BBC Science Documentary – 60 minutes

Once again the Brits excel in explaining the unexplainable. This time it’s all about numbers and infinity. Sounds boring? Think again.

Watch it before it disappears – and if your bandwidth allows it watch it directly in HD.

This years extreme winter has encouraged many (American) doubters to say "Global Warming" doesn’t exist. "Hey it’s so COLD and so much SNOW outside, how can there be global WARMING …"

First of all: it should be called Climate Change – and Climate Change only!

Second: Actually more heat causes more water in the Oceans to evaporate. All that water has to come down somewhere. So in winter that water comes down as snow. It’s that easy to understand …

The Green Movement – digging up dirt on the industrial lifestyle for 30 years …

The Green Movement started to flex it’s political muscles about 30 years ago here in Europe and became a serious power for change.

Alternative ideas have been around since the early 1960’s (like the Gaia hypothesis) and developed into a serious, but tiny political idea in the early 1970’s like the Club of Rome. 1968 saw worldwide student protests, but it took another ten years to transform these ideas and many splinter groups into a (more or less) coherent political movement called the Greens.

Strangely enough it was Germany, were the Green Movement had it’s first major impact – a country hardly known for revolutions and a big hunger for change.

The Green Party (Die Grünen) was the last big political Grassroots movement here in Germany (no, I don’t count the Re-Unification as such).

It was born out of a mixture of the strong peace movement (fuelled by the rage against stationing the Pershing II missiles in Germany), the 1968-Student-Protesters turned activists in the 1970’s  and the new alternative green culture (who fought for example for years in huge battles against the Police to stop a new terminal for the airport in Frankfurt).

Damn Hippies … oh wait – these are real politicians and they actually achieved something.

Compared to traditional parties the Greens really cared about pollution, saving the planet and new global social ideas. They were the first to advance the ideas to protect nature as well as the consumers on the table and later into law.

The Greens were part of a bigger cultural change in Germany (and later worldwide) – that was quite different from the extreme Left (like the Baader-Meinhof-Group) and re-emerging Neo-Nazis from the right.

We are not the old mainstream – we are going to be the new green mainstream …

Even "normal" people saw the need to fight pollution and simply get better food for their families.

The 1970’s and 1980’s showed us that Science and it’s industrial application were far from perfect.

Scandals like Pesticides in Mother’s Milk and most of all Chernobyl disaster showed us that these dangers were real and could no longer be ignored.

The Green Movement also introduced new and not so new esoteric ideas and thinking to the mainstream.

Slowly, but surely things like crystals for improving your health, your very own homeopathic emergency kit or working with "energy" became acceptable even to "non-hippies".

Are there any crystals that can heal stupidity?

Suddenly "old & ancient" ideas made a big comeback – often with a huge commercial campaigns behind them. We saw an explosion of things like Yoga Studios, Feng Shui Consultants and Ayurveda Shampoos.

The Green movement had always a pagan and slightly naive and childish "connection to mother nature", but smart old fashioned and new alternative companies made huge amounts of money with the people’s desire to be "greener" and less "violent" to nature (and save some cute animals on the way).

The Media always loved Green Protests, because they sell and make everybody feel good.

Although the Green movement (often in cooperation with activists from groups like Green Peace) presented hard scientific facts to underline their arguments, the Green Mainstream also cultivated a new form of pseudo-religious Green Guilt or Doomsday panic.

Like the Catholic Church (and many other religious institutions) the Green Movement as well as Green Companies have exploited the Green Guilt and Fear for the Environment.

The Mass Media also loves to exploit the Green Doomsday Fears.

One of the most overused images of green campaigns.

It’s easy to make fun of the Green Guilt and some of the stupider fringes of the Green Movement. Overall it was and still is a great political power that changed a lot!

Just walk in any Western Supermarket and you find many green / organic products that are usually way better than processed food.

Also environmental laws to protect nature have vastly improved in the last 30 years – thanks to the Green Movement and many crazy Green Campaigns. Conserving our Bio Diversity has become a mainstream agenda.

The Sunflower – symbol for Green Politics.

Globalization (and the protest against it) and Fair Trade are important topics thanks to the Green Movement (and no thanks to many so called Socialist Parties, who were slow to spot that "trend").

The whole topic of sustainable growth (LOHAS) is also born out of Green Ideas.

The Green Revolution has still a long way to go. There is still a lack of strong Green Parties in big countries like US or UK. Countries like China or Russia hardly care about Green Ideas, although they slowly adapt some measures to fight climate change.

Let’s see how much the Green Movement can achieve till 2030? The first 30 years were pretty impressive …

BBC Documentary about those little buggers that can kill us. Highly recommended!

Crittercams are not just for our pets, but can be used to serious science as well. I love this example – watch the video.

A great mash up with some of my greatest heroes. Where is our next Carl Sagan?

Thanks to S. Quinn for sharing this with me.

Click image for more moonlight.

Billions of years our faithful companion led a quiet life, but 40 years ago humanity invaded the moon.

This giant step for mankind was actual mostly symbolical and technological. The American Space Program resulted in many new technologies (ball pen etc.) that improved our daily lives.

I suspect it will take another century before humanity really gets a grip on the moon with permanent settlements and mining operations (yes, the moon has many rare elements that earth doesn’t have).

Still one of my greatest heroes: he was smart, kind and fiercely curious. We need more people like him so we can progress as a species and see the cosmos like it is without the fog of myths and religion.

BBC News: Women ‘fight off disease better’

So we guys are indeed poor little bunnies, need a lot of care and medicine to get back to full macho power:

Men really do have an excuse for supposedly being wimpy about coughs and colds – their immune systems are not as strong as women’s, research suggests.

A Canadian study indicates that the female sex hormone oestrogen gives women’s immune systems added bite at fighting off infection.

Oestrogen seems to counter an enzyme which blocks the inflammatory process.

Would you be brave or mad enough to fly into space in a tiny capsule, hardly protected from radiation and the vacuum?

Telegrapgh.co.uk: Photographing meals ‘could help weight loss’

Slimmers began to eat healthier food when they were asked to take a picture of what they were eating, scientists found.

The pictures appear to have concentrated the dieters’s mind at just the right time, before they were about to eat, the researchers who carried out the study believe.

Photographs were also more effective at encouraging volunteers to watch what they ate than traditional written food diaries.

To test if encouraging slimmers to photograph everything they eat might also encourage them to change their diet, scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison asked

43 people to record what they ate for one week in pictures as well as in words.

When the volunteers were later quizzed the photo diary appeared more effective at encouraging them to change their eating habits to more healthy alternatives.

The photographs also acted as a powerful reminder of any snacking binges, the researchers found.

If this helps I’ll make even TWO snaps of every bite I’ll take.

By the way: the Mousse and the Sacher Torte were brilliant – but so far I have experienced no weightloss from the photos I have taken.

L.A. Times: Math scores for girls and boys no different, study finds

I wonder how many more decades and centuries we have to work on all these stupid UNTRUE stereotypes to disappear?

BBC News: NASA’s 50 years in Space (Videos)

The dogmatic search for a better future was the driving force of the 20th century.

Let’s go back to the Age of Enlightenment that was driven by new insights and lofty goals for humanity. It was the time of colonialism, conquests and the true start of globalization. Although under the brutal direction of European Colonials the world was for the first time completely explored, connected and aware of each other.

Excuse me, we are nice colonists and are looking for a place to build a spaceport.

But it was also the Age of Humanitarianism, when we realized that King & Country were not eternal and that humanity needed better tools and ideals to guide itself into the future. One outcome of this new Idealism was the French Revolution as well as the United States of America – a totally new way to govern modern societies.

Compared to the former religious societies our Forefathers suddenly had “mental space” for a different and better future. Under Religion and Royals there was no “improving” future as we know it today. There was only the continuation of yesterday until Judgement Day. Any change driven by human ideas was considered blasphemy and unnecessary – since everything was nicely arranged in God’s perfect plan.

Move aside God – we need space for the future …

The Industrial Age of the 19th Century with it’s incredible social and scientific achievements where the ultimate proof that “God was dead” (Nietzsche) and that the nation state transcended Religion and Kings. The eternal plan was scraped, finally there was a Future and the mental space for real progress.

Already in the early Industrial Age authors like Jules Verne established many modern visions of a technological future: underwater cities, submarines, flying machines, rockets and interplanetary travel. All based on the work of daring scientists and engineers.

New political and social sciences radically changed western cultures: Psychology, Socialism, Mass Production, Consumerism and Individualism transformed the old Democracies into new powerful nation states.

He didn’t built any rockets, but he was one of many important fathers of modern science.

All new political ideas like Socialism, Communism and a new modern (Market) Capitalism were based new insights and sciences available at the time. Even Fascism got many of it’s ideas from science, especially from Darwinism and most of all Social Darwinism – which lead to the dreadful science of Eugenics.

Small side note: Social Darwinism has actually not invented by him – it was rather based on Herbert Spencer, Thomas Malthus, and Francis Galton work. It was first just a very convenient way to justify Colonialism and the Class System.

Sorry, your nose is too big to be an Aryan or an Astronaut.

Nevertheless – Science was established as the ultimate method to build a better life. Our future depended on better science and technology. Our Forefathers were delighted and enchanted by all the exciting new discoveries.

Already in the 1920’s and 1930’s a new kind of Futurism swept through America, Europe and some parts of Asia. Freud’s psychology fascinated people all over the western world and the although the great Depression was a terrible event for everybody modern Consumerism started to thrive in that time too.

Modern Consumerism always demanded High Tech.

But there was also a cultural Futurism (not to be confused with the Italian Futurism). Thanks to new forms of Mass Media (especially comics, radio and cinemas) science fiction presented a glorious technological future to the masses. Hero’s like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers and many others showed the way to the Future – first as comics, then as radio serials and later as movies.

Interestingly enough: early science fiction (in literature and on the screen) adopted Democracy and Humanitarianism as the ultimate choice for any lifeform. Technology and science as tools to archive the best way of life. This message is ultimately portrayed in the movie “Things to Come” (1936).

I am sure evil Ming’s military never faced NASA’s budget cuts!

The terrible conflicts of ideas first dismantled the old colonial powers in WWI and WWII. Both wars showed that science and technology was the ultimate weapon. The future belonged to flying machines, atomic power and electronics.

Many weapons invented in WWII are still stranger then (science) fiction like flying saucers. But the Cold War fathered even stranger and more futuristic machinery: like the atomic bomber, killer satellites or stealth fighters.

The space age already started with Wernher von Braun and his terrible V-2 rocket in 1942. But this was really only the beginning …

There is one small reason for NASA’s existence: Sputnik.

In the 1950’s rockets and spacemen were already deeply embedded into the public’s mind through science fiction and popular science. But on October 4, 1957 it all become real with the launch of Sputnik. Hardly a year later the Americans founded NASA on July 29, 1958. The space age finally took off with full power.

Once again the chimps got there before us!

From the 1950’s till the mid 1980’s popular culture and media was shaped by science, technology and science fiction. From Sputnik to the Space Shuttle and from Captain Kirk to Star Wars – it was the Age of happy technology and unlimited possibilities.

Star Wars 1977 not only my personal turning point in my childhood …

Every boys dream was to become an Astronaut. Being smart or even being a Scientist was considered cool. Building stuff that actually worked was even cooler. Toys like chemistry sets, rocket kits or ever complex LEGO machinery were best sellers.

Totally out of fashion today: being an Astronaut. Not as cool as being a Rapper or Supermodel.

I was born 1967 – I was two years old when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Too young to really watch it. But I do remember that I watched every bit of “space anything”, science fiction or scientific program on the telly.

Until the mid 1980’s my generation grew up on a positive vision of the future, science and technology. Sure – already in the 1970’s the Hippies questioned our modern lifestyle – but it was not until the start and success of the green movement that this positive and uncritical vision was replaced with a more darker, distrusting and often strangely esoteric vision of the future.

I am still in my heart a spaceman, but I guess that era is over.

Documentary / Fiction – 1hour 46minutes – 1990 – the sound is a bit out of sync in the second half

I am a huge fan of James Burke – he is one of the great writers and thinker who can connect the dots and explain it all to mere mortals like myself. A science historian and TV producer with an impressive resume.

The first part is an excellent analysis of human history and how the weather influenced human development and history – and he we have influenced the weather. The second part is more fictional – a docu drama if you will – how a global climate watchdog battles global warming and which measures have to be done to change our current unsustainable lifestyle.

This two part series "After the Warming" was produced 1990 – and it freaked me out.

First – it shocked me, that he had already such an insight and clear suggestions in the year 1990, when hardly anyone – and certainly not the mass media – was talking about climate change and global warming.

Second – his "predictions" or better say insights are spot on, especially watching it now almost 20 years after it has been produced.

Third – we have already wasted so much time to change our lifestyle and we are still far behind what would actually be possible to re-balance the weather system.

Although the quality of the video isn’t brilliant – the content is. So please watch it.

Several years ago a cargo ship lost thousands or rubber ducks in the ocean. Fifteen years they arrived at the English Coast.

But the ducklings long journey actually helped scientists to track the currents of the oceans.

Maybe I start a science project like this myself – the next time my rubber duck and I go for a swim …

We regard Newton as one of the greatest scientists of all time: he discovered Gravity and invented calculus. Each one of these would already secured him a place in history.

But he was obsessed with religion and exploring "Gods" creation – he actually wrote more theological texts than scientific ones.

In his time science and religion were still closely tied together. Every professor in Cambridge had to become a Minister in the Church of England – he hated that idea and was freed from that duty.

BBC News: Biscuits ‘key’ to clinching business deals

About four out of five UK businesses believe the type of biscuit they serve to potential clients could clinch the deal or make it crumble, a survey says.

The outcome of a meeting could be influenced by the range and quality of biscuits, according to 1,000 business professionals quizzed by Holiday Inn.

The chocolate digestive was deemed to make the best impression followed by shortbread and Hob Nobs.

Lawyers were most impressed by good boardroom biccies, the survey added.

One has to wonder: a.) how predictable we humans are and b.) what kind of stupid research our scientists do.

But nevertheless – inviting your client or business partner for a cookie or a nice lunch or a hot brothel – physical pleasures and gratifications have always helped to close a deal.

This is how we do science in Europe – those religious nuts don’t know what they are missing!

This video is part of the Marie Curie Actions – a program designed to promote research and obviously science.

And you know how Madame Curie was – dontacha?

BBC News: Formula ’secret of perfect voice’

Researchers say they have worked out a mathematical formula to find the perfect human voice.

Interesting article – make sure to listen the male and female computer voices. They sounds very posh – and a bit gay to me.

I am wondering if the "perfect voice" is as much a "trend" as are certain looks?

Click image for a larger version.

Even when you have only the slightest interest in science this image should make you shivers: you find here some of the greatest brains of the last century in one image.

The fifth Solvay conference  is famous for Heisenberg’s breakthroughs (some more info here) and some hot discussions about God and his games.

Our world still hasn’t fully digested all the insights of quantum physics. We still struggle to glue it all together. We have made tremendous progress in the last 80 years to understand how the universe works – but we still lack a unifying theory for everything. But it will come.

Wikipedia says that there are currently 7.500 different types of Apples. One would think that’s a lot, especially since most super markets only offer three or five different brands (how many can you name from memory?). According to some articles / sources we had over 10.000 or even 20.000 varieties not just a hundred years ago.

The problem of loosing bio diversity is very serious. Some varieties have genes that might withstand a new illness or virus that threatens a specific plant or animal.

Sounds to scientific to you? Just remember that we still don’t know what is killing bees in such huge numbers in the US and Europe. if we would loose some more bees plant pollination would be insufficient and food production would be greatly reduced. Hanger and starvation would be result for man and animals.

Another example: lets say a new fungus develops that kills most of the rice crops in Asia. A huge famine would be the result.

So we need bio diversity to ensure that some plants and animals are resistant to some threats – so we can cross breeds these species with weaker ones.

Every species and variety we loose is a direct threat to our own survival.

Great insight found at the New Scientist:

It is a chicken and egg question – did mammals evolve nutritional milk before or after they abandoned yolky eggs?

“Milk was originally for egg wetting,” says Henrik Kaessman at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Instead of a hard shell, the first mammalian eggs had a parchment-like covering which mothers rolled in milk to prevent them drying out, he says.

Today, placental and marsupial mammals nourish their newborn young with milk containing a calcium-packed protein called casein.

Makes total sense to me.

Adam Curtis / documentary / ca 44 minutes

From Wikipedia:

An insight into the history of nuclear power. In the 1950s scientists and politicians thought they could create a different world with a limitless source of nuclear energy. But things began to go wrong. Scientists in America and the Soviet Union were duped into building dozens of potentially dangerous plants. Then came the disasters of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl which changed views on the safety of this new technology.

More? Pandora’s Box Series

Adam Curtis / documentary / ca 44 minutes

From Wikipedia:

A modern fable about science and society, focusing on our attitude to nature. Should we let scientists be the prime movers of social or political change when, for instance, DDT made post-war heroes of American scientists only to be put on trial by other scientists in 1968? What kind of in-fighting goes on between rival camps before one scientific truth emerges, and when it does emerge, just how true is it?

More? Pandora’s Box Series

Do you like science? Do you like interesting experiments? Cool! Than go and visit Robert Krampf – who has a magnificent website up with many videos. Highly recommended for small and big science nerds …

He was born 8th of January 1942 – and I consider him one of the greatest minds alive in our times.

When Stephen Hawkings took this zero-g trip last year I was thrilled with joy. I deeply admire Mr Hawkings for scientific work and his bravery facing his disability.

I guess we can hardly imagine what weightlessness means and feels like for someone slumped in his wheelchair all day. Since Hawkings is also a big space nerd this trip is – for the moment – the closest he can get to being in outer space. But maybe Virgin Galactic will take him and many others a bit further out pretty soon.

Apart from computers everywhere and portable communication devices the future ain’t how it was sold to me as a kid. But maybe I am simply stuck in that 1950’s – 60’s space age mentality?

But who wanted to have global climate change and the return of religious fundamentalism in the future?

I want that vision of a happy, clean, secular, social, healthy and progressive future back! Damn it!

Documentary / Channel 4 / 55+ minutes

It’s always good to check from time to time who you are and who we are. Some nice insights about humans, apes, brains and our heritage in this documentary.

Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens sat down and had a nice chat about Atheism, Science and Religion. Certainly a great crowd pleaser for the anti-religious faction.

First hour of the discussion:

Second hour of the discussion:

Please make sure to read the details and background about this little chat here. They are selling the discussion also on DVD to get some funds for the protection of Ayaan Hirsi Ali – who is still threatened my religious fanatics.

Thanks to Edosan for this one.

Fuck Christmas – celebrate Winter Solstice! The longest night of the year is a real event, the return of the Sun is a really important event. No Sun – no warmth!  No sunshine – no plants! No plants no food! No food – no humans. No humans – no fucking consumerist xmas …

Make sure to read the Wikipedia entry and learn that almost all cultures and many religions celebrate this day. The religions always give it their ‘own’ holy meaning – but they are all based on one of the oldest scientific discoveries of ancient humans: that the sun follows a pattern and exact timing. That seasons come and go and that they can be calculated. The earliest farming communities learned that rhythm pretty fast, because it is of the utmost importance to know WHEN to plant your seeds, so they come out at the right time.

So this very Saturday – December the 22th of 2007 @ 18:06 UTC / GMT marks the solstice—the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

Happy Winter Solstice my friends and readers!

Click stone to see a larger version.

First of all: it’s such an irony that our key to the ancient languages was falsely named. It was found in the Egyptian town of Rashid – the French had renamed the city to Rosetta.

What was so special about this stone was it’s identical text in three ancient languages: Egyptian hieroglyphic and demotic scripts – and in classical Greek. By comparing these fragments it was only a matter of time until the code of the old Egyptian writings was cracked.

A Frenchman found the stone, but it was later taken by the British and brought to London (where it is still on display in the British Museum). The Egyptians want it back – like so many artifacts – still in the hands of former colonial powers.

More? Wikipedia

We share 96% of our DNA with Chimps (or even 99% according to another study) and a similar amount with many other primates. But we still treat our closet living relatives like shit and many primates face extinction from us.

We should establish a new status in our legal and scientific. Primates should no longer be classified as animals, but subhumans or sentient beings – and have almost human rights and most of all protection.

Max Planck is one of the godfathers of modern physics – like Einstein. Together with Niels Bohr he worked on the breathtaking quantum theory. I am still trying to wrap my head around it’s implications.

More? Wikipedia entry

In nature the fight for food and survival is a tough one. That is why huge amounts of easy to get food are so devastating to us humans. We were made to survive on little food, trying to burn as few calories searching for more. How many calories have you burned to hunt your last steak? How much physical work is left in our life’s?

Humanity isn’t built for office work, fast food and extreme couching.

The last few winters we had catastrophic weather: loads of snow and extreme colds. Because of the high energy prices this cost many people a small fortune. Last years winter was incredible mild (I was sitting on the balcony just with a T-shirt).

Climate change is happening – but it’s effects are hard to predict in the short term. The weather systems seems out of sync – one extreme weather chasing another.

Remember all these great space illustrations from your childhood: cities floating in space, generational starship sailing to the next solar system and moon stations. Although we finally get closer to creating these marvels the public is less and less enthusiastic about it. I guess it will change once there is the first zero-g brothel in orbit. Porn sells even science.

An interesting scientific article about the development of breasts. No easy reading, but excellent of you want to learn more about evolutionary biology.

Computed Tomography has been around since the early 70’s, but has made incredible advanced in recent years – thanks to amazing computer powers and new sensors.

This helps to avoid unnecessary surgery and reduced guesswork.

Compared to the good old X-Ray this is stoneage cave paintings versus Star Trek holograms.

Click any image to get an impressive view on Saturn.

I already envy future generations, who can jump into their spaceships and take a weekend trip around our solar system. Boy, I would love to fly by Saturn or Jupiter. That must be most amazing.

Bacteria are everywhere. They can live in the hottest and coldest of places (even on asteroids in outer space). No other life form on this planet has multiplied as much and conquered so many different places.

Bacteria also have made all other species their hosts – and we all depends on them.