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A Strange Symptom Of Smoking Cessation, Watery Footprints, Bird Deaths, Bulk Metallic Glasses, Modified Theory Of Gravity, And Much More…
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This Week in Nano Medicine (Thanks, Ed and Monkey)
Planets in the making (Thanks, Ed)
50 billion exoplanets in the Milky Way (Thanks, Dale, David)
Minion mailbag
From minion Davey – “Just wanted to clear up something on Watson, it didn’t have a single microphone. So of course it couldn’t hear what the other contestants were saying and it can’t actually understand human speech. Clues were sent to Watson via text at the same time the clue was read to the humans and then after the question it was sent the right answer by text as well. The break through was in parsing the important parts of the question from all the word play that is used in the clue. There is a real nice documentary about Watson that can be found here”
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Did Justing mean to say (a few times) that the fledglings being eaten by cats were catbirds? They have that name because their native call sounds like a cat mewing, so may get extra attention from cats.
On overfed cats hunting better because they still have the instinct, overfed cats are like overfed people. They don’t run and jump so well.
Compliments to Pamela ! A Worthy replacement for Dr. Kiki for the time being, that was a great show! I almost didn’t miss Kirsten (almost)…
I loved the remarks as to Dr. K.’s grand experiment and the fulfillment of it these days, what a marvelous way to put it…
Justin, you seemed a bit off your game… Some crossover Worried-Dada vibes shaken your soul ?
All the best wishes ten-tothepower-infinite to Kirsten and Kai / Nano ! Please take your time to get rested and settled in, however much we all miss you (I know i do… a LOT)…
(water footprint) transcribed “we’er running out of water” on a planet that has 70% water coverage on its surface, where do you find these reality challenged eco nutter’s ?
Just because we have water covering 70% of the planet doesn’t mean that it is usable water. Most of it is salt water that requires massive amounts of energy (equivalent to massive amounts of money) to make drinkable. You are right that the shortage is not in water, per say, but rather fresh water that humans can use. We are going to see massive political issues around the globe in the future if we don’t find scientific answers to the problem of how to purify waste and salt water in a rapid, economical way.
Modified Theory Of Gravity (MOND)
Here is the short: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/01/dark-matter-is-alive-and-well-thankyouverymuch/ (2)
And the long of it: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2011/02/26/dark-matter-just-fine-thanks/ (1)
McGaugh’s recent paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/1102.3913 (3)
Original press release: https://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/scitech/release.cfm?ArticleID=2352 (4)
McGaugh mostly sounds good in this press release, but here he’s throwing stones from the roof of his glass house!
MOND introduces new fields, just like Cosmic Inflation.
But, since it doesn’t concern its self with predicting a correct CMBR, MOND is MORE adjustable than Cosmic Inflation.
Cosmic Inflation is RESTRICTED to the amount of dark matter to account for the observed spectra of the CMBR.
MOND does not, and can NEVER predict the correct CMBR, so it can be tweaked freely without worry on how the CMBR prediction will be effected!
This is the only example I fully understand myself, but it seems Carroll proposes several more in his post…
Not so! There are things in nature that won’t fit any curve.
For example, iodine-125 has a half-life of 59 days.
You can predict that half of your vile containing iodine-125 will have decayed in 2 months.
But, if you plot individual decay events, they will be spread out, not centered around 59 days.
One trick in science is finding things that DO fit a curve, and creating models to describe them.
In this case, comparing the number of events in a given period will give you a nice curve indeed!
Also, there are an infinite number of models which CANNOT be made to fit observations, no matter how you tweak their parameters.
MOND is a nifty thing and can be made to fit some observations surprisingly well, but alas, not all of them.
In order to compare MOND models with Dark Matter models, you have to look at the equations.
You have to talk about all those details that never seem to make it into an episode of TWIS.
Reading headlines and press releases is nice, but talking about the physical details is (IMHO) even better!
Justin, you misunderstand MOND.
It would please me greatly if you would do a little research before spouting complete nonsense on the air!
Justin, here’s another great quote from Carroll’s recent post, please consider it:
Predicting the correct CMBR? Why for?
Predictions are what make illusions possible…
And its a tricky thing in science because we are able to predict many things with science and somehow want science to be a predictive art… but it isnt.
Its an investigative process that allows us to understand patterns in nature, in matter and throughout the universe. Once observed, once understood, you can plot out where things will be, what the will do over time, space etc.
I am not a MOND theorist, but I like anything that can offer further evidence that the current theory is not the only way of looking at the universe.
Sean Carroll is awesome, we’ve had him as a guest a few times. But I think he often contridicts himself in terms of “hanging onto a theory because they want to believe it”
He knows the current theory is failing to explain things, yet has a firm grip on it.
I look at something like the Bullet Cluster and see zero evidence for Dark Matter… I just see gravity/warped space.
is this where i can say congratulations to kirsten?
if so: “congratulations, kirsten!!!”
plus, we miss you!
🙂
Because it’s there, in nature! Duh!
Any correct theory has to predict it.
Honestly, I have no idea what you mean by this.
Prediction, along with observation, make up the backbone of science!
Sure, MOND is another way of looking at the universe.
The Christian faith is yet another way of looking at the universe, too!
Maybe next week you can read some bible passages on the air? 😉
Oh, come on. You’re better than this, Justin.
I listen to your radio show, and I hear zero evidence for intelligence.
When you have read the paper, and have specific criticisms, I’ll be all ears.
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0309303
Look, Justin, I get it. You’re anti-establishment.
Stop imposing your personal ignorance already.