This result came out a few months ago, and I’ve been looking for the time to write about it ever since: in a paper published in the June 5 issue of Science, scientists reported the discovery of the first natural quasicrystal!
Of course, in order to get excited about this result, one needs to know what a quasicrystal is! In this post, we’ll take a look at what we mean by the terms ‘crystal’ and ‘quasicrystal’, and then explain why the discovery of a natural quasicrystal is significant.
Well, I finally broke down and got myself an iPhone! My Verizon contract was up, and my phone was getting pretty beat up. Verizon had been getting on my nerves over the past few years with shenanigans such as this one; last week I think this one was the last straw.
So here’s a question: what iPhone apps should I get? Are there any apps that are absolutely essential? What do iPhone users think?
Check back next Monday for more “miscellaneous” highlights!
There’s 9 days left until the deadline for The Giant’s Shoulders #15! It will be hosted at Entertaining Research, and entries can be submitted through blogcarnival.com or directly to the host blog, as usual!
A friend (h/t David) sent this to me a bit over a week ago, and now that I’m less distracted by work, I thought I’d pass it along! On August 23rd, The Daily Mail reported on a new science-based art form: making art out of images generated via computed tomography!
Hong Kong radiologist Kai-hung Fung takes the data generated during a CT scan and colors them using a ‘rainbow technique’ of his own design. The images which result are quite striking, such as this image of the back of the nose:
I’ve always been intrigued by the intersection of art with science; with today’s software, it is possible and even useful to present scientific data with an eye towards beauty as well as clarity. Add to that amazing imaging technology like CT scans (which I discuss in this old post), and one can make jaw-dropping art.
I don’t usually like making short posts without adding much substance, but I couldn’t let this one go by. DougJ of Balloon Juice wrote yesterday about people’s desire to see Dick Cheney actually run for President in 2012. His choice of title for the post is priceless, and I hereby declare that DougJ won the internets yesterday…
Not too long ago, I took a first look at the weird short fiction of Francis Stevens (1883-1948), a groundbreaking author who has been credited with helping create the genre of “dark fantasy“. Though Stevens was a somewhat uneven writer when it came to character development, she came up with some wonderfully diabolical plots and weird imagery.
Stevens was sadly not very prolific, and wrote only a small number of novels, primarily to support her invalid mother. I’ve picked up a few of them and am working my way through them; the first on my list was the novel Claimed! (1920):
The novel is a short and fast read — only 135 pages — and tells the story of a stubborn man’s battle with a supernatural power of the seas. I enjoyed the story, though I felt it was a somewhat average weird tale, albeit punctuated with some wonderfully creepy moments and one character whose personality really shines and is the focus of the story.
Well, I just dropped my tenure package off to the RPT committee. Now we play the waiting game…
…Ah, the waiting game sucks — let’s play “Hungry Hungry Hippos”!
Whew! One more stressful deadline is passed, and successfully! On Sunday, I passed my adult bronze ‘moves in the field’ figure skating test! Of course, most readers probably have no idea what that means.
The USFSA (U.S. Figure Skating Association) is the official organization for U.S. figure skating, and they administer ranking tests which can be used as personal achievement goals or to determine one’s level for competition. I’ve been figure skating for some thirteen years, and haven’t bothered with testing for about ten years. This year, though, my skating coach convinced me (i.e. bullied me!) into testing again.
Apparently I don’t have enough going on, with classes, tenure planning, book writing, blog writing, research, and house stuff!
I decided to follow the “adult track” of testing, which is more compressed and less rigorous than the standard track that the young kids do. The adult track consists of pre-bronze, bronze, silver and gold levels. I was grandfathered into the pre-bronze level from my previous tests, and therefore took the bronze test.
“Moves in the field” refers to skating elements such as various turns and edge transfers, basically all those techniques that can be used to get from point A to point B. To give you an idea of what is involved, here is the official test book figure of the “5-step mohawk” pattern I had to perform:
To give you a sense of the terminology, RFI = right front inside, MO = mohawk, LBO = left back outside, etc.
Fortunately, I passed the test, and even enjoyed the experience somewhat, though I strangely find such tests more stressful than skydiving. Now I’ll hopefully have the mental capacity to get my tenure package out of the way later this week…
In a completely unrelated note, I started playing the XBox360 game Batman: Arkham Asylum this weekend. The game is really, really good; I’ll probably review it in its entirety once I finish it. I’ve you’ve ever wanted to be Batman, this game is the closest you’ll probably ever come!
The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. 
Skulls in the Stars 