Happy holidays! Yes, this is a Christmas stocking in the shape of the math symbol Pi. I got it from ThinkGeek.
Quantum Mechanics: Don't Get Run Over
When you walk around, things seem to be fairly normal. Gravity holds everything down so things are floating in the air. When you see a driver, no matter how crazy, careening down the road, you can say "Hey, this idiot is driving around 90 mph and is going through that red light". If you had a radar gun, you could be even more precise at getting the car's position and momentum.
However, what we think of as "normal" is not an accurate representation of the universe. Quantum mechanics exists to explain all of the absurdity that happens when you start looking at things on a microscopic level, like electrons and photons. For example, the idiot driving in the car that we mentioned in the previous paragraph. If we squeezed the driver down to a microscopic side, if you knew the exact momentum of the car, it would be impossible to get its exact position. Similarly, if you know the position, you can't measure the exact momentum.
For my quantum mechanics fun, check out the video below. If you can't see it, click here.
The Most Interesting Science In The World
Y'all all know him. He does all kinds of great thing while being drunk on the finest Dos Equis beers. Well, it turns out that he was an extra on Star Trek back in the day - the kind of extra that always died. These extras became known as "Red Shirts", because most of the non-essential characters in Star Trek had a red uniform. But because he is the Most Interesting Man in the World, he survived! Check out the proof at iOS9.com!
Forbidden Tech #2: Final Fight (SNES)
I tell another harrowing tale of being kept from a piece of technology that I craved. Check it out!
If you can't see the video embedded below, click here.
Video Games, Lasers, Fire, Oh My!
Engadget has an amazing article on a Nintendo Zapper that fires an actual laser. The team from North Street Labs has done a lot of research on lasers, and decided to have some fun by applying this to the same Nintendo gun that many of us used to play Duck Hunt in the 80s. Check out the video below!