Conservação Internacional
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Innovation
Driven by the Innovation Insanity initiative, Trendwatching.com has a list up of 67 new innovations that could change your world.
The ideas on the list are amazing and inspiring, and range from bamboo bicycles to windows that collect solar energy, vending machines that sell fragrances (in Paris, of course), keepsake stamps of babies' feet and hands, and a project to transform Rio's favelas by giving them a new, colourful lick of paint.
Waves
Here's a shoutout for the Surfrider Foundation – it's a grassroots non-profit organisation in the States that aims to protect the Earth's beaches and oceans. As someone who lives by the sea, it's a cause that's dear to my heart... and you gotta admit, they do have some pretty special advertisements.
Reality Check
Here's an interesting story from the Boston Globe archives. Opening pars:
"When people think of knowledge, they generally think of two sorts of facts: facts that don’t change, like the height of Mount Everest or the capital of the United States, and facts that fluctuate constantly, like the temperature or the stock market close.
But in between there is a third kind: facts that change slowly. These are facts which we tend to view as fixed, but which shift over the course of a lifetime. "
The story goes on to explain that what you think is true might have once been true, but might not be true any more... and it warns of the dangers of not keeping up with those slow changes that creep up on you and alter your reality.
"When people think of knowledge, they generally think of two sorts of facts: facts that don’t change, like the height of Mount Everest or the capital of the United States, and facts that fluctuate constantly, like the temperature or the stock market close.
But in between there is a third kind: facts that change slowly. These are facts which we tend to view as fixed, but which shift over the course of a lifetime. "
The story goes on to explain that what you think is true might have once been true, but might not be true any more... and it warns of the dangers of not keeping up with those slow changes that creep up on you and alter your reality.
Disturbed
There's a fun story lurking in the vaults at the Smithsonian magazine, titled The Ten Most Disturbing Scientific Discoveries. Couple of interesting entries in those ten.
Sample quote:
"The concept of extinction took a while to sink in. Thomas Jefferson saw mastodon bones from Kentucky, for example, and concluded that the giant animals must still be living somewhere in the interior of the continent. He asked Lewis and Clark to keep an eye out for them."
Brazil vs Serbia
Genius soccer writers Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanksi have derived a formula to work out who will win and lose at this year's World Cup.
GD(ij) = 0.137 log (pop(i)/pop(j)) + 0.145 log (y(i)/y(j)) + 0.739 log (exp(i)/exp(j)) (+ 0.657 home advantage for games involving Bafana Bafana)
The good news is, South Africa will reach the second round. The bad news is, when they get there they'll lose to South Korea. The weird news is, Serbia will reach the Final.
Number One
As the world ticks into flag-waving World Cup patriotic fervour, the number crunchers at Information Is Beautiful present a happy (in some case) look at all the things the various nations of the world are the best in the world at.
Like Australia: the world Number One in car theft.
Or Peru: top of the charts when it comes to butterflies.
Like Australia: the world Number One in car theft.
Or Peru: top of the charts when it comes to butterflies.
Star
See if you can resist the urge, after reading this headline, to click on the story: "Hubble Watches As Star Slowly Devours Planet".
I couldn't.
Underdog
With no-hopers Afghanistan playing in cricket's Twenty20 World Cup, and with outsiders South Africa about to host the soccer showpiece, there's a big part of me that's hoping for some upset results. Ever wondered why you – like me, and like everybody else – always roots for the underdog? Slate has the science.
Earth Day
Happy Earth Day... (whenever that was!). Here's a collection of amazing Earth-themed photos from The Big Picture.
Looks like we're really mucking this planet up.
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