These are the latest articles and videos I found most interesting.
- Divided Brain and the making of the Western World
- Computer Pioneers
- Visualising Individual Subatomic Particles
- Tyndall’s Sky in a Box Experiment
- Repairing the cornea: let there be sight
- Murphy’s Law
Divided Brain and the making of the Western World
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
‒ Albert Einstein
Animation
Lecture by Iain McGilchrist
Renowned psychiatrist and writer Iain McGilchrist explains how the ‘divided brain’ has profoundly altered human behaviour, culture and society.
Computer Pioneers
Computer pioneer Gordon Bell hosts this two-part program on the evolution of electronic computing from its pre-World War II origins through the development of the first commercial computers. His narration traces the development of the stored program computer architecture which remains the foundation of todays modern computers.
The Dawn of Electronic Computing
In Part 1 The builders of the first five computer machines: the Bell Labs Model 1, the Zuse Z1-3, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the Harvard Mark 1 and the IBM SSEC tell their stories.
In Part 2 Vintage films and first hand accounts enliven the stories of the ENIAC and the three lines of computing machines descended from it: the Eckert-Mauchly EDVAC, BINAC and UNIVAC; Maurice Wilkes EDSAC; and John Von Neumanns IAS machines and their clones, the ILLIAC, MANIAC, etc.
Visualising Individual Subatomic Particles
With little more than some Dry Ice, a Water Bottle, a squirt of Alcohol and a Radioactive source, Brian Cox attempts to replicate Ernest Rutherford’s experiments, revealing what even the most powerful Microscope failed to detect – Individual Sub Atomic Particles.
Tyndall’s Sky in a Box Experiment
Brian Cox describes the work of John Tyndall and his attempts to explain what makes the sky Blue and the sunset Red. Cox recreates Tyndall’s experiment using a few drops of milk in a long tank of water. Blue light is scattered more than longer wavelengths, so the sides of the tank look blue and the red light penetrates to the far end of the tank.
Repairing the cornea: let there be sight
nature video
Read the full Nature Outline
The cornea is our window onto the world, letting light into our eyes, and it must be kept in perfect condition. Damage to the cornea and the vital ‘limbal’ cells that surround it can have severe consequences, and can ultimately lead to blindness. In this animation we explore how doctors treat such problems and how regenerative medicine is helping in the battle to restore sight.
Murphy’s Law
“Murphy’s Law” – anything that can go wrong, will go wrong — has been an American adage for decades, but the origin of this often-cited saying begins in the desert outside of Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., at the dawn of the jet age.
Alan Tatourian 