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NETSURFER SCIENCE
More Signal, Less Noise |
Volume 01, Issue 09 Friday, September 25, 1998 |
EARTH SYSTEMS
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EARTH SYSTEMS Why Leaves Change Their Colors We write this review with apologies to readers in warmer climes and in the southern hemisphere. Netsurfers in Canada and New England, though, are witness to the first evidence of autumn: cooler nights, shorter days, and the early hints of spectacular fall foliage. Familiar landscapes transform as woodland greenery takes on a range of new hues and tour buses criss-cross secondary roads in pursuit of nature's gaudiest displays. The colors of autumn aren't entirely random, 'though they're still not completely predictable; temperature and soil conditions influence the final palette. You might be surprised, too, to know that those colors are always there. It's just that chlorophyll masks them through the spring and summer. Once the days shorten and the manufacture of chlorophyll declines, the hidden chemical processes have a chance to shine. We offer two crisp explanations for fall's pageant.Forestry Service: http://willow.ncfes.umn.edu/leaves/leaves.htm State University of New York: http://www.esf.edu/pubprog/brochure/leaves/leaves.htm Brace yourself for those chipper TV weather folk counting down to the first day of fall as if they just finished their own personal calculations at Stonehenge or Chichen Itza. Never mind that the Chinese, Mayan, Druid, Native American, Hindu, Egyptian, and Sumerian astronomers - to name a few - grasped the concept several thousand years ago. The autumnal equinox (and the vernal one, for that matter) mark the date and time at which the sun's ecliptic path crosses the celestial equator. In the northern hemisphere, it's all downhill after that, as days shorten until they reach their nadir at the winter solstice. Of course, at the same time that we in the northern hemisphere are lofting snowballs, denizens of the southern reaches are tossing beachballs. We'll point you to the science of the seasons first and then to sites on a few less familiar interpretations of the phenomenon. Why seasons happen: http://www.aspsky.org/html/tnl/29/29.html Chinese astronomy; http://www.friesian.com/grndhog.htm Druidic high days: http://www.io.com/~curucahm/MUGWORT/CAL/highday.html Hebrew calendar: http://www.frontiernet.net/~labomb32/calendar.html Hindu astronomy: http://www.aaronsrod.com/time-cycles/time-cycles-22.html Lakotan Sioux astronomy: http://indy4.fdl.cc.mn.us/~isk/stars/starmenu.html COMPUTING AND ENGINEERING Rob Rosenberger, Computer Virus Expert to the Gods Computer virus expert Rob Rosenberger maintains a comprehensive private initiative devoted to virus legends and potential. The frequent news updates at his Computer Virus Myths site will keep you up to date on the latest and greatest of both. Rosenberger ventures beyond a mere database. He explores the culture of viruses, from the fear of the naive individual to the ways antivirus software publishers manipulate the press. Though not pretty - rainbow background be damned - the site presents a heck of a lot of good, solid must-read info. You may be somewhat lost at first, but if you stay alert as Rob leads through the world of hoaxes, overblown press, and virus protection marketing, you'll get up to speed soon enough.http://kumite.com/myths/
Nothing but Gasbagging and Hot Air Seems the Montgolfier brothers were no rocket scientists. Then again as inventors of the hot-air balloon they didn't have to be. In 1783, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier used damp straw, wool, old shoes, and rotting meat as fuel to launch the first manned balloon over Paris. They believed the dense, choking fumes - electric smoke, as they called it - had a mysterious lifting property. When a local scientist, Jacques Charles, got wind (and a smell, no doubt) of the Montgolfiers' work, he started experimenting with the recently isolated gas, hydrogen, and within months the gas balloon was born. These fascinating sites document the history and development of ballooning from the pioneering work of 1783 until today. Essential reading for anyone enchanted by the elegance and beauty of the balloon, multimillionaires going through a mid-life crisis or Canadian airforce pilots.History of Ballooning: http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Union/BUHABS/first.html Winged Heart: http://www.ungermark.se/pitalie.html Popular Science + Star Trek = Firefighting? National Fire & Rescue magazine is like the WIRED magazine for the firefighting (and rescue) crowd, and that's meant in a good sense. With articles that cover everything from the changing role of hazmat teams in a rapidly decentralizing geopolitical environment to the latest must-have gadgets for every fire department, NFR has got it all. (Bet you didn't know you could actually buy a handheld device that detects victims in burning buildings from the electromagnetic signature of their hearts, did you?) The folks from the magazine didn't stop there; in addition to the magazine's online home, where you can get a taste of the stories from each issue, there's a Virtual Fire & Rescue Expo they've built - another use of the Internet to bring the cosmopolitan benefits of conferences and trade shows to fire departments all over the country.http://www.nfrmag.com/ Links to Medieval Architecture Sites This page - a collection of links - introduces the many and varied glories of the medieval world: buildings and bridges, not only in Europe, but in Isfahan, various Arabic cities, Constantinople, and northeastern Russia. Most of the links take you to university sites, or those prepared by architectural societies. The medieval architecture page is one of more than 500 fine URLs offered by the Mining Company, a commercial Web publisher devoted to excavating the best from the World Wide Web.http://historymedren.miningco.com/msubarchi.htm ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS http://www.lhl.lib.mo.us/pubserv/hos/stars/welcome.htm On January 1 of this year, no one knew of any planets outside our solar system (depending on how you define planet). Now, we know of enough to start holding conferences on them. And this comes before the next generation of telescopes that will make Hubble look like a monocle. It's pretty amazing when you think about it. The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia site catalogues both the planets themselves and the increasing amount of science devoted to them. The pages are clearly designed for either the pro or the dedicated amateur, with texts and charts written in a somewhat technical manner, so don't expect an easy ride through the universe here. Still, it's worth a look just to stay informed on one of the cutting edges of astronomy. http://wwwusr.obspm.fr/planets/ MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY Hairpin Turns and Breakneck Education The exhilaration of a roller coaster: thrown back and forth at speed, pinned to your seat by the g-forces, trapped against its confines by powers centrifugal and centripetal. It's exhilarating. What if you could rationalize riding a roller coaster for your classroom curriculum? Amusement parks can be a great source of information and experimentation for physics classes, and if you're a teacher, there are lesson plans already developed for just such learning excursions. "Roller Coaster Physics", by Virginia physics teacher Tony Wayne is a starkly simple site chockful of labs, worksheets, and a complete week's worth of roller coaster science. "Park and Ride Science" focuses on many of the same principles, but although it's comprehensive and a little more colorful, it doesn't boast the suggested labs that RCP provides. Finally, the commercially developed "Amusement Park Physics" looks at not only roller coasters, but four other rides at your local fun park. This site wins the award for the most fun in the classroom, even if you can't make it to a park; this particular Netsurfer was drawn in by the online roller coaster designer and the other experiments that give the pages the feel of a trip to a hands-on science museum.RCP: http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Anthology/Pav/Science/Physics/book/home.html Park and Ride Science: http://www.demon.co.uk/arvis/wwg/tech/phys.html Amusement Park Physics: http://www.learner.org/exhibits/parkphysics/ Nikola Tesla. Electrical genius responsible for the adoption of alternating current as the standard mode of electrical energy transmission. Pioneer in global wireless transmission. Inventor of radio-controlled submersibles. Researcher into high-frequency and high-energy electromagnetic oscillations. Proponent of "free energy". Able to sense thunderstorms at great distances. Capable of destroying tall buildings with a small device. Lunatic. Space alien. Not all of the above-mentioned "facts" are documented at the Museum of Nikola Tesla in Belgrade, according to its official Web site. Visitors will, however, have a chance to view some photographs of the intriguing man, his two-phase generator, induction motor, bladeless turbine, and other inventions, as well as his top hat, cane and gloves. .wav files of high-frequency electrical discharge can also be heard at the site. Observant visitors will notice that any mention of his research into gravitics or air and spacecraft propulsion is conspicuously absent. Museum: http://www.yurope.com/org/tesla/ Tesla Links Page: http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/tesla/tesla.html ARCHEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY http://www.mediazw.com/natparks/g_zim.htm HyperHistory Online is a free complement to the static World History Chart praised by celebrity intellectuals such as Isaac Asimov, James Michener, and Carl Sagan for its 3,000-year history-at-a-glance view of human endeavor. Its maps, graphics, and other visuals let you see what was happening simultaneously in different parts of the world. For example, the Special Lifelines option charts the history of science and visual arts with name buttons (Francis Bacon, Bernoulli, Descartes, and so forth) arrayed on a timeline. Other Special Lifelines include composers and visual arts. The Connections section offers summaries about interconnected events that James Burke would be proud of. Of course, the main timeline impressed us, too. http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html The mystery of how hundreds of giant stone statues came to dominate the coast of Easter Island leaves most people in stony-faced silence. This Nova Online site chronicles the attempts made earlier this year by a team of archeologists and a 75-person crew to move and erect a statue. The team struggled for a month to raise the 10-ton replica of a moai using only the tools and materials available to the ancient Easter Islanders, the Rapa Nui. There are notes on how their plan of attack panned out, as well as the opportunity to submit your own crazy proposals. Although the mystery of how the moai were erected is partially dispelled, the mystery of why they were erected persists. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/easter/ SCIENCE AND ART Richard Feynman: Nuclear Physicist & MAN OF ACTION!! It's obvious that science is a pretty fascinating subject. (It must be, otherwise, you wouldn't be reading this digest, right?) But some people take their love of science - and its leading scientists - just a little too far. Such is the case with the talented folks behind TWO-FISTED SCIENCE, a comic book that immortalizes the travails of Feynman, Einstein, and other great minds of our times. A winner of the Xeric Grant (a grant that's a sort of venture capital for promising new start-up comics), TWO-FISTED SCIENCE has been praised by both the comics community and Physics World magazine. Intrigued? Check out an online snippet of the anthology at lemoncustard.com, the web site of one of the artists on the project. If that's not enough to whet your taste for physics mayhem, look for the book in your local comics shop when it hits the shelves sometime this month.Two-Fisted Science: http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~hellpop/Two-FistedScience/ Lemon Custard: http://lemoncustard.com/feynman/ MEDICINE, BIOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY http://www.bocklabs.wisc.edu/Welcome.html Adverse Effects of Weightlessness Nineteen of the debilitating effects of weightlessness on the human body are described in this page written by Dr. Theodore W. Hall. Fanciful thoughts of doing continuous somersaults whilst playing with a slinky in zero-grav are quickly expelled when the realities space flight set in. The level of fluids in the head increase, leading to a feeling of stuffiness, reduced sense of taste and smell, nasal-sounding voices and puffy faces. Nausea, vomiting, headaches, drowsiness, flatulence, and sweating are other frequent side effects. Dehydration, muscle and bone damage, increased likelihood of developing urinary stones, and vertigo are also discussed, as well as other serious issues, such as cardiac problems, electrolyte imbalances, anemia, and T-cell damage. This is certainly a different image than the one presented in popular films, let alone promotional videos prepared by NASA. Think twice before you make your reservations at the new space station.http://www.permanent.com/s_nograv.htm Understanding and Treating Headaches Men and women tend to get different types of headaches. Men are more likely to get the cluster type - intense pain around the eyes for an hour or two, over a period of weeks or months. Women are more likely to get migraines - extended debilitating pain, accompanied by nausea. Another type, the tension headache, seems to afflict almost everybody from time to time. Learn about causes and treatments. The American Council for Headache Education posts plenty of excellent free information, although a $20 donation goes to support this nonprofit membership organization.http://www.achenet.org/ The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Is the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, you may ask, an organization like Ducks Unlimited, dedicated to preserving wildlife so that its members can more personally kill them at their leisure? Damn straight it is - not that there's anything wrong with that. Heck, they even hold local Big Game Banquets. The foundation's Web page provides all the elk facts you can stomach, including how to gut and carry an elk you've just shot. You may enjoy or crusade against hunting, but groups like these, regardless of agenda, have helped maintain or increase the numbers of wild animals. Does that give the hunters the right to shoot them? What, you think we're gonna answer that? Are you nuts?http://www.rmef.org/index.htm The snapping jaw. The glistening teeth. The bone-snapping tail. The piercing, reptilian eyes of the American alligator. They inhabit every county of Florida, and can eat everything from snails to humans, not to mention any number of inanimate objects. Protected as a threatened species, adult males can be about 11' long and weigh up to half a ton. This is not a creature that one should try shooing away with a broom. For other facts and safety tips, visit this University of Florida Web site, and remember to restrict your swimming to well-lit indoor pools when visiting the state. http://gnv.ifas.ufl.edu/www/agator/htm/aligator.htm ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, ECONOMICS, AND GEOGRAPHY http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/maps.html SCIENCE LITE The Science behind the X-Files A little over a year ago, when NSS was just a glimmer in Arthur's good eye, NSD reviewed The Science behind the X-Files. Little did any of us know that site creator Jason Alderman would join Netsurfer ranks a few months later, one of the merry band of writers that brings NSS to your inbox twice a month. Well, Jason's done a little housekeeping on his SBXF links, hung some new curtains and wallpaper, and generally spruced the place up to bring you spiffy and entertaining new pages. The X-Files talks a good show, and we admit it - but it ain't science. Our man Jason affectionately, but determinedly, pooh-poohs the sorta-science on which The X-Files hangs its plots, and points us to real information that addresses issues raised in each murky episode. Pay him a visit. Tell him we sent you.http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/9815/
Improving the Species, One Gene Pool Drop-out at a Time Charles Darwin, of course, was one of two scientists to first postulate the mechanism of natural selection. That legacy continues to be celebrated with the unofficial Darwin Awards, an honor bestowed upon the humans who altruistically - and usually accidentally - prevents their tautologically inferior genes from further contributing to our gene pool by offing himself in some grandiose and spectacularly stupid fashion. Past winners include a driver who attached a rocket engine to his Chevy - "small fragments of bone, teeth and hair were extracted from the crater" - and the Heaven's Gate cult members. Our choice for 1998's award is a man who claimed it was safe to shoot a loaded revolver at your head: "...the man, after looking at the ammo cylinder, assured his pals the bullet was not behind the barrel - but next to it." Anyone else not know how a gun works?http://www.skyhawk.org/darwin.htm RESIDUE http://acept.la.asu.edu/courses/phs110/ds/toc.html |
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