How to destroy the Earth @ Things Of Interest

Rather funny article about how to destroy the earth.

Read more at qntm.org/destroy?

Mpemba effect - Hot water freezes faster than cold water.

Our world is a strange strange place. Or maybe it is too complex for us to even imagine let alone comprehend some things.

One of these is called Mpemba effect . Mpemba, I believe was a high school student in Tanzania who rediscovered this property of water. I am a little bit surprised that this effect was not rediscoved for so long after the middle ages.

The effect is totally contarary to anything you can imagine. Under some conditions, the same volume of hotter water would freeze faster than the same volume of colder water.

That the scientists have still not come up with the exact reasons for this strange effect is proof that our earth is extermely mysterious. I do not think we can ever find out all the mysteries of our earth.

SPACE.com -- Venus and Earth: Worlds Apart

Information about Venus.

Read more at www.space.com/scienceas...

Stars to observe for life.

Margaret Turnbull, at the Carnegie Institution of Washingtion has compiled a list of stars could support life.

Read more at www.newscientistspace.c...

Personal and Historical Perspectives of Hans Bethe

Todo - watch these lectures sometime. They are supposed to be lectures that make quantum mechanics simple. Hopefully they will live up to the promise..

Let the unconcious make the decisions for you.

People always ask you to sleep over some problems before deciding about anything. New research has now confirmed that this is indeed good advice.

I have actually encountered this several times. There are several days when I am stuck with a major problem and cannot decide among the several options that exist. Then I decide that the best thing to do is to procrastinate and do nothing about it. The next day, the solution would be clear and I am happy again.

I always thought that this is because the problem lost its importance the next day. But this recent finding is enlightening and its good to know that my naive method of solving my problems by procrastination actually has scientific roots.

Five papers that shook the world (January 2005) - Physics World - PhysicsWeb

Another article that I should read and blog sometime soon.