20 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Archaeology is the Study of Trash
Tedious as it may appear to some to dwell on the discovery of odds and ends that have, no doubt, been thrown away by the owner as rubbish ... yet it is by the study of such trivial details that Archaeology is mainly dependent for determining the date of earthworks. ... Next to coins fragments of pottery afford the most reliable of all evidence ... In my judgement, a fragment of pottery, if it throws light on the history of our own country and people, is of more interest to the scientific coll...Folksonomies: archaeology
Folksonomies: archaeology
1 
notes
notesBut it is very important historical trash.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
We Will Retrieve Pioneer 10
Pioneer 10 is the first interstellar spacecraft launched by mankind. It was also
the fastest spacecraft launched, to the date of its departure. But it will take eighty
thousand years for Pioneer 10 to reach the distance of the nearest star. Because
space is so empty, it will never enter another Solar System. The little golden
message aboard Pioneer 10 will be read, but only if there are interstellar voyagers
able to detect and intercept Pioneer 10.
I believe that such an interception may occ...Folksonomies: space exploration astronomy
Folksonomies: space exploration astronomy
1 notes
notesAs it has 80,000 years until it reaches the nearest star, we will overtake it, which will be like Columbus being overtaken by an aircraft carrier.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Explanation of Isotopes
The number of neutrons in an atom's nucleus is less fixed than the number of protons: many elements have different versions, called isotopes, with different numbers of neutrons. For example, there are three isotopes of carbon, called Carbon-12, Carbon-13 and Carbon-14. The numbers refer to the mass of the atom, which is the sum of the protons and neutrons. Each of the three has six protons. Carbon-12 has six neutrons. Carbon-13 has seven neutrons and Carbon-14 has eight neutrons. Some isotope... 1 notes
notesThe different types of carbon have different numbers of neutrons and therefore different masses.
24 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
A Succinct Definition of Lactate
Lactate is a dynamic substrate with great potential as an energy
source in sports drinks. To date, however, the efficacy of adding
lactate to these drinks has been sparsely assessed [5,15,16]. Lactate
was once considered a metabolic waste but is now recognized as an
important energy substrate in the body. Lactate is the main
product of carbohydrate metabolism and can be used as a fuel in
working muscle cells shuttled to other tissues such as the heart where lactate is fuel [17], or to the liv...
1 
1 A byproduct of our muscles converting carbohydrates to energy, which appears to serve as a secondary energy source.
02 JAN 2011 by ideonexus
The Importance of Time-Stamping to Relevance
Time-stamping is of interest because the temporal element of context is essential for understanding a text (to take an obvious example, when reading a paper on global geopolitics in 2006 it is essential to know whether it was written before or after 11th September, 2001). Furthermore, some information has a 'sell-by date': after a certain point it may become unreliable. Often this point isn't predictable exactly, but broad indications can be given; naturally much depends on whether the inform... 1 notes
notesTime-stamping is a crucial function of semantic data. Some information grows less accurate over time, while a context is desired for other data.
