The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
This is a general category for items about science, scientists or scientific discoveries.
Sitting stone still under a skull cap fitted with a couple dozen electrodes, Austrian scientist Peter Brunner stares at a laptop computer. Without so much as moving a nostril hair, he suddenly begins to compose a message — letter by letter — on a giant screen overhead.
Read moreThe important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reasons for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity. –Albert Einstein
Read moreThe most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. –Albert Einstein
Read moreDNA. Carpet fibers. Fingerprints. Given the wealth of forensic information, you’d think police would solve each and every murder. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2004, 62.6% of homicides were “cleared,” leaving a substantial portion of murder cases unresolved.
Read moreI find that the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving; To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it–but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor. –Oliver Wendell Holmes
Read moreIt wound up being a far more active weekend that I had hoped for. I took Friday off and got
Read moreI’ve always heard the wives tell that you count the seconds between seeing a lightening flash and the sound of the thunder to figure out how far away it is. Living here in Florida, we get lots of both. So is it true or an old wives tale?
Read moreThe only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible. –Arthur C. Clarke
Read moreI would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. –E.B. White
Read moreThe external ear itself has the valuable function of collecting and directing sound into the inner ear. The parts of the ear you can see without a doctor’s help are called the pinna; those curvy bits conduct sound vibrations in the air down into the tympanic cavity. The shape of the pinna helps your ear and brain figure out what direction sound is coming from. But the lobule — the part hanging down — isn’t any help. In fact, some people are born lobeless because of recessive genes, and this doesn’t seem to affect their hearing.
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