David Galbraith studied the population of Rome over the last 3000 years. Interesting discoveries:
the rise and fall of Ancient Rome was roughly symmetrical (compared to the rapid decline of societies such as Greenland in Jared Diamond’s ‘Collapse’); the population during the Renaissance was miniscule (yet it was still a global center), when Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel it was considerably smaller than a town like Palo Alto is today (60K); Rome at its nadir was about the size of Google (20K employees); the growth of Rome during the Industrial era is much greater than the rise of Ancient Rome.
A new paper published by the German Federal Environment Agency has warned for possible dangers from nanotechnology. The German internet immediately inflated the warning and the nanodanger became humongous in the rumour kitchen.
Yet some studies have emerged that do appear to show nano-sized ingredients can be harmful. One, from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the United Kingdom, found that when mice inhaled carbon nano-tubes, they developed lung inflammations similar to those caused by asbestos. The lung inflammations did eventually subside. Another theory posits that nano-materials could have an impact on human DNA and more science-fiction-style scenarios involve the deadly military potential of items like the flexible amour and lightweight combat equipment being developed at Florida State University in the United States.
It’s pretty much the same story as with the Church needing 500 years to accept Galileo’s theory, but the other way round and without the church involved this time. Which won’t last long of course. Especially not if the topic is as serious as it is.
It could be that time is out of joint!
Everything from the concept of the black hole to GPS timing owes a debt to the theory of general relativity, which describes how gravity arises from the geometry of space and time. The sun’s gravitational field, for instance, bends starlight passing nearby because its mass is warping the surrounding space-time. This theory has held up to precision tests in the solar system and beyond, and has explained everything from the odd orbit of Mercury to the way pairs of neutron stars perform their pas de deux.
Yet it is still not clear how well general relativity holds up over cosmic scales, at distances much larger than the span of single galaxies. Now the first, tentative hint of a deviation from general relativity has been found. While the evidence is far from watertight, if confirmed by bigger surveys, it may indicate either that Einstein’s theory is incomplete, or else that dark energy, the stuff thought to be accelerating the expansion of the universe, is much weirder than we thought
Two German professors at the Uni of Koblenz claim having discovered the possibility to travel faster than the speed of light. But there could be some problems with their quantum tunneling theory;
The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons – energetic packets of light – travelled “instantaneously” between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart.
Being able to travel faster than the speed of light would lead to a wide variety of bizarre consequences.
For instance, an astronaut moving faster than it would theoretically arrive at a destination before leaving
We are not sure if this announcement is truly exciting or not but it contains the word quantum, so we had to report it here.
The Venus flytrap closes around an insect in just 0.3s or faster, while the waterwheel use thin translucent traps to snare copepods and other aquatic invertebrates.
Charles Darwin was so enamoured by this striking adaptation, and the speed with which it works, that he described the Venus flytrap as being “one of the most wonderful plants in the world.”
“Darwin was fascinated by carnivorous plants in general and the Venus flytrap in particular, I think, partly because they go against type,” says Don Waller, a botanist at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, US.
“In his time and ours, most of us feel that plants are passive, harmless, and can’t move. But the Venus flytrap acts like an animal, it moves fast and eats fresh meat.
The evolution with trains could be very interesting in the next years. Levitating trains are a very interesting concept and in the past scientist have already uttered the possibility of high speed Maglev trains crossing the Altantic much faster than the Concorde did.
A 4,000-mph magnetically levitated train could allow you to have lunch in Manhattan and still get to London in time for the theater, despite the 5-hour time difference. It’s not impossible: Norway has studied neutrally buoyant tunnels (concluding that they’re feasible, though expensive), and Shanghai is running maglev trains to its airport. But supersonic speeds require another critical step: eliminating the air — and therefore air friction — from the train’s path. A vacuum would also save the tunnel from the destructive effects of a sonic boom, which, unchecked, could potentially rip the tunnel apart.
This video of a toy Maglev train shows the amazing technology we will maybe adapt over the next years.
So there _could_ be an exoplanet, a planet behind our galaxy. Twenty years ago researchers were already arguing this fact, now there is discussion of around 300 exoplanets and maybe even the detection of the first planet in an Andromeda galaxy. The tirtheenth planet?
Jetzer’s team first conducted a simulation of microlensing events in the Andromeda galaxy, which is more than 2 million light years away from Earth. Once they had determined the clues that a planet in Andromeda would show, they returned to a survey completed in 2004 … that showed an unusual light curve. That event, the group says, matches up to its theory and can be attributed to a companion of a mass about six times that of Jupiter. That suggests either a planet, or a small companion star such as a brown dwarf…. “The interesting thing is that the technology is in place to truly see planets of Jupiter’s mass and even less in other galaxies…. It’s an exceptional thing”, says study coauthor Francesco De Paolis.
Common sense dictates that larger raindrops should fall to the ground faster than smaller ones because they weigh more and can better overcome wind resistance. But anecdotal meteorology data have shown that when drops land, smaller ones are sometimes going just as fast as the biggest ones.
Analysis of around 64.000 raindrops in new Mexico has shown that the smaller raindrops defeat the speed of velocity:
Like the speed of light, the terminal velocity should be an absolute limit. But in a paper in press at Geophysical Research Letters, the team reports many observations of so-called superterminal drops, which form when larger drops collide and break up into bunches of small drops. Those smaller drops can then travel for a time as fast as the larger drops. For example, drops with a diameter of 100 micrometers are supposed to be limited to a terminal velocity of about 30 centimeters per second. But the researchers observed such drops hitting the ground at 3 to 4 meters per second.
According to LiveScience columnist Sally Law there are several risks when it comes to the rather enjoyable topic of summer sex:
While condoms are meant to be compatible with water-based lubricants, they should not be completely submerged in water. Condom companies don’t test their products in such a condition, and therefore can’t vouch for their effectiveness when used in pools, hot tubs or other wet and wild setups.
But even for people in a monogamous relationship the conditions can be tricky:
You still might want to avoid water sex, as improperly maintained pools, hot tubs and Jacuzzis can be breeding grounds for bacteria. A study released last fall by Oregon State University found that summer is a bad time for bacterial infections in general, with serious infections caused by bacteria up as much as 17 percent with every 10-degree increase in seasonal air temperature.
I am not sure if the last mentioned danger is a risk or rather a bonus though:
A 2007 study conducted by the University of California, San Francisco, found that total body exposure to wet heat can impair both sperm production and motility. The study’s participants reported the use of a hot tub, heated Jacuzzi or bath at a temperature warmer than their body temperature for 30 minutes or more per week for at least three months prior to participation in the study.
☆ I know there are fans of coffee art among the frankylicious readers, so I thought I might as well post a link to it here. Even though I would not want to wait or have a barista make a lovely piece of art I would ruin by stirring it up. No, I never would waste any of the guests' time layering flavoured mocchas. Anyway, here you go : Art in My Coffee.
☆ The Sun thinks differently. Did I just link to The Sun?Screw that. Everybody move on now! Nothing to see here.
☆ Not everyone enjoys Christmas but of course that doesn't mean you have to go totally Dickensian about it. Instead, play some Whack-a-mole. On your iPhone. Read a review at AppleGazette.
☆ 1000 Celebrities and pop culture icons in 8-bit art. On your iPhone. At $2.99 a cool deal for 8-bit nerds, otherwise wasted money. 'Get it!', we say.
☆ If you are not a victim of geotardation, ie. if you live in the US of A, you can watch the complete Caprica pilot on SyFy (who's the moron who came up with that spelling?
☆ Interesting discovery and video: an octopus uses a coconut shell to hide under but also takes the shell with him when walking over the mud of the ocean. Coconuts as tools. Most interesting of all, this was not discovered or filmed by the BBC Life team.
☆ Go on, admit it! You also want one of these: 700mW green laser pointer. Abuse the occasion as they are 20% off and only $2.499 anymore! I wished I were rich.
Cool facts published by the BBC.
