The 2005 Ig Nobel Prizes have been awarded. Looks like next week’s science column topic has been decided!
Return of the zeppelin…
to explore Titan? I love this idea! (Via Defense Tech.)
A thousand Cinderellas
My daughter loves Disney’s Cinderella. But the tale it tells is older than you might know.
The best science photos
Enjoy this gallery of the Best Science Photos of 2005, courtesy of National Geographic online.
Musical marine mammals
If one thing has set humans apart from animals, it has been our appreciation for—and ability to make—music. Music, at least for most of us, is distinguished from noise by certain characteristics. For one, it consists primarily of tones, as opposed to noise. Noises are sounds identified not by characteristics so much as their source—the …
The ideal e-book reader comes closer and closer…
…as Fujitsu debuts bendable colour e-paper.
Music encoded in 15th-century chapel
A musical code hidden in Scotland’s 15th-century Rosslyn Chapel has been decoded. Alas, the piece is “not particularly impressive” because William Sinclair, who designed the chapel, “was an architect, not a musician,” says composer Stuart Mitchell, who deciphered the code. It’s not the Holy Grail (which The Da Vinci Code apparently speculates might be hidden …
Decomposition algorithms for solving multistage stochastic mixed 0-1 problems
Every once in a while I run across a science press release I don’t understand at all. This is one of those times. I note that “This press release is also available in Spanish.” I suspect I’d understand that one just as well…and I don’t speak Spanish, beyond what one picks up from watching Dora …
Death to the ice scraper!
The new Cadillac DTS will have a new windshield-wash system that shoots 176-degree (Fahrenheit, natch) washer fluid across the windshield, clearing snow, ice, bugs and what-have-you. I’m a big Volvo fan, myself, so…Volvo? The ball’s in your court. I expect to be buying a new car any decade now… (Via Gizmodo.)
A mind-reading computer
And science fiction again turns into science fact. From Nature: “Computer scientists have created a hat that can read your thoughts. It allows you to stroll down a virtual street. All you have to do is think about walking.” (Via Responsible Nanotechnology.)
Yesterday redux
I wish I’d thought of this: Yesterday, All those backups seemed a waste of play. Now my chapters have all gone away. Oh I believe in yesterday. I…pushed…something wrong What it was I could not say. Now my thesis is gone and I long for yesterday-ay-ay-ay. Suddenly, There’s not half the files there used to …
My latest live walk and vlog
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