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I set out on a hike today in search of anything neat I missed during yesterday's hike, which I started too late to take full advantage of the daylight. I made it through the entire trail today, and had quite the detour along the way. I stopped by a dead Sycamore tree to look for beetles, since I found a neat species of Osmoderma beetle in it last year, but no dice this time. I trudged on, arriving at a small area with some fallen trees, and decided to stay a while.I quickly noticed that there […]
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While speaking at TEDxMcGill 2009, Jan Florjanczyk — friend, quantum information researcher, and former schoolmate of mine — provided one of the clearest characterization of theoretical physics that I’ve had the please of hearing: Theoretical physics is about tweaking the knobs and dials and assumptions of the laws that govern the universe and then interpolating […]
Gardner, A. & Conlon, J. (2013). Cosmological natural selection and the purpose of the universe, Complexity, DOI: 10.1002/cplx.21446
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(via Australian Geographic)
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This hammerhead, which I think is a great hammerhead, was killed in the harbor at Beaufort, North Carolina, a place that was once frequented by both Blackbeard and yours truly. This shark is depicted in an article entitled “What Sharks Really Eat” in Natural History in 1921. The article explains what normally has been found […]
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Lichens are symbiotic organisms consisting of a fungus and a partner capable of photosynthesis either either a green alga or cyanobacterium. The body of most lichens is different from those of its partners growing separately. The fungus surrounds the algal cells, often enclosing them within complex fungal tissues unique to lichen associations. In many species the fungus even penetrates the algal cell wall. The lichen association is a close symbiosis and extends the ecological range of both
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Have you ever read an article, attended a panel discussion, or watched a tv show and thought: “I really wish they’d featured an expert” ? I can’t say if it’s intentional or unintentional, but there definitely seem to be many cases where a panel discussing aspects of agriculture consists of representatives from EWG, UCS, CFS, etc and there might, if we are really lucky, be one person who has some understanding of the science. One example is of this is an episode […]
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Weather people like to tell you how much below or above average the current weather is. Of course here in the great midwest of North America this is largely complete crap. You can average the weather data, but there is no average weather around here. Basically you go from too cold spring weather to summer instantly, and then back and forth a few times more. It just depends upon what particular weather front is winning the push and pull battle as they cross the
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Braindrizzle - Episode 15 - The Episode With No Name
This podcast also available on iTunes -
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Mathematical Cancer Predictions
http://tinyurl.com/bv7s4lp
Turning Cellulose into Food
http://tinyurl.com/ceqta9r
Killing Bacteria with Plasma in the Package
http://tinyurl.com/bv4n6d7
Taylor Wilson TedTalk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HL1BEC024g
Snow Is
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Who likes Madonna! Source
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Remember the movie Groundhog Day, in which Bill Murray wakes up every morning to repeat the same day, over and over? That is a bit of what it feels like to write about the value of benevolence in dog training, and the problems associated with aggressive, confrontational techniques. And yet, I just can’t stop, because there is still a flood of advice about using force and confrontation to correct a dog for ….. (fill in the blanks)…. because 1) misbehavior is a sign your dog ... […]
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 293: Earthquakes
We always say that the Universe is trying to kill you, but actually, the Earth isn’t so fond of you either. Certain parts of planet Earth are prone to earthquakes, where the planet’s shifting plates can cause the ground to shake violently. We’ve had a few devastating earthquakes in recent years, but do they also happen on other worlds?
Duration: 44:57
via Astrosphere Vids.
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The sweeping cuts in federal spending known as the sequester are already taking a toll on scientific research. Jennifer Fletcher, a professor at the University of California, Berkley stationed at the USDA-funded Plant Gene Expression Center, faces the sudden challenge of slashing direct research costs by 40%. “I’m paying part of a research associate’s salary… and already as a result of the cuts we’ve had to eliminate that position.” Now Fletcher has less money to spend on supplies […]
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Susan Gerbic - “Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia” - JREF Workshop
Activist Susan Gerbic teaches you how to edit and expand Wikipedia in a way that challenges unsupported claims, spreads truthful information about pseudoscience and the paranormal, and helps the public have a better understanding of science and critical thinking.
Mentioned in this video:
Jamy Ian Swiss - “Overlapping Magisteria”:
http://youtu.be/DIiznLE5Xno
“Can James Van Praagh Talk with Dead
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