RSS FEED
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts

Anatomy of a Hurricane

Tropical Cyclone
Image source: dsc.nrsc.gov.in

Hurricanes are one of the most calamitous acts of nature, also known as cyclones or typhoons, it is more of a regional nomenclature than a scientific one, the exact scientific name is Tropical Cyclones.

Scientifically, tropical cyclones are swirling storms with a low pressure center, and in extreme cases wind speeds can reach to values more than 250 km/h. It has been proved that three essential ingredients are required for their formation, in brief they are, tropical ocean waters with surface temperature 26.5 ºC or higher coupled with high humid conditions, light upper level winds and most importantly an already existing thunderstorm disturbance.

Read more »
Labels: ,

The Science of Traffic Jams

Traffic Jam
Image source: epsos.de

Traffic jams are really frustrating, even if you are not in a hurry. The stand still traffic or the vehicle movement at a snail's pace can really get on your nerves and if you are in a hurry, do I have to say more? A vast amount of time is lost in these traffic jams. With the ever increasing volume of vehicles on road, the frequencies of traffic jams have gone up. Some of them have studied these traffic jams extensively and have a dedicated group like the Traffic Modelling group of MIT to study how and why do they occur, in an effort to find out the best possible ways to avoid jamitons (MIT jargon meaning travelling traffic waves).

Read more »
Labels: ,

What is a Higgs Boson?

Higgs Boson Decay
Higgs boson decay (scientists' impression) Image Source: news.liv.ac.uk

Not a day goes by when I don’t see an article on Higgs boson. The entire science world is buzzing with this one particular fundamental particle. So what makes this mysterious particle so distinguished from others is that the particle’s existence was predicted in 1964, but not yet experimentally confirmed. Scientists at CERN are in pursuit of this particle as hints to their existence were observed in the year 2011.
Read more »
Labels: ,

The Tongue Map Myth

Einstein's Tongue
Image source: popsci.com

Almost all of us were taught in high school and I believe it is still being taught these days that our tongue has different regions each responding to a specific taste. This is totally wrong, and moreover it is agreed now that there are five distinct tastes, four of which you know – sweet, salty, sour, bitter and the fifth is known as umami (a pleasant savoury taste, the taste of monosodium glutamate). And not yet confirmed is a sixth taste receptor for fat.

Read more »
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
Back to top