Bimini Road In the works Timaeus and Critias, the Greek philosopher Plato briefly mentioned an island as an allegory for excessive self-confidence. The people on this landmass sported a massive navy, which attempted to destroy Plato’s version of an ideal state, Athens. The gods did not smile upon these people, so the deities inundated the island with so […]
Bowling Ball Beach Among the splendor of coastal California lies a unique stretch of beach. Approximately 100 miles north of San Francisco and 170 miles south of Redwood National Park, bizarre spheres dot the coarse sand below picturesque sea cliffs. One might wonder if the colossus from Giant’s Causeway in Ireland had dropped into the Golden State
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Perpetual Stew Question 1: After a long day’s journey on your steed, you stop to enter the medieval inn at the entrance of a small village. You approach the counter where the innkeeper greets you. You order a room, a mead, and some food. Like modern fast-food fare, you don’t have to wait long for
The Ship of Theseus Now this body of mine consists completely of the flesh of another person. Do I truly have a body now? Or do I have no body? If I think I have a body, what I have is completely a body of another; if I think I have no body, now I actually do
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Immortal Jellyfish One of the many features of video and computer games is the save or restart button. Make a mistake, fall down an abyss, lose a battle, and you can go anew at a previous game state. The real world doesn’t yet work that way for animate beings. Unless you’re one of a few
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Etna Vortex Rings One of the planet’s most famous and active volcanos sits on the island of Sicily, where the African and Eurasian Plates converge. Mt. Etna currently rises 11,014 feet (3,357 meters) above the Ionian Sea. It gains this altitude in under 12 miles from the water! The word “currently” must reside in the
Fibonacci, Da Vinci, and a Tree Walk into a Bar written by Deborah S. And Da Vinci said, “Hey, Tree, it looks like the cross-sections of your branches sum to the cross-section of the trunk!” Then Fibonacci said, “Hey, that sounds familiar…” The tree reacted, “Well, of course, it’s not like I want my branches
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The Golden Ratio and Leaves written by Deborah S. In our previous article, we learned about the Fibonacci Sequence. Today, let’s discuss another mathematical concept that is lesser known, yet also intricately linked: the Golden Ratio. Just as you may have heard of π (pi), which is equal to 3.14159…, and perhaps another constant, e, which
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Fibonacci and Trees written by Deborah S. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144… You may recognize the numbers above as the famous Fibonacci Sequence. Developed by Leonardo Bonacci – that’s right, his name is not Fibonacci; Fibonacci is short for filius Bonacci, which means “son of Bonacci,” and was applied by historians to distinguish this
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Dinanthropoides Nivalis It showed up dark against the snow, and as far as I could make out, wore no clothes. –N.A. Tombazi, Royal Geographical Society photographer Many ancient Tibetans worshipped a being known as mi rgod, a term that translates to “wild man.” The Lepecha people of the Himalayas called him chu mung, which means
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