I *Really* Love Science!

[niky]

Sounds like a job for... genetic engineering. Though one hopes the techniques are discovered in a University or a non-profit org instead of you-know-who.

[NeilBlanchard]

Molecules as pasta...

Wagon-wheel pasta shape for better LED: 'Rotelle' molecules depolarize light more efficiently than 'spaghetti'

[Occasionally6]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Prof. Brian "D-ream - 'Things can only get better'" Cox has made a new series going out just now - Science Britannia - obviously aimed at the home market

Brian Cox has an earlier life, see that bloke on keyboards...

Cool. I didn't know that (and the song is now stuck in my head).

Isn't a member of Queen a PhD'd scientist too?

My favourite though is Brooke Magnanti. (I'll leave it to anyone interested to search out who she is and what she did as her "second job".)

I saw something else pretty cool the other day: a plant that grows tomatoes above the ground and potato tubers under the ground.

[Occasionally6]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Can you imagine what will happen to the tectonic plates if the land ice melts? And expanded sea water spreads out, so it is likely to also affect the tectonic plates.

I have wondered how much earthquake activity (and the like eg. tsunamis)
that might produce.

[NeilBlanchard]

Two very different things in science, but both are very cool:



Unwinding the Cucumber Tendril Mystery

New Fossil May Trim Branches of Human Evolution

[niky]

Originally Posted by Occasionally6

Isn't a member of Queen a PhD'd scientist too?

Reminds me of something some friends on another site were talking about. The Erdős-Bacon-Sabbath number. It's a game of six degrees of separation... basically, you have to have written a scientific paper with someone who wrote a paper with someone who wrote a paper... etcetera... with mathematician Paul Erdős... appeared on TV or in the movies with someone who appeared on TV or in the movies with someone who... etcetera... with Kevin Bacon, and played (professionally on stage or recorded) with someone who played... etcetera... with Black Sabbath.

Add all three numbers, and you get your EBS number.

-

One of the few people who has a small EBS number is Natalie Portman, who has a dissertation in Psychology. Another is Buzz Aldrin, who did a song with Snoop Dogg.

And THIS paper is by Brian May of Queen...

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...f/240401a0.pdf

Mind-boggling.

-

(The reason they were talking about it, is apparently, they have low EBS numbers... under 20, actually.)

Nerds.

[freebeard]

When I was just a sprout, as we would say; I was fascinated by cucumber tendrils. It's how I learned there are things you can't see.

[NeilBlanchard]

I had not thought about this, but of course the sun is not sitting still; any more that the earth is.

Vortex motion: Viral video showing Sun’s motion through galaxy is wrong.



Does the Sun move around the Milky Way??

Curious About Astronomy: Does the Sun move around the Milky Way?

++++++++

Separate question: why is water the only material that expands when it freezes? Why is this critically important to life?

[niky]

It's the water molecule's shape that determines its crystalline form... and makes solid H2O less densely packed than liquid H20... which also makes it lighter and capable of floating.

Don't recall why this is important to life... but perhaps it's because water doesn't change in viscosity as it gets colder or hotter? More stable over a wide range of temperatures?

[freebeard]

Water is the most mysterious thing above the quatum level.

The many mysteries of water

Revealing the Mysteries of Water

I'd seen those videos before. Phil Plait is awesome. I'm glad he fact-checked them.