Friday 28 August 2009

Johnald's Fantastical Daily Link Splurge

Johnald's Fantastical Daily Link Splurge

Physicist Proposes Solution to 'Arrow-of-Time' Paradox

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 12:20 PM PDT

"Entropy can decrease, according to a new proposal - but the process would destroy any evidence of its existence, and erase any memory an observer might have of it."

10 things we didn't know last week

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 10:06 AM PDT

Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience. 1. iPhones are not yet sold in China. More details 2. Margaret Thatcher suffered one parliamentary defeat as prime minister - on Sunday trading laws. More details 3. English holidaymakers drink an average of eight alcoholic drinks a day. More details 4. The UK population grew more in 2008 than at any time since 1962. More details 5. And Germany's population is shrinking. More details 6. West Ham's stadium is really called the Boleyn Ground, not Upton Park. More details (Guardian) 7. The smell of cut grass makes people happy. More details (Telegraph) 8. A pint glass lasts an average of only three months. More details (Times) 9. An Englishman sailed to the "New World" only two years after the first European is thought to have landed in Newfoundland. More details 10. Men in China cannot marry until aged 22. More details (Times) Seen 10 things? Send us a picture to use next week. Thanks to Vic Barton-Walderstadt for this week's picture of 10 deckchairs in Welwyn Garden City.

I, For One, Welcome Our Glowing, Iridescent Pileus-Overlord!

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 08:30 AM PDT

Kevin Chai snapped this photo from his window seat while flying from Jakarta, Indonesia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Crazy-Powerful IBM Microscope Takes First 3D Image of Molecules

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 08:30 AM PDT

Molecules were presented on computer screens, or at the very least with dowels and balls. Thanks to this incredible discovery, however, I'm jealous of how tomorrow's engineers will view and control nature's building blocks.

Skin Care: Target Women

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 08:18 AM PDT


(12 votes - 1 comment - 309 views)
Is beauty more than skin deep? Hell no! Welcome to the golden age of skin science.

Current TV scoffs at ads bombarding women with pseudo-science and dubious claims.

APOD: 2009 August 28 - NGC 7822 in Cepheus

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 07:50 AM PDT

Pillars of gas, dust, and young, hot stars fill the center of NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, the glowing star forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. Within the nebula, bright edges and tantalizing shapes are highlighted in this colorful skyscape.

Robot Designed to Help Earth Plants Grow on Mars

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 07:30 AM PDT

It's good to know that in the event that our planet collapses under the weight of overpopulation, a water crisis, nuclear holocaust or whatever, there are designers out there already preparing for life on Mars. If we do colonize Mars, the first thing we're going to need is ample breathable oxygen. Enter Le Petit Prince, the greenhouse robot.

pale resplendence

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 06:40 AM PDT

Love this photo... the color... the desert floor... the mountain... you feel the earth moving underneath you through space

NGC 7822 in Cepheus

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 06:06 AM PDT

NGC 7822 in Cepheus Pillars of gas, dust, and young, hot stars fill the center of NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, the glowing star forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. Within the nebula, bright edges and tantalizing shapes are highlighted in this colorful skyscape. The image includes data from both broadband and narrowband filters, mapping emission from atomic oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur into blue, green, and red hues. The atomic emission is powered by the energetic radiation from the hot stars, whose powerful winds and radiation also sculpt and erode the denser pillar shapes. Stars could still be forming inside the pillars by gravitational collapse, but as the pillars are eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cutoff from their reservoir of star stuff. This field spans around 30 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 7822.

Saturn's Titan: Is It a Living Lab on the Origins of Life?

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 05:21 AM PDT

Saturn's orange moon Titan has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth, according to new data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The hydrocarbons rain from the sky, collecting in vast deposits that form lakes and dunes.
Posted by johnald