Science Friday: The Big Bang, The Chicken from Hell, And The Science Of Bread
Researchers have detected a nearly 14-billion-year-old signal that helps to confirm the idea of inflation, which theorizes that the universe quickly expanded right after the Big Bang. Physicists Lawrence Krauss, John Kovac, and Alan Guth—the father of inflation—discuss what this discovery can tell us about the early universe and what it might mean for the future of physics.
Scientists recently reported the discovery of an 11-foot-tall, bird-like dinosaur, nicknamed the “chicken from hell.” Paleontologist Matt Lamanna describes the dinosaur and tells us where it may have roamed 66 million years ago.
An illustration of Anzu wyliei shows several striking anatomical features of the large, feathered dinosaur, including its long tail, feathered arms, toothless beak, and a tall crest on the top of its skull. Image by Mark Klingler, Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Can you roll a ball without touching it? Mold an object simply by waving your hands? MIT’s Tangible Media Group can. They demo two innovative projects as part of their vision to make user interfaces more physical. One, called “InFORM,” is an interactive shape-changing display that boasts myriad functions and a mind-bending design. “jamSheets” combines pneumatic pumps and thin sheets of paper and fabric to enable users to mold surfaces, clothing, or even furniture without the aid of a computer.
Do you know glutenin from gliadin? Active dry yeast from rapid rise? In this episode of our "Food Failures" series, America's Test Kitchen editorial director Jack Bishop talks about the science behind perfect bread—including essential equipment, varieties of flour and yeast, and why the temperature and humidity of your kitchen matter.
Who were our first ancestors? What does it mean to be human? These are questions artist John Gurche and paleoanthropologist Rick Potts have been working to answer. They describe their collaborations on the Smithsonian’s Hall of Human Origins exhibit and discuss how art and science inform one another.
Scientists once estimated that humans could distinguish only 10,000 unique smells, as compared to 7.5 million colors and 340,000 tones. Now a new Rockefeller University study suggests the nose knows much more than we thought. Instead of 10,000 unique odors, try one trillion.