Interesting scientific stuff

That's pretty awesome. Maybe the Ionosphere will provide material for your next Termani!

Hey! Thanks for the tip! I finished my second hito hude gake last night and am pleased with it and with myself for working out how to do it. Hoping for some decent daylight today so I can photograph it with its orange pal and will post on my profile if I manage.

Let me know if you post.

Keep this thread alive if you can - I'm fascinated but uneducated in the sciences - but love natural sciences and the art and design that is often exhibited in the natural world.

epod.usra.edu/blog/2011/11/tibetan-halo.html

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Not related to the link above (nice pic): I posted a pic of my temari on my profile, butty.

Fascinating and interesting, there is so much more to discover!
Loved the Termani too, I wouldn't know where to start!!!
One of my idiosyncracies (there are many) is looking for patterns in everything around me, I remember many years ago seeing a picture of a snowflake, much magnified, and that is where it all started!

What finds there are to be had amongst the hedgerows and brambles, bagitha!
Stunning.

That's a beautiful halo.

Oldgreymare - I quite agree about patterning, and find ice crystals beautiful.

Pattern recognition is a major part of mathematical thinking .

Blimey! ..... and there I was thinking I didn't have a mathematical brain in the slightest! So it's nice to have a bit of hope......

Polaris yay!

epod.usra.edu/blog/2011/12/polaris-and-the-north-celestial-pole.html

An interesting essay from a professor of physics at Duke University in North Carolina. I think what he suggests is a good idea.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/02/foia-is-not-enough-why-not-legally-mandate-transparency-in-climate-research-a-modest-proposal/#more-52435

A very thought provoking article, bagitha - thank's for posting it. I've just read it and came away with a very simplistic conclusion that Climatology could be seen to be a new religion. Proof, or otherwise, can be manipulated to suit the masses, depending upon the financial and political needs of any particular time, by those who bang the drum the hardest. I rather fear that I am still gambling with snake-oil salesmen, if and when I chose to pin my ribbon to any one particular view/ cause.

At least by suggesting a criteria (the a,b,c, etc.) the professor is attempting to aid clarity and to promote lateral thinking around this whole issue. The cynic in me says he may yet be another drum banger, albeit it a plausible one.

As a primary school teacher (retired) one of my mantras when teaching certain numeracy lessons was: look for the pattern!
Will look up your reference later, Bagith, am wondering whether I will enjoy reading it ???????

Did anyone see that amazing programme on BBC4 a while ago about snow and how it forms? I wish I could remember what I'd seen [I often watch BBC4 when I'm half asleep or, waking up on the sofa to find the tv's still on and there's a really interesting programme being repeated in the early hours]. I think, as children, one of our first wonderments of the world around us was seeing snow crystals [and cutting them out of paper at school round Christmas time]. When we didn't have snow for what seemed like forever, I used to scrape the 'snow' from the inside of the freezer, put it in a container and the kids would make a snowman who would then live in the freezer for a long time. There's something very satisfying about symmetry, is there not? [think kaleidoscopes...]Something I keep meaning to do with my grandson is to put food colouring in milk and then add the 'magic ingredient' of washing up liquid. My kids used to love that. Sorry; I'm meandering in an attempt to put off more mouse searching.

Hope you find the essay interesting at least, OGM. There's nothing revolutionary in it really. What he's suggesting already applies to certain areas of science that have particular bearing on the public, e.g. drug testing. However, he says it better than I could.

I think I completely misunderstood the article. I didn't engage brain before posting . Apologies for the rubbish.

Bagitha... I think I've read the article but I'm not very good at finding references unless they are highlighted blue and I can click on that!
I also found, in the same area, an item titled:
The Science is Scuttled.
Having read that, which is also interesting, I can only conclude that Scientists can be an unpleasant bunch and that rivalries exist in their world too!
P.S. loved the bit about Einstein!!!

Sorry, I hadn't realised that I'd omitted to 'blue up' the link.

wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/02/foia-is-not-enough-why-not-legally-mandate-transparency-in-climate-research-a-modest-proposal/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nasa-telescope-finds-earthlike-planet-6272679.html

Wow! What if.........?

Bagitha, thanks.... have read half of it, OG wants an early supper.... vital Bridge games to play!!!!

Oh dear... it seems to me that my comment,above, is vindicated! Prof Brown has his own agenda whilst criticising others for theirs.
Isn't it good to have dissent, to question and to evaluate, to wonder, perhaps cynically, why certain conclusions are reached. I'm glad we do that and don't blindly accept everything we are told.
As you know, I put my trust in the IPCC who aim to reflect a range of views and expertise.
They also state that review is an essential part of their process thus ensuring an objective and complete assessment of current information.
I know different views are held by other people and I respect their right to hold these views.
Prof Brown makes some interesting points.
I'm losing the plot.... had a busy day!
WOW indeed!

Moon eclipse 10 December:

science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/02dec_lunareclipse/

Thanks bagitha watched and enjoyed. Did all the drawing sfor the OG's college thesis on spherical geometry... drew circles arcs cones etc 'til I was blue in the face!
Also watched the David Attenborough prog last night , superb camera work and a lovely simple explanation as to why the Polar regions are warming faster than the rest of the globe.
Did I hear, on the radio, that Shetland Islanders will get the best view of the eclipse on Saturday?
Heard the forecast for you for today.... batten down the hatches, keep safe.

New research about what is killing honey bees. Very interesting and there is a link within this article to the academic paper in PLoS ONE. I have two objections to the writing of the SciAm article: the use of the word zombie is daft and "colony collapse" does not need the word 'disorder' after it. <Pedantic grrr>

blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/01/03/zombie-fly-parasite-killing-honeybees/