Inspiration for a Natural World-View
Science
Scale of the Universe
Feb 24th
Now this is just awesome enough to bring me out of my temporary retirement (takes a few moments to load but worth it):
http://www.documaga.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/scaleofuniverse.swf
Best,
Myles
The Rings of Earth
Dec 11th
Have you ever wondered what the rings of Saturn would look like if you were standing on it’s surface? Well that’s just silly, you can’t stand on Saturn because it’s made of gas. But you can stand on the earth and imagine what it rings would look like.
In this video, we see what rings would look like from the surface of earth. This was created by a guy named Roy Prol, and he didn’t just slap rings in the background of images from around the world. He actually calculated how the rings would look if you were standing in a particular spot on our globe. He also uses a 3D rendering of the earth to help put it in perspective.
This is a cool concept, and it’s creator even takes into account what the rings would look like at night, considering they would still reflect light. Blogger Emily Lakdawalla, over at the planetary society, points out that it would be cool to see how the rings appeared in the winter hemisphere; the rings would eclipse the sun, showing large black swoops through a starry sky.
Enable HQ mode for best quality video:
Liftoff! STS-129
Nov 27th
Here are two great NASA liftoff films of STS-129. Watch them in full screen mode. Unfortunately the HD version of the first one was removed from YouTube, but it’s a great video none the less.
Here Be Dragons
Nov 23rd
In the video Here Be Dragons, Brian Dunning of the Skeptiod Podcast (one of my Favorite podcasts) gives us an introduction to critical thinking by examining the monsters, myths, and pseudoscience of the past and present. Dunning is excellent at explaining ideas clearly – demonstrating a skill of clear thinking often developed by those who take the time to tune their critical thought process. It’s a well produced and fun video.
If you are reading this blog in a feed where you don’t see the above video, or you would like to view it in another format; the video is available for HD streaming, burnable format for DVD, and downloadable to your iPod on the Here Be Dragons website.
Stop Giggling. OK you can giggle a little
Nov 23rd
A somewhat humorous article on Scientific American’s website titled Why Do Human Testicles Hang Like That, research psychologist Jesse Bering explores the evolutionary purpose behind this curious question. One hypothesis (which no one actually buys, but I find somewhat revealing of the scientists who propose it) is that the scrotum is akin to the tail of a peacock; acting like a advertisement to females as if to say “hey look what I got, yeah you like that?” But as the author points out:
I’m not aware of any studies on intra-species individual variation in scrotal design, but I’m nonetheless willing to speculate that most human males have rather bland, run-of-the-mill scrota. Anything deviating from this -particularly a set of unusually pendulous testicles suspended in knee-length scrota- is probably more likely to have a woman dry-heaving, screaming, or staring in confusion than serving as an aphrodisiac.
That particular hypothesis also doesn’t really account for the seemingly more obvious disadvantage of having one’s most most valuable and equally vulnerable assets being subject to the the elements of nature (such as the fist of an reproductive competitor). The prevailing theory is one that you’ve probably heard as the explanation in the past. It has to do with temperature control. Basically, sperm is hypersensitive to body heat. Men are encouraged not to wear tight pants or underwear because this prevents the cremasteric muscle (which controls the raising and lowering of the testis) from doing it’s job of proper warming and cooling. The slightest increase in temperature can be deadly to those little swimmers. Dr. Bering also points out that
…another reason not to wear these things is that it’s no longer 1988.
This is my kind of science writing! It’s entertaining and informative. The article touches on some other related questions such as why humans evolved to prefer nighttime copulations (to better avoid predators, as well as cooler temperatures are better for reproductive success). If you’d like, you can read the entire article here.
