Other Sciences

This is a thread where you can post things you want in science. For example, you can give a description of a book you are looking for, and other users should recommend one. Other things you can post here that you want include magazines, videos, websites, chemicals, or anything that has to do with science. Remember: it has to be in science. I was going to suggest this as a much needed new forum, but I think a thread will work just fine. ============================= I'll start. I would like a very complex book on the climate change. It needs very small details, and a lot of them. If anyone knows of a book, or even an article, meeting these requirements ple…

There's been a few groups pushing for scientific journals to be more freely available to the public, especially as they pay for much of the research. The Public Library of Science (PLoS) was trying to get the big name journals like Nature and Science to allow free online access to articles six months after they were published. While they release some selected articles for free, these journals believe that it's not commercially viable to produce quality journals for free. In response, PLoS decided to produce their own journals, covering the costs with grants and a $1500 fee to the authors of published articles. They have recently released some of their early articles of th…

If I've got a workout routine lifting weights and I want to build muscle mass, what's better when lifting: lift fast or lift slow?

I was reading about Directed Energy Weapons on Wikipedia and I came across this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARAUDER I find it interesting, it seems to be talking about a Plasma weapon with anti-aircraft potential. However I can't find much information about it on the websites the article cites or on the web in general. Does anyone here know about this MARAUDER project?

1 What is glass made from? 2 Why is there sand on a beach?

Hi guys, I would like to let you know about a popular science blog I have recently set up in conjunction with a weekly radio show I run in China: http://www.misterscience.blogspot.com As far as I know, there is not that much science communication in China, at least not in the mainstream press, so I'd be interested to see what you think. The show has a podcast which is linked on that site. The latest story we did was about the internet and web2.0, which is interesting as sites like wikipedia and blogspot, supposed features of web2.0, are blocked in alot of China! So unfortunately the site can't be seen there, but it is in English and deals with general scie…

Google came up blank. How long would it take to starve to death? How long would it tkae to dehydrate to death? Bizarre I know but it is a question that has come up through work and I cannot find an answer. Thanks Laura

Did anyone watch the national geographic channel special on lightning? What did you guys think of the ball lightning part? Was it all hype or could there be some new physics there?

What the hell is HHO? Water as fuel? I smell a fish, but what do you think?

Just recently my dog has been acting strangely and i discovered that it was the smoke alarm that was upsetting her. Sometimes i hear the smoke alarm making all sorts of strange tones. I think that the smokealarm is making a tone that is above humans hearing range but not that of a dogs. I have tested my hearing and i can hear up to 18khz only just. I tried replacing the battery of the alarm but it still upsets my dog. So clearly the smokealarm is stuffed but i want to figure out whats making my dog all mental. Does anyone know how i can make a microphone that will be able to pick up 18khz and above tones? Is it possible to use this microphone with my computer sou…

"It's time for another 'Good Idea, Bad Idea'." I'm one for redefining the metre as "the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/300,000,000 of a second," as having a unit of measurement that is based on "the ten-millionth part of the distance from the equator to the north pole" is completely arbitrary and utterly useless (not to mention, almost exactly the same). The metre should have been rounded down the moment the speed of light was calculated. Anyway, seriously - a metre should be 1/300,000,000 of a light-second, and equal to a yard/three feet. Then we would have two awesomely round numbering systems and imperial would no longer be a complete waste o…

If you have seen the matrix movies, you will know that the machines use the humans as batteries because the humans scorched the sky so no sunlight gets through. Anyway, at some point in the first film morpheus says that a human has more energy than a 120volt battery and 120,000 btu's of heat energy. So that got me thinking, would it be possible to run electronic devices of human power (im not talking about running on a hamster wheel to generate electricity)? How can 120,000btu's of heat energy given off from a human be used to generate electricity? PS. im not sure exactly if it was 120,000 btu's exactly.

hey people i remember back in high school some fellow was telling my year that we should use roll-on deodorant instead of spray cans, he said because they damage the ozone layer. However i read that in the US Chlorofluorocarbon was banned in like 1970's which was the substance that damages the ozone, and only old devices still produce it ei old fridges. I live in Australia , but i am guessing its also banned here aswell. So was that guy uninformed or is there other stuff that damages the ozone which is contained in sparay on deodorant cans?

Hello, my name is karl and i am an 8th grader that needs help with a science project. I know this sounds corney , but i need to know how to contact a physicist. If you know a physicist that wouldn't mind helping that would be great. The project question is, Is the spin of a superball when bounced off the floor then against a wall affected when there is water present on the surface? I have already figured the answer to the question but i don't know why it is affected. Any help would be great i need information from a primary source. (Physist)

A friend sent me this picture, along with several others of the same thing. It was said that the photo was taken at the instant of breaking the sound barrier. I did not know that breaking the sound barrier was accompanied by this sort of visual effect. I thought one of you guys or gals could explain it to me?

I just watched the '9/11 conspiracy video' and I have to agree, there isn't much truly 'hard' scientifically empirical evidence, save for one fact. The documentary says kerosene burns at 1120 C and that isn't enough to melt either steel or titanium, and you have to keep the heat on it for several hours. But they say that the kerosene the jets used as fuel weakened the reinforced steel they used in the WTC. They have a quote from an engineer at the company who certified the steel in the 70's and said it should take over 3000 degrees for several hours to cause them to be that weakened enough to cause the NEAR freefall collapse of the WTC. Isn't that something y…

Hello, I've got a question...what is that mean exactly? "Name three traits you inherited"? Thanks

I've looked it up from many sources, and even searched this forum to see how the word was used, and i plain and simple don't really understand what it is, and specifically why it's bad.

http://artspolicy.colum.edu/DVProfiles.html Check out this really interesting essay about the choreographer Liz Lerman and her recent choreography about the human genome. It's No. 2 on the list.

I have a question... how much weight does it take to submerge 1 cubic foot of air in fresh water? any ideas let me know!

Is there an online science encyclopedia? I'm thinking something similar to the philosophy encyclopedia at http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html.

here, i'm trying to discuss with revprez the physical implications of the sun standing still. am i missing anything? how large would this force be? what would it do? is what revprez says even possible?

Rescently upgraded to a wirless network, but my comp is right on the edge of the reachable radius. Any way (without buying a booster) i could help to increase signal strength (without moving router/ comp)?

well, there will be having many kind of LED around.. But with different kind of voltage, is tat necessary to produce diff kind of color? Heard that there is some kind of LED able to do that...mind to tell? thx.

I consider effective communication to be a fundamental component of good science. However, I can't help but feel that the communication of science is becoming almost elitist in nature: it seems we spend much of our time communicating such that only a small percentage of people actually understand what is actually being stated. Scholarly reporting is obviously important but is too much emphasis placed on such authoring?