Interesting Stuff Thread

sbsquarepants · 21-11-2013 05:33PM

koth wrote: »

For the brainy folk (not me, I suck at maths:P)

Together and Alone, Closing the Prime Gap

Without meaning to sound too stupid, can someone explain to me in simple terms* what use this is in everyday life? Is there any advantage in knowing this or is it just a maths geek thing?

*basically like you were trying to explain to 5 year old, who you suspect might be a bit slow

Turtwig · 21-11-2013 05:37PM

Unfortunately most things don't show applications immediately. It might never be of use but knowing it is always good. Imaginary numbers are the foundations of modern physics. Yet I doubt you could have told people that when they were discovered/invented.

sbsquarepants · 21-11-2013 05:40PM

Jernal wrote: »

Imaginary numbers are the foundations of modern physics. .

They're also the bedrock of the banking industry:D

yeppydeppy · 21-11-2013 05:41PM

Cabaal wrote: »

some interesting stats

What I can't understand is how are over 50% of people in their 30's still identifying as catholic?

Turtwig · 21-11-2013 05:42PM

sbsquarepants wrote: »

They're also the bedrock of the banking industry:D

Shush!

Then people will blame the mathematicians for the banking crisis. It's bad enough having derivatives abused!:mad:

Hotblack Desiato · 21-11-2013 08:30PM

sbsquarepants wrote: »

Without meaning to sound too stupid, can someone explain to me in simple terms* what use this is in everyday life? Is there any advantage in knowing this or is it just a maths geek thing?

Many encryption algorithms depend on it being computationally difficult to factorise a large semi-prime number, i.e. figure out which two prime numbers multiplied together go up to make that number. If someone can figure out a way to solve the factoring problem then it would have major implications for making and breaking codes.

Sarky · 21-11-2013 08:42PM

Probably no direct use in day to day life, but it'll find uses that affect you anyway. If a new mathematical discovery could be used to break codes in a fraction of the time it normally takes, then you'll be seeing a lot more malicious hacking of your facebook account or whatever, and pay more for security. Or it might help solve some of the massive projects in various research fields, like microbiology or engineering, which would have big knock-on effects on health, medicine, stock markets, engine efficiency or what-have-you.

These days pretty much everything is driven by information, and that makes mathematicians some of the most important (and maybe even dangerous) people on the planet.

Hotblack Desiato · 21-11-2013 10:19PM

Interactive all-Ireland map of census data:
http://airomaps.nuim.ie/flexviewer/?config=AllIslandAtlas.xml

Here's a taster - the heathen map of Dublin: (NB I'm not going to post the stupidly large full size image like Jernal

)

recedite · 21-11-2013 11:03PM

Looks like they will need to send missionaries to West Cork soon :pac:
Belfast is surprisingly heathen, or maybe not considering all the good it has done there.

Hotblack Desiato · 22-11-2013 12:47AM

Interesting if you look at the 'no religion' map, and then look at the fertility map down by the quays and Docklands.

Massive lack of fertility in the heathen, hipster penthouse apartment dwellers. They can't all be ghey.

Maybe the Iona Institute are right, we're contracepting and aborting ourselves out of existence

:pac:

Bannasidhe · 22-11-2013 01:12PM

recedite wrote: »

Looks like they will need to send missionaries to West Cork soon :pac:
Belfast is surprisingly heathen, or maybe not considering all the good it has done there.

Been a massive influx of heathen lesbian atheists into West Cork since the census

Sarky · 22-11-2013 03:03PM

An enabler, that's what you are.

Bannasidhe · 22-11-2013 03:12PM

Sarky wrote: »

An enabler, that's what you are.

Jeeeze...just cos one encourages people to move far far away. :rolleyes:

Genghiz Cohen · 22-11-2013 04:57PM

Sarky wrote: »

An enabler, that's what you are.

I though she was calling herself fat...

Bannasidhe · 22-11-2013 05:05PM

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

I though she was calling herself fat...

:eek:

Makes a change from 'but you can't be a diabetic - you aren't fat' I suppose...

Bannasidhe · 24-11-2013 05:47PM

Seemingly

the Norse God, Heimdallr, would blow the mythical Gjallerhorn to warn of the Viking apocalypse, also known as ‘Ragnarok’, which translates to ‘Doom of the Gods’.

According to calculations, the so-called end of the world is due to arrive on 22nd February, 2014. Norse mythology says that the god Odin will be killed by the wolf Fenrir and all of the other "creator" gods will fall. The world will then be born again and will be repopulated by two humans.

- See more at: http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-general/viking-apocalypse-due-less-100-days-001051#sthash.RhvmnmHK.dpuf

Feckin Gods :rolleyes:

Gbear · 24-11-2013 06:04PM

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Seemingly - See more at: http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-general/viking-apocalypse-due-less-100-days-001051#sthash.RhvmnmHK.dpuf

Feckin Gods :rolleyes:

I thought I heard recently that what we now consider to be Norse mythology is not what the actual Norsemen believed and was invented at a much later date.

Anyone know anything about that?

Sarky · 24-11-2013 06:06PM

Now that's an apocalypse I wouldn't mind seeing. It'd probably be 25/50/25 drinking/fighting/wenching.

Bannasidhe · 24-11-2013 06:26PM

Gbear wrote: »

I thought I heard recently that what we now consider to be Norse mythology is not what the actual Norsemen believed and was invented at a much later date.

Anyone know anything about that?

Sure that can be said about everyone's mythology. :P

Delirium · 24-11-2013 06:36PM

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/bacteria-can-take-ancient-dna

Bacteria can take up ancient DNA.

Can't post a snippet as I'm phone posting

EDIT:

After an organism is dead its DNA can stick around for hundreds, even thousands of years. But this DNA doesn't always just simply decay - bacteria are capable of recycling it into their own genomes. This does have implications in the evolution of bacteria and the development of antibiotics. Recent research has revealed that bacteria can even use the DNA of organisms that are long dead, and even these ancient snippets pass by the bacterium’s normal DNA proofreading mechanism. Lead author Søren Overballe-Petersen from the Centre for GeoGenetics at the Natural History Museum of Denmark published these results this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Sarky · 24-11-2013 06:50PM

Awesome, another mechanism of evolution that J C will will either ignore or lie about :pac:

Basic gist, while koth is away on his phone:

DNA fragments are continually released by decomposing organisms. It degrades over time, but you can still have, say, snippets of 100 base pairs in length persisting over hundreds of thousands of years. They're all over the place. Bacteria are perfectly capable of incorporating these snippets into their own genomes without the RecA (recombinase, thought necessary for this kind of DNA incorporation until now) gene. And they proved it by getting a naturally occurring species of bacteria to incorporate the DNA from the remains of a wooly mammoth some 40,000 years old. When it doesn't kill the bacterium, it can allow for huge leaps in functionality.

Obliq · 24-11-2013 07:04PM

Sarky wrote: »

When it doesn't kill the bacterium, it can allow for huge leaps in functionality.

Oh ****. Black death, anyone? Anyone for the black death?

Plague, then. Anyone for plague?

I may be ignorantly scaremongering here, but doesn't there have to be an element of trust in the ethical standards of some scientists here? Or we could be creating all sorts of nasties...

Or maybe I should just go learn some science. Hmmm.

Sarky · 24-11-2013 07:08PM

Any lab that genetically modifies organisms has incredibly strict procedures and safety measures to ensure something like that doesn't happen. I've just finished reading the biological safety manual for the research institute where I started my PhD. It's a behemoth of a book, and is very, VERY clear on how you go about handling GM organisms (they don't actually work with GM organisms, but they mention it just in case. Safety first!). The work must be done in sealed cabinets with their own air supply (which then gets rigorously filtered and sterilised), organisms have to be stored in extremely secure facilities, both to stop bugs getting out and stop anyone who isn't a trained professional with the right security clearance from getting in at them. Anyone working with them has to go through a very thorough decontamination procedure before and after work. Often includes wearing a full body suit with filter masks and the like.

And if something DOES happen in the lab, there are very good procedures in place to contain and neutralise any problem.

No need to worry.

MrPudding · 24-11-2013 07:33PM

Sarky wrote: »

Any lab that genetically modifies organisms has incredibly strict procedures and safety measures to ensure something like that doesn't happen. I've just finished reading the biological safety manual for the research institute where I started my PhD. It's a behemoth of a book, and is very, VERY clear on how you go about handling GM organisms (they don't actually work with GM organisms, but they mention it just in case. Safety first!). The work must be done in sealed cabinets with their own air supply (which then gets rigorously filtered and sterilised), organisms have to be stored in extremely secure facilities, both to stop bugs getting out and stop anyone who isn't a trained professional with the right security clearance from getting in at them. Anyone working with them has to go through a very thorough decontamination procedure before and after work. Often includes wearing a full body suit with filter masks and the like.

And if something DOES happen in the lab, there are very good procedures in place to contain and neutralise any problem.

No need to worry.

Not having any background in biology I would guess that this is the type of thing that could happen natuarlly out side the lab. No?

MrP

Sulla Felix · 24-11-2013 07:38PM

Haha, alright. Tell that to the lab that nearly released a modified K. planticola. Nice home grown armageddon scenario right there.

http://web.mst.edu/~microbio/BIO221_2004/K_planticola.htm

I love science, I think genetic engineering is our greatest, best hope for further bettering the world for the future, but there's plenty to be worried about, because at the end of the day, it's humans who are doing the work, and humans can be mighty stupid sometimes.

Obliq · 24-11-2013 07:59PM

Sarky wrote: »

...... and is very, VERY clear on how you go about handling GM organisms (they don't actually work with GM organisms, but they mention it just in case. Safety first!). .....
<->
And if something DOES happen in the lab, there are very good procedures in place to contain and neutralise any problem.

No need to worry.

:rolleyes:

Sulla Felix wrote: »

Haha, alright. Tell that to the lab that nearly released a modified K. planticola. Nice home grown armageddon scenario right there.
<->
it's humans who are doing the work, and humans can be mighty stupid sometimes.

:eek:

Ehh...

yeh. Kinda what I meant.

Sarky · 24-11-2013 08:38PM

Sulla Felix wrote: »

Haha, alright. Tell that to the lab that nearly released a modified K. planticola. Nice home grown armageddon scenario right there.

http://web.mst.edu/~microbio/BIO221_2004/K_planticola.htm

I love science, I think genetic engineering is our greatest, best hope for further bettering the world for the future, but there's plenty to be worried about, because at the end of the day, it's humans who are doing the work, and humans can be mighty stupid sometimes.

Nearly released is not released.

Sulla Felix · 24-11-2013 08:54PM

Sarky wrote: »

Nearly released is not released.

True, but the nearly part is only there because independent research, completely outside of the authorizing bodies, caught it.
I don't think it's a case of "no need to worry", largely because that can lead to all sorts of risk-taking behavior. People should be worried, because worried people take more precautions.

Obliq · 24-11-2013 08:54PM

bluewolf wrote: »

Oh my god the replicators are going to kill us all!

No wait that's stargate...

Sarky wrote: »

Nearly released is not released.

*polite cough*

Damn.

*worries about possible genetic basis for polite cough being a virus from a coughing, red haired ape from 30,000 years ago with a fatal flaw*

ps. I like bluewolf's comment. Where did it go?

Sarky · 24-11-2013 09:08PM

MrPudding wrote: »

Not having any background in biology I would guess that this is the type of thing that could happen natuarlly out side the lab. No?

MrP

Could and probably does. A similar example is all the DNA in humans that quite clearly used to be from a virus that inserted itself to the genes, as viruses do, and for whatever reason stayed there. It's not something I'd be concerned about. There aren't any more killer plagues coming along now then there were before that paper was published, and most of us in this part of the world are ticking along pretty well.

Interesting Stuff Thread

Comments