Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Chaos for Encryption: Snake Oil
An earlier post of mine talks about an article describing the use of chaos for cryptography. Turns out, Bruce Schneier has an extensive discussion of this in his current Cryptogram newsletter. Schneier points out the method is not good for cryptography and that the article should, basically, have never been published.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Fake stem cells: Science works
"A doctor who provided human eggs for research by cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk said in a broadcast Thursday that the South Korean scientist agreed to withdraw a key research paper because most of the stem cells produced for the article were faked. Roh Sung-il, chairman of the board at Mizmedi Hospital, told KBS television that Hwang had agreed to ask the journal Science to withdraw the paper, published in June to international acclaim. Roh was one of the co-authors of the article that detailed how individual stem cell colonies were created for 11 patients through cloning."
And then:
"This is something I shouldn't have done," said the researcher, who was identified only by his last name, Kim, and whose face was not shown. "I had no choice but to do it."
So, Hwang faked his work. He published his so-called findings in Science to great acclaim. Rumors of a Nobel prized swirled. In the end, it was phony. The results were fake, plain and simple.
But...
Science worked. The claims were wrong but they were uncovered through the honesty of others who felt guilt for what they did. Yes, the wrongs should have never been done, but they were. Now, the guilty are admitting to it. That's a system that's working.
If you think I'm too optimistic ask yourself this: If this were a phony political claim, would we see people coming clean? I don't think so.
And then:
"This is something I shouldn't have done," said the researcher, who was identified only by his last name, Kim, and whose face was not shown. "I had no choice but to do it."
So, Hwang faked his work. He published his so-called findings in Science to great acclaim. Rumors of a Nobel prized swirled. In the end, it was phony. The results were fake, plain and simple.
But...
Science worked. The claims were wrong but they were uncovered through the honesty of others who felt guilt for what they did. Yes, the wrongs should have never been done, but they were. Now, the guilty are admitting to it. That's a system that's working.
If you think I'm too optimistic ask yourself this: If this were a phony political claim, would we see people coming clean? I don't think so.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Chaos for Encryption
"FUZZY INFORMATION. The top signal is an electronic version of the message. It's hidden within the chaotic signal (middle). The bottom signal is the recovered message."
An international team has encrypted a message over fiber optic lines with the help of chaos. The message is embedded in a light beam that "undergoes chaotic intensity fluctuations." At the receiver, the chaos is taken out to reveal the hidden message. This had been accomplished in a laboratory but not over this distance of 120-kilometers.
"In this new encryption strategy, a private message is converted into and travels as laser light. The information is hidden within a laser beam that undergoes chaotic intensity fluctuations. Such chaos-encrypted communication had already been mastered in laboratories. In the Nov. 17 Nature, an international team details how it sent such a message over 120 kilometers of fiber optics running throughout the city of Athens.
"The main achievement ... is the fact that the transmission has been made over a commercially installed fiber network," says Alan Shore of the University of Wales in Bangor. His team didn't have to modify the optical lines. It was quite a "nice surprise" to see that the team's lab setup translates well to a real-world setup, says Shore."
Outrageous: Medical Journals
From the Wall Street Journal (December 13, 2005):
No more.
"In 2001, the American Journal of Kidney Diseases published an article that touted the use of synthetic vitamin D. Its author was listed as Alex J. Brown, an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
But recently, that same article was featured as a work sample by a different person: Michael Anello, a free-lance medical writer, who posted a summary of it on his Web site. Mr. Anello says he was hired to write the article by a communications firm working for Abbott Laboratories, which makes a version of the vitamin D product. Dr. Brown agrees he got help in writing but says he redid part of the draft.
It's an example of an open secret in medicine: Many of the articles that appear in scientific journals under the bylines of prominent academics are actually written by ghostwriters in the pay of drug companies. These seemingly objective articles, which doctors around the world use to guide their care of patients, are often part of a marketing campaign by companies to promote a product or play up the condition it treats.
Now questions about the practice are mounting as medical journals face unprecedented scrutiny of their role as gatekeeper for scientific information. Last week, the New England Journal of Medicine admitted that a 2000 article it published highlighting the advantages of Merck & Co.'s Vioxx painkiller omitted information about heart attacks among patients taking the drug. The journal has said the deletions were made by someone working from a Merck computer. Merck says the heart attacks happened after the study's cutoff date and it did nothing wrong."
It used to be you could trust the scientific articles in medical journals as free from bias.No more.
Worms that speak
Computer worms are getting smarter. A new worm talks back! When you get the worm, you can ask it if it is a virus. Of course, it says no and intices you to download software. This worm is really an instant message.
"Now it seems that the latest worm to infect AOL's instant messaging community, Aim, actually chats with the users it is targeting in order to persuade them to download and run an infected file.
"Now it seems that the latest worm to infect AOL's instant messaging community, Aim, actually chats with the users it is targeting in order to persuade them to download and run an infected file.
Called IM.Myspace04.AIM - and someone really needs to think about the naming scheme used for viruses and worms, because that one is just dull - it uses infected computers to send itself to people on any Aim buddy list it finds, and even responds to messages sent to it in order to allay suspicion."
The article continues that the worm in not malicious. Of course, this is the first with intelligence, who can say what the next intelligent one will do.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Simpson's Math
Mathematics in the Simpsons! Yes, this is great.
Dr. Sarah J. Greenwald, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, and Dr. Andrew Nestler, Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA, put together this site of mathematics as presented on the show.
Take a look and enjoy.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Fly through Escher's work
Click on the link above, then go to downloads. Click on an MPEG and fly through an Escher painting in 3-D!
I've seen explanations of Escher's work that typically say something like:
"Escher's work looks just fine and reasonable because you see a certain projection of 3-D on to 2-D. But that projection is what makes the impossible possible. When you look at the actually 3-D structure needed to give that oh so special projection, well, that's where the problem comes in."
See the 3-D structure now.
I've seen explanations of Escher's work that typically say something like:
"Escher's work looks just fine and reasonable because you see a certain projection of 3-D on to 2-D. But that projection is what makes the impossible possible. When you look at the actually 3-D structure needed to give that oh so special projection, well, that's where the problem comes in."
See the 3-D structure now.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Many against one: Squirrels kill dog
Seems a pack of black squirrels killed a dog in a Russian forest. If true, this is an amazing example of where many small creatures, working in harmony, can overwhelm a larger foe and win.
Complex systems folks: Take note. Maybe there's something to this idea of the many small over the few large, after all!
(hat tip: Ilachina)
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Probability Puzzle
Earlier today I posted a comment about searching through the decimal expansion of Pi for a given sequence. And, I gave an example of the sequence that the expansion contains.
Later in the day I thought:
What is the probability that the given length of the expansion of Pi contains a specified (albeit randomly chosen) sequence?
Consider the expansion of Pi to be a random sequence in that for a location the probability that the digit is d is 1/10. That's not really true, of course, but let's assume it anyway.
So, the first problem is to find the probability that the expansion of Pi contains any given random sequence. Let the length of the given sequence be variable. The length of the expansion is fixed.
The second part is to plot the probability of the expansion containing a random sequence of digits for an increasing length of the chosen sequence. Thus, the probability that the expansion contains a single digit (somewhere in the expansion) is 1. But what about the sequence "16" then, what about a sequence like "598" and continue on for longer sequences.
I don't have the answer, but I'm hoping you do.
Later in the day I thought:
What is the probability that the given length of the expansion of Pi contains a specified (albeit randomly chosen) sequence?
Consider the expansion of Pi to be a random sequence in that for a location the probability that the digit is d is 1/10. That's not really true, of course, but let's assume it anyway.
So, the first problem is to find the probability that the expansion of Pi contains any given random sequence. Let the length of the given sequence be variable. The length of the expansion is fixed.
The second part is to plot the probability of the expansion containing a random sequence of digits for an increasing length of the chosen sequence. Thus, the probability that the expansion contains a single digit (somewhere in the expansion) is 1. But what about the sequence "16" then, what about a sequence like "598" and continue on for longer sequences.
I don't have the answer, but I'm hoping you do.
Are you in Pi?
Search the decimal expansion of pi for a given string of digits.
Here's a neat site that finds a string of digits in the first 200-million digits of pi.
Example: A search for the string "4444" gives back:
"The string 4444 was found at position 54,525 counting from the first digit after the decimal point. The 3. is not counted.
The string and surrounding digits:
21855877513127211793 4444 82014404257450830639 "
Here's a neat site that finds a string of digits in the first 200-million digits of pi.
Example: A search for the string "4444" gives back:
"The string 4444 was found at position 54,525 counting from the first digit after the decimal point. The 3. is not counted.
The string and surrounding digits:
21855877513127211793 4444 82014404257450830639 "
Thursday, November 17, 2005
NSA: For the kids
The National Security Agency, the one that seeks to decode various secrets, has a website for children. It's actually pretty neat and fun to try.
This is an excellent idea, by the way. The agency will need cryptographers in the future and this is one way to get children interested in this field. Children should start early if they can be hooked to do it.
Kudos to NSA for a good idea.
(Hat tip: Bruce Schneir's Cryptogram)
This is an excellent idea, by the way. The agency will need cryptographers in the future and this is one way to get children interested in this field. Children should start early if they can be hooked to do it.
Kudos to NSA for a good idea.
(Hat tip: Bruce Schneir's Cryptogram)
Sparklines Implemented
In an earlier post I mentioned the Edward Tufte idea of Sparklines.
Sparklines are small, compact graphics that show the change of a variable over time (or some other parameter). Their beauty and utility stems from their small size and ability to relate information easily and intuitively. I encourage you to click to Edward Tufte's site for more information.
There is now a site that makes the sparkline plots for you, at the link above. I hope you'll give them a try and make them part of your own writings. The more they're used the more people will come to understand them. And because Sparklines convey information so readily, the more people will understand the information you want them to understand.
Sparklines are small, compact graphics that show the change of a variable over time (or some other parameter). Their beauty and utility stems from their small size and ability to relate information easily and intuitively. I encourage you to click to Edward Tufte's site for more information.
There is now a site that makes the sparkline plots for you, at the link above. I hope you'll give them a try and make them part of your own writings. The more they're used the more people will come to understand them. And because Sparklines convey information so readily, the more people will understand the information you want them to understand.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Powers of 10
If you haven't seen this before, it's worth a click. This site shows you the universe through various resolutions and detail.
Hubble picture
Explore distance galaxies back to just a few hundred millions years after the Big Bang!
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Tin foil hats: You're not crazy....but...
"Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government's invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason."
(Hat tip: Julius)
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Serious Lego
Now I've seen Lego projects my 12-year old builds, but this site is for the serious Lego enthusiast.
Beware going to it. You'll want to do your own.
Beware going to it. You'll want to do your own.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Good quote
From Edward Tufte's discussion site:
"I was also pleased to learn that 'the messy desk is not necessarily a sign of disorganization. It may be a sign of complexity: those who deal with many unsolved ideas simultaneously cannot sort and file the papers on their desk, because they haven't yet sorted and filed the ideas in their head.' "
Says it all.
"I was also pleased to learn that 'the messy desk is not necessarily a sign of disorganization. It may be a sign of complexity: those who deal with many unsolved ideas simultaneously cannot sort and file the papers on their desk, because they haven't yet sorted and filed the ideas in their head.' "
Says it all.
Coding Theory: No more to do
Erica Klarreich from Science News reports on how coding has almost reached the Shannon limit.
The Shannon limit (for Claude Shannon who discovered it) tells how efficient a code can be so that the original message can be recovered from a digitized version of the message. Take the message, put it into bits, and transmit it. When you receive the message some of the bits may have (likely will have!) errors. Coding theory has devised many clever ways to send the data bits with extra bits to correct the errors, at some efficiency. Not long ago, that efficiency was much less than what was theoretically possible.
Now, two engineers have discovered Turbo Codes that get close to the Shannon limit. What's more, an older discovery called low-density parity-check (LDPC) coding could get even closer.
So, much of what engineers spent careers trying to do can be done. But, most of that previous work is obsolete.
" 'The ideas behind turbo codes and LDPC codes have rendered much of the preceding 50 years of coding theory obsolete', says David MacKay of Cambridge University in England, one of the coding theorists who rediscovered LDPC codes. 'Future generations won't have to learn any of the stuff that has been the standard in textbooks,' he says."
The Shannon limit (for Claude Shannon who discovered it) tells how efficient a code can be so that the original message can be recovered from a digitized version of the message. Take the message, put it into bits, and transmit it. When you receive the message some of the bits may have (likely will have!) errors. Coding theory has devised many clever ways to send the data bits with extra bits to correct the errors, at some efficiency. Not long ago, that efficiency was much less than what was theoretically possible.
Now, two engineers have discovered Turbo Codes that get close to the Shannon limit. What's more, an older discovery called low-density parity-check (LDPC) coding could get even closer.
So, much of what engineers spent careers trying to do can be done. But, most of that previous work is obsolete.
" 'The ideas behind turbo codes and LDPC codes have rendered much of the preceding 50 years of coding theory obsolete', says David MacKay of Cambridge University in England, one of the coding theorists who rediscovered LDPC codes. 'Future generations won't have to learn any of the stuff that has been the standard in textbooks,' he says."
Confusions: Probability
A current posting at Mathematical Association of America is about probability theory and how we often misunderstand it.
Keith Devlin makes the point that people have problems when they want to assign a probability to knowledge:
"In my experience, it's when probabilities are attached to information that most people run into problems.
The concept of probability you get from looking at coin tossing, dice rolling, and so forth is generally referred to as "frequentist probability". It applies when there is an action, having a fixed number of possible outcomes, that can be repeated indefinitely. It is an empirical notion, that you can check by carrying out experiments.
The numerical measure people assign to their knowledge of some event is often referred to as "subjective probability". It quantifies your knowledge of the event, not the event itself. Different people can assign different probabilities to their individual knowledge of the same event. The probability you assign to an event depends on your prior knowledge of the event, and can change when you acquire new information about it."
Devlin gives a beautiful example of subjective probability. I have my own though. Suppose you have ten beans covered by cups. Nine beans are black, one is red. What is the probability that when you turn over a cup the bean is red? Intuitively it's 1/10. Now, suppose I turn over nine cups so you see the covered beans. What's the probability that the last cup has a red bean? At this point it's no longer a probability but rather a statement of known fact. You can see the other beans. If one of those is red, the cup has a black bean. If none of the nine exposed beans is red, the covered bean is red. There's no uncertainty at all.
I've often wondered just what probability meant and how we can use it consistently and properly. Devlin makes a good start to doing just that.
Keith Devlin makes the point that people have problems when they want to assign a probability to knowledge:
"In my experience, it's when probabilities are attached to information that most people run into problems.
The concept of probability you get from looking at coin tossing, dice rolling, and so forth is generally referred to as "frequentist probability". It applies when there is an action, having a fixed number of possible outcomes, that can be repeated indefinitely. It is an empirical notion, that you can check by carrying out experiments.
The numerical measure people assign to their knowledge of some event is often referred to as "subjective probability". It quantifies your knowledge of the event, not the event itself. Different people can assign different probabilities to their individual knowledge of the same event. The probability you assign to an event depends on your prior knowledge of the event, and can change when you acquire new information about it."
Devlin gives a beautiful example of subjective probability. I have my own though. Suppose you have ten beans covered by cups. Nine beans are black, one is red. What is the probability that when you turn over a cup the bean is red? Intuitively it's 1/10. Now, suppose I turn over nine cups so you see the covered beans. What's the probability that the last cup has a red bean? At this point it's no longer a probability but rather a statement of known fact. You can see the other beans. If one of those is red, the cup has a black bean. If none of the nine exposed beans is red, the covered bean is red. There's no uncertainty at all.
I've often wondered just what probability meant and how we can use it consistently and properly. Devlin makes a good start to doing just that.
Friday, November 04, 2005
The fourth dimension: You can play with it
The University of Mass. has a lab that allows students to play (or study) shapes from the fourth dimension.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Google Print
If you haven't heard yet, Google wants to digitize books and make them available on the web. Great idea! I think it'll increase sales of books and make books that are out of print available to everyone.
Stephen Hawkins: God Created the Integers
I bought this book on my way tonight. Looks excellent. I'll review it when I've gone through it.
Tufte Bulletin Board
Tufte also has a bulletin board for discussions on data presentations with links to other sites of interest. This is worth spending a lot of time looking at the links, reading the comments, and digesting the information.
Edward Tufte: Sparklines
Edward Tufte is an expert on how data should be presented and he's written three excellent books on this subject. I recommend all his books and especially his advice.
My friend Andy (hattip: Ilachina) sent me this link to a chapter of Tufte's next book. This chapter, entitled "Sparklines" tells how data can presented within text to show a trend and allow one to quickly see trends. This is not totally new, Euclid did it as did others. What's new is the advocacy of it for papers today. While data is presented so hap-hazardly, it refreshing and needed to see Sparklines.
My friend Andy (hattip: Ilachina) sent me this link to a chapter of Tufte's next book. This chapter, entitled "Sparklines" tells how data can presented within text to show a trend and allow one to quickly see trends. This is not totally new, Euclid did it as did others. What's new is the advocacy of it for papers today. While data is presented so hap-hazardly, it refreshing and needed to see Sparklines.
Photographing flying insects
The man shows you how he designed and built and used! a camera, plus electronics to photograph flying insects. It's not simple and it's amazing how much work this man did.
Science Toys
Make your own toys at home with a science theme. Neat site and neat toys.
Christmas is coming, maybe you don't have to shop far to find something fun?!
Christmas is coming, maybe you don't have to shop far to find something fun?!
Who is the greatest mathematician?
Cast your vote for greatest mathematician. Naturally, Gauss is a competitor but I think Euler should be it.
What do you think?
What do you think?
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Monday, October 24, 2005
Fractional Calculus
In reviewing emails of current published papers I came across the idea of "fractional calculus."
Frankly, I had never heard of such a thing so I did some searches. The link above is to Wikipedia which has a good discussion of this. Here's another good link.
It seems that fractional calculus is the generalization of standard calculus to fractions of derivatives. We usually talk about the "first derivative" of a function, and the "second derivative" of a function. So, why not talk about the "one and a half derivative" of a function. Seems like we could do that.
In fact, that can be done. Just what that means and why you would want to do it is something for another day. Today, it's interesting that it can be done.
Frankly, I had never heard of such a thing so I did some searches. The link above is to Wikipedia which has a good discussion of this. Here's another good link.
It seems that fractional calculus is the generalization of standard calculus to fractions of derivatives. We usually talk about the "first derivative" of a function, and the "second derivative" of a function. So, why not talk about the "one and a half derivative" of a function. Seems like we could do that.
In fact, that can be done. Just what that means and why you would want to do it is something for another day. Today, it's interesting that it can be done.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Quantum Mechanics: Not Enough
I am interested in understand quantum mechanics better than I do. I ran across this sight from a Google search and it has the attractive URL of "Quantumintro.com." Looks good, or so I thought. I read through it and it only told me that it doesn't tell enough. I'll look elsewhere.
Quantum Sights and Physics Rendered Beautifully
The images within this site are truly gorgeous. They marvel and amaze and are worth a click or two to view. The explanations are excellent as well. The negative is the cost to buy an image is very steep. Oh well, they're still great to see on your screen.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Quatum Theory and the Cosmos: There's a connection
Turns out some of the equations we see connected to quantum theory apply to celestial navigation. Same equations mean the same solutions means there is a connection.
I downloaded and read the paper cited, you can get the paper here. It's not too difficult to read, especially if you skip the parts you don't understand. :-)
Seriously, the paper is pretty readable and the figures show you the connections the authors want you to see.
2005 Visualization Challenge
Here are the winners from the 2005 Visualization Challenge. The images are absolutely stunning for detail, content, and raw beauty.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Quantum bit: Catch the light
"Physicists in Australia have slowed a speeding laser pulse and captured it in a crystal, a feat that could be instrumental in creating quantum computers."
This is the first step, well, maybe not the first, to building a quantum computer. The ability to stop light (or slow enough) is the beginning of memory for a quantum computer. Quantum computers have been talked about for years. Feynmann thought about them many years ago. Now, they are slowing coming along, bit by bit, or, should I say, Qubit by Qubit!!
This is the first step, well, maybe not the first, to building a quantum computer. The ability to stop light (or slow enough) is the beginning of memory for a quantum computer. Quantum computers have been talked about for years. Feynmann thought about them many years ago. Now, they are slowing coming along, bit by bit, or, should I say, Qubit by Qubit!!
Immune cells: Phone home
Immune cells communicate with each other with tiny tubes.
"The research not only proves cells other than neurons are capable of long-distance communication, but it reveals a hereto-unknown mechanism cells use for exchanging information."
"Blood-derived dendritic cells and macrophages, both antigen-presenting cells, make use of these so-called tunneling nanotubules to relay molecular messages."
This may explain how the immune system is able to respond so quickly to invasions. Fascinating.
"The research not only proves cells other than neurons are capable of long-distance communication, but it reveals a hereto-unknown mechanism cells use for exchanging information."
"Blood-derived dendritic cells and macrophages, both antigen-presenting cells, make use of these so-called tunneling nanotubules to relay molecular messages."
This may explain how the immune system is able to respond so quickly to invasions. Fascinating.
Smallest Fountain Pen
Researchers have developed the world's smallest fountain pen.
"[It is so] tiny it can draw lines a hundred times thinner than a red blood cell.
... [I]t can paint lines as thin as 40 nanometers and has its own reservoir to hold various types of inks, including pigments for painting patterns and organic materials for designing sensors.
...
The new pen can be attached to the atomic-force microscope, which allows scientists to see nanoscale environments as well as draw on them. Possible uses for such a tiny pen, or an array of several of them, include crafting miniscule protein arrays and complex semiconductors.
Because scientists built the pen using standard microfabrication techniques and materials, it will be possible to mass-produce the tips."
"[It is so] tiny it can draw lines a hundred times thinner than a red blood cell.
... [I]t can paint lines as thin as 40 nanometers and has its own reservoir to hold various types of inks, including pigments for painting patterns and organic materials for designing sensors.
...
The new pen can be attached to the atomic-force microscope, which allows scientists to see nanoscale environments as well as draw on them. Possible uses for such a tiny pen, or an array of several of them, include crafting miniscule protein arrays and complex semiconductors.
Because scientists built the pen using standard microfabrication techniques and materials, it will be possible to mass-produce the tips."
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Dust Devils: On Mars
Here's a short movie of dust devils moving across the Martian landscape. I don't know what this means, but it's neat to see.
Nobel Prize: Keep at it
From an online editorial in the Wall Street Journal (link may require a subscription):
"Australian physician Barry Marshall suggested, at a Brussels conference in 1983, that peptic ulcers might have a bacterial cause, his findings were dismissed by colleagues as "the most preposterous thing ever heard," according to his entry in the Current Biography Yearbook. ...
Today, the milk-and-rest cure is a thing of the past, surgeries are rare, and a disease that affects some four million Americans annually can usually be treated successfully within a few weeks with an antibiotic cocktail. For their findings, yesterday Drs. Marshall and Warren shared this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine and its $1.3 million prize. It's an inspired choice -- and a useful reminder that just because there's a scientific "consensus," that doesn't mean it's true."
So, when folks tell you they already know something to be true, you should keep working. Science is NOT a democratic endeavor: we don't vote on who is correct, nature tells you who's right.
"Australian physician Barry Marshall suggested, at a Brussels conference in 1983, that peptic ulcers might have a bacterial cause, his findings were dismissed by colleagues as "the most preposterous thing ever heard," according to his entry in the Current Biography Yearbook. ...
Today, the milk-and-rest cure is a thing of the past, surgeries are rare, and a disease that affects some four million Americans annually can usually be treated successfully within a few weeks with an antibiotic cocktail. For their findings, yesterday Drs. Marshall and Warren shared this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine and its $1.3 million prize. It's an inspired choice -- and a useful reminder that just because there's a scientific "consensus," that doesn't mean it's true."
So, when folks tell you they already know something to be true, you should keep working. Science is NOT a democratic endeavor: we don't vote on who is correct, nature tells you who's right.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Baseball: What are the odds?
Here's an article about the probability of winning in baseball. It was cited in the "Numbers Guy" column of today's Wall Street Journal. Interesting reading, for sure.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
An expensive lie detector
A scientist at the Medical College of South Carolina says that an MRI is a good lie detector. He estimates that it's 90% accurate compared to 80% for a lie detector. That may be an improvement, but the cost for an MRI seems to out weigh the increased accuracy.
Proteins compute!
"Theoretical physicists in the UK have shown that it should be possible to use clusters of proteins to perform complex logic operations."
It always seemed logical (no pun) that nature's building blocks could perform computations. Now, physicists have shown that proteins may actually be able to perform rudimentary logic operations. If that's true, then of course we may then be able to say that the proteins are a universal computer. It's a stretch now, but why wouldn't nature evolve to that? Seems logical.
It always seemed logical (no pun) that nature's building blocks could perform computations. Now, physicists have shown that proteins may actually be able to perform rudimentary logic operations. If that's true, then of course we may then be able to say that the proteins are a universal computer. It's a stretch now, but why wouldn't nature evolve to that? Seems logical.
Total virtual reality, like, cool man
This would be funny if I didn't think it was such a neat idea. I love first person shooter games, mostly Quake 3, and if I could actually run, albeit contained to the sphere, shoot, twist and react like I do in the game, boy, that'd be just neat.
Richard Feynman: More on his life
Stephen Wolfram has a lovely article about the late Richard Feynman. Feynman was one of the greatest physicist of the twentieth century, a noble laureate, and an incredibly genuine human being. The article is well worth reading.
"It was probably 1982. I'd been at Feynman's house, and our conversation had turned to some kind of unpleasant situation that was going on. I was about to leave. And Feynman stops me and says: "You know, you and I are very lucky. Because whatever else is going on, we've always got our physics."
Feynman loved doing physics. I think what he loved most was the process of it. Of calculating. Of figuring things out.
It didn't seem to matter to him so much if what came out was big and important. Or esoteric and weird. What mattered to him was the process of finding it. And he was often quite competitive about it."
Read the whole article.
"It was probably 1982. I'd been at Feynman's house, and our conversation had turned to some kind of unpleasant situation that was going on. I was about to leave. And Feynman stops me and says: "You know, you and I are very lucky. Because whatever else is going on, we've always got our physics."
Feynman loved doing physics. I think what he loved most was the process of it. Of calculating. Of figuring things out.
It didn't seem to matter to him so much if what came out was big and important. Or esoteric and weird. What mattered to him was the process of finding it. And he was often quite competitive about it."
Read the whole article.
Biomimicry: Imitating nature in engineering
"[N]ature can accomplish feats that engineers have only been able to dream of until now. But as scientists peer deeper into the cellular and molecular workings of nature, engineers are starting to find information they can apply to everything from advanced optics to robotics—even a mussel-inspired glue that could one day be used to repair shattered bones. The result is a new field called biomimicry, or biologically inspired design."
Nature has spent so much time developing biological machines that it's about time we start to copy what nature has perfected.
Michael Crichton coming to DC
Michael Crichton is coming to Washington, DC, in November. I hear that he's a good speaker and with his new book out entitled State of Fear, this should be an excellent talk. His book is about how current science exaggerates the fears and that we, the public, have to be careful how much we trust the current predictions.
Frankly, I've never give much credence to predictions. Not that it can't be done, but when it comes to issues like global warming, I think we need more data relative to the age of the earth. I think it was Niels Bohr who said: "Prediction is hard, especially about the future."
Convergence: A math magazine
Convergence is a mathematics magazine that I ran across while looking at the Mathematics Association of America website. It has good articles that focus on the history of mathematics and discoveries from not so long ago. It requires that you get a login id, but there's no charge. I visit it often and usually find something of interest each time.
Digital Camers: Create panoramas, easy!
This site tells you how to create panoramic pictures with your digital camera and gives you software for doing so.
The results are stunning! Enjoy.
(Hat tip: Ilachina)
Camera Privacy: You can get it
Researchers at Georgia Tech (my alma mater) have found a way to keep a digital camera from snapping a picture. Actually, the camera takes its picture but the result is not what the photographer wants. Instead, a powerful light shines in the camera so that the photo does not turn out except for a bright light and a dark background. Thus, the subject is spared of having his/her picture when he/she does not want one taken.
The picture on the left is without the neutralizer and the one on the right is with the neutralizer working. Big difference, eh?
I am delighted that there are ways (at least one) to keep people from taking a picture. We all deserve to be able to keep some parts of our lives private. With the proliferation of cellular phone cameras this was getting out of hand. It's great that there's some way to keep the pictures away.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Top Questions We Don't Know: Can you answer these?
Scice Magazine lists their top questions that we don't know the answers to. Maybe someone here can help them out? Good luck!!
> What Is the Universe Made Of?
> What is the Biological Basis of Consciousness?
> Why Do Humans Have So Few Genes?
> To What Extent Are Genetic Variation and Personal Health Linked?
> Can the Laws of Physics Be Unified?
> How Much Can Human Life Span Be Extended?
> What Controls Organ Regeneration?
> How Can a Skin Cell Become a Nerve Cell?
> How Does a Single Somatic Cell Become a Whole Plant?
> How Does Earth's Interior Work?
> Are We Alone in the Universe?
> How and Where Did Life on Earth Arise?
> What Determines Species Diversity?
> What Genetic Changes Made Us Uniquely Human?
> How Are Memories Stored and Retrieved?
> How Did Cooperative Behavior Evolve?
> How Will Big Pictures Emerge from a Sea of Biological Data?
> How Far Can We Push Chemical Self-Assembly?
> What Are the Limits of Conventional Computing?
> Can We Selectively Shut Off Immune Responses?
> Do Deeper Principles Underlie Quantum Uncertainty and Nonlocality?
> Is an Effective HIV Vaccine Feasible?
> How Hot Will the Greenhouse World Be?
> What Can Replace Cheap Oil -- and When?
> Will Malthus Continue to Be Wrong?
> What Is the Universe Made Of?
> What is the Biological Basis of Consciousness?
> Why Do Humans Have So Few Genes?
> To What Extent Are Genetic Variation and Personal Health Linked?
> Can the Laws of Physics Be Unified?
> How Much Can Human Life Span Be Extended?
> What Controls Organ Regeneration?
> How Can a Skin Cell Become a Nerve Cell?
> How Does a Single Somatic Cell Become a Whole Plant?
> How Does Earth's Interior Work?
> Are We Alone in the Universe?
> How and Where Did Life on Earth Arise?
> What Determines Species Diversity?
> What Genetic Changes Made Us Uniquely Human?
> How Are Memories Stored and Retrieved?
> How Did Cooperative Behavior Evolve?
> How Will Big Pictures Emerge from a Sea of Biological Data?
> How Far Can We Push Chemical Self-Assembly?
> What Are the Limits of Conventional Computing?
> Can We Selectively Shut Off Immune Responses?
> Do Deeper Principles Underlie Quantum Uncertainty and Nonlocality?
> Is an Effective HIV Vaccine Feasible?
> How Hot Will the Greenhouse World Be?
> What Can Replace Cheap Oil -- and When?
> Will Malthus Continue to Be Wrong?
Friday, September 09, 2005
Movement without touch
Scientist can move a drop of water about a millimeter with a laser. This is an advance that while limited at a large scale, could be tremendous for nano-technology.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Math and Art
Pictures based on mathematics! Just gorgeous. I don't have time to look through this site as I would like, but I hope you do. These are just beautiful.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Saturn: Images to see
I found this site while looking at Science Daily News
The site has great narrative about the Cassini mission to Saturn and some beautiful pictures of the rings and moons around Saturn.
Here's one example, but look for more:
The site has great narrative about the Cassini mission to Saturn and some beautiful pictures of the rings and moons around Saturn.
Here's one example, but look for more:
Wings changing shapes
Rick Lind, a University of Florida professor, shows his prototype airborne vehicle. What's so neat about it is that the wings change shape, like the wings of a bird, to help his vehicle maneuver and turn. Current unmanned airborne vehicles can't do that and are limited in their mobility.
For reconnaissance over a battle field, the UV can fly high, straight and send back images to headquarters. For urban areas, though, where you want to see in between buildings or other hard to reach places, this new vehicle could be what you need.
Fascinating, inventive, and neat.
Science and Policy: A look at Equality
The September issue of Commentary magazine has as its lead article: The Inequality Taboo by Charles Murray. For those who don't remember, Charles Murray co-authored The Bell Curve about the qualities of groups of people based on race or gender, for example. He had been quiet for a long time about these issues and this is his first time speaking out on these issues since his book.
The entire article is worth reading and it's available as I linked to it above. Here's a taste of how he explains group features and whether we should focus so much on these as the government makes policy:
"Suppose that a pill exists that, if all women took it, would give them exactly the same mean and variance on every dimension of human functioning as men—including all the ways in which women now surpass men. How many women would want all women to take it? Or suppose that the pill, taken by all blacks, would give them exactly the same mean and variance on every dimension of human functioning as whites—including all the ways in which blacks now surpass whites. How many blacks would want all blacks to take it? To ask such questions is to answer them: hardly anybody. Few want to trade off the unique virtues of their own group for the advantages that another group may enjoy."
Why did he write this article? Here's part of his answer:
"When the outcomes that these policies are supposed to produce fail to occur, with one group falling short, the fault for the discrepancy has been assigned to society. It continues to be assumed that better programs, better regulations, or the right court decisions can make the differences go away. That assumption is also wrong."
Read this article; you'll be very happy you did.
The entire article is worth reading and it's available as I linked to it above. Here's a taste of how he explains group features and whether we should focus so much on these as the government makes policy:
"Suppose that a pill exists that, if all women took it, would give them exactly the same mean and variance on every dimension of human functioning as men—including all the ways in which women now surpass men. How many women would want all women to take it? Or suppose that the pill, taken by all blacks, would give them exactly the same mean and variance on every dimension of human functioning as whites—including all the ways in which blacks now surpass whites. How many blacks would want all blacks to take it? To ask such questions is to answer them: hardly anybody. Few want to trade off the unique virtues of their own group for the advantages that another group may enjoy."
Why did he write this article? Here's part of his answer:
"When the outcomes that these policies are supposed to produce fail to occur, with one group falling short, the fault for the discrepancy has been assigned to society. It continues to be assumed that better programs, better regulations, or the right court decisions can make the differences go away. That assumption is also wrong."
Read this article; you'll be very happy you did.
Friday, September 02, 2005
What you know is wrong!
That's the conclusion of the a new article in New Scientist magazine. Many studies are completely wrong because:
"small sample sizes, poor study design, researcher bias, and selective reporting and other problems combine to make most research findings false."
So, if you thought you could trust what's in a study, think again.
Of course, this problem is only compounded by the fact that once a study is done, people accept it. Plus, there's no time or especially money to reproduce a study so whatever conclusions the original scientists come to, they stick for a long time.
"small sample sizes, poor study design, researcher bias, and selective reporting and other problems combine to make most research findings false."
So, if you thought you could trust what's in a study, think again.
Of course, this problem is only compounded by the fact that once a study is done, people accept it. Plus, there's no time or especially money to reproduce a study so whatever conclusions the original scientists come to, they stick for a long time.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Chimps to humans: What's the difference?
Scientists completed the mapping of Chimpanzee DNA. There's not much difference to humans, either:
"All told, the two sequences differ by 4 percent. But three-quarters of the differences seem to be in non-functional parts of the genome, suggesting that a mere 1 percent variation makes all the difference."
But, 1% makes a difference. Plus, who knows about the that other 3%. What's more, who can say how that difference effects and interacts with the other parts of the genome. Nonetheless this is a step forward.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Vector and raster graphics
Here's a neat article with links to programs, some free, some not, on the difference between vector and raster graphics. The best part are the listings of programs you can easily get for your own graphics. Check out the links.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Science Knowledge: Still down
Today's New York Times has an article about the state of science education in America. As you might expect, we're not doing well. Here are a few interesting points:
Citizens need to know science more now than in the past because issues today are based more on science. Example: stem cells, global warming.
Students who attend college often have to take a science class. Not so in high school. So, people who attend college have some science education but students (about half of all students) only attend high school and are, therefore, ill-learned in science.
Teachers of science are hard to come-by because we pay them so little.
So, what to do?
I think we need to make science a bigger part of the news, and media in general. We need to have newspaper, web articles, and radio shows, discuss the science behind and within an article, not just the political sides of a story. When there's an article about stem cells, there should be a side bar about cells in general. When there's a story about Tanzania, there should be a map showing the location. (Our geographical knowledges is not good either.)
That's a start, but only a start.
(Hat tip: Ilachina)
Citizens need to know science more now than in the past because issues today are based more on science. Example: stem cells, global warming.
Students who attend college often have to take a science class. Not so in high school. So, people who attend college have some science education but students (about half of all students) only attend high school and are, therefore, ill-learned in science.
Teachers of science are hard to come-by because we pay them so little.
So, what to do?
I think we need to make science a bigger part of the news, and media in general. We need to have newspaper, web articles, and radio shows, discuss the science behind and within an article, not just the political sides of a story. When there's an article about stem cells, there should be a side bar about cells in general. When there's a story about Tanzania, there should be a map showing the location. (Our geographical knowledges is not good either.)
That's a start, but only a start.
(Hat tip: Ilachina)
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
How Stuff Works
I had forgotten about this website but then I was wondering about power brakes. I was driving a few nights ago and it dawned on me: I don't know how power brakes work. I had an idea about manual brakes, but what about power brakes. So, I type "how do power brakes work" into Google (www.google.com) and then this site appeared. The site not only answered the question (I'll leave it to you to check the site if you're interested) but it had a great animation of the vacuum system that gives the driver power brakes.
Pretty slick.
Pretty slick.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Faster than light: You go!
"A team at the Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland" has successfully manipulated the speed of light. They can slow light by a factor of four. More interesting is that they can manipulate the components of a light to change the velocity of each so that the light moves faster than light. Sounds wierd, doesn't it.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Who carries Einstein's legacy forward?
Lee Smolin, a theoretical physicist, discusses who among physicts today follow the path set by Einstein. Smolin believes few do and those that would can't because if they do, they won't have job.
Smolin's article describes what Einstein believed, how Einstein approached physics, and how Einstein's ideas are still not well understood by physicists.
Smolin's article describes what Einstein believed, how Einstein approached physics, and how Einstein's ideas are still not well understood by physicists.
Einstein: Original manuscript found
An original manuscript of Albert Einstein's was found in the archives of Leiden University's Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics. The manuscript is for the paper "Quantum theory of the monatomic ideal gas" and is dated December 1924.
What if?
What if Einstein did not discover relativity? Would someone else have discovered it? What would have happened if Newton did not pursue science? What would have happened to the world?
These questions are pondered in the current issue of NewScientist.com.
While it's fun to speculate about such ideas, and for political purposes it makes sense, I don't think it's true for science. Yes, we can ponder what would have happened had the Nazi's won (an item from the same article) but in science, we make discoveries. Scientists find things that exist or are true, but have not been found by others. So, if Einstein did not discover relativity would that make Newtonian mechanics always true? Of course not. Newton's theories work well, but not for objects approaching the speed of light. Likewise, if Newton didn't work in mathematics, we'd still have calculus. Liebnitz discovered and developed calculus around the same time as Newton. If Liebnitz didn't discover calculus, someone else would have.
Sure, we can ponder these ideas all day but science is discovery so if one doesn't discover something, another person will. Of course, the timing of the discovers can change many, many things. If the U.S. didn't build a atomic weapon when we did, who would have built one? And what would that country do with an atomic weapon? Now that's something to think about.
These questions are pondered in the current issue of NewScientist.com.
While it's fun to speculate about such ideas, and for political purposes it makes sense, I don't think it's true for science. Yes, we can ponder what would have happened had the Nazi's won (an item from the same article) but in science, we make discoveries. Scientists find things that exist or are true, but have not been found by others. So, if Einstein did not discover relativity would that make Newtonian mechanics always true? Of course not. Newton's theories work well, but not for objects approaching the speed of light. Likewise, if Newton didn't work in mathematics, we'd still have calculus. Liebnitz discovered and developed calculus around the same time as Newton. If Liebnitz didn't discover calculus, someone else would have.
Sure, we can ponder these ideas all day but science is discovery so if one doesn't discover something, another person will. Of course, the timing of the discovers can change many, many things. If the U.S. didn't build a atomic weapon when we did, who would have built one? And what would that country do with an atomic weapon? Now that's something to think about.
Friday, August 19, 2005
Google: Fun with numbers
In today's Wall Street Journal (wsj.com; requires subscription) they show that Google likes math! Yes!
" Amid all the mystery, the tech company seemed to leave a clue that suggests the size of the offering wasn't arbitrary by stipulating that the number of shares Google plans to sell is 14,159,265. Those are the first eight digits that follow the decimal in the value of pi (which is 3.14159265), a number representing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter."
And there's this:
"(The IPO also showed Google's inclination to have fun with figures. In an SEC filing the company said it sought to raise as much as $2,718,281,828. The number 2.718281828 is the constant e, which is related to natural logarithms and, like pi, a key concept in mathematics.)"
I think it's great that in the world of finance, inundated with numbers, Google has found a way, and does it, to introduce more advance ideas then just addition and subtraction.
Way to go, Google!!
" Amid all the mystery, the tech company seemed to leave a clue that suggests the size of the offering wasn't arbitrary by stipulating that the number of shares Google plans to sell is 14,159,265. Those are the first eight digits that follow the decimal in the value of pi (which is 3.14159265), a number representing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter."
And there's this:
"(The IPO also showed Google's inclination to have fun with figures. In an SEC filing the company said it sought to raise as much as $2,718,281,828. The number 2.718281828 is the constant e, which is related to natural logarithms and, like pi, a key concept in mathematics.)"
I think it's great that in the world of finance, inundated with numbers, Google has found a way, and does it, to introduce more advance ideas then just addition and subtraction.
Way to go, Google!!
Lightning on Demand
Read about Tesla coils that can send lightning bolts across football fields. Neat stuff!
Engineering biological molecules
Scientists are designing and building their own biological molecules. The article gives examples of where scientists have already had some successes.
I can't help but wonder how the Law of Unitended Consequences will play out with this. Will a scientist seeking to cure one disease cause another that cannot be cured? It makes me wonder...and cringe.
I can't help but wonder how the Law of Unitended Consequences will play out with this. Will a scientist seeking to cure one disease cause another that cannot be cured? It makes me wonder...and cringe.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Social networks via cell phones
Here's a site about studying social networks via cell phones. Very interesting. I hope to learn more about it later.
Hat tip: Cyptogram newsletter.
Hat tip: Cyptogram newsletter.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Crystal Radios: Kits and Projects
Here's another site courtesy of Test and Measurement World magazine (www.tmworld.com). This one has lots of information on building crystal radios.
Crystal radios always remind me of my ham radio days and I still hold a current ham license, General Class, by the way. I think I used to make a few of these radios when I was a teenager. There's a great feeling to putting together a kit like these, putting the earpiece in your ear, and hearing sound. It's not just the fact that it works which is always exciting, it's the fact that it works with so few parts and seems so easy to do. Yet, if you don't do it, you never get that thrill any other way. What's particularly neat is that the radio seems to work out of nothing. You can't see the radio waves, can't feel them, and in no way can you physically detect them with just your being. Yet, the waves are there, waiting for something to detect them and play them as audio.
If you've never built a radio receiver before, you should give serious thought to doing so. It'll be a thrill you'll love. Trust me.
Crystal radios always remind me of my ham radio days and I still hold a current ham license, General Class, by the way. I think I used to make a few of these radios when I was a teenager. There's a great feeling to putting together a kit like these, putting the earpiece in your ear, and hearing sound. It's not just the fact that it works which is always exciting, it's the fact that it works with so few parts and seems so easy to do. Yet, if you don't do it, you never get that thrill any other way. What's particularly neat is that the radio seems to work out of nothing. You can't see the radio waves, can't feel them, and in no way can you physically detect them with just your being. Yet, the waves are there, waiting for something to detect them and play them as audio.
If you've never built a radio receiver before, you should give serious thought to doing so. It'll be a thrill you'll love. Trust me.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
More Richard Feynman quotes
While looking through the amateur science site I found some more quotes from Richard Feynman. Here are some of my favorites.
"I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong."
"If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain... In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar."
"We cannot define anything precisely! If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers, who sit opposite each other, one saying to the other, 'You don't know what you are talking about!' The second one says 'What do you mean by know? What do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you?', and so on."
"I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring." (last words)
Click the link for more.
"I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong."
"If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain... In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar."
"We cannot define anything precisely! If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers, who sit opposite each other, one saying to the other, 'You don't know what you are talking about!' The second one says 'What do you mean by know? What do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you?', and so on."
"I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring." (last words)
Click the link for more.
Spend some time at this site: you'll love it
O.K. Here's a site I love and I've only spent a few minutes there. It's a site for science hobbyists! Yes. And while it says for kids to stay away, I didn't see anything objectionable. Except to acually conduct any of the experiments. I wouldn't recommend that without adult (intelligent adult) supervision. But, browse throught this site and enjoy. I only have a minute to look now, but I'll be back!
(Tip: Test and Measurement World magazine www.tmworld.com)
(Tip: Test and Measurement World magazine www.tmworld.com)
Newspapers: From around the world
The Newseum, a museum for journalism, has a site with frontpages of newspapers from around the world. Go to the link above, and run your mouse over the papers. You'll see the front page. Click on the link and you'll get a window so you can read the front page. It's pretty cool; you can see what's in the news at other locales and see newspapers find important. I noticed that while my paper, The Washington Post, is pretty nationall focussed, especially the front page, the newspaper in Cumberland, MD, is much more locally focused. Interesting to compare!
(Tip: Ilachina and thanks very much.)
(Tip: Ilachina and thanks very much.)
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Keep searching, you're bound to find something!
The New York Times reports that the space shuttle Discovery had:
" cameras on the launching pad, cameras aloft on planes monitoring the ascent, cameras on the shuttle checking for missing foam on the external fuel tank, and a camera on the tank itself. One camera caught a mysterious object falling from the shuttle at liftoff; radar detected another, about two minutes into the flight. Cameras aboard the shuttle and the International Space Station will monitor the Discovery until the end of its mission."
Ordinarily, more data are better. If you study a "Black Box" you want to probe it with as many inputs as you can, measure the outputs, and try to discern what's inside. The more data you have, the better you can tell something. Not so with Discovery.
As the Times article notes, more data on the shuttle could lead to more worries, more investigations, and more tests. However, such data, while true, may not be cause for any concerns. The fact that a camera discovers something does not imply that there's a problem. Moreover, there may be nothing you can do in any case. And, as if that's not enough, fixing the problem may cause other problems that were not there before the fix!
As the article notes, in medicine a physician can do lots of tests. But oftentimes the tests pick-up items that are irrelevant to patient health, or wouldn't develop into problems until well after the patient is dead. Knowing about them doesn't help the patient. In fact, it may prompt the patient to seek treatment where the treatment side effects are worse then the may-never-to-appear disease.
We have to remember what we learned in school: Sometimes,
Less really is more!
" cameras on the launching pad, cameras aloft on planes monitoring the ascent, cameras on the shuttle checking for missing foam on the external fuel tank, and a camera on the tank itself. One camera caught a mysterious object falling from the shuttle at liftoff; radar detected another, about two minutes into the flight. Cameras aboard the shuttle and the International Space Station will monitor the Discovery until the end of its mission."
Ordinarily, more data are better. If you study a "Black Box" you want to probe it with as many inputs as you can, measure the outputs, and try to discern what's inside. The more data you have, the better you can tell something. Not so with Discovery.
As the Times article notes, more data on the shuttle could lead to more worries, more investigations, and more tests. However, such data, while true, may not be cause for any concerns. The fact that a camera discovers something does not imply that there's a problem. Moreover, there may be nothing you can do in any case. And, as if that's not enough, fixing the problem may cause other problems that were not there before the fix!
As the article notes, in medicine a physician can do lots of tests. But oftentimes the tests pick-up items that are irrelevant to patient health, or wouldn't develop into problems until well after the patient is dead. Knowing about them doesn't help the patient. In fact, it may prompt the patient to seek treatment where the treatment side effects are worse then the may-never-to-appear disease.
We have to remember what we learned in school: Sometimes,
Less really is more!
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Shuttle launched!
The shuttle Discovery had a successful launch this morning. YES! It's great that the program is moving forward. While flying the shuttle will be a dangerous mission for a long time to come, it's right that we go on to fly more and more. This is good not just for the program itself, but for the country and for everyone, in fact, to see that man continues to explore the universe. We should be expanding our space explorations beyond the shuttle to visit planets as soon as we can. The journey to space is a challenge we should meet.
1 in 100: How do you know?
NASA said the chance of failure with the shuttle launch (that was, in fact, successful YAY!) is 1 in a 100. How do they know that? According to the New York Times, NASA
" combines the findings of flight experience, computer simulations and expert judgment to assess how the shuttle's millions of parts will work or fail in varying situations."
Now this is just bunk. Sure, NASA can test systems and subsystems. Test parts for integrity under varying conditions, but it cannot test the entire shuttle until it flies. There have been 113 flights with two (2) catastrophic failures. It is impossible to quantify just what the chances are (probabilities, if you will) for failure. There just are NOT enough tests to know. That said, NASA still has to decide if the launch should go or not. In the end it's a decision based on little more than guess work.
" combines the findings of flight experience, computer simulations and expert judgment to assess how the shuttle's millions of parts will work or fail in varying situations."
Now this is just bunk. Sure, NASA can test systems and subsystems. Test parts for integrity under varying conditions, but it cannot test the entire shuttle until it flies. There have been 113 flights with two (2) catastrophic failures. It is impossible to quantify just what the chances are (probabilities, if you will) for failure. There just are NOT enough tests to know. That said, NASA still has to decide if the launch should go or not. In the end it's a decision based on little more than guess work.
Science Hotel
The Jerusalem Post reports that Israel has built a hotel for science. Well, not exactly for science but rather, a hotel to house students so that they can learn about science. The cost is free and the idea is that students from the country will stay there and study "life science, physics, chemistry, biotechology, electro-optics and environmental quality."
I hope more countries will follow this example, notably the United States. In fact, this week's Fortune magazine (I'll have to look for the URL; I read this in the print edition) talked of America's need for science to stay competitive. More on that later.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Integer Sequeces: An On-Line Look-Up
Here's a fascinating site that I've only just begun to explore. It's an online encyclopedia for looking up integer sequences. Say you have a sequence like:
1, 4, 9, 16
and you want to know what the next number might be. Or, you want to know of a relationship between these numbers. Go to this site, type in the sequence and it'll return:
Well, I thought it would quickly tell me that this is a sequence of squares:
1*1=1
2*2=4
3*3=9
4*4=16
But, that didn't come right back. Instead I got the following:
Triangle giving a(n,r) = number of equivalence classes of Boolean
functions of n variables and range r=0..2^n under action of symmetric
group.
Triangular array T read by rows: T(n,k)=k^2 mod n, for
k=1,2,...,[n/2], n=2,3,...
Triangle T(n,k), 0<=k<=n, giving coefficients when output
sequence O_0, O_1, O_2, ... from transformation described in A059216
is expressed in terms of input sequence I_0, I_1, I_2, ...
Triangle read by rows giving numbers of paths in a lattice satisfying
certain conditions.
Array of coefficients of x in the expansions of
T(k,x)=(1+kx-(k-2)x^2)/(1-x)^4, k>-4.
Array read by antidiagonals, generated by the matrix M =
[1,1,1;1,N,1;1,1,1];.
Define predecessors of n, P(n), to consist of numbers whose binary
representation is obtained from that of n by replacing 10 by 01 or
changing a final 1 to a 0; then a(0)=1, a(n) = Sum f(P(n)), n>0.
The pattern is obvious.
s(1)t(n) + s(2)t(n-1) + ... + s(k)t(n-k+1), where k = [ n/2 ], s = (odd
natural numbers)
Squares arising in p=x^2+n, where p is the smallest prime of this form.
Smallest q squares > 0 so that q+n is a prime.
n^2 mod 18.
n^2 mod 19.
Finally, I saw something I was thinking of when I wrote the sequence, although I had not thought of the modular part.
Anyway, even though I got an unexpected answer, the site still looks pretty neat.
By the way, this is an example of what's wrong with someone being asked to "find the next number." If you don't know the rule, then there's nothing to say that whatever rule you want to use is not the correct rule. That is, without a criteria to select the rule, any rule can do. I believe this is the "Ugly Duck Theorem," but more on that later.
1, 4, 9, 16
and you want to know what the next number might be. Or, you want to know of a relationship between these numbers. Go to this site, type in the sequence and it'll return:
Well, I thought it would quickly tell me that this is a sequence of squares:
1*1=1
2*2=4
3*3=9
4*4=16
But, that didn't come right back. Instead I got the following:
Triangle giving a(n,r) = number of equivalence classes of Boolean
functions of n variables and range r=0..2^n under action of symmetric
group.
Triangular array T read by rows: T(n,k)=k^2 mod n, for
k=1,2,...,[n/2], n=2,3,...
Triangle T(n,k), 0<=k<=n, giving coefficients when output
sequence O_0, O_1, O_2, ... from transformation described in A059216
is expressed in terms of input sequence I_0, I_1, I_2, ...
Triangle read by rows giving numbers of paths in a lattice satisfying
certain conditions.
Array of coefficients of x in the expansions of
T(k,x)=(1+kx-(k-2)x^2)/(1-x)^4, k>-4.
Array read by antidiagonals, generated by the matrix M =
[1,1,1;1,N,1;1,1,1];.
Define predecessors of n, P(n), to consist of numbers whose binary
representation is obtained from that of n by replacing 10 by 01 or
changing a final 1 to a 0; then a(0)=1, a(n) = Sum f(P(n)), n>0.
The pattern is obvious.
s(1)t(n) + s(2)t(n-1) + ... + s(k)t(n-k+1), where k = [ n/2 ], s = (odd
natural numbers)
Squares arising in p=x^2+n, where p is the smallest prime of this form.
Smallest q squares > 0 so that q+n is a prime.
n^2 mod 18.
n^2 mod 19.
Finally, I saw something I was thinking of when I wrote the sequence, although I had not thought of the modular part.
Anyway, even though I got an unexpected answer, the site still looks pretty neat.
By the way, this is an example of what's wrong with someone being asked to "find the next number." If you don't know the rule, then there's nothing to say that whatever rule you want to use is not the correct rule. That is, without a criteria to select the rule, any rule can do. I believe this is the "Ugly Duck Theorem," but more on that later.
Secure Wireless Technology
Sandia National Labs has recently developed secure wireless technology. According to the article this is a new idea. I am not so sure as to what's new. We now have wireless technology and we have encryption technology for wireless communications.
I think the new area here is that this wireless is ultra-wideband so that it difficult to detect and particularly difficult to jam. Current wireless technology is easy to detect, easier to jam. So, that is something new.
I think the new area here is that this wireless is ultra-wideband so that it difficult to detect and particularly difficult to jam. Current wireless technology is easy to detect, easier to jam. So, that is something new.
This will hurt you more than it'll hurt me
A new study shows that women feel pain more often than men and over more of their body than men.
I always thought this was true but who could say such a thing without being a chauvinist? Now, we "know" it to be true.
I always thought this was true but who could say such a thing without being a chauvinist? Now, we "know" it to be true.
Go Ahead: Exercise!
It's the summer time and exercise is a great way to spend your time. I had thought that jogging would be bad for one's knees, but this article in ScienceDaily notes that jogging isn't too bad on your knees. We all know that exercise is good for you in many ways: better fitness for less illness (exercise helps your immune system), lowers the incidences of depression, release of endorphins that make you feel good, and just generally boosts your spirits.
So, get out and have fun.
So, get out and have fun.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
How Euler did it: Roots of a polynomial
On the Mathematical Association of America there's a column entitled: "How Euler Did It." The link downloads a PDF file, by the way.
This month, Ed Sandifer writes on a method Euler developed to find a root of a polynomial. The method begins by computing the power series expansion of the reciprocal of the polynomial. Then, we do a partial fraction expansion of this quotient. From the expansion we can set up a recursion. As we iterate the recursion we can find the largest root.
The paper is worth reading.
This month, Ed Sandifer writes on a method Euler developed to find a root of a polynomial. The method begins by computing the power series expansion of the reciprocal of the polynomial. Then, we do a partial fraction expansion of this quotient. From the expansion we can set up a recursion. As we iterate the recursion we can find the largest root.
The paper is worth reading.
Eye Sparkle: Attracts female butterflies
Research at the University of Buffalo shows that female butterflies are attracted to the sparkle of the eyespots on male butterflies. It's not how big the spots are, it's how they sparkle.
Heart Disease: Get's worse as you get older
This story from Sciencedaily.com makes little sense to me. A recent study notes that people are at a higher risk of heart disease as they age. I always thought that was the case even before the study. Here's a quote:
"The results of the present investigation confirm that acute HF (Heart Failure) represents a considerable burden to the health of the community, particularly in older individuals. Given the aging of the U.S. population, and declining national death rates due to cardiovascular disease placing these individuals at increased risk for HF during their latter years of life, increasing trends in the magnitude and morbidity of HF are likely to continue for the foreseeable future."
Isn't this well-know already? What's the point to this study? If you know let me know. Thanks.
"The results of the present investigation confirm that acute HF (Heart Failure) represents a considerable burden to the health of the community, particularly in older individuals. Given the aging of the U.S. population, and declining national death rates due to cardiovascular disease placing these individuals at increased risk for HF during their latter years of life, increasing trends in the magnitude and morbidity of HF are likely to continue for the foreseeable future."
Isn't this well-know already? What's the point to this study? If you know let me know. Thanks.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Numbers in the Wall Street Journal Website
I just signed up for a subscription to the Wall Street Journal on-line edition. I had only visited the site before and saw the headlines, but never could enter the site. Now, I have access and I've found a most delightful column.
The column is:
THE NUMBERS GUY
By CARL BIALIK
and Mr. Bialik goes through various news articles and sites to show how numbers can be misused. If you have access to this site, it's worth a look. If not, I'll quote part of his column below. Look for more quotes as I see them.
--------------- Quote below ------------------
Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller, arrested last month in San Jose, Calif., for alleged sexual abuse of two boys, became the subject of a wider investigation after police found seven log books containing a reported 36,000 entries of sex acts with boys.
It's extremely unlikely that anyone could commit 36,000 acts of sexual abuse -- as Numbers Guy reader Don Fenstermacher pointed out, that would amount to an average of about 2.8 per day since Feb. 12, 1970, when Mr. Schwartzmiller was convicted in Alaska on three counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with three boys. The Daily Herald of Everett, Wash., noted it would take more than two molestations a day over 47 years. Police realized that many of the journal entries could be duplicates, and some may not be describing actual sex acts. "If you assume 10% of them are actual cases, that's 3,600 acts," Lieutenant Scott Cornfield of the San Jose police sexual assault investigations unit told the New York Times last week. "Even if you assume one percent, that's 360 victims." The Times headlined its report, "Child Molester Is Suspected in Hundreds of Cases."
But not all publications were as cautious with the numbers, especially in crafting catchy headlines. Dozens of Web sites headlined an Associated Press report, "Molester Suspected in 36,000 Abuse Cases."
The column is:
THE NUMBERS GUY
By CARL BIALIK
and Mr. Bialik goes through various news articles and sites to show how numbers can be misused. If you have access to this site, it's worth a look. If not, I'll quote part of his column below. Look for more quotes as I see them.
--------------- Quote below ------------------
Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller, arrested last month in San Jose, Calif., for alleged sexual abuse of two boys, became the subject of a wider investigation after police found seven log books containing a reported 36,000 entries of sex acts with boys.
It's extremely unlikely that anyone could commit 36,000 acts of sexual abuse -- as Numbers Guy reader Don Fenstermacher pointed out, that would amount to an average of about 2.8 per day since Feb. 12, 1970, when Mr. Schwartzmiller was convicted in Alaska on three counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with three boys. The Daily Herald of Everett, Wash., noted it would take more than two molestations a day over 47 years. Police realized that many of the journal entries could be duplicates, and some may not be describing actual sex acts. "If you assume 10% of them are actual cases, that's 3,600 acts," Lieutenant Scott Cornfield of the San Jose police sexual assault investigations unit told the New York Times last week. "Even if you assume one percent, that's 360 victims." The Times headlined its report, "Child Molester Is Suspected in Hundreds of Cases."
But not all publications were as cautious with the numbers, especially in crafting catchy headlines. Dozens of Web sites headlined an Associated Press report, "Molester Suspected in 36,000 Abuse Cases."
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Darwin: You ought to be in pictures. Not.
Seems the radical right is pressuring theaters not to show movies that talk about evolution and Darwin. Evolution is out, intelligent design is in.
Can anyone tell me what intelligent design is? What's the difference between postulating an intelligent designer and postulating God as the creator?
What's more, why is it that religious zealots are so upset over Darwin? He had a theory that sought to explain the origin and development of life. I haven't seen any others that can compete with his so what's the fuss?
Can anyone tell me what intelligent design is? What's the difference between postulating an intelligent designer and postulating God as the creator?
What's more, why is it that religious zealots are so upset over Darwin? He had a theory that sought to explain the origin and development of life. I haven't seen any others that can compete with his so what's the fuss?
Friday, May 27, 2005
Twin Primes: Case closed?
It seems the conjecture that there are an infinite number of twin primes (twin primes are two prime numbers separated by 2, like 3 and 5) has been proved. While the proof is not published yet, the reviewers feel that the authors got it right this time. They had thought they had it right a few years ago, but made a mistake. Now, it seems, the conjecture is proved.
This is quite fascinating if for no other reason that there you can make arbitrarily long sequences of numbers where none are prime. Yet, there are infinitely many prime pairs. Pretty cool, eh?
This is quite fascinating if for no other reason that there you can make arbitrarily long sequences of numbers where none are prime. Yet, there are infinitely many prime pairs. Pretty cool, eh?
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Los Alamos: Under new management
The contract to run Los Alamos is up for renewal. In the past the University of California ran the lab. Now, contractors are bidding to do the job.
This is a shame, really. Los Alamos, and the other national labs, should be a great source of pride and science for the United States. That any of them could become just another factory saps the life out of what are unique places for research.
I hope the labs maintain their high quality of research and people. They are one of the few places left in America for pure research. If they start to slide toward too much applied research, or (heavens!) factory-like work, it'll mark a definitive end of science in America. Let's hope that does not happen.
This is a shame, really. Los Alamos, and the other national labs, should be a great source of pride and science for the United States. That any of them could become just another factory saps the life out of what are unique places for research.
I hope the labs maintain their high quality of research and people. They are one of the few places left in America for pure research. If they start to slide toward too much applied research, or (heavens!) factory-like work, it'll mark a definitive end of science in America. Let's hope that does not happen.
Women and Orgasms: What's the point?
The New York Times reports on a recent study that claims women have no evolutionary purpose for orgasms. That's right. For men, orgasms are find and dandy. They serve a purpose: it's nature's way to prompt men to have sex and thereby reproduce. In women, though, orgasms are not necessary to reproduction.
Women can have sex and whether they experience an orgasm or not, still become pregnant. Of course, one might think that orgasms for women are important. If men have orgasms to prompt them to have sex, why wouldn't women have orgasms to prompt them to have sex?
Women can have sex and whether they experience an orgasm or not, still become pregnant. Of course, one might think that orgasms for women are important. If men have orgasms to prompt them to have sex, why wouldn't women have orgasms to prompt them to have sex?
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Stamps for Scientists
The United States Post Office now has stamps honoring four outstanding scientists: John von Neumann, Barbara McClintock, Josiah Willard Gibbs, and Richard Feynman.
It's a delight to see such a tribute to the people who have, from their work and imaginations, enriched the lives of all of us.
Read about von Neumann here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann
Read about McClintock here: http://www.nas.edu/history/members/mcclintock.html
Read about Gibbs here: http://www.aip.org/history/gap/Gibbs/Gibbs.html
Read about Feynman here: http://www.amasci.com/feynman.html and http://www.feynmanonline.com/
Let's end this posting with a quote from Feynman that I saw for the first time at the site I cited on him:
"Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it." - R. Feynman
It's a delight to see such a tribute to the people who have, from their work and imaginations, enriched the lives of all of us.
Read about von Neumann here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann
Read about McClintock here: http://www.nas.edu/history/members/mcclintock.html
Read about Gibbs here: http://www.aip.org/history/gap/Gibbs/Gibbs.html
Read about Feynman here: http://www.amasci.com/feynman.html and http://www.feynmanonline.com/
Let's end this posting with a quote from Feynman that I saw for the first time at the site I cited on him:
"Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it." - R. Feynman
Time traveler convention: MIT goes nuts
Here's what has to be the most nutty item I've seen in a long time. What makes it so nutty is not nuts are NOT putting it on. Rather, students at MIT have put on a convention (of sorts) to attract time travelers. The convention has already happened and was a flop. No time travelers bothered to show up. What a surprise.
I think the students have caught the media bug and will do (almost) anything to get noticed. I guess it's not too bad, the idea is kooky but what the hey? I'm sure they had a good time.
I think the students have caught the media bug and will do (almost) anything to get noticed. I guess it's not too bad, the idea is kooky but what the hey? I'm sure they had a good time.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Sammy Sosa: Corking doesn't matter
Ivars Peterson's article on corking a bat. Turns out, it wouldn't matter if the bat was corked, at least statistically.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Electronic News: What's wrong with engineering education?
The interviews in this article sum up what's wrong with engineering education today.
I have to add a few points though. While the article tells how professors are not paid properly and that engineering education is expensive, it doesn't tell "the rest of the story." We, the United States, do not have enough engineers because we discourage students from engineering and the sciences in general. The article makes that point, only not strong enough. If we as a society valued engineers, respected them in the work place, stopped poking fun at them (how often to hear "geek" as a put down, or pocket protector as a joke) students would more likely go into engineering.
Plus, society and industry values finance, accounting, law, much more than it values engineering. Witness the salary of an investment banker versus a research scientist. Moreover, managers are paid at a much higher rate than researchers and practioners as well. It's a sorry state.
On the plus side, it's heartening to see the article. Identifying the problem is the first step to a solution. And a solution is sorely needed.
I have to add a few points though. While the article tells how professors are not paid properly and that engineering education is expensive, it doesn't tell "the rest of the story." We, the United States, do not have enough engineers because we discourage students from engineering and the sciences in general. The article makes that point, only not strong enough. If we as a society valued engineers, respected them in the work place, stopped poking fun at them (how often to hear "geek" as a put down, or pocket protector as a joke) students would more likely go into engineering.
Plus, society and industry values finance, accounting, law, much more than it values engineering. Witness the salary of an investment banker versus a research scientist. Moreover, managers are paid at a much higher rate than researchers and practioners as well. It's a sorry state.
On the plus side, it's heartening to see the article. Identifying the problem is the first step to a solution. And a solution is sorely needed.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Fibonacci Numbers: a different look
Ivars Peterson writes a little about Fibonacci numbers and some of the other, less well-known, patterns.
Chris Moriarty: Sci Fi with pics
Chris Moriarty is a science fiction author who has a terrific website. It's not so much a science site, in fact, there's no science there. But I was struck by the way she put it together so I'm citing it here.
Note the photos she shows on each page, they're excellent even though that's only one person's opinion. If you click through I think you'll enjoy the photos.
Note the photos she shows on each page, they're excellent even though that's only one person's opinion. If you click through I think you'll enjoy the photos.
Chris Moriarty: Science Fiction with Photos
Chris Moriarty is a science fiction author who has a terrific website. It's not so much a science site, in fact, there's no science there. But I was struck by the way she put it together so I'm citing it here.
Note the photos she shows on each page, they're excellent even though that's only one person's opinion. If you click through I think you'll enjoy the photos.
Note the photos she shows on each page, they're excellent even though that's only one person's opinion. If you click through I think you'll enjoy the photos.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Science and Art: A contest
The National Science Foundation and the Association for the Advancement of Science (who publishes the magazine Science) are holding a competition for the best displays of art and science.
Here's a quote from the site:
"To recognize and encourage visualization in the communication of science, and to showcase the exceptional talents of those who work in this area, the National Science Foundation and the journal Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), are cosponsoring the third annual Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge.
An international contest designed to recognize outstanding achievements by scientists, engineers, visualization specialists, and artists in the use of visual media to promote understanding of research results and scientific phenomena."
So, those of you who are science-oriented and artistic, go for it! You've got nothing to lose. Good luck.
Here's a quote from the site:
"To recognize and encourage visualization in the communication of science, and to showcase the exceptional talents of those who work in this area, the National Science Foundation and the journal Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), are cosponsoring the third annual Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge.
An international contest designed to recognize outstanding achievements by scientists, engineers, visualization specialists, and artists in the use of visual media to promote understanding of research results and scientific phenomena."
So, those of you who are science-oriented and artistic, go for it! You've got nothing to lose. Good luck.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Women: Different than men, different than each other!
This article, entitled "X Chromosome May Show Gender Differences" discusses how the X-chromosome on women plays a vital role in women and that while scientists thought only one X-chromosome functioned for women, genes from the "off" chromosome may function as well.
If you thought you knew women, well...give me a call! :-)
If you thought you knew women, well...give me a call! :-)
Ned Wright's Cosmology Tutorial
Time tonight is slim but here's a link to a site for correcting misconceptions on cosmology. It's referenced in the Scientific American article I've been posting on tonight. I haven't had time to go through the site, but it looks pretty cool.
It's a bit confusing at first glance, but maybe some time spent will be worth it. I'll plan on reading the article I cited below first, but then Ned Wright's site will be right behind it.
It's a bit confusing at first glance, but maybe some time spent will be worth it. I'll plan on reading the article I cited below first, but then Ned Wright's site will be right behind it.
Expanding Confusion: Common Misconceptions of Cosmological Horizons and the Superluminal Expansion of the Universe
This paper was in the reference section of the Scientific American article I just mentioned. I haven't read it yet because I want to print it to read it. Even with just a scan I can see that it'll be worth reading and taking time to understand what's there.
Down load a copy for yourself, make some coffee, get out the white board, and have at it.
Enjoy!
Down load a copy for yourself, make some coffee, get out the white board, and have at it.
Enjoy!
What you know may be wrong
This month's Scientifi American magazine (http://www.sciam.com) has a wonderful article on misconceptions about cosmology. The authors do a wonderful job of telling why the theory of the expanding universe is often misrepresented and what the true theory really says. For example, they address the idea of the Hubble distance and why some things can travel faster than the speed of light.
Frankly, I didn't understand all of it, but I was most intrigued to learn that what I thought I understood about the Big Bang was dead wrong. The big bang was not some point in space where all matter condensed (if that's the correct word), and then exploded so that matter was propelled out in space. Rather the big bang was the contraction of all of space itself, and then space itself expanded.
Read the article, it's worth your time.
Frankly, I didn't understand all of it, but I was most intrigued to learn that what I thought I understood about the Big Bang was dead wrong. The big bang was not some point in space where all matter condensed (if that's the correct word), and then exploded so that matter was propelled out in space. Rather the big bang was the contraction of all of space itself, and then space itself expanded.
Read the article, it's worth your time.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Chaos Movie
I was out of town and unable to post for the past few days. Now, I'm back with what I hope is a neat link. It's a movie of various chaotic systems. The movie is over 140MB so download time is not quick. I'm trying to download it now.
If you can view it, let me know what you think. Thanks.
If you can view it, let me know what you think. Thanks.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
North pole: Why is there ice there?
Researchers conclude the North Pole has so much ice because of a temperature difference years ago that forced more water to evaporate in the summer (hotter summer) and then more snow in the winter (colder) to produce the ice we have today.
This is one of those theories that scientists must love to work on. I mean you can sit all day, think thoughts like this, develop a theory, and then spout it. But who cares? More to the point, how can anyone test this theory? Should we warm the planet, then cool it to see if the ice first melts away, and then reappears after the cooling?
This is one of those theories that scientists must love to work on. I mean you can sit all day, think thoughts like this, develop a theory, and then spout it. But who cares? More to the point, how can anyone test this theory? Should we warm the planet, then cool it to see if the ice first melts away, and then reappears after the cooling?
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Subscribe to Mini-AIR
I've posted two excerpts from the current newsletter. Here's one more to tell you how to subscribe.
-----------------------------------------------------
2005-03-18 How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)
What you are reading right now is mini-AIR. Mini-AIR is a (free!)
tiny monthly *supplement* to the bi-monthly print magazine.
To subscribe, send a brief E-mail message to:
LISTPROC@AIR.HARVARD.EDU
The body of your message should contain ONLY the words
SUBSCRIBE MINI-AIR MARIE CURIE
(You may substitute your own name for that of Madame Curie.)
----------------------------
To stop subscribing, send the following message: SIGNOFF MINI-AIR
-----------------------------------------------------
2005-03-18 How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)
What you are reading right now is mini-AIR. Mini-AIR is a (free!)
tiny monthly *supplement* to the bi-monthly print magazine.
To subscribe, send a brief E-mail message to:
LISTPROC@AIR.HARVARD.EDU
The body of your message should contain ONLY the words
SUBSCRIBE MINI-AIR MARIE CURIE
(You may substitute your own name for that of Madame Curie.)
----------------------------
To stop subscribing, send the following message: SIGNOFF MINI-AIR
More from Mini-AIR
2005-03-11 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Driving Whilst Plastered
Each month we select for your special attention a research report
that seems especially worth a close read. This month's pick:
"Driving Whilst Plastered: Is It Safe, Is It Legal? A Survey of
Advice to Patients Given by Orthopaedic Surgeons, Insurance
Companies and the Police," O.A. Von Arx, et al., Injury, vol. 35,
no. 9, September 2004, pp. 883-7. (Thanks to Leslie Lawrence for
bringing this to our attention.) The authors, who are at Great
Western Hospital, Marlborough Road, Swindon, UK, explain that:
Many patients, immobilised in a plaster cast after
a fracture of the upper or lower limb, wish to drive.
They frequently ask permission to do so from the treating
surgeon. ... [We canvassed] 126 consultant orthopaedic
surgeons, 27 insurance companies and the 6 regional
police constabularies ... asking how they would advise
these patients regarding safety to drive.
Each month we select for your special attention a research report
that seems especially worth a close read. This month's pick:
"Driving Whilst Plastered: Is It Safe, Is It Legal? A Survey of
Advice to Patients Given by Orthopaedic Surgeons, Insurance
Companies and the Police," O.A. Von Arx, et al., Injury, vol. 35,
no. 9, September 2004, pp. 883-7. (Thanks to Leslie Lawrence for
bringing this to our attention.) The authors, who are at Great
Western Hospital, Marlborough Road, Swindon, UK, explain that:
Many patients, immobilised in a plaster cast after
a fracture of the upper or lower limb, wish to drive.
They frequently ask permission to do so from the treating
surgeon. ... [We canvassed] 126 consultant orthopaedic
surgeons, 27 insurance companies and the 6 regional
police constabularies ... asking how they would advise
these patients regarding safety to drive.
New U.S. Science Policy
The following is a parody of our current policy on science in the United States. However, those of us who work with policy makers (I do so in the military community) and with analysts and researchers know that this isn't really a joke. One of my collegues told me, "Science is dead." He does research with the Navy, by the way, and there's little funding going on there, too. There is, overall, little funding for science today and even less of an appreciation for whatever science is done.
Ask yourself: How many people do you know who care about science, math, or engineering? Not only that, but how many can even understand anything about science? I believe that we, as a nation, have become so ignorant of what science is, how it's done, what it can and cannot do, that we have no comprehension of this most important endeavor. Furthermore, I think the Dilbert Principle is at work.
The Dilbert Principle, from the book of the same title by cartoonist Scott Adams, states that anything you don't understand is easy to do. Thus, if don't know how a satellite stays in orbit, it's an easy concept nonetheless. Applying the principle gives rise to the idea that science need not be explored because it's easy anyway. Sure, you may not understand it, but so what? It's easy so why study or fund it.
What's more, and here I'll rant just a little more so please bear with me, there is also the arrogance principle at work. This idea (of my own nomenclature but I'm sure others are equally familiar with it) says that whatever I know is all there is to know. It is a corrolary to the Dilbert Principle. It's the idea that allows people with only a little knowledge, and sometimes not even that much, to make statements with such authority and boldness that it challenges listeners to question them. Oftentimes, the speaker isn't challenged and the listeners, who don't know better, accept the statement as true when there is little to actually substantiate it. The Dilbert Principle says that what I don't know is easy to know, the arrogance corollary says that if I know a little, I know it all. Both are a sign of our times, sorry to say.
Here's the excerpt:
2005-03-04 Don't Look, Don't Tell
Many scientists are confused.
We have a remedy for them.
At a recent science meeting in Washington, DC, we encountered many
scientists, from the United States and elsewhere, who said they were
confused and troubled. "What," most everyone was asking, "has happened
to the US government's policy about science?"
The question has a happy answer. The US now, at long last, has a
coherent, simple science policy. You can state it in four words:
The following is from Mini-AIR, the newsletter of the Journal of Irreproducible Results.
Don't Look, Don't Tell
This is a practical policy, because scientists are a pain in the neck.
They often insist on digging for "the real story" of how something
works. Told about a plan to build or do something, they try to "figure
out" -- in advance -- how well that plan is going to work.
Political leaders -- the modern, superior ones -- have learned to trust
their gut feelings. That's what brought them their success. They know
that, in the long run, problems always manage to work themselves out one
way or another. Scientists, who often nervously distrust their own gut
instinct, can learn from the logic of their superiors.
The new policy -- Don't Look, Don't Tell -- is a lesson for all of us.
Please spread the word.
Ask yourself: How many people do you know who care about science, math, or engineering? Not only that, but how many can even understand anything about science? I believe that we, as a nation, have become so ignorant of what science is, how it's done, what it can and cannot do, that we have no comprehension of this most important endeavor. Furthermore, I think the Dilbert Principle is at work.
The Dilbert Principle, from the book of the same title by cartoonist Scott Adams, states that anything you don't understand is easy to do. Thus, if don't know how a satellite stays in orbit, it's an easy concept nonetheless. Applying the principle gives rise to the idea that science need not be explored because it's easy anyway. Sure, you may not understand it, but so what? It's easy so why study or fund it.
What's more, and here I'll rant just a little more so please bear with me, there is also the arrogance principle at work. This idea (of my own nomenclature but I'm sure others are equally familiar with it) says that whatever I know is all there is to know. It is a corrolary to the Dilbert Principle. It's the idea that allows people with only a little knowledge, and sometimes not even that much, to make statements with such authority and boldness that it challenges listeners to question them. Oftentimes, the speaker isn't challenged and the listeners, who don't know better, accept the statement as true when there is little to actually substantiate it. The Dilbert Principle says that what I don't know is easy to know, the arrogance corollary says that if I know a little, I know it all. Both are a sign of our times, sorry to say.
Here's the excerpt:
2005-03-04 Don't Look, Don't Tell
Many scientists are confused.
We have a remedy for them.
At a recent science meeting in Washington, DC, we encountered many
scientists, from the United States and elsewhere, who said they were
confused and troubled. "What," most everyone was asking, "has happened
to the US government's policy about science?"
The question has a happy answer. The US now, at long last, has a
coherent, simple science policy. You can state it in four words:
The following is from Mini-AIR, the newsletter of the Journal of Irreproducible Results.
Don't Look, Don't Tell
This is a practical policy, because scientists are a pain in the neck.
They often insist on digging for "the real story" of how something
works. Told about a plan to build or do something, they try to "figure
out" -- in advance -- how well that plan is going to work.
Political leaders -- the modern, superior ones -- have learned to trust
their gut feelings. That's what brought them their success. They know
that, in the long run, problems always manage to work themselves out one
way or another. Scientists, who often nervously distrust their own gut
instinct, can learn from the logic of their superiors.
The new policy -- Don't Look, Don't Tell -- is a lesson for all of us.
Please spread the word.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Aliens and Global Warming
Here's a speech Michel Crichton gave about the state of science and public policy today. I am printing it now and plan to read it over the weekend. It looks really good.
By the way, if anyone is watching the deplorable level of science that our policy makers understand, which is pretty damn close to zero, it's no wonder we have such poor public policy. More on that later.
By the way, if anyone is watching the deplorable level of science that our policy makers understand, which is pretty damn close to zero, it's no wonder we have such poor public policy. More on that later.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Essays on Mathematics: Read any or all
Part of the Mathematics Awareness Month website: Essays on math. Read any; they are all worth your time.
Math Awareness Month
April is Math Awareness Month. It's a great time to be alive!
Cool image, isn't it. Check the site to see what it is.
Cool image, isn't it. Check the site to see what it is.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Number Theory: It's not cheap
While scanning the Mathematical Association of America site (www.maa.org) I read the review on a new book (5th edition, really) on number theory. I've always been fascinated by this topic and went to buy the book. Based only on the review I was ready to purchase. Then, the price: $115.00 Whoa! That's a bit pricey, indeed. Guess I'll wait to see how the used editions go. Oh well.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Clusters of atoms are new "atoms"
New research shows that clusters of aluminum atoms have properties that would be associated with single atoms. This opens a new area of research.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
What, you need math for that?
I was reading the book: Kepler's Conjecture: How Some of the Greatest Minds in History Helped Solve One of the Oldest Math Problems in the World by George Szpiro this weekend. A friend of mine looked at it, and asked me what it is about. I told him it's how the mathematics community sought to prove that the best way to stack oranges is how your grocer does it. He's retort:
You need math for that?
Seriously, I'm just about finished with the book and it's a *pretty* good read but not extraordinary. Szpiro does a good job of telling the problem, discussing the personalities of the people who've worked to solve the problem and a bit on their approaches. He doesn't weave in the mathematics with the story though and that's a shame. The math is the most interesting part. He does have appendices of the math but I haven't read them yet. As an example of a defficiency in the book, his explanations never (I mean never) refer to the figures he's placed in the text. So while he has figures to help, the reader is left to see where and how a particular figure is related to the explanations. I plan to write more later, but that's a quick review for now.
You need math for that?
Seriously, I'm just about finished with the book and it's a *pretty* good read but not extraordinary. Szpiro does a good job of telling the problem, discussing the personalities of the people who've worked to solve the problem and a bit on their approaches. He doesn't weave in the mathematics with the story though and that's a shame. The math is the most interesting part. He does have appendices of the math but I haven't read them yet. As an example of a defficiency in the book, his explanations never (I mean never) refer to the figures he's placed in the text. So while he has figures to help, the reader is left to see where and how a particular figure is related to the explanations. I plan to write more later, but that's a quick review for now.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Microsoft: No security updates for YOU!
Seems Microsoft now says it won't allow people with pirated copies of its operating system to have security updates. On the one hand, they have a point. You should buy a copy to get support. I can understand that, to a degree.
But security is a special matter given the many attacks and denial of service attacks we see. Microsoft has a duty, an obligation, to keep computers safe and the Internet, in particular, as free from malicious software as it can. This idea of limited patches will only keep malicious code out there wreaking havoc. Given how little attention Microsoft has paid to security in general they should be giving away updates to ANYONE who wants them. What do you think?
But security is a special matter given the many attacks and denial of service attacks we see. Microsoft has a duty, an obligation, to keep computers safe and the Internet, in particular, as free from malicious software as it can. This idea of limited patches will only keep malicious code out there wreaking havoc. Given how little attention Microsoft has paid to security in general they should be giving away updates to ANYONE who wants them. What do you think?
Back from Hawaii
Sorry for the gap in postings. I was in Hawaii for a few days and didn't take my laptop with me. Airport security is such a pain now that it's just easier not to carry the computer. Of course, I can't post anything but that's the price of travel.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Billiards: Patterns of beauty
I'm busy researching for a book and I found the following article. I was, at first surprised to see it, but then seeing the Ivars Peterson wrote it, I shouldn't have been surprised. He's so prolific, it's just amazing.
The article show some beautiful patterns made by billiards, a theoretical ball bouncing around (as on a pool table) only here the ball never loses energy and the table can have different shapes.
The article show some beautiful patterns made by billiards, a theoretical ball bouncing around (as on a pool table) only here the ball never loses energy and the table can have different shapes.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Non-science videos: Funny
Here's a site with videos I really enjoyed watching. They are all very funny and worth a few minutes for entertainment.
hat tip: Ilachina
hat tip: Ilachina
Monday, January 10, 2005
Even more books on the web
It's late, but I wanted to put one more link up for books on the web.
I hope you enjoy them as I do. Of course, you really need to like to read them on your computer because printing them is time consuming and expensive. Plus, once you print a book, what do you do about binding it? In any case, the books are great to have if only for reference. Enjoy.
I hope you enjoy them as I do. Of course, you really need to like to read them on your computer because printing them is time consuming and expensive. Plus, once you print a book, what do you do about binding it? In any case, the books are great to have if only for reference. Enjoy.
American Mathematical Society: Books on the Web
As promised a second ago, here's the link for more books on the web.
Probability book: Download
Here's the link for a 500+ page book on probability. It's freely available and aftger a brief review, looks fabulous.
I wish all books could be made available like this, or at least some parts of them. Speaking of books on the web, I'll put another link up now that I think about it.
I wish all books could be made available like this, or at least some parts of them. Speaking of books on the web, I'll put another link up now that I think about it.
Surprise: Probability interests
Here are applets to show you have probabilities can cause surprising results. I found this via Ivars Peterson's article (cited below) and, as always, his writing is a joy. Plus, his links are inevitably worth the click.
Intro to probability
I'm posting this because it's on the page I really want to post next. The next post is about applets to simulate different probability scenarios you may see.
Read this first (the link, that is) and then go to the applets I'm posting next.
Read this first (the link, that is) and then go to the applets I'm posting next.
Do you follow the crowd?
Another easy and fun article by Ivars Peterson in Math Trek that discusses picking resturants. He tells how three resturants may have a disp ropotionate number of people not because of quality but simply because once one resturant starts to gather customers, future customers go to it as well. It's follow the crowd!
A few years ago, a friend of mine told me that one of the features in building shopping malls is to get a store that'll attract people. Once some people are there, others will follow not for the stores, but to be with the crowd. Simple psychology applied to economics.
Read this article and see some mathematics to explain the crowd.
A few years ago, a friend of mine told me that one of the features in building shopping malls is to get a store that'll attract people. Once some people are there, others will follow not for the stores, but to be with the crowd. Simple psychology applied to economics.
Read this article and see some mathematics to explain the crowd.
Do you follow the crowd?
Another easy and fun article by Ivars Peterson in Math Trek that discusses picking resturants. He tells how three resturants may have a dispropotionate number of people not because of quality but simply because once one resturant starts to gather customers, future customers go to it as well. It's follow the crowd!
A few years ago, a friend of mine told me that one of the features in building shopping malls is to get a store that'll attract people. Once some people are there, others will follow not for the stores, but to be with the crowd. Simple psychology applied to economics.
Read this article and see some mathematics to explain the crowd.
A few years ago, a friend of mine told me that one of the features in building shopping malls is to get a store that'll attract people. Once some people are there, others will follow not for the stores, but to be with the crowd. Simple psychology applied to economics.
Read this article and see some mathematics to explain the crowd.
What do you believe?
Here's an article that asks scientists and philosophers what they believe. It's worth reading when you have some time.
Hattip: "Ilachina," thanks very much.
Hattip: "Ilachina," thanks very much.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
The Journal of Sexual Medicine
More on sex.
Here's the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Despite the suggestive title, I thought it was along the lines of "sexual surrogates" where a woman has sex with a man to help him overcome any problems. Kind of like a hooker-therapist which may not really be a bad idea.
Have a peek.
Here's the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Despite the suggestive title, I thought it was along the lines of "sexual surrogates" where a woman has sex with a man to help him overcome any problems. Kind of like a hooker-therapist which may not really be a bad idea.
Have a peek.
Sex Societ
There's an International Society for Sexual and Impotence Research. I just found this link and haven't had time to review. At first I thought this rather strange, but after a little thinking, it seems like something society actually needs. I mean, if the society is actually medically related to helping people.
Of course, I have a feeling that there's an Ig Nobel award in there someplace.
Of course, I have a feeling that there's an Ig Nobel award in there someplace.
Bytes of Power
Another great link from Sciencedaily.com Here we find that two scientist show (more below) that power lines can carry more digital data than DSL. If true, that's a great boon to everyone, especially people who live in rural areas where DSL or cable modems aren't available.
The tests, though, were models that the scientists ran. Now, models are fine as far as they go, but the real test is actually doing it and testing how much data can be transmitted. Any model is limited, but an operational, real, test will show what this technology can do. I'm looking forward to seeing that done!
The tests, though, were models that the scientists ran. Now, models are fine as far as they go, but the real test is actually doing it and testing how much data can be transmitted. Any model is limited, but an operational, real, test will show what this technology can do. I'm looking forward to seeing that done!
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
International Journal of Unconventional Computing
This is a new journal on topics that we would not have seen only ten years ago. Very exciting to see the scientific fields growing and especially one that is composed of such a new field.
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