So it looks like evolution has made bees racists. Because of their tendancy to attack black things, bees are being used to protect Little Terns from Crows.

If this was how Physics was taught in school, every guy on earth would be a physicist.

Because of our instilled belief in authority when we are young (like trusting your mom when she says not to touch the fire), humans are predisposed to believe certain things without requiring proof. Put this into a computer model and voila - religion flourishes.

Excerpt:

The model assumes, in other words, that a small number of people have a genetic predisposition to communicate unverifiable information to others. They passed on that trait to their children, but they also interacted with people who didn't spread unreal information.

Read the article.

Here's a few that jumped out at me:

ECU - Eternal Care Unit: heaven ("gone to the ECU = dead)
FLK - Funny Looking Kid (sometimes suggests rural inbreeding)
Lignocephalic - wooden-headed (i.e. dense [thick] or stubborn)
Solomf yoyo - So long, mother-f*****, you're on your own
WNL - Will Not Listen; patient won't take medical advice

Read them all.

See the rest of the comic strip...

Who'd have thunk it? Biologists and Chemists have stereotypical personalities that should be accounted for when you deal with them.

What planet are Computer Scientists from?

Ok readers (all 3 of you), I have a question about quantum entanglement.

Background:
For those of you who don't know what it quantum entanglement is, it is basically a state of existence where two quantum particles (just think of them as grains of sand), are bound in such a way that whatever "state" (think positive or negative charge) one of them is in, the other one will be the opposite. So if one grain is positive, the other one will be negative. This occurs no matter how far apart the two particles are. This is a gross oversimplification and the whole charge/grain of sand thing is a metaphor for particles and spin and things like that. Here is the link to the wikipedia article on quantum entanglement.

Also for the non-astronomer/physicists, the Lorentz transformation is equation for calcluating time when traveling at speeds relative to an observer (I think). Basically, it has been proven with high accuracy clocks and really fast planes that when you travel fast, time slows down for you. I think it goes something like, if you travel for a year at the speed of light, 50+ years will have passed on earth.

Here is the situation:
Take a pair of quantum particles that are entangled. One of them is on Earth and the other is on a ship traveling at near the speed of light. Assume that you have some way of discerning when you are communicating (changing the state) as opposed to the random noise. On earth, mission control intends to send a binary message of 0100 1100 to the ship by changing the state of its particle to corresponding 0 and 1 at 1 hertz (sending one bit per second).

Here is the question:
At what frequency will the ship receive the message? Will the Lorentz transformation apply? If they are traveling at a speed which time is half as fast as earth's time will they receive the message at 2 hertz? Will it be relative to the particle and remain 1 hertz?

I think we might need to involve Joleen on this one, Paul.

Update: Joleen has responded via email! [ Read More ]

Until Sierra lets me get one of my own, I will just have to support the states that are fighting to protect the Lynx. Unfortunately, there are only 14 states that actually protect the cutest of all cats but hopefully New Mexico will make it 15.

Think the "Live long and prosper" hand gesture is hard? Look at some of these feats. (I bet those two tongue girls have very happy boyfriends).

An Indiana University study shows that social cues from women are misinterpretted by guys. When they are being friendly, guys think they are being hit on. When they are flirting, guys think the girls are just being nice.

Here's an interesting quote from the article:

Best- selling author Kathy Lette said the research proved that women are far more fluent in body language.

"It is really confusing for women," she said.

Here's a funny rebuttal in the comments section:

How can women be 'far more fluent in body language' when they can't get a simple message across? This is like saying that if a woman mumbles, it's the man's fault if he can't understand her.

What should women get out of this study? You're doing it wrong.