The Periodic Table of Storytelling

I've had so much on the go I've barely had time to breathe, nevermind post all the stuff I've learned. In the meantime, here's a link to a rather clever thing:

The Periodic Table of Storytelling

At the bottom of the table are some example story molecules and everything. It appeals to both the science and story nerds in me, so of course I found it infinitely amusing.

That's it. Oh! Happy Easter.

Here is a video tutorial on how to make Pysanky, Ukranian Easter Eggs:

Heisenberg and his Uncertainty Principle

No, I don't mean that Heisenberg. Though Breaking Bad was a pretty good series.

I mean Werner Heisenberg, the scientist type guy.

Here's the thing. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, in a nutshell, advises that the mere act of observing quanta (or quantum particles) alters their state. If this is the case, we cannot be certain of the true nature of said quanta if the mere act of observation interferes with their situation and velocity.

Scientists have gone to great lengths to combat this problem, going so far as to build massive particle accelerators in an attempt to remove human interference in the process of accelerating the particle's energy of motion. However, to know the position and velocity of an object, one must measure it, and the tools used to measure said object inevitably affects it.

It's like throwing a volkswagon at a chair to determine its location and distance. The car is going to move or crush that chair, thus changing it. So whatever state the chair was in before, it most certainly is not in the same state after the vehicle has been tossed at it.

This principle makes sense, and is one of the reasons why a lot of quantum experiments are theoretical.

I'm still reading up on quantum mechanics, the many worlds theory, and the Copenhagen interpretation (I'm looking at you, Niels Bohr). But it's the weekend, and I need to sleep sometime.

I just found Heisenberg's thoughts to be interesting, and most certainly makes sense - anything, once observed, has changed by the act of observation.

I'm sure that somebody much smarter than I am could correct these rambling thoughts, but I'm trying to simplify what I am reading so that it makes sense.

Chris Hadfield on Going Blind... in Space.

Astronaut and all around fantastic guy Chris Hadfield recently did a TED talk on how he went blind in space, and how to conquer your fears.

So today I learned they train them for pretty much every type of calamity that could happen, and then retrain them, and then train them again. They do things over and over and over again until they have it down to a science, so that when something happens, they are prepared for it.

It's an interesting talk, worth taking the 18 or so minutes to watch. He even picks up his guitar in the end and sings a little of his version of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity'...

Do Penguins Have Knees?

I love penguins. They're so cute, and such resilient creatures. When you consider the harsh conditions the majority of penguins live in, it's pretty amazing what they do. But take a closer look, and ask yourself, "Hmm... do they have knees in there?"

At first glance, it would appear as though they don't. And their wallowing gait belies the truth... 

(Photo found from marinesciencetoday.com)

Turns out, penguins do indeed have knees. They're just tucked away in there.

You can learn more interesting things about penguins here. There are other interesting facts found here. Did you know that April 25th is World Penguin Day? You do now!

Yeah, this post is lame. But I really do like penguins. And now I know they really do have knees.

Comic Day

Sunday. Day of rest. So no new thing to learn today but I'll post a comic about learning. This comic comes from RachelNabors.com. I actually tend to feel more like the panel on the left and less like the panel on the right, unless I'm being coerced into learning something. In which case, this is bang-on. Happy Sunday!

Saturday Morning Pandiculation

Ok, you know that feeling you get stretching and yawning at the same time? It actually has a name: Pandiculation. And it's a marvellous feeling. But what does it actually do?

Well, when you pandiculate, you are actually 'waking up' your brain's sensory-motor cortex, setting things in motion (which is why you typically find yourself doing this yawn-and-stretch thing upon awakening). It is a sort of passive stretching of the muscles, and also increases heart rate and blood pressure. This makes you feel more alert and ready for the day. It is an instinctive motion that most of us don't even give a passing thought. 

There are some people who believe that one can harness this type of stretching movement to attain some pain relief, and that it would be more beneficial than more "active" type of stretching aka stretches before running, etc.

You can read about that here. There is also some information about it here. I don't know what to think. I suppose it makes sense - doing something that is based on instinct would be easy to adopt, and if it provides ease of pain or helps with stress, it's worth investigating.

And now you can put a name to that lovely thing you do when you wake up.

The Most Astounding Fact

Today I have a ton of work to do, so no weird facts or anything from me. However, I will share a youtube video quoting Neil deGrasse Tyson stating what he finds to be the most astounding fact about the universe. It is poetic and breathtaking. Who said science couldn't be beautiful? 

The Rat King

This post dedicated to my friend witchie, who is crafty and excellent at cleaning up clutter.

I learned something way back in November, when I was googling "The Mouse King" for a project my department at the time was doing (we were decorating our area with Nutcracker themed paper arts. It's a long story.) Anyway, when I googled these three innocuous words, something rather strange came up on the radar. When I did an image search, I came across something rather unexpected. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, a Rat King:

This gruesome little number is indeed called a Rat King. Basically, it occurs when a bunch of rats get stuck together by the tail via blood, feces, mud, whatever. The tails get tangled up and they are stuck that way. Folklore suggests this to be a bad omen, typically portending plagues and other nasty things. The phenomena is rather rare nowadays, though it can still happen here and there. There are specimens available for viewing in some museums, notably Nantes' Natural History Museum in France

The picture up above isn't pleasant, but I've actually seen worse as far as Rat Kings go. You can read more about them here or here if you like. If you look it up in Wikipedia, try not to mix it up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villain.

I haven't started that Human Origins and Evolution thing. Stay tuned!

Peripheral vs Central Vertigo

Lately I've been suffering from a mad case of vertigo. I ended up going to the ER to get it checked out, it was getting that bad. The ER doc tested me to determine if I had peripheral vertigo, or central vertigo. The difference being:

Central Vertigo refers to vertigo caused by issues in the central nervous system, typically from the brain stem or cerebellum. It usually has other neurological issues aside from the dizziness, such as slurred speech, double vision, difficulty performing basic functions (touch my finger, touch your nose. Follow my finger as I rotate it around the room. etc). Central vertigo is a serious issue and can indicate other scary things happening in your body, like bleeding in the brain, lesions (read: lyme disease, MS, etc), and more.

Peripheral vertigo refers to the dizziness/nausea etc caused by issues typically occuring in the inner ear or vestibular systems. Typically it occurs when there is inflammation in these areas due to a viral or other infections. Treatment suggested for my peripheral vertigo was to take antihistamines, and then steroid medication when the antihistamines proved ineffective.

This is the very, very, very basic definition of these areas. I'm sure there's more information with regards to this, but I have a tendency to avoid googling diseases as there is so much chaff out there and not enough wheat. (WebMD, I'm looking at you, as you tend to diagnose everybody with a deathly illness no matter what symptoms they type into you!)

Anyway. Yeah. Vertigo! Tons of fun. Basically mine is at the point where even when I am lying still, it feels like I am spinning or the room is moving. God forbid I have to turn over, because then it feels like I've been whipped around quickly in circles, no matter how slow my movement. It is incredibly disorienting and not pleasant at all. The medication is only somewhat effective, in that it allows me to move around (albeit much more slowly than I am accustomed to moving) and get things done. Exhausting though. Prognosis is 1 to several weeks. I'm to see my GP if the issue persists further.

Didn't mean for this particular entry to be anecdotal, but it was new information for me anyway, and thus I wanted to share. Next on the agenda: Human Origins and Evolution.

Fermi's Paradox and The Zoo Hypothesis

Today I read about the Zoo Hypothesis, which essentially posits that ETIs are shielding us from discovering their existence. It's an interesting thing to consider. Read more about it here:

Spatio-temporal constraints on the zoo hypothesis, and the breakdown of total hegemony

Duncan H. Forgan (2011).
International Journal of Astrobiology, Volume 10, Issue04, October 2011 pp 341-347
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?aid=8361227

Reading this abstract of course led me to looking up the Fermi Paradox. Interesting page found at this link:

http://www.fermisparadox.com/

The Fermi Paradox calculates that there are three base reasons why a civilization would expand beyond it's planet, the reasons being exploration, colonization, and survival. 

Taking Drake's equation into account, the probability of a galaxy having at least one intelligent species is there, though quite minute, and as we are one of many galaxies, it stands to reason there is a possibility of intelligent life elsewhere. The likelihood of that species expanding and colonizing and thus taking over neighbouring clusters, while also a possibility, could take millions of years; However, when you consider that the universe is billions of years old, this seems a small amount of time by comparison.

There could also be hundreds of galaxies in our area with no intelligent life whatsoever, but it's a bit of a Schroedinger's Cat paradox - they could both be there and not there, but we wouldn't know.

Enrico Fermi postulated in 1950 that since only one ETI could likely spread in that relatively short period of time, how is it that we have never seen these extraterrestrial entities and that our radio telescopes never collected unidentifiable signals from said populace?

Which of course leads us back to the Zoo Hypothesis, a rather soft answer to this question. 

Food for thought...