121
Galileo Project now fully funded for expedition to study an interstellar meteor
Wonderful news! We just received full funding for the Galileo Project expedition to scoop the fragments of the first interstellar meteor…
122
Do climate models predict extreme weather?
Science News, Physics, Science, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
123
Busy Beaver Updates: Now Even Busier
Way back in the covid-filled summer of 2020, I wrote a survey article about the ridiculously-rapidly-growing Busy Beaver function. My survey then expanded to nearly twice its original length, with …
124
A doctor who treated Bach and Handel with disastrous results
Dr. John Taylor treated Bach and Handel with disastrous results, perhaps causing the death of both composers. Did it impact the course of Western music?
125
How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)
The destructive force of typhoons and hurricanes are no joking matter. Human structures are torn to shreds and flooded in the blink of an eye. It is devastating to say the least. With all of this destruction, one must wonder how native flora and fauna have coped with such forces over millions of years. The true…
126
How thick is a three-sided coin?
Matt Parker, employing the enviably pithy prose typical of a content creator forged on the unforgiving fires of social media, asked the simple question back in 2018: > How thick is a three-sided coin? Translated into mathematician-ese, this means > What aspect ratio of a flipped coin leads to the chance of landing on…
127
My black body story (it's physics)
I studied physics in university, and at one point asked a professor if I should learn German, because it seemed all the key texts of early ...
128
Are warp drives science now?
Science News, Physics, Science, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
129
130
131
The Latest Study on Red Meat and Heart Disease: A Red Herring
Procter & Gamble has driven research on TMAO and heart disease since 2015
132
133
What happens when the public lose confidence in academic findings?
In an important new paper, Rafael Ahlskog and Sven Oskarsson show that half of the effect size in observational studies, even in conservative estimates, is composed of confounding.
134
135
Not Mysticizing System Dynamics
A system dynamics model, properly considered, is just an analogy dressed up in a bit of formalism.
136
Whales dying from consuming plastics
Blame Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, the world’s worst plastic polluters, according to a new study
137
Degenerate matter: How reality deals with uncertainty
Casual introduction to the uncertainty principle from quantum mechanics and how it leads to neutron stars and superfluids
138
139
Against Bayesianism – David Deutsch
Bayesianism, the doctrine that it's always rational to represent our beliefs in terms of probabilities, dominates the intellectual world, from decision theory to the philosophy of science. But does it make sense to quantify our beliefs about such ineffable things as scientific theories or the future? And what separates
140
Training my sense of CO2 ppm
Posted on Thursday 14 Jul 2022. 1,157 words, 9 links. By Matt Webb.
141
Why is symmetry so important in particle physics?
Faizan Muhmmad is a Software Engineer at Google
142
A seamstress who solved the ancient mystery of the Argonaut
“I armed myself with patience and courage, and only after several months managed to dissolve my doubts and see my research crowned with happy confirmation.”
143
Everyone gets numbers wrong, even the New York Times
It's a shortcut to understanding, and there are no shortcuts
144
Reasons why Fortran is still used (2021)
Fortran is a language that is specialized for high-performance computing. Believe it or not, it's still alive and evolving.
145
The Scientific Virtues: Stupidity, Arrogance, Laziness
Science education usually starts with teaching students different tools and techniques, methods for conducting research. This is wrong. Science education should begin with the scientific virt…
146
How to grow crystals at home with fertilizer
Growing crystals is easy. It's both a fun family activity and a cool science experiment. You can even dye your crystals with food coloring.
147
Elizabeth Cotton’s Fingerstyle Ragtime
Dust-to-digital posted this lovely performance of “Washington Blues” by Elizabeth Cotten. It reminded me that she is the greatest and that I should write more about her. If you are a gu…
148
A modern Fortran scientific programming ecosystem
Historically, large general-purpose libraries have formed the core of the Fortran scientific ecosystem (e.g., SLATEC , or the various PACKS ). Unfortunately, as I have mentioned here before, these libraries were written in FORTRAN 77 (or earlier) and remained unmodified for decades. The amazing algorithms continued…
149
Why fusion will never happen (2012)
I like fusion, really. I’ve talked to some of luminaries that work in the field, they’re great people. I love the technology and the physics behind it. But fusion as a power source is n…
150