Random Acts of Science

Okay, so it's more Random Articles of Science, but that just doesn't have the same ring for a title. Anyway, I've kept it brief. Four articles with no obvious connections to one another except that I found them all interesting.

Act I: Fairy Tale Physics
This is quite amusing, though it comes across as "Mythbusters aimed at children." However, anything that increases scientific interest is okay in my book.

Act II: Warp Drive, Mr. Sulu
A group in Germany has published a paper claiming to have found a way to travel faster than light. It uses some unconfirmed ideas (like dark energy). The link is to a summary of the paper, but it links to the full thing. I haven't had a chance to read the whole thing yet. It would be neat if it pans out.

Act III: Talking to Whales
Data suggests that whales in different parts of the world may "speak" in different dialects. Not confirmed, but fascinating. My taiji instructor mentioned a theory that whalesongs may be religious in nature. Obviously speculative (how would you test that?) but interesting to consider.

Act IV: Testing God
Someone has listed out ways in which science might be able to test for the presence of God. It has an obvious Judeo-Christian bias, which makes parts of it extremely amusing to me, but it's got some good things to think about. It's in an overall list of "Dangerous Ideas." I haven't looked at the full list, but I've skimmed the nearby articles. Some interesting, some not.