Tag: Science

Categories
Links

Headline of the Day: ‘Goats prefer happy people’

That’s from Phys.org. The lede:

Goats can differentiate between human facial expressions and prefer to interact with happy people, according to a new study led by scientists at Queen Mary University of London.

And:

The study, which provides the first evidence of how goats read human emotional expressions, implies that the ability of animals to perceive human facial cues is not limited to those with a long history of domestication as companions, such as dogs and horses.

Intersting. And intuitive. Everyone/thing appreciates a good smile! đŸ™‚

Categories
Life

Video: How Human Population Has Exploded Over Time

Embedded above and on YouTube here: “Human Population Through Time,” a video from the American Museum of Natural History. From the description:

It took 200,000 years for our human population to reach 1 billion—and only 200 years to reach 7 billion. But growth has begun slowing, as women have fewer babies on average. When will our global population peak? And how can we minimize our impact on Earth’s resources, even as we approach 11 billion?

Amazing to see the spikes after agriculture began, and then especially after the industrial revolution.

Categories
Misc.

Video of the Day: LEGO Particle Accelerator

Embedded above and on YouTube here:

This is a working particle accelerator built using LEGO bricks. I call it the LBC (Large Brick Collider). It can accelerate a LEGO soccer ball to just over 12.5 kilometers per hour.

By JK Brickworks. (Via.)

Categories
Tech

Animated GIF of the Rosetta Mission

Worth pondering: The successful, seemingly-too-crazy-to-be-true Rosetta mission to land a spacecraft on a comet comprised much more than just the recent touchdown.

Of course, it took years of planning to execute.

Check out this really cool animated GIF to see how everything came together:

Fantastic. Awe-inspiring.

Categories
Misc.

“Sciencetific Garden”

Let’s end the week on a humorous note, shall we?

A recently spotted this excellent sign at a school in Thailand’s Rayong province.

sciencetific_garden.jpg

That’s right, it reads “Sciencetific Garden.”

Science 1. Spelling 0. đŸ™‚

I believe that’s a bust of Einstein in the back. And Newton — or is it Bacon? — in the front.

A previous post about an amusing Thai sign is here.

Categories
Misc.

Around the Web: improving college rankings, Federer’s footwork, inventors killed by their own inventions, and more

Some links that have caught my eye of late: