MetaFilter posts tagged with Science!

Do Not Try This At Home

The Whelk — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:30:12 -0800

You can see that things gradually become more terrifying : Five of the six alkali metals and their reactions to air and water. Learn more at the Periodic Table Of Videos. Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Cesium (Caesium), and the elusive Francium.

The science behind spook hills

cog_nate — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:24:51 -0800

""Anti-Gravity Hills" (also known as "Gravity Hills", "Spook Hills", or "Magnetic Hills") are natural places where cars put into neutral are seen to move uphill on a slightly sloping road, apparently defying the law of gravity. Typically, the "spooky" stretch of road is rather short (50-90 m), only a few meters wide, and surrounded by a natural hill landscape, without nearby buildings. Such places are found in several countries all around the world, and have been tourist attractions for decades. They should not be confused with the "Mystery Spots" [previously] found in amusement parks. These are generally tilted cabins, purposely built as such; a person walking inside feels disoriented, getting a very strong impression of standing at an angle in a perfectly normal room." CSICOP and Discovery News explain the phenomenon, and here's the paper on which the CSICOP article was based (PDF).

Quest for a true 3D Mandelbrot Fractal.

loquacious — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:58:17 -0800

Quest for a true 3D Mandelbrot Fractal - a very nice exploration of Mandelbrot/Julia set fractals in various kinds of 3D space.

Antpocalypse!!!

kittens for breakfast — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:18:46 -0800

Today's date? Why, it's...July 11, 2052, and man has been cowering in terror, self-sealed in his own living-tombs since that day of horror in...1952. Remember? 100 years ago, the sky above America turned black...with the dread flight of millions of ferocious, gigantic ants! Despite the reality that the events depicted in "World War III with the Ants" are completely impossible (or so scientists would have you believe), this kind of thing would, just two years later, happen again. And twenty years after that, further proof that ants have it in for us. Mock them if you will!!!

Rocket pistol

Artw — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:14:22 -0800

The gyrojet pistol (video) - a handgun firing 13mm rocket ammunition, was an attempt to revolutionise gun design in the 1960s. Around a thousand were produced, and some may have seen use in Vietnam. Rifle and carbine versions were also produced. Design problems meant that it never seriously competed conventional firearms, but there is a modern attempt to revive the concept.

Punk rock pogo robots

homunculus — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:00:35 -0800

Punk band Neurotic and the PVCs perform with three discerning robots who pogo for punk. [Via]

From the cradle to depraved

stinkycheese — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:01:22 -0800

Measuring depravity. The Depravity Scale is an international research effort that aims to scientifically standardize the definition of legal terms such as "heinous", "atrocious", "evil" , and "depraved" according to input from the general public. But is the Scale itself, er, a bad idea? Note: To take the survey yourself, you will need to include your email and some personal information (for verification).

Captain Kirks Alien Mysteries

Artw — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:00:05 -0800

With all the crystal skulls, nazca lines and such at the box office these days now might be the ideal time to reacquaint yourself with the theories of Erich von Däniken. What better way to do it than by watching William Shatners Mysteries of the Gods ( Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, Pt. 4, Pt. 5, Pt. 6, Pt. 7, Pt. 8, Pt. 9, Pt. 10)(MULTI LINK YOUTUBE SHATNERFEST)

The New Yorker: The Gerbil's Revenge

goodnewsfortheinsane — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:09:30 -0800

Tourists black out reflective retinas in snapshots before printing them, and millions of people refer to strangers they’ve never spoken to as friends, because they’ve connected through a social-networking platform. [...] It should come as no surprise, then, that singers sometimes choose to correct recorded flaws in pitch with modern software, like Antares’s Auto-Tune.

Sasha Frere-Jones on auto-tuning, in The New Yorker. Non-print version

Via Antares's own site, interestingly enough.

Previously: 1, 2

Sasha Frere Jones's personal site, New Yorker blog.

You got your E.coli in my pancakes and it's AWESOME

wendell — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:12:01 -0800

Cool: Scientists have genetically tweaked bacteria to create simple computers. Scary (probably unnecessarily): They're E.coli bacteria. Funny: The bacteria are able to solve the “Burnt Pancake Problem”. Money quote: “It’s kind of like that computer in ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. It’s been working on a problem so long that by the time it comes up with an answer, everybody forgot the question.”

Does the Nucleon come in Cherenkov blue?

cog_nate — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:22:49 -0800

Car of the Future , NOVA's latest episode, is fully online and includes a slew of extras including CC-licensed content, a brief historical overview of "innovative" automobiles, Amory Lovins flogging his Hypercar concept, the Car Talk guys making nuisances of themselves, and much more. (It's no Design for Dreaming, but really, what could be?)

Somewhere, Richard Feynman is smiling.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:46:34 -0800

Swinging from pendulums and facing down wrecking balls, MIT professor Walter Lewin shows students the zany beauty of science.

The Universe is Like a Windows Media Player Visualization

tehloki — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 07:21:48 -0800

The observable universe just got a bit smaller. Johan Mauritsson and his colleagues at Lund University in Sweden have released what appears to be a video of an electron oscillating on a wave of light.

Quantum Mechanics: Myths and Facts

XMLicious — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:21:29 -0800

Quantum Mechanics: Myths and Facts (pdf), a recently-updated paper on the Cornell arXiv peer-review site. By Hrvoje Nikolić of the Rudjer Bošković Institute in Croatia. Note: the presence of a paper on arXiv does not necessarily mean it has been reviewed and is not equivalent to having been published in a journal.

"Garlic: The Silent Killer," "Juicy Beans," and 39 other fascinating projects of SCIENCE!

Hat Maui — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:49:23 -0800

Crystal Meth: Friend or Foe High school science project alchemy: dumb shit into comedy gold.

Concorde on steroids

fearfulsymmetry — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 03:47:57 -0800

Whooosh! London to Sydney in 5 hours on the A2 Hypersonic from Reaction Engines. Green too. If they can pull it off.

Animal Planet investigates alcoholism in monkeys

finite — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:32:42 -0800

"Significantly, the percentage of monkeys and humans who avoid alcohol is the same." [YouTube]

The Men Who Stare At Goats

loquacious — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 00:31:49 -0800

Crazy Rulers of the World: The Men Who Stare at Goats - A rather clear look at attempts to use the paranormal in the US military. (Part 2: Funny Torture, Part 3: Psychic Foot Soldiers)

Homeopathy

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:20:31 -0800

The Guardian discusses homeopathy: Jeannette Winterson supports it, Ben Goldacre opposes it.

Freethought and other High-Fallutin' Multimedia Lectures

cog_nate — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:57:29 -0800

Freethought Multimedia contains dozens of interviews, conversations and lectures on a variety of topics with/by several contemporary skeptics and freethinkers, including Michael Shermer, James Randi, Daniel Dennett, Steven Pinker and Richard Dawkins. (There's a great links section at the bottom of the page, as well. Particularly good are the University Lectures section and the Lectures Archive.)

Things that go bump in the night.

cog_nate — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 14:23:57 -0800

Cinema Fiction vs. Physics Reality (PDF -- HTML version without addendum here) Two physicists examine certain features of popular myths regarding ghosts, vampires, and zombies as they appear in film and folklore. See also Real Zombies (audio) on the science of zombiefication. Also of interest are Psychological significance of Immortal beings (audio) and Blood Fighting: Dawn of the Robots and Zombies (video), which delve into the prominence of vampires, zombies and other things that go bump in the night in popular culture. Not to your liking? Well, check out some classic (and some not-so-classic) horror tales inside. Ghosts:
Native Ghost Stories (10/31/00) (audio)
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (audio)
Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories (audio)
True Irish ghost stories (text)
Greek and Roman Ghost Stories (text)
Indian Ghost Stories: Second Edition (text)
The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Ghost Stories (text)
Tormented (video)
Tales of the Supernatural (video)
The Ghost Walks (video)

Vampires:
The Last Man on Earth (video)
The Vampire Bat (video)
Nosferatu (video)
Distorsion, 2005-11-22 (audio, in French)

Zombies:
Revolt of the Zombies (video)
Amid the Dead (video)
Teenage Zombies(video)
King of the Zombies (video)
(Not located: Attack of the masturbating zombies!)

Bizarre Experiments

Brittanie — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:05:36 -0800

They don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee, but my fellow Okies have given LSD to their elephants, all in the name of SCIENCE! — The Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time Previously on MetaFilter: #1, #2, #7, #10, #12, #13, and #16 (Though I may have missed a few)

Inside Out

loquacious — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:18:42 -0800

Inside Out A topographical bedtime story. (Warning, contains spheres!)

Pecker

fandango_matt — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 21:03:54 -0800

Bald Cock. SFW.

The Buckminster Fuller Institute Challenge

loquacious — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:05:43 -0800

The Buckminster Fuller Institute is now accepting submissions for it's new, annual design challenge contest. Submissions must be applicable with real-world technology, solving real-world problems with a minimum of ecological impact. The offered prize is $100,000, on par with some of NASA's challenges. ( Buckminster Fuller on Wikipedia, and E2 )