Interesting Stuff Thread

Turtwig

Galvasean wrote: »

It's official. Palaeontology IS the most popular science.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091202-top-ten-discoveries-2009-year-science-news.html

A palaeontology story is National Geographic's most viewed of the year. Palaeontology stories also tok 5th and 7th place.

I guess we now know why the general public regard science as being boring.:pac:

Dades

Galvasean wrote: »

A palaeontology story is National Geographic's most viewed of the year. Palaeontology stories also tok 5th and 7th place.

Since when was a story about a non-extinct form of shark a palaeontology one?!

Ichthyology, no?!

Nice try.

Galvasean

Dades wrote: »

Since when was a story about a non-extinct form of shark a palaeontology one?!

Ichthyology, no?!

Nice try.

That's number ten. You gotta scroll down to get to number one (ads to the suspense that way).

marco_polo

Malty_T wrote: »

I guess we now know why the general public regard science as being boring.:pac:

Palaeontology boring? You take that back or else!! :pac:

Dades

Galvasean wrote: »

That's number ten. You gotta scroll down to get to number one (ads to the suspense that way).

Me, that is...

Turtwig

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

robindch

Here's an article which looks at general systems security and derives seven broad principles for protecting yourself from scammers. Nothing too remarkable in that, but reading the list, it's interesting to see that five of the seven are directly applicable to the behavior of rank-and-file religious believers or the techniques used by religious leaders to keep the former in line:

• The distraction principle -- while you are distracted by what retains your interest, hustlers can do anything to you and you won't notice.
• The social compliance principle -- society trains people not to question authority. Hustlers exploit this "suspension of suspiciousness" to make you do what they want.
• The herd principle -- even suspicious marks will let their guard down when everyone next to them appears to share the same risks. Safety in numbers? Not if they're all conspiring against you.
• The dishonesty principle -- anything illegal you do will be used against you by the fraudster, making it harder for you to seek help once you realize you've been had.
• The deception principle -- things and people are not what they seem. Hustlers know how to manipulate you to make you believe that they are.
• The need and greed principle -- your needs and desires make you vulnerable. Once hustlers know what you really want, they can easily manipulate you.
• The time principle -- when you are under time pressure to make an important choice, you use a different decision strategy. Hustlers steer you towards a strategy involving less reasoning.

The full article is available from here.

Flamed Diving

This thread title has certainly evolved... next thing we will have Creationists in here proclaiming that it was always called this and that there are no "transitional titles" on record.

robindch

Moderator note -

This (active) thread has been merged with the old (inactive) "Related links" thread to create a new, bright'n'sunny "Interesting Stuff Thread".

Posts here don't have to be specifically related to religion or non-religion, as long as they're interesting. Hence the new thread name

robindch

Flamed Diving wrote: »

This thread title has certainly evolved.

Are you saying it wasn't intelligently designed?

Flamed Diving

robindch wrote: »

Are you saying it wasn't intelligently designed?

Don't flatter yourself, Robin.

robindch

Flamed Diving wrote: »

Don't flatter yourself, Robin.;)

Well, if not ID, then I'm one of an infinite number of monkeys...

.

robindch

Here's a summary of a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which shows, at the neurological level, that religious people simply take their own pre-existing beliefs, and repackage them to make it appear (to themselves) that they originated with their deity instead:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18216-dear-god-please-confirm-what-i-already-believe.html

Dave!

This is a great and rather extensive interview with Michael Shermer (Skeptic magazine) about all sorts of paranormal and supernatural issues

It's in 12 parts, each 10 mins long... so rather extensive

I'm only on part 2 but they've covered out of body experiences, angels, god, evolution...

Give it a listen

Michael Shermer

Dave!

Gave me a chuckle

Turtwig

Malty_T wrote: »

The internetz is now abuzz with the rumour that physicists have discovered dark matter particles. Needless to say if it is true, it would be groundbreaking.

However, this could all be an elaborate hoax started by some sly blogger.
Dec 18th awaits.

Hat's off to the bloggers.
They were sorta right.

Newscientist wrote:

When the CDMS-II team looked at the analysis of their latest run – after accounting for all possible background particles and any faulty detectors in their stacks – they were in for a surprise. Their statistical models predicted that they would see 0.8 events during a run between 2007 and 2008, but instead they saw two.

The team is not claiming discovery of dark matter, because the result is not statistically significant. There is a 1-in-4 chance that it is merely due to fluctuations in the background noise. Had the experiment seen five events above the expected background, the claim for having detected dark matter would have been a lot stronger.

Nonetheless, the team cannot dismiss the possibility that the two events are because of dark matter. The two events have characteristics consistent with those expected from WIMPs (PDF).

The CDMS-II team is planning to refine the analysis of their data in the next few months. In addition, they have begun building new detectors in the mine, which will be three times as sensitive as the existing setup. These "SuperCDMS" detectors are expected be in place by middle of next year.

Turtwig

Interesting article on the politics at Copenhagen.
Scary too, if it's true.
Basically China intentionally bulldozed the conference into a rubbish deal as the West pleaded with them to do better.

Tyler MacDurden

Bigger version for your perusal.

Apparently one could escape Deimos' gravity with a bike and a ramp. Someday...

pts

Science has already ruined Santa, now they're disproving Angles, is nothing sacred??

Angels can't fly: Official

Genghiz Cohen

pts wrote: »

Science has already ruined Santa, now they're disproving Angles, is nothing sacred??

Angels can't fly: Official

In before someone gets all obtuse about this spelling error.

pts

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

In before someone gets all obtuse about this spelling error.

PDN

pts wrote: »

Science has already ruined Santa, now they're disproving Angles, is nothing sacred??

Angels can't fly: Official

Genghiz Cohen wrote:

In before someone gets all obtuse about this spelling error.

That was acute pun, Genghiz.

Of course if you think the Bible has redefined pi, then angles would probably be next on the geometrical hitlist.

Genghiz Cohen

PDN wrote: »

That was acute pun, Genghiz.

Of course if you think the Bible has redefined pi, then angles would probably be next on the geometrical hitlist.

Had a glance at the funny side of religion thread just there, backed out slooooowly

PDN

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

Had a glance at the funny side of religion thread just there, backed out slooooowly

The links between angels and geometry go further. When I was at school we memorised trigonometric functions by using the acronym TOA SOH CAH - "Two old angels, skipping over heaven, carrying a harp."

Galvasean

Interesting Stuff?

Has Dades been screwin' with the thread again?

Funglegunk

Nice wee video of what the earth would look like it if had a ring system like Saturn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoz5Q2rGQtQ

I for one think it would've been savage, if I'd had the good fortune to evolve into a sentient being of course...

Dades

Galvasean wrote: »

Interesting Stuff?

Has Dades been screwin' with the thread again?

*cough* Robin *cough*

robindch

Galvasean wrote: »

Interesting Stuff?

Yep, this is the A+A sticky for stuff which is kinda unrelated to A+A but sufficiently interesting that most inhabitants should find it fun. Or interesting. Hence the thread title.

robindch

This one was a new one on me the other day.

In Siberia's Novosibirsk, a group has been selectively breeding silver foxes for over fifty years to see if they can be tamed (Wiki article, New Scientist article). Seems that they can be:

http://www.hum.utah.edu/~bbenham/2510%20Spring%2009/Behavior%20Genetics/Farm-Fox%20Experiment.pdf

...and very quickly too. They also ran a similar experiment with rats to produce two divergent populations -- one tame, and the other violent -- and managed that within a few years too.

Turtwig

Fran de Waal has listed his top ten animals of the decade in the huffingtonpost.
Oh and what a list it is too.

Winner : Ayumu.

He did something Japanese college students fail at -- even after extensive training. Ayumu can in one brief glance of 210 milliseconds (faster than you can blink!) memorize a series of numbers on a screen and then tap them in the right order even though the numbers themselves have been replaced by white squares

Edit : The webpage of the "list" seems to be down at the moment...:(

Dave!

Hey do any of ye subscribe to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast?

I just discovered it last week, and now constantly have an iPod in my ear listening to old episodes 1 episode a week since 2005, so lots to catch up on !

They interview tonnes of people, Phil Plait, James Randi, Michael Shermer, Simon Singh, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Wiseman, Adam Savage, Matt Stone, Joe Nichell......

I really can't recommend it enough, it's very informative, funny, clever, intelligent, up-to-date, and eh.... skeptical !

Brilliant stuff, get that into ya right now !

http://www.theskepticsguide.org/


/goes back to listening to it

5uspect

Dave! wrote: »

Hey do any of ye subscribe to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast?

Yes, it's great!

Dave!

Lads would it make sense to turn this thread into an off-topic thread? I know I've just been using it to post all sorts of random sh*t

There's an OT thread in pretty much every substantial forum, they're usually good craic.

Just an idea !

PDN

Dave! wrote: »

Lads would it make sense to turn this thread into an off-topic thread? I know I've just been using it to post all sorts of random sh*t

There's an OT thread in pretty much every substantial forum, they're usually good craic.

Just an idea !

I find most threads in which I participate in this forum end up as being off-topic threads.

Flamed Diving

PDN wrote: »

I find most threads in which I participate in this forum end up as being off-topic threads.

That's because we don't have over-protective mods who are so very afraid of having the dogma of their flock criticised.

PDN

Flamed Diving wrote: »

That's because we don't have over-protective mods who are so very afraid of having the dogma of their flock criticised.

Be careful your tongue doesn't get stuck up there.

Dave!

Yeah Dades and robin are lovely

robindch

Dave! wrote: »

Lads would it make sense to turn this thread into an off-topic thread? I know I've just been using it to post all sorts of random sh*t

Hey, that's why it's called the interesting stuff thread.

PDN wrote: »

I find most threads in which I participate in this forum end up as being off-topic threads.

We're a liberal lot around these parts and view threads not as single-issue protest marches, but as conversations which move naturally from topic to topic over time, pretty much as they do outside the forum.

robindch

Flamed Diving wrote: »

That's because we don't have over-protective mods who are so very afraid of having the dogma of their flock criticised.

PDN wrote: »

Be careful your tongue doesn't get stuck up there.

Now, now, ladies -- handbags on the ground, and please give each other a manly handshake. No point in starting the year with a clatter of red cards.

Dave!

New Sam Harris article in FP

I haven't read it yet, but it's bound to be good

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/12/18/the_god_fraud

Sam Harris

Galvasean

Sense About Science have released their list of ridiculously unscientific things celebrities have said this year. Some of it is cringeworthy in it's hilarity. You can download the pdf here:
http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/about/444/

Don't tell PDN that Robin van Persie is on the list

Turtwig

PDN, Robin Van Persie is on the list!:D

Turtwig

PDN

Malty_T wrote: »

PDN, Robin Van Persie is on the list!:D

You want a striker that's capable of wizardry in the box, not one who thinks he's limited by the laws of physics.

Dades

You lads just need a striker! :pac:

robindch

The excellent Robert Sapolsky on some of his latest research into parasites which change the host behaviour.

Specifically, how a protozoan named Toxoplasma has figured out how to alter the brain chemistry of rats so that instead of rats finding the smell of cat urine repellent, they find it attractive. The rat then tends to check out any cat urine he finds and, inevitably, makes himself more likely to end up as cat-food by doing so. The remains of the rat make their way to the cat's stomach where the acid breaks down the rat, but not the Toxoplasma which takes up residence there before eventually ending up in the cat poo. Which rats, weirdly but natually, enjoy eating (and bringing Toxoplasma's strange life-cycle full-circle).

There's a lot more to this story, and Sapolsky tells it like it is:

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/sapolsky09/sapolsky09_index.html#video

Galvasean

Dades wrote: »

You lads just need a striker! :pac:

We've gotten more Premier League goals than anyone without one.
Now THAT is interesting.

Turtwig

Just one of those cutesy save the animals things that humans do because it's not only our own species that we care about.:)

Galvasean

robindch wrote: »

The excellent Robert Sapolsky on some of his latest research into parasites which change the host behaviour.

Specifically, how a protozoan named Toxoplasma has figured out how to alter the brain chemistry of rats so that instead of rats finding the smell of cat urine repellent, they find it attractive. The rat then tends to check out any cat urine he finds and, inevitably, makes himself more likely to end up as cat-food by doing so. The remains of the rat make their way to the cat's stomach where the acid breaks down the rat, but not the Toxoplasma which takes up residence there before eventually ending up in the cat poo. Which rats, weirdly but natually, enjoy eating (and bringing Toxoplasma's strange life-cycle full-circle).

There's a lot more to this story, and Sapolsky tells it like it is:

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/sapolsky09/sapolsky09_index.html#video

I know of another species of parasite which latches on to developing tadpoles' soon to be limb sockets, resulting in abnormal adult frogs with extra legs. These frogs are akward movers so are more likely to get eaten by predators such as heron. The parasite is then transfered to the heron.

pts

Interesting article in the New York Times about how monkeys communicate:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/science/12monkey.html?pagewanted=1&8dpc