While science-fiction movies may become more educational if they became science-non-fiction movies, would they still be entertaining?
Professor Perkowitz said he liked Starship Troopers, but criticised its giant insects, saying if you scaled up a real bug to that size it would collapse under its own weight. He hated The Core, in which a team [...]
Mad professors want sci-fi movies to comply to laws of physics
Posted by John Lampard on Wednesday, 24 February, 2010 to the movies subset
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Isaac Newtown wasn’t hit on the head by an apple after all
Posted by John Lampard on Thursday, 21 January, 2010 to the comment subset
A manuscript housed by the Royal Society, which was the basis of William Stukeley’s biography of English scientist Isaac Newton, tells the actual story of his realisation of gravity.
After dinner, the weather being warm, we went into the garden and drank thea, under the shade of some apple trees… he told me, he was [...]
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Measure the speed of light with a microwave oven, chocolate bar
Posted by John Lampard on Friday, 15 January, 2010 to the comment subset
If you’re up for some heavy duty physics experimenting over the weekend, you might care to try and clock the speed of light using a microwave oven and a… chocolate bar.
Place the chocolate bar (unwrapped) in the microwave oven and heat it up (without moving it) until you can see soft spots forming. If [...]
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Fascinating captain, a geologic survey of the Moon
Posted by John Lampard on Wednesday, 13 January, 2010 to the design and art subset
From 1971, a geologic map of the near side of the Moon.
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How exactly does the Earth evade the Sun’s (powerful) gravity?
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 12 January, 2010 to the comment subset
An explanation as to why the Earth, and the other (smaller) inner planets of the solar system, have not been consumed by the Sun.
It all made sense, except for one tiny problem: this same model also suggested that a little world like Earth shouldn’t exist at all; it (or more precisely, the Moon-size proto-planets [...]
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Some of the best cognitive science articles of the last 100 years
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 12 January, 2010 to the comment subset
The Center for Cognitive Sciences names the one hundred most influential works in cognitive science from the 20th century.
Just so you know.
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Elevating design to a science, not just an art
Posted by John Lampard on Monday, 21 December, 2009 to the design and art subset
A case for including design among the stem, or core, subjects (the sciences, technology, mathematics and engineering) in higher education programs.
The Design Council’s added value research 2007 showed that companies that used design to add value to their products or services had a higher return than competitors on profitability, turnover and market share. Design [...]
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Is the Large Hadron Collider a wonder of the modern world?
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 15 December, 2009 to the technology subset
An interesting – and revealing – perspective on the Large Hadron Collider, located near Geneva in Switzerland.
The L.H.C. is not merely the world’s largest particle accelerator but the largest machine ever built. At the center of just one of the four main experimental stations installed around its circumference, and not even the biggest of [...]
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The intersection of art and science, rockets and guns
Posted by John Lampard on Wednesday, 2 December, 2009 to the design and art subset
Art and Technology in the Early Space Race: documenting the influence of the space race, cold war, plus rocket and arms technology, on the design and illustration of monthly and weekly periodicals last century.
Within the realm of monthly and weekly periodicals, trade publications aimed at working professionals within industry are less examined than their [...]
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Can film change our perceptions of scientists?
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 13 October, 2009 to the movies subset
Scientist turned film maker Alexis Gambis is hoping to change perceptions of his profession through a series of films:
Science is a core element in everything that happens in the world. People are fascinated by it, but intimidated. I think it’s important for films to show who scientists are outside the lab, to portray them [...]
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