ForTheScience.org

A raytracer in python – part 3: samplers

Stefano Borini — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:02:47 +0000

In the previous post, we explored a very basic way of plotting images: shooting a ray from the center of every pixel, and plot the color of the object we hit. The result is a rather flat, very jagged image Border jagging arises from the fact that we are sampling with a discrete grid (our [...]

Linear algebra courses at MIT from Prof. Gilbert Strang

Stefano Borini — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:28:37 +0000

Linear algebra is fundamental mathematical knowledge for those who need to perform computational natural sciences. It is a neat formalism to express things in a compact way, and describe precious algorithms to solve computational problems from chemistry, physics, astronomy, and so on. I found these precious and very clear lectures from MIT professor Gilbert Strang. [...]

The third eye of the iguana

Stefano Borini — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:33:06 +0000

Did you know that iguanas (and not only them) have three eyes ? the feature is called Parietal eye, it is highly advantageous to spot the shadow of a predator coming from above, and it’s not unique to iguanas, but it can be found in frogs, lizards, sharks and other reptiles and fishes. In the [...]

Offsetting carbon emissions with trees: a little math

Stefano Borini — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:16:15 +0000

I want to do a thought experiment, hoping not to make any mistake. The world produces 29,888,121,000 metric tons of CO2 per year. According to Wikipedia, one ton of dry wood sequestrates 1.8 tons of CO2. If you put these two together, you quickly realize that you need to produce 16,604,511,666 tons of wood per [...]

A raytracer in python – part 2: rendering multiple objects

Stefano Borini — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:18:49 +0000

A quick addition needed to the raytracer is providing freedom to add more objects to the rendering scene. In Part 1, the design was such that only one object, a sphere, could be drawn. The new code allows much more flexibility. I added a Plane object, introduced assignment of colors to the objects, divided the [...]

Robotic overlord domination!

Stefano Borini — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:33:50 +0000

Remember when I posted about the lovely but fake Titan robot, and I told you the future was close? Well, some time passed, and the future is now even closer. New robots are among us, and they are learning. Some of them prefer to stay at home, folding our clothes, washing our dishes or bringing [...]

Why I won’t talk about neutrinos

Stefano Borini — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 10:11:41 +0000

Because I don’t know enough on the subject to say anything about it. What I do know however is that the finding is exciting, regardless of the final result. Science thrives in being challenged, and shows humility in front of facts.

Switching to a once-a-month schedule

Stefano Borini — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 20:19:11 +0000

During the course of the last years, I was able to keep a twice-a-month post schedule. In the following months however, I will relocate, my work will become more time consuming, posts are becoming more demanding to be produced (as I also have to write code for them) and my interests are spreading to other [...]

A raytracer in python – part 1: basic functionality

Stefano Borini — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:53:59 +0000

Some time ago I visited Sydney, and I made a tragic mistake: I entered the University bookshop. Why a mistake, you say? I am book maniac. As soon as I enter a book shop (live or on web) I end up spending up to a thousands euro every time. This time, it was not the [...]

Pac-mecium and other games

Stefano Borini — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:23:19 +0000

This is a rather peculiar use of paramecia: by directing their preferential swimming movement by means of an applied electric field (a property called galvanotaxis) we can use them as player characters in videogames. I don’t expect this to become common gaming, though.