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No Baby Black Holes, Changing Atomic Weight, This Week in Space, TWIWRD, You Say Amond, Magnetic Fields Forever, HIV Cures???, And Much More…
Show Notes to come!
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I'm the host of this little science show. 
Thank you Dr Kiki for clarifying what Justin was talking about in regards to the almond study. At first I thought he was talking about amines and was quite confused.
Voyager 1: Can it even see us?
The last image taken of Earth by Voyager 1, at the edge of visibility of it’s cameras, was in 1990: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot
This image was famously and beautifully commented on by Carl Sagan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M
You guys need to do some research before reporting on stories that you don’t understand!
On reporting about the recent changes to the periodic table, not once did you mention the word “isotope”!
The reason elements on the table have non-unitary atomic mass is that there are different numbers of neutrons which can exist in the atoms.
The atomic mass is a weighted average mass of the various isotopes in the ratios they are found in nature.
The recent change to the periodic table reflects the range of masses one might expect to see in a real-world sample taken from various sources on Earth.
The goal for this change, as I intemperate it, is not to educate kids.
The goal seems more to be giving scientists an accurate error bar to work with when they consult the table.
In science, error bars are important. 🙂
With regards to the the absence of black holes at the LHC: You missed the whole point!
There is no singular “string theory”! The term refers to a wide area of study.
There are a range of models, only a few of which make predictions testable at the LHC.
One such model, called ADD predicts black holes at LHC energies.
Now, the lower limit on black hole formation at the LHC does rule out ADD.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/lhc-black-holes-string-theory/
However, these results DO NOT refute ALL 10+1 dimensional string theories!
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/12/17/lhc/
Yup, we missed bringing up that aspect of the story. Thanks for discussing it here!
I don’t think we did miss the whole point. If you listen to the conversation again, you’ll see that I specifically said it ruled out this one prediction of multiple dimensions being detected by the LHC.
Thanks for adding the links to the conversation!
6:00: “[black holes] are predicted to exist by string theory. So, the fact that they haven’t been found, kind of puts some question into the idea of string theory”.
What you meant in place of “string theory” was “the ADD model”.
This is not a small detail; it’s the whole point!
Headlines read, “No black holes at the LHC”, which isn’t the real breaking news!
The news is, for the first time, a string theory model was put to experimental test!
To a scientist, this is exciting and terrific news! It’s something to jump up and down about!
The whole, “phew, the Earth wasn’t swallowed by a black hole” noise is distraction.
The whole, “see? string theory is bunk” noise is intellectually dishonest.
I agree Gendou, the term “string theory” itself is misleading. It should be refered to as the “String Model” and theories based on that model of the Universe. It is not a singular theory, but a model of the universe.
Being a chemist, I understand the reasons for the updated atomic weights, but as a chemist-turned-chemistry teacher, I am not looking forward to trying to explain how to use a range to 120 mathematically challenged students per year…
I think Gendou’s objection to your omission to the term “isotope” misses the fact that this is a science podcast – the two people listening who do not know why are just going to look it up, anyway.
On a completely unrelated note, Justin’s intro was pretty moving. I transcribed it for possible use in my class (hope you don’t mind).
Keep up the good work – Jason (aka. Mr. B)
Justin’s into to the problems with the Lancet’s too little too late attitude to the autism/vaccine issue were great.
But it is too ironic not to mention his mispronunciation of the word ‘Almond’. after listening to it, I guess it was a joke. The first time he said it, it may have been funny. But not the second or third time he reffers to them as amons.
There is NO excuse for his recent prononciation of ‘E. coli’ The name of this organism dosn’t rhyme with ricola cough drops, nor does it start with the word echo.
Mistakes like this reduce the trustworthyness of the entire show.
Jerry