Two more journal articles to relate.
Most recently, there's the miraculous story of burnt hairless mice saved by coffee and exercise wheel running. Scientists reckon that caffeine and exercise both promote apoptosis, or programmed cell death. This is a deal (I'm not sure how big a deal) because
1) The cells that are killed are those that have been damaged by UVB radiation (one part of the sun's radiation spectrum). It's good to kill these because if they live they could turn cancerous.
[This reminds me of my Win-Win Law of Pharmaceutical Research: Whatever illness you're trying to cure, if your drug / treatment works, you're happy. But, if the drug / experimental conditions kill all your cells, you're also happy, because you've identified a possible cancer-cell-killer!]
2) they act synergistically. The effect of the two combined is 5 times as effective as either on its own. There's still a jazillion variables that need to be explored (amount of caffeine, type of exercise, other types of radiation etc), but it's an interesting result. Poor little burnt hairless mice.
Less recently, there's the story of Italian volcanologists unearthing the mysterious inner workings of volcanoes.
It turns out that the rumblings of certain kinds of volcano, named after Mt Stromoli off the coast of Italy, emanate from deep within the earth. These big bubbles of gas, called gas slugs, were analysed after fizzing out of the volcano. Judging from their chemical composition, it was deduced that they must have come from deep down near the mantle, rather than a few hundred metres down where volcano-related earthquakes occur.
Imagine being a volcanologist.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Killing Time
A review of The End Of Time by Julian Barbour
Published by Phoenix
Foreword: I read this book, and some time later wrote this review, a while ago now. The End of Time passed my Gift Voucher Test. That is, you have a gift voucher and can spend it on any book you like. What book do you like the look of enough to actually want to own? Obviously, it must either be a classic, or a dense repository of knowledge - something to come back to, to lend to friends or pass on to children. Or maybe something so complex you need to read it several times. Of the million and one books I'd love to or have been meaning to read, very few of them pass the GVT.
On this occasion I was browsing around the pop science section of Collins (By the way, the changes in the pop sci book scene could make an entire column on its own). I've read a few popular physics and quantum theory books, but had never really encountered the idea of timelessness. The hourglass cover, decent thickness, and endorsement from John Gribbin combined to push me over the edge and buy it.
One other thing I didn't mention in the review was that Barbour is a big fan of Austrian physicist Ernst Mach. As it turns out, so was Einstein. My rudimentary impressions of his work, combined with these two facts, have made Ernst Mach and his ideas into an object of respect and curiosity to me.
~~~
“Time does not exist.” Try telling that to anybody with a deadline. Yet this is precisely the message of physicist Julian Barbour in his new book, The End of Time.
Barbour, who supported his research by translating Russian scientific journals on the side, believes that time is an emergent property - like the colour violet or the temperature of a bowl of pea soup.
This is a shocking thesis, yet in a straw poll conducted by the author, twice as many of his colleagues (physicists mind you, not translators) believed that time should not appear in the foundations of any theory of the world as those who thought it should. According to Barbour, there are only instants, snapshots, configurations - and a great deal of them at that.
We occupy one of these ‘time capsules’ and infer the past from it. Barbour takes up the onerous task of convincing the lay reader of time’s passing (it is almost impossible to avoid puns with this topic) with the gravity and finesse befitting such a grand topic.
He sets the scene using Turner’s amazing painting Snow Storm, which depicts the force and fury of a boat caught in a storm. Motion can indeed be created out of a static, timeless picture. We then fall into triangle land, Platonia and a rich discussion of the ideas underpinning his theory, including relativity and quantum theory.
I grappled with some of the mathematical and physical concepts, such as the foggy notion of ‘quantum mist’, yet in asking the reader to make the effort Barbour ensures the trip is a more satisfying one. A more philosophical epilogue, ‘Life Without Time’, and extensive notes demonstrate the author has thought about much more than the physics of time.
Although at times dense, this is a fascinating introduction to a timeless world.
Published by Phoenix
Foreword: I read this book, and some time later wrote this review, a while ago now. The End of Time passed my Gift Voucher Test. That is, you have a gift voucher and can spend it on any book you like. What book do you like the look of enough to actually want to own? Obviously, it must either be a classic, or a dense repository of knowledge - something to come back to, to lend to friends or pass on to children. Or maybe something so complex you need to read it several times. Of the million and one books I'd love to or have been meaning to read, very few of them pass the GVT.
On this occasion I was browsing around the pop science section of Collins (By the way, the changes in the pop sci book scene could make an entire column on its own). I've read a few popular physics and quantum theory books, but had never really encountered the idea of timelessness. The hourglass cover, decent thickness, and endorsement from John Gribbin combined to push me over the edge and buy it.
One other thing I didn't mention in the review was that Barbour is a big fan of Austrian physicist Ernst Mach. As it turns out, so was Einstein. My rudimentary impressions of his work, combined with these two facts, have made Ernst Mach and his ideas into an object of respect and curiosity to me.
~~~
“Time does not exist.” Try telling that to anybody with a deadline. Yet this is precisely the message of physicist Julian Barbour in his new book, The End of Time.
Barbour, who supported his research by translating Russian scientific journals on the side, believes that time is an emergent property - like the colour violet or the temperature of a bowl of pea soup.
This is a shocking thesis, yet in a straw poll conducted by the author, twice as many of his colleagues (physicists mind you, not translators) believed that time should not appear in the foundations of any theory of the world as those who thought it should. According to Barbour, there are only instants, snapshots, configurations - and a great deal of them at that.
We occupy one of these ‘time capsules’ and infer the past from it. Barbour takes up the onerous task of convincing the lay reader of time’s passing (it is almost impossible to avoid puns with this topic) with the gravity and finesse befitting such a grand topic.
He sets the scene using Turner’s amazing painting Snow Storm, which depicts the force and fury of a boat caught in a storm. Motion can indeed be created out of a static, timeless picture. We then fall into triangle land, Platonia and a rich discussion of the ideas underpinning his theory, including relativity and quantum theory.
I grappled with some of the mathematical and physical concepts, such as the foggy notion of ‘quantum mist’, yet in asking the reader to make the effort Barbour ensures the trip is a more satisfying one. A more philosophical epilogue, ‘Life Without Time’, and extensive notes demonstrate the author has thought about much more than the physics of time.
Although at times dense, this is a fascinating introduction to a timeless world.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Thank God! At last, it's here. It's really here!
Wireless power transfer, that is. Ok, so it's not that big a deal, but it's still kinda cool.
Published at Cosmos 8 June 2007.
Published at Cosmos 8 June 2007.
Ta bu shi Beijingren
Tonal language gets genetic insight. And no, I am not fluent in Mandarin.
Published at Cosmos 29 May 2007.
Published at Cosmos 29 May 2007.
I'm a Nemologist.
Talking fish are quite a sight. There's even a video accompanying this one. Science meets YouTube.
Published at Cosmos 18 May 2007.
Published at Cosmos 18 May 2007.
We kind of already knew this, but...
Aborigines didn't show up overnight. Still, I suppose it's nice for different lines of evidence to converge on the same point.
Published at Cosmos 8 May 2007.
Published at Cosmos 8 May 2007.
Molten mercury, so what?
Mercury's wobble means it's liquid, alright. Alright? Really, it's amazing the deductions that can be made from movements in light bouncing off rocks millions of kilometres away.
Published at Cosmos 4 May 2007.
Published at Cosmos 4 May 2007.
Is the effect of the rhythm method slight?
Alright, so it's not really about the rhythm method. It's about cycles of life and all that jazz.
Published at Cosmos 22 March 2007.
Published at Cosmos 22 March 2007.
Fly gene, fly!
What's a genome got to do with flight? Oh, it's got a lot to do with it. A lot.
Published at Cosmos 8 March 2007.
Published at Cosmos 8 March 2007.
I've lost my memory
Did you know that some people with hippocampal amnesia find it hard to imagine things? Shock!
Published at Cosmos 16 January 2007.
Published at Cosmos 16 January 2007.
Why would you want to regrow teeth?
C'mon, why would you ask a question like that? There are many reasons. Like 'because you can'.
Published at Cosmos 27 November 2006.
Published at Cosmos 27 November 2006.
Potent potable
- I mean painkiller discovered in saliva. I love it because just when people think they know about the body, they discover a totally new compound right there in somebody's spitball. Of course, you'd have to be a Pavlov's dog (or padlocked door) to drool enough to get any kind of effect.
Published at Cosmos 14 November 2006.
Published at Cosmos 14 November 2006.
But can they tell how many donuts I ate last week?
I'd like to see them try. Some researchers have examined ancient teeth to find out what ye olde hominid ate.
Published at Cosmos 10 November 2006.
Published at Cosmos 10 November 2006.
Intervention bad?
Some psychologists believe that if scared rats are any indication of human behaviour, we shouldn't rush in to treat the fears of recently traumatised people. Hmmm.
Published at Cosmos 8 November 2006.
Published at Cosmos 8 November 2006.
Surprise, surprise: erotic images are popular
This story about attention, racy pictures, and undergrads received thousands of hits. Did it deserve them?
Published at Cosmos 24 October 2006.
Published at Cosmos 24 October 2006.
Is colour blind?
This story is about whether people partition colours into the same lexical space across cultures. Read it, if you can.
Published at Cosmos 17 October 2006.
Published at Cosmos 17 October 2006.
Ant algorithms are adaptable.
I quite enjoyed this story. Researchers playing ant god, nest selection - it has it all.
Published at Cosmos 12 October 2006.
Published at Cosmos 12 October 2006.
Lazy sperm
Sluggish sperm. Low sperm counts. Blanks shooting. It's all here. And it's about mitochondria, people!
Published at Cosmos 3 October 2006.
Published at Cosmos 3 October 2006.
Burn the mouse, don't burn the mouse
Hope for pale skinned humans? Or cruel prank on albino mice? You be the judge.
Published at Cosmos 22 September 2006.
Published at Cosmos 22 September 2006.
Ice to see you
Cryonics in Australia? Get in now before the rush (and invest in alpacas while you're at it).
Published at Cosmos 4 September 2006.
Published at Cosmos 4 September 2006.
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