Sometimes you just have to go with the Boson Sonata or its nearest equivalent. The folks at the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN particle physics research center (near Geneva) have come up with an interesting tool. The SOUNDS OF SCIENCE project has been building towards the goal of converting the pathtracks of the particles into soundtracks that can then be used creatively. This takes massive computing power, but gives results never before seen or heard. Thanks to Reuters for the heads-up on this one!
I am going to rethink the Con postings, as I have had several comments that finding out about them a few days before they happen doesn’t leave time to make arrangements and attend the event. But here is a fun site to check out: Part Time Scientists, who have decided to put a robot on the moon. No, they are not kidding; in fact they are so serious that they are registered with the Google Lunar X PRIZE as one of more than 20 teams worldwide in the competition. They are looking for volunteers in several disciplines if you want to get in on the action. Ad Astra!
If you haven’t caught it yet, I would like to recommend a TV program called Through the Wormhole on the Science Channel, one of the Discovery Channel subsets. The host is Morgan Freeman, and the topics range through the tough questions that have always faced mankind, for which we now have enough science to begin to approach an answer. It airs on Wednesday evenings, and here is a sample to get you started…
Martin Gardner, born in 1914, died on May 22nd. He wrote science fiction puzzle stories for Asimov’s from just about the first issue, as well as a study of and a sequel to L. Frank Baum’s Oz series (two completely different books). I was alerted to his passing by a posting in Locus Magazine online, but for 35 years he wrote my favorite column in Scientific American, Mathematical Puzzles, so if you really want to know the full range of this brilliant mathematician and author, see their tribute to Martin Gardner.
Google ran some non-intuitive tests of its Google Chrome browser speeds versus real world events. Unless you have Ghod’s Own Internet Connection and a state of the art computer built next week, your mileage may vary. But still, this is more than a bit impressive. Also, be aware that Futurama is about to kick into its new season in a few weeks. I for one am thrilled the wait is almost over.
Big record companies are famous for being greedy and short-sighted, and a great example of this is what happened when online music videos came around. At first, the artists went after them as a means of getting their music in front of the public, generating buzz and fans; free advertising in an online world. The record companies let them do it, and thousands of fans would embed their favorite songs on their pages, exposing still more people to the music. But the record companies always want to be paid for things other people create and distribute, so the lawyers worked out a way to make YouTube pay on a per-play basis for the music. Since it worked out that YouTube only has to pay when the music is streamed on YouTube itself, most record companies refused to allow any music they had under contract to be embedded. This shut the bands out of gaining thousands of new fans by having their songs on all kind of pages, while the record companies themselves aren’t making any noticeable amount of money from the streams (assuming they aren’t just cooking the books to avoid paying the bands their royalties); a loose/loose situation. But after hammering on their record company for weeks, Chicago’s alt rockers OK GO got them to allow this amazing video to be embedded, and I predict it is going to bring them thousands of new fans, mostly mad scientists in training who love rock! For the background on this one, visit DVice.