One of my favorite biologists, John Maynard Smith, was once an engineer like myself. He designed planes in WWII and then decided biology was more interesting. He made a complete and total career change, citing that airplanes were “noisy and old fashioned”. Anyway he still loved flying things, and wrote a really [...]
I have a special bond with some of the things I learn. Just think of how many things you learn throughout a normal day, it’s staggering… but most of it is trivial and dull. In fact, most of the things I learn at work or just going about my day pass right through [...]
I went to Fry’s this weekend and walked out with a telescope. Yes, I bought a telescope on impulse but I simply couldn’t resist. This isn’t just any telescope though; this is a truly “Desktop” telescope! Seriously, the tube isn’t much bigger than a liter bottle and I can pick the whole [...]
What is it that confers the noblest delight? What is that which swells a man’s breast with pride above that which any experience can bring to him? Discovery! To know that you are walking where non other have walked; that you are beholding what human eye has not seen before; that you are breathing [...]
This is a wonderful little application! Scroll through it and have your mind thoroughly blown to bits.
http://primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe.swf
It’s National Robotics Week!
http://www.nationalroboticsweek.org/
I have to admit, I love robots. I grew up reading all kinds of science fiction and it was unavoidable. I remember reading all of the I, Robot stories by Isaac Asimov and being completely inundated by robots in movies. Remember Johnny 5 from Short Circuit? What about [...]
I read a lot of science books and a lot of them take an almost fiendish pride in reminding us how “insignificant” we are. I disagree. They mention how the earth is very small, a grain in a vast ocean of useless space and time. They remind us that at one [...]
I’ve been trying to think of a good analogy for the complexity and beauty in nature. The best thing I can come up with is music. For instance, a piece of piano music is made up of only a few dozen discrete tones. If a kid came and bashed away on the [...]
I’ve been sick a few times this past month and it was hell. It was so bad I had to go on a course of antibiotics to help wipe out the infection. That got me thinking though, how do antibiotics even work? It’s just a pill, so how does the chemical know [...]
I whipped out an orange from my lunch bag today and it was as large as a baby’s head. Amazing! The thing weighed about a pound and looked to be in perfect health, glowing a bright rich… well orange color. I thought to myself, why the heck is this orange so big? [...]