bruorton | Entries tagged with weird science

I didn't come out here to stare into the sun,
to try to find the right filter to make sense
of heavenly miracles. I wander through the crowd,
more comfortable (if I am honest) in smaller
settings, simply hoping to find a friend or two
with whom to share a moment standing
companionably outside on such a lovely day.
To lead them, perhaps, to one corner of the green,
neglected in the shade, and admire together
the flickering spaces between the leaves
that have turned all the ground around us
to a carpet of swaying crescents. We
look down at this mosaic spread across
the sidewalk and the lawn, while behind us
the multitude gazes up.

I do not know how to love this world
nearly how I should, but I know at least
that what I love is here, to learn. After the
Ascension, as the disciples stood in shock,
faces upturned, suddenly abandoned, we
are told two figures in white robes came
among them. "Why do you stand about here,
staring into heaven?" they asked. They might
as well have said directly, don't you know how
much there is to do? There are fields to work
in: hay fields, occupational fields. There are so
many kind words needed, so many hands
unheld. And there is so much to learn to love:
strange orbits of the moon, dancing shadows
on the earth, each other, ourselves.

Gold, the treasure of kings
was never put to grander purpose;
chosen here not so much for symbolic value
but something much more timeless:
a chemical resistance to corrosion.

Bombarded now by its first few decades of cosmic radiation
it sails out beyond the realm of mythological titles
and into the vastness beyond, labeled more often
only by alphanumeric codes, and onward
to a lonely existence expected to last
at least a billion years.

And what have we effectively immortalized
on this truly golden album,
this longest of long-playing records?

A musical selection, of course,
everything from the second Brandenburg Concerto
to mariachi, Australian aborigines to Chuck Berry.
(Also, naturally, the Queen of the Night’s aria.)

It has sounds of home: bird song, whale song,
crickets, frogs; a thunderstorm with falling rain.
Crackling flames. Rolling surf.
The sound of wind; a wild dog, howling.

And of course, the sounds of us—
a horse-drawn cart, a train, an F-111,
a handsaw, a tractor, a jackhammer.
Footsteps, laughter, a crying child, a kiss.

The idea was to be a sort of auditory ambassador
in the event this artifact one day fell into alien
hands (so to speak) which is why it all starts
with words of peace and greeting in 55 human languages.

Imagine, all of it cobbled together
in what was surely a feverish year of conferring
among artists, scientists, semioticians
and science fiction writers.

But what glorious foolishness was that, anyway?
Who ever imagined it would really be recovered,
or, despite the astronomical odds
that it still was worth a try?

Which can only mean it was a long-shot message
to ourselves. Esperanto:
“Ni strebas vivi en paco kun la popoloj
de la tuta mondo, de la tuta kosmo.”

We strive to live in peace with the peoples
of the whole world, of the whole cosmos.

Now, out beyond the heliospheric bubble
Blind Willie Johnson’s bottleneck slide guitar
and mournful gospel hum are passing into eternity.
Dark was the night, and cold was the ground.

Ani's got a new album out.
Chrononauts fans get ready: there are two "original" copies of the Mona Lisa. But da Vinci's is still the better one.
In South Polar news: a woman has skied across Antarctica. And under all that ice are lakes isolated by miles of ice, which have been that way for millions of years. I'm not sure it's that great an idea, but looks like we're going to find out what's down there.
Also: mycology is fascinating.

Science:

Working to save the Ozark hellbender, one of the world's largest salamander species.
Newly discovered hydrothermal vents near Antarctica reveal more alien worlds, where Volcanoctopi prey on yeti crabs. Video of the site, taken by a robotic submersible, is pretty sweet.
"Orca poop is a treasure trove of information." So who better to assist researchers than Tucker, a "ball-obsessed" black Lab?
2011 was a good year for lemmings ("furry sausages with legs") which meant a great year for snowy owls in Canada -- leading to an unusual irruption this winter down into the US. Maybe one will come our way... (There are some great pics on flickr.)

And such:

Keith Little, one of the last Navajo Code Talkers of WWII has passed away. Punished by his school teachers for speaking his native tongue, he dedicated his life after the war to encouraging young Navajos to embrace their culture.
Contemplating the deathbed works of famous composers.
How have I never heard of the game of Nomic? And what is a "logical hand grenade"?
So, the hapless Republican field is still conspiring to nominate the guy that none of them want. Whatever. But they can still entertain us -- I bet you'll never guess what Ron Paul's theme music was at his NH party last night!

I've been periodically gathering the interesting-er stuff that's recently gotten my attention for a little while now, and I thought -- what the heck? Why not post it somewhere? I don't post much anywhere these days, and this is one window into what's on my mind, anyway. And maybe, if I get back in the habit, I'll think of posting more personal stuff, which I think is the more valuable in any case.

As a warning, these will tend toward the political, but there's always some variety. Ignore or comment at will.

President Obama finally took a confrontational stance to obstructionist Republicans -- and appointed Richard Cordray head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Cordray is a former OH attorney general). As a recess appt, it only last through this year, but Republicans had pledged not to confirm anyone to this position until the Bureau was gutted of authority and independence (prompting Elizabeth Warren, who created the CFPB, to run for Senate).
Obama's also made a few other much-needed recess appointments (there are dozens of vacancies, from the EPA to judicial seats, which really pisses Sen. Leahy off). Maybe it's just because it's an election year, or maybe the President's finally learning there is no "bipartisan" to be had with these cretins. Either way, it gives me hope he'll follow through in blocking Keystone XL... there are more than enough warnings to nix it, esp. now that Congress has jettisoned a full environmental review.
The Roman Catholic church reaffirms its status as a regressive haven. I wonder, though, if the existence of married priests could have unintended effects?
NPR's blog notes the passing of an Olympic fencer and Hollywood choreographer (from Princess Bride to Lord of the Rings), who also -- at the age of 60 -- played Darth Vader in a number of classic combats (such as the duel w/ Luke in the carbon freezing chamber).
An intriguing National Geographic article taking in its scope twins, genetics, and autism. Also, naturally, some cool photo portraits.
In case you managed to miss it (in which case, congratulations!) -- the main story out of the Iowa caucus was that Santorum (the latest in a long string of Not-Romneys) tied Romney, with only 8 votes separating them. (Closer than Bush-Gore! And so much less meaningful.) Bachmann, coming in dead last, has dropped out; Gingrich (4th place, behind Ron Paul!) basically promised a scorched earth campaign against Romney from here on. With that pseudo-event out of the way, the craziness is now headed this way....

Michael Pollan has a new article in National Geographic on orchids with the ultimate in pollination strategies: their flowers mimic female bees and wasps to get male bees to "pseudo-copulate" with them. If you prefer a written abstract or an audio version, he was also interviewed on NPR over the weekend (leading him to opine on the male advantages of having sex with anything that moves), and the Geographic has kindly put online the entire gorgeous (and apparently erotic) photo gallery for the story.

Good news this week. Mathematical research developed from pandemic models now indicates that humans would survive and overcome a zombie outbreak. Many kudos to Prof. Smith? and his team.

To an Archaeologist 400 Years In the Future
Exploring My House, Which Was Perfectly
Preserved in Volcanic Ash

Please, come in. With your small hammer
and soft brush, come in. You will find
everything in order, more or less,
though I wish I’d had more time to clean.
As you chip your way carefully into the kitchen

you’ll find the glasses in the cabinet above the sink.
Please help yourself, though I have no idea
what you might prefer to drink.
Considering the circumstances
I don’t recommend opening the fridge.

I’m trying to reassure myself that you won’t mind
all the papers and books strewn about
on the coffee table, the ottoman,
pretty much everywhere really, now I think of it.
If you don’t get stuck on figuring out

some pattern to why they are arranged this way
I’m sure they will assist your research
into how we lived, and what
was front-page news four hundred years
and one week ago.

There is more enjoyable reading in the bedroom,
and personal documents, you’ll be interested to know,
are in the locked filing cabinet in the study.
And under the TV is a real artifact, an old
Atari game system which even has a game

where you can play a tiny pixilated
archaeologist who dashes through Egyptian tombs
nabbing ancient treasures, until he succumbs
to the attacks of sacred snakes, lions, and bats.
Don’t worry, there’s nothing so dangerous in here

unless I have left my shoes out again
for you to trip over.
And somewhere around the house—
cross-legged on the couch, lying on the bed, perhaps
hunched over a bowl of cereal at the breakfast table—

will be my absence, a me-shaped hole
in the ashy rock.
I am sorry I missed you; I’m sure
you’re a fascinating person to talk to, and after all
we both have so many questions.

I'm not a huge fan of the Silver Bullet Theory of crisis solution -- for example, that a single technology will save us from global warming. There are too many structural things that need to be changed for us to actually live within our means, habitat-wise; I also think that much of our structure itself needs to become decentralized, with everyone depending more on the food, energy, and community in the places they live.

That said, as far as large-scale power generation goes, concentrated solar power is the only thing I'd feel particularly inclined to support. I only happen to mention this because over lunch today I read an article describing the history and theory of CSP which included the amusing revelation that "Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks contain many designs for solar concentrators, including some for industrial purposes, because he worried about the destruction of the earth's vast forests in humanity's search for fuel." Gotta love that guy. 550 years old, and he still knows how to keep with the times.

That article, on the other hand, is a bit out of date. It was a link in an article today about the challenges to actually building these plants, one of which appears to be either Sen. Dianne Feinstein, or conservationists' concerns about building power plants in the fragile desert ecosystem... depending on how you look at it. Anyway, I really only bring this up to suggest (if reading about climate change issues appeals to you) to check out this blog in general. Joe Romm is one of those people who likes silver bullets, and wants to find ways for us to keep living more or less the way we do now, but nonetheless knows what's going on in the world of climate science, politics, and economics.

He's also the one who came up with my favorite line so far on the whole thing (I'm paraphrasing): "We're all Bernie Madoffs... we have constructed the grandest of Ponzi schemes, whereby current generations have figured out how to live off the wealth of future generations."

Now that's what I call staying on the rhetorical cutting edge.

I haven't posted any weird science lately, but I did just find several things worth noting:

The best news I have, probably, is that flavonoids (a key component of cocoa) significantly reduce high blood pressure and bad cholesterol -- and generally improves "cardiovascular outcome," I guess by dilating and relaxing your arteries. The bad news is, these components are what make chocolate bitter, so milk chocolate is low in them. So obviously, we should all be eating more dark chocolate. =)

Also very curious: natural selection was never anticipated to work this fast, especially in a species that virtually symbolizes slow population growth and change -- elephants. But a Beijing university study reports that 5-10% of China's Asian elephant population now possess a gene that prevents tusk formation, the rise from previously measured 2-5% assumed to be due to poaching preference for elephants with large tusks.

In a different field, concerns have been raised over an anti-riot "non-lethal" microwave ray gun that is slated for deployment to Iraq in 2006. Concern centers on instructions to test subjects to remove all metal objects (glasses, coins, etc.) to prevent "local hot spots" from forming. Sounds like they might have a point.

And finally, incredibly, the first steps towards 'lurkey' are being taken. While NASA has previously succeeded in growing fish tissue in a lab, new research published in the journal Tissue Engineering (is anyone else weirded out that such a journal exists?) suggests that it may be possible to grow edible meat in commercial quantities. The scientists tout the elimination of agricultural pollution, all the drugs pumped into the meat we eat now, and the possibility of controlling the nutrient content and eliminating the unhealthiest aspects of meat.

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