Inside Penrose's Universe – Physics World

Today I found a good video about merging tubes with different angles, ellipses, phase shift of sine waves, featuring sculptures by Frank Smullin.

This video is exceptionally comprehensive.

[Shared by hardm.ix on instagram: Text says: "A little more on the analytic constructivist sculpture of Frank Smullin, a professor of mine at Duke University who combined art and engineering in a way that reminded me a little of Kenneth Snelson and Tensegrity or Buckminster Fuller and geodesic domes."]

Doodles while listening to this video on the brain and quantum physics

"So you navigate your life with the help of others who held mirrors up for you. People praised your good qualities and criticised your bad habits, and these perspectives -often surprising to you - helped you to guide your life. " - David Eagleman

What it looks like when neurons make connections and communicate with each other

Credit: slava__bobrov 

TwistedSifter

New Radar Technology Discovers Huge Ancient Maya Civilization That Covers Over 650 Square Miles

This is a major find!

Archaeologists believe that around 417 cities, towns, and villages made up the unified civilization.

Remains of architectural forms and patterns, ceramics, sculptural art, architectural patterns, and unifying causeway constructions.

The magnitude of the labor int he construction of massive platforms, palaces, dams, causeways, and pyramids dating to the Middle and Late Preclassic periods, suggests a power to organize thousands of workers.

✿ scientist-in-training ask game! ✿

🥼 a scientist you admire, current or historical

🔬 a science class you loved, and why

📚 a topic/subject/concept you want to understand better

🪐 something you learned this week

🧪 dream research topic

🔭 what sparked your interest in science/your field?

🧬 study strategy you use frequently

🌿 something you'd like to change about your field

🐁 a popular science book you recommend

🌏 a fun fact from your area of study

Reminder that your notes don't need to look perfect, you just need to be able to learn from them

The books I'm reading at the moment.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - I love this book. It puts you in the perspective of the time and space you occupy, I found a lot of my own thinking and feelings within the pages of this book. A guy born in AD 121 has very clear view on life that is still relevant today.

Great Adaptations by Kenneth Catania - A professor of biological sciences takes you on a journey with him while he studies various animals adaptive abilities. Star nosed moles, electric eels, tentacled snakes... Very interesting insight in how these creatures evolved and adapted.

What we cannot know by Marcus du Sautoy - Explains concepts from the ground up, I like the illustrations that accompany the text and practical examples. Lays foundations to the known and wonders into the future of research and the possibilities that come with it as well as limitations. Covering themes from quantum physics and cosmology to sensory perception and neuroscience.

Labyrinths of reason by William Poundstone - "Blue sky, sunshine, deja vu glazed with dread." How do you know this isn't all a dream? Is anything certain? Ontology, logic, mathematics, deduction, epistemology, memory formation, paradoxes and puzzles.

A brain for numbers by Andreas Nieder - Humans' understanding of numbers is intuitive. How are infants able to perceive numbers even before they learn the words for them? How do our brains process numbers? Can animals count? He shows how it is an adaptive ability and that plenty of animals have the number sense too. There is a variety of research and supporting evidence mentioned which I really like.