Category Archives: Science

WERE LEATHER HELMETS BETTER?

WERE LEATHER HELMETS BETTER? I have posted a number of times on the use of head by football players in making tackles. I began with this post which said that: “With better football helmets, the use of the head to … Continue reading

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PAINTING AN AVERAGE UNIVERSE.

PAINTING AN AVERAGE UNIVERSE. I encountered the study of the average color of the universe from this article by Edward Tenner in the Atlantic about Jonathon Keats, a conceptual artist who has taken to heart the findings of the study. … Continue reading

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THE AVERAGE COLOR OF THE UNIVERSE.

THE AVERAGE COLOR OF THE UNIVERSE. I began this blog five years ago today with a post on the sound of the Big Bang (which can be heard every day in the form of radio static). I posted here about … Continue reading

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VERTEX.

VERTEX. This article about Foldit by Alan Boyle on msnbc.com tells about a computerized tool called “Blue Fuse,” which checks whether a protein molecule is in its highest-scoring configuration. “Blue Fuse takes the code for a molecule folded in a … Continue reading

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FOLDIT REVISITED—ANOTHER SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENT FOR GAMERS.

FOLDIT REVISITED—ANOTHER SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENT FOR GAMERS. I have posted before, most recently here, on Foldit, “a videogame with 57,000 registered users, in which players score points by finding chemically stable configurations for chains of protein molecules.” The link from two … Continue reading

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COPPER AND HOSPITAL INFECTIONS.

COPPER AND HOSPITAL INFECTIONS. I have posted several times, including here, about the need for efforts to reduce hospital infections by cleaning surfaces and washing hands. TAtyana Shumsky in the Wall Street Journal (October 24) reports that a new study … Continue reading

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WATCHING OUT FOR GERMS.

WATCHING OUT FOR GERMS. Kids, over 60 years ago, my favorite magazine was Highlights for Children, primarily for the hidden pictures feature. There was always an article in Highlights about the dangers of germs, which could be on any public … Continue reading

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CASH INCENTIVES FOR GRADES.

CASH INCENTIVES FOR GRADES. Sam Dillon had an article in the New York Times (October 2) about the success of a national program which pays students and teachers for success on AP exams ($100 to a student with a passing … Continue reading

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WAS THE RED SOX COLLAPSE A ONE IN 278 MILLION EVENT?

WAS THE RED SOX COLLAPSE A ONE IN 278 MILLION EVENT? The 278 million figure is fun to think about, and the events were dramatic. One home run by potentially the last batter in one of the games was by … Continue reading

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APOPHENIA AND SPORTS JOURNALISM.

APOPHENIA AND SPORTS JOURNALISM. In yesterday’s cartoon, the first character says: “A weighted random number generator just produced a new batch of numbers.” The other character replies: “Let’s use them to build narratives.” The caption at the bottom says: “ALL … Continue reading

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