What you’re looking at there is the sad and beautiful story of the death of two stars, and the casting of two other survivors into the darkness. I’ve been sitting here playing with the My Solar System gravity simulator since reading about it in Discovery–it’s a cool educational toy for modelling interaction of bodies under gravity. You can use it… Read more →
Category: Science and Technology
Aside
Just as a follow-up to that last post, I noticed this morning some recent research which essentially proves that women find the same man more attractive if they see him sitting in an expensive car, than in a less expensive one. Men don’t care about what car a woman is in. (Fortunately for the women of Canada, I use my beat-up, high mileage Focus to help mask the blinding brilliance of my attractiveness.)
Professor Membrane’s Modern Medicine Sideshow…
And the professor is back to lead us through the second in our series of posts looking at real, actual, modern science stories that illustrate the “we’re living in science fiction” notion. Last time we focused primarily on medicine, and specifically on different kinds of regeneration. We’re still working our way through modern mad medical science–I have a giant archive… Read more →
A Singular Discussion
Having just mentioned that I prefer transcript to video, let me cite another case where I would make an exception. Here’s a quote from an IM chat I was having with a Boston pal last week: (9:15:32 AM) Chris: Friday 7pm The Singularity: An Appraisal Alastair Reynolds Karl Schroeder Charles Stross Vernor Vinge Arguably the idea of the Singularity —… Read more →
The return, and regeneration, of Professor Membrane
I am dragging the Professor out of the archives to headline a series of link posts I’m going to be doing about medical “we live in science fiction now” stories (and maybe some medical “mad science”) pieces as well. I’ve been gathering these stories for quite some time–each one alone is a bit shocking or amazing, but when you start… Read more →
No Fear Of The Dreaded Two-Day-er
It’s weird–or maybe not so weird, really–but reading certain news items my reactions are almost entirely filtered through my years of training as a science fiction reader. Sometimes I read the story and suddenly see all kinds of comparisons between some real world event and things I’ve read–either direct connections, or analogies. Sometimes I read something and can’t help but… Read more →
Even Deeper Field
You may recall that I was pretty seriously geeked a while back by the implications of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Well, they’ve taken a new image, using infrared light this time, which lets them see even deeper. There is information, images, videos, and more about the newly release survey at the Hubble site. Read more →
Aside
Speaking of battle-of-the-sexes banter fodder, and academic papers, you did all see that article last week about the researchers who wanted to compare the views of men in their 20s who had never been exposed to pornography with regular users? You know, the one where they had to cancel the research because they couldn’t find any men in their 20s who had never been exposed to porn…
Bias in my favour
You know the punchline: “I don’t make the rules, I just enjoy them.” I pull this out every now and then when Dr. Wife points out to me some way in which our society is constructed to make things better for men, while giving women the less pleasant end of the stick. I’m sure I’ll get a chance to use… Read more →
Utterly Thought-Stoppingly Awesome.
Watch this. Just watch it. Read more →
Missed Opportunity: Quantum To Cosmos
If I had been moving back to the KW area at the end of September, rather than the end of November, I certainly would have been hitting some of the events at the Quantum To Cosmos conference. I hope some of my pals in the area are planning to check it out. I’ll be able to stream the lectures, and… Read more →
We have met the enemy
What you’re looking at there is an attempt to visualize the results (so far) of a workshop run last year in Stockholm that attempted to define the boundaries of a “safe operating space” in which the ecosystem of the planet can operate without veering towards catastrophe. The 28 scientists worked out nine categories that they were comfortable setting some safe… Read more →
Stick Figure Crypto
I generally love when people use the comic form to explain complicated concepts. I generally love cryptography. I have a special place in my heart for stick figures. So you can imagine how I feel about Jeff Moser’s multi-stage explanation of how AES came about, and how it works. Everyone should check it out, since there’s not really anyone (at… Read more →
“We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done”
I was pretty pleased last week to see the British PM get around to issuing an apology for their government’s treatment of Alan Turing. Being a computer geek, and a bit of a crypto amateur, the things done at Bletchley Park generally, and by Turing specifically (and not just during the war), are things of interest to me. Being a,… Read more →
Space Porn
Well, the moving thing and some insane workload at work have kept me from posting enough here lately–and may continue to do so until after we actually move. However that doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped seeing things that fascinate, challenge, or enrage me, and when I get a chance I’m going to keep posting about them here. So let’s start… Read more →
