I assume that a good deal of our members are already familiar with this problem, but I bet a lot of people aren't. But everyone who watches this will certainly learn something they didn't already know!

What scientifically accepted hypotheses and theories do you think that popular skepticism is most directed toward - and more interesting, why? Of course there are the obvious answers of global warming and the theory of evolution, but are there any other theories that you come across skepticism over?

What about some theories that the scientific community considers naive, but the public seems to believe that scientists have already resolved the problem? An example I can think of is probably our poor understanding of 'dark matter'.

Sort of . . . what do you think makes a theory susceptible to popular skepticism?

Currently trying to figure out just what to do with this group, so for now, I'm going lazy.



Space Shuttle Rocket Launch in Slow Motion (suggested by ):



Short Documentary on Neutrinos:



Short Documentary on Andrew Wiles' Solution of Fermat's Last Theorem:



Introduction to Philosophy of Physics, with some big names:

Posted by:  blitzkriegfox

[EDIT by ]: This journal previously contained an offer for moderator positions. The person who posted this journal had no authority to do such a thing, or just about anything else he did. He's gone. Any offers he made for such positions are hereby voided.


The video presented covers the legal action against the US 7th fleet for radiation exposure during relief efforts after the tsunami hit Japan. In this video radiation is presented as a boogyman to lay people. Is this a good example or not? Discuss. :3

Recently it has been widely covered in the media that ~70 members of the US 7th fleet are suing TEPCO (the company responsible for the Fukushima for THREE BILLION DOLLARS.

On paper they claim all sorts of cancer, however I can find no interview of anyone with cancer. Further the lawsuit doesnt say what the claims are for. What I do find is interview after interview of people describing non-quantifiable symptoms that are wholly inconsistent with radiation poisoning.

The thing that bugs me the most here is radiation is being sold as the 'invisible boogey man' that causes all the ills that you cannot otherwise explain.

Sure radiation can cause some serious problems, but then again so can asbestos. But this does not mean you can blame any unaccounted for maladies on asbestos or radiation!

In Africa when anything goes wrong (crop failures etc), there are those only too happy to blame witches. The only thing different here is the boogey man is radiation.

Posted by:  blitzkriegfox

“Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel.”

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/fea.....ul_Distraction

This is an article I came across last night. It talks about cell phone usage and driving. Before reading this I ask that you take a note of what do you think is acceptable and what is not when it comes to driving and using a phone. Is it ok to have a conversation while driving, should hands free devices be used while talking, is it ok to text while driving? See how your initial assumptions line up with the studies. :Ð

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A message from:  xdeadlockxfan

Hello!

My name is Seneca. I'm a third year physics major at Ball State University and I'm with  furmedia. If you have not heard of FurMedia, FurMedia is a news network that discusses anything furry and connects furries from around the world; this includes everything from fursuiting and conventions, to topics with furry integration: for example, this week's episode is about furries in the workplace and how they deal with coworkers discovering the fandom or the "furryness" of others, etc. FurMedia has presence on various social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, InkBunny, DeviantArt, FurAffinity, Twitter, Blogger, and Weasyl. There is also a livestream channel which we use to hold our weekly shows.

FurMedia is in the works of creating a new section devoted to science and technology. This section will essentially be a scientific and technological version of FurMedia, catered to furries. It's appropriately titled "The Furmion Effect," of which I will be heading and running (a pun of fermions from particle physics). I'm looking to get a team together to help run the social media aspect of Furmion- this will be limited to just Twitter, Facebook, a blog, and perhaps an FA page in the future. The reason I write this is to see if you're able to post a journal as a call-out to see if anyone who follows the ScienceFurs group is interested in being part of this wonderful addition.

For those who are interested, I ask that you direct those furs to send an email to furmioneffect@gmail.com, where then we can send back a questionnaire to help with the selection process. Please list "Furmion Application" as the subject.

The thing that makes Furmion different from FurMedia is the content and the approach to interact with such an audience. Furmion will hold "Science Fur Shoutouts," where we do a short interview with a science fur (anyone with a science degree) about their work, what they have accomplished, etc. The goal is to make other furries aware of the discoveries going on in the world of science and technology as well as raise awareness that there are such scientists out there who are furry!

Published on Jul 23, 2013
The average temperature across the continental U.S. could be 8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer by the end of the 21st century under a climate scenario in which concentrations of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide rise to 800 parts per million. Current concentrations stand at 400 parts per million, and are rising faster than at any time in Earth's history.

These visualizations -- which highlight computer model projections from the draft National Climate Assessment -- show how average temperatures could change across the U.S. in the coming decades under two different carbon dioxide emissions scenarios.

Both scenarios project significant warming. A scenario with lower emissions, in which carbon dioxide reaches 550 parts per million by 2100, still projects average warming across the continental U.S. of 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

The visualizations, which combine the results from 15 global climate models, present projections of temperature changes from 2000 to 2100 compared to the historical average from 1970 -1999. They were produced by the Scientific Visualization Studio at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., in collaboration with NOAA's National Climatic Data Center and the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites, both in Asheville, N.C.

The visualizations show the temperature changes as a 30-year running average. The date seen in the bottom-right corner is the mid-point of the 30-year average being shown.

"These visualizations communicate a picture of the impacts of climate change in a way that words do not," says Allison Leidner, Ph.D., a scientist who coordinates NASA's involvement in the National Climate Assessment "When I look at the scenarios for future temperature and precipitation, I really see how dramatically our nation's climate could change."

To learn more about the National Climate Assessment, due out in 2014, visit here: http://www.globalchange.gov/what-we-do/assessment

To see a NASA Visualization Explorer story on these visualizations, visit here: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a01000.....280/index.html

This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a0100.....11300/a011316/

Posted by:

Incredible 4k supercomputer images of Planet Earth. Youtube plays them now at HD resolution. We hope the platform will enable full UltraHD streaming in the next year.

Our world, Earth, is changing before our eyes. Go back millions of years. Forests reached into polar regions, sea levels rose, and temperatures soared with high levels of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A long cooling period followed. But now CO2 is on the rise again. What will happen? How will we live in the New World that's now emerging?

Scientists are intensively tracking the workings of planet Earth with satellites that chart its winds, ocean currents, temperatures, plant growth, and more. And with a new virtual Earth, shrunk down and converted into physical equations, satellite data, and computer codes.

This other Earth, a mirror of the one in which we live, is designed to follow the flow of heat through the complex, dynamic engine known as the climate... and to predict its future evolution. You can see the pattern of heat input in this sequence showing surface temperatures. As the seasons shift, heat builds and dissipates, most notably across tropical and subtropical regions. How does Earth dissipate this build up of heat? Look below. The oceans cover 71% of the planet's surface, at an average depth of more than four kilometers.

They act like an immense battery that can store and release energy over long periods of time, while transporting heat from warm to cool regions. The oceans are set in motion by the unevenness of solar heating... due to the amount of sunlight striking the tropics versus the poles, along with the cycles of day and night and the seasons.

That causes warm, tropical winds to blow toward the poles, and cold polar air to push toward the equator. Wind currents, in turn, drive surface ocean currents. This computer simulation shows the Gulfstream winding its way north along the coast of North America. This great ocean river carries enough heat energy to power the industrial world a hundred times over.

It breaks down in massive whirlpools that spread warm tropical waters over northern seas. Below the surface, this current mixes with cold deep currents that swirl around undersea ledges and mountains. When heat builds within tropical oceans in late summer, it can be released in a fury.

Posted by:  blitzkriegfox

http://www.extremetech.com/computin.....-optic-network


Admit it, there is no resisting reading something with "twisted laser vortex" in the title.

Posted by:  blitzkriegfox

potholer54 wrote:SOURCES are listed in the next video, because of space constraints. Predictable posts are answered here. Please spend your time and effort in addressing the evidence presented in the video:

"This is a straw man argument. Of course skeptics [sic] accept that CO2 warms the atmosphere,
We just don't think the warming will be catastrophic."

Answer: "Skeptics" have all kinds of positions on climate science, depending on their personal beliefs and feelings. This video addresses those critics who claim there is no evidence for the link between CO2 and global temperature. Whether you want to call such changes "catastrophic" or benign, or terrible, or bad, or good is your feeling, and therefore outside the scope of the science.

"Correlation does not mean causation."

Answer: It is still coinsistent with the theory. And where a mechanism has been shown that should produce a correlation, then the correlation is yet more confirmation that a theory is correct.

"Here's a piece of evidence -- there's no hot spot"

Apart from the fact that this 'no hot spot' idea is another piece of Internet mythology, the idea of the 'hot spot' is based on a computer model. If you think computer models are all wrong, then the lack of a hot spot must be wrong.

And critics -- please try to address the evidence shown in this video, rather than repeat myths that have been dealt with in my previous videos. If you're not sure, check them out:

"Warming is due to galactic rays/cosmic rays/the sun"
See: 2. Climate Change -- the objections 20 - Are cosmic rays causing global warming? Monckton bunkum Part 5 -- What, MORE errors, my lord? 1. Climate Change -- the scientific debate

"There was a consensus about global cooling in the 1970s"
See: 3 - Climate Change -- Anatomy of a myth

"There's been no warming since 1998."
See: 8. Climate Change -- Has the Earth been cooling? 8a. Climate Change - Phil Jones and the 'no warming for 15 years' 24 - Global warming has stopped? Again??

"The climate always changes"
See: 8. 5. Climate Change -- isn't it natural? Climate Change -- Has the Earth been cooling? Monckton Bunkum Part 3 - Correlations and Himalayan glaciers

"31,000 scientists disagree"
See: 9. Climate Change - Meet the Scientists

"We're headed for another ice age"
See: 10. Climate Change - An imminent ice age debunked 21 - "Earth facing mini-ice age!!" say the media. Now for the science....

"Global warming will cause more hurricanes"
See: 11. Climate Change -- Hurricanes, atolls and coral

"A recent study found that warming will be just 1.64 degrees"
See: 12 - 'Doubled CO2 means just 1.64 degrees of warming...' or maybe not.

"Global warming is drowning islands "
See: 13 - Misleading media reports on sea level rise - a case study 11. Climate Change -- Hurricanes, atolls and coral

"Global warming will bring an end to snow in the UK"
See: 14 - BP oil spills and an end to snow

"Greenland/arctic ice is not melting"
See: Monckton Bunkum Part 1 - Global cooling and melting ice

"There is very little amplification due to CO2 rise"
See: Monckton Bunkum Part 2 - Sensitivity

"There is no correlation between CO2 and temperature in the past"
See: 5. Climate Change -- isn't it natural? Monckton Bunkum Part 3 - Correlations and Himalayan glaciers

"Himalayan glaciers are not melting."
See: Monckton Bunkum Part 3 - Correlations and Himalayan glaciers

"[So-and-so] said...."
See: Monckton Bunkum Part 4 -- Quotes and misquotes

"It's been shown that climate scientists engaged in fraud"
See: 22 -- Climategate mark 2 -- the quotes and the context 6. Climate Change -- Those hacked e-mails 7. Climate Change - "Those" e-mails and science censorship

"The Medieval Warm Period proves...."
See: 23 -- Medieval Warm Period -- fact vs. fiction

"CO2 always lags temperature rise"
See: 25 - Climate Change -- The "800-year lag" unravelled

"I don't believe it"
See: 26 -- Science vs. the Feelies

"Evidence never convinces me, I believe whatever I hear in my head."
See: A psychiatrist

Sources video:

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Atmospheric halos: http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm
Suggested by:  moonstar27

A Boy And His Atom: The World's Smallest Movie

You're about to see the movie that holds the Guinness World Records™ record for the World's Smallest Stop-Motion Film (see how it was made at http://youtu.be/xA4QWwaweWA). The ability to move single atoms — the smallest particles of any element in the universe — is crucial to IBM's research in the field of atomic memory. But even nanophysicists need to have a little fun. In that spirit, IBM researchers used a scanning tunneling microscope to move thousands of carbon monoxide molecules (two atoms stacked on top of each other), all in pursuit of making a movie so small it can be seen only when you magnify it 100 million times. A movie made with atoms. Learn more about atomic memory, data storage and big data at http://www.ibm.com/madewithatoms

Posted by:

Posted by:

I thought that this series is very interesting for the starting chemist or just all around entertaining for those that already know it. Anyways, here is the link. I'm thinking about making this journal into a link for the  sciencefurs profile. Let your opinions be known in the comments.

Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis.....6fYEaX9mQQ8oGr

Edit: First video added

I just realized that I never posted this here.

FULLSCREEN IT - YOU HAVE 15 MINUTES TO SPARE. YOU WILL THANK ME.

This is the creation scene from the film "Tree of Life"


Double-mind-blow: absolutely nothing you will see is CG, except the dinosaurs. Absolutely nothing. All *filmed* using gases, liquids, dyes, animatronics and high-speed cameras.

Hey. I decided that the E = mc^2 was a bit lame. We need something snazzier.

Suggestions?

Posted by:

This is an oldie but goodie. You have to understand how to think critically before you are able to distinguish between good and bad arguments.

Posted by:

Published on Mar 15, 2013
Here are the details of Curiosity's discovery of ancient conditions in Yellowknife Bay in Mars' Gale Crater, from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. Ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. That's what the Mars Curiosity turned up in its first major discovery. Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon -- some of the key chemical ingredients for life -- in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month.

The data indicate the Yellowknife Bay area the rover is exploring was the end of an ancient river system or an intermittently wet lake bed that could have provided chemical energy and other favorable conditions for microbes. The rock is made up of a fine-grained mudstone containing clay minerals, sulfate minerals and other chemicals. This ancient wet environment, unlike some others on Mars, was not harshly oxidizing, acidic or extremely salty.

The patch of bedrock where Curiosity drilled for its first sample lies in an ancient network of stream channels descending from the rim of Gale Crater. The bedrock also is fine-grained mudstone and shows evidence of multiple periods of wet conditions, including nodules and veins.

Curiosity's drill collected the sample at a site just a few hundred yards away from where the rover earlier found an ancient streambed in September 2012. The clay minerals it found are a product of the reaction of relatively fresh water with igneous minerals, such as olivine, also present in the sediment. The reaction could have taken place within the sedimentary deposit, during transport of the sediment, or in the source region of the sediment. The presence of calcium sulfate along with the clay suggests the soil is neutral or mildly alkaline.

Scientists were surprised to find a mixture of oxidized, less-oxidized, and even non-oxidized chemicals, providing an energy gradient of the sort many microbes on Earth exploit to live. This partial oxidation was first hinted at when the drill cuttings were revealed to be gray rather than red.

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Why Do We Wear Clothes?

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Introduction to Plants


Published on Mar 18, 2013
This is a major revision in high definition to an earlier video I made on plants and photosynthesis. This HD dramatic video choreographed to powerful music introduces the viewer/student to the amazing world of plants. It is designed as a motivational "trailer" to be shown by teachers in Biology and Ecology classrooms in middle school, high school and college as a visual Introduction to the plant kingdom

I've spotted a few errors in this one. Who else noticed? :Þ

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Stoichiometry: Chemistry for Massive Creatures


Published on Mar 18, 2013

Chemists need stoichiometry to make the scale of chemistry more understandable - Hank is here to explain why, and to teach us how to use it.

Table of Contents
Atomic Mass Units 2:24
Moles 5:12
Molar Mass 5:59
Equation Balancing 8:45
Molar Ratios 11:11

Posted by:

potholer54 wrote:1) "You didn't understand what [insert name here] meant."
Yes, that's entirely possible. In the absence of facts and figures, a feelie argument is usually vague and ambiguous, often hinting at some elusive point that's never explained. When I read a scientific paper, on the other hand, I understand exactly what it's saying. The hypothesis is laid out, the methodology explained, the observations and calculations clearly shown, and the conclusion spelled out. That's the difference.

2) "The idea that CO2 is a trace gas is not a 'feeling'. It can be shown that it has no effect on climate." My response: Yes, but the 'feeling' is that because CO2 is a trace gas then it follows that it has no effect on climate. If this is correct, please cite a study that has some facts and figures to support it, otherwise it remains just a 'feeling.' If you have a source with some other evidence that CO2 has no effect on climate, then I have probably covered it in a previous video.

Posted by:

Interesting video I came across. also:

Liquid Metal Explosive!


If you take sodium (a soft, but solid metal) and potassium (a somewhat softer but still solid metal) and mix them together you get a beautiful liquid. However this liquid really is beauty and the beast in that when it reacts with water it releases about 6kJ per gram of energy. Thats about one and a half times more energy then that released by TNT exploding!

I had always assumed the reaction between the alkali metals to be fairly well understood, however the more I've looked into these reaction, the more complicated and fascinating they become. I mean REALLY fascinating.

You may have also seen a recent video by periodicvideos where they claim this is all very well understood. Thats simply bollox, and you dont have to scratch very deep in the literature to realize this is the case. Indeed you only have to look at the paper they dig out to show how 'well understood' this is. This paper, is closer to a hypothesis on thermal explosions. Difficult to see how thats relevant to a heterogeneous chemical explosion where the reaction generates hydrogen that keeps the reagents separate.

The Search for Antimatter


If you don't have any idea what antimatter is, you don't have to feel bad - the brightest minds in the world have only recently begun to understand what it is and how it works. Hank gives us the run down on what we know about antimatter, and what we're still trying to figure out.

Posted by:  blitzkriegfox

Description:

Eruptive events on the sun can be wildly different. Some come just with a solar flare, some with an additional ejection of solar material called a coronal mass ejection (CME), and some with complex moving structures in association with changes in magnetic field lines that loop up into the sun's atmosphere, the corona.

On July 19, 2012, an eruption occurred on the sun that produced all three. A moderately powerful solar flare exploded on the sun's lower right hand limb, sending out light and radiation. Next came a CME, which shot off to the right out into space. And then, the sun treated viewers to one of its dazzling magnetic displays -- a phenomenon known as coronal rain.

Over the course of the next day, hot plasma in the corona cooled and condensed along strong magnetic fields in the region. Magnetic fields, themselves, are invisible, but the charged plasma is forced to move along the lines, showing up brightly in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength of 304 Angstroms, which highlights material at a temperature of about 50,000 Kelvin. This plasma acts as a tracer, helping scientists watch the dance of magnetic fields on the sun, outlining the fields as it slowly falls back to the solar surface.

The footage in this video was collected by the Solar Dynamics Observatory's AIA instrument. SDO collected one frame every 12 seconds, and the movie plays at 30 frames per second, so each second in this video corresponds to 6 minutes of real time. The video covers 12:30 a.m. EDT to 10:00 p.m. EDT on July 19, 2012.
Music: "Thunderbolt" by Lars Leonhard, courtesy of artist.

This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?11168

Or find NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/NASA.GSFC

Or find us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

What do you think the metamathematical/philosophical footing is for:

existence of empty function
axiom of choice
continuum hypothesis/axiom of symmetry

Posted by:  blitzkriegfox

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.....ars/?sr=fbmain


A pioneering study from NASA and the University of California Irvine shows how the Middle East is losing its fresh water reserves. As you can see from the satellite imagery in the video, we’re going from blues and greens, to yellows and reds: that’s 144 cubic kilometers of lost water between 2003 and 2009. What do we mean by “lost water”? Most of it comes from below the Earth’s surface, from water trapped in rocks. In times of drought, we tend to drill for water by constructing wells and pumps. But the Earth has a finite supply. NASA’s scientists say pumping for water is the equivalent of using up your bank savings. And that bank account is dwindling.


To be honest, I'm not surprised. I've been saying that we will run out of resources for years now. I'm sad to say that my predictions are coming true.

Do you want to actually learn something while watching YouTube? Well then, you're in luck. Here is a list of several interesting channels on YouTube!

If you want to see a channel added here please post on this journal.

Links are in the channel name

List compiled by:  eozdniw

Veritasium: a bit of everything, physics seems quite prominent.

ASAPScience: relatively simple, a lot about how things affect us. -

CGPGrey: very varied, some of it isn't science but still very interesting explanations.

Deep Sky Videos: Astronomy

Vihart: mostly maths, and a bit of music as well, Vihart describes herself as a mathemusician.

The Brain Scoop: a fairly new channel that I haven't explored much yet but it seems focused on zoology.

Vsauce: varied, it deals with all sorts of things and the explanations are quite good. (there are also links to Vsauce2 and Vsauce3 from that channel)

CrashCourse: nicely explained, so far it has 4 main topics arranged in playlists: biology, ecology, literature and world history.

Smarter Every Day: more varied content.

Minute Physics: physics, all physics, classic, quantum and beyond.

Numberphile: lots of maths, British accents lie ahead.

Scishow: very well explained, I liked the variety of topics, a lot of biology and astronomy but there's plenty of everything.

Vlogbrothers: this is not specifically science but it's video blogs by Hank and John Green and they do sometimes use science in their explanations so it can be relevant.

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Additions to list:

potholer54: The main purpose of this channel is to explain in simple terms the conclusions of scientific research, and correct some of the unsourced crap we get fed on the Internet.

nurdrage: A channel run by science nerds for science nerds.

Sixty Symbols: Cool videos about physics and astronomy.

mrhomescientist: Various experiments done in my home laboratory, which is a wonderfully fun past time for me. I try to come up with interesting experiments that will help raise interest in science, since schools these days aren't allowed to show the more exciting reactions in classrooms.

NOVAonline:Blowing your mind since 1974.
NOVA is the most-watched primetime science series on television reaching an average of five million viewers weekly. The NOVA website has been pioneering new forms of web-original content since it debuted in early 1996. NOVA's online presence amplifies the impact of its programs, with a website that garners well over a million visitors each month, and with audiences on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and more. NOVA's mission is to make science accessible to viewers so that they can better understand the world around them.

Posted by:  blitzkriegfox

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/obse.....187930541.html


I hope this one is shining bright in March. I want to go camping with friends around that time so we can have a much better view without all of those annoying city lights. :3

Greetings, fellow science enthusiasts!  kavichayumar here.
As you may know, this group maintains a list of people who would love to help you with STEM-related (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) homework! The list of available tutors (awesome people) is right over here.

As the caretaker of this list, I haven't gotten any feedback since it went up a few months ago (although we do still add new tutors!). So, have you known about this list? Have you used it? If so, was it helpful? What can we do to make it better?

General comments can go on this journal, and if anyone wants to discuss experiences with specific tutors, positive or negative, please send us a note!

Suggested by:  wattsin

So recently the cluster H(CHB_11Cl_11) carborane has been recognized to have some interesting properties. I think fluoroantimonic acid WAS the strongest acid (or was it anhydrous hydrogenfluoride + antimony pentafluoride, I have a hazy memory), but carborane's ability to donate protons allow it to crash the ph scale. Due to its rapid ability to donate protons it is the strongest acid known now. They've started using the cluster's properties to bind with medication to enhance the effect. I feel like this is the star compound of this solstice. Enjoy ;)

ps. This message was lost in the inbox. I stumbled across it and kicked myself for forgetting it. Sorry. >.<

Posted by:  blitzkriegfox

I came across a few neat videos. The last one is more mechanical rather than research, but I figure the physics furs would get a kick out of if. :3

Immovable Object vs. Unstoppable Force - Which Wins?

Big Idea: Gunpowder

How a Differential Works and Types of Differentials