SCI CAL, LOS ANGELES

 SEPTEMBER 
3RD    Griffith Park Obs: All Space Considered, lecture (7:30PM) Free.
4TH    Huntington Library: Succulent Plant Symposium, day long expert led (8:30AM) $75.
10TH   USC: Animals Make Us Human,  Temple Grandin speaks (1PM) Free.
16TH    Griffith Park Obs: Public Star Party,  (6-10PM) Free.
16TH     JPL: The Search for Habitable Environments lecture (7PM) Free.
17TH     Pasadena City College: The Search for Habitable Environments lecture (7PM) Free.
19TH    SM Art Studios: Categorically Not!, "Songs" (6:30PM) $5 donation.
20TH    Griffith Park Obs: From You to the Universe, Cosmic Musings lecture (7:30PM) Res Req.
24TH     Huntington Library: Science and its Histories 2 day conference (8:30AM)$25
30TH    Huntington Library: Medicine in Antiquity, lecture (7:30PM) Free.

[Calendar is posted at the beginning of each month. RSS my blog to keep up. Also, calendar is updated progressively here.]

SCIENCE JOKES: EYE ROLLING ACCEPTED

These totally ridiculous science jokes oughtta brighten up your Friday..

1:20 An infectious disease walks into the bar...
the bartender says 'We don't serve infectios diseases here'
the infectious disease says, 'Well, you're not a very good host!'

1:40 Two bacteria walk into a bar...
the bartender says 'We don't serve bacteria here'
the bacteria says, 'But we work here, we're staph!'

2:12 An infrared photon walks into a bar....
and says, 'Is it hot in here, or is it just me!'

2:25 A neutrino walks into a bar...    
the bartender says 'We don't serve neutrinos here'
the neutrino says, 'Hey, I was just passing through!'

2:48 Shrodinger's cat walks into a bar....and doesn't.

PIC: VENUS FLYTRAP ANEMONE

[Looks a lot like a venus flytrap...even snaps shut to trap prey...related to corals and jellyfish.]

Read about it at:

27 Best Deep Sea Species

In action here

Parrots will parrot

So-wanna go out for coffee sometime?

Parrots parrot, and no one knows exactly why. In the wild, when you hear tweet tweet from a budgeriger, for instance, it could be a simple 'hi hello,' a 'warning, predators near,' or an all out sexy 'hubba hubba.' But, why did calls evolve in the first place?

Researcher Nancy Burley at University of California has been studying the 'hubba hubbas' pretty closely for years now, using budgie males and virtual females fluttering and tweeting away on television screens. The experiment is kind-of like a virtual date for avians. When they meet, males try to parrot the female's call--a big turn-on for the ladies. But, the question for these scientists is--do females prefer parrots who have a similar call to their own innately or do they just like to hear males with mime talent?

 In these tests, the females preferred a virtual male (who the researchers claim they treated as they would a real male) who had a more similar call to their own before courtship. Females also showed preference for males who can increase their call similarity during courtship. As to why an identical call would give an advantage to a budgie couple, no one really knows. The evolutionary train is still in the tunnel on this one.

Budgie are also known as parakeets and kept as pets. They are native to drier parts of Australia.


1. Marin L. Moravec1, 2. Georg F. Striedter, & 3. Nancy T. Burley (2010). ‘Virtual Parrots’ Confirm Mating Preferences of Female Budgerigars Ethology

SCI CAL

 AUGUST
1ST    NHM: B-movies and bad science, "Gorilla at Large" (7:30PM) Free.
6TH     Griffith Park Observatory: "All space considered" discussion (7:30PM) Free.
14TH    Griffith Park Observatory: Public star party (5-10PM) Free.
15TH    NHM: B-movies and bad science, "Gammera the Invincible" (7:30PM) Free.
19TH     JPL: Studying oceans from space lecture (7PM) Free.
20TH     Pasadena City College: Studying oceans from space lecture (7PM) Free.
23RD    Griffith Park Observatory: Cosmic Musings lecture (7:30PM) Res Req.
29TH    La Brea Tar Pits: B-movies and bad science, "Caveman"(7:30) Free.

[Calendar is posted at the beginning of each month. RSS my blog to keep up. Also, calendar is updated progressively here.]

Mundane curiosity of the day: should you leave your car window open when parked?

: Too hot for the hot tub.

Here's one of those questions you've asked yourself for years, but never been ambitious (ahem. crazy) enough to test...

How do you best keep our car cool when you've been driving around town in air conditioning all day, it's blazing hot, and you stop at the 7-eleven to chug a Vitamin Water. Should you leave windows open to the breeze or should you close them to keep the arctic air in?

Chad Orzel over at Uncertainty Principles blog tested it to find out which approach keeps your car refrigerated during these short moments. (This is one of the things physicists do in their spare time, i guess. Thank goodness their theories are more exciting than their hobbies.)

Anyway, the conclusion is--yes! You should leave your windows closed during short stops--the air Chad's closed car retained it's coolness for about fifteen minutes. 

Wow. With best fit lines, too.

But wait--here's the kicker--the breezy car wins in the long run! After 15 minutes, the closed car must begin to absorb and retain heat from the sun. This heat cancels out the contained AC and the car turns into an oven for baking wallets, water bottle, babies, or whatever has been left on the seat. An open car, while letting AC out in the first 15 minutes, ultimately benefits from the breeze, and stays cooler during long periods of time.

Just in case you were wondering.