Blog Archives
Holiday Post:The Science of Big Waves
I’m off on holiday for a few weeks, so here is a cool video to keep you busy: The Science of Big Wave Surfing, about Mavericks. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get to paddle into some little Bali beach waves this week!
This video comes from the YouTube channel of KQEDOnDemand, which is a public media service for northern California (kind of like PBS). Anyway, they have a good Science channel, as well as Education and other topics, so have a look.
BIS Students: don’t forget your holiday task here. Due on the first day back.
See you in August!
The Ig Nobel Prizes 2008
The Ig Nobel Prizes are a celebration of weird, pointless and entertaining scientific research that, as the Improbable Research organisation puts it, “first makes you laugh, then makes you think.”
Some of the winners from this year include:
– Nutrition: making crisps crunch louder than they should
– Biology: “fleas that live on a dog jump higher than fleas that live on a cat”
– Chemistry: conflicting teams arguing over whether coca-cola is an effective spermicide
– Physics: mathematical proof that heaps of string will inevitably tangle up in knots
All geniuses, no doubt.
Here is the acceptance speech of last year’s prizewinners for Medicine: Sword Swallowing!
“JetMan” crosses the English Channel
From National Geographic:
“Swiss pilot Yves Rossy, aka Jet Man, practices flying his self-designed jet-propelled wing.
On September 26, 2008, Rossy became the first person to fly across the English Channel using a jet pack.”
Next week: IronMan flies around the world!
i-Biology 