Science Quotations

There are lots more quotes at naturalscience.com.

clipped from naturalscience.com Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth Bierce, Ambrose An inventor is a person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization Boltzman, Ludwig The most ordinary things are to philosophy a source of insoluble puzzles Churchill, Winston S. ...man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but usually manages to pick himself up, walk over or around it, and carry on Einstein, Albert (Written in old age) I have never belonged wholeheartedly to a country, a state, nor to a circle of friends, nor even to my own family. Frisch, Max Technology is the knack of so arranging the world that we do not experience it John Paul II, Pope (Karol Wojtyla) Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes Kaku, Michio of all the theories proposed in this century, the silliest is quantum theory the only thing that quantum theory has going for it is that it is unquestionably correct

Abbott and Costello Math Problem

Thanks to GeDeGe for posting this on clipmarks. The math is atrocious but, as always, Abbott and Costello are funny.

clipped from ie.youtube.com 13 times 7 equals 28. lol

Water Crisis

clipped from news.yahoo.com WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - An epic drought in Georgia threatens the water supply for millions. Florida doesn't have nearly enough water for its expected population boom. The Great Lakes are shrinking. Upstate New York's reservoirs have dropped to record lows. And in the West, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is melting faster each year. Across America, the picture is critically clear — the nation's freshwater supplies can no longer quench its thirst. The government projects that at least 36 states will face water shortages within five years because of a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, urban sprawl, waste and excess.

Cassini Photo of Saturn

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com October 15, 2007—While en route to study Saturn's two-tone moon Iapetus, the NASA/ESA space probe Cassini spun around last month to take this snapshot of the ringed planet. Orbiting Saturn, Cassini is in the middle of the greatest natural laboratory accessible to us in space," project scientist Dennis Matson with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a press release. "With its rings, dozens of moons, and magnetic environment, Saturn is like a mini solar system."

The Future Is Drying Up

Thanks to debbyski for posting this on clipmarks.

clipped from www.nytimes.com Draining The 100-foot-high bathtub ring left by the dwindling waters of Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam. Scientists sometimes refer to the effect a hotter world will have on this country’s fresh water as the other water problem, because global warming more commonly evokes the specter of rising oceans submerging our great coastal cities. By comparison, the steady decrease in mountain snowpack — the loss of the deep accumulation of high-altitude winter snow that melts each spring to provide the American West with most of its water — seems to be a more modest worry. But not all researchers agree with this ranking of dangers In the Southwest this past summer, the outlook was equally sobering. A catastrophic reduction in the flow of the Colorado River — which mostly consists of snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains — has always served as a kind of thought experiment for water engineers, a risk situation from the outer edge of their practical imaginations. Some 30 million people depend on that water.

Brain Can Only Pay Attention for 40 Minutes

I've known for years that my attention span in my graduate math classes has an upper limit of 45 minutes (probably a little less since the lecture usually doesn't start exactly on time). In situations where I don't have to pay attention continuously, I know my attention drifts in and out much more frequently than every 40 minutes or so, but if I already pretty much know what's going on, it doesn't matter much. I think the findings reported in this clip are significant in situations in which very careful attention to every detail is very important -- trying to follow a math proof, airport security, ...

clipped from www.sciencedaily.com Psychologists are finding out that even when people try to focus on a task they tend to lose concentration within 40 minutes, and sometimes as little as 10 minutes. The studies are based on a new technique, called transcranial Doppler sonography, that uses ultrasound to monitor blood flow velocity in the brain. The technique could be turned into a warning system for workers who perform critical tasks -- such as pilots or air traffic controllers -- or even for drivers. Distractions can break anyone's concentration, but new research shows what happens in your brain can, too. The phenomenon is such that the more you look, the less you see transcranial Doppler sonography (TDS). The device measures blood flow velocity in the brain researchers saw a decrease in blood-flow velocity over time, and, therefore, a decrease in attention Warm believes the study results can be helpful for the military, security workers, air traffic controllers and many others

Possible Solutions to Atlanta Water Crisis

This continues from the same article as the previous clip -- I thought it was important enough to do one clip on the problem and one on possible solutions.

clipped from www.adn.com Former Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat who was defeated in 2002, told reporters this week that he had planned to offer grants to fix leaks that waste millions of gallons of water each year. He also said he planned to build three new state reservoirs in north and west Georgia to help insulate the state from a future water crisis It seems the idea of building state reservoirs is gaining steam in the Legislature as Georgia's battle with the Corps over federal reservoirs heats up. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said he favors building more regional reservoirs shared by multiple communities to harness the 50 trillion gallons of water that fall over Georgia each year. start using more "purple water" - waste water that is partially treated and can be used for irrigation, fire fighting and uses other than drinking all outdoor watering across was banned across the northern half of the state, restaurants were asked to serve water only at a customer's request take shorter showers