Author: Lensyl Urbano

How Language Shapes the Way we View the Future

Do English speakers, whose language has a clear distinction between things that happen today and things that happen in the future, discount the value of the future in ways that the speakers of some other languages do not?

M. Keith Chen argues [pdf] that syntax plays a role. His analysis suggests that if your language’s syntax blurs the difference between today and tomorrow (as do, say, Chinese and German) then you are more likely to save money, quit smoking, exercise and otherwise prepare for times to come. On the other hand, if you have three dollars in your IRA and a big credit-card balance, it’s a safer bet you speak English or Hausa or Greek or some other language that forces speakers to distinguish present from future.

— Berreby (2012): Obese? Smoker? No Retirement Savings? Perhaps It’s Because of the Language You Speak on BigThink.

If this hypothesis holds up, there may well be significant implications for how different language speakers see and address long term environmental issues like global climate change.

(via The Dish).

Frames of Reference

A wonderful set of physical demonstrations of the different perspectives that come from different frames of reference. Excellent for physics, and maybe math too, because it does point out coordinate systems.

[- Leacock (1960): Frames of Reference, Presented by Ivey and Hume, via the Internet Archive.]

From the Coriolis Interactive Model.

The discussion of non-inertial (accelerating) frames of reference is particularly good, and would tie in well with the coriolis model demonstration.

Of course, different perspectives are important in the geometry of social interactions also.

(thanks to Mr. D. for the link to the video).

Master and Apprentice

Handmade Portraits: The Sword Maker from Etsy on Vimeo.

This video, contains some fascinating reflections from, Korehira Watanabe, one of the few remaining traditional sword makers in Japan.

Particularly intriguing is Watanabe’s somewhat counter-intuitive need to keep exploring new challenges in swordmaking, so that he might keep the ancient traditions alive. He’s also very interested in instilling the same type of drive in his disciple, with the hope that his disciple will someday surpass him.

I personally find this to be a quite appropriate perspective for a teacher.

Wavelengths of Light Illustration

The wavelength of red light compares to the size of an E.Coli bacterium. Violet light's wavelength is even smaller.

A few of the steps along the Scale of the Universe flash app include the wavelengths of different colors of light. It’s a great way to show the show the relative sizes of these waves.

Scale of the Universe: 62 Orders of Magnitude (1062)

Scale of the Universe 2, by Cary and Michael Huang. WARNING: look out for ads on the site.

In a modern variant on the Powers of Ten video, Cary and Michael Huang have created an excellent flash game that spans the scale of the universe, from the smallest, only hypothesized particles, through atomic, human, planetary, and galactic scales (to name a but a few), to the size of the universe itself. It goes further than the Cell Size and Scale flash app.

The link is here, but look out for an advertisement that takes up the game window, which will eventually let you through (or you can click the “Skip Ad” link on the bottom right of the ad).

Will the New Arab Democracies Survive?

The key countries at the heart of the Arab Spring: Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. Image adapted from Wikimedia Commons User:Danalm000.

What are the chances that the revolutions of the Arab Spring succeed at creating democracies? According to a regression model created Jay Ulfelder: maybe.

[T]he probability that each of those new democracies would make it to their sixth birthday…:

  • Tunisia: 82%
  • Egypt: 48%
  • Libya: 89%

Ulfelder’s blog post is worth the read. It’s an excellent (if somewhat technical) example of how to do (and write up) some quick research, and how the ability to blog is changing the way scientists share ideas, and get feedback (check out the comments section).