Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Evolution of an Idea


Martin Tanui's proposal

E=mc^2k

E = Energy

m= Mass

C= speed of light [299 792 458 m / s]

K= acceleration [the acceleration of the neutrino]

Pauli's proposal

The neutrino[nb 1] was first postulated in 1930 by Wolfgang Pauli to preserve the conservation of energy, conservation of momentum, and conservation of angular momentum in beta decay. This was done by adding an undetected particle that Pauli termed a "neutron" to the proton, and electron already known to be products of beta decay. Some, such as Niels Bohr were opposed to this interpretation of beta decay and was ready to accept that energy, momentum and angular momentum were not conserved quantities.[4]

He theorized that an undetected particle was carrying away the observed difference between the energy, momentum, and angular momentum of the initial and final particles.
Pauli originally named his proposed light particle a neutron. When James Chadwick discovered a much more massive nuclear particle in 1932 and also named it a neutron, this left the two particles with the same name. Enrico Fermi, who developed the theory of beta decay, coined the term neutrino in 1934 as a way to resolve the confusion. It is the Italian equivalent of "little neutral one"

Friday, September 16, 2011

Wild Animal Sex


The Australian splendid fairy-wren has a peculiar way of passing on its genetic material. It starts off in a manner that might seem familiar to anyone who’s seen a 1950s family sitcom: Boy meets girl, boy partners with girl for life, boy and girl raise family together. But that’s where the similarities end. After the baby wrens grow up, they don’t pair up with other wrens right away; instead, they help their parents raise the next brood. Except that next brood is likely not the true genetic offspring of the “father” of this family.
You see, while splendid fairy-wrens do pair up in family units for life, they rarely mate with their original partners. Instead, both males and females like to get together for dangerous sex with other wrens, who in turn may be socially paired with other wrens. And calling this sex “dangerous” may be only a slight exaggeration. Science writer Rob Mitchum blogged last week about research showing that these tiny wrens not only mate primarily outside the family unit, they may be more interested in mating in the presence of one of their primary predators, the butcherbird.
Bright blue male splendid fairy-wrens, instead of fleeing in the face of danger, sing a distinctive song when a butcherbird is in the area. The researchers, Emma Greig and Stephen Pruett-Jones, say that the wren’s song responds to the butcherbird’s song, so that the two are almost singing a duet. The team played a variety of recorded songs to female butcherbirds in the wild, and found that females were significantly more likely to look in the direction of the songs and respond with their own songs when they heard the combined butcherbird–male wren duets.
The next obvious question is, why? This research doesn’t tell us. The classic Darwinian explanation might be that “braver” males produce offspring that are fitter and more likely to survive. But Greig says that the wrens might not be in any real danger; when the butcherbird is singing it’s probably not interested in hunting. What’s more, there are no obvious differences in male wrens’ singing behavior based on other physical traits such as health and color. Future studies could examine whether females that are more attracted to the dangerous duets produce more or fitter offspring. Greig is also studying other bird species in the area to see if they exhibit similar behaviors. The research was published in Behavioral Ecology.
But the sexual behavior of blue fairy wrens is not the only lifestyle you wouldn’t expect to see on Leave it to Beaver or Father Knows Best. In 2006, here at Seed, Jonah Lehrer took a controversial look at the work of Joan Roughgarden, who has catalogued hundreds of examples of homosexuality in animals, including lesbian bonobos, gay big horn sheep, and bluegill sunfish threesomes. Last week, evolutionary biology graduate student Jeremy Yoder revisited Roughgarden’s work and the peer-reviewed research that forms its basis.


Yoder cites Roughgarden’s example of white-throated sparrows as an example of an animal that flouts the usual pattern of sexual behavior. These sparrows come in two different color schemes, possessing either a white facial stripe, or a tan stripe. But unlike many birds where the coloration varies by gender, both males and females come in both types. White-striped sparrows tend to be aggressive, while tan-striped birds are more submissive. The most successful sparrow couples are mixed pairs, but it doesn’t matter whether the male or female is the aggressive one.
Whiptail lizards go even further. The females don’t actually need males to reproduce; they can lay fertile eggs without mating at all. However, these females still pair—with other female lizards. The lesbian lizard couples do have sex, and although intercourse is not needed to produce fertile eggs, sex in female pairs stimulates them to lay eggs. These female-female couples are more stable than heterosexual couplings in related lizard species.
So should this research be used to argue that homosexuality is morally justifiable? Not unless you want to also argue, among other things, that men should break their genitals and leave them inside women after mating, just like the wasp spider. But it certainly demonstrates that there is a wide range of natural sexual behaviors, all of which can enable a species to thrive. While most evolutionary biologists, including P.Z. Myers, believe that Darwinian sexual selection based on male-female pairing can still explain many features of animal evolution, Roughgarden and her colleagues have shown that for lots of animals, the traditional sexual model doesn’t cut it. Perhaps father doesn’t always know best.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

A Blink of thought at A Time


I think my note Pad will understand me more than anyone, but anyone could just be you, 

in my dreams on a coffee table drinking philosophical speak"

Down your throught like how birds guggle break1st, a date for death for the dear worm, 

but warmth in the Bird, ; , 

and while the Sun Stood still at noon, two hours..earlier, than the rays hit us here on Earth,  

I found my Note Pad, drinking and Dreaming at the same time, while the Sun Watches two hours ahead, 

making me feel like I just passed by the Ideas Neighborhood and saw the Sun talking with my Note Pad over the picket fence, or what do they say, I trend on the waters of Earth and experienced magic while delivering pizza,

then just like a dream, I heard the Pizza in the box go, "Psst, hey?" In my utter Joy, I woke up and was kinda relieved that I wasn't a delivery boy, then again Sad that I neither had a talking Pizza, well I guess my Note Pad smells of it, oh wait I had some last night and it seems I shared it accidentally, when I fell asleep on the pad, my sleep doodle had drawn a strange shape,
reminded me where everyone was, everywhere doing strange things at like 3 hours after noon, 
and I guess the same strange things are unfolding in my pages,
My Earth is having Coffee with the moon, and discussing how June will be...

now my journals words flap into outer space, saying hi to mars from a far, 
and from a far a child flies a kyt,
at the beach, without being to late to enjoy life, mom swirling wine like the waves,in the Ocean,
its like the Ocean got emotional and smiled with goose bumps sprouting up, just because she received a secret text from the moon,

and since the tide is low, I feel a splash on my skin, just watching the kid run along the shore, the shore which feels the toes of his mom tingle its neck, like the way wind says hi to your lash, From the eyes of just a Surfer, in the real world, through my Note Pad, in light, I blink a thought a time.. moments of pure thought without words, are like Pictures made by Aurorae, that words from my last note ask me how the hell I'm I going to Alphabet that, 

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Ahem, Ahem

A day that looked like it had lived today again, because it woke me up, just before the water ran out. So quick, I had a nice shower, took my sleeping pills, because my sleep needs to be awake when I'm awake, haha, making my subconscious not sub anymore,

awakening the giant within, a quick ritual to a warm breakfast, and soon I'm on my way to the City. Not even halfway there, ring yawns through my friends' phone and we, were west so fast that East had to follow us. I lunch in my head, though we have to split up two ways before we meet here again, like some thriller movie script,

soon we are in a different car, warming the hired seats. The city trip was young, and soon we were back in flow with the rolling wheels of the E Merc, "I wish we could take off and go anywhere", but we got to deal. Soon, we are at the fame production sport, and while eating real lunch, my friend disappears and the bill is on me, ahem, ahem, I wasn't prepared but I had my friends back and walked out easy,

a sticky note that reminds me of the scouts motto, always be prepared, or is it Prepaired, having double what you need, for emergencies. Now we rolling on Ngong rd, back to the office, and after dreaming of buying someone special a watch worth KES 53,400, I could feel I'm in the deep end, because everywhere I turned was a Big Fish, and I got the Plan...

Now, I'm just listening to my Secret playlist, "....and I tell her take a breather" is the line that just played in this song...

Monday, August 22, 2011

The way We See iT

[Sagan]

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch
You must first invent the universe

Space is filled with a network of wormholes
You might emerge somewhere else in space
Some when-else in time

The sky calls to us
If we do not destroy ourselves
We will one day venture to the stars

A still more glorious dawn awaits
Not a sunrise, but a galaxy rise
A morning filled with 400 billion suns
The rising of the milky way

The Cosmos is full beyond measure of elegant truths
Of exquisite interrelationships
Of the awesome machinery of nature

I believe our future depends powerfully
On how well we understand this cosmos
In which we float like a mote of dust
In the morning sky

But the brain does much more than just recollect
It inter-compares, it synthesizes, it analyzes
it generates abstractions

The simplest thought like the concept of the number one
Has an elaborate logical underpinning
The brain has its own language
For testing the structure and consistency of the world

[Hawking]
For thousands of years
People have wondered about the universe
Did it stretch out forever
Or was there a limit

From the big bang to black holes
From dark matter to a possible big crunch
Our image of the universe today
Is full of strange sounding ideas

[Sagan}
How lucky we are to live in this time
The first moment in human history
When we are in fact visiting other worlds

The surface of the earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean
Recently we've waded a little way out
And the water seems inviting