Proto-Knowledge: March 2011

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Rock'n Roll Metro Map

Found here: 4413987999_f33402d6e5_o.jpg (3401×2789)

Monday, March 21, 2011

Can you figure out these movie titles?

See some solution suggestions here: A question for Math Geeks: Can you figure out these movie titles?

Radiation Dose Chart

Randall Munroe (from xkcd) created this interesting chart about radiation dosage.

How Much Radiation a Person Can Absorb | Geekosystem

Friday, March 18, 2011

Radiation Exposure Chart

Graphic: How much radiation is being released by Japan’s runaway reactors? | Posted | National Post

Rational Discussion Flowchart

How To Have A Rational Discussion « Thought Catalog

Thursday, March 10, 2011

History of Science Fiction Flowchart

This flowchart shows the history of science fiction. [click to enlarge].

See the original here: no empire no longer

UC Berkeley scientists warn that 75% of all life forms might go extinct in the next 300 years

[From the article] More than 75% of current life forms on Earth might go the way of dinosaurs and woolly mammoths within the next few centuries, according to UC Berkeley scientists.

In a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers found that if efforts are not made to conserve species that are in danger of becoming extinct, a mass extinction - meaning a loss of at least 75 percent of species - could occur in just 300 years.

Read the full article here: Mass Extinction May Occur In 300 Years, Scientists Say - The Daily Californian

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Ongoing debate between evolution and creationism

More than 150 years after Charles Darwin published his seminal work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, people are still divided over accepting and understanding evolution. While the theory of evolution is firmly established in the scientific community, large parts of the general population across the world, from young children to college-educated adults, continue to reject evolution ideas. Understanding and accepting evolution ideas is seen as central to building an integrated knowledge of biology by many scientists and science educators.

Scientific American has a great collection of articles on the ongoing debate between evolution and creationism: Creationism Vs. Evolution: In-Depth Reports

Fungus that can turn ants into zombies

Wired reports that scientists have reported that they have discovered 4 new kinds of fungus in Brazil that infect ants, effectively turning them into zombies that serve the will of the fungal infector. Once an ant is infected, the fungus starts controlling the ant's behavior: The ant leaves the colony, climbs up a tree, anchors itself by biting into a leaf, and then dies. The body of the ant is consumed by the fungus and used to disperse spores for up to a year.

These fungi have had a great effect on the human world as well, primarily in the field of medical science. The mind-controlling fungus is in a group related to the fungus that produces LSD, and another fungus used to suppress the immune system to prevent organ transplant rejection, and still yet another used as an antibiotic.

Read full article here: Scientists Find Four New Kinds of Fungus That Zombify Ants | Geekosystem

Why some countries drive on the right or the left side

Did you ever wonder why in some countries cars drive on the left side of the road and in other countries they drive on the right side?

You can find some answers in this interesting essay on Why Some Countries Drive on the Right and Some Countries Drive on the Left

Pixar Up Balloon House In Real Life

The team of the new National Geographic show How Hard Can It Be? created a real-life version of the flying house from the Pixar movie "UP". They managed to take a 16×16x18′ house aloft using 300 8′ helium balloons. The house reached an altitude of over 10,000 feet and flew for about an hour. See video below:

Up Balloon House In Real Life | Geekosystem

Monday, March 7, 2011

Did NASA find evidence for alien life?

Fossilized bacterium Titanospirillum velox. Image 1.e Courtesy: Dr. Riccardo Guerrero.

Dr. Richard Hoover from the NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center published an article in the Journal of Cosmology that presents evidence for fossilized bacteria embedded in a meteorite.

Dr. Hoover has concluded the fossilized bacteria are not Earthly contaminants but are indigenous to these meteors. Meteors are fragments of other astral bodies. The implications are that life is everywhere, and that life on Earth may have come from other planets (supporting the Panspermia theory).

Given the controversial nature of his discovery, the Journal of Cosmology invited 100 experts and issued a general invitation to over 5000 scientists from the scientific community to review the paper and to offer their critical analysis.

Read the full article here: Journal of Cosmology

History of Philosophy as 3D mindmap

Webbrain is a dynamic 3D mindmap. Deleuze scholar Christophe Calis used webbrain to create this overview of the history of western philosophy (with a specialfocus on the work of Gilles Deleuze). [It might take a moment to load.]

World's most average person

What does the world's most average person look like? Male or female? Average age? Ethnicity?

Have a look at this interesting National Geographic video:

Modern Architects Style Guide

I Love Charts – Modern Architecture 101 via lostbetweenthenotes

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Five things you did not know about Pac-Man

Pac-Man has been around for over thirty years now.

Did you know that Pac-Man was originally designed to get women to play computer games?
Did you know that each ghost has a name and follows a different algorithm?
Do you know where the name "Pac-Man" comes from?

Find the answers in this interesting blog post: Five things you never knew about Pac-Man - Video Games Blog Plugged In - Yahoo! Games