humansofnewyork:

Meet Hazem. He created an IPhone/Android App called Vibe, which allows users to speak anonymously with people in their general area. Think: movie theaters, concerts, protests. 

The user can control how far his/her voice is heard. You can choose to speak and listen anonymously to the people on your block, or expand your range to include everyone in your city. Hazem explains that the App was used by Zuccotti Park protestors who wanted to have private conversations about sensitive internal issues, such as theft and cleanliness. 

I think his App brings up an interesting issue: does the wired world need more anonymity? It serves a useful purpose in repressive countries, but I think anonymity on the internet generally brings out the worst in people. 

One of the reasons I value Facebook is that it forces people to “claim” their commentary. It seems to keep the discourse (relatively) more civil. Though there are some sensitive exceptions, I feel that generally, if you don’t feel comfortable “owning up” to your words, you probably shouldn’t be speaking them.

Try Vibe for yourself at http://zami.com/vp

http://www.collegehumor.com/upick/6777070/science-is-the-best ›

ulaulaman:

The quantum team by Peppe Liberti

sciencecenter:

New study is a further testament to the hardiness of the water bear

The water bear is the cockroach of microbes; they nearly always pull through when researchers throw them into Armageddon-like conditions. Now it seems that even their unborn young have unprecedented endurance.

The microscopic animals called water bears already have quite a number of accomplishments under their belts. In experiments, they’ve survived the vacuum of space, large doses of radiation, extreme heat, extreme cold, and extreme pressure, giving scientists cause to believe that the little guys could potentially live on other planets and weather long journeys across space…

But to pull this off, they’d have to reproduce. Scientists have now exposed water bear eggs to three of these stressors—extreme temperature, vacuum, and a dose of radiation so strong that exposure to even a fraction of it would kill a human in days. They found that provided the eggs are given a chance to dehydrate themselves and go dormant, surprising numbers that survive: more than 70% of eggs for the temperature test, and more than 50% for the radiation test, while vacuum-exposed eggs hatched at similar rates as control eggs.

(Image credit)

holymoleculesbatman:

Belousov Zhabotinsky Reaction

The Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction is a family of oscillating chemical reactions. During these reactions, transition-metal ions catalyze oxidation of various, usually organic, reductants by bromic acid in acidic water solution. Most BZ reactions are homogeneous. The BZ reaction makes it possible to observe development of complex patterns in time and space by naked eye on a very convenient human time scale of dozens of seconds and space scale of several millimeters. The BZ reaction can generate up to several thousand oscillatory cycles in a closed system, which permits studying chemical waves and patterns without constant replenishment of reactants.

Curious? Watch a video here 

(via holymoleculesbatman)

Quantumaniac: Actual Definitions of Commonly Confused Mathematical Terms ›

http://quantumaniac.tumblr.com/post/10741130553/a-bit-of-physics-humor ›

quantum-loops:

I read about these last year in an article of a particle’s mass in relation to it’s reaction rate. they also have super light hydrogen where it’s an electron orbiting an anti muon.

I don’t know I thought it was cool.

Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that’s not why we do it.