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"Cargo Cult Science" - by Richard Feynman

"Cargo Cult Science" - by Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman From a Caltech commencement address given in 1974 Also in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! During the Middle Ages there were all kinds of crazy ideas, such as that a piece of of rhinoceros horn would increase potency. Then a method was discovered for separating the ideas--which was to try one to see if it worked, and if it didn't work, to eliminate it. But even today I meet lots of people who sooner or later get me into a conversation about UFO's, or astrology, or some form of mysticism, expanded consciousness, new types of awareness, ESP, and so forth. Most people believe so many wonderful things that I decided to investigate why they did. At Esalen there are some large baths fed by hot springs situated on a ledge about thirty feet above the ocean. One time I sat down in a bath where there was a beautiful girl sitting with a guy who didn't seem to know her. I'm trying to figure out what to say, when the guy says to her, "I'm, uh, studying massage. -- Richard Feynman

The McCelt Particle The Case for Parallel Universes Editor's note: In the August issue of Scientific American, cosmologist George Ellis describes why he's skeptical about the concept of parallel universes. Here, multiverse proponents Alexander Vilenkin and Max Tegmark offer counterpoints, explaining why the multiverse would account for so many features of our universe—and how it might be tested. Welcome to the Multiverse By Alexander Vilenkin The universe as we know it originated in a great explosion that we call the big bang. Inflation is a period of super-fast, accelerated expansion in early cosmic history. The end of inflation is triggered by quantum, probabilistic processes and does not occur everywhere at once. The theory of inflation explained some otherwise mysterious features of the big bang, which simply had to be postulated before. Another key aspect of the new worldview derives from string theory, which is at present our best candidate for the fundamental theory of nature. There is also another approach that one can follow.

How To Be A Successful Evil Overlord - StumbleUpon How to be a Successful Evil Overlord by Peter Anspach Being an Evil Overlord seems to be a good career choice. It pays well, there are all sorts of perks and you can set your own hours. The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear Plexiglas visors, not face concealing ones. Flux Particle Theory a Complete Theory of Everything Astronomy Without A Telescope – Star Formation Laws Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter NGC 1569 - a relatively close (11 million light years) starburst galaxy - presumably the result of some fairly efficient star formation processes. Credit: NASA/HST. Take a cloud of molecular hydrogen add some turbulence and you get star formation – that’s the law. The efficiency of star formation (how big and how populous they get) is largely a function of the density of the initial cloud. At a galactic or star cluster level, a low gas density will deliver a sparse population of generally small, dim stars – while a high gas density should result in a dense population of big, bright stars. So firstly, the strong relationship between the density of molecular hydrogen (H2) and star formation efficiency is known as the Kennicutt-Schmidt Law. But this does not mean that star formation is more efficient in the modern universe – and again this is because of metals. Further reading: Dib et al.

The 13 Most Important Numbers in the Universe - James D. Steins Cosmic... In the 17th century, scientists understood three phases of matter—solids, liquids and gases (the discovery of plasma, the fourth phase of matter, lay centuries in the future). Back then, solids and liquids were much harder to work with than gases because changes in solids and liquids were difficult to measure with the equipment of the time. So many experimentalists played around with gases to try to deduce fundamental physical laws. Robert Boyle was perhaps the first great experimentalist, and was responsible for what we now consider to be the essence of experimentation: vary one or more parameter, and see how other parameters change in response. Boyle discovered the relationship between the pressure and volume of a gas, and a century later, the French scientists Jacques Charles and Joseph Gay-Lussac discovered the relationship between volume and temperature.

Eric Weinstein may have found the answer to physics' biggest problems | Marcus du Sautoy | Science Two years ago, a mathematician and physicist whom I've known for more than 20 years arranged to meet me in a bar in New York. What he was about to show me, he explained, were ideas that he'd been working on for the past two decades. As he took me through the equations he had been formulating I began to see emerging before my eyes potential answers for many of the major problems in physics. It was an extremely exciting, daring proposal, but also mathematically so natural that one could not but feel that it smelled right. He has spent the past two years taking me through the ins and outs of his theory and that initial feeling that I was looking at "the answer" has not waned. One of the things that particularly appeals to me about the theory is that symmetry, my own field of research, is a key ingredient. The particles described by the Standard Model – the stuff of nature that is revealed in accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider – fall into three "generations".

How Aging Might Have Evolved A new evolutionary computer model demonstrates how aging might have evolved as an evolutionary adaptation. When the environment is changing rapidly, natural selection can favor a higher population turnover rate, and, under some circumstances, the benefit may outweigh the cost to the individual – who dies of old age and cuts short her reproduction. In a paper published this week in PLoS One, André Martins[1] of University of Sao Paolo, Brazil, demonstrates this phenomenon and explains why it might be important. The idea that aging might be an evolutionary adaptation looks very attractive from the standpoint of genetics. The rate of aging is programmed into genes, at least some of which seem to be ancient and highly-conserved. Evolutionists dismiss the idea that aging could be adaptive on theoretical grounds. In the Martins model, agents of two types, mortal and immortal, are arrayed on a grid, and offspring are born near to the parent.

Lucid Dreaming | Cracked.com - StumbleUpon By lucid dreaming, you can gain complete control over the one place that no one will ever care about: your imagination. Just The Facts Lucid dreaming is a scientifically proven phenomenon. While some get into lucid dreaming in order to treat chronic nightmares, or to experience all facets of the human experience, approximately 99.8% of people use it as a tool for cheap and interactive 3D porn. How to Take Control of Your Dreams: So, you've doubled your weight over the past five years, you own a record-shattering collection of greasy pizza boxes and broken aspirations, and you're beginning to consider installing a toilet bowl in the place of your computer chair? In order to even begin to get control over your dreams, there are a few preliminary tasks you must complete. Your fake and imagined rendition of Yvonne won't care how much your cry before, during, and afterward! The Tasks: 1. "What?" Calm down! 2. Your dreams are not unique, and that is a wonderful thing. Wake Initiated Lucid Dreams:

Car Lease Takeover - Lease Transfer - How does it work? What is a car lease takeover or lease transfer? How does it work? In a tough economy, automotive consumers look for affordable ways to drive the cars they need and want. Lease takeovers, or lease transfers, are increasingly providing the ideal answer for many of these consumers. Although lease transfers have been around for years, it has now become the hottest new way to acquire a late model automobile at the lowest possible cost. Here's how a car lease takeover works Someone who is currently leasing a car wants out of their lease. They now want out of their lease and are willing to let someone else take over the car and lease, along with its low payments, with no down payment. What is a car lease takeover? How do you find a car lease takeover? , the largest and most respected of such companies. When you go the Swapalease web site, you can search car makes, models, locations, and prices. Here's some tips to make your car lease takeover (lease transfer) easy and successful.

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