24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus

 Animal Plants: Life Adapted to a Vacuum

"These remarkable creatures combine the characteristics of animals and plants and so I call them animal-plants. ..." "All right. Don't get angry. Just explain how your creatures avoid getting dried up like mummies." "That is simple. Their skin is covered with a glassy layer, thin and flexible but absolutely impermeable to gases and liquids and all kinds of particles, so that the creatures are protected from any loss of material. . . . Their bodies have appendages which look like wings and a...
Folksonomies: speculation
Folksonomies: speculation
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06 JUN 2012 by ideonexus

 Genetics and Atomic Theory

Genetics is to biology what atomic theory is to physics. Its principle is clear: that inheritance is based on particles and not on fluids. Instead of the essence of each parent mixing, with each child the blend of those who made him, information is passed on as a series of units. The bodies of successive generations transport them through time, so that a long-lost character may emerge in a distant descendant. The genes themselves may be older than the species that bear them.
Folksonomies: analogy
Folksonomies: analogy
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Are analogous in their relationships to biology and physics.

09 SEP 2011 by ideonexus

 An Experiment in Evaporation and Condensation finds Eleme...

Salt water when it turns into vapour becomes sweet, and the vapour does not form salt water when it condenses again. This I know by experiment. The same thing is true in every case of the kind: wine and all fluids that evaporate and condense back into a liquid state become water. They all are water modified by a certain admixture, the nature of which determines their flavour.
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From Aristotle's "Meteorology". An example of knowing something from experiment.