Derren Brown's Blog, page 79

Residents phoned 999 dozens of times over 'ghost and UFO worries'

"Worried residents phoned 999 to report sightings of ghosts and UFOs, including a man who claimed to have seen the spirit of actor Paul Newman, a force has disclosed. Officers say one emergency call came from a man who rang police claiming to have seen the ghosts of "two old ladies in a white Fiesta" on a dual carriageway. Other worried calls came from people who spotted ghosts or poltergeists on CCTV cameras and another who said he'd seen a ghost which could "make me a million quid". Dozens ...

Stephen Hawking: Physics Is Enough

September 3, 2010 on BBC Newsnight

Via Atheist Media Blog

Britons apathetic to Pope visit but disagree with state funding

A poll suggests that three quarters of Britons believe the taxpayer should not have to fund part of the cost of Pope Benedict's forthcoming UK visit. Seventy-seven per cent of participants on an online survey of 2,005 adults did not agree that the taxpayer should contribute to the bill for the four-day state visit this month. The survey, conducted by theology think tank Theos, found that only 24 per cent of respondents were actively opposed to the visit, but the majority disliked the idea of ...

Tube Full of Plasma Creates Solar Eruption in the Lab

"Explosive bursts normally seen only on the surface of the sun can now be captured in a 13-foot-long tube using lab-created plasmas and bursts of laser light.

Physicists have created a scaled-down model of solar eruptions called coronal mass ejections, which can wreak havoc on satellites and create beautiful northern-light displays on Earth. The new experiments suggest these eruptions are set off when gushes of charged particles flow into twisted loops of magnetic field that extend from the...

Internet may phase out printed Oxford Dictionary

"It weighs in at more than 130 pounds, but the authoritative guide to the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary, may eventually slim down to nothing.

Oxford University Press, the publisher, said Sunday so many people prefer to look up words using its online product that it's uncertain whether the 126-year-old dictionary's next edition will be printed on paper at all.

The digital version of the Oxford English Dictionary now gets 2 million hits a month from subscribers, who pay $295 a ...

iPhone set to replace the stethoscope

"The stethoscope – medical icon, lifesaver and doctor's best friend – is disappearing from hospitals across the world as physicians increasingly use their smartphones to monitor patients' heartbeats.

More than 3 million doctors have downloaded a 59p application – invented by Peter Bentley, a researcher from University College London – which turns an Apple iPhone into a stethoscope.

Last week, Bentley introduced a free version of the app, which is being downloaded by more than 500 users a day...

Gray Matter: In Which I Fully Submerge My Hand in Liquid Nitrogen

"A layer of bubbles protects the flesh from liquid nitrogen, though only for a split second. Need proof? Watch the video."

"When I first saw this photograph of a man's hand submerged in liquid nitrogen at somewhere below -320° F, my immediate thought was, "That guy must be crazy! One second in that stuff, and you're shopping for new skin!" My shock was tempered only slightly by the fact that it was my hand, and we'd taken the picture just a minute earlier."

"I hadn't realized that my hand was q...

Heaps of Fossils From Evolutionary 'Big Bang' Discovered

"One of paleontology's most revered fossil sites now has a baby brother. Scientists have discovered a group of astonishing fossils high in the Canadian Rockies, just 40 kilometers from the famous Burgess Shale location.

A paper describing the find appears in the September issue of Geology.

Since its discovery in 1909, the Burgess Shale has yielded many thousands of fossils dating to 505 million years ago — a period often called "evolution's big bang," when animals were exploding in diverse...

Gentle stroll 'can help boost intelligence'

"A gentle stroll several times a week not only boosts fitness levels – it also makes you brighter. New research has shown that walking "at one's own pace" for 40 minutes, three times a week can improve intelligence. Scientists say moderate walking enhances connections between the brain's circuits, combats a drop in brain function linked to ageing and even improves performance in reasoning tasks.

Psychologists at Illinois University found brain function levels among nearly 100 self-confessed...

QED: Question. Explore. Discover.

" 'QED: Question. Explore. Discover.' proudly announces 10 of the spectacular speakers who are taking to the stage in front of 500 skeptics and fans of science in The Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester (UK) on the 5th and 6th of February, 2011.

George Hrab

Eugenie Scott

Jon Ronson

Kat Akingbade

Bruce Hood

Wendy Grossman

Chris Atkins

Colin Wright

Simon Singh

Jim Al-Khalili

The above list is enough to sate the needs of any hungry rationalist, while the bar will take care of their thirst… but this...