Baseball vs. Wiffle Ball

Think baseball is the tougher sport? Think again.

Relativity 101

Here are 2 easy to understand videos that explain general and special relativity:

General Relativity

Special Relativity

Sea Urchins See With Entire Body

Despite having no eyes, sea urchins can "see". The Journal of Experimental Biology reports that the urchin's entire body cannot only detect light but form images of its surroundings. The way in which the shadow of the urchin's spines falls on the urchin allows them to do so. Researchers posit that the denser the spikes, the better the vision.

Here's a video summary.

Really Smart Cobras

Spitting cobras attack tactics presented a challenge to researchers. The cobras strikes are extremely accurate and each strike is unique. This is puzzling because the cobra's fangs are fixed so pattern of the fluid should be fixed. Also, the snakes 'wiggled' their heads just before firing.

The study, in the Journal of Experimental Biology, concludes that spitting cobras initially track their victim's movement and actually spit venom according to where they calculate the victim will be 200ms in the future.

Here's a video of the spitting cobra measuring up its opponent and striking.

Other Benefit of Washing Hands

Lady Macbeth may have been onto something when, after murdering King Duncan, she washed her hands not only to rid herself of the blood, but also the guilt.

New Scientist has published an interesting study that suggests washing hands can wipe away one's emotional consequences of decisions, big and small.

Researchers gave 2 groups a stack of 10 CD's to rank. One group was allowed to wash their hands afterward. The test was repeated. Surprisingly, the second round of tests found that the group that did not wash their hands placed the same CD's they had previously liked at a higher rank and those they had rejected at a lower rank than before. In contrast, the people who had initially washed their hands ranked the CD's the same as the first time.

The results indicate that hand washing removes the tendency to justify a decision that has been made.