matttrent

tastefullyoffensive: [gemmacorrell]

Mon, 09 Dec 2013 19:30:48 +0000

[gemmacorrell]

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Mon, 09 Dec 2013 19:28:19 +0000

"In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that’s a really good argument; my..."

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 01:03:42 +0000

“In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,’ and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.”

- Carl Sagan

"Most people today are not stressed by “big-ticket” items such as the Iraq war or their 401(k)...."

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 05:50:54 +0000

“Most people today are not stressed by “big-ticket” items such as the Iraq war or their 401(k). Instead, most chronic stress comes from the fact that we are out of time. We simply do not have the time to do all the things we need or want to do. One woman in a corporate seminar recently told me, “I’m answering e-mails at 9:00 pm, doing my laundry at midnight, and grocery shopping at 6:00 am, and then I drive my kids to school and go to work. I do a lot of different things during the day, but because I’m always short of time, I don’t feel that I do any of them well.””

- Thirty-three years after bypass surgery: a heart patient’s perspective

"We found that contentment in the late seventies was not even suggestively associated with parental..."

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 05:49:05 +0000

“We found that contentment in the late seventies was not even suggestively associated with parental social class or even the man’s own income. What it was significantly associated with was warmth of childhood environment, and it was very significantly associated with a man’s closeness to his father.”

- What makes for a good life? | Barking Up The Wrong Tree

The World’s First 3D Printing Pen that Lets you Draw...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 06:59:13 +0000

The World’s First 3D Printing Pen that Lets you Draw Sculptures)

The 3Doodler was designed by Boston-based company WobbleWorks who recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to sell the miraculous little devices that utilizes a special plastic which is heated and instantly cooled to form solid structures as you draw.

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Sat, 09 Feb 2013 20:04:39 +0000

brinco (by derbyblue)

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:58:43 +0000

brinco (by derbyblue)

A new model of empathy: The rat

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:23:23 +0000

A new model of empathy: The rat:

In a simple experiment, researchers at the University of Chicago sought to find out whether a rat would release a fellow rat from an unpleasantly restrictive cage if it could. The answer was yes.

The free rat, occasionally hearing distress calls from its compatriot, learned to open the cage and did so with greater efficiency over time. It would release the other animal even if there wasn’t the payoff of a reunion with it. Astonishingly, if given access to a small hoard of chocolate chips, the free rat would usually save at least one treat for the captive — which is a lot to expect of a rat.

The researchers came to the unavoidable conclusion that what they were seeing was empathy — and apparently selfless behavior driven by that mental state.

Nash, Ayn Rand and the game theorists have all tried to explain away altruism, why we don’t act in perfect self-interest and help others even at our loss. In the short view, it doesn’t make any sense. But in the long view, however, I think we’re wired to care for each other because we’ve got a better chance of making it if everyone’s in it together.

Pixar and Math, The Moss of Brave One of the most succinct...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:39:38 +0000

Pixar and Math, The Moss of Brave

One of the most succinct explanations of why I find what I do so fascinating. Sure, there’s a lot of numbers involved. But the goal is to get something that transcends that out.

Timelapse Writing of a Research Paper Fascinating look at how a...

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:48:36 +0000

Timelapse Writing of a Research Paper

Fascinating look at how a draft evolves over time

Neil Harbisson: I listen to color

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 22:28:08 +0000

Neil Harbisson: I listen to color

The Magical Tech Behind Paper For iPad’s Color-Mixing...

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 20:08:39 +0000

The Magical Tech Behind Paper For iPad’s Color-Mixing Perfection

Chen built a custom iPad app to exhibit different blends of the same colors, allowing the user to select the transition that looked right to them. By testing amongst their team, they eventually settled on 100 sets of mathematically arbitrary–but perceptually pleasing–color transitions. They used those 100 datapoints to build a framework that would allow the iPad to take educated guesses when it came time to blend colors that weren’t within the 100 hand-tuned pairs.

Fascinating overview of the challenges FiftyThree faced in making a new color picker for their iPad app, Paper. Long story short, color is hard, and the math doesn’t explain how we see.

Metallic Ink Shot In Water Form Beautiful Abstract Clouds

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 05:52:07 +0000

Metallic Ink Shot In Water Form Beautiful Abstract Clouds

What do fruits and vegetables look like inside an MRI? Short...

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:56:43 +0000

What do fruits and vegetables look like inside an MRI?

Short answer: “Whoa.”