The author of a new book argues that science and science fiction have made civilization more moral.
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Nov 11, 2015
Cops Called After Tesla Model S Owners ‘Put A Child In The Trunk’
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: habitats, sustainability, transportation
Police waited at the home of a family after someone called in seeing the parents “put a child in the trunk” of the car — someone who clearly wasn’t aware that the Tesla Model S can be equipped with a third row of seats for children.
I stumbled upon this video after comments veteran and Twitter tweeter @_McMike_ tweeted it.
Nov 11, 2015
A New Way of Thinking About Spacetime That Turns Everything Inside Out
Posted by Jeremy Lichtman in categories: particle physics, quantum physics, space
One of the weirdest aspects of quantum mechanics is entanglement, because two entangled particles affecting each other across vast distances seems to violate a fundamental principle of physics called locality: things that happen at a particular point in space can only influence the points closest to it. But what if locality — and space itself — is not so fundamental after all? Author George Musser explores the implications in his new book, Spooky Action At a Distance.
When the philosopher Jenann Ismael was ten years old, her father, an Iraqi-born professor at the University of Calgary, bought a big wooden cabinet at an auction. Rummaging through it, she came across an old kaleidoscope, and she was entranced. For hours she experimented with it and figured out how it worked. “I didn’t tell my sister when I found it, because I was scared she’d want it,” she recalls.
As you peer into a kaleidoscope and turn the tube, multicolored shapes begin to blossom, spin and merge, shifting unpredictably in seeming defiance of rational explanation, almost as if they were exerting spooky action at a distance on one another. But the more you marvel at them, the more regularity you notice in their motion. Shapes on opposite sides of your visual field change in unison, and their symmetry clues you in to what’s really going on: those shapes aren’t physical objects, but images of objects — of shards of glass that are jiggling around inside a mirrored tube.
Nov 11, 2015
Space Elevator Concept Stars in ‘Sky Line’ Documentary
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: education, space
Going up? Attention space elevator button pushers!
A feature-length documentary called “Sky Line” is being released this month, an impressive view that follows a group of scientists and entrepreneurs as egos collide in an attempt to reach for the stars.
The film, which centers on the real-life building of the once fantastical space elevator concept, will debut at DOC NYC 2015 – America’s largest documentary festival — and will be released on all major On Demand platforms on November 20th, 2015.
Nov 10, 2015
Most distant solar system object yet could hint at hidden planet
Posted by Sean Brazell in category: space
The inky black of the outer solar system just got a little brighter. A speck of light spotted in October 2015 is a rocky world more than 3 times more distant than Pluto – the farthest body in our solar system ever seen.
“We don’t know anything about its orbit,” says Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, whose team discovered the new addition. “We just know it’s the most distant object known.”
Sheppard announced the new object, called V774104, on 10 November at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences, held in National Harbor, Maryland.
Nov 10, 2015
Invention of forge-proof ID to revolutionise security
Posted by Phillipe Bojorquez in categories: particle physics, security
Scientists have discovered a way to authenticate or identify any object by generating an unbreakable ID based on atoms.
Nov 10, 2015
Scientists Are Developing Flawless Graphene At a Fraction of Price
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: futurism, materials
The future of graphene looks abundant as scientists develop a new method of production that’ll cut costs by over $1,000! — B.J. Murphy for Serious Wonder.
Nov 10, 2015
Sundance Launches a Talent Program Just for VR Filmmakers — By Angela Watercutter | Wired
Posted by Odette Bohr Dienel in categories: media & arts, virtual reality
“The Sundance Institute—the organization responsible for the annual film festival that has given rise to the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Ava DuVernay—is looking to nurture a whole new kind of talent: virtual reality filmmakers.”
Nov 10, 2015
Undoing Sugar Damage: First Synthesis Of Culprit Glucosepane
Posted by Roy in category: biotech/medical
Sugars may taste divine, but they’re also highly reactive molecules that progressively stiffen your body in a process called glycation. Scientists have now synthesised the primary molecule formed in glycation for the first time, leading to hope that drugs can be designed to break them apart.
What is glycation?
In our bodies sugars continuously react with proteins in an unregulated manner in a process known as glycation. This leads to the formation of abnormal chemical modifications of the protein which may impair its normal function. These sugar-modifications are collectively known as advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and can be subdivided in two main categories. First are the modifications that affect a single amino acid. The second category consists of modifications that link two amino acids together in a structure called a crosslink.
