Clipmarks | shunyax's clips

Elements brought to life online

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:26:57 GMT

clipped by: shunyax
clipper's remarks: from BBC News:
The chemical elements are being brought to life online in a series of YouTube videos filmed at a UK university.
The project by a team in Nottingham is designed to stimulate interest in chemistry and comprises videos illustrating each of the 118 elements.
They feature a variety of experiments, some of which are too dangerous to be performed in classrooms.
In the videos, scientists also recall personal anecdotes and amazing facts about each element in the table, from hydrogen (1) to Ununoctium (118).

Clip Source: www.periodicvideos.com

Tables charting the chemical elements have been around since the 19th century - but this modern version has a short video about each one.

In the short time since launching this site, our videos have been watched more than 1.8 million times.

But we're not finished yet. We've started updating all the videos with new stories, better samples and bigger experiments.

So once you've watched all 118 videos, make sure you come back and check on our progress. We still have a few surprises up our sleeves!

Olympics

Introduction

Trailer

Experiments

Group 13

Noble gases

"The bogeyman of the periodic table"
Our latest video update is about uranium - an element with a bad reputation!

[Video]

Tags: chemistry, e-learning

Reading Daily Predicts Reduced Mortality

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:08:20 GMT

clipped by: shunyax

Clip Source: www.haaretz.com

What can you do to live longer? Until recently, experts mainly recommended proper nutrition and exercise. But a new study conducted at Hadassah University Hospital, Mt. Scopus adds another activity: reading daily.

"We found that people who read every day live longer," said geriatrician Dr. Jeremy Jacobs of Hadassah, the lead author of an article recently published in The Journals of Gerontology.

The researchers have been monitoring 1,000 elderly Jerusalem residents for the past 18 years.

Jacobs says people who read often have a higher level of education and a higher income, which contribute to their overall health. Nonetheless, the research statistically isolated these variables in order to focus on the impact of reading alone. Even when all other factors were neutralized, reading was found to increase life span.

How can this be explained? "The more you use your brain, the more you improve the blood circulation there and the better you preserve it," said Jacobs.

Tags: longevity

Moon's interior 'did hold water'

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:04:58 GMT

clipped by: shunyax

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

US scientists have found evidence that water was held in the Moon's interior, challenging some elements of the theory of how Earth's satellite formed.

a new study in Nature magazine shows water was delivered to the lunar surface from the interior in volcanic eruptions three million years ago.

This suggests that water has been a part of the Moon since its early existence.

The glasses were created during volcanic events on the Moon

"Since the Moon was thought to be perfectly dehydrated, this is a giant leap from previous estimates," said co-author Erik Hauri, from the Carnegie Institution.

"It suggests the intriguing possibility that the Moon's interior might have had as much water as the Earth's upper mantle. But even more intriguing: If the Moon's volcanoes released 95% of their water, where did all that water go?"

Tags: moon, water

THE (CHINESE) EMPEROR'S OLD CLOTHES

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:51:40 GMT

clipped by: shunyax

Clip Source: www.edge.org

Edge has received notice from the publisher that acquired PRC Chinese language rights to What Is Your Dangerous Idea?: Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable that the book "can't be published in China because some content is not accordant to Chinese regulations, for example, some content about religious, soul."

The book, based on an edited selection from The 2006 Edge Question, was published last year in the US (HarperCollins) and the UK (Free Press) as well as a number of foreign-language markets.

WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA?

The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?

Tags: edge, china, censorship

LucyandBart- Future human shapes

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:21:12 GMT

clipped by: shunyax
clipper's remarks: Suggest check also :
http://www.lucyandbart.com/

Clip Source: www.preik.no

'LucyandBart is a collaboration between Lucy McRae and Bart Hess described as an instinctual stalking of fashion, architecture, performance and the body. They share a fascination with genetic manipulation and beauty expression. Unconsciously their work touches upon these themes, however it is not their intention to communicate this. They work in a primitive and limitless way creating future human shapes, blindly discovering low – tech prosthetic ways for human enhancement.'

Clip Source: shapeandcolour.wordpress.com

Tags: art, futurism

Put the Pieces Together

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:15:53 GMT

clipped by: shunyax

Clip Source: www.business-und-marketing.de

Clip Source: www.guerrillapromos.com

Ravensburger puzzles, a company with over 120 years of experience in the gaming and entertainment industries, recently conducted a guerrilla marketing campaign on demolition sites in Germany. Ravensburger carefully placed huge replicas of their puzzle boxes with highly recognizable buildings on them next to rubble at several domolition sites as a means to promote putting the pieces together, so-to-speak - a great way to promote their puzzles.

Tags: ads

7 Modern Wonders of Green Technology

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 08:48:43 GMT

clipped by: shunyax
clipper's remarks: Those amazing designs can be watched at source

Clip Source: weburbanist.com

Conceptual and Actual Ecological Designs of the Future

Green architecture comes in many forms though lately it seems like these forms are stranger than ever. Urban skyscraper farms? Floating eco-cities? Glowing solar towers? Turbine-driven skyscrapers? Magnetically levitated wind collectors? Where does it end?! With all of these emerging green technologies it seemed an appropriate time to take a look at seven of the most amazing real and conceptual designs currently at the forefront of ecological innovation. These examples push the limits of ecological architecture and contemporary urban design discourse.

Tags: green technology, design

Sunset on Mars

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 08:51:47 GMT

clipped by: shunyax

Clip Source: www.nasa.gov

Sunset on Mars

On May 19, 2005, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars. This Panoramic Camera mosaic was taken around 6:07 in the evening of the rover's 489th Martian day, or sol.

Sunset and twilight images are occasionally acquired by the science team to determine how high into the atmosphere the Martian dust extends, and to look for dust or ice clouds. Other images have shown that the twilight glow remains visible, but increasingly fainter, for up to two hours before sunrise or after sunset. The long Martian twilight (compared to Earth's) is caused by sunlight scattered around to the night side of the planet by abundant high altitude dust. Similar long twilights or extra-colorful sunrises and sunsets sometimes occur on Earth when tiny dust grains that are erupted from powerful volcanoes scatter light high in the atmosphere.

Make use of surveillance cameras

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 08:45:45 GMT

clipped by: shunyax
clipper's remarks: The product can be watched at source

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Many people are uncomfortable with the march of the surveillance state – but a Manchester band has used it to their advantage.

Unable to afford a proper camera crew and equipment, The Get Out Clause, an unsigned band from the city, decided to make use of the cameras seen all over British streets.

With an estimated 13 million CCTV cameras in Britain, suitable locations were not hard to come by.

They set up their equipment, drum kit and all, in eighty locations around Manchester – including on a bus – and proceeded to play to the cameras.

Afterwards they wrote to the companies or organisations involved and asked for the footage under the Freedom of Information Act.

Only a quarter of the organisations contacted fulfilled their obligation to hand over the footage – perhaps predictably, bigger firms were reluctant, while smaller companies were more helpful – but that still provided enough for a video with 20 locations.

The cheesy secret behind successful decision making

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 08:26:53 GMT

clipped by: shunyax

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

Psychologists at the University of Cambridge who manipulated the diets of volunteers to alter their serotonin levels found that when the levels of the brain chemical were low the volunteers were more likely to allow emotion to rule their heads and make decisions that harmed their long-term interests.

But when the levels of serotonin were high they behaved in a more rational, level-headed fashion, putting their own material advancement ahead of the short-term satisfaction

Serotonin is manufactured in the body from the amino acid tryptophan, which is present in most protein-based foods. High levels of tryptophan are found in cheese, meat, soya beans, sesame seeds, chocolate, oats, bananas, dried dates, milk and salmon.

Tryptophan is present in several foods - and cheese is a particularly good source

The History and Future of Birth Control

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:16:31 GMT

clipped by: shunyax
clipper's remarks: see slide show at source

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Ever since humans first figured out that Tab A + Slot B = Baby, we've been hard at work attempting to defy that equation -- and there are still more innovations to come. From crocodile dung to the dry orgasm pill, a look at the history and future of birth control. -- Maggie Koerth-Baker

Birth Control Stuck in the Dark Ages

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:06:24 GMT

clipped by: shunyax

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Unfortunately, new options may be a long time coming. Owing to a lack of funding and a general resistance to doing truly new research, birth control methods have not changed dramatically in 30 years.

Between 1996 and 2004, the sciences in general made big advancements, but birth control research failed to keep up, according to a 2004 paper published by the Board of Health Sciences Policy at the government-created non-profit Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C.

unlike many scientific fields, there was no centralized research organization or information clearinghouse dedicated to contraception.

So why is this field falling behind? Mostly, it's money.

the budget for the Contraceptive and Reproductive Health Branch of National Institute of Child Health and Human Development was cut from $50 million in 2004 to $35 million in 2007.

Tags: health

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:51:50 GMT

clipped by: shunyax

Clip Source: www.yourdictionary.com

The World's Longest Place Name

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch

This is the name of a town in North Wales. The name translates as "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave" in Welsh, has long claimed the fame of having the longest name in the world. However, there is a hill in New Zealand called:

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu

ngakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu
This Maori mouthful translates into English as "the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as 'landeater,' played his flute to his loved one."

Researchers can predict which noun a person is visualizing.

Fri, 30 May 2008 17:12:39 GMT

clipped by: shunyax
clipper's remarks: Models such as this one could also be useful in diagnosing disorders of language or helping students pick up a foreign language. In semantic dementia, for example, people lose the ability to remember the meanings of things - shown a picture of a chihuahua, they can only recall 'dog', for example - but little is known about what exactly goes wrong in the brain. “We could look at what the neural encoding is for this,” says Mitchell.

Clip Source: www.nature.com

A computer model has been developed that can predict what word you are thinking of. The model may help to resolve questions about how the brain processes words and language, and might even lead to techniques for decoding people’s thoughts.

Researchers led by Tom Mitchell of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 'trained' a computer model to recognize the patterns of brain activity associated with 60 images, each of which represented a different noun, such as 'celery' or 'aeroplane'.

The team started with the assumption that the brain processes words in terms of how they relate to movement and sensory information. Words such as 'hammer', for example, are known to cause movement-related areas of the brain to light up; on the other hand, the word 'castle' triggers activity in regions that process spatial information.

The researchers designed the model to try and use these semantic links to work out how the brain would react to particular nouns.

Tags: neuroscience, language

Is Tooth Cleaning a Scam?

Fri, 30 May 2008 15:58:36 GMT

clipped by: shunyax
clipper's remarks: .....And let me be clear that I’m not calling into question the value of brushing and flossing your teeth, or visiting your dentist regularly to check for cavities, as well as other potential problems). But it’s food for thought.

Clip Source: freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

Is Tooth Cleaning a Scam?

By Ian Ayres

I began to wonder if there was such a thing as “evidence-based dentistry.”

Thank God for Google. It turns out there is an entire journal called “Evidence Based Dentistry.” And in just a few minutes, I was looking at a formal Cochrane review titled “Insufficient evidence to understand effect of routine scaling and polishing.”

The review looked for evidence to answer two related questions:

The first is, do scale and polish procedures [having your teeth cleaned] lead to any difference in periodontal health compared with no scale and polish? Second, does the interval between these scale and polishing procedures make any difference?

[T]he authors of the only study that found differences in gingivitis scores (at 6, 12 and 22 months) deemed those differences clinically irrelevant….

The next time your dentist asks you to make an appointment to have your teeth cleaned, you might reasonably ask, “Why?”