Science for people who never knew it could be interesting
July 10th, 2008
In case you didn’t read yesterday’s “Carnivalia” post closely, you might have missed the note that I’ll be hosting the “Skeptics’ Circle” blog carnival right here, next Thursday, the 17th of July.
So… if you write (or run across) any interesting critical-thinking sorts of blog posts between now and noon (wherever you live) next Wednesday, please drop me a line! BTW, the carnival’s ringleader has some good guidelines for SC-relevant material right here.
July 9th, 2008
The past week’s crop of (mostly) science-related blog carnivals await you:
Bookworms Carnival - Edition #13 (Relationships)
Carnival of Education (178th Edition)
Carnival of Space #61: Tunguska Edition
Encephalon #49 Celebrates Independence! (from Lamarckism)
Hourglass: A carnival of biogerontology (the very first installment!)
Scientiae Carnival July - A Voice In The Crowd
The Millenium Project is hosting the 90th Skeptics’ Circle (although not in blog format, so this link might not work past mid-July…)
Oh, and did I mention that I’ll be hosting the 91st Skeptics’ Circle on the 17th?
July 8th, 2008
This week’s picture is from the San Diego Air & Space Museum, and shows a simple but very effective invention from World War II — Marston mat:
Marston mat (a.k.a., Marston matting, or PSP for Pierced Steel Planking) is one of those simple inventions that had a disproportionately large impact in real terms. It was developed in the U.S. shortly before our entry into WWII, for use in quickly building and repairing runways. It gained its nickname from the town in North Carolina where it was first made and tested late in 1941.
Typically, a piece of Marston mat was 10 feet long, 15 inches wide, and weighed about 66 pounds. The strips would interlock along their edges to form a continuous surface, which was then often covered with crushed rock or coral to form a flat surface. This technology allowed a runway 200 feet wide and 5000 feet long to be built in two days by a small team of engineers. Using this material, a bomb crater in a runway could also be repaired in 40 minutes by an unskilled labor party.
July 4th, 2008
Since today is independence day in the U.S., and barbecuing is a traditional activity for the day, I thought I’d give you a bit of video showing what is undoubtedly the most dramatic way I’ve ever seen to cook hot dogs — with a Tesla coil!
An outfit called the Nevada Lightning Laboratory demonstrated this… unusual approach to the culinary arts at Maker Faire ‘08, cooking a dozen hot dogs at a time using a 10-foot-tall Tesla coil. And for them, this is just a baby — they eventually want to build a pair of 120-foot-tall coils for lightning experiments.
Video courtesy Nevada Lightning Laboratory, via Gizmodo and OhGizmo!
July 2nd, 2008
Another good crop of reading material in the past week’s (mostly) science-related blog carnivals:
Carnival of the Green #134 - Welcome to Wrestle-Greenia!
I and the Bird #78 - Summertime Birding Adventures
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