Science in the Media: Ridiculous Hype

Physorg.com is reporting the discovery of "transparent aluminum". Here's the tag line from the article:

"Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. 'Transparent aluminium' previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion."

Of course, if you read the article, you'll quickly realize that this opening statement is composed primarily of cattle droppings. Let's look at the details:

1. Changing the state of the aluminum requires bombarding it with an x-ray laser that draws enough electricity to power a city.
2. It isn't really transparent. Only extreme ultra-violet light gets through, not visible light.
3. The aluminum only remains in the altered state for about 40 femtoseconds (a femtosecond is one millionth of one billionth of a second, if you're not a technogeek). To paraphrase Doctor Manhattan, it's an event that occurs so quickly that it can barely be said to have occurred at all.

The experiment is interesting because it allows scientists to see how matter behaves in extremely high energy states, such as might be found inside a star. This experiment has no relevance for construction materials, yet the reporter is acting as if it does.

X-Men

Cause how much more Halloweenie can you get?

Fun with the Microwave

Do not try this at home.

The Thing from Another World

Another science fiction classic.

Retro Avengers!

In other news, some of my friends won Best in Show at the Dragon*Con masquerade for their "Steampunk X-Men".

A Trip to the Cemetery

I'm not sure whether the silly label applies to this or not.



Geeky, obviously, but silly?

Stormtroopers Gone Wild!

Some of them have to be silly.

Cybermen vs Daleks

Daleks kick Cyberman ass.



Of course, the Doctor scares all of them.

Tasty, Tasty Brains!

I think sequels seldom live up to the original, but this particular scene is pretty darn creepy. Not for the faint of heart.

Bedfellows

Something Patricia Tallman shared with her FaceBook fans back in July.

The Cask of Amontillado

As told by the master...

Fright Night

An oldie, but a goodie.

Predator Fridge Logic

I wonder what it would be like if horror movie characters thought of these things.

"Dexter" Fridge Logic

So I've been roped into watching Dexter recently (not that I'm suffering or anything), and I noticed something that triggered my geek reflex. This kind of thing might involve spoilers, so anyone who hasn't watched Dexter yet and wants to might do well to skip this post and watch some more Halloween videos.

I'm still on season one (yeah, yeah... lots of catching up to do), and I think it was episode 8 that I was watching (maybe 9) tonight, when we had one of the flashbacks.

As a child, Dexter was injured while playing. He needed a blood transfusion, but he has the rarest of blood types: AB-. The hospital was stymied by the lack of a suitable donor, and only Dexter's foster father was able to identify a blood relative who would have the right blood type.

Two problems:

1. It's not that hard to find a donor for a recipient with type AB-. Any Rh-negative donor will do, because AB types can also receive A, B, or O types without any problems.
2. The episode implies that the donor is Dexter's biological father, but if Dexter is type AB-, then his father must be either A- or B-, not AB-, so even if Dexter needs an exact match for some reason, his biological father couldn't be an exact match.

Whew! I've got that bit of geekery off my chest. Back to Halloween videos.

Edit: I suppose Dexter's biological father could be AB-, since he could donate either the A or the B if his wife donated the other one. My bad. Point #1 still stands.

Further Edit: A little research indicates that less than 10% of the population of Florida has Rh-negative blood, so finding a relative might still be fairly important.

Narwhals

This is its own special kind of scary.



Muah ha ha hah! Now it's running through your head, too!

Top Ten Twilight Zone Episodes

Classics...

Mr. Staypuffed

What did you do, Ray?

Don't let him inside your head...

The doctor is in.

Do you want to know about Rorschach?

Please remember that, while Rorschack is all badass and interesting, he's also insane.

ASL Brain Eating

October has arrived! Let the gratuitous video links begin!