100,000 Stars

Google has done some amazing modelling of the solar system, which shows the closest 100, 000 stars to the sun. (I think.) Anyway, it's AMAZING. You need Google Chrome to run it, I think, but it's totally worth it.

(Make sure you zoom all the way out, it's unbelievable. So huge!) (Also, make sure you click on the individual stars, there's heaps of info and a close-up graphic of what they look like!)

Five for Friday no. 43

Today's Five has a theme: TUMBLRs!

Fiction bucket list. No, it's not books to read before you die.  

Fuck Yeah, movie posters!
 

 Thug Kitchen. Jane's new favourite tumblr.  

Research in Progress.A tumblr for my scientists friends. Of which I have almost none. 

Tumblr of a professional cartoonist and illustrator. Off-kilter Disney Princess, My Little Pony and Superhero comics. Adorable.

Images are the original artwork of Amy Mebberson.

Book review: The Disappearing Spoon

I confess: I spent all of senior chemistry sitting in the back row talking about Sex and the City and other important topics rather then learning about calcium and sodium and why you shouldn't play with a Bunsen burner. However, despite my concentration-issues, I still think science is incredibly interesting and a topic on which I would like to know more. Which is why I picked myself up a copy of The Disappearing Spoon: and other true tales of madness, love, and the history of the world from the Periodic Table of the Elements.

The Disappearing Spoon is about the periodic table of the elements and the human passions and follies that lead to the discovery of the elements and the construction of this oh-so-familiar map of our world. 

Author Sam Kean spent years researching and collecting the stories behind the construction of the periodic table, from the discovery of elements by both great and almost unknown scientists, to the arrangement of the table – attributed first and foremost to Dmitri Mendeleev (never heard of him) – and the future of the table, those unknown potential elements that are slowly being 'discovered' as scientists find ways to manufacture elements.

This is a wonderfully engaging book. Kean has a wonderful humour and humanism in his writing. His pages are riddled with stories of betrayal, poisoning, jealousies and pettiness and above all, obsession. The single-minded obsession of generations of scientists to unlock out understanding of the very building blocks of our universe. 

 

In school we restricted ourselves to some 10 or 15 most obvious or common elements. The rest of the table was, to me at least, a nonsensical mess of initials like Cm, Sg and W (that’s curium, seaborgium and tungsten, by the way). The Disappearing Spoon opens up the table, exposing the noble gases, poisons and big-money-elements and is proof, if ever proof was needed, that history is genuinely fascinating, not matter how dull you might think the subject is. For instance, I didn’t know that the Japanese bombed Godzilla with Cadmium, or that the rare element ruthenium tipped the Parker 51 pen – commonly perceived by pen-connoisseurs as the-pen-of-pens – or that here is an element you can ingest that will permanently turn your skin blue. If my chem teacher had taught me that stuff I might have been less interested in discussing Carrie's latest failed relationship. 

The Disappearing Spoon is the perfect book for someone like myself, who has an interest in science and the human stories behind our chemical world but does not want to get bogged down in too much actual chemistry or physics. Once Kean starts talking about fundamental constants or measuring time in wavelengths my eyes glazed over a bit and I had to put the book down for a time when my mind was fresh and able to cope. Not that I’m not interested in learning, it’s just that the nature of physics and chemistry, the shells of atoms and so on does my head in. 

However, such lapses into eye-crossing science are rare. For the most part, Keane sticks to the stories of the scientists, their lives and their discoveries while imparting just enough science for comprehension and to broaden the mind a little. 

I suspect a genuine chemist or physicist would loathe this book for the simplifications that make it so readable for the rest of us. However, if you are at all interested in science I would heartily recommend The Disappearing Spoon. Not only is it an excellent read, it is an enjoyable way to learn a little more about the way our world works.

Marie Curie. Extraordinary scientist who was recognised for her contribution with the ultimate prize - an element named after her on the periodic table, curium (Cm, 96).

Five for Friday no. 15

So have we all heard of Ridiculously Photogenic Guy? No. Now you have. He's the latest internet sensation, and no surprise - he's good to look at!

Ok, additional explanation: he was snapped during a 10km run in his home town somewhere in the US. A photo was taken of him and within 24 hours it was EVERYWHERE. Now, if you've ever done sporty activities or more especially, if you've ever been photographed while you are doing those sporty activities, you will no that it is impossible to look good. No one does. You're usually red and sweaty and pulling a really unfortunate face. But RPG looks, well, ridiculously photogenic, and happy and it's ridiculous!

So here's the news report.

Here is a tumblr gif set of him being interviewed on Good Morning America (I think).

And here is his meme list.

Interactive Pasta sauce suggestions - so cute! So interactive!

Lego street art around the world.

How to eat dinner - an etiquette guide. I am falling behind and feel I should introduce some Standards.

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki: how to fold a piece of paper in half 12 times.

Book review: 'Guns, germs and steel' by Jared Diamond

Jared Diamond's 'Guns, germs and steel' was first published in 1998. I bought it a few months ago from Avid Reader because it was one of my Dad's favourite books; a much-thumbed and re-re-re-read volume always in reach and which I was constantly advised to read.

So I finally picked it up for myself because I felt it would be one of those volumes that would stay with me for years and years, be re-read many times and make my book collection look that little more intelligent.

'Guns, germs and steel' is a 'brief' history of how human history evolved. How people moved across the world, evolved and how groups came to be 'the-haves' and others the 'have-nots'. Why was it that Europeans developed at a seeming faster rate than so many other groups and were the ones to charter the ocean and invade and sometimes conquer peoples in the new world

Diamond quickly dismisses any simple, racist explanation that some people are better / smarter / more innovative and inventive and spends 425 pages explaining why what happened, happened.

I love science books. I love reading about history and the history of 'things' – cod, salt, tobacco. Reading about the history of these seminal resources or developments in human history is absolutely fascinating, plus makes you better at post-wine-bottles small talk.

'Guns, germs and steel' is easy to read and easy to understand. There are times when Diamond talks about 'other works in this field' etc. and 'calibrated' and 'uncalibrated' time and I start skim-reading like I'm reading 'The Brothers Karamazov' and skipping over the Russian names, but the assumptions of pre-comprehension are minimal.

It's a fascinating read. I now know why human history unfolded the way it did. Why so many societies – including Aboriginal Australians - remained hunter-gatherers until the arrival of Europeans and their crops and animals. Why crops and animals spread so easily across Eurasia, allowing it to become the most advanced continent but didn't spread from North to South America. Why certain diseases from certain parts of the world developed and allowed their transmitters to conqueor by infection but not the reverse. It is fascinating.

If you wanted to read a potted history of why human history panned out the way it did, this is the book to read. Buy and read, because you're going to want it on your shelves.

In one sentence: A seminal, comprehensive work on the how's and why's human history unfolded the way it did that will live on your bookshelf for the rest of your life.