The Science Thread

It's one of my concerns too. Excessive use of cellphones was found to correlate with an increase in brain cancer. Study came out of Sweden and was before the widespread use of ear phones. A friend at work developed brain cancer and she was previously always on the phone.


But on the other hand, if that were true, almost everyone would have brain cancer. I don't think anyone is talking about an increase in morbidity, so maybe it just doesn't work that way
 
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(talking about Na atoms) "they ionize and recombine with electrons" - I thought the heat excited free electrons to an upper energy level, and the electron energy would be emitted when it gets back to its initial energy level (with the E=h.v relationship determining the wavelength)?

It's very fun, love those experiments too :)
 
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A simple and funny way to present quantum entanglement, one of the coolest findings of quantum mechanics.


I first read about that in The Quantum Story: A History in 40 Moments by Jim Baggott, a very interesting story of how that field of science was born and matured. It's not for everyone, but there's no equations, it's a history book first, I recommend to any curious scientific mind.
 
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I hope Mars works out. Then Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos can go and live on it.
 
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I hope Mars works out. Then Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos can go and live on it.
I'm afraid finding a few stromatolites won't be enough.

an incarnation of pibbur who admits that finding even just one stromatolite would be more than enough for him.

PS. I'm in general quite hostile to participating in high-risk activities (Mount Everest being there is not enough). One exception: If I was offered a trip to Mars, one-way trips included, I would go. Without doubt. DS.

PPS: Don't tell the wife. DS.
 
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I fear a pibbur may not enjoy the Musk-Bezos Martian Rapture, and I would be sad to see him abandon the planet.
 
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I fear a pibbur may not enjoy the Musk-Bezos Martian Rapture, and I would be sad to see him abandon the planet.

If I for once should be realistic, I assume that at level 66 other scenarios for leaving the planet is more likely, but hopefully not in the near future.

an incarnation of pibbur who doesn't want to be reminded of the likelyhood of him finishing his backlog, and the futility of buying new games.

PS. I have decided to live at least until 96 years. The reason: There are plans for replacing the current transsiberian railway by something Eurostar-like. I really would like to take that trip. Last time I checked, current plans suggest the high-speed solution will be implemented by 2050. DS.
 
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I had bought for myself the BRitish Archaeology magazine , the Jauary/February one.

In it there is an extansive summary of how the environment of Stonehenge was built up within centuries, and the site itself, as well.

A 4 volume thing is planned for gathering up all that research that has been done within the last 10 years.

Volume 1, the article states, "can be read for free at www.sidestone.com/books/stonehenge-for-the-ancestors-part-1 "
The books are said to be published by " Sidestone Press, 2020 ".

As a printed book, it is not cheap at all, imho. (Although I have seen much worse prices for academic books. I always hold the position that high book prices can be seen as a means to keep knowledge away from the lower social classes who are not able to pay such proces. Then, then, there are also public libraries, although academic books are seldom to be found in public libraries.)
 
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I had bought for myself the BRitish Archaeology magazine , the Jauary/February one.

In it there is an extansive summary of how the environment of Stonehenge was built up within centuries, and the site itself, as well.

A 4 volume thing is planned for gathering up all that research that has been done within the last 10 years.

Volume 1, the article states, "can be read for free at www.sidestone.com/books/stonehenge-for-the-ancestors-part-1 "
The books are said to be published by " Sidestone Press, 2020 ".
Interesting link, Alrik.

As a printed book, it is not cheap at all, imho. (Although I have seen much worse prices for academic books. I always hold the position that high book prices can be seen as a means to keep knowledge away from the lower social classes who are not able to pay such proces. Then, then, there are also public libraries, although academic books are seldom to be found in public libraries.)

I disagree.

First of all, there are a lot of popular science books covering almost any field of science, and written in a language that's understandable for anyone with an interest. Not particularly expensive.

Regarding academic books, they come out in very small editions, because there aren't that many buyers. This makes them necessarily more expensive than books for the common markets. Besides, because they're written for the needs of experts or students in the discipline, they're not necessarily easy to understand without knowledge in the field.

Wanna learn human anatomy? There's the classic Gray's Anatomy, costing 150USD. One of the best anatomy books, I used it during med school for neuroanatomy and embryology. But I would only recommend it to people studying anatomy or professionals in the field (well, the latter group probably have it already). 1600 huuuge pages filled with an extreme amount of details. Back then I thought I had really done a lot of work if I managed to read 4 pages in a day.

Or you could buy "Anatomy & Physiology For Dummies", 250 pages, much more easy to understand. Price: 13USD.

Don't be scared/offended by the "for Dummies" title. Many of these books are quite good, I've bought several of them when I wanted a quick introduction to something.

an incarnation of pibbur who claims to know the names of all (with 3 or 4 exceptions) the 200 bones of the body which are covered in standard anatomy books. Gray's probably contain more.
 
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Regarding academic books, they come out in very small editions, because there aren't that many buyers. This makes them necessarily more expensive than books for the common markets. Besides, because they're written for the needs of experts or students in the discipline, they're not necessarily easy to understand without knowledge in the field.

Well, partly that depends on the field. I alw<ays wanted to dig deeper into some areas of Archaeology, but I never found books at an affordable price. Or with other parts of science.

Of course I could go into the university's library, and read books there.

I think that I'm a niche no-one thinks about : The enthuisiast, who has had a little bit of expert knowledge, but wants to expand that. Through reading books.

But I can't expand it that easily, because of my working time I can't go into a library at any time, and at the same time I can't afford buying certain books.

For example, the newest translation of the Beowulf only lists English-language books. Even although the translator appears to be German.
He doesn't even list the German translation of the Essay of Tolkien on Beowulf, although it exists ( I have read it ). So, if I want to expand my knowledge on the Bowulf, I have to read it in English, because there is no German-language book available. And that even although a partial translation into the German language is cited in the annotations of that new translation.

And that's just an example.

Even although the sitiation has gradually improved within the recent decades, writing "popular science books" still seems to be frowned upon in the German academic areas. I often wrote rants about that already. But there still is enough NOT to get.

For example, I don't even know a German-language book on how the Bible actually evolved. The Septuaginta translated into German language is not cheap.

And I believe that this is also the reason why projects like "OpenScience" have evolved in the first place . Because science book editors are sitting on their monopoly status and most certainly don't want to make lesser prices. everyone who wants a ceretain book HAS to pay those prices - because of "knowledge monopoly" ! To me, that's some kind of blackmail : "If you want that book, well, then youi'll have to pay OUR prices." I assume that OpenScience has evolved to battle that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_science


Quoted from there :

Proponents of open science identify a number of barriers that impede or dissuade the broad dissemination of scientific data.[14] These include financial paywalls of for-profit research publishers, restrictions on usage applied by publishers of data, poor formatting of data or use of proprietary software that makes it difficult to re-purpose, and cultural reluctance to publish data for fears of losing control of how the information is used.[14][15]
 
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