The photos were taken by the most powerful camera of any on NASA’s spacecraft - the aptly (if dryly) named High Resolution Imaging […]