The Science Thread

[Craton]

My good self along with my partner will be attending our local Star Party record making attempt tonight. We broke the record three years ago and plan to do it again!

I encourage all ASF members to take a break from watching charts and screens and get out there to help with the attempt. There are Star Parties happening all across Australia, it is fun and for those short, quiet 10 minutes when the attempt is in progress, you get to contemplate the universe, everything and all that is.

 

[SirRumpole]

Alien transmission received ?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-23/search-for-aliens-finds-mysterious-radio-signal/9788202

 

[Sdajii]

Alien transmission received ?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-23/search-for-aliens-finds-mysterious-radio-signal/9788202

It's bad enough when clickbait is out there, but it's annoying when other people repeat it. No, it's not aliens, they just had nothing interesting going on so wrote a story about the possibility of finding aliens.

 

[Craton]

Woohoo! New record has been set.

Was great to be out under the stars, rugged up against the cold, chilly night with my special someone... and all the other loonies.

 

[Tisme]

 

[cynic]

An interesting discourse by a neuroscientist about the brain's role in translating sensory data when forming perceptions of reality:

 

[Tisme]

An interesting discourse by a neuroscientist about the brain's role in translating sensory data when forming perceptions of reality:

And here was me thinking the imbeciles who fail to put together a cogent position against my arguments had small brains, when in fact all it takes is losing a pinky!

 

[cynic]

And here was me thinking the imbeciles who fail to put together a cogent position against my arguments had small brains, when in fact all it takes is losing a pinky!

A pinky sized chunk of cerebellum, containing more neural connections than stars in our galaxy!

So smaller brains could indeed explain the phenomena you are observing.

 

[cynic]

An interesting opinion piece on Occam's razor:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/08/occams-razor/495332/

 

[basilio]

I thought this live map of the wind patterns around the earth is cool.
Check out the storm in West Australia.
https://earth.nullschool.net/#curre...raphic=113.87,-20.55,1106/loc=114.246,-16.166

 

[SirRumpole]

I thought this live map of the wind patterns around the earth is cool.
Check out the storm in West Australia.
https://earth.nullschool.net/#curre...raphic=113.87,-20.55,1106/loc=114.246,-16.166

Yep, that's cool alright.

Nice find bas.

 

[basilio]

Science ? Perhaps more Engineering.

Came across this guy who produces scores of short effective explantions of engineering solutions/issues.
Worth a look.

 

[SirRumpole]

Science ? Perhaps more Engineering.

Came across this guy who produces scores of short effective explantions of engineering solutions/issues.
Worth a look.

Just to be picky, but the opening shots were of a Hawker Hurricane, not a Spitfire.

Otherwise, a good vid.

 

[Redbeard]

I didn't realise there was stars smaller than Jupiter.
It made me wonder why Jupiter has not turned into a star.

"The last thing you need is a sense of perspective" Hitchhikers GTTG

Jupiter didnt turn into a star because it isnt big enough to collapse and "ignite", a red dwarf would have started out a a cloud planet many many times bigger.

 

[SirRumpole]

Methane levels on Mars show seasonal variation.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/...-ancient-molecules-odd-methane-levels/9843918

 

[SirRumpole]

Water from dry air.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-06-09/water-harvesting-from-desert-air/9836908

 

[Tisme]

Here you go:

 

[SirRumpole]

Sydney professor to get award from Vlad.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-...-green-wins-$820k-global-energy-prize/9853372

 

[basilio]

Sydney professor to get award from Vlad.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-...-green-wins-$820k-global-energy-prize/9853372

Professor Green was an exceptional figure in developing and commercialising solar panels.
He deserves the recognition. I thought it was gracious (and good optics..) to make such an award to a world citizen.

 

[cynic]

Have you ever wondered what might be happening in the physical brain when decisions are made?

http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-05-01-how-decisions-form-brain-physical-basis-cognitive-process