Network Theory Overview
- "The idea
: nature and the world of human technology are full of networks
! People like to draw diagrams of networks. Mathematical physicists know that in principle these diagrams can be understood using category theory
. But why should physicists have all the fun
? This is the century of understanding living systems and adapting to life on a finite planet
. Math isn't the main thing we need, but it's got to be part of the solution
... so one thing we should do
is develop a unified and powerful theory of networks
When a liquid is dropped onto a smooth plate that is heated to a specific temperature well above its boiling point, boiled vapor will get trapped underneath the remainder of the droplet insulating it from the hot plate, allowing it to dance around the plate like oil on a wet surface in what is known as the Leidenfrost effect
. Intriguingly, surfaces that are grooved into the shape of a saw blade will cause droplets suspended by the Leidenfrost effect to predictably skitter in the direction of the groove, allowing University of Bath undergraduate students Carmen Cheng and Matthew Guy to build a fascinating maze. [more inside]
- The International Avogadro project
relates the kilogram to the mass of a fixed number of atoms by measuring the number of atoms in a sphere of silicon.
I'll leave this
Science for the people: take a renowned scientist (Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman
(Physics), Stephen Benkovik
(Chemisty)) and sit them down on a street corner to answer questions.
Also: The No Excuse List
(resources to learn just about anything), Minute Physics
(free, University-level courses online) and PetriDish
, a Kickstarter for science projects.
is a blog that looks at the science in Breaking Bad
and the non-science in Fringe
Theory of the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life
, in which the author, Erik Andrulis, proposes an "axiomatic, experimentally testable, empirically consistent, heuristic, and unified theory of life." He also claims to be able to unify physics.....ahem. All this is done using the chemistry notation you learned in highschool. [more inside]
So you wake up tomorrow morning to find almost everyone on Earth missing. The Internet will continue to work for a few hours
: what information could you download to ensure your survival and rebuild civilization? A few suggestions: The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
. Third Word Development
(18 GB of information on agriculture, livestock, food processing, construction, water, sanitation, health and much more). The Global Village Construction Set (previously)
. Copies of Gray's Anatomy
, Where There Is No Doctor
, and The Ship Captain’s Medical Guide
A few more that might be handy even in ordinary times: all of Wikipedia
, or perhaps just a portion
. (Ideally, of course, you’d already have a bound, printed copy
), Offline Google Mail (Chrome)
to save correspondence; SiteSucker
to download sites you’d like to keep around while offline.
At the beginning of last month, Scientific American unveiled a new network of 47 blogs with 55 bloggers
. Their latest posts can be found here
. [more inside]
Two new elements have been identified.
They will need to be named. The new elements have temporary titles of ununquadium and ununhexium. [more inside]
is a veteran American cartoonist best known for his delightful comic-book guides to science and history, many of which have previews online. Chief among them is his long-running Cartoon History of the Universe
(later The Cartoon History of the Modern World
), a sprawling multi-volume opus documenting everything from the Big Bang to the Bush administration. Published over the course of three decades, it takes a truly global view -- its time-traveling Professor thoroughly explores not only familiar topics like Rome and World War II but the oft-neglected stories of Asia and Africa, blending caricature and myth with careful scholarship (cited by fun illustrated bibliographies
) and tackling even the most obscure events with intelligence and wit
. This savvy satire carried over to Gonick's Zinn
chronicle The Cartoon History of the United States
, along with a bevy of Cartoon Guides
to other topics, including Genetics, Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, The Environment
, and (yes!) Sex
. Gonick has also maintained a few sideprojects, such as a webcomic look at Chinese invention
, assorted math comics
), the Muse magazine
mainstay Kokopelli & Co.
(featuring the shenanigans of his "New Muses"
), and more
. See also these lengthy interview snippets
, linked previously
. Want more? Amazon links to the complete oeuvre inside! [more inside]
The science education video series Sixty Symbols
) explores the Cadbury Creme Egg. [more inside]
While working on a PhD, did you ever feel no one understood your research? Well instead of writing your dissertation about your topic, ““Microtubule Catastrophe in Living Cells”
or “Hydrodynamic Trail Following in a Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina)”,
you can dance to it
. Or, if you don’t want to dance to a science topic, then change your topic and publish research about zombies as a disease model. [more inside]
is one man's collection of UseNET posts on the topics of Air Conditioning
, Electronic; Environment
, Pyrotechnics; Food
; Space mostly from a select group of authors
. It has been updated several times since it first appeared here in 2001
and it never fails to sucker me in for hours every time I stumble upon it from a Google Search. [more inside]
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been able to confirm the production of the superheavy element 114, ten years after a group in Russia, at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, first claimed to have made it. The search for 114 has long been a key part of the quest for nuclear science’s hoped-for Island of Stability. [more inside]
scientifically summarises the scientific field of Creation Science (warning: science) [transcript]
World of Science
contains budding encyclopedias of astronomy
, scientific biography
, and physics
. This resource has been assembled over more than a decade by internet encyclopedist Eric Weisstein
with assistance from the internet community. MeFi visited Weisstein's Mathworld
a couple years ago.
The Science of Scent.
An entertaining and enlightening TED talk by biophysicist Luca Turin.
is a unique search engine for science videos focusing on Physics, Chemistry, and Space. For example, things
to do with sulfur hexafluoride
. Still growing, the editors are presently indexing other scientific fields of study including Geology, Psychology, Robotics and Computers. Ever wonder why things go bang
Carl Zimmer's Science Tattoo Emporium
- "Underneath their sober lab coats and flannel shirts, scientists hide images of their scientific passions. Here they are revealed to all." From the science journalist and writer
responsible for The Loom
and numerous other published works
PhET - Physics Education Technology
offers this astoundingly large library of online physics simulations
. Play orbital billiards. Land on a cheesy moon.
Experiment with sound.
Or try more advanced quantum physics simulators
. Still bored? Try the "cutting edge" catagory.
Here's the complete index
of natural philosopher Robert Boyle
(1627 - 1697) at the Robert Boyle Project, based at Birkbeck College, University of London.
Widely regarded as the first modern chemist (his book The Sceptical Chymist
is perhaps the founding text of chemistry as a science), he was also an alchemist and made significant contributions in physics (for example Boyle's law
) and physiology.
The Robert Boyle homepage has as its centrepiece a large collection
of images of Boyles' papers. Images and transcriptions of his marvellous work diaries are available at the AHRC Centre for Editing Lives and Letters
On the mission
miracles of Life on Earth and the mysteries
reaching beyond the stars