Random Articles 12-11-11

Sat, 12 Nov 2011

Missing planet explains solar system’s structure
All but 10 per cent of the four-planet simulations wound up with only three left, he says. But in half the five-planet simulations, they ended with the four in a solar system that looks remarkably like our own. The best results occurred when the fifth planet started off between Saturn and Uranus and ended up being ejected after an encounter with Jupiter…  [read more]

Quantum mechanics difficult to grasp? Too bad
To those uncomfortable with quantum theory’s picture of wavelike particles that are simultaneously everywhere, their message in The Quantum Universe is clear: tough. Scientists are, they tell us, “not mandated to produce a theory that bears any relation to the way we perceive the world at large” [read more]

A wedding featuring Bastion’s narrator? For one fan, it happened
The story begins simply: after becoming a fan of the game’s soundtrack, Greschner sent an e-mail to Supergiant about helping out with the ceremony itself. After that? Well, I’ll let him tell the story. [read more]

Christian 4th grade school textbook tries to explain electricity, gives up
As Myers points out, “[W]e can use [electricity] to build hair dryers and Large Hadron Colliders; to make the argument that we are mystified by it is lying to the kids.” I’ll go one further, to subject children to this sort of “education” is anti-intellectual child-abuse… [read more]