The Minute Physics List of Great Science Sites

Henry Reich who created and produces the great YouTube channel Minute Physics (which I ought to link to more, really), has produced a list of his favorite science sites. It's actually really good (why should I be surprised?):

Here's his list:

• Big Red Button - http://inception.davepedu.com
• xkcd - http://xkcd.com/1131/
• xkcd what if? - http://what-if.xkcd.com/3/
• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?...
• Empirical Zeal - http://www.empiricalzeal.com/
• Sean Carroll - http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/b...
• Terry Tao - http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2012/12...
• It's Okay To Be Smart - http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/...
• I ¶#@*ing Love Science -https://www.facebook.com/IFeakingLove...
• NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day -http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
• Radiolab - http://www.radiolab.org/2012/dec/17/s...
• HyperPhysics - http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/...
• The Scale of the Universe - http://htwins.net/scale2/
• The Character of Physical Law -http://research.microsoft.com/apps/to...
• Fake Science - http://fakescience.tumblr.com/post/12...

              Youtube Channels he lists:

• Veritasium - http://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium
• Sixty Symbols - http://www.sixtysymbols.com/
• Periodic Videos - http://www.periodicvideos.com/
• Crash Course - http://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse
• The Brain Scoop - http://www.youtube.com/thebrainscoop
• Smarter Every Day - http://www.youtube.com/destinws2
• Vi Hart - http://www.youtube.com/vihart
• George Hart - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTl0...
• Numberphile - http://www.numberphile.com/
• Vsauce - http://www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce
• TED-Ed - http://www.youtube.com/teded
• MinuteEarth - http://www.youtube.com/user/minuteearth

Synthetic Crystals Acting (Sort of ) Like Living Organisms

This video (which I originally saw at Neatorama) shows particles of hematite (Fe2O3) which, at the nanoscale, has magnetic properties that are less pronounced in larger sample (actually raising the temperature changes the magnetic properties of hematite). In the video the particles are partially covered with a polymer and are in a bath of hydrogen peroxide; when the light is "on" the particles conduct electricity and react with the hydrogen peroxide but are easily disturbed and move around. When the light is "off" they stop reacting, jiggling with what appears to be Brownian motion.

The video with the light "on" is reminiscent of Conway's famous "game of life" simulation.

A New Surface Coating that Repels Almost All Liquid

Scientists at the University of Michigan published a paper and released the obligatory press release on their development of a new method of coating surfaces. Oh, the press release isn't that bad as it's easily comprehensible. Here's how the scientists' abstract describes the result:

Superomniphobic surfaces display contact angles >150° and low contact angle hysteresis with essentially all contacting liquids. In this work, we report surfaces that display superomniphobicity with a range of different non-Newtonian liquids, in addition to superomniphobicity with a wide range of Newtonian liquids. Our surfaces possess hierarchical scales of re-entrant texture that significantly reduce the solid–liquid contact area. Virtually all liquids including concentrated organic and inorganic acids, bases, and solvents, as well as viscoelastic polymer solutions, can easily roll off and bounce on our surfaces. Consequently, they serve as effective chemical shields against virtually all liquids—organic or inorganic, polar or nonpolar, Newtonian or non-Newtonian.

Look, I hate it when people pick on intellectual work for being written above their level, and I am trying to avoid going there (mostly because I don't want to admit this is above my level) -- and I don't mind looking up the words I don't understand. "Superomniphobia" doesn't appear in any of the dictionaries I've checked, though what the authors mean isn't too hard suss out. ("Hydrophobia" is resistance to wetting with water. Although "omniphobia" is commonly used to mean the human fear of everything (also known as "panphobia"), it apparently has been co-opted to mean resistance to wetting by many types of liquids -- even "viscoelastic polymer solutions" -- not just water. So then you've got "supermoniphobia." I think they just like making up words. Also they should use "fluid" not liquid.) So out of respect for you I've added links for the other non-obvious parts of the description.

The science of "wetting" is actually a hot area, and there are a recent spate of "superomniphobic" coatings. Here's another really cool video:

Happening Science

I've noticed a slew of interesting science news stories in the last few days.  The New York Times has reports on the rapid developments in growing artificial organs, the developments by chemist Paul Chirik of Princeton that allow iron and to be used in place of platinum as a catalyst in certain reactions (and a similar process that allows cobalt to be used as a catalyst in making plastic), and on confirmation that a meteorite that fell last year in Morocco came from Mars.  And then there's this cool video, via Physics arXiv, showing that liquid droplets hitting a pool will sit on the surface and no coalesce if the surface is vibrating:

The world is simply cool (and getting cooler).

A List of Reference and Educational Sites

[Note: An updated list of sources is in the "References Sources" tab, above]

I looked for a list of reference and educational sources on the internet, and I wasn't able to find one I discuss one here and linked it below, so I've made a more updated one.

After going through hundreds of sites, I've winnowed the list to about 150.  If I had to only pick a few they'd be Wikipedia (and its associated sites), Google (also for its associated sites), The New York Times (for its archives), the Internet Archive, WolframAlpha, JSTOR, SSRN, NASA, FindLaw, How Stuff Works, Khan Academy, and Open Culture. (For non-reference/education, but just general interest I'd have to add MetaFilter.)

The full list, below, avoids sites behind a paywall or requiring registration (though sometimes that's necessary for full content). Here's the full list:

Cool (Hot?) Chemistry Photos

There's something about chemistry labs and processes that I find compelling. Maybe it's the smells, the equipment, the chemicals, the measured transformations, the feeling of alchemy. It hits the intersection of science and romanticism; the desire to both think and do. Anyway, Dark Roasted Blend has posted a series of chemistry porn photos. There's too many close-ups; not enough labs. but it's still pretty.

The "Pharaoh's Serpent"

Burning mercury thiocyanate (Hg(SCN)₂)is known as the "Pharaoh's Serpent" due to the snake-like product generated when it is burned. It's also really poisonous -- I don't know what these kids are doing.

Cool Dynamic Periodic Table

There are a lot of interactive periodic tables on the internet, but this is my favorite -- clear, full of layers of information, and is easy to use.