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Entertainment & Gaming

Knock Knock: Who's Funnier? Republicans or Democrats?

By Rachel Durfee Posted on 4.2.2009 15 Comments
If a man walks into a bar….who laughs? Liberals or conservatives? Dan Ariely, a psychologist at Duke University, and Elisabeth Malin, a student at Mount Holyoke College, looked into just that question in a recent Boston study. The two came up with a list of 22 jokes – conventional, quirky, corny, clever, etc. – and tracked the reactions of about 300 people who were asked to rate the jokes on a scale of 1 (not funny at all) to 9 (hilarious).

11.13.2008 at 02:25pm - Comment by fermilab

Goes to Hell? Two wars and an economic meltdown the like of which has never been seen isn't Hell? What is it? Time flies like the wind, Fruit flies like bananas.
The Environment

Deserts in the Ocean

By the Editors of E - The Environmental Magazine Posted on 10.13.2008 15 Comments
Dear EarthTalk: What are these "ocean deserts" I've been hearing about? Also didn't I read that there was a huge mass of plastic bottles floating around somewhere on the ocean surface? -- Wally Mattson, Eugene, OR

10.17.2008 at 10:51am - Comment by fermilab

"Why on Earth would anybody believe anything that Al Gore has to say about anything intellectual or scientific? He didn't invent the internet or have anything to do with it. The internet was developed at C.E.R.N. a long time before Al Gore ever heard of it." First off, ad hominem. Second, Internet brought to you by DARPA, WWW brought to you by CERN. They are not the same beastie. Time flies like the wind, Fruit flies like bananas.
Science

In Defense of the LHC

By Posted on 3.18.2009 23 Comments
Today’s most ambitious scientific instruments are modern-day cathedrals in their size and complexity, if not in their purpose—these are, after all, structures built to shatter worldviews, not to reinforce them. And the grandest of all, pictured on these pages and fired into action today, will take us on a journey to one of the least-accessible places imaginable: the realm of quantum particles, less than a billionth the size of a single atom.

9.10.2008 at 01:28pm - Comment by fermilab

6 Billion for one LHC or 2.6 B2 bombers. Hmmm...discover the deepest secrets of the universe or kill more people...? You can't complain about this when money is wasted on the worst of items, including Halliburton contracts, corporate severence packages, and bridges to nowhere. Time flies like the wind, Fruit flies like bananas.
Entertainment & Gaming

PopSci 5-Minute-Project

By PopSci Staff Posted on 9.2.2008 3 Comments

9.5.2008 at 12:20pm - Comment by fermilab

I think the idea of books as sacred objects not to be trifled with is a holdover from pre-industrial days when owning a book was SOMETHING. Nowadays, there's 8 million more of them out there and probably four at the local Half Price Books or equivalent. It's just a book, soy ink on cheap paper with a shiny cover. If you need to build a temple to each book you've read and have them on display for all to see and be impressed by it's time to ease up a little. I suggesting giving them away to random people visiting your home. Start with the one you like the most, it's liberating. Full disclosure: my temple/bookshelf is about 50 books strong still but could be much larger.
Entertainment & Gaming

Rapping about CERN and... Bike Racks?

By Posted on 8.7.2008 2 Comments

8.8.2008 at 11:43am - Comment by fermilab

Thank god they have Ph.Ds to fall back on
Science

Prehistoric Explosions Wiped Out Ocean Life-- And Created Petroleum

By Posted on 7.26.2008 38 Comments
A new study by the University of Alberta suggests that a massive undersea volcano eruption 93 million years ago was the source of much of the world’s oil. Researchers Steven Turgeon and Robert Creaser were alerted to the prehistoric blast when they found specific levels of osmium isotopes (indicators of volcanic activity in sea water) in black shale rocks off the coast of South America and in the mountains of central Italy.

7.23.2008 at 02:42pm - Comment by fermilab

Alec Rawls: anti-oil policies of the mainstream left? So George W. Bush is now a mainstream liberal? He being the one to vastly increase the mandate of alternatively sourced fuels - while he still had power. You're bonkers. All the scientists know it? Even the one's who are "in on it"? You ever hear the term "follow the money"? You're double bonkers. Time flies like the wind, Fruit flies like bananas.
Cars

A Motorcycle You Can Wear

By Posted on 5.29.2008 15 Comments
The tripod is a fine and stable construct for photography and navigation, but how well will it work for motorcycles? We're not sure, but one student at California's Art Center Pasadena is challenging singletrack motorcycles and typical three-wheelers with an anthropomorphic, Yamaha-branded three wheeler concept called the Deus Ex Machina. The forward-looking personal conveyance is a mobile exoskeleton propelled by in-wheel electric motors—or, more succinctly, a trike you can wear.

5.30.2008 at 09:58am - Comment by fermilab

This is just the prototype. The production model will look like a motorcycle with three wheels and maybe some interesting lines. Time flies like the wind, Fruit flies like bananas.
Cars

Natural-Gas-Powered Cars Fetching Big Bucks Online

By Posted on 5.27.2008 8 Comments
We reported last week on how feebly powered, fuel-sipping 1990s-vintage hatchbacks have been lighting up the used car market recently due to skyrocketing gas prices. In an interesting twist to this phenomenon, I actually benefited myself somewhat from this hysteria when I had to sell my beloved natural-gas-powered 2006 Honda Civic GX last week on eBay, turning it into one of the smarter investments I made all year.

5.28.2008 at 02:52pm - Comment by fermilab

You mean, "doesn't hurt the environment as much." Natural gas is still a hydrocarbon although much cleaner than gasoline Time flies like the wind, Fruit flies like bananas.
The Environment

America's 50 Greenest Cities

By Posted on 2.14.2008 49 Comments
In the international alliance to fight climate change, the United States is considered the sullen loner. But in the seven years since we rejected Kyoto, changes have begun. Not at the federal level, however. Its the locals who are making it happen.

4.28.2008 at 09:19am - Comment by fermilab

It's interesting that the 50th place has scores of 2 for everything but recycling, one of the oldest green initiatives in the country. It's sad in a way, that such low numbers can put a place in the top 50. I live in Austin, which is pretty high, and from a policy perspective these brief pieces of information are telling. We could stand to bump up the transportation aspect and one point would put us one higher on the list. Of course, increasing every number would be best. Time flies like the wind, Fruit flies like bananas.