we-are-star-stuff:

The 25 Coolest Catch Phrases for Scientific Concepts

One of the best parts about science is that it contains no shortage of awesome-sounding terms to describe complicated ideas. Here are 25 of them.

1. Absolute Zero: the coldest possible temperature.

2. Action At A Distance: a term used in quantum mechanics to describe the eerie effect when objects separated in space still interact with each other (non-local interaction).

3. Big Bang: a theory on the origin of the Universe that’s pretty self explanatory.

4. Big Crunch: a theory on the ultimate demise of the Universe in which the cosmos closes back in on itself.

5. Big Rip: another theory on the ultimate demise of the Universe in which the cosmos continues to expand at a rapid rate, destroying everything in the process, including matter at the atomic scale.

6. Biotic Factor: a living part of an ecosystem.

7. Blue Shift: another word for the Doppler Effect, it describes any decrease in the wavelength of light (Red Shift works just as well).

8. Cold Fusion: a hypothetical type of nuclear reaction that could occur at room temperature.

9. Cosmological Singularity: the location near a black hole where the quantities that are used to measure the gravitational field become infinite.

10. Dark Energy: a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and contributes to the acceleration and expansion of the Universe.

11. Dark Matter: a hypothetical form of matter that accounts for a large part of the total mass in the Universe.

12. Escape Velocity: the speed required to break free from the gravitational forces of a large celestial object (like the planet Earth).

13. Event Horizon: the point of no return near a black hole where events cannot affect an outside observer (i.e. the point at which the gravitational pull is so great that escape becomes impossible).

14. Heat Death of the Universe: yet another theory on the ultimate demise of the Universe in which the cosmos has been exhausted of all its energy (why do all the cosmological doomsday terms sound so cool?).

15. Limiting Factor: anything that controls the growth or survival of a population.

16. No Action Without An Equal And Opposite Reaction: this is essentially Newton’s First Law of Motion.

17. Null Hypothesis: a term coined by Ronald Fisher to describe a type of hypothesis which proposes that no statistical significance exists in a set of given observations (an attempt to show that no variation exists between variables).

18. Quantum Entanglement: a term that describes what happens in “action at a distance” when microscopic particles interact physically and then become separated; it describes the special connection between pairs or groups of quantum particles (actually, anything with the word ‘quantum’ in front of it belongs on this list, like quantum superposition, or quantum locking).

19. Red Dwarf: a small and relatively cool star.

20. String Theory: a branch of physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity; it proposes that elementary particles within an atom are 1-dimensional oscillating “strings”.

21. Super Collider: another term for a particle accelerator.

22. Survival Of The Fittest: a wickedly concise description of Darwinian natural selection.

23. Terminal Velocity: the point at which a falling object has zero acceleration on account of the drag force equaling the downward force of gravity (for humans this is 210 km/h (130 mph) and for cats it’s 100 km/h (60 mph)).

24. Test Tube Babies: an outdated term for in vitro fertilization.

25. The Central Dogma: a term coined by Francis Crick and used in molecular biology to describe the flow of genetic information within a biological system.

(via cosmic-rebirth)

flowersgardenlove:

Rose Flowers Garden Love

Pelican

(via memorandvm)

fairymonkey:

I have seen flocks of these lately and have dreamed of them. I had one land in my lap and be pet by me in a dream last night. I think they are trying to tell me something.

cutlerish:

My Heroes (3/4)

Growing up, I never really had heroes. When someone asked, people usually gave a family member or an athlete. These never really inspired me in the way I thought a hero should.

As I learned more about history, especially in mathematics, science and computers, I found that there were people whose achievements were insanely awesome. Moreover, I found heroes that contributed in huge ways to their fields in their lifetimes while being persecuted, challenged or mocked. These were people who accomplished things I can scarcely imagine even in a world that made their lives exceedingly difficult, even impossible.

Meet my heroes.

---

Nikola Tesla

Serbian-American inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, and futurist.

Why was he badass?

LET ME COUNT THE FUCKING WAYS.

• Inventor of the Alternating Current electrical distribution system, which powers nearly all of the planet, making him father of the electric age
• Laid most of the groundwork for the invention of radio
• Came up with radar, x-ray technology and early concepts of cryogenics years ahead of their time (receiving little to none of the credit)
• the remote control, neon lighting, hydroelectric power generation, the electric motor, wireless communication, wireless fucking power distribution
• Oh, I am only scratching the surface. Read this.

I don’t call the man a genius, because it would skew the curve of planetary intelligence so much that almost everyone would be an idiot.

Nikola Tesla was a motherfucking phenomenon.

He must have been rich, right?

Thanks to douchebags like Thomas Edison and a world that cared only about money-making and nothing about the kind of revolutionary ideas that still shape our planet, Tesla spent most of his career broke. He died alone in a New York hotel room where he lived on milk, crackers and vivid hallucinations.

cutlerish:

My Heroes (2/4)

Growing up, I never really had heroes. When someone asked, people usually gave a family member or an athlete. These never really inspired me in the way I thought a hero should.

As I learned more about history, especially in mathematics, science and computers, I found that there were people whose achievements were insanely awesome. Moreover, I found heroes that contributed in huge ways to their fields in their lifetimes while being persecuted, challenged or mocked. These were people who accomplished things I can scarcely imagine even in a world that made their lives exceedingly difficult, even impossible.

Meet my heroes.

---

Alan Turing

Alan Turing was a British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He is widely considered to be the father of modern computer science and artificial intelligence.

Why was he badass?

During World War II, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) at Bletchley Park, Britain’s codebreaking centre. He was head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised several techniques for breaking German code ciphers, including a machine that could figure out the settings for the German Enigma Machine. Turing decided to tackle the particularly difficult problem of German naval Enigma “because no one else was doing anything about it and I could have it to myself”.

After the war he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he created one of the first designs for a stored-program computer, the ACE.

In 1948, Turing began writing a chess program for a computer that did not yet exist. In 1952, lacking a computer powerful enough to execute the program, Turing played a game in which he simulated the computer, taking about half an hour per move. In the recorded tests, his program won about half the games.

His Turing test was a significant and lasting contribution to the debate on artificial intelligence, which continues after more than half a century.

So, how did we thank him?

Turing, a homosexual, was charged with “gross indecency” in 1952, when homosexual acts were still illegal in the United Kingdom. He accepted treatment with female hormones (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison.

Turing died in 1954, just over two weeks before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. His death was most likely suicide.

In September 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for “the appalling way he was treated”.

cutlerish:

My Heroes (1/4)

Growing up, I never really had heroes. When someone asked, people usually gave a family member or an athlete. These never really inspired me in the way I thought a hero should.

As I learned more about history, especially in mathematics, science and computers, I found that there were people whose achievements were insanely awesome. Moreover, I found heroes that contributed in huge ways to their fields in their lifetimes while being persecuted, challenged or mocked. These were people who accomplished things I can scarcely imagine even in a world that made their lives exceedingly difficult, even impossible.

Meet my heroes.

---

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace

Ada was the only legitimate child of the English poet, Lord Byron. Born in the 1800s, she was part of a world that didn’t have many female scientists and mathematicians like her.

Why was she badass?

Among her many other accomplishments, Ada is widely considered to be the world’s first computer programmer.

In 1842–43, Ada translated an Italian manuscript on Charles Babbage’s proposed Analytical Engine, the very first design for a Turing-complete general purpose computer. With the article, she appended a set of notes explaining the Analytical Engine’s function.

This was difficult, considering other scientists did not actually grasp Babbage’s concept. The notes she left were longer than the manuscript itself and included, in complete detail, a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers with the Engine.

When the first complete Babbage Analytical Engine was completed in 2002, her method was found to successfully and efficiently run on it. Yes, the algorithm she wrote in the notes of a translation she did, for a computing device the likes of which had never been seen and that had not even been built and wouldn’t be tested until 150 years after her death.

Although it is a bit silly, I like to think that one can trace a long line of female computer programmers down from Ada Lovelace. I learned my first programming languages from my mother. I’ll tear apart any chauvinist who says girls can’t code.

cutlerish:

My Heroes (4/4)

Growing up, I never really had heroes. When someone asked, people usually gave a family member or an athlete. These never really inspired me in the way I thought a hero should.

As I learned more about history, especially in mathematics, science and computers, I found that there were people whose achievements were insanely awesome. Moreover, I found heroes that contributed in huge ways to their fields in their lifetimes while being persecuted, challenged or mocked. These were people who accomplished things I can scarcely imagine even in a world that made their lives exceedingly difficult, even impossible.

Meet my heroes.

---

Hypatia of Alexandria

Greek Neoplatonist philosopher in Roman Egypt and the last librarian of the Library of Alexandria.

Why was she badass?

Hypatia was the very first historically-noted female mathematician. She was the head of the Platonist school in Alexandria, where she taught philosophy and astronomy to any and all students, not differing between pagans, Christians and foreigners.

She is believed to have made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics, astronomy and physics. Hypatia is widely considered to be a universal genius, or polymath, like Leonardo da Vinci (who was born 1100 years later).

She must have been so respected!

She was. Well, until she became an unwilling point of contention between the governor of Alexandria and the (arguably) power-hungry Bishop of Alexandria. Hypatia was murdered by a Christian mob that accused her of witchcraft and godlessness. Her name discredited for nearly two thousand years, only in the past few centuries have her true accomplishments been widely accepted.

(Source: mysticallion, via samsaranmusing)

(via light-essence)

ikenbot:

A Quadruple Lunar Halo Over Spain

Sometimes falling ice crystals make the atmosphere into a giant lens causing arcs and halos to appear around the Sun or Moon.

Image Credit & Copyright: Dani Caxete

This past Saturday night was just such a time near Madrid, Spain, where a winter sky displayed not only a bright Moon but as many as four rare lunar halos. The brightest object, near the top of the above image, is the Moon. Light from the Moon refracts through tumbling hexagonal ice crystals into a 22 degree halo seen surrounding the Moon.

Elongating the 22 degree arc horizontally is a circumscribed halo caused by column ice crystals. More rare, some moonlight refracts through more distant tumbling ice crystals to form a (third) rainbow-like arc 46 degrees from the Moon and appearing here just above a picturesque winter landscape.

Furthermore, part of a whole 46 degree circular halo is also visible, so that an extremely rare — especially for the Moon — quadruple halo was actually imaged. The snow-capped trees in the foreground line the road Puerto de Navacerrada in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range near Madrid. Far in the background is a famous winter skyscape that includes Sirius, the belt of Orion, and Betelgeuse all visible between the inner and outer arcs. Halos and arcs typically last for minutes to hours, so if you do see one there should be time to invite family, friends or neighbors to share your unusual lensed vista of the sky.

strife7:

The most brilliant man of his time and in Chinese history/lore, Zhuge Liang.

(via hanchineseculture)

generic1:

The World According to San Francisco.

I was distractedly editing this in a coffeeshop and a guy leaned over and said, “I’m going to Cocaine this week.”

I was so confused for a second.