Weekend Links

• National Ignition Facility is Ready – Big science to deliver fusion in small doses.
• Sponges Descended From Unique Ancestor – Procaryotes, eucaryotes, and archaea related by a common ancestor, but not sponges?
• Hundreds Of Natural-selection Studies Could Be Wrong, Study Demonstrates
• Texas vote leaves loopholes for teaching creationism
• Banking on the Brink – Paul Krugman quotes, of all people, Alan Greenspan (once Mr. Laissez-Faire Capitalism and Ayn Rand's pet economist) recognizing that nationalizing some banks may be a good idea. The article is six weeks old, but still worth a read.
• Tripping the boundary layer: Shuttle's re-entry experiment
• Soldiers Blinded, Hospitalized by Laser 'Friendly Fire'
• A Chip against Cancer: Microfluidics Spots Circulating Tumor Cells
• The Ogallala Aquifer: Saving a Vital U.S. Water Source
• A (Radioactive) Cut in the Earth That Will Not Stay Closed – Not as interesting an article as it suggests, but not without some worthwhile bits.
• Scientists Find 'Baffling' Link between Autism and Vinyl Flooring
• Caffeine Cuts Workout Pain
• Fact or Fiction: Raw veggies are healthier than cooked ones

• Computers, Clocks, Astronomy and The Making of the Modern World – The Long Now Blog points to episode 5 of James Burke's outstanding TV series "Connections", which, strangely, can be found on YouTube. If you've only seen the series "Connections 2", and "Connections 3", which seem to be re-run routinely (while the original "Connections" sits on the shelf), you've missed-out. IMHO, the original series stands head and shoulders above its sequels, which I've long thought should be renamed "That Reminds Me", because the connections they document are weaker and not necessarily causal.

  • Connections, episode 5, part 1
  • Connections, episode 5, part 2
  • Connections, episode 5, part 3
  • Connections, episode 5, part 4
  • Connections, episode 5, part 5

  And for a nuts and bolts perspective on computers, the episode of The Secret Life of Machines about the word processor is still wonderful, like the whole series. Equally strangely, it can also be found on YouTube.

  • The Secret Life of Machines: Word Processor, part 1
  • The Secret Life of Machines: Word Processor, part 2
  • The Secret Life of Machines: Word Processor, part 3

  On the subject of time, there's also an episode on clocks in general, and quartz watches in particular:

  • The Secret Life of Machines: Quartz Watch, part 1
  • The Secret Life of Machines: Quartz Watch, part 2
  • The Secret Life of Machines: Quartz Watch, part 3