Physics Week in Review: November 19, 2016
Jen-Luc Piquant is back with her usual round of physics links. First off: a reminder that the world needs scientific values more than ever.
Related: Dan Rather: Now, More Than Ever, We Must Stand Up for Science. Also: Who will advise Trump on science? The Atlantic's Ed Yong on what the president's science advisor actually does.
Mars Quest Reminds Us What Can Happen When We Work Together. Spaceflight is a powerful signifier that achieving ambitious goals requires diverse contributions. In short, "it takes all of us." Related: Can space exploration be a force for optimism at a time of pessimism? Ron Howard weighs in.
What the new blockbuster film Arrival Gets Right About Talking to Superintelligent Noisesquids From Space. Related: If we ever came across aliens, would we really be able to understand them? How would we talk to them? Here's How Arrival's designers crafted a mesmerizing alien alphabet. Also: How Arrival Turned Linguistics Into One of the Most Gripping Dramas of the Year.
Life lessons on time-loops and power-loops from Doctor Strange.
Strange Numbers Found in Particle Collisions. An unexpected connection between the results of physics experiments and a set of numbers in pure mathematics.
Mathematicians are a step closer to understanding what makes a perfect cup of coffee.
Nanocars gear up for first race of its kind. France will host nanocar competition between six teams from around the world to test unique microscope
In Washington, DC, People Are Using Their Feet To Turn On The Lights thanks to a new kind of pavement at Dupont Circle.
Computer scientists made a chip that processes information like neurons, but works with light.
What It Means To Live in a Holographic Cosmos. Does it mean that the universe is a hologram? Not quite. It means there is a duality.
NASA's new GOES-R satellite will keep an eye on extreme lightning storms and space weather.
How To Make A White Dwarf With Lasers And Cold Atoms.
Scientists are building a telescope to seek another Earth - and you can help.
Crowdsourcing to discover a new prime number & solve a 50-year-old problem.
Why Math Education Doesn't Add Up. Quotes Steven Strogatz: "To say that we shouldn't teach the quadratic formula" is like saying we shouldn't teach Shakespeare." Related: Other Ways to Carve Up the Math Curriculum, from Math With Bad Drawings.
Always loved this one. Donald Duck is a quite effective and surreal math teacher in "Donald in Mathmagic Land."
How the Mantis Shrimp's Amazing Hexnocular, Polarized Vision Can Help Detect Cancer.
We really need to figure out how to stop a killer asteroid, scientists say.
The Church turned cathedrals into astronomical instruments to fix Easter date, accidentally refuting heliocentrism.
Bottled Finnish Landscapes Captured With Double-Exposure Photography by Christoffer Relander. Per Colossal: "The project, Jarred & Displaced, utilizes double exposures shot on medium format film to combine pristine images of jars with black and white landscapes, collecting scenes shot within forests, neighborhoods, and on top of steep ridges. Each of the images is completely analog as Relander decided to eschew all digital processes for the series." [Image: Christoffer Relander]
Why Don't Figure Skaters Get Dizzy When They Spin?
Radiation Won't Give You Superpowers, But It Will Do These Other Upsetting Things To You.
How to make phosphorus by doing disgusting things with urine.
Space Poop Challenge: NASA Calls for Better Spacesuit Potty Systems.
Challenge of the "alien megastructure" star: making sense of an object that's like no other.
Pluto has a cold wandering heart, and maybe a hidden ocean too.
Peggy Whitson: Oldest woman in space blasts off to International Space Station.
Could an astronaut's corpse bring new life to another world?
Why CSI: Space Will Be a Far Greater Challenge Than Forensic Science on Earth.
The 'trickiest' part of Elon Musk's Mars spaceship just passed a critical test.
Into the Guts of the Universe's Most Perfect Known Sphere.
Just how off-the-scale could life get? Is Physical Law an Alien Intelligence?
Writing Text Messages With Household Chemicals.
The Dueling Weathermen of the 1800s. This bitter dispute set the stage for the modern weather forecast.
In 1952 a man made a set of equations that tried to explain the patterns we see in nature His name was Alan Turing.
Minimal Wire Sculptures That Form 3-Dimensional Shapes by Mitsuru Koga. Per Spoon and Tamago: "His new body of work is a series of delicate wire sculptures placed inside a frame. The wires are fused together just right so that the lines take the form of three-dimensional shapes." [Image: Spoon and Tamago]
Creating The Philosopher's Stone: The Medieval Science Of Color And Alchemy.
Why the new Wilshire Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles won't shoot a 'death ray' like the Vdara in Las Vegas.
Designer Yi-Fei Chen built a gun for her frustrations. But the weapon doesn't shoot bullets; it shoots actual tears.
Paul ErdAs versus. Moore's law: Overthinking an ErdAs Quote about Ramsey Numbers and Evil Aliens.
Carl Sagan's College Reading List: Plato, Shakespeare, Gide, and Plenty of Philosophy, Math & Physics (1954).
Neil Gaiman Is Producing a TV Show About a Multiverse Skyscraper.
The man who gave himself away How discovering an equation for altruism cost George Price everything.
Einstein And Hawking Had Different Ideas About The Concept Of Imaginary Time.
Mystery is the heart of science: So said Einstein, inspiring a lovely web comic.
Oppenheimer's folly: On black holes, fundamental laws and pure and applied science.
Miniature Cities in Motion: Tiny Animated Metropolis Made of Paper.
How Cartographer Marie Tharp Helped Scientists Understand Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics.
Watch Crystals Form in Front of Your Eyes: A time-lapse photographer showcases the beauty of chemistry.
Watch Artisans Craft Old-Fashioned Globes By Hand.
Fusion Reactors and "Unlimited Clean Energy" Explored in Insightful Video.
And as we head into Thanksgiving next week, here's a handy video on How to Prepare a Perfect Thanksgiving Turkey With Rube Goldberg-Style Machines and a Willing Dog.