Science Etcetera Mercuryday, 20080220

February 20th, 2008

Most important thing to do tonight, go outside, look up, and take in the last Total Lunar Eclipse till 2010. Slashdotters believe this will also be the time America shoots down satellite USA 193, based on a restricted airspace announcement.

Did you know that Cuban Arnaldo Tomayo Mendez was the first African, Hispanic, and non-American from the Western Hemisphere to fly in space? That Cuba may be one of the greenest, most sustainable countries on Earth? That Cuba has a vaccine for Meningitis B, something we don’t have in the U.S.? Check out Science Facts about Cuba to learn more, like how Cuba doesn’t have the fantastic socialized health care Michael Moore paints it to be.

Make went to the 2008 NYC Toy Fair and came back with leads on some super-duper science toys like, Thames and Kosmos, Scientific Explorer Gross Kits, BIOLOID - DIY educational robot kits, and Insect Lore bug kits.

Physicist have made a clock that will stay Accurate for 200 Million Years. The National Institute of Standards and Technology reportedly hung their heads in shame for their pathetic crappy clock that’s only accurate for 80 million years. (How Pathetic.)

The most environmentally destructive project on planet Earth is Canada’s Alberta Oil Sands, producing 50 square kilometers of ponds so toxic propane cannons are used to scare ducks away from landing in them.

I’ve said my piece about this arrogant idiot of pulp sci-fi writer, so I agree whole-heartedly when science and technology expert, John Holdren, rips into Michael Crichton’s fiction posing as Science, aptly pointing out that Crichton can make any ridiculous claim he wants, since he isn’t held to the same strict rules of accountability to which Scientists are held.

Did Thomas Edison die poor? That would be so cool if that dishonest, thieving, cat-electrocuting jerk did die impoverished.

Scientists are decoding with amazement an astronomical mechanical computer from 65BC recovered from a Roman shipwreck.

And now a moment of science with an Online Exhibition of Mathematical Art:

Jim Denevan's Beach Drawings

Square Roots of a Tree by John Sims

No comments yet to “Science Etcetera Mercuryday, 20080220”

The math art exhibition is wonderful!

One of my favorite combinations of art and math is the work of Bathsheba Grossman:

http://www.bathsheba.com

I’m dying to buy one of her sculptures.
by doranchak February 20th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Awesome! Thanks for the tip. That’ll make a nice link for a future post.
by ideonexus February 20th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I recently found another math sculpture artist who does amazing work:

http://bulatov.org/metal/index.html
by doranchak February 28th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
(I found the above link via the math artist exhibition links here: http://www.bridgesmathart.org/art-exhibits/jmm08/index.html)
by doranchak February 28th, 2008 at 4:41 pm