2009-07-13T15:27:23Z /img/feed.png © 2009 http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/atom.xml http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/dark-matter.html 2008-06-11T00:40:14Z

<p>Dark matter is Magic. Not only is it undetectable (hence the name dark), it&#39;s also incredibly common &mdash; 10 times more so than ordinary matter &mdash; and miraculously solves any equations it&#39;s faced with. Why is this?</p> <p>Because we made it up. Dark matter, and its even more slippery counterpart, dark energy, is a big plaster on some massive gaps between our theories and our observations of the universe.</p>

<p>Dark matter is Magic. Not only is it undetectable (hence the name dark), it&#39;s also incredibly common &mdash; 10 times more so than ordinary matter &mdash; and miraculously solves any equations it&#39;s faced with. Why is this?</p> <p>Because we made it up. Dark matter, and its even more slippery counterpart, dark energy, is a big plaster on some massive gaps between our theories and our observations of the universe.</p> <p><a href='http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/dark-matter.html'>More...</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SchrodingersKitten/~4/TM-yTjFyLbM" height="1" width="1"/> http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/dark-matter.html http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/boehner_epa.html 2009-05-14T12:13:07Z

<p>The US Environmental Protection Agency determined in April that greenhouse gases &#39;pose dangers to public health and welfare&#39; &mdash; which makes them sound more like a drinking problem, but OK. Step in right direction. Now the EPA will be able to start taking steps to regulate such gases. Finally, I hear you cry. But wait &mdash; the nature-lovin&#39;, deer-squashin&#39; Republican party have produced a memo which shows that not letting manufacturers pump whatever they damn well like into the atmosphere may harm their profits. <em>And</em> we&#39;re in a recession. <em>And</em> the hippies at the EPA <em>knew</em> this when they decided to tie the small businessman&#39;s coal-covered hands with red tape!<a name='mark-1' class='footmark' href='#foot-1'>1</a> <a href='http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gFfOn9fGm50O9nEQAVTgGHUiK_pwD984QP780' >The Republicans are pissed</a>.</p>

<p>The US Environmental Protection Agency determined in April that greenhouse gases &#39;pose dangers to public health and welfare&#39; &mdash; which makes them sound more like a drinking problem, but OK. Step in right direction. Now the EPA will be able to start taking steps to regulate such gases. Finally, I hear you cry. But wait &mdash; the nature-lovin&#39;, deer-squashin&#39; Republican party have produced a memo which shows that not letting manufacturers pump whatever they damn well like into the atmosphere may harm their profits. <em>And</em> we&#39;re in a recession. <em>And</em> the hippies at the EPA <em>knew</em> this when they decided to tie the small businessman&#39;s coal-covered hands with red tape!<a name='mark-1' class='footmark' href='#foot-1'>1</a> <a href='http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gFfOn9fGm50O9nEQAVTgGHUiK_pwD984QP780' >The Republicans are pissed</a>.</p> <p><a href='http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/boehner_epa.html'>More...</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SchrodingersKitten/~4/y1AJHy3QEN8" height="1" width="1"/> http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/boehner_epa.html http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/how-the-universe-is.html 2008-04-10T08:22:36Z

<p>I apologise for the overuse of really, lots and very in this piece. Anyone wishing to buy me a thesaurus may.</p> <p>The universe is mostly nothing. On a galactic scale, it is, indeed, very big. And the lumps of planets and stars in it &mdash; even though these are indeed mind-bogglingly big, even when compared to things like Westminster Cathedral, frinstance &mdash; are very very rare and very very tiny, relative to the massive amounts of nothing in here. This is the same no matter what direction you look in: just light-years of nothing punctuated by the occasional fiery ball of gas, or a speck of rock. It’s all rushing away from us (maybe Earth smells, or something), spreading out in every direction, so the amount of empty space versus the amount of actual stuff is even increasing. Even if you just look at one of the rocky bits; my favourite rock, our rock, the Earth, really closely... it’s still mostly nothing.</p>

<p>I apologise for the overuse of really, lots and very in this piece. Anyone wishing to buy me a thesaurus may.</p> <p>The universe is mostly nothing. On a galactic scale, it is, indeed, very big. And the lumps of planets and stars in it &mdash; even though these are indeed mind-bogglingly big, even when compared to things like Westminster Cathedral, frinstance &mdash; are very very rare and very very tiny, relative to the massive amounts of nothing in here. This is the same no matter what direction you look in: just light-years of nothing punctuated by the occasional fiery ball of gas, or a speck of rock. It’s all rushing away from us (maybe Earth smells, or something), spreading out in every direction, so the amount of empty space versus the amount of actual stuff is even increasing. Even if you just look at one of the rocky bits; my favourite rock, our rock, the Earth, really closely... it’s still mostly nothing.</p> <p><a href='http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/how-the-universe-is.html'>More...</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SchrodingersKitten/~4/OLCbc61Vcq0" height="1" width="1"/> http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/how-the-universe-is.html http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/prius-lies.html 2008-07-15T12:18:19Z

<p>A lot of people (mainly car drivers and lovers) have gleefully told me about the &#39;test&#39; conducted on Top Gear which &#39;showed the <a href='http://www.greencarsite.co.uk/GREENCARS/Toyota-Prius-Hybrid.htm' >Prius</a> (a hybrid eco-car) wasn&#39;t that fuel efficient&#39;. In case you haven&#39;t seen it, the clip can be watched <a href='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5mWEIq5ntA' >here</a>, unless it&#39;s been taken down by the BBC (the kitten accepts no responsibility for objects thrown at screen in an attempt to silence Jeremy Clarkson).</p>

<p>A lot of people (mainly car drivers and lovers) have gleefully told me about the &#39;test&#39; conducted on Top Gear which &#39;showed the <a href='http://www.greencarsite.co.uk/GREENCARS/Toyota-Prius-Hybrid.htm' >Prius</a> (a hybrid eco-car) wasn&#39;t that fuel efficient&#39;. In case you haven&#39;t seen it, the clip can be watched <a href='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5mWEIq5ntA' >here</a>, unless it&#39;s been taken down by the BBC (the kitten accepts no responsibility for objects thrown at screen in an attempt to silence Jeremy Clarkson).</p> <p><a href='http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/prius-lies.html'>More...</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SchrodingersKitten/~4/_Ic8vEqAA4A" height="1" width="1"/> http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/prius-lies.html http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/purring.html 2008-06-11T00:32:53Z

<p>What better use for the interwebs and podcasting than to <a href='http://purrcast.com/' >broadcast soothing purrs</a> around the world? This is not purely ear candy: purring is officially productive.</p> <p>The purr is used as a social communication to indicate &#39;all is cool&#39; &mdash; kittens purr to their mother from a day old, and cats may purr when approaching strange felines to signal their peaceful intent. Purring also indicates the cats&#39; emotional state; but while the most common instance of purring is to indicate contentment, cats also purr when injured, stressed, or giving birth. In a stressed situation or when an animal is hurt, where is the motivation to purr? Using precious energy to hum to oneself would seem to be a bit of a useless evolutionary strategy.</p>

<p>What better use for the interwebs and podcasting than to <a href='http://purrcast.com/' >broadcast soothing purrs</a> around the world? This is not purely ear candy: purring is officially productive.</p> <p>The purr is used as a social communication to indicate &#39;all is cool&#39; &mdash; kittens purr to their mother from a day old, and cats may purr when approaching strange felines to signal their peaceful intent. Purring also indicates the cats&#39; emotional state; but while the most common instance of purring is to indicate contentment, cats also purr when injured, stressed, or giving birth. In a stressed situation or when an animal is hurt, where is the motivation to purr? Using precious energy to hum to oneself would seem to be a bit of a useless evolutionary strategy.</p> <p><a href='http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/purring.html'>More...</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SchrodingersKitten/~4/GGFSxAyJ-AY" height="1" width="1"/> http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/purring.html http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/mosquitos-2.html 2009-06-10T20:59:22Z

<p>Slight delay in results caused by being out of the country and applying for paying jobs.<a name='mark-1' class='footmark' href='#foot-1'>1</a> However I&#39;m sure you&#39;ll be glad to hear that I have the results of the first experiment. For those who&#39;ve forgotten, that&#39;s:</p>

<p>Slight delay in results caused by being out of the country and applying for paying jobs.<a name='mark-1' class='footmark' href='#foot-1'>1</a> However I&#39;m sure you&#39;ll be glad to hear that I have the results of the first experiment. For those who&#39;ve forgotten, that&#39;s:</p> <p><a href='http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/mosquitos-2.html'>More...</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SchrodingersKitten/~4/0JYhRRdZrxY" height="1" width="1"/> http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/mosquitos-2.html http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/electricity.html 2008-09-22T09:56:12Z

<p>I had a very bourgeois accident last week &mdash; while gaily opening a bottle of bubbly, fully half the bottle cascaded all over the gas hob, leaving me distraught and the hob sparking continuously for the next hour or so. In my wisdom, I decided to disassemble the hob, for ease of drying, using for protection the tea towel I used to sop up the wine. Who can tell me why this is a bad idea?</p>

<p>I had a very bourgeois accident last week &mdash; while gaily opening a bottle of bubbly, fully half the bottle cascaded all over the gas hob, leaving me distraught and the hob sparking continuously for the next hour or so. In my wisdom, I decided to disassemble the hob, for ease of drying, using for protection the tea towel I used to sop up the wine. Who can tell me why this is a bad idea?</p> <p><a href='http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/electricity.html'>More...</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SchrodingersKitten/~4/FkzPclzcCb0" height="1" width="1"/> http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/electricity.html http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/5-things-about-cern.html 2009-07-13T15:25:56Z

<p>I was lucky enough to go to CERN last week. Unfortunately I was there for work, which meant I couldn&#39;t harass particle physicists as much as I wanted to, but I did get to see the Compact Muon Solenoid (compact as in only 15 metres tall), and I did learn some things I did not know, despite being a particle physics/CERN fangirl.</p> <p>Since I was very little I have known of CERN &mdash; my dad&#39;s best friend worked there &mdash; and since I read my first book on particle physics (circa 8 years old) I have wanted to work in it. So I was very excited. We&#39;re talking squealing, jumping up and down, planning my pillaging of the guest shoppe, etc. With my camera batteries fully charged I set off...</p>

<p>I was lucky enough to go to CERN last week. Unfortunately I was there for work, which meant I couldn&#39;t harass particle physicists as much as I wanted to, but I did get to see the Compact Muon Solenoid (compact as in only 15 metres tall), and I did learn some things I did not know, despite being a particle physics/CERN fangirl.</p> <p>Since I was very little I have known of CERN &mdash; my dad&#39;s best friend worked there &mdash; and since I read my first book on particle physics (circa 8 years old) I have wanted to work in it. So I was very excited. We&#39;re talking squealing, jumping up and down, planning my pillaging of the guest shoppe, etc. With my camera batteries fully charged I set off...</p> <p><a href='http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/5-things-about-cern.html'>More...</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SchrodingersKitten/~4/N1TLP9tvahI" height="1" width="1"/> http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/5-things-about-cern.html http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/schrodingers-cat.html 2008-02-14T00:25:30Z

<p>There&#39;s a cat. In a box. There’s a fifty-fifty chance it’ll be killed, but you can’t tell whether it has been or not. Because it’s in a box. And, because you can’t tell, it actually is neither dead or alive.</p> <p>This isn’t a philomasophical thing as in “Oh, if you can’t tell, you might as well say it’s both.” It actually is both. More than that, it may have been dead for a while, because once you look at it you determine not only its current state, but its previous. The cat was in fact in this weirdo state of being half alive, half dead, and totally miffed, until you observed it.<a name='mark-1' class='footmark' href='#foot-1'>1</a></p>

<p>There&#39;s a cat. In a box. There’s a fifty-fifty chance it’ll be killed, but you can’t tell whether it has been or not. Because it’s in a box. And, because you can’t tell, it actually is neither dead or alive.</p> <p>This isn’t a philomasophical thing as in “Oh, if you can’t tell, you might as well say it’s both.” It actually is both. More than that, it may have been dead for a while, because once you look at it you determine not only its current state, but its previous. The cat was in fact in this weirdo state of being half alive, half dead, and totally miffed, until you observed it.<a name='mark-1' class='footmark' href='#foot-1'>1</a></p> <p><a href='http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/schrodingers-cat.html'>More...</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SchrodingersKitten/~4/q1WOaiz6Jf4" height="1" width="1"/> http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/schrodingers-cat.html http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/why-are-we-fat.html 2008-06-03T13:44:38Z

<p>It turns out there are possibly scientific excuses &mdash; sorry, reasons &mdash; why I, along with most of the Western world, according to well-meaning TV chefs and hysterical headlines, am plump. The blame for this is usually laid at the feet of unhealthy food and increasingly sedentary hobbies (such as browsing websites, you porky reader you).</p> <p>A number of the <a href='http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23387096-details/The+Royal+pasty+that&#39;s+unhealthier+than+a+Big+Mac/article.do' >excessively sanctimonious</a> seem to blame the growing tidal wave of blubber on fast food, which is apparently only consumed by people lacking in education (and, one assumes, impulse control). Of course, <a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/5405464.stm' >nobody with a high-class education</a> (which presumably includes simple biology) would ever eat pie &#39;n chips. They&#39;d eat <a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6301715.stm' >foie gras</a>.</p>

<p>It turns out there are possibly scientific excuses &mdash; sorry, reasons &mdash; why I, along with most of the Western world, according to well-meaning TV chefs and hysterical headlines, am plump. The blame for this is usually laid at the feet of unhealthy food and increasingly sedentary hobbies (such as browsing websites, you porky reader you).</p> <p>A number of the <a href='http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23387096-details/The+Royal+pasty+that&#39;s+unhealthier+than+a+Big+Mac/article.do' >excessively sanctimonious</a> seem to blame the growing tidal wave of blubber on fast food, which is apparently only consumed by people lacking in education (and, one assumes, impulse control). Of course, <a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/5405464.stm' >nobody with a high-class education</a> (which presumably includes simple biology) would ever eat pie &#39;n chips. They&#39;d eat <a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6301715.stm' >foie gras</a>.</p> <p><a href='http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/why-are-we-fat.html'>More...</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SchrodingersKitten/~4/mD4AJVlgZIM" height="1" width="1"/> http://www.schrodingerskitten.co.uk/articles/why-are-we-fat.html