A general solution to the cubic equation was long considered impossible, until we gave up the requirement that math reflect reality.
References:
Some great videos about the cubic:
50...
“Nothing will come of nothing.”(William Shakespeare, King Lear)
“Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.”(Blaise...
Nominations are now open for the second MIT Media Lab Disobedience Award, which carries a $250,000 cash prize, no strings attached.
This award will go to a person or group engaged in what we...
During history, one war has stood out among all of the awful wars, all of the genocides, all of the violence; that war is World War 2. Since I was little, I was interes...
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I'm talking about the real anarchists here, not bloody bomb-throwers or anti-capitalist window breakers. I'm referring to people who have faced the scary fact that all coercive power corrupts and tha...
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We all have previously learned about the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918, which killed between 20-40 million people worldwide in our history classes. Now with the advance of modern molecular biology techn...
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We need a new demotivational poster: "Science. A quick way to mess-up all those great love poems."
The definition of rational isn't very controversial: "having reason or understanding." The defini...
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A neuroscientist is someone who studies "the anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, or molecular biology of nerves and nervous tissue and especially their relation to behavior and learning." Although the...
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Throughout history, machines, tools, devices, etc. have become smaller. But not until recently have we been able to see down to the lowest level - to that of the nano. With electron microscopes, nano...
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Today I learned that, without a magic wand, levitation is real.
The physics behind it consists of a ceramic material that is famous for superconductivity when cooled below -185ºC (-301ºF). The s...
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Today I learned the adage "you can't prove a negative" is false because you can prove a negative. It's very easy. We need to stop saying that. A better statement to use is "he who asserts a positive...
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Just when you thought you understood how the world works, the tachyons come to shake things up.
For those who haven't heard by now, the masterminds at CERN who brought you the LHC rap have made wh...
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When it comes to non-violent, ideological leaders, Mahatma Gandhi has got to be toward the very top of the list. His resistance to British tyranny through mass civil disobedience is famous. Needless...
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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore aren't going to be happy. Scientists are messing up their politics.
So it turns out that the only thing man-made about global warming is t...
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For the most part, public education in the US is a disaster. Where the blame lies will be forever debated, but to claim otherwise is to sleep undisturbed in a fantasy world with "stark wake-up calls"...
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Today I learned Albert Einstein supported a one-world government and was a Socialist.
Einstein's passionate commitment to the cause of global peace led him to support the creation of a single, u...
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It is claimed that women fake orgasms because of insecurities. But as women have a tremendous capacity for pleasure, perhaps men just aren't stimulating the right places. As scary as it might sound t...
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Space is a concept which is very rarely correctly understand by anybody, including modern physicists. However, the purpose of this essay is not to discuss the confusions of others in relation to this...
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Most of you are probably aware of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. It states that it is not possible to know the precise position and momentum of subatomic particles such as electrons. (There is...
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One of the many fun things to do as a kid is to sit around a campfire late at night and hear adults tell ghost stories. Our imaginations would run wild - are there really such things as ghosts?
Bu...
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Porn is like bacon: some won't eat it for religious reasons, some consider it filthy, some feel guilty after eating it, but everyone else (which is most of the population) loves it. Funny enough, sci...
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Politics. Morality. Religion. Relationships. Even science. These are examples of the many categories in which you will find disagreements. These debates occur just as much with intelligent people as...
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Robert Heinlein once wrote: "Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor."
The number of students going to UK universities is falling. Additionally,...
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Humans and chimpanzees share 96% of the same DNA. In other words, from a scientific perspective, humans and chimpanzees are genetically very similar.
As the battle between evolution and intelligen...
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Today I learned why light gasses like helium make your voice squeaky and heavy gasses like sulfur hexafluoride or xenon make your voice sound like Barry White.
In summary, the timbre of your voice...
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Today I learned hot water sometimes freezes faster than cold water. Although there isn't one, conclusive scientific explanation for the phenomenon, one of the theories for why this occurs is that hot...
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Today I learned that you can run a diesel engine car on waste vegetable oil (e.g., oil that's been used to cook). It is less harmful to the environment, less toxic to people and animals, and runs abo...
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Today I learned how cats and dogs drink water. The water sticks to their tongues and the upward pull creates a water column from inertia (the liquid continues to move in the direction pulled). Then,...
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Today I learned that you should not use olive oil to cook at high heats (i.e., potentially anything over 200 - 250º F / 93 - 121º C, although that is debated), especially extra virgin olive oils. T...
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Getting people to agree on objective moral principles is difficult, to say the least. Moral codes seem to span the gamut of culture, time, environment, experience, geography, gender, race, etc. Could...
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If you're looking for the meaning of life, religions are ready with an answer. As of yet, science doesn't have an answer, other than to possibly claim that there isn't any purpose. (Nihilists of the...
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Today I learned about the Ig Noble prizes, which "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative -...
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Contrary to what the United Nations does, Mother Earth doesn't have a conscience. She can't tell us which of her resources she wants us to save, which to take care of, and which to use. Ergo, how we...
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"Gamers are super-empowered hopeful individuals." They are masters at figuring things out, even medical problems. So who wants to use gaming to change the world?
There are many problems to address...
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Today I learned that the Flying Spaghetti Monster was a humorous protest against the government's decision to permit the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in public school...
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Today I learned that hair turns grey with age because of naturally-secreted hydrogen peroxide. Guess blondes were onto something. Good to know someone is finally getting at the "root" of the problem....
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Recently, Harvard University had a panel discussing the legacy of the Human Genome Project. Started in 1990, and with scientists from six countries and initial funding of $3 billion, the project publ...
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The senses have no power of distortion; what they observe is what is. Optical illusions do not validate the claim that the senses can deceive us: optical illusions are the senses making valid observa...
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A few months ago, I was discussing certain aspects of quantum mechanics with somebody. I got around to saying that certain claims within the realm of physics can be rejected outright on philosophical...
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Through Hamlet, Shakespeare said "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." You'd never believe it if someone told you the secret to happiness in life is to accrue wealth, power...
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Ah, to be ignorant of your own ignorance... Today I learned that there is a psychological term for people who don't know stuff but are too incompetent to realize it and, therefore, suffer from an ill...
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Contrasted with being a "good guy," what does it mean to be a "real man?" Putting aside the obvious requirements of XY chromosomes "and a pair of testicles," what determines masculinity? Is there a w...
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You've just got to love science... one of the great things about science fiction is how quickly it becomes non-fiction. Putting aside the potential for Skynet or I, Robot, imagine for a moment artifi...
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The central figure in all of Christianity is one man: Jesus of Nazareth. Putting aside whether or not you believe that God exists, a key component to Christianity is that Jesus did exist. But what if...
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The Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. displays the ominous words: "Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander." Although there are except...
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Albert Einstein once said: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." Although not supported by math or science, and certainly not an axiom of physics, Occam's Razor (or Ockh...
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Today I learned that my belief that the purpose of yawning is to bring oxygen into the brain has never been proven. Scientists still don't know why we yawn.
FTA:
Everyone yawns, but no one kn...
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Talk about "mind=blown." Imagine a world where you can manipulate objects solely with your mind. It's here, it's now, and it's incredible. Consider every industry. Consider every skill. Consider ever...
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In 2007, John Kanzius accidentally found a way to release and burn hydrogen from salt water with 13.56 MHz radio waves. Many people initially thought it was a hoax. Penn State professor Rustum Roy ve...
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As a soft science, sociology is the study of the social behavior of humans in the pursuit of social welfare. Dr. Sam Richards suggests that the sociological analysis of the various aspects in your ow...
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Today I learned that the sky isn't blue and the sun isn't yellow. The sky is actually black and the sun is white. It's only because we have an atmosphere (which is made of gas molecules and dust) tha...
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Today I learned that my parents mislead me when they taught me about the "birds and the bees" - there are over 200,000 species of animals that act as pollinators, and even the wind acts as a pollinat...
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Everyone's familiar with the expression "love at first sight." But is that really the way love works? According to a recent scientific study, the answer is yes. But what about romance? What about val...
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The mystical Fountain of Youth so long sought after... What if it were real, and the key to life could be discovered in an 18-year old girl that, for all intents and purposes, is a baby? What if, in...
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People study science and natural science (i.e., philosophy) to understand the nature of reality. Presumably, the more accurately we understand reality, the happier we will be. (Similarly, when we ope...
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Cancer. I hate this disease. My sister was diagnosed with it at about age 5. She, along with my mother, father, and I, spent the next 16 years in and out of hospitals getting treatments that, arguabl...
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Nuclear energy was discovered in the context of war (specifically World War II). In the 1950s, the US Air Force tried to come up with an idea of putting a nuclear reactor on an airplane to keep it ru...
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The Nazis and Joseph Stalin were famous for their show trials, where "guilt" was determined by the authorities before the trial. From the court jester files, we continue to find that the the American...
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Science rocks. It's a shame that it sometimes doesn't get the gratitude it deserves. Humans, by our nature, are curious about how the world works. Science helps us understand what reality is, and tha...
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Science fiction author Robert Heinlein was known as the "the dean of science fiction writers." According to Wikipedia, "he was one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of the g...
editorial posted by
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Are human values detached from science? Many, such as moral relativists, argue that morality has little, if anything, to do with reality. Science attempts to prove what reality is through an objectiv...
editorial posted by
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If you're really concerned about future generations, shouldn't there be other, more important priorities that one would be focused on instead of building a "doomsday ark" on the moon? Is this really...
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You don't say? Hey Al Gore, what do you think?
FTA: "A cross examination of global warming science conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Law and Economics has concluded tha...
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In the movie Contact, Jodi Foster says "So if it's just us... seems like an awful waste of space." Do you believe that there is life outside of Earth? What are the implications for humanity if aliens...
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FTA: "By stimulating a certain region of the brain, scientists can alter a person's ability to make moral judgments... The study results show that stimulating a specific brain region interfered with...
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One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozl...
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"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." - Galileo Galilei (aka the founder of the scientific meth...
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At one time in history, even Leonardo da Vinci himself had to pen a resume to explain why he was a qualified applicant. Here's a translation of his letter to the Duke of Milan, enumerating his many t...
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Politics destroys all things, it's latest casualty being scientific truth. When the global warming science fraud didn't work out, the propoganda artists changed the name to climate change. Here's a s...
editorial posted by
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So we had a great discussion earlier today about scientific theories vs. laws, physics, astronomy, and geometry. Science is so amazing! And then I read something like this and it makes me sick.
Hi...
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Ladies, there's a new study out where scientists are saying that the G-spot may not exist
G-spot 'may not exist', say scientists
DISCUSS!
Original posting by Braincrave Second Life staff on...
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Come explore the geek in me.
I've been a lifelong artist and these days, most of my work is inspired by roleplay characters, sci-fi or fantasy novels and films, and my love of Star Wars. M...
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This challenge arose from a discussion in a large philosophy venue in which I stated that if ever a really competent intelligent design defender or evolutionist came around, he would blow the philoso...
A new foam material could be the first good reusable method to recover spilled oil, and would be much better for the environment:
A new material can absorb up to 90 times its own weight in spill...
Equation search and math solver - solves algebra, trigonometry and calculus problems step by step (shows you actual steps how to solve).
Symbolab is an advanced math education tool. It allows user...
The wonders of stem cell therapy are being realized in a breakthrough medical trial that has reversed and halted the effects of multiple sclerosis (MS). This disease can suddenly attack healthy youn...
Of all the chemical reactions we've covered within the past few months, the one filmed below probaby takes the prize for coolest looking and possibly scariest. After the pile of reactants is lit, it b...
London, U.K. – An ancient Anglo-Saxon potion, used to treat eye infections in the 10th-century, has shown the potential to eradicate the modern MRSA superbug, according to research.
The ancient...
In the spirit of Morgan Freeman's excellent advice on how to solve the race problem and just "stop talking about it," I'm reposting this thoughtful perspective from lewrockwell.com.
Rachel Dol...
How do babies learn so much from so little so quickly? In a fun, experiment-filled talk, cognitive scientist Laura Schulz shows how our young ones make decisions with a surprisingly strong sense of l...
Count the number of alkaline batteries in your house. Now consider replacing those batteries eight times less often. If Batteriser delivers, it could be a game changer.
Bob Roohparvar tells...
Researchers have found that memories that have been 'lost' as a result of amnesia can be recalled by activating brain cells with light. They reactivated memories that could not otherwise be retrieved...
A genetically engineered version of a virus that normally causes cold sores shows real promise for treating skin cancer, say researchers.
The modified herpes virus is harmless to normal cells but...
The manipulation of the conversation around vaccines in the mainstream media has been nothing short of a tour de force. If you read only mainstream publications, you might come away with the impres...
One day in March 2010, Isak McCune started clearing his throat with a forceful, violent sound. The New Hampshire toddler was 3, with a Beatles mop of blonde hair and a cuddly, loving personality. H...
The power of psychedelics, however, is that they often reveal, in the span of a few hours, depths of awe and understanding that can otherwise elude us for a lifetime...
I believe that psychedeli...
A bioengineer and geneticist at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have successfully stored 5.5 petabits of data — around 700 terabytes — in a single gram of DNA, smashing the previous DNA data density...
The most recent aberration of climate science is the apparent cherry picking of ocean temperature data by government scientists, Richard Feely and Christopher Sabine. The objective is not to determ...
1. On His Schooling:
"At school, I was never more than about halfway up the class. It was a very bright class. My classwork was very untidy, and my handwriting was the despair of my teacher...
Last week Larry Page, the CEO of one of the largest corporations in the world, and possibly one of the most powerful people on the planet, released an interview with the Financial Times endorsing m...
Hongjie Dai and colleagues have developed a cheap, emissions-free device that uses a 1.5-volt battery to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen gas could be used to power fuel cells in zer...
ROFL. This is not only hysterical but also incredibly insightful.
tl/dr: Some people who have language disorders are unable to understand the meaning of words. Instead, they rely on facial express...
Humans have five distinct senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. For decades, researchers have thought that each sense is processed separately in the cortex, or outer layers of the brain, and...
They call it political science. They study things such as the origins of the state, history, political ideologies, law, war, taxes, regulation, international relations, and free trade. They claim t...
Alcohol dilutes your blood (i.e., makes it less dense) because alcohol is lighter than water. Alcohol-soaked blood builds up more quickly in your ears than elsewhere in the body, and that throws off...
Inspired by this post, these colorful, fun, and informative periodic tables are great for elementary, middle, and high school students, as well as adults.
New research has revealed a previously unknown mechanism in the body which regulates a hormone that is crucial for motivation, stress responses and control of blood pressure, pain and appetite. The br...
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