Category: Modern Civilization
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How to... do things. Why care? [The curse of doing something]
What a strange era we live in. People keep on wandering how to do things... How to make a good site. How to get a good Alexa rank. How to make meatballs. How to buy a used car. How to make money. How to mine Bitcoins. How to make babies. How to kill babies. (a.k.a.…
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Testability. The criterion for good theories. The death of modern humans.
Scientists are testing a theory of particles in a Weyl semimetal instead of testing it near a black hole. Because the behavior or particles in a semimetal is similar to the behavior of particles near a black hole. At the same time string theory has been maligned because it makes predictions that cannot be tested.…
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Storytelling. An art long gone…
"Knowing how to tell a clear and coherent story is an important skill for helping young children to develop strong reading skills, which, in turn, can help them to be successful across a number of different subjects in school," said FPG advanced research scientist Nicole Gardner-Neblett. "Prior research suggests that historical and cultural factors foster…
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Searching for the Psyche… [Astrology vs. Astronomy 1-0 once more]
4.5 billion years ago in the violent, high-speed environment of the early solar system, a protoplanet roughly the size of Mars was involved in a series of fierce collisions with other large planetary bodies. A number of powerful impacts stripped the planet of its rocky mantle, leaving an exposed nickel-iron core. After further blows, break-away…
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Optimizing farming. Fractals and global optimums. Balance. Letting go.
Bali's famous rice terraces, when seen from above, look like colorful mosaics because some farmers plant synchronously, while others plant at different times. The resulting fractal patterns are rare for human-made systems and lead to optimal harvests without global planning. To understand how Balinese rice farmers make their decisions for planting, a team of scientists…
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