Everything is simpler in the comic books. Consider dominion of the world's oceans. In both Marvel and DC comics, the sunken city of Atlantis (a public domain concept, after all) serves as a capital city for the seven seas. Namor typically sits on the Marvel Atlantean throne (in the upcoming Black Panther film, Namor will hail from TlÄlÅcÄn instead), vigorously defending the interests of the oceans and meeting all surface-dwelling challengers with a hearty "Imperius Rex!" His opposite number at the Distinguished … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Imperius Rex?
Science Corner: A “Have-Done” Attitude
I've had the chance to watch more baseball this season than usual, specifically New York Mets games. Baseball lends itself to extensive data collection and precise situational adjustments. For example, teams can record where each individual hitter tends to hit the ball when thrown different types of pitches. When a given hitter has strong tendencies in one direction, the other team can shift their defense to that side and possibly adjust their pitching to favor that tendency. Opposing teams were making those kinds of … [Read more...] about Science Corner: A “Have-Done” Attitude
Science Corner: It’s a Great Big Universe and We’re All Really Puny
Physicists: "We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people." Also physicists: *Spend billions of dollars and untold person-hours searching for the tiniest, shortest-lived particles.* … [Read more...] about Science Corner: It’s a Great Big Universe and We’re All Really Puny
Science Book Review: Being You – A New Science of Consciousness
At various times while reading Anil Seth's engaging and accessible Being You, I was reminded of the people in Helen Thomson's Unthinkable, the subject of a previous blog post. Thomson was documenting the distinct experiences of people whose perception of themselves and/or the world around them depart substantially from what is typical: people who think they are tigers or dead or who can have their orientation to the world flipped instantaneously. Seth is giving an account more generally of why perception works the way … [Read more...] about Science Book Review: Being You – A New Science of Consciousness
Science Corner: Magical Multiverse Thinking
I went to see Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness this weekend. (There are no spoilers ahead.) This was only my third trip to an indoor movie in 2 years. Part of my calculus was the fact that I'd be going to see my daughter in her first school musical later that evening. I obviously wasn't going to miss that. At the same time, if I were to get sick later, I wouldn't want that to retroactively cloud my memories of my daughter's performance. But with multiple activities in the same weekend, I add plausible … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Magical Multiverse Thinking