Why sending a message to aliens is easier than sending a message to future humans

November 25, 2009

By John Pavlus

Why sending a message to aliens is easier than sending a message to future humans

Nothing like Thanksgiving family gatherings to remind us all of the generation gap. Sometimes it seems like it'd be easier to get a message across to extraterrestrials than to communicate clearly with someone twenty years older or younger than you.

Well it's not all in your head. According to these articles in Wired and Slate, it literally IS easier to send comprehensible messages to aliens than to future generations of humans.

We've been beaming electronic messages-in-bottles out into space since the 1970s, but according to scientists at CalTech and Stanford, few if any of these messages were tested to see if they could be easily decoded. So they took it upon themselves to devise a new code so simple and easy that a handful of college students cracked it in less than an hour. (The message contained basic stuff that any sufficiently advanced civilization should recognize, like arithmetical expressions and atomic mass ratios.)

In contrast, our own Department of Energy has been laboring for almost twenty years to craft an intelligible message that our fellow humans might decipher tens of thousands of years from now. The goal is to prevent future civilizations from accidentally uncovering dangerous nuclear waste buried in Yucca Mountain, NV and other sites--and the message is as simple as it gets: "KEEP OUT!"

What's so hard about that? Well, you can't use any known language, since even a thousand years from now it's unlikely than anyone will be able to read it. And even if they could, who's to say they'd take the warning seriously? (British archaeologists didn't exactly turn on their heels when they read King Tut's sternly worded hieroglyphics cursing anyone who dared set foot in his tomb.)

The DoE's solution sounds more like an Andy Goldsworthy art project crossed with a haunted house. Giant, menacing earthworks, like a landscape full of massive black thorns or obelisks showing faces screaming in terror, would supposedly get the idea across that the land above the waste dump is best left uninhabited.

But humans are eternally curious--especially about mysterious, ominous stuff like obelisk fields (hello, Stonehenge?)--so no one can say whether that approach would do any good. In fact, the best policy might just be leaving no markers at all -- hiding the nuclear waste in plain sight, rather than calling attention to it.

Or maybe it'd just be easier to send the message to aliens, and let THEM find a clever way to warn our 300th-century descendants about the dangers of nuclear waste...?

Lizts by Liz: Top 10 Animal Videos! A Mix of Old and New Classics

November 16, 2009

Here's another Lizts by Liz! She puts it all in order so you don't have to. This week...Top 10 Animal Videos! A mix of old and new animal video classics that will make you laugh, giggle or gasp.

By Liz Suman

TICKLING MONKEY

SHOP-LIFTING SEAGULL

In honor of Carl Sagan’s birthday, an interview with the creator of “Auto-Tune the Cosmos” (AKA “A Glorious Dawn”)

November 12, 2009

By John Pavlus

By now you’ve probably seen Carl Sagan’s (born 75 years ago on November 9) viral music video hit from beyond the grave, “A Glorious Dawn”:

Well, Monday 11/9 would have been Carl Sagan’s 75th birthday, and there are two celebrations on tap.

One: White Stripes guitarist Jack White has a record label, Third Man Records, which has issued “A Glorious Dawn” on limited-edition 7" vinyl . Who knew that Jack White was a secret nerd? Even more awesome is the fact that the record’s B-side has an etching that reproduces Sagan’s famous “Golden Record” of earth sounds, which was launched on the Voyager 1 probe in 1977. The probe left our solar system in November of 2004.

Two: I’ve conducted a short interview with the creative genius behind the song, John Boswell. Enjoy!

What inspired you to remix COSMOS into a music video?

I gained a deep appreciation for science and philosophy in college, and when I first saw an episode of Cosmos about 5 years ago, it immediately resonated with me. I loved the style and message, and Carl's charisma was the cherry on top. The idea to remix it came to me after being inspired by other artists that have used auto-tune technology on speech, such as the Gregory Brothers and DJ Steve Porter; they were both working in mostly comedy but I wanted to apply the concept to a more personally meaningful source. I turned to Cosmos because I knew how profound Carl's message is and that it would fit well with a mash-up; the result was surprisingly pleasing, so I decided to put it on Youtube for anyone who may take interest in such an idea.

Were you surprised at the attention that "A Glorious Dawn" received? Has anyone from Carl Sagan's estate commented on it?

At first, I was only expecting maybe a few thousand views for the video - through some devoted Sagan fans that keep tabs on new Sagan-related material. However, the song and video quickly caught on to the Sagan community, and spread from there, to viewership levels that I did not forsee in any way. To my delight, the song has reached and inspired many people who have never heard of Sagan and motivated many to further research his books and TV series. I have been in touch with his wife and people who have worked on Cosmos, and they have expressed their sincere appreciation for the song, which is highly satisfying for me. I feel honored to give back to the Sagan community in this sense.

How did the record release with Third Man come about? Is Jack White a COSMOS fan?

Third Man Records approached me about releasing A Glorious Dawn not long after the video began its viral spread. Jack White loved the song, and I can safely assume he is a big fan of Cosmos and Carl's message. I was initially skeptical about the ability to get proper copyright clearance for release, but Jack and friends really pulled through on that front. We reached an agreement that keeps them, the Sagan family, and myself very happy and excited about the release. Even if you don't own a record player, it is a pretty cool collector's item.

You’ve made a sequel to the original music video. Are you going to make a whole album's worth?

Since the follow up video, We Are All Connected, was a success as well, I will definitely continue the series. Whether I will eventually compile a whole album's worth of material is yet to be seen; there is a plethora of footage out there with excited scientists talking about all sorts of fascinating subjects, so there will never be a shortage of source material. I am currently working on a third video, which is coming along great, and it should be out in about a week or two. If you enjoyed the previous two, this new one will fit right in.

How to Defeat This Optical Illusion: Grab it!

November 04, 2009

This week's guest blogger is John Pavlus, a science writer and filmmaker based in Brooklyn. You can follow him on Twitter @xjparker.

Everyone's seen this visual trick (known to nerds and academics as the Müller-Lyer illusion):

You perceive the top line as being longer than the bottom line -- even though both are exactly the same length. Ho hum.

But here's the interesting part. If you reach out to "grasp" the line -- that is, if you spread your thumb and index finger apart as if trying to pick it up by touching the tips -- your hand is not fooled. You'll likely spread your finger and thumb the same length to "grab" either line, even though you're literally seeing them as being different lengths.

Why? How can you be consciously perceiving one thing -- the illusion -- while your hand is "perceiving" another, and more accurately at that?

Dorkbot-NYC Wins Again

October 09, 2009

By Joanna Burgess

This past Wednesday night was the 2nd Dorkbot-NYC of the season at Location One in Soho. The theme of the evening was the interaction between humans and technology.

America's Top Young Scientists

October 07, 2009

By Joanna Burgess

Back in January, Discovery Education and 3M put out the call to students across the country who have a passion for science and a flair for critical thinking and creativity to submit why they should be chosen for the annual Young Scientist Challenge. Hundreds of kids answered the call and of those hundreds, 10 between the ages of 11-14 were hand-picked to compete in this year's challenge, which took place at the Metropolitan Building in NYC, hosted by Science Channel's own Danny Forster from Build It Bigger. The all-day event had high expectations. There were 4 separate and distinct challenges: the Innovation Challenge, Purification Challenge, Restoration Challenge and the Tremor Tower Challenge. A point system was used to score each competitor's work based on a variety of factors. After each round, points were tallied and it was revealed who was eliminated and who was advancing. 8th grader Marina Dimitrov, 9th grader Nikita Guarav, and 9th grader Nico Seamons made it to the final event, the Tremor Tower, where they built structures out of PVC piping, duct tape and other materials. The challenge: to hold an egg securely for the duration of an "earthquake."

Click on the photo for a complete set of pictures and descriptions of this year's Young Scientist Challenge!

We salute this next generation of nerds and extend warm wishes to all the Young Scientists who competed today. Congratulations to Marina Dimitrov, America's Top Young Scientist for 2009!

I Can Haz Spayez?

September 02, 2009

Lol cats come and go but space is infinite which means perfect fodder for, well, spaceLOL. We're looking for the most stellar lolz out there. Check out what's been done so far and then email your spaceLOL submission to nerdabout@discovery.com. And please remember our mantra when wielding your Photoshop tools: be a nerd.

photo:polandeze

Top 10 Grossest Pictures

August 28, 2009

By Joanna Burgess

Here are Nerdabout we are quite fond of Top 10 lists of pictures and memes. I myself like to spend my time perusing flickr for disgusting and disturbing photos preferably with a scientific or medical theme. Today's post: Top 10 Grossest Pictures.

Maggots!

photo: OakleyOriginals

Sustainable Living: Earth Ship

August 24, 2009

By Joanna Burgess

When I was a kid my friend Jennifer moved from Poughkeepsie out West, to live under a hill. Her parents were hippies, mine worked for IBM. We never went that route and I eventually ended up in New York, which is considered one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the US. (I'm sure some city in Germany way out shine us on the front.) With the largest subway system in the world--it carries an estimated 5 million people on a week day--commuting to work sans car is quite easy. Despite the building boom in recent years (which thanks to the tanking economy has slowed) many of us live in places that are old (my building was built in 1896) and urban farming is on the rise. But not everyone wants to live in an old building in a city, where noise and smog is still very much a reality. I'll admit I frequently dream of moving to someplace cleaner, someplace quieter. One of my favorite escapes I often think about: Earth Ships. Ten percent of the appeal is the name alone.

Ohio is a Piano: An Audio Data Visualization

August 18, 2009

By Joanna Burgess

Once again I am entertaining myself with Google Maps Mania while drinking my tea. This morning's awesomeness? Ohio is a Piano, created by cartographer Andy Woodruff. He's turned the science of statistics into a musical experiment. Here's what the map does: Ohio has 88 counties, a piano has 88 keys. So basically this is an audio data visualization of the state. Each county represents a piano key and you program the map to play a song by assigning a county a key based upon data like kids under 5, median age, avg sz97 and sqmi (which I read as "sqee me" at this early hour and was briefly baffled until I realized this actually meant square miles).

Click here to begin composing.

Nerdabout's Hydroponic Window Farm

August 06, 2009

By Joanna

I've been running around like a crazy woman gathering the necessary materials for my own hydroponic system and finally...all the running has paid off. Yesterday Britta from Window Farms plus her team--Ted, Lisa and Anja--spent 8 hours in my apartment installing a home version of the window farm at Eyebeam we blogged about back in June. Sadly I bought the wrong pump so my system isn't fully operational but the new one is in the mail. I'll post a full wrap up on Monday when the pump arrives and I've installed it. In the mean time here's a bit of what we did yesterday.

Bug Out to (one of) Our Favorite Sciences: Entomology

July 30, 2009

By Alexander Nguyen

photo: rizalis

I am 15 years old but the world of entomology has interested me since I was 6 years of age. My dad introduced me to the world of preservation of insects and other small invertebrates at a very young age. It was not until 7th grade where my hobby expanded and grew with an Insect Collection project for school. Soon after the school project was North America's Largest Bug Fair, the Los Angeles Natural History Museum's Bug Fair.

Hydroponic Window Farms

July 13, 2009

By Joanna Burgess

When people think hydroponics, often the fist thing that pops into their mind is the pretty little plant that is illegal in most states. However, for years hydroponic gardens growing other varieties of plants have flourished in rural and suburban areas. The recent trend towards eating local has given rise to more and more people wanting to produce their own food. In response, hydroponic farming has packed its bags and moved to the city.

Top 10 Facts About Rigor Mortis

July 07, 2009

By Joanna Burgess

I've been watching the series True Blood and while it's my understanding that vampires do not go through rigor mortis before rising to walk the Earth for the ages, it got me thinking about death (more than usual I suppose) which in turn made me want to know some scientific facts about rigor mortis to both fulfill my macabre interest as well as to gross out my family and friends with information they would probably prefer not to know. Here are my Top 10 Facts About Rigor Mortis.

photo: obo-bobalina

John Sundman, Science Fiction Geek Author

July 01, 2009

By Noah Sussman

Last week at Ajax World, I was psyched to stumble across John Sundman, blogger for Wetmachine, science fiction author, former truck driver, and former Silicon Valley guy. His self-published books, Acts of the Apostles, Cheap, Complex Devices, and The Pains deal with the complex relationships between humans and technology. You can download any or all of them for free. However, since the art is awesome we suggest you buy one for yourself. John's work has been described as "immoral and deeply ugly" and he was the recipient of Brazil's Rei do Lixo award and the Society for Technical Communication's Award of Distinguised Technical Communication.

Top 10 Reasons to Respect the Ant

June 24, 2009

By Lonesome Polecat

People tend to think of ants merely as tiny picnic spoilers or home invaders, and to dismiss them as unimportant unless they are causing a problem. Ants are amazing creatures and if people new more about them perhaps they would view them differently and pay them more respect. Click here for the Top 10 Reasons to Respect the Ant.

photo: ViaMoi

Avian Einsteins at the World Science Festival

June 21, 2009

This past Saturday I went to a panel discussion called Avian Einsteins, on bird intelligence, at NYU Skirball Center, part of the World Science Festival. Faith Salie was the moderator and she was both funny and engaged, which helped a lot through the 2 hour discussion. And Johnathan Rosen bracketed the discussion with two moving readings from his book **The Life of the Skies.**

Irene Pepperberg has been studying the behavioral science of birds for over 20 years. She related some really interesting stories about having her early work questioned and at times rejected, simply because at the time there was no hard scientific evidence for bird intelligence. However she continued to observe and report on remarkable interactions with laboratory-raised birds, and recently the biological evidence appears to have finally caught up with her research: many of the slides shown, by various members of the panel, described in detail the kinds of activity that goes on in the brain of a bird while it is vocalizing.

Nicola Clayton of Cambridge University who has done groundbreaking work with crows, including observing birds fashioning a piece of wire into a hook in order to use it as a tool.

David Rothenberg of New Jersey Institute of Technology, does all kinds of interesting work on musical interactions in animals. He played a couple of new clarinet pieces, duets with slowed-down recordings the songs of nightingales, thrushes and other songbirds. These pieces are developed in cooperation with Ofer Tchernichovski of the City College of New York.

Ofer described work his team had done with raising male Zebra Finches in isolation (the Zebra Finch is the lab rat of the avian world) and observing how the songs of these "isolates" differed from the usual Zebra Finch song.

About half way through the discussion, Molecular Biologist Irena Schulz brought out Snowball, the Dancing Cockatoo from Youtube. Just in case you have not seen the dancing cockatoo, here he is.

Having seen the video many times already myself, I was interested to see how much more fluid the bird's dancing appears in person than on video. And apparently he only dances to that one Back Street Boys Song. Currently Irena is conducting experiments where they slow the track down incrementally (or speed it up) and try to ascertain whether Snowball adjusts his dance to the new tempo (so far it looks like he does).

Erich Jarvis studies the brains of birds at Duke University. Over the last decade he and his team have elucidated science's understanding of the part of the avian brain responsible for songs. Turns out it is the same part of the brain used for mimicry by parrots, cockatoos and many songbirds like the starling. I thought one of the most interesting things Erich said was that only animals with speech centers, have been shown to be able to move in time to a rhythm. Apparently dancing is a skill that requires a part of the brain that evolves with or after speech.

Of course, this came up in the context of the Dancing Cockatoo, but it also might equally apply to Hatebeak, a death metal band whose singer is a parrot (tip o' the pentagram to Tommy Z for pointing them out).

Check out Hatebeak's Myspace page to listen to tracks like Birdseeds of Vengeance and Beak of Putrefaction.

Top 10 Feet Facts

June 19, 2009

By Joanna Burgess

It's summer and that means feet. All are revealed; the good, the bad and the ugly. Here are some things you should know as you slip on your sandals.

* Men's toe nails grow faster than women's toe nails.

Battlestar Galactica: Cyborgs on the Horizon

June 18, 2009

By Joanna Burgess

Last week I was lucky enough to score a press pass to Battlestar Galactica: Cyborgs on the Horizon at the World's Science Festival. The guests of the night included two of the stars of Battlestar Galactica, Mary McDonnell, who played President Laura Roslin, and Michael Hogan, aka Colonel Saul Tigh. Also included on the panel were Nick Bostrom, co-founder of the World Transhumanist Association and Director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, evolutionary robotics wizard Hod Lipson, and Kevin Warwick, a professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading in England whose many accomplishments include self-experimentation which earned him the title, "World's First Cyborg." The evening was hosted by actress, comedian and Deep Star Nine star Faith Salie.

World Science Festival: Robots

June 17, 2009

The World Science Festival has ended but there was so many things happening that we have to share what we saw. So the rest of the week is going to be dedicated to wrapping up some of of those events. Our friend Dan, who runs the cool parenting site Kidmondo, went to the World Science Festival Street Fair in Washington Square Park where he encountered many interesting and wild things, including this ball throwing robot which was built by students in the Project Success Robotics Alliance. This organization, which Dr. Lonnie Johnson inventor of the Super Soaker helped to found, is dedicated to inspiring kids to enter the fields of science and engineering. We think this guy is pretty damn awesome.

Maker Faire 2009 Revisted

June 04, 2009

Guest blogger: Alyssa Wodtke

The 4th Annual Maker Faire in San Mateo, CA was this weekend. My husband and I have gone every year and it keeps getting bigger. We have to go both days of the fair weekend just to see everything. For those who don't know, the Maker Faire is put on by Make Magazine, a magazine for Do-It-Yourselfers, a growing movement. Well before the economy crashed, geeks of all sorts discovered the joys of hacking Roombas to make spirographs and turning trash into art. The Maker Faire celebrates those who make, build, sew, craft, hack, and teach. It's a brilliant concept.

Creativity reigns at the Maker Faire, both in the products that are displayed and demonstrated and in the people who display and demonstrate. Walking through the fairground, you can't look at a crowd without seeing people in costume (Steampunk, furry, or superhero), people representing the rebellious fringes of society (punks, eccentrics, hippies), or those just expressing a wild individuality (hair of every hue and length, squid hats, stilts). And, of course, the ever-present Utilikilt.

The displays vary wildly. There are always a lot of robots. They're a real crowd pleaser and people clearly love to make them. There are science teachers talking about demos they do in class. There are electronics for bikes, Christmas, and entertainment. There are always lots of things that shoot fire, such as the Crucible truck and the Flaming Lotus Girls' display. And let's not forget the over-the-top displays of making, like a life-sized Mousetrap game or the big metal giraffe that tools around the fairground or the human powered amusement park rides or the giant mechanical hand that picks up oil drums as if they're soda cans.

Ecology is a big influence for many of the makers. It shows up in big things like electric cars (my husband loves the Tesla) and in smaller ones like using recycled plastic bottles to make art. There's also a group called Engineers Without Borders which helps build wind turbines and provide water to countries in Africa.

A new feature this year was a Food Makers tent. A little sparse but promising, it offered cheese tastings, home beer brewing kits, tips on pickling, great chocolate, mushroom growing, and information on vegetarianism and local food. Since this Maker Faire takes place in the Bay Area, land of serious foodies and a huge local food movement, I expect this tent to grow in future years.

It's often hard to take time to sit down and listen to the presentations by makers since there’s so much to see. But there are talks and music all day long. We always make time for Adam Savage, co-host of Mythbusters, who spins a good yarn about what it's like to be a maker. This year he talked about failure in a funny and touching way. My husband caught a talk by a 14 year-old CEO who created a chemistry-based game called Elementeo.

As ever, a good time was had by all and a great deal of money was spent. On the way out, you can stop by the Maker Shed where they sell books and kits and materials so you can try your hand at being a maker or expanding your repertoire. I always walk out inspired to create. If I got nothing else out of the Maker Faire, that's definitely worth the price of admission.

Don't miss all of Alyssa's Maker Faire photos on flickr.

Geocaching in Hawaii

June 01, 2009

Guest blogger Carol Campbell shares how she uses GPS to turn a vaction into an adventure.

So you’ve booked your vacation to the Hawaiian Islands but you’re wondering what to do when you get there. Of course there are all of the usual trappings…luaus, pineapple tours, and black sand beaches. If you are going to be driving from one side of the island to the other every day, you might as well make the most of it and see as many beautiful places as possible. That’s not always so easy to do because many of them are hidden away and not put on the map that your concierge will give you at the hotel. Our first visit to Kauai was fun but we saw so much more our second time because we had some help with finding locations that we didn’t even know existed.

Swine Flu Tweet

April 30, 2009

By Joanna

My new love of the week, Google Maps Mania, has provided me with more Swine Flu mashups: Swine Flu Tweets map. Now we can get amusing, hysterical, and odd observations on this latest "threat to humanity" Go check it out.

Swine Flu Maps

April 27, 2009

Google Maps Mania has a bunch of different mashups from users chronicling the swine flu's route across the world.

H1N1 Swine Flu Outbreak Part 1 was created over the weekend by a guy named Niman. You can also check out his Swine Flu Outbreak Timeline, recently updated.

View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

This map looks intense. It's also a collaborative effort--users can add pending approval from the map maker.

View 2009 Swine Flu (H1N1) Outbreak Map in a larger map

Top 10 Hard to Believe Facts About Insects

April 20, 2009

Insects are efficient and compassionate, ruthless and amazingly intelligent at the same time. Lonesome Polecat, our resident insect expert, has come up with a few bug facts are very, very odd.

photo:Greenputty