Author Topic: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before  (Read 63040 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline millahh

  • Retired Pedantic Bastard
  • Moderator Emeritus
  • *****
  • Posts: 3800
  • Gender: Male
  • RIP Mark
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #70 on: August 14, 2013, 08:45:37 PM »
The fallibility of memory gains traction. 

In New Jersey recently, the supreme court required jurors to be educated on the fallibility of memory as a standard procedure.

https://www.nature.com/news/evidence-based-justice-corrupted-memory-1.13543

With regard to questioning of eye-witnesses, a psychologist “realized that these questions were conveying information... I began to think of it as a process of memory contamination, and we eventually called it the misinformation effect.”  The wording of the questions has a large effect on the response and recall of memories.

Awesome...we're finally moving out of the dark ages.

If you haven't already, check out The Invisible Gorilla...excellent book on the gaps between perception and reality, including the illusion of memory.
https://www.amazon.com/The-Invisible-Gorilla-Intuitions-Deceive/dp/0307459667/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376534615&sr=8-1&keywords=invisible+gorilla
Quote from: parallax
WHEN WILL YOU ADRESS MY MONKEY ARGUMENT???? NEVER???? THAT\' WHAT I FIGURED.:lol

Offline Implode

  • Lord of the Squids
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 5821
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #71 on: August 14, 2013, 10:07:56 PM »
Nova: Absolute Zero

Great documentary on history of man's mastery of the cold; beginning with the first technical air conditioner by blowing air over jars of ice to the modern day studies in super conductivity.

https://youtu.be/y2jSv8PDDwA?t=1s

Man, I seriously love science history documentaries.. :loser:

I just watched the whole thing. Thanks.

Offline rumborak

  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 26664
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #72 on: August 14, 2013, 10:27:58 PM »
I heard about the wrong memories thing a while ago, and they had this story of a woman who had been raped by a man. She claimed to know the man's name and reported it. The thing is, that name was a character of a TV show she had watched shortly before. Her brain had fused the two pieces together. Even when confronted with the incontrovertible evidence that the name came from TV did she stick to her story.

EDIT: Here's an article about it.

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/1996/09.19/FalseMemories.html
"I liked when Myung looked like a women's figure skating champion."

Online Chino

  • Be excellent to each other.
  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 25282
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #73 on: August 15, 2013, 11:58:52 AM »
New shirt came in the mail yesterday !!!


Offline Sketchy

  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2250
  • Gender: Male
  • More tea is required.
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #74 on: August 15, 2013, 12:01:36 PM »
Nice tshirt.
This is as exciting as superluminal neutrinos. The sexy thing is that this actually exists :D

Online Podaar

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 9898
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #75 on: August 15, 2013, 01:51:27 PM »
Nova: Absolute Zero

Great documentary on history of man's mastery of the cold; beginning with the first technical air conditioner by blowing air over jars of ice to the modern day studies in super conductivity.

https://youtu.be/y2jSv8PDDwA?t=1s

Man, I seriously love science history documentaries.. :loser:

I just watched the whole thing. Thanks.

Ditto. That was a great program - other than the hairdo on the last scientist.  :eek
"Religion poisons everything” — Christopher Hitchens

Online Chino

  • Be excellent to each other.
  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 25282
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #76 on: August 15, 2013, 01:58:09 PM »
I don't think there has ever been an episode of NOVA that I didn't like.  :tup

Offline rumborak

  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 26664
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #77 on: August 15, 2013, 03:04:38 PM »
Nova: Absolute Zero

Great documentary on history of man's mastery of the cold; beginning with the first technical air conditioner by blowing air over jars of ice to the modern day studies in super conductivity.

https://youtu.be/y2jSv8PDDwA?t=1s

Man, I seriously love science history documentaries.. :loser:

I just watched the whole thing. Thanks.

Ditto. That was a great program - other than the hairdo on the last scientist.  :eek

OMG, I was thinking the same :lol I think he saw himself as this supper-funny, super-cool (ha, pun) dude, but his horrendous comb-over totally killed all that.
"I liked when Myung looked like a women's figure skating champion."

Online Podaar

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 9898
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #78 on: August 15, 2013, 04:43:12 PM »
Yea, that has to be the worst skullett I've ever seen.  :lol
"Religion poisons everything” — Christopher Hitchens

Offline rumborak

  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 26664
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #79 on: August 15, 2013, 05:04:13 PM »
A research lab developed a smart glass compound that can independently block heat and light on demand:

https://www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3604
"I liked when Myung looked like a women's figure skating champion."

Offline jasc15

  • Posts: 5022
  • Gender: Male
  • TTAL: Yeti welcome
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #80 on: August 15, 2013, 07:33:02 PM »
A research lab developed a smart glass compound that can independently block heat and light on demand:

https://www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3604
I was wondering if it was a fully solid state process, but later in the article, they mention a change in the physical structure of the glass.  They imply some usefulness of this property, but I'm not sure I get it.

Offline rumborak

  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 26664
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #81 on: August 19, 2013, 09:24:09 PM »
Apes exposed for a prolonged amount of time to a body of water figure out how to swim:

https://news.sciencemag.org/evolution/2013/08/video-swimming-apes-caught-tape
"I liked when Myung looked like a women's figure skating champion."

Offline kári

  • Meow
  • DTF.com Member
  • **
  • Posts: 7695
  • Gender: Male
  • ţađ besta sem guđ hefur skapađ er nýr dagur
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #82 on: August 20, 2013, 03:45:00 AM »
Cool. I know of certain primates that can swim pretty well, but the fact that chimps and orangutans can learn it is pretty cool.

You and me go parallel, together and apart

Offline wasteland

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 8011
  • Gender: Male
  • Jay Beckenstein was in Spyro Gyra, right?
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #83 on: August 30, 2013, 10:17:44 AM »
An ASTONISHING result in particle physics. NSFW?  :lolpalm:

Link!
:slayer: Somewhere, over the wasteland..... bootlegs fly :slayer:
MoraWintersoul is the BEST person.
- Marco

Online Podaar

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 9898
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #84 on: August 30, 2013, 02:01:38 PM »
 :eek
"Religion poisons everything” — Christopher Hitchens

Offline Onno

  • Well, it's just entertainment, folks!
  • Posts: 4361
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #85 on: August 30, 2013, 02:08:40 PM »
 :rollin

Offline MrBoom_shack-a-lack

  • I hit things for a living!
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 9235
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #86 on: August 30, 2013, 02:17:34 PM »
That is the best thing ever!  :lol
"I said to Nigel Tufnel, 'The door is open if you want to do anything on this record,' but it turns out Nigel has a phobia about doors." /Derek Smalls

Offline Sketchy

  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2250
  • Gender: Male
  • More tea is required.
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #87 on: August 31, 2013, 09:13:21 AM »
Wow, that beats the ARSPIPES acronym used by the nano-lot.
This is as exciting as superluminal neutrinos. The sexy thing is that this actually exists :D

Offline Sigz

  • BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 13537
  • Gender: Male
  • THRONES FOR THE THRONE SKULL
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #88 on: September 12, 2013, 02:45:22 PM »
Found: The First Mechanical Gear in a Living Creature Living Creature

Quote
With two diminutive legs locked into a leap-ready position, the tiny jumper bends its body taut like an archer drawing a bow. At the top of its legs, a minuscule pair of gears engage—their strange, shark-fin teeth interlocking cleanly like a zipper. And then, faster than you can blink, think, or see with the naked eye, the entire thing is gone. In 2 milliseconds it has bulleted skyward, accelerating at nearly 400 g's—a rate more than 20 times what a human body can withstand. At top speed the jumper breaks 8 mph—quite a feat considering its body is less than one-tenth of an inch long.

This miniature marvel is an adolescent issus, a kind of planthopper insect and one of the fastest accelerators in the animal kingdom. As a duo of researchers in the U.K. report today in the journal Science, the issus also the first living creature ever discovered to sport a functioning gear. "Jumping is one of the most rapid and powerful things an animal can do," says Malcolm Burrows, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge and the lead author of the paper, "and that leads to all sorts of crazy specializations."

The researchers believe that the issus—which lives chiefly on European climbing ivy—evolved its acrobatic prowess because it needs to flee dangerous situations. Although they're not exactly sure if the rapid jump evolved to escape hungry birds, parasitizing wasps, or the careless mouths of large grazing animals, "there's been enormous evolutionary pressure to become faster and faster, and jump further and further away," Burrows says. But gaining this high acceleration has put incredible demands on the reaction time of insect's body parts, and that's where the gears—which "you can imagine being at the top of the thigh bone in a human," Burrows says—come in.



"As the legs unfurl to power the jump," Burrows says, "both have to move at exactly the same time. If they didn't, the animal would start to spiral out of control." Larger animals, whether kangaroos or NBA players, rely on their nervous system to keep their legs in sync when pushing off to jump—using a constant loop of adjustment and feedback. But for the issus, their legs outpace their nervous system. By the time the insect has sent a signal from its legs to its brain and back again, roughly 5 or 6 milliseconds, the launch has long since happened. Instead, the gears, which engage before the jump, let the issus lock its legs together—synchronizing their movements to a precision of 1/300,000 of a second.

The gears themselves are an oddity. With gear teeth shaped like cresting waves, they look nothing like what you'd find in your car or in a fancy watch. (The style that you're most likely familiar with is called an involute gear, and it was designed by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in the 18th century.) There could be two reasons for this. Through a mathematical oddity, there is a limitless number of ways to design intermeshing gears. So, either nature evolved one solution at random, or, as Gregory Sutton, coauthor of the paper and insect researcher at the University of Bristol, suspects, the shape of the issus's gear is particularly apt for the job it does. It's built for "high precision and speed in one direction," he says. "It's a prototype for a new type of gear."

Another odd thing about this discovery is that although there are many jumping insects like the issus—including ones that are even faster and better jumpers—the issus is apparently the only one with natural gears. Most other bugs synchronize the quick jolt of their leaping legs through friction, using bumpy or grippy surfaces to press the top of their legs together, says Duke University biomechanics expert Steve Vogel, who was not involved in this study. Like gears, this ensures the legs move at the same rate, but without requiring a complicated interlocking mechanism. "There are a lot of friction pads around, and they accomplish pretty much of the same thing," he says. "So I wonder what extra capacity these gears confer. They're rather specialized, and there are lots of other jumpers that don't have them, so there must be some kind of advantage."

Even stranger is that the issus doesn't keep these gears throughout its life cycle. As the adolescent insect grows, it molts half a dozen times, upgrading its exoskeleton (gears included) for larger and larger versions. But after its final molt into adulthood—poof, the gears are gone. The adult syncs its legs by friction like all the other planthoppers. "I'm gobsmacked," says Sutton. "We have a hypothesis as to why this is the case, but we can't tell you for sure."

Their idea: If one of the gear teeth were to slip and break in an adult (the researchers observed this in adolescent bugs), its jumping ability would be hindered forever. With no more molts, it would have no chance to grow more gears. And with every bound, "the whole system might slip, accelerating damage to the rest of the gear teeth," Sutton says. "Just like if your car has a gear train missing a tooth. Every time you get to that missing tooth, the gear train jerks."

Full paper is here: https://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6151/1254

It's really interesting, especially given the fact that they evolved only for a specific period in its lifecycle.
Quote
The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.

Offline rumborak

  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 26664
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #89 on: September 12, 2013, 02:52:58 PM »
Dang that is cool.
"I liked when Myung looked like a women's figure skating champion."

Offline BlobVanDam

  • Future Boy
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 38940
  • Gender: Male
  • Transform and rock out!
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #90 on: September 12, 2013, 08:50:24 PM »
That's awesome. Nature wins again. :P
Only King could mis-spell a LETTER.
Yep. I think the only party in the MP/DT situation that hasn't moved on is DTF.

Offline jasc15

  • Posts: 5022
  • Gender: Male
  • TTAL: Yeti welcome
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #91 on: September 16, 2013, 09:34:23 AM »
This article has animations of the mechanism, and of the bug jumping.

https://www.npr.org/2013/09/13/219739500/living-gears-help-this-bug-jump

Offline rumborak

  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 26664
"I liked when Myung looked like a women's figure skating champion."

Offline wasteland

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 8011
  • Gender: Male
  • Jay Beckenstein was in Spyro Gyra, right?
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #93 on: September 19, 2013, 02:14:14 AM »
Physicists are struggling to measure G, the gravitational constant:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=puzzling-measurement-of-big-g-gravitational-constant-ignites-debate-slide-show

Since the 19th century Gravity has always been the hardest force of the lot to figure out.
:slayer: Somewhere, over the wasteland..... bootlegs fly :slayer:
MoraWintersoul is the BEST person.
- Marco

Offline Zydar

  • Creep With Tonality
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 19210
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #94 on: September 19, 2013, 03:40:25 AM »
Just wanted to post this here.

Zydar is my new hero.  I just laughed so hard I nearly shat.

Offline BlobVanDam

  • Future Boy
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 38940
  • Gender: Male
  • Transform and rock out!
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #95 on: September 19, 2013, 04:09:51 AM »
Great gif. Damn, now I feel like watching the Stargate Atlantis episode with Bill Nye and Neil Degrass Tyson in it again. :blob:
Only King could mis-spell a LETTER.
Yep. I think the only party in the MP/DT situation that hasn't moved on is DTF.

Online Chino

  • Be excellent to each other.
  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 25282
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #96 on: September 19, 2013, 09:55:54 AM »

Online Chino

  • Be excellent to each other.
  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 25282
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #97 on: September 19, 2013, 09:59:42 AM »
Does anyone watch Brian Cox's series?

He's the guy who did Wonders of the Universe and Wonders of the Solar System. I just started his newest one, Wonders of Life. So goooooood.

Offline Onno

  • Well, it's just entertainment, folks!
  • Posts: 4361
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #98 on: September 19, 2013, 02:04:11 PM »
Does anyone watch Brian Cox's series?

He's the guy who did Wonders of the Universe and Wonders of the Solar System. I just started his newest one, Wonders of Life. So goooooood.
I only know him from QI, but he's a genius. I'll probably need to watch that starting this weekend if I can find some spare time  :lol

Online Chino

  • Be excellent to each other.
  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 25282
  • Gender: Male
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #99 on: September 19, 2013, 02:05:56 PM »
Does anyone watch Brian Cox's series?

He's the guy who did Wonders of the Universe and Wonders of the Solar System. I just started his newest one, Wonders of Life. So goooooood.
I only know him from QI, but he's a genius. I'll probably need to watch that starting this weekend if I can find some spare time  :lol

Yeah, definitely get on that. Next to Carl Sagan's voice/Cosmos, that's by far my favorite show/series to rattle my brain.

Offline rumborak

  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 26664
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #100 on: September 22, 2013, 12:05:18 AM »
This is not for the squeamish, but there's a FB page called "The Brain Scoop" where this girl taxidermist dissects a wolf from beginning to end. Incredibly fascinating, and it's better than probably most of you highschool biology class taken together.
"I liked when Myung looked like a women's figure skating champion."

Offline Sketchy

  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2250
  • Gender: Male
  • More tea is required.
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #101 on: September 22, 2013, 05:33:53 AM »
Physicists are struggling to measure G, the gravitational constant:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=puzzling-measurement-of-big-g-gravitational-constant-ignites-debate-slide-show

Since the 19th century Gravity has always been the hardest force of the lot to figure out.

And I don't see us measuring the mass of the sun perfectly accurately any time soon, which would be a great help.
This is as exciting as superluminal neutrinos. The sexy thing is that this actually exists :D

Offline kári

  • Meow
  • DTF.com Member
  • **
  • Posts: 7695
  • Gender: Male
  • ţađ besta sem guđ hefur skapađ er nýr dagur
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #102 on: September 22, 2013, 08:01:06 AM »
I could be wrong but I think the mass of the sun is actually estimated by using the radii of the planets' orbits and their masses, and plugging in G.

You and me go parallel, together and apart

Offline Sketchy

  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2250
  • Gender: Male
  • More tea is required.
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #103 on: September 22, 2013, 08:09:07 AM »
Actually, you're probably right on that one. Either way, one of them is really hard to determine because of the other not being well known. I could have sworn it was that way round, but thinking about it, how the hell does one measure the mass of the sun otherwise?
This is as exciting as superluminal neutrinos. The sexy thing is that this actually exists :D

Offline kári

  • Meow
  • DTF.com Member
  • **
  • Posts: 7695
  • Gender: Male
  • ţađ besta sem guđ hefur skapađ er nýr dagur
Re: The science and nature thread v. We tried this before
« Reply #104 on: September 22, 2013, 08:48:52 AM »
Well there would be other ways but they would require much more information. If we have very good theoretical stellar models for example, the mass could be determined using parameters like the luminosity, composition, radius, etc.

Another problem there is those models will surely use gravitational interactions in the star, which in turn will rely on G, so probably not a good way to go either.

You and me go parallel, together and apart