Inside Nature's Giants - Elephants

Elephants are the largest living land dwelling animals on the planet. That should make you wonder how they evolved and what kind of adaptations have allowed them to cope with the tremendous selective pressures to which they are constantly subjected. And what's up with that trunk?!?

Wonder no more... grab a nice, delicious meal, sit back and watch as a group of scientists bravely reverse-engineer the intricate anatomy of an elephant cow and the amazing evolutionary secrets her body reveals. If you're squeamish, you might want to skip on that nice meal :)

I know... you're curious about the elephant penis... here, knock yourself out :)

And if you want to learn more about the social lives of elephants, Sir David Attenborough is here to help.

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Alain de Botton - A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success

When a new semester starts, and I want to get a read on my students, the question of their major always comes up. When I ask them about their thoughts on success, the most usual answers have to do with status and bling bling. There's rarely an answer pertaining to personal fulfillment or social responsibility :(

In this amusing and thought-provoking presentation, philosopher Alain de Botton (yes, from the inspiring documentary series Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness) provides an analysis of our modern views of success and failure, and questions the assumptions underlying these judgments, revealing in the process the misconceptions through which we make sense of the world, our social relations and even our own aspirations.

And check out what Penn & Teller have to say about self-help in this episode of Bullshit!

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Brain Story - All in the Mind

One of the greatest and most elusive mysteries to be solved is not whether but how the physical world of neurons and the brain gives rise to subjective experience and its mental, emotional and phenomenological richness.

In this documentary series, Professor and neuroscientist Susan Greenfield sets out to explain how this three-pound squishy organ is responsible not only for motor action and perception but for subjective experience, ranging from simple information processing to artistic creativity and even religious 'out-of-body' experiences.

Throughout, Professor Greenfield looks at some rather unique individuals whose interesting (and sometimes lamentable) brain conditions shed some fascinating light on the mysteries hidden inside the seemingly impenetrable 'normal' brain.

Check out the Mind tag for more brainy goodies.
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Fishies!

This is one you won't want to miss. The following short video, accompanied by a beautiful song, shows the second largest aquarium tank in the world, populated by a variety of fish, including whale sharks (the largest species of fish in the world) and manta rays. By the time the video is over, you probably won't be sure if you are awake or dreaming...

If you look closely, you'll also notice a couple of homo sapiens specimens :)

Do we have anything that could compare to this tank here in the U.S.? If you know of a place, dear readers, preferably in the East Coast, please let me know! Leave a comment or send me an email. I will really appreciate it.

Of course, bears would not be capable of appreciating the aesthetic value of fish...

If that wasn't enough for you, here is another ethereal experience involving water balloons.

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Jane Goodall - Blessing the Animals

The following is a video of a public conversation with world-renowned primatologist and nature activist Jane Goodall, at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, on topics ranging from the relationship between science and religion to moral and political responsibility, human ingenuity, our relationship with pets, how chimps deal with the death of loved ones, the alarming situation of gorillas in the Congo, global warming and sustainability, lessons we can learn from chimps, homosexuality in nature, compassion and overpopulation, among others.

Of course, no talk by Goodall would be complete without the famous chimp greeting call :)
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Derren Brown - Subliminal Advertising

If you are anything like the average person, you probably think you go about your life making free choices based purely on the freedom of your own will and your rationality. The sad truth, however, is that your actions are influenced and controlled by forces all around you, of which you are probably not even aware.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he did not exist (I'm paraphrasing The Usual Suspects). Similarly, the greatest trick marketers pull is convincing you that you ought to exercise your freedom and individuality by buying their superfluous and crappy products, just like every other unique automaton. Oh yeah, I'm talking about you, Star-schmucks!

The following short shows Derren Brown using subliminal advertising techniques on experts of subliminal advertising to their great shame and our great delight. Fight fire with fire! :)

Now, how many things have you bought because you were brainwashed? You have no idea, do you?

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Light Fantastic - The Stuff of Light

In the first episode of this magnificent documentary series, Let There Be Light, we saw the study of light begun by Greeks such as Empedocles and Euclid, continued by the Arab Alhacen, and culminated in the intellectual battle between the French and the British, with Rene Descartes and Sir Isaac Newton as their respective representatives.

The second episode, The Light of Reason, showed how the gradual manipulation of light devices for practical purposes has had the unintended consequence of helping us understand the universe and of undermining the authenticity of religious beliefs.

The story has only gotten more interesting since then, as James Clerk Maxwell would later come to understand light as a form of electromagnetic wave, subject to the laws of electromagnetism, as J. J. Thomson discovered electrons through his use of cathode rays, and as Max Planck became the founder of quantum theory by understanding that light has a schizophrenic personality.

In the process, of course, light became industrialized and made publically available thanks to the entrepreneurial genius and vision of people like Thomas Edison, who managed to sell the public not just a commodity but a dream.

Related videos:

Michael Faraday's work on electromagnetism and its influence on Maxwell, and how this eventually laid part of the foundation for Einstein's E=mc2.

The war of the currents between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.
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For All Mankind

Forty years ago today, the Apollo 11 mission made history when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched down on the Moon while Michael Collins nervously wondered whether he would have to return to Earth alone. By now, a total of twelve men have set foot on the Moon, and all of them have made it back home.

While this represents an incredible scientific and engineering success, sometimes we forget to take into consideration what it must have been like to sit front row on the command and lunar modules.

The following film, based entirely on original footage from various Apollo missions and commentary by Apollo astronauts, brings the experience of space travel and Moon exploration to bear on the most personal of levels: through the eyes of those who went there. This is space and the Moon in their surreal reality as you've never seen them.

But first, here is a little something to get you warmed up...

And here is the film in all its glory:

"That might have been a small step for Neil, but it's a big one for a little guy like me." Classic Buzz Aldrin :)
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God Recalls Tracheas of Millions of Indonesians

What, did you think God was perf.... oh, right... :)

And from the looks of it, lolcats seem to have some grievances of their own...
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We Choose to Go to the Moon... Because It's Hard!

Forty years ago today, Apollo 11 launched on its famous mission to the moon. Sure, most of the motivation for space exploration was originally fueled by the Cold War and our fear of the Ruskies, but our success wouldn't have been possible without the will, ingenuity, creativity and discipline of our scientists, engineers and astronauts, all of whom were inspired by President John F. Kennedy's impassioned speech, delivered at Rice University in Houston in 1962.

Kennedy would not live to see the dream realized, but he would have been proud.

Let's go back, shall we? :)
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Born with Two Heads

Most of us take it for granted, but the process of sexual reproduction has been, for the most part, so incredibly well fine tuned over evolutionary time that most of us don't have cleft palates, a hidden chimera condition, a conjoined sibling, or even an identical twin. Given the delicate precision with which the process of embryonic development must take place, it really is mind-boggling that we are born as healthy and unique individuals.

Sometimes, however, things don't go so smoothly and children are born with congenital conditions that will make medical history and really bring into question the comfortable and simplistic categories through which we are used to making sense of the world.

The following documentary traces the moving story of one such case: a little girl born with a condition known as Craniopagus Parasiticus (her parasitic sister's unembodied head was fused to hers). This is a touching story of scientific curiosity, parental love, difficult choices and tenacious perseverance against incredible odds.

Oprah didn't call in faith healers for their vast medical expertise?!?

Although the surgery was a success, Manar succumbed to an infection a year later.
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Prematurely Born-Again Christian Suffers Complications

Because some people can't be born right the first time around...

This just in: faith-healers are now working on a faith vaccine to prevent future complications.

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The Storming of the Bastille

220 years ago today, the people of Paris had grown so tired of the indifference, extravagance and abuse of power by Louis XVI, that they decided to protest the corruption publically. Tired of being systematically ignored, they figured having weapons would allow them to have a voice. To get the weapons, they stormed the Bastille prison, and this marked the start of the French Revolution.

Whatever the original intentions, and whatever the aftermath and its historical significance, however, the siege was tainted by unimaginable violence: Governor Marquis Bernard de Launay, for instance was beaten, stabbed to death and decapitated. Having had his head sawn off, it was then placed on a spike and paraded around the city. The violence that was yet to ensue would not be much different, but at least we got a naked boob out of it :)

Did you know the guillotine was invented to reduce the cruelty of execution? Messier Guillotine must be rolling in his grave...

Curious to learn more about revolutions? Check out this amusing documentary about Founding Father Thomas Paine.
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Abstinence-Only Education Ruined by Trip to Zoo

Don't you just hate it when reality interferes with your unrealistic plans? :)



At least they didn't see the gay penguins :) ...
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The Genius of Mozart - A Passion for the Stage

The first installment of this documentary series explored the development of Mozart's young genius as a child and young adult through the influence and guidance of his father.

Today's episode continues the musical development of the maestro during his middle years. As Mozart reached his twenties, he needed to abandon his reputation as a virtuoso child and make his mark as a mature and reputable composer. Inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment, Mozart decided to revolutionize the world of opera, not simply by changing the rules of the trade but by inhabiting the genre from the inside and exploiting hitherto unrecognized possibilities before transforming it into a style the world had never seen.

Check out the epic climax of Mozart's Don Giovanni.

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Nikola Tesla - Master of Lightning

When most people think of the American electric gridline, they tend to associate that historical development with Thomas Edison. Some even know of the Edison-Westinghouse bitter and controversial competition and the fact that, in order to promote direct current and disparage Westinghouse's alternating current proposal as dangerous, Edison carried out a publicity campaign that included the invention of the electric chair (William Kemmler would be its first victim), and even the public and televised electrocution of Topsy the circus elephant, all to show that AC was lethal. And you thought today's propaganda is despicable :(

The man who seems to have been relegated to oblivion, however, is the real hero of the story, a revolutionary and visionary genius who gave birth to the modern era: his name was Nikoka Tesla. Among his revolutionary inventions, one could mention wireless radio, the Tesla coil, fluorescent lights, wireless transmission of electricity, the AC motor, remote control, a laser weapon, and about 700 other patents, including a death ray :) Today is his birthday, and this is his story.

Electrifying, isn't it? :)

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Guns, Germs & Steel - Conquest

In the first episode of this documentary series based on his best-seller book, Jared Diamond traced the birth of human inequality to the invisible hand of geographic fortune and environmental vicissitudes.

Having laid this foundation, Diamond now attempts to explain why, in November of 1532, fewer than 200 Spaniards arrived at the holy city of Cajamarca in the Incan Empire (where Emperor Atahualpa had come to celebrate his recent victory over his half-brother Huascar), and managed to slaughter over 7,000 Inca warriors while barely suffering any casualties of their own.

The Inca were a sophisticated civilization whose dominion extended throughout South America. They had managed to defeat virtually all their neighbors, and yet they fell prey to European guns, germs and steel. Jared Diamond explains why.

Click here to learn about the invention of writing, in particular as it refers to numbers, in this amusing documentary with Terry Jones from Monty Python.
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Frans de Waal: You're a Monkey!

In this presentation, world-renowned primatologist Frans de Waal makes the case that we would all be much happier if we paid attention to the basic principles of cooperative and social behavior that most primates are sensitive to.

We may normally think of ourselves as the culmination of evolution, and as purely rational beings, but if we look at the psychological and behavioral similarities between the rest of primates and us, we'd have to conclude, as you already know, that we're all monkeys :)

Check out the fascinating lives of bonobos.

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Darwin's Comet Orchid

One of the many things Darwin understood well about the theory of evolution is that it does not occur in a vacuum (at least not the proverbial kind): the successful evolution of any organism can only be comprehensively understood in terms of the background and selection pressures to which said organism's lineage would have to adapt. This can create an arms race between competing creatures (think the ever-increasing speed of cheetahs and gazelles), or harmonious relationships between cooperative species.

This subtle insight implies that evolutionary theory can make predictions which can then be tested scientifically. In a remarkable and famous case, after after having inspected a peculiar species of orchid from Madagascar, Darwin predicted that there must exist a moth in that area with a peculiar feature: it would have a tongue many times its own body length...

And if you think that's impressive, check out what Alfred Russell Wallace predicted...

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4th of July Fireworks!

Sorry folks, no educational video today :(

Instead, here are a few amazing pictures I took of the NYC fireworks last night.

The secret to my photography talent? Play around with the camera settings, take about 200 pics, and only publish the very best ones ;)

Update: Here is a video I just found from a similar view:

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The Mark Steel Lectures - Thomas Paine

When we think of the 4th of July, most of our thoughts rightly go to Thomas Jefferson's eloquent and timeless Declaration of Independence, but the man who really galvanized the American public to the cause of independence was an iconoclastic Brit by the name of Thomas Paine.

A true idealist and a representative of the Enlightenment, Paine spent his life passionately arguing against tyranny, slavery and the suffocating shackles of organized religion, and in favor of the equality of the sexes, a welfare system and even universal healthcare.

His original claim to fame came from the publication of a short pamphlet entitled Common Sense, which articulated the justification for revolution against the British Crown. This pamphlet would become the best seller of the time, as would his subsequent writings.

Paine had an unparalleled gift for distilling the essence of abstract philosophical discourse and making it seem obvious to even the most ordinary and uneducated persons, thereby gaining their support. His pen was truly mightier than his sword, and not just because he couldn't fight :)

The following is a light-hearted look by comedian Mark Steel at this often overlooked Founding Father.

You can learn about Paine's revolutionary attack on religion it in this episode of Atheism: A Brief History of Disbelief, with Jonathan Miller.
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Genesis 2.0

Sometimes I think that the best evidence for the absence of a divine intelligent designer is the existence of creationists :)

Michael Shermer, editor of Sceptic Magazine and author of numerous fascinating books, decided to re-write the creation myth found in the biblical book of Genesis and make it sound scientific. What he discovered was simply ridiculous and hilarious!

And if you want, you can follow God on facebook now ;)

Monkey vs. Tigers

Looking at the picture to the right, you're probably thinking: "awww... that's adorable!," and that's fine; it really is.

In the battle between kitties and monkeys, however, when push comes to shove, there can only be one real boss...

Those tigers are big pussies! :)
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