New Theory on Water Strider Propulsion 204
capt.Hij writes "There is an interesting
article at the Christian Science Monitor about how water skimmers are able to move the way they do. This new theory debunks the previously accepted theory and answers why smaller, younger water skimmers are also able to move the same way as their elders: 'As he looked into the question, he adds, he learned that the reigning explanation leaves an unsolved puzzle: If these tiny insects propel themselves in the way many researchers think they do, then baby water striders should go nowhere fast.'" There's also a BBC story with pictures.
Dancing legs (Score:5, Informative)
Wrong. (Score:4, Funny)
Damn dude, it said the CHRISTIAN science monitor.
You remember.. the people who don't believe in evolution? Or stem cell research? Or cloning?
Re:Wrong. (Score:5, Interesting)
Damn dude, it said the CHRISTIAN science monitor.
You remember.. the people who don't believe in evolution? Or stem cell research? Or cloning?
That would certainly be most people's first impression, but I find that the CSM is probably the *most* objective reporting I've ever seen to date. There doesn't seem to be any particular bias that I can see. I'm glad I found the CSM, and I really enjoy reading it, even though I'm agnostic. I highly recommend everyone take a look with an open mind.
Re:Wrong. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wrong. (Score:2)
Re:Wrong. (Score:2, Insightful)
> US, but that says more about the inadequacy of US journalism
> than the stellar achievements of the CSM.
I'll second that.
A lot of people are confused about the purpose of newspapers. The
purpose of newspapers has nothing to do with discovering truth, and
as a general rule journalists have at best a passing interest in
truth or accuracy. The primary concern of journalists is to sell
newspapers. In order to do that, they want to be perce
Re:Wrong. (Score:2)
Re:Wrong. (Score:2)
Well done, you've completed reading your first ever magazine. Now try your second...
Re:Wrong. - unbiased? (Score:2)
I think you're reaching. If the article was about opposing viewpoints over creationism/evolution, then I would expect to see points from both sides included in the discussion. In this case, howeve
Re:Wrong. (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, those three are the same.
Do you mean that they don't believe cloning is possible, or that they don't believe evolution is moral?
--
I don't believe in you...
Re:Wrong. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wrong. (Score:2)
Re:Wrong. (Score:2)
Good point though about needing science. Hadn't thought about it that way.
Re:Wrong. (Score:2)
The thing that continually brings me back into a belief in an almighty God IS this universe. You're absolutely right, laws exist throughout the universe, there is no place where 1 + 1 equals 3, there is no place where the 2nd law of thermodynamics is violated. But from whence came this order? Even if I ascribe the ascension of life to evolution (I don't) where did the laws that allowed evolution to occur come from? Whe
Re:Wrong. (Score:2)
Re:Wrong. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wrong. (Score:2, Offtopic)
You do realise there are plenty of Christian scientists, right? And that the overwhelming majority would have no problem with natural selection, which very obviously happens, but instead differ over whether or not we are the result of random genetic mutations, which quite a few non-Christian scientists are sceptical of as well.
Now, as for stem cell research and cloning, what do you mean by 'don't believe in'? They accept the scientific theories concerning them, but think they are morally wrong. A different
Re:Wrong. (Score:2)
Well, you know... (Score:2)
Re:Well, you know... (Score:2)
Medical problems require medical treatment.
I think they should treat the parents like murderers in cases where they refuse to allow their children to have treatment for religious reasons, including seeking the death penalty in states that have it. It's no better than poisoning your children.
Re:Well, you know... (Score:2)
There are plenty of people who would disagree with that.
If that was law, then the law would be taking sounds on the issue of religion. IIRC, there's supposed to be separation of church and state, so surely the law has no business in saying whether or not prayer is ineffective? To do so would be to legislate against a massive block of people, based on their religiou
Re:Well, you know... (Score:2)
As for their guilt, the law says that it is a crime to watch someone die and not give them reasonable aid. This can pretty obviously be seen to cover not taking your children to the hospital.
The seperation of church and state means that the government won't tell you which religion you may belong to
Re:Well, you know... (Score:2)
And enforcing the law on the assumption that someone's beliefs are wrong, particularly in a democracy where the majority believe in prayer of some kind, would be a 'tyranny of the minority'.
Re:Well, you know... (Score:2)
And yes, actions are motivated by belief; this doesn't mean we don't (or shouldn't) regulate actions. What if I believe that I deserve your posessions more than you do? Let's say it's my religious belief (prove otherwise) that god wants me to make this right (by taking your things for myself)... Ditto if th
Re:Well, you know... (Score:2)
The majority of them claim to be Christian or believe in some sort of God..
That was never my claim. My point is that most of them think that prayer is to some extent effective and that there is someone up there who might be listening. To say that it definitely doesn't work and people who put their t
Re:Well, you know... (Score:2)
Depends on the studies you read. I've read apparently valid studies (as in, not paid for by Athiests of America or anything) that show church attendance down around 20%, with maybe 70% of people saying that identify with a religion but don't practice it. That can be interpreted as a majority being religion, or a minority being religious.
That was never my claim. My point is that most of them think that prayer is to some extent eff
Re:Wrong. (Score:5, Informative)
The Christian Science Monitor itself is a highly respected paper and while I think it is still officially owned by the church I think they have a hands off approach to running it and if they are using it for "evangelistic" purposes they use it by putting out a very high quality paper that by it's quality lends credibility to their group rather than using it as a polemic tool in itself. It's seems it's sort of like the Moonies owning the Washington Times rather than like an official organ of the church.
CSM isn't the nutball right wing at all (Score:2)
You remember.. the people who don't believe in evolution? Or stem cell research? Or cloning?
Good joke, but the Christian Science Monitor does an okay job of reporting science topics. It's sure above the level of typical popular media, leaving alone Fox News's special "They didn't land on the moon because NASA is the government" division. Glance at CSM's coverage of this fossil find. [csmonitor.com] Hardly the whacko creationist extreme.
It Gets Old (Score:2)
You don't hear constant blah blah about the state or city of New York every time someone mentions the NYT. People tend to focus on the story. What a concept!
Re:It Gets Old (Score:2)
Religion is irrational. It's about "faith" which essentially means, making theories with no evidence. In many religions people are actively discouraged from closely examining the evidence and the beliefs of the church.
For a religious institute (or one whose name identifies it as such) to provide seemingly reasonable coverage of a scientific issue, including going so far as
Re:Know thy target :-) (Score:2)
Nothing personal, all those other religious people are kooks too.
Re:Bias against Christians (Score:2)
BC and AD are reminders that right now, there's a huge number of droolers out there who actually believe in this stuff. That's really annoying. Thor and Odin aren't reminders of this because nobody believes in them anymore.
Trust me, you'd be jus
Re:Dancing legs (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Dancing legs (Score:2, Offtopic)
Hey coward, your post was really interesting. I don't really care about the karma, I mean what does it do for me? Currently, it is "good". It used to be "positive". I don't even know if I'm going up or down. :)
I'm a staffer on the norwegian site. I don't know how many norwegian readers Slashdot has, but seeing as norwegian
Article is in Sci-Am (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Article is in Sci-Am (Score:3, Funny)
A related article (as seen on Fark) (Score:5, Informative)
The Independent has a related article here [independent.co.uk].
Sculling... (Score:5, Informative)
I could never do it, although I was just a kid the last time I tried. Anyone here who can?
Re:Sculling... (Score:2)
Re:Sculling... (Score:3, Interesting)
Sorry for the rather vague description, b
--- uber sculler (Score:2, Interesting)
Now I understand "Spirited Away"! (Score:2)
"Sculling" -- my vocabulary word of the day. Thanks!
Re:Sculling... (Score:2)
Anyone here who can?
I'm not sure, but it sounds a lot like the action used to propel skates. That is, you don't go forward by pushing backward, but rather by pushing sideways and using a lever (the blade in my case, the oar in your mother's case) to redirect and gain mechanical advantage of the forces. It can be done on one skate, too, if you've got the balance for it.
Duh... (Score:5, Funny)
No, you've got it all wrong... (Score:1)
A challenge (Score:5, Funny)
Don't need to read it. (Score:3, Funny)
b) It's about skimming over the water.
Chances are, Jesus features in the answer.
Re:Don't need to read it. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Don't need to read it. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Don't need to read it. (Score:2)
Asian Giant Water Strider (Score:2, Informative)
A longer article [washingtonpost.com] mentioned a bigger strider they studied.
I found it amazing that the robot was half the size of the Asian giant water strider.
An 8 inch Water Strider might make a cool pet!
What would it eat? How big of a pond would you need? Does anyone have experience with these critters?
Row row.. (Score:3, Insightful)
But really though, if all it does is rowing, don't we already have tons of models that uses rowing? I mean, it's not electronic, but rowing's been around for centuries!
Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Amazing (Score:2)
Re:Amazing (Score:2)
Thousands of years? Try decades.
Singularity or bust.
--
Re:Amazing (Score:2)
Here [sciam.com] is an article about it. See how
Re:Yes... (Score:2)
Re:Yes... (Score:2)
Yes, because force should decide every disagreement, right?
If the view you're presenting is so weak that it must be backed up by force of arms, doesn't that tell you something is wrong with it in the first place?
Re:IRA must disband immediately (Score:2)
Genius. Someone should mod that up funny.
Re:Imperialism (Score:2)
Re:He said "Island", not "Ireland" (Score:2)
Yes, I'm quite aware of that, which is why I put the 're' in bold. It was clear he meant Northern Ireland.
Let's face it, I live here and I know that most aren't and that the conflict has very little to do with religion. More to do with people's ignorance of a religion they claim to belon to and their fear of other cultures.
Re:Amazing (Score:2)
I suspect that if we had enough computing capacity to simulate the world down to atomic detail, that eventually virtual creatures would evolve that took advantage of the same locomotion as the waterstriders. Same with geckos - their "
long into the night... (Score:1)
The shiny thing was a small robot that could possibly make use of this method of propulsion. Then I realized there were only 10 of us in the world and rejoiced as this great find was made public and made available to the popular geek culture. Now thousa
Do they have them everywhere (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Do they have them everywhere (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Do they have them everywhere (Score:3, Informative)
Now that... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Now that... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Now that... (Score:2)
Surface tension is cool! (Score:3, Interesting)
H20 doesn't have that much surface tension becuase of its low valency, but other liquids such as bromine are held together by strong Van der Waals attractions meaning that they have much stronger surface tensions. In one famous experiment at MIT researches showed just how strong the surface tension could be by placing a cat onto a large pool of bromine and observing that not only did it not sink but that it could also move abount (albeit with difficulty). Some people have suggested (tongue in cheek) that if Jesus could have introduced bromine into the red sea then that would explain how he could have walked on water.
Matthew 14, 25 (Score:3, Funny)
The Rea Sea was the one where the surface tension didn't hold up to the weight of the Egyptian Army
Just my E0.02.
Re:Surface tension is cool! - Troll Alert!!! (Score:5, Informative)
Cat (or any other live being) in a large pool of bromine has a life expectancy of a few minutes. And yes it would sink.
Re:Surface tension is cool! - Troll Alert!!! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Surface tension is cool! - Troll Alert!!! (Score:2)
Oh come on... are you calling into question the veracity of the famous MIT experiment? How about some facts? Bromine has a density [lbl.gov] of 3.12 g/mL--over three times that of water. People have no problem floating in the highly-saline water of the Dead Sea, which has a density [jordanembassyus.org] of about 1.2 g/mL. So no, it wouldn't sink.
Re:Surface tension is cool! (Score:2)
And thanks for reminding me of the MIT experiment; I've been meaning to duplicate that with my pet hamster, but I keep forgetting about it. Perhaps I'll stop by the local druggist today and get a bottle of bromine.
Impressionist Insects (Score:4, Interesting)
It's like having insects do impressionist painting. Truly beautiful. If I can find a high-res photo, I think I've got my new wallpaper.
Oh my... (Score:5, Funny)
At least it is their own IP
Christian Science Monitor, eh? (Score:2)
Next up: evolution!
Re:Evolution is fact (Score:2)
woo! (Score:2)
Ooooohh Pictures!
Dr. Bush (Score:4, Funny)
Probably known about for a long time (Score:3, Interesting)
Sometimes it takes a lot of scientific training to work out things country people have known for a long time - digitalis, willow bark, cowpox, and all those interesting rain-forest rmedies the drugs companies are "patenting".
water boatmen != water strider (Score:3, Informative)
Suchetha
Water Strider? (Score:2)
That article was stupid (Score:2, Informative)
The same thing for aircraft: tip vortices and a bound vortex on the wing alter the direction of the incoming air, which changes the air's momentum and provides lift. And all that happens because of friction between the molecules of air on the surface of the wing, and their neighbors directly above them. Then THEIR neighbors di
Propelled by "Sculling"... (Score:2)
Reminds me of a few uni students I knew...
(In case it is a local vernacular - "sculling" is a colloquial expression for downing ones drink without in one go).
Q.
Re:BOOoooooring (Score:1)
Re:BOOoooooring (Score:2)
Re:Really cool (Score:1)
Re:Really cool (Score:3, Informative)
I suppose you might still consider this boring but I sort of like the idea of the brainy mathematician walking around looking at everyday things nobody (not even other scientists) really notices and saying "I wonder why it doe
Re:Christian Science Monitor (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Let the Christian trolls roll (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Let the Christian trolls roll (Score:2)
Re:Let the Christian trolls roll (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Let the Christian trolls roll (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Let the Christian trolls roll (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Let the Christian trolls roll (Score:2)
Re:Let the Christian trolls roll (Score:2)
Faith is a close synonym for trust, even in fine detail: for example, if I say I trust that chair, I may never sit in it; if I say I have trust in that chair, it means
Re:Let the Christian trolls roll (Score:2)
It goes something like you stated: I don't know anything about religion X, but I disagree with them.
Brilliant. At least do yourself a favor and research a religion before you decide it's wrong. That goes for any religion.
Re:Water Tension (Score:5, Funny)
Simple. This happens naturally where I live. I simply have to wait until, say, mid-November. The surface tension remains high until some time in spring. It only works for water kept outside or in an unheated building.
-srw