45
POPSThe Day I Died I'm going to be thinking about this all day! This was incredibly interesting! If the whole concept of consciousness after death interests you, you should watch this video. If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, watch the last half hour or at least the last 15 minutes It's absolutely fascinating!
34
POPSA New Kind of Science - Stephen Wolfram (Lecture) worth watching, on cellular automata, complexity, randomness, nature, mathematics, science, biology, natural selection, networks, space-time, physics, causality, relativity, determinism, quantum mechanics, computational irreducibility, ... (not necessarily in that order) His book is freely available online: http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/toc.html (see also The Nature of Code )
22
POPSBuilding 'The Matrix' Feynman envisioned, a general purpose, programmable quantum computer could itself carry out quantum simulations. But such machines are still decades away, most researchers say, while machines designed only for quantum simulations may become available sooner.
22
POPSNASA Needs to Take Space Sex Seriously The fact remains however, that we are naive of the effects of sex in space, let alone if it is even a pleasurable experience. The mechanics of "human docking procedures" (as described by tests carried out by the Russian space agency) are a lot more complicated when in zero gravity. There are also huge ethical questions hanging over possible pregnancies in space. Zero-G tests on rat embryos produced decreased skeletal and brain development, the effects on a human embryo will remain a mystery. The fact remains that NASA continues to cut back biological research in favor of future Moon missions, so much about human sexuality in space will remain a mystery.
19
POPSIs Life finely tuned, or a cosmic accident If there is 1/1Billion chance of there being the right properties in a 'Big Bang' to create life, then you just need 1 Billion 'Big Bangs' . One of the threads on theory regarding the presence of life in the Universe. Having such inadequate information to come to any conclusions there are a number of projections, but it seems the best education we are getting, is in the the development of more and more sophisticated instruments and measuring techniques. We may keep opening doors only to find more doors. Or someone may find a key, while they were looking for something else.
18
POPSPhysics Flash Animations The top links, go to the list of 90 Flash Animations with 'view' links. When the view link is pressed. an animation opens up a new tab There are a few direct links to an animation, at the bottom of the clip
18
POPSPhysicists investigate how time moves forward This provides an orientation, or arrow of time, and it is generally believed that all other time asymmetries, such as our sense that future and past are different, are a direct consequence of this thermodynamic arrow.” In their study, Feng and Crooks have developed a method to accurately measure “time asymmetry” (which refers to our intuitive concept of time, that the past differs from the future, in contrast with time symmetry, where there is no distinction between past and future). They began by investigating the increase in energy dissipation, or entropy, in various arrangements. While time blatantly moves forward in the macroscopic world, the direction of time becomes confusing on the scale of a single molecule
16
POPSThe Ancient Mechanics and How They Thought He also majored in astronomy as an undergraduate, and about nine years ago, feeling science-deprived, he joined a multinational research endeavor called the Archimedes Project, based at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. The Archimedes team studies the history of mechanics, how people thought about simple machines like the lever, the wheel and axle, the balance, the pulley, the wedge and the screw and how they turned their thoughts into theories and principles. The textual record begins with “Mechanical Problems,” moves to Rome and then through the medieval Islamic world to the Renaissance. It ends, finally, with Newton, who described many of the basic laws of mechanics in the 18th century. By following the historical record, the Archimedes researchers have discovered that the evolution of physics — or, at least, mechanics — is based on an interplay between practice and theory.
16
POPSDo subatomic particles have free will? But physicists all the way back to Einstein have been unhappy with this idea. Einstein famously grumped, “God does not play dice.” And indeed, ever since the birth of quantum mechanics, some physicists have offered alternate interpretations of its equations that aim to get rid of this indeterminism. The most famous alternative is attributed to the physicist David Bohm, who argued in the 1950s that the behavior of subatomic particles is entirely determined by “hidden variables” that cannot be observed. Conway and Kochen say this search is hopeless, and they claim to have proven that indeterminacy is inherent in the world itself, rather than just in quantum theory. And to Bohmians and other like-minded physicists, the pair says: Give up determinism, or give up free will. Even the tiniest bit of free will.
14
POPSInsanity Test Few can have failed to notice the rise in the usage of the word insanity/insane. Here is a test (160+ questions) where you can work out how sane you are.
14
POPSPhysicists Seek Answers to Quantum Correlations The physicists ruled out several possible classical explanations for the instantaneous communication. For one thing, they showed that the photons did not share information before leaving Geneva, and so they didn´t travel knowing about each other´s properties. In another test, the scientists showed that no communication could have occurred through a different reference frame, as might happen because of the photons´ high speeds. According to Einstein´s theory of relativity, observers moving at high speeds can get different measurements of the same event because they have different reference frames. But, by performing tests over a complete rotation of the Earth, the researchers ruled out this possibility. "We think space and time are important because that´s the kind of monkeys we are,"
14
POPSExploring The Mechanics Of Judgment & Beliefs "We already knew that some parts of the brain are involved in specific aspects of perception and motor control, but many doubted that an abstract high-level cognitive process like understanding another person's thoughts would be conducted in its own private patch of cortex," Kanwisher says.
12
POPSThe Economist Ranks USA 96 out of 121 for Peace Hmmm... Andrew Williamson, a director of research for the Economist is quoted here as saying: "We are just mechanics and technicians behind the index. We are not making judgments about foreign policy." Seems like he's trying to say to us: "Don't shoot the messenger!"
3
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update