Category: Ionian Enchantment
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Entropy for Information Systems
Entropy is a fairly easy concept to define, the measure of disorder in a closed system, and a rather difficult concept to grasp, but one that furnishes us with wonderful insights into the way the world around us operates. The amount of entropy in the Universe is ever-increasing, the energy concentrated in our sun is…
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A Letter to Roger Ebert Concerning a Misconception About Evolution
Dear Roger Ebert, In your recent review of “Extract,” you made the comment about the film “Idiocracy” that “those Idiots had the benefit of a few hundred years during which to refute Darwin by evolving less intelligence.” I know that you are a man who appreciates science, and thought you should know that your statement…
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Understanding the Animal Side of Human Nature
Grrrrr! Credit: Brian Scott Colin Powell’s appearance on State of the Union recently stirred up many healthy debates on Iraq, Obama’s presidency, and Sotomayor, but I found his thoughts on American families most interesting, especially the following: And I’m kind of a simple guy on things like this, John. I watch National Geographic and Animal…
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Fun With Tick Clockwork
Dermacentor variabilis, female Credit: National Tick Collection Vicky and I went for a short hike in Chesapeake’s Northwest River Park last weekend, a lovely site filled with marshland and waterways for canoeing, camping, … and ticks. Hot summer days combined with the humidity of the wetlands climate equals lots and lots of ticks, and this…
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Luminaries for Scientists at the Relay for Life
Vicky introduced me to the Relay for Life this year, an all-night fundraising event where teams raise money for the American Cancer Society. We brought some of the neighborhood kids to the event, and much fun was had by one and all. The most impactful moment of the night for me was the Luminaria Ceremony,…
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Putting Away Magical Thinking
The movement of troops through the islands of the South Pacific in World War II had a profound, unintended consequence for the native cultures living in them. These isolated aboriginal peoples were suddenly exposed to soldiers in the Japanese and Allied Forces, who brought incredible amounts of manufactured clothing, medicine, canned foods, tents, weapons, and…
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The Human Flaw That Science Heals
“For now we see through a glass, darkly…” – 1 Corinthians 13:12 There is a common theme among religions of the world: humans are flawed. We are subject to a cycle of suffering, guilty of original sin, or afflicted with a modern malaise of dissatisfaction, which may only be cured through adherence to Buddhism, accepting…
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Port Discover Science Center Needs Your Enthusiasm
Nobody flunks a science museum. – Frank Oppenheimer, founder of Exploratorium Center Director Jenny Eaton at the Port Discover Booth for Knobbs Creek Recreation Center’s Safety Day There’s a feeling I get when I find a picture of a living species on Earth that looks as though it belongs in a science fiction film, come…
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Matter-Energy and Information
“I believe that consciousness is, essentially, the way information feels when being processed.” – Max Tegmark The ancient Greeks, Hindus, Buddhists, and Medieval Alchemists thought the universe was composed of five classical elements: air/wind, water, Earth, Fire, and Aether/Space. Recently, I came across the most basic way to categorize everything in our universe into two…
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Benjamin Franklin’s Electrical Goof
The 1700s were a century of phenomenal progress in the subject of electricity. Luigi Galvani discovered that electricity made dead muscles twitch, inspiring Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. Alessandro Volta discovered that electricity was dynamic, flowing through conductive materials like water in a stream, which is why we call it an “electric current.” William Nicholson and Anthony…
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The Digital Naturalist
“Take only memories, leave nothing but footprints.” – Chief Seattle This quote from Chief Seattle, leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Native American tribes, is paraphrased by modern naturalists as, “Take only photographs, leave only footprints” (and sometimes adding, “Kill only time.”). Beetle in Flight Credit: Matthew Fang In the past, Naturalists like Charles Darwin…
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Science Radio Podcasts for Listening in Your Car
I have these in my RSS reader, where I let them mass up until there are hundreds. Then I go through and download all the ones that sound interesting to a folder and burn them to a CD (as MP3s) or store on a thumb drive. These are listed in order of my personal preference:…