AND THAT MEANS….
LATELY, RESEARCHING one thing and another, I’ve been enjoying Google Translate. This online tool supports 90 languages as either input source or translated target. Google Translate says that during 2013 … Continue reading
HAPPY 100TH—GENERAL RELATIVITY!
THIS YEAR is the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, so what better time than to describe its intricacies here in 600 words. Now you tell one. … Continue reading
HAPPY Π-DAY!
TODAY, MARCH 14th, at 53 seconds past 9:26 a.m., can be represented 3/14/15 9:26:53, which displays the first ten digits of the mathematical constant π, 3.14159265358979323846… Also, given that I … Continue reading
BROMINE—PRODUCT OF A BAD NEIGHBORHOOD
BROMINE, FROM the Greek, βρῶμος, brómos, as in “strong-smelling,” is a fuming liquid at room temperature. It’s toxic and corrosive. But it isn’t all bad. It just comes from a … Continue reading
MATHEMATICIANS AND THE NSA
THE FEDERAL government’s National Security Agency is charged with devising cryptologic systems for protecting U.S. information while, at the same time, exploiting weaknesses in the information systems of other countries. … Continue reading
IS PRIVACY GONE FOR GOOD?
SCIENCE MAGAZINE, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has part of its January 30, 2015, issue devoted to “The End of Privacy.” A dozen essays present … Continue reading
THE HUM
I CAME upon the Hum only recently while researching ”Sounds Like…” Maybe you’ve heard of the Hum, within the context of the Auckland Hum, Bristol Hum, Kokomo Hum, Taos Hum, Windsor … Continue reading
THE EXOPLANET TRAVEL BUREAU
NASA AND Cal Tech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have devised a wonderfully artful means of describing exoplanets, planets that are extrasolar, orbiting stars other than the Sun. The two organizations have … Continue reading
PASSING A TURING TEST
CAN YOU outthink a 13-year-old Ukrainian kid? Or, more accurately, can you outthink an artificial intelligence, a chatbot, programmed to imitate him? This has become a cause célèbre, not without … Continue reading
BAD NEWS FOR BIOFUELS
RECENT ANALYSES by the World Resources Institute question the contribution of biofuels to the sustainability of food and climate. The paper “Avoiding Bioenergy Competition for Food Crops and Land,” http://goo.gl/A8mt2m, … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 