Real Clever Science

Speaking of "Jedi Mind-Meld"

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:04:46 -0800

Obama is in the news for mixing up star wars and star trek, but the big story is this recent report that scientists were able to connect the brains of two rats so that one could telepathically help answer riddles for the other. Oh, and they were able to do this with pairs of rats on different continents!

Yes, this is real.

RCS Highlights:

…The results of these projects suggest the future potential for linking multiple brains to form what the research team is calling an “organic computer,” which could allow sharing of motor and sensory information among groups of animals…

To test the transmission limits of the brain-to-brain communication, the researchers placed an encoder rat in Brazil… and transmitted its brain signals over the Internet to a decoder rat in Durham, N.C. They found that the two rats could still work together on the tactile discrimination task….

Nicolelis added, “These experiments demonstrated the ability to establish a sophisticated, direct communication linkage between rat brains, and that the decoder brain is working as a pattern-recognition device. So basically, we are creating an organic computer that solves a puzzle.”

“… So, we are creating a single central nervous system made up of two rat brains,” said Nicolelis. He pointed out that, in theory, such a system is not limited to a pair of brains, but instead could include a network of brains, or “brain-net.” …

“We cannot predict what kinds of emergent properties would appear when animals begin interacting as part of a brain-net. In theory, you could imagine that a combination of brains could provide solutions that individual brains cannot achieve by themselves,” continued Nicolelis. Such a connection might even mean that one animal would incorporate another’s sense of “self,” he said…

ahaha, morbid science humor. And remember, no-one can hear your...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 08:30:01 -0800

ahaha, morbid science humor.

And remember, no-one can hear your cussing in space… unless you’re in a space-suit and have a radio.

Remember, play it safe in space: low-fives only!

eat-a-baby: galapagos-style hahah love it! Happy Darwin Day...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:00:03 -0800

eat-a-baby:

galapagos-style

hahah love it!

Happy Darwin Day everyone =]

In which NASA wins at Gangnam Style parodies now and forever....

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 08:30:13 -0800

In which NASA wins at Gangnam Style parodies now and forever. Everyone else go home.

Honestly, I enjoyed it.
Esp that eye roll from the tall white guy in the blue jumpers lol

Preparing for Darwin Day Tomorrow =]

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 10:00:26 -0800

Preparing for Darwin Day Tomorrow =]

How (Not) to Make an Apple Pie From Scratch

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 08:30:05 -0800

How (Not) to Make an Apple Pie From Scratch

parislemon: stoweboyd: What Intersections Would Look Like in a...

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 08:30:02 -0800

parislemon:

stoweboyd:

What Intersections Would Look Like in a World of Driverless Cars

Yikes.

Watch the center. It’s terrifying. But presumably more efficient?

Self driving cars… efficient and terrifying =]

Also, this reminded me of s/t I’ve been kinda musing about: Walking through crowds. So, yes, I know this sounds kinda odd, but I’ve been thinking about how people seemlessly (or not) weave through crowds of people. For instance, when I’m in red square on the UW campus, it’s a fairly busy area, yet I and others are able to weave through effortlessly. Considering the complexity of the traffic - esp compared to something like road traffic - it’s pretty amazing that people aren’t bumping into each-other all the time. In fact, it seems to work seemlessly.

Of course, if you’re in packed crowd, you’re going to bump into people, but I’m just talking about busy areas. I’m just kind of amazed that we can navigate so many variables (multiple people, different paces, irregular paths, random obstacles, etc), and kinda curious what is the breaking-point or factors at which point we can no longer navigate easily. (Seems like the kind of research which could potentially inform the design of high-traffic areas.) And note how much more… human or natural the movement of cars in the video appears to be.

Thoughts?

scienceyoucanlove: This is the Mary River turtle (Elusor...

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 08:30:21 -0800

scienceyoucanlove:

This is the Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus), and its green mohawk is made up of algae. This often covers the shell as well as the head, and helps to camouflage the animal.

Is this symbiosis? If so, should we consider this turtle as being part-algea? (Though I guess we’re then largely bacteria, considering how much we have 10x as many bacterial cells inside us than human cells!)

Also, this photo is awesome.

When you look into space, you’re not just seeing a place,...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 08:30:05 -0800

When you look into space, you’re not just seeing a place, but also seeing a time.

teamepiphany: Smart car takes on a different meaning this time...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 08:30:10 -0800

teamepiphany:

Smart car takes on a different meaning this time around with Audi’s new Pilot parking vehicle. Audi demonstrated the new technology at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show.The protoype Audi has numerous sensors to get in and out of parking spots while communicating with the driver via a smartphone app. The Pilot Parking feature is available on Audi’s iOS app. The software is still in early development phases and is expected to hit the within the decade.

Smart cars! Soon we’ll all have bat-mobile-esque technology =)

Though I think I’m most looking forward to taxis or rental cars that come pick you up at home and drive themselves back. Aside from being convenient for non-car owners, I think it could make it easier for collaborative consumption models like zipcar.

Oh, and it’ll be nice when I don’t have to worry about parallel parking myself!

(And btw, why can’t they just make a car which rolls sideways into a spot? We landed on the moon ages ago, we should be able to tackle this!)

Question: Does anyone know if there’s a system for an...

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 14:01:28 -0800

Question: Does anyone know if there’s a system for an absolute-time scale? By that I mean, by comparison, 2pm Seattle-time is 5pm NY-time. But imagine a system where both use the same time to refer to the same instant. Of course, we could just convert the time by adding three hours, but I’m curious if there’s a system we could use on a universal level, so that people hanging out on jupiter or betelgeuse or wherever could be referring to the exact same instant (even if, bc of the speed of light, we couldn’t communicate simultaneously in that moment as we basically can here across time-zones).

Does something like this exist? What would be the frame of reference? (The big-bang?) Any info or ideas?

"Bruce: Hey that license plate says “U-235.” Sharon: Is that a U-boat number? Bruce: That’s uranium..."

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 13:01:00 -0800

“Bruce: Hey that license plate says “U-235.”
Sharon: Is that a U-boat number?
Bruce: That’s uranium in the periodic table and the number of electrons.
Lance: 235 is the atomic weight.
Bruce: That or the other weight is the kind of uranium used in the bomb.
Sharon: NERDS!
Lance: I heard a couple bought that car and split it.
Sharon: That’s terrible.
Bruce: That joke is a bomb.
Sharon: That’s terrible too.”

- -
Conversation excerpt from 2-hour drive back from Olympia with The Seattle Times editorial board (via sharonchan)

gotta admit, I really like nerd jokes and puns.

Entropy is one of those subjects that continually blows my mind. If you want to read more about negative temperatures, this is the best article I've found so far: "What the Dalai Lama can teach us about temperatures below absolute zero" from Empirical Zeal. I'd include the link, but Tumblr won't let me!

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 10:58:47 -0800

Thanks! Sounds interesting!

Atoms Reach Record Temperature, Colder than Absolute Zero

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:10:12 -0800

So, this is kinda huge news. I’d really like to see more discussion of it, to validate that these findings are legit, and to hopefully explain it better cause right now it’s blowing my mind!

RCS Highlights:

Absolute zero is often thought to be the coldest temperature possible. But now researchers show they can achieve even lower temperatures for a strange realm of “negative temperatures.”..

This unusual advance could lead to new engines that could technically be more than 100 percent efficient, and shed light on mysteries such as dark energy, the mysterious substance that is apparently pulling our universe apart.

An object’s temperature is a measure of how much its atoms move — the colder an object is, the slower the atoms are. At the physically impossible-to-reach temperature of zero kelvin, or minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), atoms would stop moving. As such, nothing can be colder than absolute zero on the Kelvin scale.

Bizarro negative temperatures

To comprehend the negative temperatures scientists have now devised, one might think of temperature as existing on a scale that is actually a loop, not linear. …

At absolute zero, atoms would occupy the lowest energy state. At an infinite temperature, atoms would occupy all energy states. Negative temperatures then are the opposite of positive temperatures — atoms more likely occupy high-energy states than low-energy states…

“Yet the gas is not colder than zero kelvin, but hotter. It is even hotter than at any positive temperature — the temperature scale simply does not end at infinity, but jumps to negative values instead.”

As one might expect, objects with negative temperatures behave in very odd ways… Another odd consequence of negative temperatures has to do with entropy, which is a measure of how disorderly a system is. When objects with positive temperature release energy, they increase the entropy of things around them, making them behave more chaotically. However, when objects with negative temperatures release energy, they can actually absorb entropy…

So, the whole article is really fascinating, but that idea about “absorbing entropy” is particularly interested for me. I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve always wondered if we could use natural entropy processes as a form of energy, since it directs events along certain paths. And yeah, maybe it is completely outlandish, but it’s fun to dream.

FYI, A woodchuck could chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 23:06:20 -0800

I have a question that will stump you, how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 16:18:16 -0800

overlooked technologies - how about the contribution of textile technology to transit? from sails to saddle blankets to safety belts, textiles have made a significant contribution to travel that most people wouldn't think of.

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 14:14:56 -0800

Interesting point. In fact, textiles are a huge part of life in general and we probably fail to appreciate how much it effects our lives. Esp since we started creating synthetic materials. Thanks jabberwookiee!

Can you please follow me I love your account and am new to tumblr!! Thanks

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 14:13:55 -0800

I’m soo sorry, but I really can’t! I have a hard enough time keeping track of the ones I already follow - and am really way behind!

But I do encourage all the sock enthusiasts to check it out.

Cheers!

What do you think is a discovery that is often over looked but had a large impact on its field?

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:32:34 -0800

Figuring out how to make paper from tree pulp. (That’s the best I have offhand for such a surprising and excellent question.) Or maybe biblical criticism/archaeology.

How about you followers? Any ideas?

Your blog is absolutely amazing! xo

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:27:40 -0800