All Leading to the Joy of Discovery

All Leading to the Joy of Discovery When I'm bored at work I read science articles. Here's what I find interesting. (Avatar image source)

[sciencetylia]

One of my favourite twitter trending topics I’ve seen in a while: #GirlsWithToys.

This came as a response to an Astronomer’s remarks that Scientists are ‘boys with toys’.

Glad to see such a strong response from the women of STEM. :)

[song-of-the-spheres]

DEAR RESEARCHERS OF TUMBLR

You know what’s awesome?  Research.  You know what’s not awesome?  Not being able to get access to research because it’s stuck behind a paywall and you don’t belong to an institution/your institution doesn’t subscribe to that particular journal.

FEAR NOT.

Here is a list of free, open access materials on a variety of subjects.  Feel free to add if you like!

GO FORTH AND LEARN SHIT, MY FRIENDS.

Directory of Open Access Journals- A compendium of over 9000 journals from 133 countries, multilingual and multidisciplinary.

Directory of Open Access Books- Like the above, but for ebooks.  Also multidisciplinary.

Ubiquity Press- Journals covering archaeology, comics scholarship, museum studies, psychology, history, international development, and more.  Also publishes open access ebooks on a wide variety of subjects.

Europeana-  Digital library about the history and culture of Europe.

Digital Public Library of America- American history, culture, economics, SO MUCH AMERICA.

Internet Archive- In addition to books, they have music and videos, too.  Free!  And legal!  They also have the Wayback Machine, which lets you see webpages as they looked at a particular time.

College and Research Libraries- Library science and information studies.  Because that’s what I do.

Library of Congress Digital Collections- American history and culture, historic newspapers, sound recordings, photographs, and a ton of other neat stuff.

LSE Digital Library- London history, women’s history.

Wiley Open Access- Science things!  Neurology, medicine, chemistry, ecology, engineering, food science, biology, psychology, veterinary medicine.

SpringerOpen-  Mainly STEM journals, looooong list.

Elsevier Open Access-  Elsevier’s kind of the devil but you might as well take advantage of this.  Mainly STEM, also a linguistics journal and a medical journal in Spanish.

[whoreofabadon-blog]

This is such an amazing collection!

[precision-commitment-sacrifice]

New Theory Claims Yawning Evolved To Help Humans Eat Insects

According to Emma Kowal of Harvard University, yawning evolved in our hunter-gatherer ancestors to be a highly efficient method of bug-consumption. Her argument is thoroughly and impressively researched, logically presented, undeniably captivating, and hilariously wrong.

Let me list all the reasons why I love this:  

First off, it's pretty hilarious!  There is an entire conference dedicated to ridiculous evolution theories!  And people spend a lot of time researching them and reporting on why these theories are actually legitimate.  It shows that science can have a sense of humor.  Part of their score even involves how unexpected and clever their presentation is.  So basically the weirder, the better!  It makes science fun.

Second, it is a good example of why not all science theories should be accepted simply because the evidence fits.  I feel like this is something we sometimes forget about in science.  The conclusions of a published paper are just one person's interpretation of the evidence.  Not necessarily the truth.

Third, the event is called BAHFest!  BAH!  (Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses)  Which is kind of the coolest conference name ever! Learn More about BAHFest and watch some of the presentations here.

And finally, the trophy the winners receive: 

(source)

Best. Trophy. Ever

[precision-commitment-sacrifice]

5 Mysterious Structures With Creepy Unknown Origins

While archaeology isn't all whips and fedoras, every now and again, archaeologists stumble upon something that defies normal logic and convention.

Ever want to read about giant man-made structures that no one has any flipping clue where they come from or how they were made?  Well then this article is for you!  (Plus the sarcasm of you typical Cracked article!) 

[precision-commitment-sacrifice]

I was just far to entertained by this.  This is a pendulum wave created by bowling balls hung from varying lengths.  Jeff Goodman from Appalachian State University built it so that all the balls would swing back together at 2:40. In that time, the ball on the longest pendulum swings back and forth 50 times.  The next ball swings 51 times.  The next 52.  All the was down to the ball on the shortest pendulum, which swings 65 times. (If you check out their description on YouTube, they note a bit more on how it works and why theirs is not perfect.) Check out this other video of a slightly more accurate wave!