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Entropy and the Game of Life
This week I was playing around in MATLAB, arguably the most painful programming language on the planet, and made a simple simulation of The Game of Life: Download http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17913367/Game_of_Life.zip A great mystery of biophysics lies in understanding how biological systems, like cells or lemmings, are able to operate given that they exist so far from … Continue reading
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This post is deeply indebted to scientists far more competent than myself, particularly Theodore Gray in his blog for Popular Science. Mr. Gray, in addition to designing the UI for Mathematica and creating a literal periodic table… table, also appears to be among the few people who can make perfect bismuth crystals the first time … Continue reading
I live in a part of the United States that is relatively far south. As a result, throughout the year I get a chance to see a reasonably large number of constellations, although they are visible for much less time than they would be in the north. On a clear night(and from a high altitude) … Continue reading
Here are my recipes for thermite, based upon trial and error and some actual science. Note that while these ratios are based on molar stoichiometry, I’ve made some adjustments in order to attain certain desirable qualities (ie, more aluminum makes a brighter and faster reaction, and often lowers the activation energy). The exotic thermites all … Continue reading
