2011
New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 2,038 posts.
2012
2013
PHYS771 Quantum Computing Since Democritus
University of Waterloo, Fall 2006 Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00-2:30pm BFG Building, 2nd floor seminar room (BFG2125)
2014
Steve Blank: Gravity Will be Turned Off
Part of marketing is the ability to communicate a message to thousands of people and convince them to believe your version of reality. When I was 19 I accidentally had a test run of my ability to d…
2015
Clocks, Kids, and General Relativity on Mt Rainier
In September 2005 (for the 50th anniversary of the atomic clock and 100th anniversary of the theory of relativity) we took several cesium clocks on a road trip to Mt Rainier; a family science experiment unlike anything you've seen before.
2016
2017
2018
2019
A Non-Local Revolution
Paul Graham has recently argued for two points: first, that tech startups will continue to collect in Silicon Valley . Second, that startups may represent a new economic phase , replacing the corporate ladder of old . Now he’s suggesting that these two effects combined might lead to a very local economic revolution .
2020
2021
Reversing Tooth Decay with Good Diet
In the last post, I discussed the research of Drs. Edward and May Mellanby on the nutritional factors affecting tooth formation. Dr. Mellan...
2022
2023
Training Rats as Traders
I crafted this skinner box exclusively for the rattraders' training; it is equipped with airconditioning and a music device. The picture above shows the special light signal that indicates the start of trading. (image by Nora Friedel)
2024
Magenta Ain't A Color
All the colours in the light spectrum have complements that exist within the spectrum – except green. There seems to be some kind of imbalance. What is going on? Is green somehow being discriminated against? The light spectrum consists of a range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. Red light has the longest…
2025
An analysis of the Buffalo air crash
(Ed. note: I was going to tell you some fascinating tales of my adventures in Kenya over the past few weeks, but that will have to wait…) Airplane crashes are almost always the result of a series o…
2026
How Depressions Work
On Capitol Hill sit many powerful people — Congressmen, Senators, Justices — but also numerous others who do the daily work of keeping government running. And, like anyone with such a weighty responsibility, they sometimes want a break: a chance to see a movie or eat out with their spouse.
2027
2028
2029
2030
The calculus of caffeine consumption
Your life is the best story! Just start your blog today!
2031
500 Exabytes per Raindrop
People like to say this is the "information age". But just how much information are we talking about? I recently found a nice source of... umm... information about this question:
2032
A programmer's view of the Universe, part 1: The fish
Bravo. Here's hoping I never reach the end of that vine. I like to think there's always more.
2033
Edward O. Wilson: Marx was right, he had the wrong species
Among many other things, Edward Wilson is a myrmecologist and two times Pulitzer-prize winner. There is a picture taken by him of an ant holding between its mandibles a banner with the words: 'Onward Sociobiolo�gy!'. Following the publication in 1975 of his book Sociobi�ology, the New Synthesis , he became both to…
2034
Why rats can't vomit, and why humans do
Rats can't vomit. They can't burp either, and they don't experience heartburn. Rats can't vomit for several related reasons: (1) Rats have a powerful barrier between the stomach and the esophagus. They don't have the esophageal muscle strength to overcome and open this barrier by force, which is necessary for…
2035
Rutgers Graduate Student Finds New Prime-Generating Formula
Studying prime numbers is like playing the guitar. No, really, let me explain. The guitar is a simple instrument: six strings, some frets,...
2036
Top Ten Things that Math Probability Says about the Real World
Talk given at Cornell University, April 14 2008. Like most scientists, I habitually just write slides and extemporize the actual spoken words. For this one talk I wrote the following script, though (being hard to break the habits of 30 years) I didn't stick closely to the script. Each link is one slide.
2037
2038
