— Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron (via emotional-algebra)
Aerogel, also know as frozen smoke, is the world’s lowest density solid, clocking in at 96% air. If you hold a small piece in your hand, it’s practically impossible to either see or feel, but if you poke it, it’s like styrofoam. It supports up to 4,000 times its own weight and can withstand a direct blast from two pounds of dynamite. It’s also the best insulator in existence.
What is Evolution?
Excellent video from Stated Clearly explaining just what evolution is … using great illustrations from Rosemary Mosco’s Bird and Moon comics.
This is a great video to share with friends/enemies/confused relatives that might have trouble accepting evolution and how simple it can be to understand.
I’d like to add one thing to this video. Single amoebas, pairs of parents and a few children are used in these evolution illustrations to simplify the concept of evolution, but it’s important to remember that evolution is something that happens to populations, not individuals. The changes within a generation are random. It’s only after those changes have been passed on for several generations that a survival advantage or disadvantage (followed by either more or less individuals carrying the trait) occurs. That’s where evolution happens, it’s not in the change itself. And sometimes even harmful traits can become frequent in a population, like we see in diseases that are prevalent among isolated ethnic groups.
Bonus: I’d also recommend Understanding Evolution’s “Common Misconceptions” FAQ for those who want to dig deeper.
Expect Labs: Ordinary Sounds That Come From Foreign Languages
A list of everyday sounds, and where they appear in languages other than English:
- Bilabial trill - When you blew a raspberry A bilabial trill is made when you “roll” a b or a p. Speakers of a few languages in Indonesia and New Guinea (Kele, Nias, Titan), Africa (Kom, Ngwe), and South…
politics of language: Un lenguaje universal
“La matemática es un lenguaje universal” me dijo mi papá.
“Los números no conocen la discriminación” me dijo mi mamá.
I was four, getting ready for kindergarten & numbers.
My parents:
They tried to warn me about my language.
tried to tell me that sooner than…
The Hotel Bubble in France.
Bubble Rooms – ideas, used by two hotels in France. Small bubbles are designed by designer Pierre-Stephane Dumas, they allow you to stay in the room, but at the same time as though and in the open air.
