M.J. Rose

The Long Now Foundation offers a series of seminars on long term thinking. The speakers are always incredibly interesting. Their most recent speaker was Priyamvada Natarajan. She is a professor in the Departments of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University and at the Dark Cosmology Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She is an active proponent for the public understanding and study of science.

“These days,” says Priyamvada Natarajan, “data is coming in from the universe faster than theory can keep up with it. We are in a golden age of cosmology.”

Click here to go straight to her seminar.

The darkness of dark matter and dark energy
ALL THAT WE KNOW of the universe we get from observing photons, Natarajan pointed out. But dark matter, which makes up 90 percent of the total mass in the universe, is called dark because it neither emits nor reflects photons?—?and because of our ignorance of what it is. It is conjectured to be made up of still-unidentified exotic collisionless particles which might weigh about six times more than an electron.

Though some challenge whether dark matter even exists, Natarajan is persuaded that it does because of her research on “the heaviest objects in the universe“?—?galaxy clusters of more than 1,000 galaxies. First of all, the rotation of stars within galaxies does not look Keplerian?—?the outermost stars move far too quickly, as discovered in the 1970s. Their rapid rate of motion only makes sense if there is a vast “halo” of dark matter enclosing each galaxy….”

For the rest of the description and the entire recorded seminar, click here to go to the Long Now Foundation website.

A visual treat for today —

From Lost at E Minor,

Flowers that demand you give them a second look

By Kenny Ong

“We do not demand much from our flowers. They look quite pretty as they are and their role in our lives are also pretty standard thus far. But a few have gone beyond their call of duty and they certainly demand a second glance when the first didn’t quite catch the amazing similarity they withhold. We are talking about parts of or even the entire flower that resemble something else altogether.

On closer look, for instance, the Dracula Simia orchid doubles up as a monkey’s face, the Impatiens Bequaertii blooms are dancing girls in disguise, the Ophrys Bomybliflora laughs like a bumble bee and we even have a Darth Vader in the form of an Aristolochia Salvadorensis…”

For the rest and all the pictures, click here.

As a follow-up to our recent post about a missing 1940’s Bennington student, here is a bit more on the mysteries of the “Vermont Triangle” —

The Vanished Town of Glastenbury and The Bennington Triangle
By Chad Abramovich

“Those who know me know that I’m a huge cartography buff. That love really perpetuated when I was 10, when my mother bought me a DeLorme atlas of Vermont, and I became enthralled with it, thoroughly memorizing every detail I could. But what is it about maps that are so irresistible to me?

Maybe because of their limitless potential, and their ability to unlock the mysteries of our world. Maps tell us how things in this world relate to one another, they take data and turn it into something tangible, something understandable, and maybe something that provokes thought or feelings. Several different types of information can be conveyed at the same time, melding several different ideas into a united idea. Lines to convey topography, more lines to convey boundaries between rock layers, towns, states and countries. More lines for faults, colors for bodies of water, forest land and types of climates. Maybe it’s because maps provide some sort of order, putting everything where it needs to be. Or just the opposite. They’ve always helped me make sense of my thoughts and ideas, and even draw ideas from things that haven’t been categorized or plotted yet.

I loved getting to know the great state I lived in. But one place really stood out to me.

A perfect square, that yellow dotted line indicating it was the boundary of a town, with the word “Glastenbury” printed inside. But inside the square, there was nothing but contour lines, indicating several mountains and rugged wilderness. I was enthralled by the fact that this town apparently had nothing in it. In the very top left corner, in small print, was the word “Fayville”, plotted on a dotted line that seemed to be a secondary road, meandering its way from Shaftsbury deep into the hills, and ending in the middle of nowhere. Even for rural Vermont standards, this was pretty desolate. I knew there was something different about this place, it challenged my young and naive view of the world. Why wasn’t there anything in Glastenbury like other towns around it?

It had a mystery to it, and I wanted to know more….”

For the rest, click here.