The double slit experiment and the utter strangeness of quantum mechanics

Occasionally I remark about how illogical quantum mechanics is.  Sometimes people either insist that it is logical, or simply assert some simple explanation that shows they don't really get how utterly strange this stuff is. This video of Jim Al-Khalili gives a relatively brief explanation of this experiment, including its freaky results. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9tKncAdlHQ If Al-Khalili doesn't strike … Continue reading The double slit experiment and the utter strangeness of quantum mechanics →

The vast majority of us are not “Homo economicus”.

Often, when I write about moral instincts, people respond with assertions that we're essentially selfish creatures and that nothing about morality is natural.  There's a name for this concept of the solely self serving  human being, "Homo economicus."  The Neuroskeptic discusses a study that looked for them:  Spotted at last: "Homo economicus"? - Neuroskeptic | DiscoverMagazine.com. … Continue reading The vast majority of us are not “Homo economicus”. →

Most science fiction is actually a blend of scientific fiction and fantasy.

Quentin Cooper, looking over a top 100 sci-fi movie list which has many questionable entries, ponders this question: BBC - Future - Why is science fiction so hard to define?. Time Out, the weekly listings magazine, recently ranked the 100 best sci-fi movies of all time. They did it by polling 150 “leading sci-fi experts, filmmakers, … Continue reading Most science fiction is actually a blend of scientific fiction and fantasy. →

Learning the smell of fear: Mothers teach babies their own fears via odor, animal study shows.

Some of the ways that mothers can teach offspring is pretty primal: Learning the smell of fear: Mothers teach babies their own fears via odor, animal study shows -- ScienceDaily. Babies can learn what to fear in the first days of life just by smelling the odor of their distressed mothers, new research suggests. And not … Continue reading Learning the smell of fear: Mothers teach babies their own fears via odor, animal study shows. →

How did our legends really begin?

Steve Conner looks at a new book by Peter Witzel that argues that the world's myths have common origins: How did our legends really begin? - Features - Books - The Independent. The similarity of the narratives could be just coincidence. Each culture might just have devised its own folklore independently of the other, coming to surprisingly … Continue reading How did our legends really begin? →

Does the Higgs boson actually exist?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azTMPl0Qb6o I have to admit to wondering the same thing Nick talks about here.  Do any of these subatomic particles actually exist?  At least in the way we conventionally define "exist"?  We're talking about entities that are sometimes a wave, sometimes a point particle and, as far as we can observe, behave randomly within certain … Continue reading Does the Higgs boson actually exist? →

Voyager spacecraft might not have reached interstellar space

I have to say that I had no idea this was still being debated: Voyager spacecraft might not have reached interstellar space. In 2012, the Voyager mission team announced that the Voyager 1 spacecraft had passed into interstellar space, traveling further from Earth than any other manmade object. But, in the nearly two years since that … Continue reading Voyager spacecraft might not have reached interstellar space →