tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477622794145784182024-02-18T22:09:23.266-08:00Poetry of PhysicsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-36571969143757445322015-05-27T22:00:00.000-07:002015-05-27T22:01:51.862-07:00Five Stars: The Science Behind Social Media Reviews<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Where’s your first stop when trying to find that perfect restaurant for a fancy date tonight? Or when researching a bed and breakfast for a weekend away with friends? Before blindly booking, most of us turn to social media. We scan online reviews, check out photos from events, and scrutinize travel sites to read about other people’s experiences. Negative reviews raise red flags for us, while positive ones reassure us that our choice is right. (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Fake reviews</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> are a whole ‘nother story...)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Here, I’ve analyzed social media reviews to quantify how each platform facilitates a different type of conversation. Reviewers liked to comment on everything and the kitchen-sink, however by focusing in on Yelp, Instagram and TripAdvisor reviews, I’m able to see some trends across social media. The top three categories I took a look at were:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Product</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Operations</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Food</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How do you know whether the place that’s just opened across the street is a good one? You go to Yelp and check them out! Product reviews were 1.3x higher on Yelp, and 1x higher on Instagram, and made up just over 19% of conversational categories across social media. Although there were a fair number of product-related conversations happening on TripAdvisor, it’s at a much lower incidence than the other social media sites and lower than the overall average. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Over 22% of reviews across social media included an image along with the reviewer’s commentary on the particular product. Furthermore, regardless of category, images were usually tied to positive reviews rather than negative ones.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Operations</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">While people didn’t go to TripAdivsor to rate products, they instead took a keener interest in operations than any other site did. Operations made up over 17% of the conversations of the travel review site, a rate 4.5x higher than overall. People wrote warnings to “beware the road construction” and that hotels or rooms were “noisy noisy noisy!”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">An interesting note: People seem to rarely complain or talk about safety and damage claims on social media. Perhaps they send those directly to the managers responsible instead.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Food</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pass the salt, please! The mentions of food on Yelp was 1.6x higher and TripAdvisor 1.4x higher than the rest of the online reviews we looked at and was diverse in terms of responses; overall, food was mentioned in 13% of the conversations with almost 8% accompanied by an image.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Screen Shot 2014-12-05 at 4.32.41 PM.png" height="295px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/AaGDchX_basnbBGLnjWBVlcS331-LrxolgAAFGXIQm08ipMDEwbUdjD6-6lysMkBDegX3vTyzTW2AokyIVBn6nk_VkWNiEBIXQCgVMRA7F4oxFddz4OItMuQRRl-jpgeQ8PcxpY" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="449px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Reviews were mixed; words such as “delicious” were unambiguously positive while words such as “awful” indicated disappointment with a dining experience. Perhaps surprisingly, the appearance of “good” in a review didn’t necessarily point to a pleasurable experience. It was frequently accompanied by modifiers such as “but” as in “The sauce was good, but the tortillas weren’t fried” or “the food is never as good as we hope…”. It’s a mixed bag of reviews but that’s unsurprising, considering it’s </span><a href="http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/4944" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">recently been suggested</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> that writing a negative review is a way to psychologically deal with a bad experience. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yelp reviewers didn’t tend to post photos in addition to their review — but that’s what people went to Instagram for. When discussing banquet events, people snapped photos and uploaded them to Instagram at a rate </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">over 3x higher</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> than the overall. As events are dominated by photos in social media — and Instagram is entirely photo-driven — it’s possible that people are taking those pictures to commemorate positive experiences, events, and celebrations. (Of course, you could be just trying to </span><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/07/instagram_and_self_esteem_why_the_photo_sharing_network_is_even_more_depressing.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">one-up your Facebook and Instagram friends</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The takeaway? Next time you see someone capturing a quick picture of their meal, you can safely bet your friends that it’s ending up on Instagram rather than Yelp or TripAdvisor.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-78968567026003847592014-08-12T11:25:00.000-07:002014-08-12T11:25:31.463-07:00The Global Shifts of the World's Cultural Hubs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4gIhRkCcD4U?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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For millennia, thinkers, artists and business people have been drawn to the big city. These cultural hubs foster the exchange of money and ideas, and people have crossed land and sea to spend their days at the center of civilization. Yet the dominance of any one cultural hub doesn't hold forever, and over the years cities have gone through booms and busts in popularity.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">This animation above distills hundreds of years of culture into just five minutes. A team of historians and scientists wanted to map cultural mobility, so they tracked the births and deaths of notable individuals like David, King of Israel, and Leonardo da Vinci, from 600 BC to the present day. Using them as a proxy for skills and ideas, their map reveals intellectual hotspots and tracks how empires rise and crumble</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The information comes from Freebase, a Google-owned database of well-known people and places, and other catalogues of notable individuals. The visualization was created by Maximilian Schich (University of Texas at Dallas) and Mauro Martino (IBM).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">You can read the <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6196/558" target="_blank">research paper in Science</a> or check out <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/humanity-s-cultural-history-captured-in-5-minute-film-1.15650" target="_blank">Nature's news story</a> for more information.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-58119650145969343152014-07-22T09:49:00.002-07:002014-07-22T09:49:51.541-07:00To Infinity and Beyond: Why the Moon Landing Couldn't Have Been FakedThere's a steadfast group of people who claim that the U.S. faked the moon landing. Since we've just passed the <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/newsweek-rewind-45th-anniversary-man-walking-moon-259898" target="_blank">anniversary of the day</a> Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon for the first time, it seems appropriate to share this video. Created by a filmmaker, this video goes over exactly how the film technology of the time worked, and how it would have been impossible to fake the moon landing using it. Enjoy!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/sGXTF6bs1IU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-334158333109028732014-06-16T16:05:00.002-07:002014-06-18T13:47:40.084-07:00Let Uber and Lift Roll<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioHUBg0LumFyR9HJw7Sdgox1YG21t90E4p7X0mHoRDqebtSNx4io3jS4xKiYQUIWpFs8V30mz0GVpFtmekdnRrjziTK_U6hXP-X2gC3lJO6wki1TclhpZir-ca2x779BvIKGNbCJ_N0hI/s1600/1024px-Yellow_cabs_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioHUBg0LumFyR9HJw7Sdgox1YG21t90E4p7X0mHoRDqebtSNx4io3jS4xKiYQUIWpFs8V30mz0GVpFtmekdnRrjziTK_U6hXP-X2gC3lJO6wki1TclhpZir-ca2x779BvIKGNbCJ_N0hI/s1600/1024px-Yellow_cabs_2.jpg" height="248" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture courtesy of Ad Meskens</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0.2879999876022339px; line-height: 21.599998474121094px;">Technological innovation sometimes makes laws obsolete. </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0.2879999876022339px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Consider the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_flag_laws" style="border: 0px; color: #f37221; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">“Red Flag Laws”</a> of the late 19th century, which required early automobiles traveling on </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0.2879999876022339px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">roads to be preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag in order to warn others on horses of the vehicle’s </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0.2879999876022339px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">approach. </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0.2879999876022339px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Today, most states require cars traveling on roads to have a human driver at the wheel—a regulation that to </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0.2879999876022339px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">our descendants will sound just as preposterous as flag-waving does to us.</span><br />
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<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The current approach that </span></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">the Commonwealth of Virginia is now taking against ride-sharing apps Uber and Lyft is to </span><span style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">just prohibit the new technology until it can be squared with the law. No outright ban </span><span style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">is necessary; the government just mindlessly enforces an obsoleted law until it is changed. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Last week, Richard D. Holcomb, Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2014/06/05/virginia-officials-order-uber-lyft-to-stop-operating-in-the-state/" style="border: 0px; color: #f37221; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">sent letters</a> to </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">the companies instructing them to cease and desist all operations in Virginia until they obtain “proper </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">authority.” Such proper authority doesn’t really mean a taxicab permit from the state, since Uber and Lyft </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">are not really taxicab companies. Instead, proper authority will come when the legislature changes the law to </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">accommodate the new technology.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“As you know,” Holcomb wrote to Uber, “DMV is actively studying Virginia’s passenger carrier laws and </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">business models such as Uber. DMV has invited Uber and other stakeholders to participate in this study </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">and will produce a final report before the next legislative session. I strongly suggest that Uber focus its </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">resources on participation in this study rather than continue illegal operations in the meantime.”</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Everything which is not permitted is forbidden, seems to be the message, even if the innovation is not only </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">harmless, but actually improves on the rationale for the law.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Taxicab regulations exist to cure the “information </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">asymmetry” between passenger and taxi driver. “A would-be passenger on a curb can’t see (or smell) the </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">cab’s interior, can’t assess the driver’s record or confirm that the driver knows his way around,” he writes. </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Typically, no other cabs are immediately available, so customers can’t feasibly walk away if they think </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">it’ll be a bad deal.”</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The way to address this market failure has been regulation: license drivers and regulate prices. In contrast, </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">with Uber, Lyft, and other ride-sharing platforms, passengers rate drivers and vice versa, so you know what </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">you’re getting into before you get in the car. Everyone’s incentive is to be on their best behavior because </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">poorly rated players are kicked out. “Uber and its competitor, Lyft, solved the asymmetric information </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">problem plaguing the traditional taxi model and obviated the need for state regulators,” writes Mitchell.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Yet even though anyone who’s ever used these services in Virginia can tell you that Uber and Lyft are </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">quicker, safer, cleaner, and cheaper than taxis, the DMV wants to ban the services until they can develop a </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">study and have the legislature give its consent.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Public </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">officials also have a responsibility to exercise discretion in the public interest. It’s clear that the Virginia </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">legislature did not anticipate the invention of platforms like Uber and Lyft when they designed their motor </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">carrier laws, so it would be perfectly reasonable for the DMV to work with the legislature to clarify the law </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">without first banning the services.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The DMV’s alternative, telling Uber and Lyft that they must cease operating because their services don’t </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">fit into any of the regulatory buckets it manages, is pathetically robotic and a disservice to the people of </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Virginia.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0.2879999876022339px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Because officials often have little incentive to abstain from mindlessly enforcing regulations, we should require them to exercise discretion</span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">. For example, <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/160" style="border: 0px; color: #f37221; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Section 10</a> of the Communications </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Act of 1996 requires the FCC to “forbear from applying any regulation or any provision of this chapter ... </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">if the Commission determines that enforcement of such regulation or provision is not necessary” to achieve </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">the purpose of the law. This hasn’t worked as well as one would hope, but it’s a start.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0.2879999876022339px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rather than react defensively, regulators should allow for permission-less innovation </span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">while they determine if and how they will ultimately proceed. </span><span style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Virginia still has an opportunity to show leadership in the face of technological change. It should let Uber </span><span style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">and Lyft roll.</span></div>
</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-55577735484122899882014-05-20T22:20:00.001-07:002014-05-20T22:20:29.048-07:00The Mystery of DNA Explained<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/60747882?title=0&byline=0&color=ffcd1e" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/60747882">BBC Knowledge Explainer DNA</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/territorystudio">Territory</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
<br />
BBC Knowledge and Learning is exploring a wide variety of topics from social history to science in a series of three-minute online Explainer documentaries, and commissioned Territory (territorystudio.com) to produce an animated film on the subject of DNA.<br />
<br />
As Will Samuel, lead designer and animator on the project explains, the approach taken wasn’t just to look into a scientific future. “We needed to find a graphic style to communicate the beauty and intricacy of DNA. We wanted to create nostalgia; taking the audience back to the days of textbook diagrams and old science documentaries, such as Carl Sagan's COSMOS and IBM’s POWER OF TEN (1977). Using the double helix circular theme as a core design we focused on form, movement and colour to create a consistent flow to the animation, drawing on references from nature, illustrating how DNA is the core to everything around us.”<br />
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Three minutes is a short time to explore a subject where most doctorates only scratch the surface, so writer Andrew S. Walsh teamed up with molecular biologist Dr Matthew Adams to distil the script down to the most fundamental elements required to understand not only DNA’s form and function but how our understanding of these discoveries has affected the wider world. While this length may feel restrictive, the team found that this limitation acted as a lens, focusing the piece on the essentials.<br />
<br />
The Explainer series is designed to intrigue and inform, encouraging those who discover the documentaries to further explore through links to additional information found on the BBC website.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-89367239700096203792014-05-04T08:37:00.000-07:002014-05-04T08:37:05.880-07:00Kentucky Derby Winners<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2LA4GlPimiPYLasa-h_DlS34A2TSJsT6QRWld1HKgZ2rvCqEUKOgOFTR0ijRwGaliUIL1gmoFL0ETDmQda1nm9cmePhNHwivNNVkiWPfQEjYkIkSj2wCq8eTjstsMGxgF6Hl9lssHm2U/s1600/California-Chrome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="California Chrome Kentucky Derby Winner" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2LA4GlPimiPYLasa-h_DlS34A2TSJsT6QRWld1HKgZ2rvCqEUKOgOFTR0ijRwGaliUIL1gmoFL0ETDmQda1nm9cmePhNHwivNNVkiWPfQEjYkIkSj2wCq8eTjstsMGxgF6Hl9lssHm2U/s1600/California-Chrome.jpg" height="320" title="" width="250" /></a></div>
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<br />
In honor of today's Kentucky Derby win by California Chrome, I thought I'd post a breakdown of past Triple Crown winners in the hopes that California Chrome makes his way onto that list.<br />
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<h3>
<span class="mw-headline" id="Triple_Crown_winners">Triple Crown winners</span></h3>
<table class="wikitable" style="color: black;"><caption>List of U.S. Triple Crown Winners</caption><tbody>
<tr><th scope="col" style="width: 75px;">Year</th><th scope="col" style="width: 150px;">Winner</th><th scope="col" style="width: 150px;">Jockey</th><th scope="col" style="width: 150px;">Trainer</th><th scope="col" style="width: 150px;">Owner</th><th scope="col" style="width: 150px;">Breeder</th></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">1919</th><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Barton" title="Sir Barton">Sir Barton</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Loftus" title="Johnny Loftus">Johnny Loftus</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Guy_Bedwell" title="H. Guy Bedwell">H. Guy Bedwell</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._L._Ross" title="J. K. L. Ross">J. K. L. Ross</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Madden" title="John E. Madden">John E. Madden</a></td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">1930</th><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallant_Fox" title="Gallant Fox">Gallant Fox</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Sande" title="Earl Sande">Earl Sande</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._Fitzsimmons" title="James E. Fitzsimmons">Jim Fitzsimmons</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belair_Stud" title="Belair Stud">Belair Stud</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belair_Stud" title="Belair Stud">Belair Stud</a></td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">1935</th><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaha_(horse)" title="Omaha (horse)">Omaha</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Saunders" title="Willie Saunders">Willie Saunders</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._Fitzsimmons" title="James E. Fitzsimmons">Jim Fitzsimmons</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belair_Stud" title="Belair Stud">Belair Stud</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belair_Stud" title="Belair Stud">Belair Stud</a></td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">1937</th><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Admiral" title="War Admiral">War Admiral</a></td><td><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Kurtsinger" title="Charley Kurtsinger">Charley Kurtsinger</a></td><td><a class="new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_H._Conway&action=edit&redlink=1" title="George H. Conway (page does not exist)">George H. Conway</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_D._Riddle" title="Samuel D. Riddle">Samuel D. Riddle</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_D._Riddle" title="Samuel D. Riddle">Samuel D. Riddle</a></td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">1941</th><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlaway" title="Whirlaway">Whirlaway</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Arcaro" title="Eddie Arcaro">Eddie Arcaro</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_A._Jones" title="Ben A. Jones">Ben A. Jones</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumet_Farm" title="Calumet Farm">Calumet Farm</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumet_Farm" title="Calumet Farm">Calumet Farm</a></td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">1943</th><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Fleet" title="Count Fleet">Count Fleet</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Longden" title="Johnny Longden">Johnny Longden</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Duncan_Cameron" title="Gregory Duncan Cameron">Don Cameron</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Hertz" title="John D. Hertz">Fannie Hertz</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Hertz" title="John D. Hertz">Fannie Hertz</a></td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">1946</th><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_(horse)" title="Assault (horse)">Assault</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Mehrtens" title="Warren Mehrtens">Warren Mehrtens</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Hirsch" title="Max Hirsch">Max Hirsch</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Ranch" title="King Ranch">King Ranch</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Ranch" title="King Ranch">King Ranch</a></td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">1948</th><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_(horse)" title="Citation (horse)">Citation</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Arcaro" title="Eddie Arcaro">Eddie Arcaro</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_A._Jones" title="Horace A. Jones">Horace A. Jones</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumet_Farm" title="Calumet Farm">Calumet Farm</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumet_Farm" title="Calumet Farm">Calumet Farm</a></td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">1973</th><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretariat_(horse)" title="Secretariat (horse)">Secretariat</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Turcotte" title="Ron Turcotte">Ron Turcotte</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucien_Laurin" title="Lucien Laurin">Lucien Laurin</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Chenery" title="Penny Chenery">Meadow Stable</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Chenery" title="Christopher Chenery">Meadow Stud</a></td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">1977</th><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Slew" title="Seattle Slew">Seattle Slew</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Cruguet" title="Jean Cruguet">Jean Cruguet</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Turner,_Jr." title="William H. Turner, Jr.">William H. Turner, Jr.</a></td><td><a class="new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karen_L._Taylor&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Karen L. Taylor (page does not exist)">Karen L. Taylor</a></td><td><a class="new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ben_S._Castleman&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Ben S. Castleman (page does not exist)">Ben S. Castleman</a></td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">1978</th><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmed" title="Affirmed">Affirmed</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Cauthen" title="Steve Cauthen">Steve Cauthen</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laz_Barrera" title="Laz Barrera">Laz Barrera</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Wolfson" title="Louis Wolfson">Harbor View Farm</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Wolfson" title="Louis Wolfson">Harbor View Farm</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
<span class="mw-headline" id="Failed_Triple_Crown_attempts">Failed Triple Crown attempts</span></h3>
The following horses won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness but were beaten in the Belmont:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pensive" title="Pensive">Pensive</a> (1944): second to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounding_Home" title="Bounding Home">Bounding Home</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tam_(horse)" title="Tim Tam (horse)">Tim Tam</a> (1958): second to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavan_(horse)" title="Cavan (horse)">Cavan</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carry_Back" title="Carry Back">Carry Back</a> (1961): seventh to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherluck" title="Sherluck">Sherluck</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Dancer" title="Northern Dancer">Northern Dancer</a> (1964): third to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrangle_(horse)" title="Quadrangle (horse)">Quadrangle</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kauai_King" title="Kauai King">Kauai King</a> (1966): fourth to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amberoid" title="Amberoid">Amberoid</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_Pass_(horse)" title="Forward Pass (horse)">Forward Pass</a> (1968): second to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_Door_Johnny" title="Stage Door Johnny">Stage Door Johnny</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_Prince" title="Majestic Prince">Majestic Prince</a> (1969): second to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Letters" title="Arts and Letters">Arts and Letters</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonero_II" title="Canonero II">Canonero II</a> (1971): fourth to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pass_Catcher" title="Pass Catcher">Pass Catcher</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacular_Bid" title="Spectacular Bid">Spectacular Bid</a> (1979): third to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastal_(horse)" title="Coastal (horse)">Coastal</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasant_Colony" title="Pleasant Colony">Pleasant Colony</a> (1980): third to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summing" title="Summing">Summing</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alysheba" title="Alysheba">Alysheba</a> (1987): fourth to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bet_Twice" title="Bet Twice">Bet Twice</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Silence" title="Sunday Silence">Sunday Silence</a> (1989): second to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Goer" title="Easy Goer">Easy Goer</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Charm" title="Silver Charm">Silver Charm</a> (1997): second to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_Gold" title="Touch Gold">Touch Gold</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Quiet" title="Real Quiet">Real Quiet</a> (1998): second to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Gallop" title="Victory Gallop">Victory Gallop</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charismatic_(horse)" title="Charismatic (horse)">Charismatic</a> (1999): third to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_Drop_Kid" title="Lemon Drop Kid">Lemon Drop Kid</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Emblem" title="War Emblem">War Emblem</a> (2002): eighth to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarava" title="Sarava">Sarava</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funny_Cide" title="Funny Cide">Funny Cide</a> (2003): third to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Maker" title="Empire Maker">Empire Maker</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarty_Jones" title="Smarty Jones">Smarty Jones</a> (2004): second to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdstone" title="Birdstone">Birdstone</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brown" title="Big Brown">Big Brown</a> (2008): Did Not Finish to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da%27_Tara" title="Da' Tara">Da' Tara</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ll_Have_Another" title="I'll Have Another">I'll Have Another</a> (2012): Did Not Start to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Rags" title="Union Rags">Union Rags</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
Good luck, California Chrome! </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-40460744295016463762014-04-09T13:05:00.004-07:002014-04-09T19:29:25.831-07:00The Reason for the Earth’s Seasons as Explained From Space<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/LUW51lvIFjg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1.1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The reason for the Earth’s seasons is succinctly explained using space imagery in this <a href="http://youtu.be/FmCJqykN2J0" style="border: 0px; color: #009933; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">2011 video</a> from <a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/" style="border: 0px; color: #009933; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">NASA Earth Observatory</a>. As the year goes on, and the Sun’s rays hit the Earth differently based on the planet’s relative position to it, the seasons change. Winter in a hemisphere is essentially a lack of sunlight.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1.1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The four images below, starting with the upper left and going clockwise, show the way sunlight hit the Earth on December 21st, 2010, followed by March 20th, 2011, then June 21st, 2011, and finally September 20th, 2011. Each was taken at 6:12AM using the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (<a href="http://www.esa.int/esapub/bulletin/bullet111/chapter4_bul111.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #009933; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">SEVIRI</a>) on <a href="http://www.eumetsat.int/website/home/Satellites/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #009933; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">EUMETSAT</a>‘s Meteosat-9 meteorological satellite in geosynchronous orbit.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkxeeDrlN4w69Sz1cX77nCD4HMTfXo6Vx7aXHrQAAK05XOuySdqNg2nhOeIQAVRLsr3NkkXkGSKweCVhyphenhyphen3gSuBWtoEQAoaI-3Q_gxQLu7F_xm18lhmcGKHEPQnLvOcIOD2GOqKzbXhvds/s1600/seasons_msg_2010-2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Seasons of Space" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkxeeDrlN4w69Sz1cX77nCD4HMTfXo6Vx7aXHrQAAK05XOuySdqNg2nhOeIQAVRLsr3NkkXkGSKweCVhyphenhyphen3gSuBWtoEQAoaI-3Q_gxQLu7F_xm18lhmcGKHEPQnLvOcIOD2GOqKzbXhvds/s1600/seasons_msg_2010-2011.jpg" height="400" title="" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 22.399999618530273px; text-align: start;">Image via </span><a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=52248" style="border: 0px; color: #009933; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">NASA/Robert Simmon</a></span></span></h4>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-88046356322396260312014-04-07T15:53:00.000-07:002014-04-07T15:53:38.889-07:00Life Cycle of Bees<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio5Lfv1F9EstcchZgd3P0OVg8jmSNOhDLNxJjUF2aW69aAGex9xr9x2sNUQJ3ujC3StJVh6Nua1tevVb7zbsPrZtRoXRhR0dBcRYe64-9-em6g_TNQL564Jkmm8Hl1b-kmiDW8RBR4AiI/s1600/2-golden-dusting-1600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio5Lfv1F9EstcchZgd3P0OVg8jmSNOhDLNxJjUF2aW69aAGex9xr9x2sNUQJ3ujC3StJVh6Nua1tevVb7zbsPrZtRoXRhR0dBcRYe64-9-em6g_TNQL564Jkmm8Hl1b-kmiDW8RBR4AiI/s1600/2-golden-dusting-1600.jpg" height="269" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Crow Bee dusted in Sunflower pollen. Source: <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/140114-bee-native-macro-photography-insects-science/#.U0Mk1a1dX-2" target="_blank">Sam Droege</a>, UCGS.</td></tr>
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During the spring, summer, and fall most forager bees work themselves to death. <br />
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Foragers are typically weakened by three weeks of "backbreaking" labor. A weak bee will be eaten by predators — wasps love weak bees! — or find themselves unable to continue on a long flight, dying away from the hive. Bees rely on glycogen stores in their fat bodies to provide energy for their flight muscles. This is laid down during their larval and young adult life stages, but not continually added to at a sufficient rate when foraging. As a result, they 'run out of fuel' while foraging and become unable to fly. Death then occurs usually through a secondary medium (predation, hypothermia, starvation, etc.).<br />
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Bees which do not fly, such as the queen or overwintering bees, can have lifespans of months or years — and foraging bees, which have become flightless, can be made to fly again for extended periods when artificially provided with glycogen. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnwSJH-FAi7Wo-kYc-b3qdwxlr4nuSWZd1Lp4eWpTNOK4gxoQRN_wzmxZ_iuI0or977Vd8ZcZcA2OWl1AZxNDN_ljlhPstApBkLrwqGPCFkQ6VPgsRMDYgBPCCJ9i2NU_MPHxNi3xgSI/s1600/ColonyLifeCycle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnwSJH-FAi7Wo-kYc-b3qdwxlr4nuSWZd1Lp4eWpTNOK4gxoQRN_wzmxZ_iuI0or977Vd8ZcZcA2OWl1AZxNDN_ljlhPstApBkLrwqGPCFkQ6VPgsRMDYgBPCCJ9i2NU_MPHxNi3xgSI/s1600/ColonyLifeCycle.jpg" height="320" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="http://pollinator.org/beeissues.htm" target="_blank">Pollinator </a></td></tr>
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Plenty of bees die inside and around the hive, and caretaker bees will carry them out. However, depending on how hygienic the particular colony is, they may not carry them away from the hive. Plenty of hives have tons of dead bees on the ground around them and are perfectly healthy.<br />
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In beekeeping, the term 'Hygienic bees' is used to refer top particular traits of a colony, colonies or lineage, where the bees perform more hygienic actions. This predominantly refers to self-cleaning, in relation to <a href="http://beecare.bayer.com/media-center/news/news-detail/a-new-way-of-protecting-bees-against-varroa-mites">varroa</a>. This often refers to certain stock that has originated in Russia, where bees had earliest exposure to varroa mites, and thus have had the longest to adapt to this parasite and begin to show 'hygienic' behaviors. However, in the most part it is something that has been selected for by bee breeders.<br />
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Bee hives on stands are more likely to leave dead bees lying around the outside of the hive but highly hygienic bees will carry the dead further away from the hive. (The primary source of disease transmission has little to do with how far the bees carry away the dead.)<br />
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If you want to explore just how truly beautiful bees can be, check out the high resolution images on the <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/140114-bee-native-macro-photography-insects-science/#.Uz7FYKhdW3M">National Geographic</a>. There's also a cool article on why <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/05/13/183704091/what-is-it-about-bees-and-hexagons">honeycombs are hexagons</a>.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-61554124452328559362014-04-05T14:10:00.000-07:002014-04-05T14:10:04.927-07:00Physiological Underpinnings of Political Ideology<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/142960723&color=ff5500" width="100%"></iframe>
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"We know that liberals and conservatives are really deeply different on a variety of things," Hibbing explains on the latest episode of the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inquiring-minds/id711675943" target="_blank">Inquiring Minds podcast</a> (stream above). "It runs from their tastes, to their cognitive patterns—how they think about things, what they pay attention to—to their physical reactions. We can measure their sympathetic nervous systems, which is the fight-or-flight system. And liberals and conservatives tend to respond very differently."
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<br />
This episode of <a href="http://t.co/CQ9WZRPMFO">Inquiring Minds</a>, a podcast hosted by neuroscientist and musician Indre Viskontas and best-selling author Chris Mooney, also features a discussion of whether we are <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/two-reports-point-possible-future-aids-cure-n45371" target="_blank">finally on the verge</a> of curing AIDS, and <a href="http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/14/2987/2014/acp-14-2987-2014.pdf" target="_blank">new research</a> (covered by Grist <a href="http://grist.org/list/old-timey-sunset-paintings-shed-light-on-pollutions-past/" target="_blank">here</a>) suggesting that great landscape painters, like JMW Turner, were actually able to capture the trace of volcanic eruptions, and other forms of air pollution, in the color of their sunsets.<br />
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<i>To catch future shows right when they are released, subscribe to </i>Inquiring Minds <i>via</i> <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inquiring-minds/id711675943" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>iTunes </i></a><i>or</i><i> </i><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/inquiring-minds" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>RSS</i></a><i>. </i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-72324027173817752622014-04-04T08:30:00.000-07:002014-04-04T08:30:01.423-07:00A Sea in Space: Scientists Announce Saturn's Moon has a Watery Ocean<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Scientists have confirmed today that Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, has a watery ocean. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/apr/03/ocean-enceladus-alien-life-water-saturn-moon" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> has an excellent article discussing how "water is not the only factor that makes Enceladus such a
promising habitat. The water is in contact with the moon's rocky core,
so elements useful for life, such as phosphorus, sulfur and potassium,
will leach into the ocean."<br />
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Previously, Europa — another of Saturn's moons — was considered the place that was
most likely for mankind to find life on. Europa also has a liquid ocean but
it also has an oxygen atmosphere. On the other hand on Enceladus we now
have contact from the rocky core. So what's the ocean on Europa in contact with, if not a rocky core? <br />
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Europa and Enceladus</h3>
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Europa has a drastically different structure than Enceladus.
If you compare the densities:<br />
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<li>Europa: 3.01 g/cm³ </li>
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<li>Enceladus: 1.61 g/cm³ </li>
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In general, the further from Sun you go, the sparser the material gets. Mercury is the closest to the Sun and has a large metallic core, Mars is already much less dense than Earth, and the trend continues in the outer Solar system. (Jupiter has a similar trend inside its moon system, where Io and Europa are denser than Ganymede and Callisto).
This is because more volatile material was pushed to the outside regions of Solar system during formation, leaving denser materials closer to the Sun.<br />
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Jupiter probably had a similar effect on its moons, as it probably generated a lot of heat through gravitational contraction and accretion during the early stages of formation. This means that while Europa has a similar structure to Earth's Moon and Mars, with a rocky crust and mantle and a small metallic core (compared to Earth).
Enceladus was formed from material with much less heavier materials and much more ices (water, ammonia, methane - which are in general more abundant in space than rocks or metals). This means that it has, in theory, an icy, not rocky crust and mantle, and a rocky core, with only traces of metals.<br />
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What this study shows is that at least a part of its icy mantle is molten, similar to how Earth's asthenosphere (upper mantle) is ductile - partially molten.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-23820458021982400062014-04-03T22:00:00.002-07:002014-04-03T22:04:18.293-07:00Meteorite Almost Hits Norwegian Skydiver<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it slows down and ionizes molecules around it; it is this blazing track across the sky that is called a meteor.
When the light disappears, the meteorite enters the stage called "dark flight"; it then no longer travels at an angle, but falls straight down.<br />
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“It has never happened before that a meteorite has been filmed during dark flight; this is the first time in world history,” said Amundsen.
That fact means that the meteorite, which Amundsen says would normally be worth a few hundred thousand kroner, is actually far more valuable than its weight would suggest.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-6689325587204924512014-03-17T13:24:00.001-07:002014-03-17T13:24:06.943-07:00Gravitational Waves Cause By Cosmic Inflation<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ZlfIVEy_YOA?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Stanford professor, Andrei Linde, is surprised with the news regarding today's potential major scientific breakthrough.<br />
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It was announced today that the BICEP2 cosmic microwave background telescope at the South Pole has detected the first evidence of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_waves" target="_blank">gravitational waves</a> caused by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_(cosmology)" target="_blank">cosmic inflation</a>. This is one of the biggest discoveries in physics and cosmology in decades, providing direct information on the state of the universe when it was only<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">10</span><sup style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">-34</sup></span> seconds old, and the energy scales near the Planck energy, as well as confirmation of the existence of gravitational waves.<br />
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For more information, you can read this <a href="http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2014/03/16/gravitational-waves-in-the-cosmic-microwave-background/" target="_blank">semi-technical explanation from Sean Carroll</a> before the details were announced, as well as this <a href="http://bicepkeck.org/faq.html" target="_blank">technical FAQ from BICEP2</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-59026413897485695782014-02-03T11:30:00.000-08:002014-02-03T11:30:05.900-08:00What Speed Do You Read?<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/technology-research-centers/ereaders/speed-reader/index.html"><img alt="ereader test" src="http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/technology-research-centers/ereaders/images/static-ereader.png" height="640" title="Click to launch" width="492" /></a><br />
Source: <a href="http://www.staples.com/E-readers/cat_CL164364">Staples</a></div>
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A good book is hard to put down. But if you’re enjoying it on an eReader you eventually have to break and recharge. How many pages can you get through before your battery runs out? How fast can you read classics like The Lord of the Rings or War and Peace? Check your reading speed on this fun interactive infographic and compare it to the national average.
Taken this test before? Change the snippet by clicking on the cog at the top of the eReader.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-16578888576308836602014-01-31T11:10:00.000-08:002014-04-05T13:55:01.687-07:00Holiday Booking and Travel Trends<a href="http://www.sojern.com/infographic_travel_trends_q4_2013.php" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Q4 2013 Winter travel trends infographic with the top five group and family destinations." src="http://www.sojern.com/img/2013_Q4_Travel_Trends_Infographic.png" title="2013 Q4 Travel Trends Infographic From Sojern" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.sojern.com/">Sojern – World’s leading data-driven traveler engagement platform</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-32601063681237702402014-01-30T10:25:00.001-08:002014-01-30T10:25:29.621-08:00Mysteries of the Animal Kingdom: Exploding Toads<div style="text-align: center;">
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So this mystery has actually been solved, but exploding toads? Pretty cool.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-87958665411546572082014-01-21T09:00:00.000-08:002014-01-31T11:11:05.753-08:00Earth's Changing Weather<div class="visually_embed">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Earth" class="visually_embed_infographic" src="http://thumbnails.visually.netdna-cdn.com/global-weather-conditions-forecast-by-supercomputers_52b103720d807_w587.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">credit: Cameron Baccario</td></tr>
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An interactive visualization of global weather conditions forecast by supercomputers and updated every three hours. <a href="http://visual.ly/earth?view=true">Click on it</a> to interact with the map.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-1681267466773859562014-01-15T11:36:00.000-08:002014-01-15T11:36:10.798-08:00Understanding the Chain Fountain<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-eEi7fO0_O0?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>
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Over 2.5 million viewers, including many physicists, have been astonished by Steve Mould's videos of a chain flowing along its own length from a pot to the floor below. Apparently defying gravity, the chain rises above the pot as a fountain before falling down. Proceedings A has <a href="http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Frspa.royalsocietypublishing.org%2Fcontent%2F470%2F2163%2F20130689&session_token=7b1sGLJ6hB39UGIdyQROPhld9F98MTM4OTkwMDU5N0AxMzg5ODE0MTk3">published a paper</a> which explains why this fountain occurs by considering the forces bringing successive links into motion. In this podcast, authors Mark Warner and John Biggins explain what is going on in an easy to understand and straightforward manner.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-57029504093540159672014-01-09T12:20:00.000-08:002014-01-09T12:20:22.372-08:00Worlds: The Kepler Planet Candidates<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/47408739" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/47408739">Worlds: The Kepler Planet Candidates</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/alexhp">Alex Parker</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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This animation shows the 2299 high-quality (multiple transits), non-circumbinary transiting planet candidates found by NASA's Kepler mission so far. These candidates were detected around 1770 unique stars, but are animated in orbit around a single star. They are drawn to scale with accurate radii (in r / r* ), orbital periods, and orbital distances (in d / r*). They range in size from 1/3 to 84 times the radius of Earth. Colors represent an estimate of equilibrium temperature, ranging from 4,586 C at the hottest to -110 C at the coldest — red indicates warmest, and blue/indigo indicates coldest candidates.<br />
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When the system is animated edge-on, it is clear that there is no time during which the sample of stars the Kepler spacecraft is observing does not contain a planet transiting a star. In fact, on average there are dozens of transits occurring amongst the Kepler sample at any given instant.<br />
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The Kepler observatory has detected a multitude of planet candidates orbiting distant stars. The current list contains 2321 planet candidates, though some of these have already been flagged as likely false-positives or contamination from binary stars. This animation does not contain circumbinary planets or planet candidates where only a single transit has been observed, which is why "only" 2299 are shown.<br />
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Check out the <a href="http://archive.stsci.edu/kepler/planet_candidates.html">current list of planet candidates</a> and find more information on the Kepler mission on <a href="http://kepler.nasa.gov/">their website</a>. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-51292078071350070022013-11-20T13:25:00.000-08:002013-11-20T13:38:15.686-08:0015 Years of the International Space Station<div style="text-align: center;">
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To celebrate the <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/content/fifteen-years-international-space-station/#.Uo0pZmRgb0F">15th anniversary of the ISS</a>, NASA published a video featuring highlights from the past 15 years on the space station. They also created a graphic detailing how many meals astronauts have eaten on the space station, how many scientific investigations have been performed, and more. Let's not forget that today is also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Hubble">Edwin Hubble</a> and <a href="http://www.seti.org/">SETI</a>'s birthdays!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-58685199945182963342013-11-12T11:08:00.000-08:002013-11-12T11:08:34.691-08:00Cosmic Queries: Gravity, the Movie!<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/119410987&show_artwork=false" width="100%"></iframe>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.59375px;">To answer your questions about the movie </span><em style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.59375px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gravity</em><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.59375px;">, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice get a little help from 2-time Space Shuttle astronaut Mike Massimino. They explore the scientific inaccuracies in the movie – and how much </span><em style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.59375px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gravity</em><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.59375px;"> got right. Mike gives it 2 thumbs up for the look and feel of being in space, from the spacesuits to the tools he actually used. He discusses how actual NASA astronauts train for emergencies, the time he tore his glove fixing the Hubble telescope, and the real rescue plans for his flights. </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/astro_mike" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19.59375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="@Astro_Mike">@Astro_Mike</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.59375px;"> (he was the first human to Tweet from space!) also describes impact of weightlessness on your inner ear and sense of balance, and how your brain adapts after a few days of zero-g. Neil explains why you’re weightless in space in the first place – it’s free fall, not lack of gravity – and describes an experiment you can do at home to prove it and amaze your friends and family.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-1317286129126907252013-10-01T11:10:00.000-07:002013-10-01T11:10:18.906-07:00Bohemian Gravity: A Musical Explanation of String Theory<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A Montreal physics student has created an online music video to explain string theory, and Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May has taken note. McGill grad student Tim Blais performs his song "Bohemian Gravity" to the tune of "Bohemian Rhapsody" to explain the complicated theory, which proposes that all fundamental particles in the universe are made of oscillating filaments.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-58485674841923228432013-09-17T11:00:00.000-07:002013-09-17T11:00:00.858-07:00Gravity Represented through Artwork<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Shizouka-based designer Kouichi Okamoto of <a href="http://www.kyouei-ltd.co.jp/">Kyouei Design</a> became inspired by gravity and created the <i>Magnetic Field Record</i>, a mobile artwork that offers a new look at gravity.<br />
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The overturned bottle on one side of the contraption is filled with sumi ink, balanced by a large magnet on the other end. Ink slowly drips out, initially slowly and then more closely together, as the mobile contraption rotates. The shift in weight causes the bottle to raise up, shrinking the diameter of the circle.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-43805593102128014562013-09-16T16:39:00.000-07:002013-09-16T16:39:26.448-07:00Hangout with SETI<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikID31VOF94I18cVqxkJ0f54ZcU6sdIuPbgYtW4Kr5lB9_fpHcV67YTjYaUWZ3RtbAF1PGcE9wBszjdPH5SwLF3Ru4DxwPwwSAbH2mjBwCnlgD4nZ7qme8_7hh4GWsg8kA5DRKwkpgWZg/s1600/pia17254-full_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="SETI satellite" border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikID31VOF94I18cVqxkJ0f54ZcU6sdIuPbgYtW4Kr5lB9_fpHcV67YTjYaUWZ3RtbAF1PGcE9wBszjdPH5SwLF3Ru4DxwPwwSAbH2mjBwCnlgD4nZ7qme8_7hh4GWsg8kA5DRKwkpgWZg/s400/pia17254-full_1.jpg" title="Satellite orbiting earth" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">SETI Institute researchers Jill Tarter and Franck Marchis (host & moderator) will hangout with Jason Wright, professor of astronomy at Penn State, Matt Povich, professor of astronomy at Cal Poly Pomona and Freeman Dyson, theoretical physicist and mathematician of the Institute for Advance Studies. These scientists will discuss the potential for the WISE telescope to detect extraterrestrial super-civilizations that acquired large a energy supply by building a mega-structure to harvest the energy of their star ("Dyson Sphere") or their entire galaxy. The title of the event is "<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cs8lq28m1ebd2bnukspml93njc8?cfem=1&utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer8efce&utm_medium=twitter">Searching for Kardashev Type II and III Civilizations with WISE</a>."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">This is a public event and will occur Wednesday, September 18th at 11am. This hangout is the first of the SETI Institute's Curiosity Series.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-60237036754425704292013-08-27T10:00:00.000-07:002013-09-16T16:54:34.386-07:00Visual Explanation of DNA<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/60747882?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ffcd1e" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe>
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/60747882" style="background-color: white; color: #148fcc; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">BBC Knowledge Explainer DNA</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px;"> from </span><a href="http://vimeo.com/territorystudio" style="background-color: white; color: #148fcc; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Territory</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px;"> on </span><a href="http://vimeo.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #148fcc; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Vimeo</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">BBC Knowledge and Learning is exploring a wide variety of topics from social history to science in a series of three-minute online Explainer documentaries, and commissioned <a href="http://www.territorystudio.com/">Territory Studio</a> to produce an animated film on the subject of DNA.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Three minutes is a short time to explore a subject where most doctorates only scratch the surface, so writer Andrew S. Walsh teamed up with molecular biologist Dr. Matthew Adams to distill the script down to the most fundamental elements required to understand not only DNA’s form and function but how our understanding of these discoveries has affected the wider world. While this length may feel restrictive, the team found that this limitation acted as a lens, focusing the piece on the essentials.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Explainer series is designed to intrigue and inform, encouraging those who discover the documentaries to further explore through links to additional information found on the BBC website. <span style="line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">Lead designer and animator Will Samuel explained the process behind it on Vimeo:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We needed to find a graphic style to communicate the beauty and intricacy of DNA. We wanted to create nostalgia; taking the audience back to the days of textbook diagrams and old science documentaries, such as Carl Sagan's COSMOS and IBM’s POWER OF TEN (1977). Using the double helix circular theme as a core design we focused on form, movement and colour to create a consistent flow to the animation, drawing on references from nature, illustrating how DNA is the core to everything around us.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-547762279414578418.post-52460140563358523632013-08-22T10:47:00.000-07:002013-08-22T10:47:40.696-07:00How Many Alien Civilizations are there in the Galaxy?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
That question is a popular one amongst scientists, sci-fi authors, and the casual dreamer alike. The <a href="http://www.fastcodesign.com/multisite_files/codesign/imagecache/inline-zoom/inline/2012/09/1670795-inline-1-inline-zoom-drake-equation-final-copy-1.jpg">Are We Alone?</a> infographic from the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120821-how-many-alien-worlds-exist">BBC</a> was designed by <a href="http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2012/how-many-alien-civilizations-are-there-in-the-galaxy/">Information is Beautiful</a> to illustrate the Drake equation. The Drake equation is used to calculate how many potential aliens may exist in the Milky Way Galaxy. This is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation">an equation</a> that American astronomer Frank Drake formulated in the 1960s to calculate the number of detectable extraterrestrial civilizations may exist in the Milky Way Galaxy. What's interesting about this interactive infographic is that it lets the user change the assumptions and recalculate the results.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16739713490462418363noreply@blogger.com1