Fascinating science
I subscribe to a service that sends me interesting articles about scientific advances via e-mail every week or two, and I have so far been fairly happy with the results. When I was an undergraduate, keeping in touch with science was an easy affair. There were lectures to which I could go, speakers to hear, articles to read, and if those weren't enough, I had roommates who were scientists and who could fill me in on something that they had learned in class that day.
Two interesting articles were brought to my attention recently, and I thought I might share them with anyone who believes that a day where you don't learn something isn't as good as one where you do.
The first article concerns the building of a new particle accelerator and all of the super-spiffy features it will have. Among the features:
1. The accelerator will accelerate protons to 90% of the speed of light in .000002 seconds.
2. The interior of the accelerator ring is super-cooled to a positively frigid 2 degrees Kelvin. (2 degrees Kelvin = -271.15 degrees Centigrade = -456.07 degrees Fahrenheit). For a comparison, 0 degrees Kelvin is what is known as absolute zero on the temperature scale. Absolute zero is the point at which there is so little energy (heat) in the system that even atomic movement ceases.
3. The facility will use mercury as a substance off of which to knock neutrons. If you don't know chemistry, or have never handled mercury, let me tell you: Mercury is very, very heavy. The target amount of 2 tons of mercury for the facility will take up only about 1 cubic meter.
Isn't theoretical physics neat?
The second article is right up my alley and is about evolutionary pressures on the sexes regarding loyalty and monogamy. The article is presenting little in the way of new theory - much of it having been discovered in previous studies - but the article does provide a nice short explanation of how evolutionary psychology can explain curious trends in human behaviour.
If you are interested in things like that, I suggest reading Matt Ridley's "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature." Not only is the material interesting, but any book that reports, straight-faced, about experiments where biologists glued little paper hats to finches gets an 'A' for hilarious literature.
Two interesting articles were brought to my attention recently, and I thought I might share them with anyone who believes that a day where you don't learn something isn't as good as one where you do.
The first article concerns the building of a new particle accelerator and all of the super-spiffy features it will have. Among the features:
1. The accelerator will accelerate protons to 90% of the speed of light in .000002 seconds.
2. The interior of the accelerator ring is super-cooled to a positively frigid 2 degrees Kelvin. (2 degrees Kelvin = -271.15 degrees Centigrade = -456.07 degrees Fahrenheit). For a comparison, 0 degrees Kelvin is what is known as absolute zero on the temperature scale. Absolute zero is the point at which there is so little energy (heat) in the system that even atomic movement ceases.
3. The facility will use mercury as a substance off of which to knock neutrons. If you don't know chemistry, or have never handled mercury, let me tell you: Mercury is very, very heavy. The target amount of 2 tons of mercury for the facility will take up only about 1 cubic meter.
Isn't theoretical physics neat?
The second article is right up my alley and is about evolutionary pressures on the sexes regarding loyalty and monogamy. The article is presenting little in the way of new theory - much of it having been discovered in previous studies - but the article does provide a nice short explanation of how evolutionary psychology can explain curious trends in human behaviour.
If you are interested in things like that, I suggest reading Matt Ridley's "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature." Not only is the material interesting, but any book that reports, straight-faced, about experiments where biologists glued little paper hats to finches gets an 'A' for hilarious literature.
posted by The Academian | 7:46 AM
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