ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 689

September 15, 2015

1 in 5 Americans Confuse Astrology and Astronomy

Shipfactory | Shutterstock.com


By Elizabeth Palermo


Do you understand the relationship between elevation and the boiling point of water? Do you know what property of a sound wave determines its loudness? If so, than you likely know more about science than most Americans, the majority of whom got these questions wrong on a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.


The nonprofit organization recently polled a representative sample of 3,200 Americans of different ages, genders, ethnicities, races and levels of education and found that, though most of those surveyed understood basic scientific concepts, like the fact that a light-year measures distance (72 percent), far fewer participants knew the answers to more difficult scientific questions.


Some 22 percent of Americans misidentified the “study of how the positions of stars and planets can influence human behavior,” as astronomy rather than what is considered a pseudoscience, astrology.



Read the full article by clicking the name of the source below.
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Published on September 15, 2015 13:07

How 3D holograms work

Holograms are photographic recordings of 3D scenes. Unlike a camera, which captures one view through a small viewer focused by a lens, holograms capture an entire light field which allows them to recreate the 3D scene. Shimmery 2D projections, like pre-recorded Pepper’s ghost illusion, are often confused with 3D holograms.


Pepper’s Ghost Tutorials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygMXTx0fLqw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YWTtCsvgvg


instagram.com/thephysicsgirl

facebook.com/thephysicsgirl

twitter.com/thephysicsgirl

physicsgirl.org


Physics Girl has joined PBS Digital Studios! https://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigitalstudios


Videography: Forbidden Kingdom Digital, Cathy Cowern

Editing: Dianna Cowern and Forbidden Kingdom Digital forbiddenkingdomdigital.com


Hologram microscopic views: Richard L Howey http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artmar07/rh-whimsies.html

and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holography#/media/File:Holographic_recording.jpg

Tupac Coachella Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgMen4-PI74


Music:

YouTube – “On the Bach,” “Good Starts”

Mozart “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”


Stock Images: Pixabay

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Published on September 15, 2015 09:42

September 14, 2015

These Headphones Transmit Sound Into Your Skull

Technology





Photo credit:

Screenshot from Studio Banana Things Kickstarter video



Earbuds and headphones are great tools for listening to music, but what if you could jam out to your favorite beats “ears-free”? Sounds a bit like science fiction, right? Thanks to a concept called bone conduction, Studio Banana Things has designed a product that will allow you to listen to music ears-free.

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Published on September 14, 2015 15:08

Eyes Are A Lot More Expensive Than We Thought

The Brain





Photo credit:

This eyeless Mexican cavefish is saving considerable energy by doing without sight. uttelvaserova Stuchelova/Shutterstock



The eye is such a valuable organ that it has evolved independently more than once, but it turns out animals pay a surprisingly high price for perceiving part of the electromagnetic spectrum. For one species of fish vision can consume as much as 15% of its energy intake, according to work published in Science Advances.

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Published on September 14, 2015 14:33

Elephants Born To Stressed Mothers Age Faster

Plants and Animals





Photo credit:

There are around 5,000 elephants used in the timber industry in Myanmar. Aditya Singh/Shutterstock



Asian elephants born to stressed mothers feel the impact for the rest of their lives. New research has shown how elephants born into stressful situations not only have fewer offspring over their lives, but they also age faster.

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Published on September 14, 2015 14:30

You Can Watch Wild Killer Whales In Action Thanks To These New Live Cameras

Environment





Photo credit:

An orca seen off Hanson Island. Jonathan Silvio.



A new series of live cameras has launched that lets you watch killer whales, also called orcas, from the comfort of your own home. Their location, near Hanson Island off the central coast of British Columbia, Canada, is a popular spot for families of orcas to gather, meaning that viewers can expect regular sightings. 

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Published on September 14, 2015 14:28

A Storm Knocked This Tree Over, And A Skeleton Was Found Hanging From The Roots

Environment





Photo credit:

The tree. Photo credit Thorsten Kahlert



The inhabitants of Collooney – a small town in Northern Ireland – made a shocking discovery after a violent storm ripped through the area. A 200-year-old beech tree toppled over, revealing what could be a medieval murder scene. While it’s not uncommon for storms to uproot trees, it’s not every day one finds a skeleton dangling from the tree’s roots.

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Published on September 14, 2015 14:16

10,000-Year-Old Stone Tools Unearthed In Washington State

Environment





Photo credit:

SWCA Environmental Consultants, published in PaleoAmerica.



An archaeological survey to make way for construction has unearthed a trove of 10,000-year-old stone tools in western Washington. More than 4,000 stone flakes, scrapers, awls and spear points were found, dating back to a time when its inhabitants roamed the same lands as shaggy-haired mammoths and prehistoric bison.

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Published on September 14, 2015 13:33

Astronaut On The ISS Controls Rover On Earth

Space





Photo credit:

Mogensen is seen here controlling the rover on 7 Sept 2015. ESA.



An astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) has successfully controlled a robot back here on lowly planet Earth, a technique known as telerobotics. The experiment is important because we may use a similar technique to explore worlds beyond Earth – such as Mars – in the future.

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Published on September 14, 2015 13:33

No, A Study Hasn’t Found That Smoking Weed Gives You Diabetes

Health and Medicine





Photo credit:

dimitris_k/Shutterstock



Sensationalist headlines have suggested that smoking weed can raise your risk of diabetes, but that wasn’t quite what this latest research found. What the authors actually described was an association between a condition known as prediabetes and marijuana use.

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Published on September 14, 2015 12:17

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