Interesting Stuff: Early November 2009

Here are my picks from the most interesting articles that have come my way since last time. Quite a lot of astronomy this time (which is as likely to be due to my mood as due to the science), so I’ve split it in two. Also some linguistics and biology and other usual suspects.

Astronomy and Physics (large bodies):

• Using Kepler to detect moons. (This is more detailed than the report I linked to in September.) Speaking of Kepler, not all is well with the telescope.
• Replicating exotic ice made by meteors.
• Evidence of solar systems in other galaxies.
• Young neutron star has carbon atmosphere.
• 2002 supernova is new, theoretically predicted, type.

Astronomy and Physics (particles):

Calendar for 2010

I’ve written about my calendar collection here and here, but to summarise, I make a point of choosing a different theme for my wall calendar each year since 2006.

Today I chose my calendar for 2010. There were a lot of themes to choose from – fractals, violent weather, treehouses, and much more – but in the end I chose a calendar that features paintings by Thomas Kinkade. Cottages and gardens are prominent, with colours brighter than life and a strong fairy-tale atmosphere.

I thought it would be fun to record some videos showcasing the calendars in my collection, using my mobile phone. Here is a link to the playlist I’ve created on Youtube. The video for just the new calendar is embedded below

The Ghost of November Past

Here is a look back at some of the things I posted to this blog in Novembers of 2006, 2007 and 2008.

In 2006, I published four posts (one, two, three, four) on music that I’ve composed over the years, with some links going to audio samples and others to printable sheet music. Also from 2006, my post on Conlanging and Phonetics is the only item on this blog ever to be linked from a Wikipedia article.

In 2007, I described how I’ve customised my computer with Monty Python quotes for system notifications. Recently I updated that post by adding a copy of the image I use as my desktop wallpaper.

Here are some of the most interesting news-in-science articles that I linked to in November 2008:

• Direct optical image of an exoplanet orbiting Fomalhaut.
• The wide hips of homo erectus women.
• Macroscopic single-celled organisms that leave trails.

Naturally, comments are welcome on any of the 2006/2007 posts that I’ve linked to.

Interesting Stuff: Late October 2009

Astronomy:

• I like this picture. So much better than a silly face.
• Energetic space ribbon shows that the heliosphere is not understood.

Biology and Animal Behaviour:

• Large-scale 3D structure of DNA. I’ll give you the press release and also Ed Yong’s take on the story.
• Monkeys have an Uncanny Valley of their own.
• Repelling insects by making their feet slippery.

General Science:

• Catalyst ran an article about the new Royal Institution Australia, here in Adelaide. I must keep an eye on that.

Things to try in bed

For a long time, my blogging has mostly been limited to collections of links, largely because I never feel I have time for thoughtful, introspective blogging when there are a thousand other things I feel guilty about not getting around to. However, I recently passed some important milestones in getting those other things done, so now I’m going to indulge in a blog post of the old style, wherein I take a topic and write about it from a personal perspective.

This one’s about sleep. More specifically, it’s about treatments for insomnia: things to try while waiting for your brain to switch off at the end of the day. I’m not interested in generic advice that you can get from a random website, but rather, in the imaginative and quirky treatments that get invented because when you’re lying awake in bed feeling bored, inventing a new and original cure for insomnia gives you something to do. Of course, when you do eventually drop off, it usually has nothing to do with the experimental treatment you were trying out, confirmation bias and all that.

I’m talking visualisation exercises, breathing exercises, that sort of thing. My goal is more about being interesting than being useful, and I find the diversity of quirky insomnia cures interesting. I’ve developed one of my own (which I’ll describe in a moment), and if you’ve invented one too then please consider sharing it in a comment.

Passport renewal

I recently noticed that my passport had expired, so I’m now in the process of having it renewed. Because I don’t drive, a passport is often the most convenient way to prove my identity.

This means that I can finally get rid of my old passport picture, which could, I’ve always thought, easily be entered into a gallery of the world’s worst passport photographs. For a start, my hair was way overdue for a trim back then in 1999, and things were far too hectic to do anything about it.

Interesting Stuff: Early October 2009

Here are some things that have struck me as particularly interesting recently.

Astronomy:

• Equinox shows Saturn’s rings to be bumpier than expected.
• Phoebe gives Saturn a super-ring.
• Augmented reality for astronauts.
• Raining rocks: weather on really hot planets.
• Nice picture showing relative sizes of solar system bodies (2007).
• Studying crystallisation in low gravity.

Biology:

The Ghost of October Past

Many bloggers occasionally repost items that they originally blogged some time ago, or else post in order to link to such items. If you’re like me, though, then you usually skip over such old material that the blogger, with little rhyme or reason, has chosen to bring to the attention of new readers. I don’t react this way simply because the material is old (that would be silly), but more because the exercise generally seems meaningless. Why that particular article? Why bring it to our attention now? When bloggers provide answers to these questions, I find I’m much more motivated to read the material that they choose to revisit.

In 2008, Yehuda Berlinger published a series of posts which, to my mind, demonstrate the right way to showcase your own old material. From the first week of the year to the fifty-second, Yehuda linked to selected articles from his own blog that he had written in the same week but in previous years. This technique doesn’t seem to have caught on in the blogging world, but as a way of motivating me to actually read the old posts, it worked, because the anniversarial angle gave the whole thing a meaning and relevance that it would not otherwise have had.

Interesting Stuff: Anniversarial Edition

I’ve been running the Interesting Stuff series for more than a year now, and I thought it would be good to look back and revisit the best of the best that I linked to in August and September of 2008. I hope you enjoy this peek back in time.

Feel free to talk about topics relevant to the items I mention, or else tell me about the most interesting thing you learned during that period. Here is my selection.

Interesting Stuff: Late September 2009

Here are the most interesting things I’ve learned about on the Internet in the last fortnight.

Astronomy:

• Update on the Planck space telescope. (For a reminder on why Planck is important, see this article that I originally linked to a few months ago.)
• New theory on gamma ray bursts.
• Studying chirality of molecules in space.
• You can make Mars red dust with enough shaking.

Biology and Animal Behaviour: