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Ep 160: Let’s relax with nuclear physics

Ep 160: Let’s relax with nuclear physics

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Let’s relax with nuclear physics

I’d like to thank john peacocke for giving me the idea for the next few episodes. We’ve been chatting via email, and he told me about molten salt nuclear reactors. That reactor and the general subject are interesting, and they make a nice break from the if and maybe of things like biology and evolution that we have been and will be talking about. Today, we cover the basics of nuclear fission.

In the pines, in the pines

In the pines, in the pines

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I must make note of this mess before it leaves my head, and leaves me lost in the pines, in the pines, where the sun don’t ever shine. I would shiver the whole night through.

In the newly defined handler object, there are methods that get called when a figure is added to the realm.

Handler.realmAdd(Realm realm, Figure figure)
Handler,realmAdd(Realm realm, Figure figure, int address)
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Ep 159: Pulling the bone over their eyes

Ep 159: Pulling the bone over their eyes

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Pulling the bone over their eyes

The fossil record contains, at best, only a few percent of any given ecology during any given time. To complicate the picture, some of the fossils are fakes. From money to reputation to jokes, there are many reasons why such fossil hoaxes are perpetrated. Today we look at a few examples of, and motivations for, false fossils.
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ep 158: Digging for coal and fossils

ep 158: Digging for coal and fossils

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Digging for coal and fossils

In the mid 1800/s some fossils were found in a tributary of the Illinois river, called “Mazon Creek.” They had simply weathered out of the ground, but it wasn’t until coal mining moved in, that the true extent and value of the Mazon Creek fossil deposit was discovered.
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Smart glasses, blindness, and shopping

Smart glasses, blindness, and shopping

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Yesterday, I got email from the relevant companies. The smart glasses I ordered are on the way, actually shipped this time. This marks the end of a long, and quite Ludacris saga. I wondered just how long it really has been, so I took a look in the journal where I keep track of this mission. It’s taken more than five years, almost six.
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Ep 157: Fossil casts and molds

Ep 157: Fossil casts and molds

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Fossil casts and molds

When a creature dies and becomes buried, sometimes its remains can completely rot and dissolve away, leaving a hollow space within the rock called a mold. If that mold becomes filled with sediment and water, it can harden into rock, becoming a cast. Every so often, the same sort of process can happen within the body of an animal, providing a stone cast of some of its internal arrangements. If that happens within the brain case of a skull, it’s called a brain cast. In 1924, a brain cast found in South Africa caught the attention of British anatomist Raymond Dart. After removing the fossil from the rock with his wife’s knitting needles, he was left with the first few skull fragments of Australopithecus africanus, or “southern ape of Africa,” to be discovered.
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Making it simple isn’t simple

Making it simple isn’t simple

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Let’s get started.

Putting together the nodes and handlers is going to be somewhat painful, and slow. It might be a bit more fun, along with giving me a way to test the general concept and implementation, if I implement the handlers to help me do a particular experiment or two. There will be no getting away from days of going through, method by method, bit by bit, but this should be a much more interesting way to get started.
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Ep 156: Doctor Frankenstein’s favorite beer

Ep 156: Doctor Frankenstein’s favorite beer

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Doctor Frankenstein’s favorite beer

The semiprecious stone amber is fossilized tree resin. Sometimes, insects and other small critters are trapped by sticky tree sap, and become encased in amber. Sometimes, microorganisms are found inside amber. Sometimes, they’re yeast that can be revived and used to brew beer.

Here’s an article about the yeast, revived and used to brew beer.

Amber Ale: Brewing Beer From 45-Million-Year-Old Yeast

Here’s the homepage of the folks who used ancient yeast to make beer.

FOSSIL FUELS BREWING CO.

Ep 155: A walk through other dating methods

Ep 155: A walk through other dating methods

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A walk through other dating methods

There are different candidates for the oldest preserved human footprints in North America. The older sight has a less certain date than the younger one. Today we look at ways of dating fossils, other than using carbon 14.
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Ep 154: Mystery solve, and dating fossils

Ep 154: Mystery solve, and dating fossils

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:45 — 4.5MB) | Embed

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Mystery solve, and dating fossils

It took a bit of digging, but I found out why the domestic dog fossil found with the remains of the La Brea woman didn’t cause more of a sensation. Using carbon 14 dating, the dog fossil turned out to be around seven-thousand years younger than the fossil of the woman. What is carbon 14 dating, and how does it work?
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