20 Things You
Didn't Know About... Time
by LeeAundra Temescu, Discover
1 “Time is an
illusion. Lunchtime doubly so,” joked Douglas Adams in The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Scientists aren’t laughing,
though. Some speculative new physics theories suggest that time
emerges from a more fundamental—and timeless—reality.
2 Try explaining that when you get to work late. The average U.S.
city commuter loses 38 hours a year to traffic delays.
3 Wonder why you have to set your clock ahead in March? Daylight
Saving Time began as a joke by Benjamin Franklin, who proposed
waking people earlier on bright summer mornings so they might work
more during the day and thus save candles. It was introduced in the
U.K. in 1917 and then spread around the world...
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Metal Bits
Self-Assemble Into Lifelike Snakes
by Alexis Madrigal, Wired
ARGONNE,
Illinois — In the basement of a nondescript building here at Argonne
National Laboratory, nickel particles in a beaker are building
themselves into magnetic snakes that may one day give clues about
how life originally organized itself.
These chains of metal particles look so much like real, living
animals, it is hard not to think of them as alive. (See exclusive
video below.) But they are actually bits of metal that came together
under the influence of a specially tuned magnetic field.
"It behaves like some live object," says physicist Alex Snezhko. "It
moves. It crashes onto free-floating particles and absorbs them..."
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Mars Domes May Be
'Mud Volcanoes'
by Paul Rincon, BBC
Scientists say the possible discovery
of mud volcanoes on Mars could boost the search for the planet's
past life.
If life ever existed on Mars, the evidence could be buried deep
below the surface, where it may be warm enough for water to remain
in a liquid state.
Mud volcanoes could transport rocks from depths of several
kilometres up to the surface, where robotic explorers could reach
them.
Details were presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
in Texas...
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You Pay, Computer
Prays For You
by Bill Christensen,
Technovelgy.com
Information Age
Prayer is a site that charges you a monthly fee to say prayers for
you. A typical charge is $4.95 per month to say three prayers
specified by you each day.
"We use state of the art text to speech synthesizers to voice each
prayer at a volume and speed equivalent to typical person praying,"
the company states. "Each prayer is voiced individually, with the
name of the subscriber displayed on screen."
Prices, however, are dictated by the length of the prayer. As noted
in the Information Age Prayer FAQ, "A discounted prayer will cost
less than other prayers of similar length."
I'm fascinated by the intersection between religion and technology,
as are some well-known science fiction writers. For example, if a
machine can say a prayer for you, why not have a fully robotic pope
and clergy?
In his 1971 story Good News From The Vatican, writer Robert
Silverberg tells the story of a robot cardinal who might one day
become pope:..
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