Show Notes: Episode 22
This week, Jerry and Cord take on the mysteries of the universe without the horrible sound quality.
This Week in Star Trek
Nimoy Emerges from the Mothballs
Mr. Spock will voice the role of Sentinel Prime a forebear of Optimus Prime whose rickety robotic body morphs into a mighty fire engine during the final battle between Autobots and Decepticons set in Chicago.
The 80-year-old Nimoy announced he was finished with acting after reprising his point-eared alter ego in J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek reboot and his arc on Fox’s Fringe, which ended last year.
Nimoy is reportedly married to Bay’s cousin and has a soft spot for the shape-shifting robot series, having voiced the role of Galvatron in 1986’s animated film Transformers: The Movie.
The Listeners, Viewers, Fans, & Superfans
Viewer Aaron Merrill insists that he can’t review the show because of iTunes. Hey Aaron, review the show.
New Fan: Dan Sachs
Superfan Update: I’m about to hang out with Superfan Pete Snyder.
Nerds on Tech
Jerry adds rare insight to a story.
Weird Science
Take Your Uncertainty & Shove It
Scientists in Spain have managed to produce measurements that are more precise than those predicted by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. They did this by exploring a new technique using interferometers.
Normally, the spin of each photon would rotate by a certain amount, thanks to its interactions with the magnetic field of the atoms. But the frequency of the photons was chosen so that the photons also interacted with each other when they were in the gas, so that the presence of one photon altered the way a second behaved. These interactions led to a measurement accuracy that grew in proportion to N3/2 – greater than Heisenberg’s limit.
Armchair Psychologists
Happy Times are Forgetful Times
from Cognition & Emotion:
Overall, this research suggests that positive mood has differential effects on cognitive control, impairing working memory
“Working memory, for example, is the ability to recall items in a conversation as you are having it,” Martin said. “This explains why you might not be able to remember a phone number you get at a party when you are having a good time.
“While working memory storage is decreased, being in a good mood is not all bad,” Martin said. “Being in a good mood has been shown to increase creative problem-solving skills and other aspects of thinking.”
Plants Make You More Mentally Acute
from The Journal of Environmental Psychology:
This research studied possible benefits of indoor plants on attention capacity in a controlled laboratory experiment.
► Indoor plants in an office can prevent fatigue during attention demanding work.
► Attention restoration does not depend on a defined “five-minute” break.
► Benefits of plants can occur in offices with window view to nature
GALLUP Poll:
American workers who are emotionally disconnected from their work and workplace — known as “actively disengaged” workers — rate their lives more poorly than do those who are unemployed.
Our Awesome Governments
It took the amateur sleuths nearly a month to hunt down the first X-37B after it launched on its inaugural mission. That’s an eternity in sky-spotting time.
The second time around was easier. The U.S. space plane was discovered just four days after it blasted into orbit, earlier this month. Cape Town, South Africa’s Greg Roberts — “a pioneer in using telescopic video cameras to track spacecraft, chalking up exceptional results over the years,” according to Space.com — spotted this second secret spacecraft, just like he found the first.
The X-37B[…]is orbiting around the fat middle of the planet, traveling over the Middle East, Africa, and fair chunk of China. “It means they are giving up global coverage and predictable shadow lengths, but getting more frequent passes,” Weeden says. The orbit lends credence to the idea that the space plane is an orbiting spy.
So does the X-37B’s altitude. It’s flying pretty low — one of the rare orbiters traveling beneath the International Space Station. “The lower you are,” Weeden notes, “the higher resolution you can get in any imagery.”
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Housekeeping!
Hey, review us on iTunes.
Nerd Rage
Next month, major studios including Warner Bros., Sony, Universal, and 20th Century Fox will team up with DirecTV to launch something called Home Premiere, which will allow consumers to view films on-demand that had stopped playing in theaters just two months beforehand. For the privilege of seeing such films as Unknownand Just Go With It from the comfort of their own homes, viewers will be charged a mere $30 for a two- to three-day rental.
