- Those early Priuses are still going strong, ten years later.
- Never put critical private information online unless you are certain it’s protected. Your tax documents could show up in search results.
- Optimizing a Screen for Mobile Use (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox)
- Why bad science reporting matters: Churn The Other Cheek
- Homeopathy vs. Science: A Metaphor
Tag: Science
On Science
I think the most exciting science is done in places where you don’t understand what’s going on. Once you’re not confused about something, it’s time to move on to the next problem. Brian Jackson, NASA, in Death Valley mystery: What makes rocks wander.
Links: Science as a Subway, App Pricing, Terraforming IRL
Crispian Jago presents the history of science as a subway map (cool visualization).
The comic strip The Oatmeal tackles the irony of mobile app pricing. Or, in the worlds of “Weird Al” Yankovic: “I hate to waste a buck ninety-nine.”
A 19th-century terraforming experiment: Ascension Island’s artificial ecosystem, instigated by Charles Darwin.
Earthquake Frequency
According to the USGS, the frequency of large earthquakes has remained constant over the last century. In a typical year, the planet has roughly 17 “major” earthquakes (measuring 7.0 to 7.9 on the Richter scale) and one “great” earthquake (measuring 8.0 or higher).
So, no, earthquakes are not increasing as a sign/symptom of the impending end of the world.
(via @2012hoax)
Update March 1: 2012hoax has a nice page showing how recent quakes fit into these statistics, including Haiti, Chile, and the one in Illinois a few weeks ago (which was really quite small — there are 130,000 quakes that size in any given year!).
LHC Reaction
Large Hadron Collider goes on line.
No mass blackouts with visions of the future, either.