Smarter Every Day Episode 285: Prince Rupert’s Drop VS MOLTEN GLASS. Destin Sandlin visits glass artist Cal Breed who snaps a Prince Rupert’s Drop inside molten glass. There also is a playlist of seven videos at Smarter Every Day if you’d like to learn more about Prince Rupert’s Drops.
Category Archives: Science
What does Gauß have to do with the nuclear arms race?
Veritasium: How An Algorithm Could Have Stopped The Nuclear Arms Race. (YouTube, 26:32min)
“The Fast Fourier Transform is used everywhere but it has a fascinating origin story that could have ended the nuclear arms race. […]
Thanks to Grant Sanderson of 3Blue1Brown for his helpful feedback on the script. His great video on the Fourier Transform is here”
3Blue1Brown: But what is the Fourier Transform? A visual introduction. (YouTube, 21min)
It blew my mind that Carl Friedrich Gauß found the discrete Fourier transform – 150 years earlier that Fourier.
“Plump up the cartilage”
The Washington Post: Does running really wreck your knees? “Contrary to popular opinion, distance running rarely causes knee problems in runners, and often leaves joints sturdier and less damaged.” By Gretchen Reynolds.
“Hart and his colleagues believe running strengthens the major leg muscles supporting the knee, allowing them to take on and offload more of the strains involved in repeatedly striking the ground.
The knee’s cartilage probably also bulks up, thanks to the repeated squishing it receives during running, Esculier said. “For a long time, we thought that cartilage could not adapt” to running or other activities, he said, because it lacks blood supply and nerves. “But in fact, cartilage does adapt,” he said, “by becoming stronger and more tolerant to compression.”
In a 2022 review of past MRI studies he co-wrote, he and his colleagues found evidence that the knee’s cartilage flattens immediately after a run, but then bounces back into shape within a few hours. With long-term recreational running, he said, the cartilage probably thickens, although that possibility still needs to be studied.
“Bottom line is that cartilage does become more robust” with running, Esculier said.”
Alles gesagt?
In den letzten Wochen habe ich zwei höchst interessante Podcast-Folgen gehört, und zwar vom unendlichen Zeit-Podcast Alles gesagt?
Richert Socher, was denken Maschinen? (26. November 2020, gute acht Stunden lang)
“Einer der meistzitierten jungen KI-Forscher spricht im Podcast darüber, wie Computer die Welt verstehen, über sein Leben im Silicon Valley und seine Kindheit in der DDR.”
Thomas Zurbuchen, wann findet die Nasa Leben im Weltall? (22. August 2022, fünf Stunden lang)
“Er ist der wohl einflussreichste Forscher der Welt. Im unendlichen Podcast spricht der Astrophysiker über die Magie der Sterne, Elon Musk und Science-Fiction-Filme.”
Weitere Folgen der Serie, die ich hörenswert fand:
“HomöopaTEA – Wirkung ist, was du draus machst!”
MaiThink X: Das Ende der Homöopathie. (YouTube, 31:57min)
“Der vielleicht größte Abwasserskandal aller Zeiten – ausgerechnet mit der angeblich so sanften Homöopathie. Und ein Eistee, der mit Globuli gesüßt wird, obwohl die sonst nur in der Apotheke verkauft werden. Wir führen euch durch die Abgründe der deutschen Arzneimittelregelungen – holt euch einen Eistee, macht es euch gemütlich!”