November 1, 2013 David Latchman 1Comment

University of Florida, Gainesville student, Lucasz, shows us the process of pinning a butterfly. The butterflies are taken from their moist environment and pinned to where they are dried and can be displayed. University of Florida Gainesville student Emma shows us butterflies wrapped before pinning. Collection of butterflies wrapped and stored in a container before they can be pinned. University of Florida student Emma shows us what a butterfly looks like before she pins it. Butterflies can last for a long time under these conditions. http://youtu.be/AOlaVIGrSQQ University…

September 4, 2013 David Latchman

The season finale to Continuum leaves the viewer with lots of surprises and questions that are sure to keep them engaged until Season Three begins in 2014. While Season Two doesn’t specifically answer questions regarding the rules to time travel used in the show, it does provide some hints and insights on what might be happening. If anything we can be certain that the rules are going to be as complex and interesting as the plot so far. To get up to speed you should read my first article, “The Wibbly-Wobbly of Continuum”. Future Alec sends everyone back We learn…

August 26, 2013 David Latchman

Season 03, Episode 02: “The Jiminy Conjecture” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCxhS7Aayps In the “The Jiminy Conjecture” episode, Raj (Kunal Nayyar), Howard (Simon Helberg) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) are having dinner when they hear the sound of a cricket chirping. Sheldon claims to know the species from the cricket’s chirping speed and the room’s ambient temperature. Not to be outdone and still angry from losing a bet in the comic book store, Howard wagers his rare Fantastic Four #48 (“The Coming of Galactus”) against Sheldon’s The Flash #123 “Flash of Two Worlds”. Dolbear’s Law Sheldon is able to determine the room’s temperature by using…

August 14, 2013 David Latchman

Season 06, Episode 03: “The Higgs Boson Observation” http://youtu.be/RvX9Evd3MyM In “The Higgs Boson Observation”, we learn that the subject of graduate student and Sheldon’s (Jim Parsons) new assistant, Alex Jensen (Margo Harshman), is on Trojan asteroids at the Earth-Sun L5 Lagrange point. This also happens to be Raj’s (Kunal Nayyar) area of expertise. But what exactly are Trojan asteroids and why are they of interest to astronomers and astrophysicists? Trojans are minor planets or satellites that share an orbit with a planet but does not collide with it because it orbits around one of the two stable Lagrangian points (trojan…

July 9, 2013 David Latchman 1Comment

Season 01, Episode 06: “The Middle-Earth Paradigm” Sheldon Cooper dresses as the Doppler Effect on the Season 1, Episode 6 “The Middle-Earth Paradigm” of the Big Bang Theory Yes. It’s the apparent change in the frequency of a wave caused by relative motion between the source of the wave and the observer. -Sheldon Cooper In the “Middle-Earth Paradigm” episode, Sheldon Cooper dresses as the “Doppler Effect” for Penny’s Halloween party. The Doppler Effect (or Doppler Shift) describes the change in pitch or frequency that results as a source of sound moves relative to an observer; moving…

June 24, 2013 David Latchman 3Comment

Season 01, Episode 02: “The Big Bran Hypothesis” Sheldon and Leonard contemplate using the stairs as an inclined plane to move Penny’s furniture to her apartment. In Season 1 Episode 2 of The Big Bang Theory, “The Big Bran Hypothesis”, Penny (Kaley Cuoco) asks Leonard (Johnny Galecki) to sign for a furniture delivery if she isn’t home. Unfortunately for Leonard and Sheldon, they are left with the task of getting a huge (and heavy) box up to Penny’s apartment. To solve this problem, Leonard suggest using the stairs as an inclined plane, one of the six…

June 10, 2013 David Latchman 1Comment

Season 02, Episode 04: “The Griffin Equivalency” Rajesh Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar) looks pleased as he talks about his inclusion into People magazine’s “30 Under 30 to watch” list for his discovery of the fictional trans-Neptunian object, 2008 NQ17 which exists beyond the Kuiper belt In “The Griffin Equivalency” episode of The Big Bang Theory, Raj (Kunal Nayyar) announces that he has been chosen as one of People Magazine’s “30 visionaries under 30 years to watch” list for his discovery of the trans-Neptunian object 2008 NQ17. This fictional astronomical body exists just beyond the Kuiper Belt, a…

June 8, 2013 David Latchman

Big Bang Theory Season 2, Episode 5: “The Euclid Alternative”In the opening scene of the “The Euclid Alternative”, we see Sheldon (Jim Parsons) demanding that Leonard (Johnny Galecki)needs to drive him around to run various errands. Leonard, after spending a night in the lab using the new Free Electron Laser to perform X-ray diffraction experiments. In the background, we can see equations that describe a rolling ball problem on the whiteboard in the background. Scene with Sheldon Cooper. The background shows a whiteboard with the physics equations of a rolling ball. Rolling motion plays an important…

June 3, 2013 David Latchman

The series Continuum is a time travel science fiction TV show that follows the adventures of City Protective Services (CPS) law enforcement officer Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols) as she attempts to stop the self-proclaimed freedom fighters known as “Liber8”. It is easy to dismiss many science fiction shows dealing with time travel for the simple reason so many of them are done badly. Continuum is different in that there is an underlying mystery. A big part of that mystery is the motivation of an older Alec Sadler (William B. Davis) and the principles on which Continuum’s time travel is based….