Home to the finest science shows this side of the Big Bang performed by the two best science guys in this (or any other) universe. Have science, will travel.
We got a new camera! An honest-to-goodness, shooting stuff, all the bells and whistles, type camera......And I'm completely terrified of it. Like a suspicious peasant who won't go near the creepy old castle without muttering and making cryptic signs to ward off the evil eye. But I put on my big boy pants, burned some sage to discourage the negative humors, sacrificed a fatted calf to any deities who may be around (okay, so it was a slim jim) and I made a brief video to check it out. And it worked! Kinda.
In the annals of scientific research there are many sober, conscientious minds, meticulously following protocol to slowly, inexorably advance the state of human knowledge towards the goal of being just a little bit less wrong about the universe. There's also a lot of silly whack-a-doodles who can't be trusted not to run with scissors. Guess which group I'm going to write about today.........
Let’s say you’ve sealed a cat in a box with a killing device powered by the radioactive decay of an element (Don’t ask why. In this hypothetical you’re a sociopath). If the element decays, the device is triggered, the cat dies, and the ASPCA will come gunning for you. Whereas the average decay rate of elements is well known, exactly when each atom actually decays is not able to be predicted. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory states that until an observation is made of the inside of the box, the quantum system described above is represented by a wave function in superposition. That is, the cat can be considered both alive and dead.
We may live in a holographic simulation. Everything that can be conceived of must exist somewhere in the universe. There's this cat, you see, in this box that's both dead and alive, man. Dead and alive.
s much as I love the mind-bending ideas of scientific conjecture, sometimes the use of these ideas rankle my common sense. Especially when ideas like the quirks of quantum theory are accidentally or, even worse, purposefully misinterpreted and the model of the universe science is trying to build is mistaken for the actual thing
I'm not a scientist, but I play one on the internet. I'm not a teacher but I sometimes play one in a classroom. It can be argued that I'm an educator because I like to tell people stuff about things but so does the sketchy guy on the street corner who yells at trees and trashcans. I prefer to think of myself as part of a proud tradition that stretches back into antiquity.
I was reading through science news, like you do, when I came across this article about some chemists at UC Irvine who have developed a way to un-boil hard-boiled eggs. The process wasn't developed specifically to turn back the clock on boiled eggs, though, but to "reset" proteins that have been tangled and misfolded through some sort of chemical process so they can be recycled or reused. Medicine, biotech, and food production rely on the steady production of proteins but sometimes the manufacturing goes awry. Currently the only way to reuse the misfolded proteins requires an expensive and time-consuming process. This new one cuts the time and the cost to a small fraction of what it used to be.
And it doesn't really unboil the whole egg, either. It just resets one of the proteins in the egg what to what it was before the heat screwed it all up and solidified the albumen. The protein is lysozyme, which makes up only a few percent of the albumen. The egg isn't completely reset; heck, the egg white isn't even mostly reset, but it's still a really cool proof of concept.
This got me thinking about two things: first, if we're now one step closer to reversing the Maillard reaction and fixing overcooked steaks (probably not) and second, entropy.
This post won't mean a whole lot to too many of you, I imagine, but Aaron and I felt like it was something we kind of had to do. See, we just learned that Cheddar Chad, the hot dog vendor in downtown Spokane, died of complications from the flu earlier this week.
Aaron and I frequented his hot dog cart. His Dollar Dogs were the best tubular meat you could get for a buck, his Jumbo Dogs were just as delicious except, you know, jumbo, and he had a cornucopia of fresh and bottled toppings to whet your wiener whistle.
You’re welcome, friendly garbage monster.
We didn't really go for the dogs, though. They were tasty and reasonably priced. We went for the guy selling them. No matter the weather, no matter the general crappiness of the day, he
had a face-splitting, genuine smile for everyone who bought one of his hot dogs. In a world where the trash bins at fast food restaurants are sometimes more polite than the staff, Cheddar Chad stood as a god among men (and women) who serve delicious, not-so-healthy food. He was a great guy and you could tell that he got a lot of happiness out of his job. On days when work at our little science center wasn't so great, a quick trip down the block could act as a pick-me-up and remind us that yes, there are genuinely nice and happy people out there.
Reading that article I linked above I learned so much about the guy that I hadn't known before. He was going to be a bus driver. He gave hot dogs to the homeless (of which there are a whole lot in Spokane). He DJed in his spare time. He had just acquired a degree in anthropology.
Well, until today Aaron and I only knew him as the guy who took genuine pride and joy in selling people hot dogs 365 days a year. I'm going to guess that's how lots of people knew him, and by the look of his memorial, they miss him, too. As I told Aaron, it sucks more that I can easily put into words that he died.
A few weeks back Don wrote an article on the spectrum of scientific inquiry where he talked about the loss of respect some of the "softer" sciences suffer due to the lack of hard evidence, explosions, and the stereotypical trappings of the scientific endeavor. In that subtle love poem written to his wayward mistress of Anthropology I saw myself mirrored and this week I'd like to make reparations and start by apologizing personally to Biology, Biologists, and a girlfriend I had long ago at whom I sarcastically rolled my eyes when she made the same points.
Well, my voice is back in good working order so it's time for another episode of Constant Science! This week I've decided to embark upon a long and hopefully fruitful journey across all 118 elements of the periodic table, giving myself just one minute to tell you some basic facts and cool stuff about each of them in order. Today we start with hydrogen and end with boron.
And don't worry; this won't be the only thing I do for the next 23.6 videos. I'll just come back to it from time to time. Click through to check it out!
Quick, how many planets are in our solar system? No googling. I’ll accept eight or nine as answers. If you want to be in line with current teaching standards, we have eight. If you refuse to bow to the whimsical tyranny of the IAU (viva la revolucion!) there’s nine. Or is there…….
As someone who has been, for years now, essentially a professional Science Guy (not nearly on the level of Bill Nye, of course, but a man can dream) it might surprise some people that my background is not actually in hard science. In fact, neither is Aaron's. We both have oddly parallel histories when it comes to college education. Both of us have degrees in philosophy. Both of us later went back to undergrad for second degrees, mine in anthropology and his in music. Both of us went into informal science because of a deep love and appreciation for science and the scientific method even if our formal schooling wasn't in hard science. We're living, breathing examples of what we preach: that science is for everyone, whether or not you studied it specifically in school.
Brace yourselves. Winter is……well, winter is here. As parts of the US are being savaged by the polar vortex, indoor activities take on a whole new appeal. To help pass the time, here’s a fun, hands-on activity to make your very own super ball. As usual, please do this activity under the supervision of a responsible adult or at least someone who satisfies the legal definition of adult and has the self-delusion to believe he/she is responsible.
Happy Monday, everyone! Unfortunately, I have fallen victim to whatever bug has been going around the Midwest for the last month or two. I’m not dead on my feet by any means but my voice is not exactly ready for prime time. Today, then, instead I’m going to write a short entry about why we do what we do.
I already answered the question “Why Science?” in a previous post. Today I’m going to try to answer the question “Why science shows?” In other words, why do Aaron and I perform science on stage? What do we get out of it?
After the huge success of last week's post about my top 5 science moments of 2014, I figured while any shlub can look backwards, it takes a man of vision, a man of courage, indeed, a man of SCIENCE to look forward into the murky mists of the near-future and bring you the Top 5 Science Thingies of 2015.
5. Unexpected Discoveries for New Horizons: Just beyond the orbit of our long-lost ninth planet, New Horizons will discover a curious gravitational anomaly. On the say-so of famous physicist, Stephen Hawking, it will be declared a wormhole and immediately Matthew McConaughey will be sent through it. While no real science will be achieved, everyone involved will agree it creates a nice visual spectacle.
The spacecraft utilized will be a slightly modified Lincoln Navigator.
4. Vaccines Cause Everything: Medical science will be turned upon it's head as it is discovered that vaccines are responsible for fatally weakened immune systems, autism, asthma, male-pattern baldness, communism, the polar vortex, and the cancelling of Firefly. Unfortunately this information will be heeded too late and the majority of the world's vaccinated population will be wiped out by a virulent strain of gonnosyphilerpemeningococcalaids. The survivors will gather in somber yet smug celebration only to be decimated by tetanus infection caused by bad quinoa.
She was the sole voice of reason.
3. Stephen Hawking is a Fraud: After the wormhole debacle beyond Pluto, it will be revealed that esteemed physicist Stephen Hawking is actually comedian Andy Kaufman, who successfully faked his death in 1984 for the sole purpose of perpetuating the most obtuse and long-running joke in history. Furthermore, the physics world will be rocked again as it is revealed the entire concept of a "black hole" is just an obscure butt joke.
2. The Vantablack Affair: Shortly after the New Year, the miraculous new material "Vantablack" (mentioned in Dazzling Don's last video) will indeed be used to make clothing. It will be a huge hit among the nation's disaffected youth subcultures. However, not realizing the dangers of absorbing nearly 100% of all available light energy, the first sunny day of Spring will cause massive spontaneous combustion events. Not a Hot Topic will be left standing.
AND FINALLY.......
1. HOVERBOARDS: Yup, hoverboards. It's finally time. Hover. F-ing. Boards. The revolution started in 2014 with the magnetic model, and the invisible hand of the market just took over from there. Who cares about a post-vaccine wasteland full of burning goth kids when we finally have the hoverboard the prophecies foresaw back in the dark ages of 1989? Nobody, that's who. And no one even minds we all have to dress like this.....
Last week Aaron braved back pain and a medication haze to give you his top five science moments of 2014. Today I sat in front of the camera, as I am wont to do, and did the same. There's a bit of crossover but not as much as you might think. Happy New Year to the gentiles in the audience and sorry about the constant assault of Christian holidays with pagan overtones and the Gregorian calendar to all the Jews in the audience. You can't level the International Zionist Conspiracy against me anyway because Aaron will protect me. As long as I keep up with my payments. Anyway, without further ado, click on through to the other side to find out my best of 2014.
As the arrow of time rockets us inexorably towards the goyish New Year* it is once again appropriate to whittle down by arbitrary rules the amazing complexity of events of the past year into what amounts to the lowest hanging dingleberry on the literature bush: The Listicle. So without further ado (or much ado at all) I present:
What, you’re not sure what I’m talking about? How could you all forget? I’m so insulted. Yesterday was the second anniversary of the December 21st, 2012, the day the world was supposed to end according to a number of nutjobs, crackpots, and professional film-flam artists. Congratulations on surviving another year past fake doomsday!
Music and science, yo. That’s my jam. Sure I have other hobbies like breathing and occasionally eating food, but the lion’s share of each and every day is spent engaged with science, music, or some combination of the two. I particularly love it when they are combined and today I want to talk about a couple of my favorite intersections of music and scientific technology.
Happy Monday, people! Sorry I missed last week; life got in the way, but Aaron made up for it with a great take on science-themed webcomics (Link mildly NSFW). Today I bring you a quick lesson in a common fallacy in reasoning that prevents you from thinking scientifically: cherry picking your data. I decided to use pop culture as my point of reference instead of something overly technical and, well, I think it works pretty well. See for yourself by clicking through.
Psst. Hey you. It's Thursday. Which means it's almost Friday. Which means it's almost the weekend. We both know you've done more than enough work and no one is going to know or care if you spend the rest of the day surfing the internet. Come with me down this dark alleyway of the internet. I got something I think you'll want to see........
When the stupid burns brightly and the wonder of science seems ever-dimming in the eyes of the world, there's not much else to do but laugh. To that end I'd like to highlight a couple of my favorite web comics that share my passion for science, philosophy, and the occasional blatantly disgusting and inappropriate humor. If you haven't already guessed, some of the following is NSFW.
