Science
SCIENCE: It’s A Small Universe After All? Neil deGrasse Tyson Says, “No, It’s Not!” (Video)
April 3, 2014
No doubt Fox News Channel is staunchly in the camp of Conservative viewers and viewers of [mostly Christian] faith. So it still feels eery that the flagship network of the Fox broadcasting family of channels (FOX) airs Cosmos – a show that unabashedly pushes the science-is-fact-faith-is-folly viewpoint each week. It’s a no-brainer that the popular Fox cartoon ‘Family Guy’ creator Seth MacFarlane is likely flexing some muscle on the network to keep the bold show on-air as is, as Cosmos’ executive producer. However, this show is no joke; and neither is its host, world-renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. A protege of the original host of PBS’ Cosmos, Tyson is unapologetic about making points each episode that fly in the faces of those who believe in creationism, doubt evolution, and know that the Earth (and Universe) are way less than 7,000 years old.
In Tyson’s view, what does he have to apologize for… the truth?
Check out the episode above: “Sky Full of Ghosts,†in which Tyson pretty much knocks the Bible-based belief about the age of the universe down for the 10 count.
“The Crab Nebula is about 6,500 light years [note: a light year is equal to the distance that light can travel in a year] from Earth. According to some beliefs, that’s the age of the whole universe, but if the universe were only 6,500 years old, how could we see light from anything more distant than the Crab Nebula? We couldn’t. To believe in a universe as young as 6,000 or 7,000 years old is to extinguish the light from most of the galaxy, not to mention the light from all the other hundred billion other galaxies in the observable universe.â€
– Neil deGrasse Tyson
VERY compelling television; whatever you believe. Watch.
READ: NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON…
Posted in Science, Series, Television, Videos | 
Tags: Cosmos, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Sky Full of Ghosts | 
No Comments »
GZA (of Wu Tang Clan) Speaks, Rhymes, And Drops Science At TEDxTeen (Video)
March 21, 2014
We’ve posted on GZA’s appreciation for the sciences before, but here at TedxTeen we see Genius in exploration and lyrical expression about science as a way to unlock the wonders of the universe. Watch. GZA loves the kids, and apparently he would love the kids to develop a love of science like he has at an earlier age. The kids spit. RZA flows. Knowledge and inspiration are shared. Great stuff!
Posted in Hip-Hop, Performance, Science, Videos | Tags: Gza, Science, Ted Talk, TedxTalk, TedxTeen | No Comments »
Cover Story: 15-Year-Old DJ Focus Built A Radio Station From Scraps And His Message Has Reached MIT And The World (Video)
March 11, 2014
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. But in this youth’s hands, it’s an opportunity to create something incredible!
15-Year-Old Kelvin Doe is an engineering whiz living in Sierra Leone who scours the trash bins for spare parts, which he uses to build batteries, generators and transmitters. Completely self-taught, Kelvin has created his own radio station where he broadcasts news and plays music under the moniker, DJ Focus.
David Sengeh, an MIT student and fellow native of Sierra Leone, met Kelvin in a Summer Innovation Program he ran there. His heart and mind, Kelvin’s heart and mind… and this story… will touch and inspire you. Guaranteed!
Posted in Cover Story, Education, Human Interest, Radio, Science, Series, Technology, Travel, Videos, Youth | Tags: David Sengeh, DJ Focus, Kelvin Doe, MIT, SIERRA LEONE, Thinkr | No Comments »
Science: What Happens To A Magnet Dropped Into A Copper Tube? (Video)
March 4, 2014
Tell you what. Watch this and tell me science isn’t cool. Dare you! What is happening to the magnet? TruthSeekerDaily explains:
When a magnet is dropped down a conducting copper pipe, it feels a resistive force (assuming that magnets have feelings). The falling magnet induces a current in the copper pipe and, by Lenz’s Law, the current creates a magnetic field that opposes the changing field of the falling magnet. Thus, the magnet is “repelled†and falls more slowly.
So, now you know the ‘trick.’ Does knowing make it any less cool? Nope!
Posted in Science, Videos | Tags: Copper, Copper Tube, Magent, Truth Seeker Daily, TruthSeekerDaily | No Comments »
Science: Little Pigs Made To Glow Green… A Big Advancement In Genetic Science (Video)
January 17, 2014
Alright, you didn’t have to pay attention in school for too long to learn about gene transfer. In fact, every few episodes of Law & Order: SVU is going to involve some complex DNA evidence presented by the medical examiner, right? But could we actually see evidence of DNA? And can we use it for some science other than criminology or for something other than ‘Maury’ episodes?
Answer: Yes.
Scientists in Guangdong Province, Southern China, have created piglets that glow green under a black-light. The glow is caused by a fluorescent protein from jellyfish DNA that was transferred into the embryos within the sow, as a marker to show that the transfer of genetic material had been successful… The long-term aim of the research goal is to introduce beneficial genes into larger animals as a means of creating less costly and more efficient medicines.
Shout out to GizMag for really going ‘ham’ (yeah, did that) with the scientific explanations. But Dr. Stefan Moisyadi, Associate Professor at the Institute for Biogenesis Research (IBR), related the short and sweet practical applications: For doctors to treat patients with blood disorders like hemophilia, it is much (cheaper) to just produce the needed enzymes in animals’ blood than it is to build a factory and harvest them as is done today. Put the ‘formula’ into animals’ DNA and let nature’s factory produce and reproduce them. Done. And animal activists, worry not. The creators of the IBR technique is touting that there will no impact on the animals’ lifespan or quality of life.
Watch the video demo above. And just try not to think ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ (you will… can’t be helped). Good science, as long as the pigs don’t go Bruce Banner on us. The Incredible Pork. Okay, okay. The jokes stop if you watch.
Science: Japanese Scientists Levitate Objects With Sound Waves (Video)
January 4, 2014
Stop stop STOP! Hold up with all the scientific talk for a minute! People, they are moving sh!t without touching sh!t! Acoustic manipulation… On some X-MEN sh!t! Excuse my ‘French’ (or don’t hahaa) but this is really dope science fiction fact!
READ: SOUNDWAVE 3DVOLUTION
Posted in Science, Technology, Videos | Tags: 3D, Acoustic Manipulation, Jun Rekimoto, levitation, Mid-Air Acoustic Manipulation, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Sony CSL, sound wave management, Takayuki Hoshi, The University of Tokyo, Three-Dimensional Mid-Air Acoustic Manipulation, Yoichi Ochiai | No Comments »
Technology: Gene-Radar Diagnoses Diseases Faster (Video)
January 1, 2014
Nanobiosym (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) physicist, physician, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer Dr. Anita Goel talking about her iPad-sized device (dubbed Gene-Radar) that diagnoses HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, and some types of cancer …in less than an hour …for way less than costly lab diagnoses that take weeks or months to complete. Real-life Star-Trek tech.
We are getting that much closer to getting affordable healthcare (e.g. preventative medicine) driven by extraordinary technical advances. A quarter-million dollar grant and Nanobiosym is field testing in Rwanda – where low-cost, fast effective medical approaches are really needed. Bravo, Dr. Goel! And just wait ’til Nanobiosym gets Gene-Radar down to smartphone size. Doc-in-a-box equipment ready to deploy overnight ship anywhere anytime!
READ: NANOBIOSYM’S GENE-RADAR
– @ojones1
Posted in Science, Technology, Videos | Tags: Nanobiosym, Nokia, Sensing, XCHALLENGE | No Comments »
Sean Price Goes Food Shopping For Thanksgiving (Video)
November 28, 2013
Sean Price has some last second menu items to pick up for his favorite holiday in the video above. However, P going shopping ain’t like the low-key-get-in-and-out shopping you and I do for last minute groceries…
“She don’t even see me… I’m a loaf of bread right now…Â I’m camouflaging myself right now…”
– Sean Price
See? Hilarious. Happy Turkey Day everyone!
Posted in Comedy, Hip-Hop, Science | Tags: Mic Tyson, Sean P, Sean Price, Shopping, Thanksgiving | No Comments »
The Difference Between The Haves And The Have-Nots? Cal-Berkley Study Says… Morality (Video)
November 6, 2013
See? This is why money cannot buy happiness… because those who have money never feel they have enough OF ANYTHING. Astonishing clip above. PBS coverage of a research study that concludes that folks in high-end vehicles are in such a rush they’d nearly run a guy down in a crosswalk (when those worse off probably have more motivation to ‘not be late’ to wherever they are going)… that given opportunity, well-to-do study participants (more often than poorer participants) would take candy from kids… lie about test results reported via ‘honor system’… I mean, wow.
In a series of startling studies, psychologists at the University of California at Berkeley have found that “upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals.” Ongoing research is trying to find out what it is about wealth — or lack of it — that makes people behave they way they do.
– PBS
Check it out.
Posted in Human Interest, Science, Television, Vintage | Tags: Berkeley, immorality, morality, PBS, research, University of California, University of California at Berkeley, Wealth | No Comments »
Politics: Former VP Al Gore Is Worried. The Survival Of Civilization Is At Risk (Video)
October 25, 2013
When asked, “What does the world look like in 100 years?” Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore declares:
The answer is in our hands….Our democracy has been hacked…Big Money has now perverted our democracy… to serve the purposes of special interests… Internet-based, democratic forms of communication can re-empower individuals to make their voices heard in numbers that can outweigh the special interests and lobbyists…It’s important to change light bulbs, but it’s way more important to change laws…What’s at risk is truly the survival of civilization…literally, that is the case.
Watch this conversation Motherboard’s Brian Merchant and Al Gore on VICE: Warnings of humanity on the brink, tempered with optimism that we can turn things around. Great clip. Watch!
Posted in Human Interest, Politics, Science, Technology, Videos | Tags: Al Gore, Al Gore Explains Why Civilization Might Not Survive the Next 100 Years, Al Gore: The Survival of Civilization is at Risk, Brian Merchant, Civilization, MOTHERBOARD, The Survival of Civilization is at Risk, VICE, Vice Motherboard | No Comments »
Technology: Scientists at Harvard And M.I.T. May Have Actually Invented A ‘Star Wars’ LightSaber? (Video)
September 30, 2013
Get ’em, Yoda! Gotta love Star Wars’ lightsaber duels…
If I haven’t said it on here before, I will say it now: If you want an imaginary something made real, get the sci-geeks excited about it. They will get right on making it real. Case in point: MIT and Harvard have a method to herd photons (understood to have no real mass) and have them bind together. The resultant new type of matter, photonic matter, would essentially the beam that would be the blade of a lightsaber (like in the ‘Star Wars‘ movie). We’re not there yet, but this is a big first step! Read all about it by clicking the link below.
READ: NEW FORM OF PHOTON-BASED MATTER IS ESSENTIALLY A LIGHTSABER (GEEK.COM)
Posted in Science, Science Fiction (Sci-Fi), Videos | Tags: GEEK, Harvard, Harvard University, LIGHTSABER, M.I.T., MIT, NEW FORM OF MATTER, Photon, PHOTON-BASED MATTER, photonic matter, STAR WARS | No Comments »
Science: Roger Hanlon’s Octopus Is A Master Of Disguise (Video)
September 27, 2013
Marine biologist Roger Hanlon studies camouflage in cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish and octopus). Here is underwater video of a master of optical illusion. AMAZING! Watch details on the scientific first captured on video of this dive after the jump.
– @ojones1
London Skyscraper Melts Parked Cars (Video)
September 12, 2013
So, did you hear the one about the skyscraper in London that was scorching cars by reflecting focused sunlight down on them? No? Where have you been? Watch!
READ: LONDON SKYSCRAPER ACCUSED OF MELTING JAGUAR (BUSINESSWEEK)
New Drug Can Reportedly Kill Seven Cancers With One Method (Video)
August 19, 2013
Breast cancer, ovary cancer, colon cancer, bladder cancer, brain cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer… CURED! How’s that for a headline? Well, Irving Weissman’s team at Stanford Medical School is seeing success on that front in the early testing stages (with mice) of a cancer vaccine that is more method than med. In a nutshell, cancer cells cloak themselves from antibodies that would kill them with a “do not eat me” protein marker (researchers call it CD47). Weissman’s research is testing a cure strategy that customizes antibodies to stick to and turn off those markers. Then the body’s immune system can target and destroy the cancerous cells.
READ: CANCER VACCINE BY STANFORD’S IRVING WEISSMAN (BUSINESSWEEK)
READ MORE: COULD ONE DRUG CURE SEVEN CANCERS? (EVERYDAY HEALTH)
– @ojones1
Posted in Science, Videos | Tags: bladder cancer, brain cancer, breast cancer, businessweek, cancer, cancer cure, Cancer Vaccine, Cancer Vaccine by Stanford's Irving Weissman, colon cancer, Could One Drug Cure Seven Cancers, cure, Innovation, Irving Weissman, liver cancer, ovary cancer, prostate cancer, Scientists Say Drug Delivery Method Improves Cancer Treatment, Stanford, Stanford School of Medicine | 2 Comments »
Technology: Carbon Fiber Jet Wing Lets ‘Jetman’ Fly In Formation With a Boeing B-17 Bomber (Video)
August 16, 2013
DaVinci. The Wright Brothers. And now…‘Jetman’ Yves Rossy shows us that man was meant to fly… all it takes is a dream, the vision, relentless work at design, and awesome tech! Check out what, in effect, is one giant step closer to pure human flight. The tech is his Carbon Fiber Jet Wing; and it is AMAZING!
And if you think the view from the ground during one of Yves’ flights is impressive, think about what the guys flying the planes are witnessing (like ‘how is he doing that without a plane?’).
Check out the incredible footage above! Shout out to my cousin Joe (love you man!) for shooting me the Wired piece on this.
READ: YVES ROSSY SHOWS US HOW TO FLY (WIRED)
– @ojones1
Technology: Bigelow Aerospace’s Inflatable Space Stations (Video)
August 6, 2013
Bigelow Aerospace is designing inflatable modules for space storage/work/living that will be more durable than today’s rigid modules. The company uses several layers of vectran, a material twice as strong as kevlar. In theory, (1) flexible walls of (2) stronger material should be able to sustain micrometeoroid impacts better. Ground-based testing has borne that out. Bigelow’s design will sustain impacts and other problems as much as 24 hours to remedy them before they become fatal. Better than today’s space tech. Good stuff!
Check out the vignette above. Read the article I read in Oracle | Profit at the link here.
– @ojones1
Harvard Research On Humans Controlling Animals With Their Minds (Video)
August 2, 2013
Mankind’s advances in science and technology are incredible… and kind of weird. Why would anyone want to exert psycho-kinetic control over a rat’s tail? Because that is a HUGE step in achieving telekinetic communication between humans and animals. That’s kind of cool. Like Tarzan without all that hollering and ‘un-gow-wa’ talk. BUT… science must ALWAYS be checked by intense moral consideration. We hope that insiders are talking about the morality of things like developing mind control capability… or even what we might learn if we start understanding what animals really think. Will we allow an animal to refuse to participate in further experimentation once we understand their wish to do so? Yeah. It can get deep.
Beyond hoping that science’s advances are balanced by morality, we know that we should (at least) be aware when stuff like this is on the horizon. At what point in time would you not want to know that folks are trying to gain [more] control over your mind?
Watch the demo vid above. Fair warning: It’s kind of creepy.
Posted in Science, Technology, Videos | Tags: Harvard, Human moves rat's tail with thoughts alone, mind control, telekinesis, telekinetic | No Comments »
Actor Michael K. Williams Discovers His African Ancestry (Video)
July 26, 2013
Shout to OkayPlayer TV for posting this clip of actor Michael K. Williams aka Mr. Chalky White of ‘Boardwalk Empire’ (returning for a new season this Fall; can’t wait) tracing his roots back to Africa. ‘Heart of a King…Blood of a Slave’ – that Nas lyric rang true to Mr. Williams in this episode of ‘The Roots Of…’ Watch above.
Overwhelmed with emotion, Williams calls actor/friend Isiah Washington to share that indeed they are brothers!
Posted in Hip-Hop, Human Interest, Science, Television, Videos | Tags: Boardwalk Empire, Chalky White, Isiah Washington, Michael K. Williams, Okayplayer TV, The Roots Of | No Comments »
PBS Digital Studios: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence (Video)
July 17, 2013
For decades, the talk researchers, writers, filmmakers, and the general public has been artificial intelligence (AI). We’re trying to create AI, but considering that humans have had countless millenia to evolve human intelligence as we know today. Recently, attempts to create AI have us looking to mimic our own brains in some way.
‘No matter how we get there, it is certain that artificial intelligence will have tremendous impact on our society and economy, and lead us down a path towards evolving our own definitions of humanity.’
– PBS OffBook
Interesting conversation starter. Check out this video.
Technology: Saving Lives and Property on the Coast With a Tsunami Barrier (Video)
June 13, 2013
The twin-wing Tsunami Flood Barrier (TWSB) has been developed by Van den Noort Innovations in order to disrupt and neutralize a tsunami flood wave.
I cannot begin to explain the tech behind this much needed innovation… because I… I don’t really understand it yet. But while I’m watching this again with you, let’s look at the big picture: This is science applied for the purpose of saving lives and livelihoods. Good tech. Check out the clip above and the Businessweek write-up that put me on to this after the jump.
– @ojones1
Posted in Science, Technology, Videos | Tags: passive tsunami protection solution, The Twin Wing Tsunami Barrier, the ultimate, Tsunami, Tsunami Barrier | No Comments »
