Category Archives: science

on the greatest video ever made

This video represents the apex of Western civilization (for full effect, visit the youtube page to see it in HD glory). Between mouthfuls of gnomic abbreviations like ‘PBA’ and ‘9-s Soyuz’ this man--nay, gentleman--Michael Barratt gives us peons an exhibitionist’s glimpse into human life abstracted from all physical considerations. Here are men and women who [...]
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addicted to a different kind of high

Adrenaline (Epinephrine) is a hormone which produces the so-called “fight or flight” response in human brains. Several different events can trigger the release of adrenaline: skateboarding coffee falling from great heights intense sexual activity among several others. How many of your decisions are made under the influence of this mysterious chemical?
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nuclear power and green energy

This morning I was in the bathroom when I received a call from a telemarketer. I’m not someone who’s going to deny someone who wants to sell something; I think that anyone ought to be heard out, and who knows, if what they have to sell is something that I need, I will buy it. [...]
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human nature?

normblog has a post highly pertinent to my interests: on the debate over nature vs. nurture in determining “human-ness”. ‘norm’ (should I know his name?) writes: cultural determinism, in the sense of denying the reality and/or causal influence of a common human nature, has always been unsustainable. It is an absurdity. Plain facts of material life include [...]
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Visualizing Science

Information visualization is one of the buzzwords of 2009 and is definitely on the list of things I knew how to do better (with cooking, tennis, speaking french). The “Map of Science”, developed by a team of researchers lead by Johan Bollen at the Los Alamos National Labs in my glorious home state New Mexico, [...]
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